knitter

Said a comedian on an Azamara cruise: the shower on this ship is so small you just have to soap the walls and turn around to get washed! But the cruise was fantastic in every way!

 There are two malls in Oranjestad- Renaissance (designer shops- sometimes open into the evening I think) and Royal (pink structure). Royal is being converted to condos and it was mostly closed down in December and I expect by now the remaining few shops have moved to other locations.

Town is pretty quiet these days at night but there is a plaza that has several restaurants and some shops next to the marina casino that stays open, and around town there are a number of restaurants off the main street and along the water. Wilhelmina's is my favorite restaurant on the island.

Palm Beach/high rise area is where the action is at night- lots of restaurants, some shopping, a dancing fountain show at Paseo Herencia. The hotels have casinos. Easy cab ride from port.

Thanks for all the responses- glad to have learned some things I did not know!

I just tried to book some Shore ex for a March cruise. Almost every one is already closed, and one that seemed available didn't show up in the cart even though it looked like I booked it on the shore ex page. If you can't use the credits because offerings are full, what happens to your credit? Can you use it for things like the spa? Thanks.

We booked a B2B Japan intensive (14 days) and Japan to Singapore (18 days) for March-April 2025. Received an email saying that "due to the popularity of the Japan intensive..." the Asia itinerary was cancelled and our cruise would be a Japan intensive. Our TA was meeting with a AZ rep at a conference the following week and worked out a rebooking but it took over a week to get the confirmation from AZ and the dates were changed, the Singapore leg is now 14 days and misses Bangkok 😢 and has some other port changes. The itinerary of the Japan leg changed, and according to the website, it starts in Kobe while the previous leg ends in Osaka (both legs are on the same ship),  My TA called and was told they would provide a transfer for us. But I find it strange that they would end a cruise in one port and leave from another, especially since Kobe and Osaka are less than 30 minutes apart by train! And of course, neither leg show up as upcoming cruises in my online account. Good thing we have a year to work it out!

Just got an email that the itinerary for our March 2025 Japan trip has changed, and it starts from a different port too. For us it is the 2nd leg of a back to back and the itinerary for the first leg still shows the original termination point. I guess they haven't updated anything on the website. We booked this onboard in August and still don't have any bookings showing in our account on Azamara. We already had to redo the entire booking b/c they changed the Asia leg to another Japan intensive, leaving us doing back to back Japan intensives. I wish they would get their act together already- m sure glad we have time to get it all straightened out!

🙂 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2961604-sirena-march-17-2023-panama-city-to-miami

On 12/19/2023 at 12:38 AM, Cruisedreamer1 said:

Actually when I organized a M&G with the cruise line, they wanted a minimum number of people to show plus limited it to 30 people. They also wanted names, cabin numbers and confirmation numbers submitted to them by a certain date. In turn, they had a no host bartender, nibbles, swag and the cruise director came. A lot of work but it paid off with great attendance. 

Thanks for the information!

21 hours ago, Bamagranna said:

We are on Sirena Island Tapestry cruise boarding in Panama on March 17

Any suggestions on a Jewish Heritage tour in Willemstead on March20?

How about some wheelchair accessible tours on this cruise?

I know there is a synagogue and museum, not aware of Heritage Tours. Come over to the roll call and let's see if any other's are interested and we can try to arrange a private tour.

Sandy

12 hours ago, AMHuntFerry said:

I am sorry to say that O is deficient when it comes to wheelchair friendly shorex. I took a look at your itinerary and it does not have any of the Accessible tours, plus when I spot checked the less active tours, they tended to have a not-wheelchair-accesible (bus or stairs or ...)...ugh! Depending on how active you are, something like kayaking may work if you can transfer to the dock then into a kayak, but I'd get it approved via O and the tour company in advance since they usually have participants sign waivers (maybe snorkeling too). The only other things I saw to spend SimplyMore shorex OBC on were cabanas at Grand Cayman but that's not really a tour. You may find others interested in non-O tours at your roll call if you haven't been there yet:

There might be some info at the link below but it will take a bit of sifting/searching:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/114-disabled-cruise-travel/

Sorry the choices aren't better, but I hope you enjoy the cruise!

 

I believe that there is at least one other person on this cruise who uses a wheel chair. Please come over to our roll call as posted above. Sandy

Thanks for the information everyone. Safe travels!

I'm sure someone here knows the process for organizing a M & G on Oceania🙂. Does the line offer anything? How do you go about organizing one? Thanks in advance.

We booked a back to back Japan/Asia cruise for 2025. They replaced the Asia cruise with an additional Japan cruise, and gave us less than 2 weeks to either do the Japan cruise (apparently the fact that we on the ship for a Japan cruise just before the Asia cruise did not register with them) book another cruise, or cancel. They were giving extra OBC if you took the Japan cruise or rebooked. My TA met with an AZ rep at a recent conference (we want to do an earlier B2B with similar itinerary to what we originally book) and we have nothing confirmed and it has been almost 3 weeks. Nothing shows up online, of course. Frustrating!!!

Got the email but my 2025 cruises don't show up on the website. Then again, apparently I have a totally different B2B schedule than what I originally booked b/c AZ changed the itineray.My TA was able to rebook (met with an AZ agent last week at a conference on a cruise ship!!?) but I haven't seen a revised invoice yet, just dates. First world problems I guess.

We had booked the this cruise back to back with the Japan Intensive on the Pursuit departing 4/6. I asked my TA to see what was possible - the website doesn't seem to reflect the new itinerary yet (no surprise given the issues with the website). We could change our dates but it is very frustrating.

Thanks for the recommendations!

Our roll call seems to have settled on 2 events for our 8/1 Norway cruise - embarkation day at 5:00 in the Sunset Bar and first sea day at 4:00 in the Library. But I will be sure to check the program guide when we get on board!

1 minute ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Not sure they are providing them at present. Don’t worry about them. You should at least get an email about check-in times. Luggage tags will be provided at the cruise terminal - just make sure you remember your cabin number.

Thank you.

AZ newbie. I have found where to enter passport information but do not see anything about boarding passes or luggage tags. Are these being provided at all- I expect they would be downloads, but don't see how to access. Thanks.

Sandy

18 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Don’t worry about it. You can book your dining package when you get onboard, it’s very easy. You can also make your reservations for the speciality restaurants/Chefs Table at the same time.

Thanks. They certainly have a lot of glitches with the new website. 

Help with booking dining package?

My August 1 cruise shows up now, but I can not figure out to how to book a dining package- when I click on Onboard Packages, dining packages come up but there is no way I have found to book one.

Also, they refunded me some money 2 times, apparently by mistake (the two totaled less than $100)  and sent me an email that they had done that and would rebill the charges. The transactions show up in my credit card account, but I have no idea of where those amounts came from. Anyone else experience some thing similar? Thanks.

Well, 916 mouse clicks later, I know I was born on a Sunday! My account does not have my August cruise, and I followed the link to report it. The birth date box won't let you just type in a date in box- I had to click on a calendar all the way back!!!!😄

On 3/25/2023 at 9:57 AM, laurieb said:

Azamara has put any changes to existing bookings, including payments, on hold until the 27th.  Your TA should have received an email regarding this, several days ago.  No cruise will be canceled during this time period due to non payment, so please don’t worry about that happening.

Thanks. We were finally able to make final payment via TA call to AZ on Saturday, for the correct balance.

My TA was unable to process final payment on 3/20 as the website was down and phone calls were met with dead space. I tried to pay on TA website and it did not go through. Called TA and they were unable to process as Azamara was saying the price was ~$4000 more than what we actually owe, and they couldn't reach anyone by phone. Now have to call tomorrow to try and work this out or we could be automatically cancelled for non payment by AZA. Anyone else running into trouble?

Sandy

4 hours ago, ECCruise said:

I was able to get through to Azamara in about 2 minutes to inquire about something on an upcoming booking.  This was through the main number:

1-833-292-2292

 

I first called the Azamara Circle loyalty number and got nothing but dead air.

1-888-532-5828

The travel agent will try to run the payment on Friday. But when they called they got nothing. Maybe they were changing over the phone system or something when we were calling- she tried several times. Glad you were luckier, and I get to keep my money for a few days longer!