uktog

Speak to Special Needs department in your circumstances I’m sure they can help. 

Are the ship offering a tattoo excursion that night?  If so you are as likely to get back to the ship ahead of the coaches if you can move sharply to the tram stop 

I’d say though you wouldn’t get the full drama of the lighting or fireworks at the 6.15 show. I’d go on the first night of your stay to the 2100 show. 

34 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

My only suggestion would be to limit the number of nights one could pre-book on embarkation day to say two on shorter cruises and three or maybe four on longer ones. Other than that the system works OK as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Phil 

Very fair I like that

Also enforce the no show charge - its published but I doubt it is regularly enforced particularly with some frequent cruisers who used to book out en bloc and then make their minds up on the afternoon or later what they are doing.  It should be as advertised - 24 hours before the fee kicks in unless there is a sound reason

39 minutes ago, cayman09 said:

So if boarding early in the process how bad is the line? What's the usual wait? I'm concerned with standing more than the time it takes due to bad knees & back.

I have waited up to 20 minutes in line but they had seats so as Phil says they do everything to make it comfortable. 
 

And another thing for returning cruisers, don’t use your desk time to chat to crew about how they are, what colleagues are onboard, how is their family. There is plenty time for that after day one 

7 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Yes, I've done onshore Azamazing and tendered too. Chania was one I remember. 

 

Phil 

And Hvar which also involved a walk - some loved it especially on the way back in the evening lights some didn’t 

36 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

Three stations on deck 9 portside near pool (Onward August 22).

Only one both trips Spring 2024 plus staff not experienced in using the terminals on one occasion and guests unfamiliar with product on the other. Three would certainly be a big help 

13 hours ago, rmalbers said:

I'm in the 'I liked it' camp on this one.  In fact, there have been posts like this before and I commented that I'll bet some ports in Alaska were like this, before mass tourism started (and ruined them).  I hope these types of places don't turn into that and stay the way they are.  I think this was the place where there was one tourist shop and they had, mostly all, stuff made by locals, just beautiful things for purchase.  (and they were selling a lot of it) 

I got a beautiful beaded tree decoration which I bought from a table set up outside an adult elderly day care centre. The gentleman was so excited I was buying it (I tried to tell him he should be charging more than 10 euros). They invited us in to see everyone doing the beading which was the craft activity of the day. Everyone was so happy and busy. The lady in charge explained that during the tourist season they do crafts each day to immediately sell and the money they make paid for extra winter treats when it was less fun. The older people get a real mental boost from working on things together and seeing who buys them
I travel for memories like that, not to be always herded in buses all the time or tramping behind a lollipop only experiencing what someone else decides. 
Structured tours, excursions what ever you call them have their places. But not in every port and certainly not in Greenland or on tiny islands. 

15 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

Right.  On Regent I was up at midnight scrambling to make my one allowed reservation after those in bigger suites got to make theirs first.  Luxury?  I don't think so.

Agree I had the same on Viking. The solution is easy and doesn’t need a big change - Azamara should better resource the booking desk on embarkation eg maybe have 2 terminals at each desk, staff on it should always know how to use it and a manager should help them “move on” dithering guests. Like others I always come with a list, some come not knowing which restaurant or day they want which slows it down. 

37 minutes ago, cayman09 said:

Our first Azamara too, we're in an N1 for 12 days. Is my understanding correct that we request all of our  reservations once we board? How many can we book during that time?

Yes you are correct booking onboard only and there is no limit on how many visits you make. 

9 hours ago, Redtravel said:

You may have enjoyed your walk.  Viking advertises an included tour in each port.  This is not a tour. 

Get real! You are going to Greenland. The description clearly said for both ports it was self guided. Maps and routes were available on the pier. We were greeted by delightful people including little girls having a lot of fun. 
If you went straight back here are examples of what you missed. 
 

Quaqortac

Nanotalik

We did these tours last year - they were two of the best trips we had.  Whilst it is self guided you meet the locals at each point.  And therein was the absolute delight - super people, happy to share about living there in all seasons and how unique life is.  It clearly said self guided on the Viking descriptions we saw pre boarding so were expecting it and loved it.

Interesting language- “your evening has been upgraded”. I think for the sake of those having onboard experiences maybe changed would be more sensitive 😀

Explora has announced that as of 5 Nov they are updating their onboard currency depending on the part of the world they are sailing.  Journey in the Americas/Caribbean will be in dollars and in Europe in Euros.  

Not sure how this works for transatlantics.

I will be in the minority but Euros worked better for us.

I am on a cruise starting 5 November that has a large amount of OBC designated in Euros - I am 100% sure we will lose out in conversion along the line

Just now, blag said:

I cannot comment on this. The only border control that we were aware of was our bags etc. passing through a scanner as we were leaving the pier and before we boarded, i.e. after the first check-in. 

Border control related to passport checks and processing of exit documentation/stamping passports and can involve agents for a country due to be visited. You will always have baggage scanned regardless of where you do check in and any border processing 

Thank you. The onboard rules seem to have changed recently. You certainly cannot have any border agent work and other activities in the same venue. 

48 minutes ago, tonyl1956 said:

In July (13th?) at Piraeus, part of check in on the Journey was in the cabaret lounge but the full muster was still there later on. Cruise cards had been issued in the terminal but credit card swipe, contract ‘signing’ and passport surrender was carried out in the lounge.

Yes as I indicated whenever the cabaret is used for any element of check in (and that varies depending on what dock Azamara gets) they cannot do the group by group muster there as well so it has to be a full ship event later on.

Whilst the mass event is not ideal, it is only 50% of the Cruise passengers maximum that would be in one place so in many ways no worse than going to the dining room or theatre later on in the day in terms of contact with others. 

31 minutes ago, hamrag said:

Are B2B passengers exempt for the second cruise?

Yes but only if you have the same muster station both cruises (does not have to be the same room) 

It all depends whether the Cabaret Lounge is being used to process check ins or not what the method is. If check in is on the pier it’s the small groups process if check in is onboard it is the all together method 

6 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Some TAs have agreements with cruise lines that they don’t pay until the passenger is onboard.

And therein lies the problem with Seaware

1 hour ago, manc said:

In  the UK I booked using OBC and a few days later received an email for the small amount outstanding. When I phoned to pay was told £1800 to pay. We depart soon and paid final invoice long ago. Was eventually able to sort it but office still not great. Hoping ship will be usual high standard. 

At least you managed to pay - its a problem linked to Seaware.  Explora Journeys also has this issue but unfortunately they cannot take any payments, you have to contact your travel agent and pay them so they can pay Explora.  Also Explora you cannot even search for excursions against your booking as it says you have an outstanding balance and you have to pay that before you can do anything.  Travel agents can send you a PDF .....  

Seaware has a lot to answer for, at least Azamara has put in place some work arounds 

As part of a service recovery after shortening our cruise by three days EJ offered us their pre cruise package. We accepted (still to have it) but we aren’t impressed. 

No airport transfer included (that’s ok I know transfers in from the airport and they are easy to set up)

Then the gem a few weeks later, although it’s supposed to be bed and breakfast they’ve only got room only rates at the hotel. The only solution they could propose was to give us OBC (hmm not really useful for our cruising style) to cover breakfast costs. As it happens we aren’t really breakfast people so can work round it but it’s not impressive 

My advice would be you or your agent will be able to set up the equivalent hotels and transfers for less, it will be properly set up and you will have much more control/flexibility as well 

For most people the EES will mean little difference, every year the ETAIS gets pushed back but when it comes in, for us, it’s no different than we already have for coming to the USA or Canada. Yes another authorisation to get and watch the expiry of. At least they are planning to have the validity for 5 years and the cost lower as Canada extends to us and not the 2 year higher cost of the USA. 
 

5 minutes ago, blag said:

Other guests have received the same letter today.

Yes it’s a standard issue most cruises- if it doesn’t happen it’s got overlooked by the Cruise Sales Manager 

51 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

There was Fever Tree on our West Africa cruise in Feb/March this year

Until it’s consistent it’s not progress sorry 

We had an excursion we cancelled that was paid pre cruise at a sterling price (UK booking) on our credit card. The refund went to our onboard Account in Euros. At the conclusion of the Cruise as the refund had been done in euros we opted to withdraw the euros cash which was then going to be useful for some other travel plans we had rather than leave it for our credit card to convert it to sterling