kmurph22

thank you,  I look forward to following!  We are considering this cruise for 2025 as well as a Princess cruise that does not include Antartica but goes further up the Chilean coast, ending in Santiago. Can't decide what to do.

1 hour ago, Whitby100 said:

Crazy as it sounds our online info is correct.  No money owing; our booked shore excursion with remaining amount left in OBC is showing. It was incorrect with no cruise and then no OBC a few months back but I sent in a help ticket and it was fixed.  (Previous cruises weren’t there but loyalty level appears correct so I’m not concerned there).
To be honest, I am not logging in again until a month before we go since I am happy with the info as last posted.

We have only sailed on Azamara so perhaps it was easy to update our file as there was no merging of information. 

 

Thank you!  Sounds like I should get back on the phone. I agree with you -  if the l last thing you saw was good,  don't jinx it by logging back in,  ha ha!  Happy cruising.

17 hours ago, Whitby100 said:

We successfully used OBC to book a shore excursion by calling them.  I’d try that whether your OBC shows or not.  Ask for a confirmation email, person’s name, take notes etc.  Also ask for the amount of remaining OBC.  I suspect (hope?) you will be successful.  I was only on hold about 10 minutes when I called a few weeks ago.  Good luck.

Whitby,  does your booking show an amount due?    I also called them to book excursions using OBC.  The excursions are showing as booked but it says we have a payment due for the amount of the excursions (the cruise itself is paid in full).  Just wondering whether that is correct or I should call them back,..

7 hours ago, Invicta1948 said:

We have had exactly the same thing with Azamara here in Australia booking a shore excursion using half of the OBC but our booking site shows the excursion booked whilst the full cost of the excursion is still owing. The Azamara people say they can see the OBC having been half used and the other half still available - they must be looking at a different system to the customer. Makes us a bit reluctant to book any further excursions until our screens show the same the Azamara reps. Our cruise is two months away so we have some time to sort it - otherwise we rely on it all being sorted once on board which is not a good option.

Thanks Invicta,  I feel better that I'm not the only one.   Sorting it onboard is not my first choice either but I'll give it some time and call again in a few weeks.  Happy cruising!

Following up on this topic.... I called Azamara to book my selected shore excursions using OBC.  Everything seemed to go well on the call.    My cruise is in September and is paid in full. 

Now, however, when I look on my reservation,  I see the selected shore excursions as "booked", but I also see an invoice for the total amount due for the excursions.  Has anyone else experienced this? Is this just Azamara's placeholder until they can actually apply the OBC on the site? 

Hi all!  I have a September cruise booked.  The cruise is now showing in my account,  but I do not see the OBC anywhere. I had booked this trip while onboard another Azamara cruise,  with a lot of promotional OBC.  Interestingly,  I played around under "Add ons" today, and added the "Chefs Table plus 2".  I clicked "apply" and now it shows Chefs Table plus 2 under "booked" add ons.  I did not pay anything to book it although the price said $290.  Not sure if it's accounting for my OBC?  Or just a placeholder.  I didn't receive any kind of confirmation email.  I'm fine if it's just a placeholder,  or if we get it for free 🙂 .  We shall see!   

1 minute ago, CTCruiser001 said:

 

Yes. I do it all the time. 

Awesome. Thanks!  It's a job making sure that Amex pays for itself!

Does anyone know,  if I booked using Cruise Next deposits but make final payment on my Amex, will that qualify for the program?

Thanks in advance

We were on the Jade in April in a 2 BR Haven suite and the. master shower didn't work (no hot water).  We did have a second,  small shower in the room.  We were given an FCC for about 35% of the what we had paid, which we felt was fair compensation for our situation. 

Your situation is a lot less tolerable for sure,  I agree with others who say nothing short of 100% FCC or refund would suffice. 

Thanks Host Jazzbeau,  great idea,  I'll give it a try!

Great,  that's very good to know!  Thanks!

Hi there,  Azamara newbie here...

I'm booked on the Onward B2B France Intensive / Italy Intensive in April 2023.   I've started looking into shore excursions, and some of the smaller ports only have 2 or 3 choices (not including the $1500pp "private driver for a day" ones).   

Will Azamara add more shore excursion options as the trip gets closer,  or is what's posted today likely to be all that's offered?

Thanks in advance!

Just now, jennjess said:

Thanks for reviews on your cruise it's very helpful for cruisers in the next few weeks.

 

In your opinion is it worth getting tested before boarding or just wait until boarding?

 

I tested at home before traveling because it gave me a little peace of mind -  although not a guarantee,  I was hoping not to test positive right from the get-go!  

1 minute ago, KeithJenner said:

You may have seen us a few times then. We were often playing cards at the table right by the bar in Tankards.

 

I was also the drunk one on Thursday in the champagne bar when the piano player was on. Sorry if I was annoying. It was the beer in Rhodes that did it (and all the wine they made me drink at La Cucina didn’t help).

Ha ha we probably were too. I recall singing along .   I believe that was the night we discovered the “Rum Cake” martini 🙂 

Keith it sounds like you had a wonderful trip! 
 

my brief review from the Haven (we scored a nice upgrade through the bidding process):

a couple of overall pieces of info : 

the Jade is just 2 weeks out of dry dock and her public spaces look bright and new. 
We were told there were about 1200 passengers on board. 
The staff was wonderful throughout the ship.

We didn’t attend any of the big theater shows or bingo -  just not our thing. 
We did an NCL tour of Ephesus in Kusadasi due to the short port time ,  a private tour in Istanbul and Volos,  just walked around Mykonos and Rhodes, and rented a car to explore Santorini. 

‘PROs

• boarding and the testing process at the port. was seamless probably took 45 minutes total. 
• haven cabin was so nice to have ,  Bruno is a great concierge and seemingly everywhere he needs to be. 
• Mykonos and Santorini are wonderful in April although many shops and restaurants were just opening for the season -  but we definitely avoided the crowds but still had some prime people watching.  The long port time on both islands was very welcome,  it was great to stay on land for the famed Santorini sunset.
• Rhodes was a pleasant surprise to me ,  I really loved the old town and atmosphere. 
• we didn’t run into many pushy vendors in any port.
• specialty restaurants were all good.  We especially loved the sushi bar - if you use a dining package there they give 4 rolls PER PERSON plus an app…. We were able to split our dining package and use one of our nights to go there twice
• Le Bistro escargots 
• Cagneys shrimp cocktail and great waiter, Rajesh
• Moderno was great too -  try the capriniha and grilled pineapple is a must.
• we enjoyed concerts every evening in the champagne bar and frequently a before dinner drink at the Whiskey bar. 
• we both won money in the casino (! That never happens !) -  not a lot,  but we went home happy.  The casino was generally a bit quiet -  I noticed that the slots didn’t have any volume turned on -  maybe I’m a geek but i enjoy that beep beep boop  action!   However -  after I mentioned this to one of the bartenders in the whiskey bar,  magically the sound was on later in the cruise! 
• disembarkation was also smooth,  just 10 minutes in total but we disembarked fairly late as we are staying in Athens and didn’t have to rush.  Disembarkation was the only  time we experienced crowded elevators! 
• we got a $25 room credit just for stopping by the Cruise Next desk and being Platinum.  We also got Platinum pins!
   

CONS

• Our master shower had a slight problem,  but they corrected it and made it right. thanks Bruno! 
• vs another Haven cruise (on the Getaway) , we did miss having a dedicated bar, restaurant, and concierge desk. Nice to have coffee and breakfast options in the room,  pool, and Moderno though. 
• Rainy and cold weather in Kusadasi and Istanbul put a literal damper on those ports,  of course not NCLs fault.  This is the risk of an early season cruise . 
• the only really poor meal I had was in O’Sheahan’s.  I ordered a lunchtime burger that was truly inedible.  The meat was just gross.  We have always enjoyed O’Sheehans on other ships. 
• the hot tub in  The haven was nice to have , but not quite hot enough.  Maybe because there were a lot of kids staying in the Haven?
• at the end of the Ephesus tour we were taken to a “carpet making demonstration” near the port.  Not sure if we could have skipped this, but it felt like a hard sell and we had to walk through a fairly pushy jewelry store to exit. It was a little uncomfortable. 

overall a great cruise.  It is so nice to return to travel ! 
 

also if you are staying in Athens,  highly recommend the King George hotel and Welcome pickups transfer service -  ask for Andreas, who this morning presented us with a little Greek Easter basket!

I will write blog posts and post here when I have some more time after digging out of work ! 

KMurph22

Great start, Keith, I look forward to meeting you onboard!  I will also likely put together a blog post after the trip. It’s been too long!   We are taking a test tomorrow before we depart the US; -  same as you faband40, we would rather find out at home if there’s a problem.  But,  we are thinking positive thoughts  (Or is it …. negative…. 🤔😆)!! 

10 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I'm glad they are allocating them now. We paid to upgrade to a 2BR a few weeks ago for around the minimum bid cost of the Haven 2BR (we aren't interested in Haven so preferred the certainty of paying directly for the cabin), but every time I log in I see the upgrade offer and the Garden Villa was very appealing for a minimum bid. I'm assuming they have both gone now as I think they upgrade to the higher cabins first.

ha ha I saw that Garden Villa upgrade too and was also surprised at the fairly low minimum -  at that price it would have been well more than 50% off the "70% off 2nd passenger" prices.  With just 2 of us sailing it seemed excessive in terms of the amount of space.  But then, sometimes excessive is fun (private hot tub!!)   we didn't bid on it but ah,  maybe some day!

7 minutes ago, Buddee1977 said:

I wish I will have your luck, still waiting here for club balcony to Haven 2 BR out of Barcelona on 4/17. There were still 9-10 available this morning, but not it's all gone. No update on my front page, and not email yet. 

good luck buddee!  Per my experience, there is hope,  it takes a little time between the rooms being unavailable and the upgrade notifications!

was upgraded today for the 4/17 Jade out of Athens.  Balcony to Haven 2BR for $10 over the minimum bid.  

FYI on the timing.  Per my new daily ritual since I bid on the upgrades, I checked NCL page this morning and Haven was showing as sold out (there were about 6 cabins available yesterday).   I didn't hear anything, and my reservation did not change,  for at least 90 minutes after I noticed this on the NCL page. When I logged into my reservation, the whole "Let's Get you Upgraded" screen was gone,  there was no way to even see my upgrade bids status. 

 I figured I was out of luck.  Then... voila,  a happy email!

Woohoo! 

yes thanks @keithjenner,  I am scheduled for a rapid PCR (NAAT) test at Walgreens. 

I can't wait to get on the ship!

thank you,  I am also boarding in Athens on the 17th. I plan to get a pre-departure test before leaving the USA, because I would hate to travel that far only to find out I can't board the ship and need to quarantine in a foreign country.  Just crossing fingers that my viral load doesn't change between Friday and Sunday!  This is one time I will be glad of masks at the airport / on the plane.    

it's a brave new world of travel! 

Hi everyone,

Please enjoy my recent blog post about my family's group of 20 sailing on Celebrity Edge in early January.  We sailed with 3 generations -  the oldest 88,  the youngest 19.  Some thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of large group cruising, as well as my overall impression of the Edge.  Enjoy!

https://bankerchicktravels.net/2020/02/01/multigenerational-cruising-on-the-edge/

Thanks @cruisinMT.  It's not showing up in my planner as an available upgrade.  But $9 pp/pd isn't bad, if we're each getting $50 casino credit.     I cruise on Jan 5 so will share my experience!

Hi,  does anyone know,  what is the cost to upgrade onboard from the Premium Package to the Drinks & More package?

2 hours ago, joannmarie53 said:

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

I buy insurance for every trip, but wow folks sure love to jump on the  “should’ve bought insurance” train. 

 I agree with Flaham -  OP has a point,  as it relates to the 2 day refund, if as noted above the offer of the 2 day refund did not clearly state that it was contingent on taking the 5 day cruise.   OP seems to understand that by not showing up, they would lose the 5 days ... they just want the 2 day refund, and may have factored that into their decision not to fly.