Azamara Plane Arrangements

[Beethovan]

Planning a trip to the Black Sea in Aug. on the Azamara line. Has anyone used their booking to get from the States to Rome and back from Athens? Would you recommend it? or do it yourself. Prices are ridiculous on some of the segments of the trip. If you use Azamara do you have excessively long flights ( routing, wait between flights, etc)? Thanks

[greeneg]

The only way that I know to do it is to try and lay out a tentative booking for the trip, cost it out, and then compare route and price with what is proposed by Azamara. Most likely, you can do it on your own more cheaply, but you will also sacrifice some convenience. You should also remember to include the costs of getting to the ship and back to the airport in your private example as those are not insignificant and are included with the Cruise air.

 

Azamara, Celebrity, and RCCL all use a common air department and they usually do know what they are doing in our experience; we've done it both ways. I think that a lot of the time it depends on where you live, where you have to go, and from where are you coming home.

 

Hope that's useful.

[Susan-M]

We used Azamara's air to fly from Toronto-Rome and back from Athens-Toronto in October. With the special pricing that they were offering at the time that we booked our cruise, we couldn't come close to matching the flight prices ourselves.

 

However, instead of leaving the arrangements up to them, we chose 'custom air' and I asked them for their price on the airline and exact flights that I wanted. Luckily we were able to get those flights and there was no increase in price, but that isn't always the case. If you aren't a past Celebrity/Azamara cruiser, there is a custom air fee ($75./person I think).

 

To help with the mystery of how cruise air works, this post on the "Cruise Air" forum, is very good: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=530322

[Beethovan]

Thanks for the info--unfortunately Azamara won't release their itinerary for flights in Aug. Was wondering if past travellers leaving from the East Coast(Miami,Phil, N.Y, Chicago) to board the ship in Rome with return from Athens to one of those cities could remember their flight itinerary ( basically don't want to have a 30 hr flight including lay-overs) Thanks

[Susan-M]

Thanks for the info--unfortunately Azamara won't release their itinerary for flights in Aug.

 

Without booking custom air, flight arrangements will remain unknown until your cruise docs arrive. Even if others had a good schedule with taking their chances on cruise air...you may not end up as lucky. There are only two ways to guarantee a good schedule ... by booking on your own, or arranging custom air with the cruise line, which you can do now. Good luck!:)

[tgg]

Be sure to factor in the cost of transfers for Rome. It can be quite expensive if done on your own. Public transportation for that trip is cumbersome and time consuming. You would also need to drag suitcases up some stairs.

[merlot101]

I did custom air and requested Delta and gave them flight numbers. I ended up with Delta going and UAL coming home (and a round about trip at that). Custom air doesn't give you a guarantee of what you really want. I was ready to cancel cruise air, but at that point it would cost me for cancelations. Good luck

[Susan-M]

I did custom air and requested Delta and gave them flight numbers. I ended up with Delta going and UAL coming home (and a round about trip at that). Custom air doesn't give you a guarantee of what you really want. I was ready to cancel cruise air, but at that point it would cost me for cancelations. Good luck

 

Did they go ahead and book the flights without confirming with you first that you were agreeable with the flights?

 

Whenever I've discussed custom air with the reps, we've discussed various options if my first choice isn't available ... but they didn't book without my OK.

[lady maven]

when i booked my 6/14 black sea cruise i requested air deviation, i researched the non stop flts from jfk to athens, and the return fco to jfk, i gave the delta flts to my ta for confirmation w azamara which i then received. after final payment this past week, i was able to get my desired seats (i called delta direct).........i have to say i was surprised that it went so well. the only problem is that their transfers wont apply to the first leg of the trip since i booked the king george palace hotel on my own ; however..........we'll get the transfer to the airport from rome on the return. that trip will probably be worth doing air w them, otherwise, it's a bit cheaper booking it on your own.

[Foggyzx9r]

Travelling out to do the Singapore Hong Kong cruise in Jan next year I wanted to upgrade our flights and arrange to stay over longer in Hong Kong.

 

I researched the flights so as to give us the best option and then got our TA to deal with Custom Air. No problems and were actually very helpful by suggesting another flight for a more relaxed journey home. First time cruisers and we were not charged any xtra. Flights were also upgraded at less than I would have got had I tried myself.

[stu]

hi

good luck and make sure you have travel insurance

 

we book late so not to have an aggravation i used azamara to book the air i usually do this myself but this included transfers so it sounded easy wroooooooong

 

the cruise leaves from Pireaus

 

we fly mia rome athens

as soon as i got my tickets i knew we where in big trouble 45 minutes between planes in rome i thought it aint going to work

i called the t.a. said no problem the cruise line is responsible to get you there on time

i called azamara they said alitalia is responsble to get you there and there is a 10 45 flight if you miss the 8 50

i called alatalia and they said no problem

we leave mia 1 1/2 hours late do to the summer afternoon weather as soon as we take off the gps says arrivial is 8 50 for our 8 50 to athens

we get to the help desk for alatalia the first thing they say is read the back of the ticket we are not responsible problem this is an e ticket so there is nothing to read

i ask about the 10 30 flight and they would be glad to put us on but it is overbooked

they find an over booked olimpic air that clears not mad at all this is travel today right

get to athens and of course there are not bags now to the baggage claim desk

after an hour there we are ready to meet the transfers for the ride to the ship of course they are not there we call the number in the book and of course no one answers know we are mad and its getting late so we hope the metro an hour from

piraeus we get too the ship as the life boat drill is ending and they ask where we have been make sure you have insurance

the cruise was great and if you dont get you bags my wife loves shopping in kusadasi

[joeyd]

We used Azamara last year to the Baltic and had great air arrangements from Phoenix - no long waits in airports, etc. We are also doing the Black Sea in August and we are trusting them again.

[brandonjordan]

Thanks for the info--unfortunately Azamara won't release their itinerary for flights in Aug. Was wondering if past travellers leaving from the East Coast(Miami,Phil, N.Y, Chicago) to board the ship in Rome with return from Athens to one of those cities could remember their flight itinerary ( basically don't want to have a 30 hr flight including lay-overs) Thanks

 

Just booked the cruise and air today. Did air ourserlves on US Air non-stop 8/22 PHL/Rome, 9/6 Athens/PHL coach $598/person.

 

Not sure how to navigate to/through roll calls for this trip. Are there a lot of people joining in? :)

[Andy]

Just booked the cruise and air today. Did air ourserlves on US Air non-stop 8/22 PHL/Rome, 9/6 Athens/PHL coach $598/person.

 

Not sure how to navigate to/through roll calls for this trip. Are there a lot of people joining in? :)

 

Hi Brandon !

 

From what you wrote, I believe you are sailing on Azamara Quest 8/23/09. Here is the link to Your Roll Call. Just click on the link below. Enjoy your Cruise !

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=764886

[captainK]

We just received our air schedule from Azamara yesterday for the August 9 Best of Italy and I am a little concerned. They have us on British Airways from Toronto to Heathrow arriving at 8:15AM and then a connect departing to Rome at 9:15AM. This is the same day as the cruise departs.

Our TA questioned the fine time line on the connection but was told by Azamara that this is a 'legal' connection according to BA rules and that BA is responsible for getting us to Rome should we miss the connection. That's not even taking in to account our luggage making it with us. Work schedules don't allow us to arrive a day early either. Azamara wants another $127 p/p to take an earler BA flight from Toronto that gets in an hour earlier to Heathrow.

Is an hour enough time to connect in Heathrow even if we arrive and depart from the same Terminal 5? :confused:

[crimsonbird]

we just received our air schedule from azamara yesterday for the august 9 best of italy and i am a little concerned. They have us on british airways from toronto to heathrow arriving at 8:15am and then a connect departing to rome at 9:15am. This is the same day as the cruise departs.

Our ta questioned the fine time line on the connection but was told by azamara that this is a 'legal' connection according to ba rules and that ba is responsible for getting us to rome should we miss the connection. That's not even taking in to account our luggage making it with us. Work schedules don't allow us to arrive a day early either. Azamara wants another $127 p/p to take an earler ba flight from toronto that gets in an hour earlier to heathrow.

Is an hour enough time to connect in heathrow even if we arrive and depart from the same terminal 5? :confused:

 

the only way it is enough time is if you are continuing on the same plane. If it is a different plane, there is not enough time. We had a similar situation last year traveling to india from new york. Even though we were continuing on through heathrow on the same plane....we had to deplane and walk almost a mile to go through security again.....and then find our way back to our original plane.

[BurBunny]

Even entirely in Terminal 5, that's really tight... but yes, it's "legal".

 

There's a later flight from Heathrow to Rome, but it would be almost impossible to make the ship in time, as it doesn't get in until 4:15P. The good news is that the next day we're close-by in Sorrento, so if either you or your luggage doesn't make the connection, it's easy to catch up to the ship. Hopefully that won't be the case, but it does ease the stress a bit.

[captainK]

the only way it is enough time is if you are continuing on the same plane. If it is a different plane, there is not enough time. We had a similar situation last year traveling to india from new york. Even though we were continuing on through heathrow on the same plane....we had to deplane and walk almost a mile to go through security again.....and then find our way back to our original plane.

 

Our TA, who is absolutely the best, canceled the Azamara air portion of our cruise and found direct flights booked through the cruise agency (Encore) including the port transfers for $400 less. :D

Phheewww!

[Paulchili]

Deleted

[BurBunny]

Our TA, who is absolutely the best, canceled the Azamara air portion of our cruise and found direct flights booked through the cruise agency (Encore) including the port transfers for $400 less. :D

Phheewww!

 

Excellent! Glad that's taken care of for you. Now to figure out the really important details such as excursions, where to have sailaway drinks, etc.

[captainK]

Excellent! Glad that's taken care of for you. Now to figure out the really important details such as excursions, where to have sailaway drinks, etc.

 

Working on the excursions right now for Sorrento and Sicily with other CC members. Sicily pretty well roughed out but two more people would help. Will go to the Aug. 9 roll call board for that.

[harz99]

We just received our air schedule from Azamara yesterday for the August 9 Best of Italy and I am a little concerned. They have us on British Airways from Toronto to Heathrow arriving at 8:15AM and then a connect departing to Rome at 9:15AM. This is the same day as the cruise departs.

Our TA questioned the fine time line on the connection but was told by Azamara that this is a 'legal' connection according to BA rules and that BA is responsible for getting us to Rome should we miss the connection. That's not even taking in to account our luggage making it with us. Work schedules don't allow us to arrive a day early either. Azamara wants another $127 p/p to take an earler BA flight from Toronto that gets in an hour earlier to Heathrow.

Is an hour enough time to connect in Heathrow even if we arrive and depart from the same Terminal 5? :confused:

 

Forget what is "legal" as relying on that will still give you problems and heartache if and when things do go wrong!

 

Minimum times I use at ANY airport around the world are 2 hours when both flights are at the same terminal, or 3 hours when a different terminal is involved - be it Domestic to International, International to International or any combination therof - it is not worth ruining your holiday for a too tight connection, better to spend a bit of time relaxing when all goes well.

[captainK]

Forget what is "legal" as relying on that will still give you problems and heartache if and when things do go wrong!

 

Minimum times I use at ANY airport around the world are 2 hours when both flights are at the same terminal, or 3 hours when a different terminal is involved - be it Domestic to International, International to International or any combination therof - it is not worth ruining your holiday for a too tight connection, better to spend a bit of time relaxing when all goes well.

 

Thanks and we canceled the AZ air and re-booked air through the firm handling our cruise and they found us non-stops via Air Canada both ways for $400 less.

All is good.

[tango9]

I am thinking of bookiing Azamara for October and using the Choice Air, becuase Azamara is offering $500 air credit to use it. They explain that I can choose whatever airline and schedule I want to fly and want to pay. Has anyone had this experience, using their Choice Air?

[Roatanfans]

We have a family group and for 7 of the 8 people we booked our own (we wanted to spend more time in both ports). Our 8th we used choice air and payed for a transfer. Yes, it was more than booking on our own, but it is very convenient, was exactly what we needed and AZ is supposed to moniter the flights and make sure you get to the ship so it was worth it for him as he is getting in the morning of the ship's departure.