AllisonJames

Saw an article on many cruise lines who are handling muster drill via a video on their app…to be more efficient and avoid starting the cruise with everyone crammed into a small space in an attempt to keep everyone healthier. Considering the difficulties using the AZ website and online booking, I am not hopeful that AZ is doing it that way (RCCL is however) so I was just wondering how it is being handled by AZ now?

Well, tried it on a desktop and still nothing. Shopping bag brings up reservation details in a smaller window and then shows a list of my booked shore excursions but when I click on them I just get the description of the excursion and no way to pay. I never had the onboard credit icon they describe in my record, so is that the problem?

Well, posting the screenshot to see if this is helpful to anyone…my travel agent received this. HOWEVER, I tried it out and it is not exactly clear to me how to “navigate to the payment screen” — I did get to something that looked like a payment screen, (by clicking on the pencil icon next to the booked excursion) however, I did not have the “cancel” option as described in the directions, I had an “apply” option but when I clicked on it nothing seemed to happen. And AZ has told my agent shore excursions must be paid for prior to boarding either with onboard credit or by credit card. I wonder if anyone is testing these directions before distributing? You can’t just say “navigate to the payment screen” without showing how to do it. If anyone has any answers, once again I’d appreciate the help!

I’m not going to vote yet because our first AZ cruise in four years is in August. But if I had to vote now I would probably say NO due to all the pre-cruise issues we have experienced as well as our travel agent. So it remains to be seen if the onboard experience combined with the Perry Golf package (very important to my husband) outweighs all this aggravation. I hope so!

Believe me, I would prefer not to, but it has been very difficult to find tours for this cruise…Scotland Intensive 8/17. It’s high season with the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Fringe Festival going on so the cities have been challenging for tours and the small islands just don’t have much available either. Thank Goodness I have an amazing travel agent! But it should not have to be this way!

Yes, after a number of attempts (and previous posts begging for help) managed to book (and have them actually saved in my account) some shore excursions. Thought I had conquered the challenge, but the ridiculousness continues. I was not asked to make payment when I booked so I thought (based on posts from all the helpful people on this board) “well, they have either utilized my onboard credit — I had more than enough to cover what I booked — or, it will all be settled onboard.” HA. Silly me! My travel agent called to tell me she received a payment link from AZ because we had a balance due…and you guessed it, it was for the shore excursions I booked two days ago. So, they have nothing else fixed except the ability to demand payment for shore excursions and turn that request around in under 48 hours…even if you shouldn’t have to pay for it anyway! Has anyone else have this happen…beware, it might be coming. And my agent spent 90 minutes trying to get through and is now resorting to emailing someone she knows personally at AZ. I told her “tell that person they better get someone high up in AZ to come on the Cruisecritic board and communicate with all their best customers because there are a lot of very pissed off people right now.” over the years, I have tweeted some very nice things about AZ, and they always responded...I’m about to Tweet directly to AZ to see if by some miracle that gets a response.

On previous cruises we have had to show boarding documents to enter certain ports…not the case everywhere but required in enough places that we like to have them. Especially now when it appears that the pre-cruise experience with AZ is such a mess.

Okay, so it appears to be that the website doesn’t work well on the IPad. On the desktop I had the Continue buttons and the Store buttons on the bottom of the screen….did not have those on the IPad! I could hit Continue and it would show up on my list, then I could book another, then I could click on shopping bag icon and click on Store. It is still somewhat confusing because after you do those steps, if you go to exit it says your info will be lost…but it was there when I went back in…I guess the “Store” is the key, which is kind of odd wording and in the US could be interpreted of where you shop…Save might have been more clear. If I hired an IT company like this in my profession I would have been fired and they would be too!

In the past, Ireland, Scotland, The Open cruise have tended to be popular. I’m on Scotland as well and when I last checked it appeared that Veranda categories were sold out…but given the state of AZ booking engine…who knows?

Well, I will try from a desktop computer this time around. Because my shore excursions appeared in my booked excursions initially but there were no “check out” options or further prompts that indicated I needed to take more steps.

Goodness what a beating the pre-cruise experience is right now. Makes me wonder if anyone from AZ is even reading this board because fixing seems very slow. A few days ago I booked some shore excursions online…while I was still in record it was all showing…did not give me an option to check out or “save” and when you go to sign out, just says if you sign out you will lose info but again, no option to “save” so I kept myself “signed in” and you guessed it, now they are not showing in my record…I have never had so many technical challenges…could it be the site is not set up correctly for IPad use? I have also noticed weird layout issues in the onboard cruise booking section…

Such a mystery to me. I couldn’t find anywhere in my account where the onboard credit was showing…the system did however allow me to book some shore excursions without asking for payment…so can I assume it was just deducting from my credit?

This is such a personal preference…really depends on what you like to drink the most and what quality you find acceptable or if you have a brand you must have. We have done 4 AZ cruises without the add on packages and we enjoy our wine and our cocktails. The cocktails we ended up purchasing tended to be of the “after dinner” variety because ports and liqueurs like Grand Mariner are not included…where we really struggle is with the included wines, particularly the whites. Our last cruise we purchased a few bottles but didn’t really find anything we really enjoyed…our upcoming cruise we’ve decided that with the loyalty discount, we are going to try the Ultimate package. Having better quality wine and sparkling wine/champagne may be worth it to us….we will see!

I am sure this has been asked before but I can’t seem to find the search feature on my IPad (any help with that appreciated!) In reading the onboard booking benefits description on the website it seems to indicate the $300 onboard credit benefit for booking early in the cruise is to be used on the cruise booked rather than the one you are on? I could have sworn the last time we booked onboard we got the credit right away…but it’s been a while so I could be mistaken.

JillFeng85 — we always use some onboard credit to purchase the Chef’s Table plus 2. We love the Chef’s Table and try to schedule it early in the cruise because it’s a good way to meet people. We enjoy one night in each specialty but since all our cruises thus far have been 12 nights, we find that’s all we need. Between Discoveries, the Patio, the White Night and the Chef’s Table plus 2 that is enough variety for us. We don’t usually eat dinner at the buffet but might grab a quick dinner there if the schedule is tight on the Azamazing evening. We also use onboard credit to upgrade our beverage package as in the past, we have found the included wines to be very poor…especially the whites. However, this was pre-pandemic so we will see if there has been improvement when we embark in a month!

38 days from our cruise and it still says I am going on the Norway Intensive rather than the Scotland Intensive I THINK I am on! Does not inspire confidence. Tried to complete document forms … Covid vaccine form asks for all kinds of info that has been not provided in US on our vaccine cards such as document #, document expiration date, etc. and it doesn’t let you leave anything blank. I deleted the partial info, went on to passport info, completed it not once but twice, pressing the “continue” button but there is no option to “complete” or “save” and when I go back into my reservation the info has disappeared including the emergency contact info I have now entered twice for both my husband and me…help, what am I doing wrong?

For me, the decision would come down to: will your child be happy on the cruise if there are no other kids their age on board? Because not only might there not be any pre-teens, there may not be any children at all. In our four AZ I have seen probably less than 10 under 16s total and most of those seemed to be infants/toddlers. We cruised with our kids on many of the lines you mention (we liked Norwegian and Princess the best of the mass market lines) and although we were not at all impressed with Celebrity and the “class system” we experienced, it might be worth a try for you and your pre-teen. And when they turn 16, you might consider Viking Ocean, definitely feels like a step up from the mass market, smaller ships with more facilities than AZ (indoor pools for example, movies under the stars, an outdoor infinity edge pool). The Viking ships are gorgeous. We love AZ, but it’s not the best choice for younger people in my opinion.

We have done it both ways…first few cruises we stayed on board and really enjoyed the atmosphere on the ship. Our last cruise it was River Dance in Dublin and that was awesome and we were so glad we went. Just depends on whatever you think you will enjoy the most!

I have the same question!

Hey Chucktown Steve…we met you on the 2017 Baltic Cruise on the Journey. That was a great trip and glad we went to St. Petersburg at that time! Yes, this is a very subjective question…however, like many, we are willing to spend a bit more since the pandemic and the long pause in travel. We will always get a veranda stateroom but don’t see the need for a CC suite as we don’t spend much time there! Too busy out and about as well as enjoying the ships. We are willing to pay more for certain itineraries — for example The Open cruise tends to be higher but it is well worth the experience. And, I am pleased to say our Scotland Intensive this summer is costing no more per day than our Baltic in 2017…considering it is SIX years later that fact makes us happy. We are just anxious to get back on board for our first AZ cruise since 2019. And to us, the opportunity for an AZ cruise with the Perry Golf package cannot be beat!

Update: since the AZ website seems to be glitchy on an IPad, I checked from my desktop computer. Nope — still crazy! Now I am wondering if somehow the Glasgow excursions are giving prices for TWO people, which would actually somehow make sense (as an error anyway)! Told my husband…”we can either go on AZ shore excursions…or pay for our daughter’s wedding, which should we choose?” 😎

Hi Goldie I saw your posts on the Roll Call. My husband and I are going to Troon/Ayr the second day in Greenock…we looked into private tours but they were very expensive and he is going to play golf in Troon and I was planning to walk some of the Coastal Path and explore Ayr a bit so we don’t need an actual tour. We are thinking of taking an Uber or a taxi let me know if you might be interested in sharing transportation … we also looked into the train but it seemed like it would be too many changes and walking with golf clubs.

Well, I am hoping for a glitch! My husband is always on the Perry Golf package on AZ and so I do tend to join a number of AZ excursions on my own. I know there are some complaints about the quality but the vast majority of the ones I have been on were pretty good. We just booked a Viking River Cruise and these AZ excursion prices are giving me a new appreciation for the cruises that include them. Our roll call has not been very active for putting together private tours but I am certainly going to explore that more before booking anything through AZ.

So, amazingly I can now see most of the shore excursions for our Scotland Intensive 8/17/23…although it still says we are on a 16 night Norway Intensive! Several months ago I happened to print out from the PDF the summary pages by location with names of excursions, prices, times and length. Started looking these up online and OMG AZ may have finally gone over the edge. The vast majority of the prices are 60-80% more than the prices from the original PDF. There’s barely an excursion under $100…some examples-Cawdor Castle and Gardens, (4 hrs, 15) was $99, now $164; Scenery of Western Shetland (3 hours) was $79, now $129; Nevis Range Gondolas (4 hrs, 45) was $129, now $204. Then in the Glasgow section it actually gets to the point where I want to believe the prices are just completely in error….Stirling Castle (4 hrs, 30) was $99, now $249; Glasgow & Pollok House, (5 hrs 45), was $169, now $324!!! And WAIT FOR IT - Glasgow on Your Own, which I took on my last AZ cruise and is merely bus transportation from Greenock to Glasgow - was $79, now $174!!!!! On the smaller Islands they really have us over a barrel as there aren’t many private tour providers, however…Stirling Castle (very common tour) and Glasgow???? And can I just say I miss the days we had Bonnie monitoring this board and would answer questions and get us info? Because at this point a tin can and string would be as effective as trying to get them on the phone right now.

Just went on to look at our 8/17/23 booking. First of all, our cruise has two different names, on main page it is correct — Scotland Intensive, when I click on Manage my reservation, apparently I am actually going on Norway Intensive despite the fact that not a single one of our ports is in Norway. Did not see onboard credit anywhere, tried to click “Book” on one shore excursion just to see if somehow credit would appear on booking page..booking button did not work at all, nothing happened. Guess I will check back in a little while. Also, shore excursion descriptions are not showing and most of the names appear as numbers/letters (like AEJ14 or some such) so apparently we just guess what we are booking. Definitely still a major work in progress!