stephensfamily5

Thanks for all of the great ideas! We do plan on using a good portion of it on excursions. The rest will be fun to figure out how to indulge ourselves! What a fun problem to have!!

Thanks for the great suggestions!

We have cruised on several cruiselines before, but never Azamara. We have a rather large OBC. I know this topic has been asked before, but we are not interested in upgrading our drink package or in staying connected with wifi. We are not big spa people. We probably won't spend an extra $100/couple (even if credit) for a meal when we can get a perfectly good one in the dining room. So I am looking at the excursions and have booked a couple. Many seem very high on the price, so I am wondering what other things there may be in which to use the credit. I thought I read somewhere that there is a full ship tour for $150? I also read about watercolor classes? Is there usually a cost for these? Bingo? Is there usually a good selection in the gift shop? And are the gift shop prices outrageous? I am just trying to decide what opportunities there may be later to spend the credit as opposed to using it for an expensive shore excursion. Thank you for any suggestions. We are excited to cruise on the Azamara Journey.

Thanks for all of the thoughts and comments!

I am a bargain shopper, so we usually book our cruises through an online agency, usually Avoya or ***** for the good price and/or extra perks. We also usually book fairly close to the date. However, this time we are considering a family vacation for Christmas, 2025. I am thinking it would probably be better to go through Carnival for 2 reasons. 1 is that it will be a group booking. There will probably 7 cabins. Just making sure that everything is right seems like it would be easier to do directly through the cruiseline. The second reason that I could think of is if there are price discounts, I assume it would be easier to get the discount applied through Carnival than an online agency. But I have never had experience with group travel or booking so far in advance (or getting a price adjusted either). So I wanted to ask the expert cruisers if I am missing anything? What are your opinions?