AnnetteSC

I have used this person twice in Rome for private tours. She's great with teens!

Sonia Tavoletta

Soniatav@alice.it

Thanks! I'll email her and see what she says.

We'll be sailing on the Azamara Quest on June 12, 2017 for a Mediterranean cruise. I joined the Roll Call and have been checking it daily (I've also been checking this forum).

We booked late (5 weeks prior to departure date) but I've been extremely ill for the past 2 weeks, leaving me with only 3 weeks to plan everything!

I have done some research and read reviews for tour companies in Italy and Greece. I have Greece covered but I'm having a hard time with Italy. In fact, my roll call is very, very small (22 ppl I believe) and they are all set already with their tours.

I know CC has rules about keeping requests to join tours to roll call but how can you spread the word when roll call is almost non-existent?

There are only 3 of us in our party and, doing the tours privately, would be extremely expensive for us. Our DD15 is really looking forward to seeing the famous sites in Italy but, at this point, I'm unsure we'll be able to do them.

Most of the tour companies I've checked with so far will only be worth it if you can share with a minimum of 6-8 ppl. The cruise-ship excursions are even worse (as far as price). I know there are a lot of recommendations to do it interdependently but DH is not interested in trains, buses or ferries. This is new territory to us and he feels better going with a tour. Are there affordable tours for very small groups?

We want to do: 1) Florence and Pisa; 2) Rome with Vatican; Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano.

How would you handle this situation if you were me?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

What tour company would you recommend for small parties? Everywhere I look, you only get a deal if you have at least 6-8 people.

DH prefers a guided tour. He is not interested in doing trains, buses, ferries. He doesn't feel confident enough for us to go on our own since this is new territory.

The ship's tours are double what the private tour would cost so we ruled that out (like, Florence/Pisa is $399 pp!!).

We would like to do Florence and Pisa. Florence, the highlights (Ponte Vecchio, Duomo, Uffizzi/David, Basilica di Santa Croce). In Pisa, the tower and the Duomo.

Rome, we'd like to do the highlights of the city plus the Vatican.

In Amalfi, we'd like to do Pompei, Sorrento and Positano.

We'll be sailing on the Azamara Quest on June 12, 2017. I joined the Roll Call and have been checking it daily (I've also been checking Azamara forum) since we're new to Azamara.

We booked late (5 weeks prior to departure date) but I've been extremely ill for the past 2 weeks, leaving me with only 3 weeks to plan everything!

I have done some research and read reviews for tour companies in Italy and Greece. I have Greece covered but I'm having a hard time with Italy. In fact, my roll call is very, very small (22 ppl I believe) and they are all set already with their tours.

I know CC has rules about keeping requests to join tours to roll call but how can you spread the word when roll call is almost non-existent?

There are only 3 of us in our party and, doing the tours privately would be extremely expensive for us. Our DD15 is really looking forward to seeing the famous sites in Italy but, at this point, I'm unsure we'll be able to do them.

How would you handle this situation if you were me?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

We'll be sailing on the Quest on June 12, 2017. I joined the Roll Call and have been checking it daily (I've also been checking this forum) since we're new to Azamara.

We booked late (5 weeks prior to departure date) but I've been extremely ill for the past 2 weeks, leaving me with only 3 weeks to plan everything!

I have done some research and read reviews for tour companies in Italy and Greece. I have Greece covered but I'm having a hard time with Italy. In fact, my roll call is very, very small (22 ppl I believe) and they are all set already with their tours.

I know CC has rules about keeping requests to join tours to roll call but how can you spread the word when roll call is almost non-existent?

There are only 3 of us in our party and, doing the tours privately, would be extremely expensive for us. Our DD15 is really looking forward to seeing the famous sites in Italy but, at this point, I'm unsure we'll be able to do them.

How would you handle this situation if you were me?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

We have always stayed at the Athens Hilton, which AZ also use. It is excellent and they always upgrade us to the exec floor. It's an easy walk to the main attractions and has a wonderful pool.

Thanks you! I was checking trip advisor and prices are not much better than what AZ is asking to book the Hilton. Glad to hear from someone who has stayed there. :)

The Azamazing "festival" that we did on our overnight in Sorrento was in a pretty outdoor "park" that's part of the grounds of the Hilton, as I remember. It was an ersatz Italian folk festival, with no dinner per se, but LOADS of appetizers, so we certainly didn't eat dinner. There were performances of various kinds, musicians, acrobats, foldk dancers, horse-drawn carriage rides. It was fun. The assortment of cheeses was amazing. The wine was free-flowing. Many of the other appetizers were fairly heavy for my taste, i.e., deep fried. But it was loads of fun, when you got into the spirit of it (and in our case, despite the rain.)

Thanks for the description, Wendy! Ours will be in Sorrento also but was debating going to surprise my Italian relatives who live nearby instead! :)

Thanks again everyone!! :)

Thanks for all your advice. True, not all ship in port will be on the same schedule so better keep to our own. Unfortunately, our roll call is not only small, but also all set with the excursions. We booked late and now it's hard to put together a tour.

Also, can you tell me about white night (if that's what it's called....)?

Just to add my 2 cents-

 

Some (most) OBC given by a TA is refunded to your credit card account if not spent, but if it has been passed on through the cruise line then it's non-refundable. So if it's the refundable kind, it can be used for anything (or nothing)

 

Complimentary espresso (or cappuccino or latte...) can be had at the Mosaic Cafe, the Living Room, and at all dining venues during meal times.

 

My luggage tags came quickly (much less than a week after I ordered them) so unless your cruise is next week, give it a try!

Thanks. Another stupid question.....where do you order the luggage tags?

Thanks for all the replies! I appreciate your help.

Are we assigned a table to sit at dinner or is it free choice?

Is there only one dinner seating time or two?

Do we get special Azamara luggage tags in the mail after booking?

Can one party on the reservation do the drink upgrade or do all have to do it?

I know Nespresso coffees are not complimentary but can you get an espresso at complimentary coffee shops?

Can OBC (given by TA) be used at Casino?

Thanks for your patience :)

I've noticed that some of you are aware of when other ships arrive in the same ports as your cruise. Where do you find this information? Also, if the roll call for your cruise is small, do you try to get a tour filled by going to the other ships' (in the same port) roll call?

Thanks!

I've noticed that some of you are aware of when other ships arrive in the same ports as your cruise. Where do you find this information? Also, if the roll call for your cruise is small, do you try to get a tour filled by going to the other ships' (in the same port) roll call?

Thanks!

I use squaremouth.com. You type in all the travel detail, including cost obviously, and it gives you a bunch of companies to choose from. There's even a tool for comparing companies and coverage. I use to use Allianz a lot (very good company!) but have been choosing RoamRight lately because price is more affordable and kids are free.

Thank you all for the great advice! I really appreciate it! :)

Thank you very much for all the helpful info!

The reason I'm asking about the Azamazing evening event is because we're thinking of doing something on our own that day and, in case we get back late, we'll want to make sure the ship is still "open". :) It sounds like it's a festival so we may skip it...

I'll check Trip Advisor for hotels. I thought it would be safer to book through Azamara but it looks like it doesn't really matter, as long as reviews are good.

Another question, since gratuities are included with Azamara, do people still tip for outstanding service?

Thank you, Robin. I'm sorry for my ignorance but what is B&N? Probably not Barnes&Nobles, which is the first thing that popped in my head. :)

Hi,

My family and I (DH, DDalmost15, myself) just booked a last minute Mediterranean cruise on the Quest, June 12, 2017 sailing. We have cruised before but never on Azamara and looking forward to it already.

I have a few questions for those of you who are Azamara experts. :)

Our ship will be stopping in Sorrento and Amalfi on consecutive days. For that reason, the azAmazing evening takes place the evening of the first night there. It is supposed to be a festival in that area.

My question on this is, what happens that evening? Do you eat dinner on board and then transported to the festival? Do you just stand around and watch the festival or is there more to it than that? What time are you brought back to the ship?

On our itinerary it says that ship departs at 11pm that night from Sorrento and arrives at 8am in Amalfi. How can that be? The two towns are literally next to each other. Plus, the only naval port I know of in that region is Naples so it'll probably be docked there overnight and we'll be tendered.

Finally, we'd like to do a tour in Athens, which is our last stop. For that reason, we're extending our vacation by one day. We're thinking of booking one of the hotels listed on Azamara.

Has anyone done that? If so, were you satisfied with the hotel and was it easy to get to hotel from the ship? Azamara told me they don't do transfers to hotels, only to/from airport. We'll either have to get a taxi or make arrangements with a tour company to include transfers on our tour bill.

And, speaking of tours, Azamara does not offer tours in Athens for our trip. Any recommendations of good tour companies for Athens?

Thank you in advance!

Italy tours offers the option to purchase skip the line tickets with their tours. We opted to purchase them. We also purchased skip the line tickets with Barcelona day Tours. We figured it would make it easy and everything is paid for upfront. Now we only needs euros for "trinkets", food and a gratuity.

Good to know you can purchase the skip the lines option at booking! Thank you!

I have yet to book shore excursions for our last minute Mediterranean cruise (in one month!! Yikes!) and I'd like to thank everyone for this informative thread! :) Italytours is by far the most affordable tour company I've seen by comparison.

A couple of questions, are the "skip the lines" ticket expensive? And what do people usually tip on these tours? I want to make sure we'll have enough cash on us during the tours.

New to Azamara and, therefore, trying to understand what's included. Thanks for this very informative thread. I skimmed through the 11 pages here and not sure if I missed it but can you upgrade to higher level drink package for one person only? Also, I'm still confused about the coffee beverages...is there a copy of the "back page" people are talking about here? We cruised with Celebrity last year and everything was spelled out for us. Thanks!

Be safe, Summit and passengers!