uktog

2 minutes ago, Symmes99 said:

My cancelled cruise was an Egypt/Israel cruise on the Journey round-trip from Athens, departing on 10/30/25. Azamara had not said what the journey would do instead.  

I think they’re waiting to decide how to handle their winter schedule in general and transitioning vessels between Europe and the East. They will probably wait until they see how well the current no long port stop plan has worked for Journey and Onward and what timings are realistic for the future. 
They are probably also having to reschedule some lucrative charters as well which from a business perspective will be something they also have to focus on. 
At least for October 2025 there is time and no one has air commitments confirmed yet 

4 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

Have they announced the replacement cruises?

Which voyages are you talking about?  Your original post was about May or are you talking about other redeployments?  If you search Azamaras website all their currently available cruises are shown there 

An alternative is you can withdraw the balance as cash on the last night. That’s a good option for non US guests who can use dollars in other situations. As we were disembarking in Miami that’s what we did 

Not sure what you mean by fewer perks. All veranda plus cabins have the same benefits. If it was me, given the benefits are minimal anyway I’d go on Deck 7 every time. They created the plus category and designated Deck 8 cabins into it to try and sell these less popular locations. Only the aft veranda plus are worth the upsell in my view 

It also causes issues in the kitchen focusing on getting 12 meals out to the pass simultaneously and this impacts on service for other guests. We saw two groups of 6 (yes the models the influencers and their camera folk) as to have 3 tables of 4 put together when they arrived at Fil Rouge one night. The General Manager was called and she said no. Unfortunately they then shouted across the place but at least the waiters were only taking orders from one table at a time 

22 minutes ago, longterm said:

Even on a Sunday?

Sunday can have the day trippers out. Took me an hour last weekend to just up the road from the dockyard. Roadworks in Edinburgh and a breakdown just before the bridge. It’s quite unpredictable but I’ve rarely done it in 30 minutes 

8 minutes ago, longterm said:

I did think about that; our plan is to make sure we're in a car by 3:30, which should get us to the dockyard by 4, and then if it takes 10 minutes to get on board, we'll be fine.

We like being early, so we'll probably err on the side of caution when the day comes. 🙂

On our Med cruise, we watched from our balcony as 2 people ran up to the gangway, right at the time we were supposed to push off. They ran up the gangway, and within minutes the gangway was stowed, lines pulled in, and we were pushing off the dock.

Could I suggest you aim to be at the car a little earlier. 30 minutes from Leith to Rosyth is optimistic during commute times which starts around 3 these days. It’s a route I do a lot and one I’d say is 45 minutes is the minimum during rush hour as you’ve got to get out from Leith as well. Even with its “hard shoulder” it just takes a little breakdown and everything really slows down on the bridge as well 

Given that TA credit is refundable, you could book the excursions now and pay for them and then once your cruise is over your credit balance offsets your original spend (assuming you havent spent on board for other things that was not covered by other OBC)

OBC from your TA rarely appears until boarding. You can’t make speciality reservations before boarding. Speak to your TA about what they can do re your excursions 

On 5/1/2024 at 1:39 AM, Dr H said:

We were on that cruise in '22, and it really was wonderful, almost a cruise of a lifetime. It just so happens that Celebrity Millennium has an almost identical run, Mumbai to Singapore, more via Thailand/Malaysia than Indonesia, 14 days December 7th. It drops the Dubai (which we really liked, considering our personal prejudices) to Mumbai run, but essentially they were only sea days. It's truly a fraction of the Azamara price, and while Celebrity isn't Azamara by a long shot, if you are interested in the itinerary, I say grab it.  I did, booked steerage, paid bupkiss. Celebrity met my criteria for future cruises with them, knowing they ain't Azamara -  low price, great itinerary, and roughly one quarter the price Aza was charging.  Take a look, India with all its quirks is a pretty amazing place, Sri Lanka was beyond spectacular, complete with a day safari without the malaria, and I've never been to Thailand, and my wife won't let me go alone. Keep us/me posted Kevin, we Long Island guys need to stick together at times like these.  David

Azamara wisely opted to cancel that voyage on Journey. They are going from Singapore direct to round Africa which reduces lost revenue days and minimises risk. There have also been challenges with port authorities in India and Sri Lanka and Myanmar is right off the agenda so I would expect them to take some time to rework all the schedules involving moving ships out of the Mediterranean to Asia or Australia 

32 minutes ago, tgg said:

Azamara has scheduled a webinar for May 14 to introduce Dondra Ritzenthaler to loyalty members. I got this confirmation email after I registered:

 

 

Thank you for registering for "Exclusive Loyalty Webinar Q&A with Azamara's New CEO".

Please join us for an exclusive opportunity to meet our new CEO, Dondra Ritzenthaler! As a top-tier member of our loyalty program, we want you to be among the first to get to know her. Please RSVP and submit your questions in the Questions & Comments box below.

Please send your questions, comments and feedback to: salessupport@azamara.com

 

Yes got an email about that event. Not sure the timings work for us but we will see. Might send in a question anyway 

11 minutes ago, aliaschief said:

In a mass practice emergency drill yesterday Milan was deceased but miraculously arose and back to his wonderful service. Agree he is a great ambassador for Azamara.

I remember our first time meeting him when he was on his first contract as an assistant waiter 

This cancellation was made several weeks ago.  Are you not aware of the situation in the Middle East?  No cruiseship is doing that route for obvious reasons

7 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

Our tradition is to bring a bottle of Taittinger's and have it during the sail away. On 11/23 cruise on the Onward, they would not give me a bucket of ice and glasses at the pool bar. I gave them the bottle and the deck steward brought it to us.

Unless you pay corkage, the pool bar were following the correct procedures

15 hours ago, tgg said:

This will work if you cancel within the specified time before the excursion. I'm sure someone else here knows the timeframe. 24 or 48 hours?

Recently on Journey most ports were 48 hours before but some were 72 hours 

12 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Does further mean closer to the Royal Mile?  It is a pretty good uphill walk from the Square to the Mile. We stayed just off the Mile and did walk down Colburn St. one day to New Town but other wise everything we did was based on or near the Mile. I would hope there is a drop off closer than the Square. 

Unfortunately it only takes the walk to Princes Street out. Due to congestion no drop offs are possible nearer I’m afraid. 

2 hours ago, shipboy said:

Not a problem in Scotland, the midges eat them

Give me a mosquito over a midge any day (and I’m Scottish) 

11 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

The Viking shuttle from Newhaven Harbour (where you tender to) runs to Charlotte Square in the New Town.  "New" is a relative term, it's 200-250 years old!  It takes 15-20 minutes and runs every half hour on the hour and half hour.

And if you want to pay for a transfer at point the Edinburgh teams run from the disembarking at Newhaven to the New Town and further on 

I think the onboard booking benefits should stay in full (discount and OBC) if a cruise is moved by the cruise line. It’s the very least that should be done to aid retention. I also think the guest should get to choose if they want their original other booking perks or the ones attacking to the new booking (but not both!)

We have been given them on both Quest and Journey in the last six weeks -  however we now pack a spare one just in case, it adds virtually no weight and having got caught out on Onward and it was a right pain we learned our lesson

8 minutes ago, fruitmachine said:

The trouble is that they can't guarantee that lots of 'early' diners won't linger for a longer meal.  There's no guarantee that you'll get on an 8.00 booking at 7.15 and folk would start to get angry if their 7.15 table was still occupied at 7.30. 

The alternative is that they keep that table free from opening until 7.15, in effect reducing the total capacity of the restaurant as you'd only get one sitting on it in the whole evening.

 

IMHO the system works well - if there's a table free early you can occupy it early.

 

 

I can see that issue though other cruise lines seem to manage the issue no problem.  I just get frustrated that its obviously possible for them to take 7.30 bookings - I know some regular guests get 7 or 7.30 all the time - but its not made generally available.

14 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I know speciality booking times on Azamara are offered at 6/6:30 and 8/8:30 however we have never had a problem with arriving earlier than our booking time. We like to eat somewhere between 7:15 and 7:45. We book the 8 or 8:30 time, then turn up at about 7:45. We’ve nearly always been seated immediately and no-one has ever told us we are too early!

Indeed that’s why I’d like Azamara to open up the schedule for these time slots officially- it would work for so many guests 

14 minutes ago, Pride In Battle said:

So you are saying you can book one of the specialists restaurants before you travel ? Thanks 

On another line yes not on Azamara 

I’m now sailing on lines that have limited pre booking and on Azamara.  The limited pre booking where the line allows one reservation only works fine as it allows me to be sure I have a reservation for a “special date” if one arises during the cruise.  It’s stressful but manageable so long as you keep a track of cruise -60 days when all bookings open. On balance I like that approach. 

One line varies the number of bookings you can make and when you can access it depending on your room category.  That does give issues and quite a bun fight the day bookings open for standard cabins not least because higher ups may have block booked as Phil describes. I don’t like that approach.  

The Azamara system works up to a point for me.  I’ve never had an issue getting a reservation but I have had to be flexible with dates/times/venues. Given the new tarrif for specialities I think problems will be even less particularly taking account of how good Discoveries has been at least on two ships.  

What I do really think needs changing is the rigidity of the two sitting timings.  I know people have correctly pointed out that they’ve managed to negotiate reservations at 7:15 or 7:30 but staff make it feel like such a big deal to do this.  I think they should be changing to reflect what the other lines and indeed shoreside restaurants do in running a multiple sitting operation with reservations being available every 15 minutes across the opening times.  If small shoreside galleys can do this to Michelin standard so can Azamara. I think the binary option of reservation windows is what adds to the tensions.  
 

And suite guests should be charged the penalty if they don’t cancel at least 24 hours ahead unless for extenuating circumstances.  (A penalty is advertised but the managers are pressured to waive it). Some frequent suite dwellers seem to expect their precise  table to be available every night regardless of whether they come or not.  I know it really frustrates the restaurant managers but they can’t say a thing.  It’s not fair on other guests. 

4 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

A real adventure for you. I'd be doing the same as you and staying on the ship. It will indeed be very different. I'm sure the ship will lay on lots of special activities to keep both you and the crew occupied!
 

Phil 

I wish we’d had the opportunity to buy that adventure- even if I was not allowed off. I see Greg Redfern is back for more star gazing and there are potentially big meteor showers to see next week - how wonderful