Grandma Cruising

I think it all looks beautiful and can't wait to see the Quest in October 2016! Love the idea of the Asian restaurant.

Hi Bonnie

We will be on the Quest in November from Singapore to Hong Kong. I have checked and as UK passport holders the only country that requires us to have a Visa is Vietnam. There seems to be a lot of confusion on these forums as to whether we will need to get out own visas or whether Azamara will do it for us whilst we are on board. Please can you advise us as to what is the position regarding visas for Vietnam.

(On our last cruise which finished in Mumbai we had to have obtained our own visas beforehand, but Azamara did not tell us that until 10 days before the cruise - luckily for us we had already got ours)

Thanks

Wow the back and forth on this thread has been really eye opening. Based on this thread I don't think Azamara is for me. There seems to be a bit of nastiness running through here. Wonder if it also manifests itself when onboard. Never been on Azamara and looking at a cruise in November so I have been reading here a bit more.

No 'nastiness' on board whatsoever, just fantastic service, friendliness and friensdship!

It seems to be OK to mention tour company names on the forum - plenty of people do. I'd be grateful to have the name of the company as we will be in Ho Chi Minh City with the Quest in November this year.

When we went to Venice we did the 'Secret Tour' of the Doges Palace. We booked it online beforehand, can't remember how much it was. It was really great - English speaking guide (you book for that) and we went into parts of the palace that you can't see with the ordinary public entry fee, including the cell where Casanova was kept. The guide also explained a lot about how Venice was governed. It was very interesting, even to the teenager who was with us. I would thoroughly recommend it.

Not usually any problem getting off the ship early. If Azamara are offering a transfer to the airport, it will be on the list of shore excursions for Kyoto on the debarkation day. You can look this up on the website.

As most of you know, the April 2 cruise Singapore to Singapore was cancelled and Azamara have given us a choice of options. We have chosen to do the Bali Cruise to Japan in March and we are now booked on the Quest, but my travel consultant will sort out the flights etc on Monday when she returns from holiday.

 

I have done a dummy run i.e. looked at arranging flights myself and also maybe a couple of nights pre cruise in a hotel and I was wondering whether there are any pros and cons with arranging your own flights, transfers and hotel accommodation apart from the fact that it seems a lot cheaper than the travel consultant's price.

 

Would welcome people's views on going alone or via the travel agency.

Disadvantage is that you won't be covered by ABTA bond, but we often do this anyway as we have good annual travel insurance.

Overall we like the freedom of choosing our own hotel (thanks to trip advisor), and our own transfers at a time to suit us.

I got a phone call from a member of Mr Twynham's staff. She was not aware that the Best Price Guarantee logo now shows up on the UK website too!

She did, however assure me that I could cancel and rebook at the lower price, but when we looked at prices, the new promotion was not cheaper. I realised that I had been looking at the wrong cruise - same ship, similar itinerary but in November rather than October. Silly me - must double check in future. Sorry, Bonnie, if I have caused anyone any hassle!

I note that in the UK site the Best Price Guarantee 'logo' now shows up alongside the prices.

No comparison, in my opinion. We have done 5/6 cruises with HAL. We loved them at first, but found each year the quality went down, especially the food. We were very disappointed on our last cruise with them 4 years ago (Santaigo to Rio). By comparison Azamar is much better quality - food is a good step up from HAL, except in the HAL Pinnacle restaurant which serves the best steak we have ever had.

The big thing, tho', about Azamara is the size of the ship, the personal service and the way in which all the crew and officers interact with the passengers - it's just so personal.

Of course, the included drinks and gratuities are great too - you don't need to spend a penny!

Just booked our third and fourth cruises with Azamara and wouldn't look at any other lines at the moment.

Maybe it's full?

Thanks Bonnie, I will email him.

Hi Bonnie,

Having read about the 'Azamara Best Price Guarantee' on this thread, I saw the new Azamara promotion of 50% off the second person's cruise fare. I have booked a cruise with the Quest for October 2016 for a price of £4700 but found using the same offer I could get it for £3900. I rang the call centre (on the number on the Azamara.co.uk website). The chap I spoke to had never heard of your Best Price Guarantee. He went away to talk to someone else and came back and told me it doesn't apply in the UK. Can you verify that for me. If it's true it seems very unfair!

I believe that they are not sending out confirmations when you fill in the form online

But if you send an emails to Le Club Ambassador she will confirm if they received the form duly filled in. This is what happend to us.

I filled the form in and submitted it online for our two booked cruises this and next year and got an email acknowledging receipt of them the following day.

I thought the standard list of drinks was complimentary through out the ship, including wine and beer......am I wrong, is wine or beer only available at lunch and dinner unless you buy a drink package? There definitely has been some confusing information regarding this.

Included drinks are available free throughout the ship and all day and evening. Not all brands are free, but ther is a free offer of most types of spirit and several beers. Wine is the wine of the day, however if you don't like that day's white or red ask for another one - they can usually find one you will like that may be due to be the wine of the day on another day.

We have a cup of tea and a fruit juice delivered very morning when on Azamara and have never tipped the member of the buffet staff who delivers it. (Would prefer to have a kettle and make my own, but Azamra don't make that available).

I think this is a cultural thing. As a 'Brit' I have not tipped on Azamara on either of the cruises I have done with them, and I certainly agree that staff do not expect it. I know that in America tips are expected as a matter of course, not so in the UK. The price for Azamara is a lot more than for many cruise lines that charge a daily rate for tips - they pay their staff less I think. Certainly all the staff on Azamara seem very happy, and talking to officers we found out that there is a very low rate of staff turnover. We were told that people only leave because are retiring, or expecting a baby!

We stayed in Bangkok a few years ago and booed a day tour to Kanchaniburi. This included a trip by train across the bridge to see where one of the camps was. We also looked around the museum there about the camps and spent some time in the graveyard there, which was very moving, especially as there was a British Legion tour group there at the time.

I'm sure you could book such a tour online before you go.

I'm amazed that you found the food so disappointing. I can't comment on the Chef's table as we haven't tried it. We've done 2 Azamara cruises - on one the journey in Autumn 2013 and one on the Quest in 2014. On the first one we ate once in each of the two speciality restaurants and enjoyed the meals and the service. This cruise we just ate in the MDR. I can only remember 1 meal that was disappointing - and that was probably my fault for not reading the menu properly and choosing something that didn't suit me.

Maybe you eat out a lot in high end restaurants. We don't and find Azamara food a real treat!

Yes I would like to know where this is on your booking. Does it show the OBC, because my booking does not show anything even though we have some OBC

If your booking doesn't show your OBC you need to contact Azamara to get a new confirmation that shows it, so you have some proof of it. On our last cruise it didn't show on our confirmation, so I rang up and they emailed me a new confirmation that showed the OBC.

We were very lucky on our last cruise in October last year. We booked on the 'free cabin upgrade or $1000 OBC' offer and chose the $1000 OBC and booked an OV cabin. 2 weeks before the cruise we got an email informing us of a change of cabin and it was a Veranda cabin! We were delighted!

That's very helpful, Bowie, and confirms my thinking on this.

I think it depends and changes from time to time. On my first Azamara cruise I booked through a tour operator (Planet Cruise) because their price for the cruise, 1 night's hotel, all transfers and flights was much lower than booking everything myself. This time I booked the cruise with Azamara and my flights directly with the Airlines myself. I got a good price from Azamara and used Airmiles to buy and upgrade one of my flights. BeforeI booked I researched prices through operators and independently. There was very little difference in price and being able to get upgrades really made the difference to us. We were able to get business class flights home for the price of economy!

yes thought that was the case. anyone have any experience of using either method?

 

we tend to get credit card purchases/charges billed in the country currency, if in Europe in euros if Switzerland in swiss francs etc. if on a ship billed in the currency of the ship.

 

can see no benefit with the ship wanting to determine 1 way or the other? but maybe missing something?

All the info says get billed in the currency of the provider (in this case USD) then let your card convert it, unless your card charges an arm and a leg for conversion. Alternatively, get a card that doesn't charge for currency conversion. We have an Aqua card which we only use for foreign currency purchases which has no conversion charge and always gives great rates.

Also interested in the way we can order drinks in our stateroom. We love happy hour on our veranda. Is it possible?

You can't order included drinks on your room and only the soft drinks in the mini- bar are included. However you can take drinks from a bar back to your cabin, and the Mosaic cafe has some beautiful appetisers early in the evening, which you can also take back to you cabin.

If you look on the web-site you can see exactly what is included - click on "Our ships", then "Onboard Packages", then "Complimentary Beverages".

The story certainly has a point! I am going on AZ for the first time in Feb. on an itinerary that is just awesome -- very exciting and unique (at least for me) I have been on R ships on 2 other lines. This is my most expensive and longest cruise though I have come close a few times -- I am really looking forward to the experience.

 

I must say that the last few months have "tarnished" my anticipation just a bit. I am like the 2nd diner -- just coming on the scene and I bet that I will be well impressed -- at least I hope so. But all this hulabaloo and discussion is making me feel negative about the cruise when I doubt I would have ordinarily if the timing a bit different. I was expecting less internet and laundry benefits (have the level to get something on several major lines but not line loyal enough to have full recognition of my 300 + day cruising history) but willing to try new line knowing that soon might have status. Now this status thing is not at all possible. Won't happen. Is it a deal breaker? -- probably not but it will be a

factor and IS a factor even for this upcoming cruise. Negative vibes swelling loud and long -- does not set up even new or satisfied customers to have a positive experience. AZ has hurt themselves.

Only they know why and how far they had to go (and even if consequences are horrible) for the reasons they took this action. If the reason was not good enough or proves fatal then loyal fans/investors will have bigger problems than just a bag of dirty laundry or internet minutes and their loyalty points will be worth zilch!

You will have a wonderful time. We are doing our second Az cruise in 7 weeks and can't wait. I'm sure the loyalty changes won't affect your experience. We think Az is like no other company - just a wonderful experience!