Tips for Azamara Newbies

[Baynanno1]

4 hours ago, islandwoman said:

I am confused about Azamara's complimentary nights for loyalty members.

 

2.  What does it mean that complimentary nights "must be redeemed at the full fare rate"?

 

It means exactly what it says : you pay full (book or list price) for any days not covered by the complimentary ones. No promotional fares can be used.

 

For example if the price is US$500 per person per night, on a 12 night cruise when you use 2 "free" nights, you would each pay US$5,000 for 10 nights at full price.

This cruise would doubtless be less expensive if booked without "free" nights on a promotional fare.

 

On the other hand, if you apply 4 "free" nights to a 7 night cruise also costing US$500 per person per night, you would have to pay for three nights, a total of US$1,500 each.

 

In most cases it makes sense to use one's "free" nights on shorter cruises.

 

We actually used our four nights on a ridiculously expensive three night cruise in between two 9 night cruises we wanted to do, so for us it made sense to lose the fourth night.

 

Check out the difference between cost of a cruise with "free" nights against cost of the same cruise with a promotional fare before deciding where to use your nights.

 

Hope this is of some help understanding the rules.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

It means exactly what it says : you pay full (book or list price) for any days not covered by the complimentary ones. No promotional fares can be used.

...

Check out the difference between cost of a cruise with "free" nights against cost of the same cruise with a promotional fare before deciding where to use your nights.

This is why the Discoverer Plus six free nights benefit is the best of them all: you can apply it to a large number of cruises and come out well ahead of even the best sale.

[Grandma Cruising]

Islandwoman the terms and conditions make it clear that it’s 50% of voyages, so if you’ve done 5 cruises with Azamara & Celebrity at least 3 must be with Azamara in order to qualify.

Baynanno, I think you we’re lucky to be able to use your complimentary nights on a 3 night cruise as I see the T’s & C’s now say they can only be used on cruises of 7 nights or more.

[marinaro44]

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

This is why the Discoverer Plus six free nights benefit is the best of them all: you can apply it to a large number of cruises and come out well ahead of even the best sale.

Seems to me ten free nights when you get to Platinum are even better.

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

Seems to me ten free nights when you get to Platinum are even better.

In theory, yes.  I just never expect to get there!

[Grandma Cruising]

There has been discussion elsewhere about the slight change to the rules about the reciprocity between Celebrity and Azamara. The change (as from March 2021) is that in order to keep reciprocal Celebrity Captains Club points in Azamara Circle, you must have taken at least one cruise with Azamara. 
I have added this to the Tips spreadsheet and also changed references to LCV to Azamara Circle.

Here’s the link to the original spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

 

Here’s the link to the version with page rather than post numbers

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S6WHqVYuztksqXXt4XSs0uMFtZQFjq3zg7q0ZUyMbJA/edit

[islandwoman]

" As from March 2021 in order to use your Celebrity Captains Club points with Azamara you will need to have taken at least one Azamara cruise."

 

So does this mean that, although Azamara currently designates me as "Explorer", since all of those points are from Celebrity,  on my first cruise with Azamara I will have no status?   Didn't Azamara say previously that they would honor reciprocal points? 

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, islandwoman said:

" As from March 2021 in order to use your Celebrity Captains Club points with Azamara you will need to have taken at least one Azamara cruise."

 

So does this mean that, although Azamara currently designates me as "Explorer", since all of those points are from Celebrity,  on my first cruise with Azamara I will have no status?   Didn't Azamara say previously that they would honor reciprocal points? 

It is a bit confusing, but I found that information in a FAQ on the Azamara website under a link headed Azamara New Ownership Updates https://www.azamara.co.uk/loyalty/azamara-circle/transition

It is a bit contradictory as at the top it says you will keep any reciprocal points you’ve earned from either cruise line, but then the answer to the FAQ ‘As a Captain’s Club member will I have status and points with Azamara if I have only ever sailed with Celebrity’ is ‘No, to have status and points with Azamara you must have at least one past sailing with Azamara’.

[luv2travel90266]

If the cruise was booked prior to March 2021 will they apply the recip privilege?  Doing my first with Azamara in Feb 2022 that was originally to have happened Jan 2021 when everything shut down. 

[Grandma Cruising]

9 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

If the cruise was booked prior to March 2021 will they apply the recip privilege?  Doing my first with Azamara in Feb 2022 that was originally to have happened Jan 2021 when everything shut down. 

There’s a topic about this in the forum . It seems a bit unclear at present, it’s probably a good idea to write to the Azamara Circle loyalty club to ask them at loyalty@azamara.com.

 

 

 

[Tom47]

I rec'd an email today from Az with this info:

As Azamara navigates this brand transition to a private cruise line, the maintenance of our loyalty memberships and points remains important to us. At the moment, all Celebrity Captain’s Club members and Azamara Circle members will keep their existing points to date and maintain their status with each cruise line, as well continue to earn cumulative points in each program.

Accrued Captain’s Club points, along with Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society benefits, will continue to be shared reciprocally between all three cruise lines, provided you have had at least one past sailing with Azamara.

[Host Jazzbeau]

20 minutes ago, Tom47 said:

I rec'd an email today from Az with this info:

As Azamara navigates this brand transition to a private cruise line, the maintenance of our loyalty memberships and points remains important to us. At the moment, all Celebrity Captain’s Club members and Azamara Circle members will keep their existing points to date and maintain their status with each cruise line, as well continue to earn cumulative points in each program.

Accrued Captain’s Club points, along with Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society benefits, will continue to be shared reciprocally between all three cruise lines, provided you have had at least one past sailing with Azamara.

They keep hiding the kicker at the end...

[Baynanno1]

3 hours ago, Tom47 said:

I rec'd an email today from Az with this info:

 

Accrued Captain’s Club points, along with Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society benefits, will continue to be shared reciprocally between all three cruise lines, provided you have had at least one past sailing with Azamara.

 

 

The above appears to me to be quite clear and in plain sight.

 

[islandwoman]

3 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

The above appears to me to be quite clear and in plain sight.

 

Except the meaning of "past".  Before the COVID shut down?  Before the sale?  Before you can take advantage of any benefits?  Will they be going through the records of Captain's Club members to discover who doesn't have a past cruise with Azamara and then placing a block on any more points being transferred from Celebrity?  Will they be taking away reciprocal status already applied from those who don't have a "past" cruise on Azamara?  Seems like an unreasonable thing to do to newbies who might have had "at least one past sailing with Azamara" had it not been for the Pandemic. 

[artmc]

DW and I are sailing on the Quest in late October 2022 from Athens to Dubai. We've done Carnival, Celebrity, and Princess but this will be our first Azamera cruise. Years ago (1980) during my gap year long-hair, backpack journey I sailed on small ships on Cook Strait between New Zealand's North and South Islands and (deck class) from Haifa to Athens. On both occasions the seas were quite rough and there were  plenty of people who "lost their lunch" and I almost joined them. When DW and I went on our first Carnival cruise I was nervous about repeating that experience so we packed gravol, those patches that go behind the ears and lord knows what else. I didn't need any of them.

 

I learned that the large ships have tubes running along their keels that minimize wave effects and never had motion sickness problems; in fact, I found the gentle motion very soothing when going to sleep.

Question: the Quest is obviously smaller than any other liner we've sailed. How much different will it feel during wavy seas?

[islandwoman]

artmc, You mentioned having sailed on Princess.  If you sailed on the Pacific Princess, the Tahitian/Ocean Princess, or the old Royal Princess, you've been on a ship exactly like the Azamara Quest. 

I've sailed on all three of those Princess ships.  They definitely rock and roll more than the mega-ships that are all the rage these days.  I am subject to sea-sickness and had to take meds a few times on those voyages. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by islandwoman

[artmc]

Islandwoman, thank you for your reply. My Princess experience was rather recent - The Royal Princess in 2017 and the Sapphire Princess in 2018. I'll take some gravol with me....I'm still up for the adventure.

[TeaBag]

For those of you who get seasick, can you get the patches?  I think they are superior to  Gravol.  I only know that because my cousin was terribly sick as we sailed round the south of NZ.  The pills were not helping.  A very kind passenger gave me one of her patches.  I gave it to my cousin and she was a different person in 30 minutes.

[Tom47]

29 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

For those of you who get seasick, can you get the patches?  I think they are superior to  Gravol.  I only know that because my cousin was terribly sick as we sailed round the south of NZ.  The pills were not helping.  A very kind passenger gave me one of her patches.  I gave it to my cousin and she was a different person in 30 minutes.

I tried the patches on my first cruise and didn't like the side effects.  I now use bonine and ginger.  DW  same

Edited April 30, 2021 by Tom47

[luv2travel90266]

One of the negatives of patches is my wife had vertigo for several days after the cruise. Withdrawal from the med. 

[excitedofharpenden]

10 hours ago, TeaBag said:

For those of you who get seasick, can you get the patches?  I think they are superior to  Gravol.  I only know that because my cousin was terribly sick as we sailed round the south of NZ.  The pills were not helping.  A very kind passenger gave me one of her patches.  I gave it to my cousin and she was a different person in 30 minutes.

No, you can't get patches on the ship, but they do have ginger candy. I take my own medication that I know I get on with. Stugeron 15 in the UK which has active ingredient Cinnarizine. I don't get drowsy if I have to take it. 

 

Phil 

[islandwoman]

I take Dramamine, active ingredient dimenhydrinate.   It works for me, as long as I take it 30 minutes before the ship starts rocking and rolling.  Though, it's been a bit of a challenge getting accurate and timely state-of-the-seas predictions from customer service.  If I see sea-sickness bags put out on the stairways, I know it's definitely time to take Dramamine.  Also, every person reacts differently both to the seas and to the medicine.  It's been trial and error for me to know how much to take to avoid both seasickness and drowsiness.

[TeaBag]

Sorry, I meant can you get patches where you live.  I don't think you can get them in Canada any longer.  Yes, it's a splendid idea to come prepared.  We are so grateful that motion sickness is not something that bothers either one of us.  We were on a Celebrity sailing out of Alaska once that was extremely rough.  Waves were coming up onto the deck.  People were leaving the dining room in droves and it was not bothering us.

[luv2travel90266]

I purchased for my wife who is not seaworthy a wrist band that gives an electronic impulse that is supposed to prevent seasickness. She does pretty well but we have major waves on a trip to Alaska that many passengers and crew had issues.  This was done before one of the cruises that didn't occur due to covid.  The evening show changed as a dancer who jumps expects the floor to be where it was moments ago. Cost was just over $100 on the web and I figure it was a small investment if it works. 

[marinaro44]

Azamara has always had meclazine available at guest services...no cost.