Where have all the 14 night itineraries gone?

[greeneg]

Actually basing one of the ships in Montevideo might well be a good starting point. Rio de Janero would be another based on location, but the Brazilian Government has been known to be somewhat unfriendly to Cruisers in general, and to US Citizens ( Brazil requires a visa and there can be a lot of red tape boarding and disembarking the ship for example.) in particular.

 

Latin America can be very interesting to explore in terms of History, Culture, Cuisine, all of those areas, and properly managed, those trips can be very rewarding in terms of value received.

[California Native]

I think there might be a problem if they try to stay in South America for more than 4 cruises.

The last 2 years Princess was practically giving away the Star Princess for the South America season (this was before the earthquake)

Rates were as low as 50 USD a day for an inside, some balcony's were about 100USD!!!!

What was holding several people back was being able to get all Visa's and of course for the VERY long flights, especially for those not on the East Coast.

 

If AZ offered an South America itinerary that included Easter Island, it would be booked instantly by us

[Paulchili]

Where2next,

Beware of cruises going to Easter Islands. They only schedule one stop and that is often cancelled due to weather, etc.

It could be very upsetting to go all that way and miss it - better plan a land trip and see more :)

JMO

[California Native]

Where2next,

Beware of cruises going to Easter Islands. They only schedule one stop and that is often cancelled due to weather, etc.

It could be very upsetting to go all that way and miss it - better plan a land trip and see more :)

JMO

 

I know, I know..I did listen to your wisdom and advice ...

We are going to do a land trip, but I thought that might be a nice extra bonus to it (that's if we got in, if not I don't mind the extra sea days for the rest and relaxation)

K.

[greeneg]

 

If AZ offered an South America itinerary that included Easter Island, it would be booked instantly by us

 

Again, this is what I would consider a very creative and attractive idea for an itinerary which isn't often done to my knowledge. Wonder if anyone in Miami is paying attention??

[Paulchili]

I know, I know..I did listen to your wisdom and advice ...

We are going to do a land trip, but I thought that might be a nice extra bonus to it (that's if we got in, if not I don't mind the extra sea days for the rest and relaxation)

K.

 

I agree. I wouldn't mind going back some day on a cruise.

[Jade13]

 

If AZ offered an South America itinerary that included Easter Island, it would be booked instantly by us

 

And we will join you!

[cindilouwho]

And we will join you!

 

And I as well!!!

[CHUCKIE50]

Easter Island is on my personal "bucket list" Does anyone know if any cruise line schedules stops there regularly?

[California Native]

It's usually only seen on a world cruise...

and many times it's pulled because of tidal issues

Hopefully, Paulchili will see your post, he's been there as part of a land trip

and he can give you some great advice!

K.

[California Native]

Actually basing one of the ships in Montevideo might well be a good starting point. Rio de Janero would be another based on location, but the Brazilian Government has been known to be somewhat unfriendly to Cruisers in general, and to US Citizens ( Brazil requires a visa and there can be a lot of red tape boarding and disembarking the ship for example.) in particular.

 

Latin America can be very interesting to explore in terms of History, Culture, Cuisine, all of those areas, and properly managed, those trips can be very rewarding in terms of value received.

 

Lots of South America itineraries on AZ have been loaded for late 2011 and some 2012

Just put the country in...no ship, no date and all of the cruises will pull up....

[greeneg]

Thank you, these are all East Coast, I was thinking more of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, which could be combined with Easter Island. But the East Coast itineraries are there and there are a few 14 night ones. A couple of them have strange starting and ending points and I imagine that the Air component would be both challenging and expensive.

[Paulchili]

It's usually only seen on a world cruise...

and many times it's pulled because of tidal issues

Hopefully, Paulchili will see your post, he's been there as part of a land trip

and he can give you some great advice!

K.

 

CHUCKIE50,

If you are determined to see Easter Islands, plan to do a land trip (out of Santiago or Papeete) for the reasons mentioned by K above (they can be cancelled due to weather and tidal conditions), leading to major disappointment. The route from Santiago is much easier (after a S. America cruise) and they have 4 day/3 night packages coinciding with the flights from Santiago

[JudyPostRealtor]

In 2008 and 2009, I enjoyed 14 night itineraries with Azamara. They now seem few and far between, if there are any. Lots of 7 night, a few 10 or 12 night but I don't understand why 14 nights have been cut.

I dont want 7 days and has been said Bto B is so expensive. Anything less than 10 days is not worth the effort. Bring back the 14 day cruise.

 

Were you on the Best of Italy cruise on the Quest in May, 2009? I believe that my husband and I had the pleasure of meeting you!

 

Judy

[piscean]

 

Were you on the Best of Italy cruise on the Quest in May, 2009? I believe that my husband and I had the pleasure of meeting you!

 

Judy

Hi Judy

Yes we were on that wonderful cruise.............in fact the thread is till running!

How are you?

We are on AZ on the 20th sailing from Venice really looking forward to it.

Carol

[Paulchili]

Easter Island is on my personal "bucket list" Does anyone know if any cruise line schedules stops there regularly?

AFAIK, currently there are 5 itineraries that are scheduled to visit Easter Islands:

P&O Aurora - leaving Southampton 1/9/11 and visiting EI on 2/12/11

Royal Princess - leaving Papeete on 4/6/11 and visiting EI on 4/15/11

Pacific Princess - leaving FLL on 1/9/11 and visiting EI on 2/3/11

HAL Amsterdam - Leaving FLL on 1/5/11 and visiting EI on 1/20/11 and again the following year on 2/10/11

All are part of a world cruise, as pointed out by K.

[ctbx1@aol.com]

I agree with you..just got off the Quest from 9/20 - 10/2..I wrote Azamara and told them with the price increases and not a choice of 21, 14 nite cruises. forces me to look elsewhere. There response was people want 7 night cruises and I could take a back to back. guess they dont care if they lose customers.

[Architect]

Agree that Azamara is out of its element in the Caribbean. As if the world needs more Caribbean cruises! That said, a lot of my relations & neighbors are into that. Personally my dream itinerary is Buenos Aires-Montevideo-São Paulo/Santos-Rio-Salvador-Manaus. Found it just once but forget who it was now (Silversea or Seabourn?). But they wanted a 200% SS and my travelling friends and I prefer separate cabins! So I declined just on principle!

 

Easter Island is definitely enticing but it's so remote that it requires some serious extended sea days just to get there and then there are those tidal issues. I guess I'd fly that one unless I was doing something Trans-Pacific and could take a month off work.

 

And definitely agree that 14-night itineraries are attractive, but I own my own business which gives me a lot more flexibility than my peers have. Even the 12-day I'm going on next is actually 18 days considering flights and brief stays at both ends. VERY few of my friends can take that much time off and if they do, that's their entire annual complement of vacation days right there. Another time I'd really like to be European!

[Project_gal]

There response was people want 7 night cruises and I could take a back to back.

 

It has been said before but it is worth stating again, there is no way two 7-day cruises B2B is the same as a 14-ight cruise. By spliting the Singapore to Athens into two 12-night cruises, a wonderful itinerary has been devalued, IMHO.

 

Sue

[piscean]

Hi Andy

 

So many people on this site and indeed many people that I spoke with on my last (hopefully I will have another!) AZ cruise in September are not keen on 7 day trips or indeed B to B (expensive) and would like to see more 10/12/14 day itineraries.

Can we have a poll? it would be interesting to see if AZ's new policy is what we want!

Carol

[orchestrapal]

Hi Andy

 

So many people on this site and indeed many people that I spoke with on my last (hopefully I will have another!) AZ cruise in September are not keen on 7 day trips or indeed B to B (expensive) and would like to see more 10/12/14 day itineraries.

Can we have a poll? it would be interesting to see if AZ's new policy is what we want!

Carol

 

We will not even consider Azamara any more because it is just about impossible to put together 25-30 days with 7 day round-trippers. The discount for B-B is also hardly worth it on Azamara. We'll just stick to Oceania and stop looking at Azamara altogether.:D

[Jade13]

It has been said before but it is worth stating again, there is no way two 7-day cruises B2B is the same as a 14-ight cruise. By spliting the Singapore to Athens into two 12-night cruises, a wonderful itinerary has been devalued, IMHO.

 

Sue

 

Interesting. I don't know how you got from two 7 day btb's not being the same as a 14 night (which I agree) to the Singapore to Athens being split into two cruises of 12 nights devaluing the cruise. We are on one of the 12 nights and certainly hope that is not the case. A 12 night (or 14 night) make for a nice two week vacation.

 

Why do you think the Singapore to Athens cruise has been devalued? Was your cruise last year fully booked?

 

If anything, they have made a mistake on the Dubai to Athens route having only one stop on one day (true repositioning) and I believe that is why it is not selling. They should have added a day in Oman, a day in Jordan, or two days in Alexandria. I have matched up both the RCCL and Oceania itineraries from Dubai to Athens and they both have more stops over the same amount of days. I still can't understand why Azamara needs one or two more sea days than these other ships to get from Dubai to Athens.

[orchestrapal]

. I have matched up both the RCCL and Oceania itineraries from Dubai to Athens and they both have more stops over the same amount of days. I still can't understand why Azamara needs one or two more sea days than these other ships to get from Dubai to Athens.

 

Could it be the added docking charges?::(

[Project_gal]

Interesting. I don't know how you got from two 7 day btb's not being the same as a 14 night (which I agree) to the Singapore to Athens being split into two cruises of 12 nights devaluing the cruise. We are on one of the 12 nights and certainly hope that is not the case. A 12 night (or 14 night) make for a nice two week vacation.

 

Why do you think the Singapore to Athens cruise has been devalued? Was your cruise last year fully booked?

 

Being such a long cruise, it was an incredible experience that I do not believe can be achieved in 12 days. I know that the officers and crew on Quest are amazing and the service wonderful but, after 24-nights, our relationship seemed at another level. The weather on the last full day was not good enough for the Waves Ceremony on deck and it had to be held in the theatre. No one wanted to miss it and we had to shoe-horn ourselves into the space available. I doubt that there was a dry eye in the place.

 

Yes, 12 or 14 nights will make a nice vacation. 24 nights made an unforgetable experience.

 

The cruise was not quite fully booked. There were two Penthouse Suites available as bingo prizes and may have been a few other cabins free. This, in itself, was quite amazing considering there was the Mumbai incident about 6 months before hand and the pirate situation in the Gulf at its peak.

 

Sue

[Jade13]

The weather on the last full day was not good enough for the Waves Ceremony on deck and it had to be held in the theatre. No one wanted to miss it and we had to shoe-horn ourselves into the space available. I doubt that there was a dry eye in the place.

 

 

Sue

 

What was the Waves ceremony?