Azamazingal

Just checked YouTube (cabin tours).

They say that there are face flannels and European 2-pin sockets.

I think she flew direct from Gatwick very early on a flight organised by Azamara and was then bussed to the port, arriving well before cleaning had finished and embarcation had begun.

We flew very early from Glasgow (also on Azamara's flight), changing planes in Amsterdam and still had to queue outside for one hour before we got to check-in.

I do think that, if Azamara include the flights, they should organise a more comfortable waiting experience if passengers cannot immediately board.

This is confusing.  The UK Gov website says:

All travellers

All travellers should familiarise themselves with the entry rules for France before travel.

From 1 August 2022, all COVID-19 travel restrictions for travellers to France have been lifted. The rules that previous applied to travellers coming to France no longer apply:

• you are no longer required to present proof of vaccination
• you are no longer required to fill out any forms prior to your arrival in France, such as a justification for travel or a sworn statement
• you are no longer required to show proof of a negative PCR or antigen test upon arrival in France

This also applies to travel between metropolitan France and each of the French overseas territories.

Similarly, no travel justification is required by the French authorities to travel to another country from France.

We, like several of you, will be entering France on a private bus from Genoa.

On 5/11/2022 at 12:05 PM, AJCM said:

I was just reviewing the shore excursions on our Pursuit cruise on 30 Sep, ending in Ravenna.

 

Azamara’s including a bus transfer to the Venice bus terminal for AUD205 or to airport for AUD191.

 

Does anyone know whether such transfers are gratis for those who booked when the cruise was to  end in Venice?

 

If not, I’ll have homework to do, to identify alternatives- anyone have any knowledge of the cost of alternatives?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

If you booked the cruise before April 2022, I think they are free/included.  If you booked later then there is this exorbitant charge.  We are travelling post-cruise in August from Ravenna to Bologna, stopping for a few days and flying out of there.  Highly recommended if you have been to Venice before.

On 4/22/2022 at 10:08 PM, hodoc said:

My August 6 cruise on Journey now shows the final port as Venice and not Ravenna.

Has anyone heard from Azamara 

We have just booked this cruise and are flying out of Bologna.  It is closer than Venice (where we have been several times) and is a beautiful place to visit.  We are staying there for two days but our travelling companions are flying home the first evening.

I think that the one hour rail trip costs 13 Euros but, for convenience, the five of us have arranged a more expensive door-to-door transfer.

I have bought three seperate balcony guarantees recently for Anthem.  I was amazed that I was quickly assigned some of the best cabins on board.  One even had a large balcony.  For my fourth cruise I chose the cheapest, worst location  balcony I could see in order to save £££££. (No guarantees were then available).  I am sure I will enjoy it.

I went into my local Lloyds chemist today for a reassuring chat and then booked in for testing 2 days before my next cruise.  No money taken and free cancellation if required.

I had been debating whether or not to join this conversation but, as Regent has not asked for feedback, I have decided to share my thoughts. This was my 43^rd cruise, my first with Regent and the one I enjoyed the least. It was, by far, the most expensive.

It started badly with transfers to the Rome hotel and to the ship poorly organised. We had an 11.30 check-in time but arrived at the port at 14.30 and just managed a snack at the pool grill before it closed. Breakfast in Rome before that was mediocre.

The best thing about the cruise was the suite. It was very nice. Next best was the amount of champagne, caviar and lobster available (although I am more of a beer and burger type of person so was not that interested). The crew were friendly, eager to help but not always fully trained or experienced.

Evening meals were generally not hot and service was slow. They did improve. The first buffet breakfast was chaotic. Too few crew and too many passengers. No queueing system. It did improve but, even when relatively empty, we had to find a used table and guard it whilst it was being relaid. I often had cereal and coffee in the coffee shop rather than endure the buffet with its array of exotic dishes. At first we lunched at the pool grill rather than endure the buffet chaos. Later we went there and were not impressed by the (often lukewarm) food.

There were far fewer onboard activities that we have been used to. We managed one trivia and no shows. They did not appeal.  Maybe that is us rather than them.

We missed three stops and three excursions (my favourites) due to bad weather but I did wonder if we could have remained in Livorno (or make the short hop to Genoa or La Spezia) rather than cruise aimlessly for two days.

We tested negative (at no cost) on the final evening. But we were covid positive when we got home. We still are.

Around eight weeks before sail date, on a big promotion sale weekend, I booked a guarantee JS on Anthem for a 5-day short cruise. I paid £1,185 for two. Shortly afterwards all JS were “sold out”. Then I made a series of frivolous (weak) bids for a Grand Suite and above.

About four weeks later we got a call from our TA saying that RC had called her to say that there were no JS available. “Would we take a large balcony at 30% discount?” We said, “No.”

An hour after that she called back to say that RC were now offering the balcony for zero fare – just cruise taxes of £412 total. We said “Yes”.

A couple of days later, the App indicated that we had been allocated a good large balcony cabin and we could complete check-in and print luggage tags etc. We were told that the refund might take around four weeks.

Then RC e-mailed me to say that my RoyalUp bids were cancelled but that I could submit new ones. I assumed that that was because I originally had a JS but was now balcony. Having an extra £773 in my pocket (almost) I made a series of better (fair) bids.

Two days later RC cancelled my bids and said that I could re-submit them. I did. They cancelled my bids daily and I re-submitted them each time.

Three days after the first cancellation I found that RC had credited my card with £1,013. No new financial statement was available. But now my balcony seemed to be costing £172 or £86 each! Eventually my “status” was changed from JS to balcony and my RoyalUp bids were accepted. A revised invoice then appeared with the cruise cost as £86 per person.

Whilst on board we were notified that the RoyalUp bids were unsuccessful but we received a port tax refund of £11 each. So our cruse now cost £75!

I am interested to know if any of this has happened to anyone else and, if they know, what would have happened if we had declined their offer to pay just cruise taxes? Would they have gone lower, given us a GS or dismissed us?

53 minutes ago, TravelMadBrits said:

For UK cruisers that used Eurofins recently, did you take any ID like passport? I can’t find any info on this. Have our test tomorrow 8.30am for Monday’s sailing.  Really hoping they get the results processed quickly! 

You must take your passport so they can check that it is you taking the test - not a covid free substitute.  I tested today and was okayed wearing a large hat and a face mask!

Azamazingal, I didn’t realise there was an option to fly down to London, is that because you are more than 250 miles from Dover? was that included in your cruise or is it an optional extra! We live in NW wales and are also more than 250 miles away, it would be easier for us to get to Manchester and fly down to London x

As we are nearly 500 miles from Dover, I asked if we could drive to relatives in Yorkshire (250 miles) and get picked up from there.  Instant response was that a flight from Scotland and transfer would be provided at no extra cost.  Would it not be easier for you to drive to the other side of Chester, rather than be bothered with a short flight?  It might be possible to "buy" extra miles over the 250, either from home or from Chester.  Why not explore all these options with Saga?

I'm following too as we will be on Spirit of Discovery next April,

Hoping to pick up lots of advice.

This will be our 40th cruise with ten completed on Azamara.

Saga are flying us from Glasgow to Gatwick with a transfer to Dover.

A

Lottie and Pam

What coincidences.

We are booked on Spirit of Discovery next July

And our first Oceania cruise next April (with lots of extras).

But we have recently finished a B2B on Braemar and will be re-boarding later this month.

Nothing planned for Azamara though.

Al

Lunch will not be available.  But afternoon tea will! (in the afternoon)

I stand corrected.

Lunch will not be available.  But afternoon tea will! (in the afternoon)

I would guess that boarding might start around 1.30pm with the more expensive cabins given priority.

No idea if you might have to wait if you arrive early.

Pam - Sorry, I was ambiguous.  My bid was accepted in that it was received successfully.  I do not expect any upgrade though.  My sliders for the corner suites went into the several thousands £ pp - can't remember exactly how many though.  Amazingal

Having had 3 invitational e-mails and after reading this thread, I decided to apply.

Instant response - not eligible.

Then I received a message in my junk folder saying that I was eligible!

So I responded and put in a small bid (minimum £150 pp) to upgrade from balcony to small suite.

This was accepted.  It did suggest that, in the event of a tie, loyalty status would be taken into account.

However, the cruise is almost full - only a few inside and OV left.

Are they relying on late cancellations?  Azamara response below:

What happens if I'm upgraded?

• We’ll notify you via email and your credit card will be charged for the specific upgrade offer that’s accepted.
• When you log into your My Account, you'll see your new stateroom number, which will be assigned based on availability.

If you're not upgraded, you'll keep the stateroom you already have. You will not be billed for any additional amounts. 

Good luck! Please remember that each offer on a stateroom is considered its own offer and is considered independently of one another. Only 1 of your offers will be accepted based on availability and if you have submitted a winning bid.

Le Club Voyage members will be given priority based on loyalty tier.

We'll notify you via email starting 60 days out up until 3 days prior to sailing if your offer is accepted!   

We look forward to welcoming you aboard.

Found the survey interesting, especially the one question that specifically addressed the question as to how much we are willing to pay for a smaller ship experience.

As I remember it, the question asked what we would expect to pay!

That is not the same as asking what we would be willing to pay.

I got both surveys by the way.

It does make sense if you have done 3 Azamara cruises and 6 with Celebrity. But it would not if the figures were 100 and 101 respectively. It is Azamara, after all, who are giving away the free nights.

Just to give you some sense of scale, we did 9 Azamara cruises, all but one in a balcony, before getting the free nights.

Thanksto a link from this forum, I checked the Celebrity website for ourcruise history.

Whilstthe list was accurate, I got the impression that the allocated pointswere wrong.

7-nightcruises in a balcony scored 30, 21 or 35 points depending …...

SoI e-mailed leclubvoyageuk and got a quick and helpful reply from Markstating that the points scheme changed on Nov 23, 2013 and again onDec 31, 2014. So, three completely different scales apply.

Anyway,we had over 300 points and so qualified for 4 free nights. We chosea cruise and asked our TA to get prices for a CC suite and a V2balcony. This took several days and she reported back that the replyfrom Azamara made no sense. The second email's prices indicatedthat we would get less than one free night in a suite and just threein a balcony. No explanation, but I understand that as most of ourcruises have been in a balcony we were to have virtually no discountin a suite. And although we had four free nights in a balcony wemust pay for seven days' port charges and taxes. We booked thebalcony with about 40% off the advertised price.

Ido appreciate that it seems inappropriate for someone who has cruisedentirely in an inside cabin to get free nights in a suite but ittakes 150 days of inside travel to accumulate 300 points. Thisprobably costs more than the 17 days it takes in a big suite. So, isthe logic correct?

Next,and again thanks to this forum, we applied for the $398 upgrade. Both I and the TA got an e-mail in reply which included thefollowing:

“Youhave now been waitlisted. If a stateroom upgrade becomes availablefor your upcoming voyage, the Le Club Voyage Desk will contact you oryour Travel Partner 2 - 4 weeks prior to your departure. Pleaseremember Le Club Voyage Stateroom Upgrades are subject toavailability, and will be prioritized based on your Le Club Voyagetier, then by time of request.“

Sonow we know how the allocation is made. Hard to change your tier butapply early.

We were offered our upgrade just eight days before sailing.

This was Quest a couple of months ago.

If we could get to PV earlier in the morning....by say 6am that would give us a few hours in Carcassonne. I wouldn't mind getting up very early indeed if we could get to this magnificent medieval city. I know others feel the same. I would even do a ship's tour!

 

Do you think you could ask Miami whether it would be possible?

Many thanks.

We are on this cruise and would support the change.

We were there on Quest last September and agree with everything said.

The tram fare had just gone up to 4 Turkish Lire (regardless of distance) and there are ticket machines at every stop. The trams are often just one minute apart and can be busy - but they get you about quickly. Taxis can take 15 minutes to get over the bridge.

Strictly speaking guarantee cabins can be assigned up to a week or so before sailing although in reality you'll probably find out sooner than that, perhaps in the next week or so. If inside cabins are sold out then Azamara's revenue department is waiting for one to open up because of say a cancellation or upgrade of one of the existing inside cabins. They may do a bit of re jigging and you could end up with an upgrade if you are lucky, but it's a waiting game at present.

Phil

I totally agree with that. But, on our last cruise we met someone at check in who, even at that late stage, did not know what cabin, sorry stateroom, he was in.

The internet can stop on sea days when everyone on board is using it. Try to log on when most people are ashore or eating.