gddeluca

Dynacruiser:  Jay19:

OK, I'll admit that on our last two cruises we were isolated from shore excursion 'shock' because they were on Regent and Silversea, but on both lines the 'cost' of the free excursions was shown, and then discounted to zero. And if you wanted a 2nd excursion on a day, you did have to pay the listed price for the 2nd trip.  If what I'm seeing from Azamara in Saguenay is indeed typical Azamara pricing, I stand by my description of ridiculous.

ECCruise: Yes, Sarcasm.  We have a whole $300 in excursion credits, which wouldn't get the 2 of us on the cheapest tour I saw. And there's another half dozen ports I haven't even thought of. Yes, $300 will go far on that lot.

Maybe I should have stayed with our favourite, Regent, but we'd never tried Azamara and the itinerary looked different.

We'll manage.

Laurie: Yes certainly, I wasn't actually trying to book anything. Merely to see if there were tours that differed from what was on offer the the last time we visited the port. We have been cruising for many years and have visited most ports (some of them WAY too many times). And nowadays my legs are failing (neuropathy) and long walks etc. are just a dream, meaning I can only choose from the very lowest activity level tours.

I was simply astounded by Azamara's prices for the common 'drive-around-town-bus-tours'. We've been on all kinds of cruise lines, from bargain basement to luxury and never encountered anything remotely like Azamara's prices.

Somehow, to us, a Cdn$1600.00 charge for a 1/2 day bus ride and food (even some gourmet chef's version) will never make us think, " Oh, that's a  'fairly normal' reasonable charge".

And also being 1st time Azamara cruisers, we of course are just oozing with piles of unused OBC's to help defray the cost.

Right now, a local tour operator is offering a basic 4.5 hr bus tour in Saguenay for US$95. The cheapest Azamara equivalent is US$210 for a 3.5 hr version.

Can you say "Rip-off"

I'm getting the impression that the prices I saw have somehow become the 'norm' for Azamara. If so, they certainly won't become our 'norm'. Our most recent cruises were with Silversea and Regent, so we were isolated as trips there were included. But there were two others on Seabourn and Celebrity, where they weren't included. Azamara's prices seem to be more than double what's expected. Yes, I know, inflation etc. etc. ... but US$450 for 2 people on a 3 hr bus tour?

We're booked into 6054 on the Quest, one of the handicapped cabins. I've viewed a YouTube video of the cabin (very helpful) but the bathroom vanity is fairly small. It's lower (for wheelchair access) but it's hard to tell the storage capacity. Do the mirrors open to reveal a 'medicine cabinet'?  Can anyone describe the storage available?

George

We just booked the Quest from Reykjavik to Montreal in Aug 2025. I looked at shore excursions and the only port currently showing was for Saguenay Quebec.

I almost choked. There were several excursions of the Bus tour + maybe a snack type. (Along with the warning that the buses may be school buses) The cheapest one was about Cdn$ 300.00/each and the top one was quoting over Cdn$ 800.00/each. ( US$450 to US$1150 for the two of us)

This is out 1st Azamara Cruise. Is this an error in the listing? Does Azamara actually get away with charging such prices?

We visited Saguenay in 2022 on the Regent Navigator, so I've good idea what these tours would be like.

If this is typical Azamara pricing, then this may be our first cruise where we never leave the ship.

George

Thanks to you all.  We'd already spotted the 8000,8002 etc rooms as good possibilities.

George

We're thinking of an Insignia cruise and looking at the Penthouse category.  I notice they are all on deck 8, underneath the pool deck.  We have had bad experiences with cabins under the pool deck on other ships in the past so looking for some feedback.   What we've experienced is stuff like pool attendants dragging around deck chairs for the day at 5:00 AM.  Same at the end of day as they drag everything around putting things away for the night.

Anyone's experiences would be helpful.

Booked on Regent for the first time, and we're getting the free upgrade to business class for the Toronto to Barcelona trip.

Our problem is we'd like to avoid a transfer, and there's only a couple of choices for a non-stop flight from YYZ to BCN.

So ...

We don't get their choice till 75 days before the trip.

We can ask for a deviation 270 days before the trip.

If I wait for the 75 day info, maybe the routing I want isn't available anymore, I'm stuck.

What if I ask for a deviation at the 270 day mark, and it possibly ends up being just what they would have chosen as the default.  Will I be charged a deviation fee, when it really wasn't a deviation?  I don't want to pay extra fees for what would have been the default.

It's like buying a pig-in-a-poke, I don't know what I'm trying to 'do better' against.

Also, If I want to completely handle my own air, how much is the allowance?  I can't find any details on this. 

George

We're in Gozo on the Sept 26th visit and were thinking of using the HoHo bus as well. But it's a tender port, and we're only there from 08:00 to 15:00 . Allowing time for tendering, and the fact the 1st HoHo bus doesn't start till 9:45 and the route is (I believe) 90 minutes, we felt is was just too tight to allow much time to visit the sites.

Yes, it's still possible, but be sure to check out all the timings. We backed off and signed up for a ship's excursion.

I can echo these comments. Our upcoming cruise lists XLendi, but every shiptracker I spotted when the ship visited Gozo showed it anchored off MGarr. So I specifically asked Seabourn, and they confirmed it is Mgarr, not Xlendi. I suggested they update passengers on this for all those who do their own shore trip planning, but they never did. I don't understand their reasons at all for claiming the stop is in Xlendi.

If you got all that in it then it's bigger than I thought.

As to all this Champagne stuff, my wife and I love bubbly, and have tried all kinds, up and down the price scale. We've found the Spanish Cava's most to our liking and settled on our current favorite - Segura Viudas.

Really though, it's all personal taste. But SB still really should add another couple choices, there are so many acceptable ones out there.

We were thinking of taking the city bus #2 down to Montenero and then the funicular to the top (its included in the bus pass). Has anyone else been there and could perhaps comment? We've spent a 3 week vacation in the Florence area in the past, so we've pretty much done all the normal stuff (Florence, Pisa, Lucca, Siena, San Gimingiano etc.)

Thanks. I figured it must, probably to hold the hair blower or some such.

George

Quick question for Balcony cabins. Does the small vanity table in the hallway have a shallow drawer under it?

Sunprince: Yes, their exchange rate was good (at the time way back last year when we booked). and, as I said, it's gamble we took as to what currency to use.

As it turned out, when we paid our final, it was just about a wash with the exchange rate of the original offer when we booked, so it didn't really cost us anything on THAT decision.

It's just the last month or so of watching the Cdn$ climb has been tough, since I was hoping it would do that climb BEFORE we paid, and not AFTER. Especially hard since this cruise (at 37 days) is the longest and most costly we've ever booked. Sigh! . . . You win some, you lose some. Still, all done now and only 60 days to go.

Be thankful you don't have currency fluctuations to also take into account. I'm in Canada and cruise lines quote us prices in Cdn$ and in US$, take your pick, but you're stuck with it. We just last month made final payment on a 37 day cruise we chose to pay in US$. Since payment, the Cdn$ has shot up and we could make the same payment today for about $3000 less.

You pay for your choice, book early, book late, pay in US$, pay in Cdn$ etc. whatever the choices are -- and you live with it. You can't keep expecting the world to let you go back and make decisions over again.

My two cents worth.

If you are new Seabourn cruisers and are sailing soon (before Sept 20) I have a coupon available. Contact me at gddeluca at gmail dot com and I'll get right back to you.

Why Sept 20- that's when we're sailing and it'd be nice to have $400 on our account as well.

LEESRE: Thanks, I wonder why there is no mention of this on the Seabourn site.

OK, pardon my ignorance here, but we've been on a couple Seabourn cruises, and we're booked on another this September, and I've never heard of the referral program. A search on the Seabourn web site turns up nothing.

Can somebody clue me in? It sounds like these are sent to past cruisers by Seabourn, but I've never had that happen.

Help please, any $$ benefit would of course be welcome.

I have some detailed info on the Frejus tender dock. Here's a map showing where the Quai Escale is located..

George

Hmmm, nothing definitive then. It's not that charging the toothbrush somewhere else isn't possible, it's just a nuisance cluttering up the vanity and shuttling stuff in and out of the bathroom.

I really don't understand the reluctance of ships to provide an outlet in the bathroom. Their excuse is safety, but I'm sure every one of us lives in houses with perfectly legal and safe outlets in the bathroom - our en-suite has three of them. What's their problem? I'd have loved to have been able to bring my water-pic along.