Free air fare.

[ukcdnlass]

We are two "First Time" cruisers and have just booked the March 18th cruise on Journey, which includes the flights from Vancouver. Our T.A. Said that

Azamara would be handling the flights and the hotel for the night before we sail. When checking on the Azamara website, it seems that I can make a request for particular flights. Does anyone know if that is true? The flying times and routing from Vancouver, in most cases has us arriving the next day. I have found a couple of US carriers that would have us in Miami just before midnight.

 

Also some imput on Azamara excursions would be greatly appreciated. We usually avoid tour groups like the plague, because my husband and I dislike crowds. I have taken small groups tours on occasion (less than 12) which were great fun,but have seen some cruise ship groups of 100+ which looked less than appealing. Can anyone give me some feed back on a typical Azamara tour?

 

From posts I have read so far, this trip should be a great first cruise. I have upgraded us to a suite as a surprise for my husband.

 

Looking forward to a wonderful trip.

 

Sue & Gary.

[Jade13]

We are two "First Time" cruisers and have just booked the March 18th cruise on Journey, which includes the flights from Vancouver.

 

 

Sue & Gary.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Azamara is a great cruise line for your first cruise.

 

Ask your travel agent if you are booked on "Cruise Air" or through "Choice Air"?

 

With Choice Air you can book your own flights, and most likely if in Canada/North America and your cruise is coded for the Choice Air promotion receive a $500.00 per person discount on your cruise fare once your book your flights through Choice Air. You pick your own flights, including the price, and if you want to fly in early or stay later after your cruise.

 

Since you seem to have a set fare it sounds more likely that you are booked through Cruise Air, which is typically the cheapest option but you receive mystery flights which you might not know until weeks before your cruise, could be terrible routing on various airlines and Azamara/RCCL has the right to change those flights anytime prior to your cruise. There have also been complaints about the hotels on some itineraries such as one out of Venice where the hotel was outside of Venice, and an airport hotel outside of central Hong Kong.

 

What you need to do is contact your TA and ask if you are booked on "Cruise Air" (mystery flights), or with "Choice Air" where you can go online and book your own flights through the Choice Air booking tool by imputing your Azamara booking number.

 

As far as excursions, we usually book our own, but did many Azamara shore excursions on our Holyland & Greek cruise last year as they were 50% off if booked prior to departure. I can report that overall they were very good and I would book with the cruise line again (but always on our own if they did not offer what we wanted). Most of their tours required 25 people to participate and they did have a problem reaching those numbers on 6 out of 9 of our tours. We canceled several and went on our own. Two of those were canceled by Azamara, and most of the tours we were on had less than 25 participants.

 

I thought Azamara was running the same 50% off pre-booked Shore Excursions promotion in 2012 on all of their itineraries (tours involving overnights or special events are excluded), so you need to ask your trade agent if you if that applies.

[cruisemuse13]

:o""We are two "First Time" cruisers and have just booked the March 18th cruise on Journey, which includes the flights from Vancouver. Our T.A. Said that

Azamara would be handling the flights and the hotel for the night before we sail.""

 

Hello, ukcdnlass. I think you have made an excellent choice to book this cruise, and I must admit I am envious. And curious. Where did you find the information about this cruise and free air? I have seen online travel agencies with air fare included from the US but not from Canada.

 

In the past I have used a "bricks and Mortar" TA, but other than a bottle of wine, I have not received any other perks. So I am trying to be expand my comfort zone, and get more savvy at finding "deals" . but so far, I think i am still "missing the boat".

[ukcdnlass]

:o""We are two "First Time" cruisers and have just booked the March 18th cruise on Journey, which includes the flights from Vancouver. Our T.A. Said that

Azamara would be handling the flights and the hotel for the night before we sail.""

 

Hello, ukcdnlass. I think you have made an excellent choice to book this cruise, and I must admit I am envious. And curious. Where did you find the information about this cruise and free air? I have seen online travel agencies with air fare included from the US but not from Canada.

 

In the past I have used a "bricks and Mortar" TA, but other than a bottle of wine, I have not received any other perks. So I am trying to be expand my comfort zone, and get more savvy at finding "deals" . but so far, I think i am still "missing the boat".

Hi Cool Cruiser:

 

I did lots of research on line first, with most of the sites showing the "Free Air" but only from a select # of Canadian airports. We Actually live in Edmonton, which was not an option. Calgary had been, but no longer. However Vancouver was still available. It seemed like a great deal at the time. Booking it ourselves would have cost $1000+ return because of the different arrival and departure points. Also Azamara pays for our hotel the night before as it is classed as a "Forced Layover"

I guess I will double check with my T.A. To make sure that everything is solid.

 

It is great to connect with people who we will be traveling with. Thanks for your imput.

 

Sue.

[travelinjudy]

Cruzluze - We booked the Journey April18th NY/Rouen, will stay 7 days in Normandy and rejoin the Journey on May 6th Rouen/Amsterdam, we also used their Free Air (which is a contract Air) it brings us to NY and then brings us home to PHX, via Amsterdam.

 

Hi Palamoh,

Don't forget to sign in on our roll call for the April 18th cruise to Rouen.

Would love to add you to our roll call list.:D

[tango9]

HI. I have had recent experience with the "free air" two times recently , with Azamara. The flights which we were booked on were very good each time. I think that Azamara does not want to chance that you miss the ship departure so they try to be careful.

As far the ship excursions, every one of the ship excursions which I have done with Azamara has been great quality. They might sometimes be a bit expensive though. The islands to which you are going can also be explored well on your own. For example in Virgin Gorda, there are many communal type taxis which will take you to various beaches or the Baths for a decent price. Taxis can be expensive in St Thomas , although you could rent a car if you don't mind driving on the left side of the road. The ship excursions on that island might be worth the price. I almost booked that sailing , it looks good, but instead will be taking the Journey out of Buoenos Aires soon! You will have a wonderful time

[ukcdnlass]

HI. I have had recent experience with the "free air" two times recently , with Azamara. The flights which we were booked on were very good each time. I think that Azamara does not want to chance that you miss the ship departure so they try to be careful.

As far the ship excursions, every one of the ship excursions which I have done with Azamara has been great quality. They might sometimes be a bit expensive though. The islands to which you are going can also be explored well on your own. For example in Virgin Gorda, there are many communal type taxis which will take you to various beaches or the Baths for a decent price. Taxis can be expensive in St Thomas , although you could rent a car if you don't mind driving on the left side of the road. The ship excursions on that island might be worth the price. I almost booked that sailing , it looks good, but instead will be taking the Journey out of Buoenos Aires soon! You will have a wonderful time

Hi Tango9:

Thanks for your response. I feel better after reading your comments. I usually make all my own travel arrangements and find it difficult to let someone else take charge.

Did you have any input regarding the routing, or did you wait to hear from AZ? the options from Western Canada are limited,with only two choices, via Chicago or Denver to get us into Miami the same day before midnight. See, I can not resist checking!

Sue.

[tango9]

hi ukcdnlass, I was very nervouse as well. I kept checking flight possibilites on Kayak. The first time we flew one airline in and another back home. So you may not be able to really tell. If there are limited options due to where you are coming from, then that is probably what you have to deal with. I was also concerned about missing the connection , but we did not! It is very nice too having Azamara provide the tranfers to the ship and back to the airport. Saves some money there. This second time we opted to fly in a day early and had to stay at a hotel contracted with Azamara. That way we felt more at ease about having enough time to play with, in case we did miss our connection, and also to see the port town. Try not to worry too much