PirateWife

We have traveled with friends for many years and have gone on the same ship shore excursions often. When your shore excursion meets before you leave the ship and you are given number to identify which excursion you are on, make sure you all get the same number. This works also when there are multiple groups taking the same excursion. No need to worry about it while booking shore excursions or trying to link to your friends. 

Not all cruises have upgrade offers. Depends on how booked the cruise is.

Did B2B in November. Did not do muster drill/video a second time. It was our first B2B but that is all we want to do now. No more 7 to 10 day cruises. Too short. It is very relaxing knowing you don't have to pack up the night before, you can eat a leisurely breakfast while everyone else is hurrying and spend a day in the port with no plan. On two of our cruises there have been ship shore excursions we could take and return to the ship. The best part after a day in Lisbon on our November cruise was walking around all of the people waiting to test and embark and go right on ship.

I know that Azamara changed at least one Black Sea Cruise for this year to a Greece Intensive cruise. Knowing I don't want to do that, I have already cancelled my 2023 Black Sea cruise. Even if bombing stopped today, it will take years for Ukraine to recover.

When we were on the Quest in November, we got quotes for 4 different cruises including the World Cruise. Our TA was never notified what cruises we were looking at. When we booked, we were asked if we wanted to use the same TA as we had used in the past. As far as we were concerned, the sale was closed onboard when we made our deposit. If our TA pressured us while on a cruise or not on a cruise, we would be looking for a new TA.

3 hours ago, Juno1956 said:

Having just been on Azamara I thought I would look at booking on board but I wanted further advice on using loyalty points etc and just wanted a quote on a cruise to Japan for 2024. The guy was very reluctant to give a quote, and didn’t so lost our booking. 
However, I did enjoy our first Azamara and will book again , but not on board! 

This is disappointing. We usually book a future cruise on board because we get discounts, OBC and a smaller deposit. Also, we can look at what rooms are available and choose the best one for us. We have often got quotes for 4 or 5 cruises.

I have used them. I just don't remember them being offered as a shore excursion to book. The Hop On/Hop Off excursions have been added in the last month as available excursions. My concern is that Azamara may not bring back their free shuttles.

I now see that Azamara is offering Hop On/Hop Off shore excursions for a fee on a cruise we are doing in August. Is this Azamara replacing the shuttle buses from the port to the city that pre-COVID were free? The description says they will be Azamara exclusive. At the same time, shore excursions that were available a month ago are no longer listed.

I now see that Azamara is offering Hop On/Hop Off shore excursions for a fee on a cruise we are doing in August. Is this Azamara replacing the shuttle buses from the port to the city that pre-COVID were free? The description says they will be Azamara exclusive. At the same time, shore excursions that were available a month ago are no longer listed.

I did not like the piped in music on the Quest in November, particularly in Windows for breakfast. The jazz that was being played was jarring and loud enough to make conversation difficult.

1 hour ago, takemewithyou said:

@uktog very timely update on your comparison!  We are on Viking Orion, having boarded on Easter Sunday.  It has been interesting to compare with our Dec Quest cruise.  I think things were a bit better on Quest then than what you recently experienced, however…..not without some small issues!

 

There are some things we are VERY impressed with on Viking….the ship is gorgeous and the stateroom , a PV, is so so nice and spacious.  The bath is lovely with heated floors, clean and fresh. My DH describes the ship as one in which you took the best parts of all the cruises and different .cruise.lines and combined them all together into one ship!  If it just had the Azamara crew as we all knew, it would be fantastic!  
 

The food is a step above.  We have not had our evenings in Manfredis yet, but last night we did the Chefs Table with the halibut you mentioned and it was fantastic. Service was very good.  There is no extra charge for the Chefs Table.  Tonight there is chateaubriand in the restaurant and in the World Cafe.  The Restaurant was so slow the first night, beyond anything we have ever experienced and pretty bad the next morning with wait times and cold food, we have stopped going there.  We are relying on specialties and World cafe.

 

I will have more thoughts as the days go on.  We are missing the Azamara crew, the White Night, the destination evening.  Oh and we missed a port, Astoria OR, supposedly because we are trying to outrun a low pressure system.  We are now sitting 70 miles off of San Francisco, our stop tomorrow so not sure why we couldn’t have stopped in Astoria?  I guess one should never second guess the Captain! 
 

so there have been some good and some not so good things.  Time will tell how we feel.  

Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to go in over the bar to get to Astoria. Living a few miles south, it has been cold, wet, hailed and snowed in the last 36 hours. Add on to that very strong winds.

One more charge from Azamara. This really doesn't work flying from the US west coast and arriving one day before the cruise. In order for us to get tested, we have to drive 70+ miles to a larger city. 

Yikes. I have always used my OBC to tip in the specialty restaurants. I try to not have any OBC left when I disembark.

After the cruise in November on the Quest, I could have made similar comments, particularly about the food and the dining areas' wait staffs. I had hoped things would improve. It doesn't sound like it.

I think your problem is the cruise is in 2022 not 2023.

59 minutes ago, uktog said:

not in the UK - that would have avoided a lot of issues in the past

Never heard of it in the US but I have never asked.

In US same as in UK. However, I do keep an eye on the Azamara website and CC for any new information.

4 different bottles of something. Don't remember (I know one was Blue Sapphire Gin) because we traded ours for 2 very good bottle of wine.

My husband always travels with his small Swiss Army knife. In his checked luggage until we get on ship.

1 hour ago, Aardvaark said:

Our favorite places, according to our mood and the time of day, are the Patio for lunch, the Drawing Room to get/return a book, the Den for trivia contests, the Sunset Verandah for a libation whenever it suits us, and the Living Room to see what's ahead (and for little nibblies).

 

Of course we have to visit Customer Relations when something goes amiss, where we consult with Ferdinand the Fixer.

That sounds just right. I don't know Ferdinand the Fixer. I will need to get to know him.

Having done a recent b2b, I concur with KirkNC. I would definitely get back no later than 3 pm. When we returned on the cross-over day after exploring on our own, although we did not have to go through the testing, etc., we had to walk around the area for new passengers and through the scanner in a different part of the cruise port.

In the past I have cancelled excursions for this reason. The credit went back to my OBC and I have rebooked at the lower price.

3 hours ago, janbvacation said:

Hi all,

Interesting to read the differences, thanks for all your help!

I was wondering how it is with the perk for one night of complimentary specialty dining for two, every seven days.

Is this per every full 7 days? Or per section of every 7 days? E.g. on a 12 day cruise would you be able to make use of this 1 or 2 times?

 

First timer on Azamara Journey in June 2022, booked P1.

Elite with Celebrity.

Just 1.

I am one of those walkers on the track early in the morning. I stick to the outside and let the joggers/runners take the inside track. Often, I have been the only one there. And, I have never seen anyone pushed or sworn at. I do think it is a little rude to go the opposite direction everyone else is going but I don't say anything. In the ports, since arrival is often early in the morning, you might want to consider going for a run on shore.

44 minutes ago, B17 said:

I am pretty sure I saw that table too, but then I found another one relative to UK.  I am pretty sure that one you are looking at is aimed at US pax

The US website has the same table. No difference.