gotcha3

Thanks

My wife and I will be first time Azamara cruisers in June of 24. If we win an upgrade bid on a higher category cabin, does Azamara give you all the additional perks of the better cabin, such as additional Azamara Circle points per night, additional laundry and wifi, etc? Thank you in advance, gotcha3

On 11/24/2023 at 2:54 PM, uktog said:

Trouble is when they do that you end up eating with some right riff raff 😂😂

I'm going to assume that is some sort of joke?

I hear good things about Britway Airport Transfer.

On 11/16/2023 at 9:28 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I don't know how you learned that on this forum, or how you think you know it.

?????

I think you misunderstand, these planners work for Celebrity. Azamara has no such animal, which is what I was originally trying to learn on this forum. I should know better by now.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

In addition to all these great points in favor of TAs, a veteran travel agent will have cruised more than you have (and way more than cruise line phone reps, who may never have set foot on a ship in their lives!) so they can give you personal experience advice as well as feedback they get from their other customers.  Even if you are a compulsive planner (like me), a TA adds another source of advice that can only help.

What the heck do you care what THEIR experiences were? You can find many, many experiences online easily, people post the most inane details of their cruises everyday. Just as with the T/A experiences you have to view them with a "grain of salt." Take 1 or 2 cruises and you should have a pretty good idea of what YOU like/want etc. T/As are just another link in a chain that doesn't need to get longer.

We've cruised Celebrity a lot. I always used to use a T/A for the better prices and added perks until I discovered Celebrity's cadre of actual cruise planners. Not sales people, but actual agents who can "talk the talk and walk the walk" they had the knowledge and the authority to change your reservation. I stopped using T/As because at Celebrity, using a T/A means they will ABSOLUTELY without question, NOT talk to you about your reservation, period. So, when prices go down, I have to hope I can reach the T/A (weekends? nights?), tell them what it is I want, have them verify it and then wait while they try to contact Celebrity. Not so with my planner...all I had to do was take a screenshot of the deal, added perk, whatever I was looking at and send it to them, 24/7. When they next reported for work, he'd see the email and I'd get a return email and copies of my cruise paperwork with the new deal, even if that deal was expired because he had the screenshot. EASY peasy. He would even match the gift cards being handed out by big box retailers for your booking with Celebrity OBC. I often booked cruises 18 months to 2 years out and have changed prices on both refundable/nonrefundable cruises, added drink packages, wifi and so on, up to 6-8 times or more. Way easier with him than using a T/A. If you educate yourself, there's not much a T/A can do that you yourself can't, why wouldn't you use a Celebrity cruise planner, its so much easier.

Okay, I am under a bit of a time crunch which is why I didn't do the whole thread search thing. I have not had good luck with that time consuming and very often useless task and figured someone might offer up info on a particular tour/driver or SHORE EXCURSION they enjoyed. OK, here are the cities I'm interested in; Leith (Edinburgh), Dundee, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Oban and Greenock (Glasgow). 

Does anyone have recommendations/tips concerning tours/local tour guides/shore excursions or drivers for the various Scotland ports? Taking a cruise kind of last minute and need some help. Thanks in advance.

How about specialty coffees? Are they extra...or only if they include liquor in them?

Does Azamara employ dedicated cruise planners or just sales people manning their phones?

I apologize in advance if this is a stupid question, but here goes. If I have the included drink package (or the premium package) what will I be charged if I order a drink in the next higher priced package? Wife and I are Celebrity cruisers and they only charge the difference in price plus a gratuity. Is Azmara the same?

To be honest, it was the somm on our Reflection cruise....first time in Aqua. We've never looked back and always book Aqua now. Seems to me, if you treat the somm well then good things happen. I've had somms that would tell me straight to my face that this or that wine was not available which of course necessitated a trip to cellar masters to bring back a bottle ('cause I had been drinking it there earlier). That original somm in Aqua on Reflection sold the whole Aqua thing for us. She actually came by the table 3-4 times during each dinner asking after us, this NEVER happened in the MDR. Invariably she'd open the bottle, pour our glasses, then make an excuse to leave the bottle at the table. Wow, treated like adults! After the cruise, we always treat the good ones well. This last Connie Aqua somm, brought the grand daughters the alkie-free wine of his own accord (with parents permission) as they had exhausted the menu of Shirley Temples.

He said they were included and there was never any charge.

1 hour ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Recent reports have been NO, alcohol free wine and beer is not included in the zero proof package. Agreed that the package name is silly with this being the case.

Just goy off Constellation and yes, the Somm in Blu was serving (at his suggestion) non alcoholic wine to my underage grand daughters. They had the Elevate package that was downgraded to Zero Proof due to their age.

27 minutes ago, CaroleSS said:

Wow, someone needs a vacation!

 

I just don't get why people feel the need to flaunt their status...especially when you admit it makes NO difference.

Seriously?????

3 minutes ago, CaroleSS said:

I don't think your CC status shows up on the Seapass card.....but it's been a while since we've sailed. Plus, why would they put that on your card and what difference does it make?

Doesn't make ANY difference. I was just asking the question, sorry to have disturbed your sensibilities!

This is kind of a first world question, but I was wondering. I assume the info on your Xpress Pass documents will be the same as on your SeaPass card (room key). That being said, would the SeaPass of an Elite Plus guest show Elite Plus, or just Elite? Thank you, G3

When visiting Portofino, does Celebrity tender in or are the docked in Genoa?

Does anyone have experience with any of the private car services in Taranto? My group of 6 is a little old for the tuk-tuk or the go cart type travel. Thank you in advance. G3

My wife and I have CALL on our boarding passes for an upcoming MIllenium cruise. The cruise was booked with the "Elevate" perks which was supposed to include Premium liquor. Have the packages changed? What exactly does  the "CALL" indicate on our boarding passes? Thank you in advance for your answers.

01 JUL ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY
02 JUL FLORENCE/PISA(LASPEZIA)ITALY
03 JUL PORTOFINO, ITALY
04 JUL AT SEA
05 JUL SICILY (MESSINA), ITALY
06 JUL TARANTO, ITALY
07 JUL AT SEA
08 JUL KOTOR, MONTENEGRO
09 JUL SPLIT, CROATIA
10 JUL VENICE (RAVENNA), ITALY

This is our schedule, but the chic nights on our sea days doesn't seem right. They are not usually so close together.

Sailing Constellation Rome to Ravenna 1 July 2023....9 day cruise. Anyone know which nights will be chic nights? Thank you in advance.

How far "north" has anyone used Rome Cabs? We had 1 of their drivers meet us at Livorno for a Florence/Pisa/Lucca 2 day tour. I was wondering about Ravenna or maybe La Spezia. Anyone have any experience? Thanks in advance.