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Last minute deals - July in the Med


travellerin1984
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Hi!

I wonder how do the last minute deals work on Azamara? We are considering booking a cruise from Monte Carlo to Barcelona in the end of July. When do the prices go down (if they go down?) We are used to cruising with Celebrity and their best last minute deals are 6-8 weeks before the departure. Is it the same on Azamara? When is the final payment for UK and U.S.?

 

We appreciate any advice and comments.

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It’s not on the list but still have available cabins. Just checked...

 

8 inside

15 outside

12 balcony

13 suites

 

We are considering this cruise but actually hope for a price drop. We’ll see. It is definitely high season so might be unrealistic to hope for a price drop. We have already cruised twice this year and have two cruises coming in December so this would be a bonus cruise (if the prices drop)

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There are loads of cabins for this sailing. My own experience is that is not like Celebrity where prices on the website drop after final payment. It's more subtle. They start offering guarantees for available categories at quite a bit less than the standard picking specific cabins. They offer the cabins out to consolidators and large travel agencies. They also offer them interline (employees past and present of airlines for example) at much reduced rates.

 

I wouldn't expect to see much of any price drop on the website after final payment. Not for the moment at least. Not like Celebrity.

 

Phil

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Thanks Phil. It would be our first time on Azamara and that’s why we are not familiar with Azamara deals. We are very curious about Azamara and the ports seem interesting. End of July is high season in the whole Europe so I shouldn’t get too excited about the possible price drops...

 

I guess we are a bit younger (mid-thirties and early forties) than average Azamara customers. We tried Oceania for our honeymoon and felt it was very (!) sedate. I somehow hope Azamara is a bit more lively. I think it could be because of drinks are included (they weren’t at the time on Oceania). Everyone was sleeping at 10 pm.

 

 

There are loads of cabins for this sailing. My own experience is that is not like Celebrity where prices on the website drop after final payment. It's more subtle. They start offering guarantees for available categories at quite a bit less than the standard picking specific cabins. They offer the cabins out to consolidators and large travel agencies. They also offer them interline (employees past and present of airlines for example) at much reduced rates.

 

I wouldn't expect to see much of any price drop on the website after final payment. Not for the moment at least. Not like Celebrity.

 

Phil

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Thanks. Interesting. The cruise we are considering is not on the list...

The cruise you are considering went on sale for one week at the beginning of May. It included an OBC for US 200. The prices went down also. It was called something like "last chance sale". Now I think those prices remain but the OBC is not there anymore. I know because I was interested on that cruise but the time did not suit us.

Ivi

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Good to know! I will be following the prices everyday... We might get lucky. (ot not...) Prior to cruise we stay in Spain so it would quite easy to get to Monte Carlo.

 

The cruise you are considering went on sale for one week at the beginning of May. It included an OBC for US 200. The prices went down also. It was called something like "last chance sale". Now I think those prices remain but the OBC is not there anymore. I know because I was interested on that cruise but the time did not suit us.

Ivi

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I guess you need to know how to find the consolidators and agencies who specialize in Azamara. I used the service where you provide the cruise date and cabin type, and got several offers and good prices. Those companies are probably out there.

 

Our first time on Azamara will be next October and my concern was also how sedate the experience would be, but we are going for the ports (SE Asia) and only small ships can get near the cities. The smallest ship we've been on in the last 15 years is the Celebrity Constellation and found that to be a great size, but that is 3X the size of Quest.

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I guess we are a bit younger (mid-thirties and early forties) than average Azamara customers. We tried Oceania for our honeymoon and felt it was very (!) sedate. I somehow hope Azamara is a bit more lively. I think it could be because of drinks are included (they weren’t at the time on Oceania). Everyone was sleeping at 10 pm.

 

My husband and I are 59, in good shape and pretty active. We love the fellow passengers on Azamara because they are smart, interesting, and share with us a love of travel. However, I would not consider the ships to be “lively”— they are stimulating in a low key, fairly intellectual way— but there is not a lot going on late in the night—there is one bar open late where 10-30 people are dancing, and White Night is pretty lively. I don’t know what you are hoping for but feel that I have to be honest here!

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I guess we are a bit younger (mid-thirties and early forties) than average Azamara customers. We tried Oceania for our honeymoon and felt it was very (!) sedate. I somehow hope Azamara is a bit more lively. I think it could be because of drinks are included (they weren’t at the time on Oceania). Everyone was sleeping at 10 pm.

 

One of the stated reasons when the more inclusive policy for beverages was introduced referenced the desire to make the ship's atmosphere more convivial. and livelier.

 

If you do decide on that cruise, it would be interesting to read your assessment if that goal has been reached.

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I think the ‘liveliness’ depends on the itinerary. We’ve done the relocation cruise from the Mediterranean to Dubai/India 3 times and that gets quite lively at night in the Living Room, possibly because there are a lot of sea days so people don’t have to be up early the next day. On the other hand the Costa Rica Intensive Cruise in January was quieter at night, possibly because people had tours booked in ports most days, so had to be awake earlyish.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you have booked well in advance of your sailing date and are fully paid up (we booked in April and our departure is in late September) and Azamara starts offering special discounts with OBCs or other valuable incentives will I be hung out to dry? Will any of the incentives, OBCs or price drops that Azamara might offer 'late comers' be passed on in some form to me for letting Azamara use my money for almost 5 months?

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If you have booked well in advance of your sailing date and are fully paid up (we booked in April and our departure is in late September) and Azamara starts offering special discounts with OBCs or other valuable incentives will I be hung out to dry? Will any of the incentives, OBCs or price drops that Azamara might offer 'late comers' be passed on in some form to me for letting Azamara use my money for almost 5 months?

Using your language, sadly you will be hung out to dry. In the UK we pay slightly later 90 days before cruising but then watch the price of our cruise drop like a stone.

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Pretty much what I thought, Tog :mad:. Other than having a better choice of cabin when one books early it's a cruise lines way of thanking their faithful passengers that book early for financially committing to a cruise. It's hard to not be cynical ;). Azamara isn't the only line that does this.

You'd think a simple OBC would be good for public relations, especially seeing that an OBC (if used) probably doesn't do much damage to the lines profit margin. Time to get back on the cloths line.

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