Jay19

Just a quick thought, it might be worth trying the survey again when you get home. I had some really strange problems with email when we were in Japan in hotels and airport and they have now all resolved. No clue why.

Sorry to hear that. We got our survey for the same cruise and were able to complete it with no problems. We had a wonderful time, thought the ship, crew and itinerary were all great. We did some different tours to you, so if you don’t mind I thought I would add some notes about them when we get home just to give a few more perspectives of other options for some ports.

I'm glad you were able to get the shore excursion details and book what you wanted. Can I suggest that when you make final payment you either ask your TA to request your Guest Ticket Booklet, or you could call Azamara and request it yourself. I was able to do that for our upcoming Japan cruise and it listed all the tours we have booked and gave details of any OBC, packages etc. Easy then to print and take with you.

There is an excellent blog from the Japan cruises on Azamara from last March and April. It is on page 5 and is entitled, "Japan - do tell". Hopefully it will give you more information about the ports etc and be of help in your decision making.

As I said above, we genuinely have enjoyed the onboard experience of O and would gladly keep sailing with them if it were not for the issues of the missing ports and cut port times. We also haven't been happy about the way customers were treated with the Red Sea cruise. We sail for the itinerary first and foremost and for that reason we currently have 5 cruises booked on Azamara and none on Oceania.

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with O, 4 cruises and ports missed on all of them as well as time cut from the ports on the last one.

If you have never sailed on Azamara, why do you feel you are qualified to make this kind of judgement? If someone were to write this about Oceania and then say "but then we have never sailed on Oceania" wouldn't you be annoyed and tell them they should try it before commenting? We have sailed on Oceania and Azamara and enjoyed both. The ships of both fleets are well maintained, crew are great and hard working on both and both lines have their strengths and weaknesses. I realize you are a huge Oceania fan but perhaps in future you could avoid making sweeping generalizations without the knowledge to back them up.

Please do keep posting, I am really loving your photos and information. I also admire your enthusiasm and ability to look for the best in everything rather than for things to complain about. I hope you continue to have a wonderful time on what sounds like an incredible experience.

We're also booked on a September cruise and I used the "Contact us" email address to request a pdf of the shore excursion details. I received them just a few days later and they include the full details of the tours plus cost. I plan on calling next week to book the ones I want using OBC. Hope that helps.

We are also long time Azamara cruisers, our first sailings with them were in 2009. Our last were in October last year and we had a wonderful time. We have 5 more booked through mid 2025. We are Elite+ on Celebrity and have also sailed Oceania but Azamara remains our favourite. I am not saying they are perfect but, as I have said on another thread, I have never been on a cruise that was. I can say that we always leave the ship really wishing we didn't have to and counting the days till the next trip.

I was told that also, although my understanding was that this is only applicable if the original b2b booking is made under one number. On our cruise last year I was not able to carry OBC across as, even though the booking was eventually given one number, the original booking was made as two segments with separate booking numbers allocated. As it turned out it didn't matter because I'd spent it by then anyway! 😀

My interactions with agents lately have been very good to excellent. I have been getting through in just a couple of minutes and have been able to do what I wanted very quickly and easily. There was one exception, and in that case it was obvious in the first couple of minutes that this person was not going to be helpful so, like Laurie, I just politely ended the call, called right back and got someone else. When the calls took ages to get through I used to feel I had to persist, even though I knew I was going to end up getting angry, now I just don't bother. I honestly do think that things have improved dramatically from early last year though. One thing I was impressed with this week was that I used the contact form to ask for pdf shore excursion brochures for our autumn cruises. I was expecting to have to wait a while but in fact I got them within a couple of days. The accompanying email did say to remember that pricing and availability is subject to change so I will likely book the ones I really want soon. On our upcoming Japan cruise I booked excursions quite early but even then there was one that was sold out.

I'm obviously in the minority here but I really wouldn't be bothered if Azamara stopped the Azamazing evenings. I can think of only two that we have been to that I would describe as exceptional, one at Hopetoun House in Edinburgh and the other at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco and that one was more about the musical entertainment than the venue. On our b2b last autumn we decided against going to either of the evenings, one in Ephesus and the other in Koper. We knew that after being out all day the last thing we would feel like was rushing to eat early, particularly when we don't like buffets, so decided to wait until people had gone and then have dinner in the MDR. We anticipated being virtually alone but were surprised at the number of people there. I do wonder if perhaps less people now go to some of the events and that also makes the evenings less economical. We all know that the costs of travel are rising steadily, not just flights, hotels and tours (including private), but entry fees, transport, food and drink costs. It also seems as if everywhere is much more crowded and getting around can take a lot more time. We have been on a couple of Azamazing evenings where the bus has got stuck in traffic and with traffic volumes seemingly increasing in all cities that could become more of a regular occurrence. Azamara has to take all of these things into account and decide whether the cost of holding these evenings is really the best use of their money. Personally I feel that it isn't and I would rather see them use it for better food or on board entertainment.

I can assure you that on our Oceania Alaska cruise last year there were plenty of tours way in excess of the prices you have quoted.

So how do you feel about the Best of the Best dinner where only top suite guests are invited?