LdyDDS

Oceania has very good food. Food,in my opinion, is the main entertainment on the ship since the specialty restaurants are included for no extra charge and they are really good. No matter which venue you dine in it is very good. The rest of the ship is quite dull. There is just not a lot going on and in the evening there is only one thing going on at a time. For example if the show is on, the piano bar is not. Everyone goes to bed after dinner or after the show. The staff if very polite but not friendly. The service is good but not friendly. When you return to the ship after a long day in port, no fresh towel or drink as you board the ship so I think the service on Azamara is better. I like Azamara much more, except for the food which is NOT to say the food is not good on Azamara, it is very good. I am a foodie and loved the idea of a foodie ship but after cruising with Oceania once I decided that was enough.

Maggie I see you are interested in a cab from Catania to Taormina. We are also but we do not want to go to a winery. So if you are just interested in sharing a cab from Catania to Taormina or getting a tour and spending some time in Taormina, we would be interested in sharing with you. ddsldy @ aol dot com. Hilary & Ed

I understand that there is a charge per load to use the self service laundry. Does this charge include the detergent or is there an extra charge for it?

Hello:

I am new to Princess and have 2 questions about tipping for room service delivery.

1. I will be in a regular room (no suite) and would like to know if I order coffee in the morning via room service, does my regular room steward bring it to me or is the delivery person someone else? My past experience on other cruise lines is that it depends on the line and on the room category.

2. If it is my regular room steward should I give an extra tip for room service?

Thank you in advance for your help

Yes, my review posted a few days ago. Click on "member reviews" "Azamara Journey" the title is OOOOOO the Toilets. I thought my review was harsh but compared to the other reviews posted there so far.....mine was the least harsh.

I've already posted my review of our 12 night cruise from Miami to Costa Rica, March 9, 2015 through the Panama Canal, just in case anyone would like to read it.

The decision that Azamara made to leave port in Miami knowing that there was a MAJOR PLUMBING PROBLEM was a really poor decision and will cost this cruise line my business forever.

There were many other problems with this cruise but no toilet or shower is unforgivable.

The compensation we were given is a joke and not going to work in appeasing anyone.

TravelBugM, you are correct, all gratuities are included in the fare.

OK Bonnie: Thanks for the input. I always tip but lately I've been rethinking it since the tipping is included in the price of the cruise and I imagine that Azamara figures room service into the price of the cruise.

I have noticed that on Celebrity my room steward brings the room service if I'm in Aqua class but in a regular room it is not my steward who delivers the tray. Perhaps that is why we are charged a higher price for daily tipping in Aqua class than in a regular room.

It really depends on the ship....room steward or someone else....but let's just say if it has not been your experience.....hypothetically, would you tip your own room steward for bringing a room service order?

Please vote yes or no in the poll above

Do you tip for room service if your regular cabin steward brings the order?

I live in the bay area and work in SF. If I was coming to SF on vacation I would probably stay in the Fisherman's Warf area......a lot of stuff going on. The Marriott is located around Mission and 4th street.....near shopping and convention center but not near Fisherman's Warf. The Hilton is located in Chinatown but not near Fisherman's Warf. Knowing the city well I can get anywhere by BART and/or bus but as a tourist it can be a little bit confusing. For that reason I would recommend staying in the Fisherman's Warf area or the Union Square area which is a shopping district (the Marriott is walking distance from this but a slightly long walk). SF is a relatively small city compared to something like NY or LA and if you are comfortable with taking public transportation or long walks it is pretty easy to get around. The bus drivers are pretty helpful since the city is full of tourists so if you are not sure how to get somewhere you can just poke your head into any bus at a stop and ask the driver. Having said all of this I would recommend checking out Chinatown, Union Square as well as Fisherman's Warf. All of these areas are fun to explore. If you are a big walker you can walk from one to the other but some hills are involved.

I visited Viet Nam with Celebrity 2 years ago. We were able to purchase visas while on the ship for $50 which was billed to our on board account. They get some sort of special deal for short term tourist visas. I assume Azamara does the same.

I think I would speak to the cruise director about it. I bet he will make it happen for you.

My point was.....if Azamara wants to change the perks fine BUT they should honor the perks that were in place for each level on the day the cruise was booked since those perks were part of the reason the cruise was booked. Let's compare it to buying a car.....if you agreed to a certain price for certain amenities and paid for them ahead of time and the day the car was delivered it was missing something important to you like air conditioning wouldn't you be irritated if the dealer told you to just open the window and enjoy the ride?

About 1/3

The reinstated internet minutes are about 1/3 of the minutes I was due the day I booked the cruise I'm taking next March. I believe that Azamara should recognize the perks available on the day the cruise was booked. I booked the cruise and agreed to the price based on the perks available such as the number of internet minutes. The few minutes given back at this point are really unacceptable. This is like a slap in the face and being told to shut up.

Well, I bought an Azamara cruise including Choice air for a March 2015 cruise.....HOW STUPID WAS THAT????? We decided that the cost of the cruise, which is more than other cruises to the same destination, was worth the price difference due to many things and the perks like FREE LAUNDRY and a lot of internet minutes with the REALLY SLOW internet. I wish I could get out of it now ( I'm going to have to research this)......I think that by March Azamara will probably take away the other perks as well...like complementary bottled water and good service. I won't make the Azamara mistake in the future.

Thank you everyone for your help and ideas. I think I will indeed figure out what I want and then call the 800 number and ask them to book the flights for me to make sure the promotion is honored. Have a great weekend!

I realize that ChoiceAir is owned by RCCL/Azamara but we do have the ability to go to the choiceair site and book the flights ourselves without calling the 800 number. My question was just about that.....booking it myself through the site rather than calling the 800 number

We did the Solstice last December ....Auckland to Sydney.....Aqua Class. The Aqua Class is similar to the Azamara experience. Nice restaurant, Blu. The are no required formal night when dining in Blu. The service is very good. The food is good and you always have the option to eat in the main dining room if you want to and we did on a few nights due to the menu choices. The ship is much larger than Azamara so you don't get the personal feel....the staff (cruise director, captain, etc) do not great you by name...they don't notice you. You do get big stage shows for entertainment and more of the shopping mall experience and it also takes you longer to get form here to there while aboard the ship. We did not hit any bad weather going through the "sounds" but did have one slightly rocky day....it might have felt worse on a smaller ship. The amount of time the Solstice spent in each port was fine. All in all the Solstice is a beautiful ship.....my husband loves the large ships.....I love Azamara. I don't think you can go wrong with either ship.

I 've just booked an Azamara cruise and the Choice Air Promotion is in effect. I believe that it requires me to have Azamara book the air arrangements for me in order to get the credit....is that correct? I would really rather book it myself through Choice Air but if I do, will I still receive the credit towards my final payment?

we booked a private tour in Tauranga with Simon of cruisetauranga dot com. He was fantastic.

our tour is not until august of 2014 but we have booked with perubesttours dot com. They arranged a tour slightly different than those listed on the web site to meet our requests. They have a good reputation.

We have made plans through Perubesttours.com. I booked with them 3 years ago and then had to cancel 6 weeks prior to the trip. They were very nice about the cancellation and we have just rebooked a tour to MP through them. We are going prior to a Celebrity cruise to the Galapagos Islands in August. I found them 3 years ago through this site.

I've used toursbylocals.com in Hong Kong and Berlin.....both times I was very happy with the tour guides