Tips for Azamara Newbies

[Europe and beyond]

6 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Yes you can!

Thank you!

[Beamafar]

I’m wondering if anyone can help explain the free nights for moving up a tier in the loyalty club and why they’re not always the good offer they appear to be.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I’m wondering if anyone can help explain the free nights for moving up a tier in the loyalty club and why they’re not always the good offer they appear to be.  

Because they make you book the cruise at full list price to get the pro-rated discount on your 'free nights' – this often makes the cost of the cruise higher than it would be under the current sale prices, and it also keeps you from rebooking if a better sale comes along.  Only the 6 night and 10 night rewards are consistently worth using, according to the veteran posters here.

 

BTW since half of the points-earning cruises must have been on Azamara, 'newbies' are a long way from qualifying!  Thanks to a bunch of Celebrity cruises (that earned fewer points per diem), even though we will have 50%+ of our points from Azamara when we hit 750 we won't qualify for the bonus.  And that is one of the two 'useful' ones!  

[Beamafar]

Thank you @Host Jazzbeau   That makes perfect sense.

 

I had seen the subject discussed on a thread recently but couldn’t remember which one.  

[mjmagee]

What time, on average, are you expected to be off the ship on the last day of the cruise?

[beatnix]

At 9 am

[andrcan]

4 hours ago, mjmagee said:

What time, on average, are you expected to be off the ship on the last day of the cruise?

On my cruise 2 weeks ago the debarkation time was listed as 7:30am-9:30am.

[Nippy Sweetie]

Are they doing CC meet and mingles these days?

[wjfan417]

1 hour ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Are they doing CC meet and mingles these days?

They had one on my Quest cruise in April. It was on boarding day at the same time as sail away so didn’t have many people.

 

Diana

[tgg]

4 hours ago, wjfan417 said:

They had one on my Quest cruise in April. It was on boarding day at the same time as sail away so didn’t have many people.

 

Diana

 

They did the same thing on our March Quest cruise.  As longtime Azamara cruisers, we knew the M&M would NOT be the first day.  SURPRISE. We missed it completely and so did most of the people on the roll call.  The people who had private tours planned with fellow roll call members were very disappointed; they had looked forward to meeting each other.

[kaymoz]

All-aboard times -- I'm new to Azamara, so not sure how they handle this.   I've heard it is one hour before the departure time but others think it's half an hour! 

How does this work for both docked and tendered locations?

[Baynanno1]

3 hours ago, kaymoz said:

All-aboard times -- I'm new to Azamara, so not sure how they handle this.   I've heard it is one hour before the departure time but others think it's half an hour! 

How does this work for both docked and tendered locations?

 

The required time may vary and should be posted each day, including the time of the last tender back to the ship.

[andrcan]

4 hours ago, kaymoz said:

All-aboard times -- I'm new to Azamara, so not sure how they handle this.   I've heard it is one hour before the departure time but others think it's half an hour! 

How does this work for both docked and tendered locations?

On our cruise earlier this month, the all-aboard time was 30 mins before the posted departure time, and to my understanding, it was the hard deadline. One time, we told the Cruise Director we're going on the day trip on our own, and our bus is scheduled to get back some 5 mins before the all-aboard time, then they took our names/room number and recommended changing the bus to earlier arrival, which we did.

[kaymoz]

2 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

The required time may vary and should be posted each day, including the time of the last tender back to the ship.

I'm trying to book some shore activities, excursions & tours now for a cruise in July, so it would be helpful to know the timing long before I'm on the ship.  I suppose I could assume it would be a full hour prior to sailing, but that might mean forgoing some wonderful tour options that would be possible if it would only be 30 minutes prior! 

[wjfan417]

13 minutes ago, kaymoz said:

I'm trying to book some shore activities, excursions & tours now for a cruise in July, so it would be helpful to know the timing long before I'm on the ship.  I suppose I could assume it would be a full hour prior to sailing, but that might mean forgoing some wonderful tour options that would be possible if it would only be 30 minutes prior! 

On our April cruise it was 30 minutes for guests and 1hour for crew. However, we were on an Azamara shore excursion in one port where the tour leader was getting several messages from the ship asking where we were. I think they held the ship about a half hour for us.

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, kaymoz said:

I'm trying to book some shore activities, excursions & tours now for a cruise in July, so it would be helpful to know the timing long before I'm on the ship.  I suppose I could assume it would be a full hour prior to sailing, but that might mean forgoing some wonderful tour options that would be possible if it would only be 30 minutes prior! 

If you cut it as close as possible, you run a good chance of waiving goodbye to the ship as it sails away without you.  And these days, because of Covid rules, you may not be allowed to rejoin the ship at the next port.  Not worth the risk, IMHO.

[kaymoz]

11 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If you cut it as close as possible, you run a good chance of waiving goodbye to the ship as it sails away without you.  And these days, because of Covid rules, you may not be allowed to rejoin the ship at the next port.  Not worth the risk, IMHO.

We always back up the official all-aboard time with a 30 minute cushion, to be safe and generally reduce anxiety.  But since we are new to Azamara, I just don't know what to expect the all-aboard time would be, given the listed departure time.

[Mackdogmolly]

55 minutes ago, kaymoz said:

We always back up the official all-aboard time with a 30 minute cushion, to be safe and generally reduce anxiety.  But since we are new to Azamara, I just don't know what to expect the all-aboard time would be, given the listed departure time.

On my current cruise, it has been a half hour before sail away 

[kaymoz]

24 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

On my current cruise, it has been a half hour before sail away 

What about tendered ports?  I have heard last tender would be one hour before departure.

[Port Power]

4 hours ago, kaymoz said:

What about tendered ports?  I have heard last tender would be one hour before departure.

That can be so at some ports.  Any port can have the departure time changed on the day, too.  I have been on many, many private tours, but always with operators who guarantee to get us back to the ship on time. Operators are also aware the excursion might be cancelled if the ship misses a port and will refund in full.

[Baynanno1]

1 hour ago, Port Power said:

 I have been on many, many private tours, but always with operators who guarantee to get us back to the ship on time. Operators are also aware the excursion might be cancelled if the ship misses a port and will refund in full.

 

Likewise, I have booked my private shore excursions with operators who give the same guarantees.

 

On a ship's tour, you are guaranteed the ship will be held for your return, or rarely if tides are a big factor, transported to an alternative port for return to ship.

[Grandma Cruising]

In the topic ‘Anyone on Board right now’ CC member norn iron reports that the included draught beer has changed from Newcastle Brown to Carlesberg and that in Suites instead of 4 half litres of spirits, you get your choice of spirits but only 1x1 litre bottle. I have amended the spreadsheet accordingly https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

[Benthayer Gonbak]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:51 AM, kaymoz said:

We always back up the official all-aboard time with a 30 minute cushion, to be safe and generally reduce anxiety.  But since we are new to Azamara, I just don't know what to expect the all-aboard time would be, given the listed departure time.

On my first Azamara cruise we had a 30 minute before departure time BUT there was a storm coming in.  The captain said most of us were on board but they had a few crew and passengers they were waiting for.  He went on to say that he could protect the ship better at sea than banging into the dock, but he intended to try to out run it.  He blew the ships horn several times!  One of the locals mention that to a passenger that likely meant they needed to return to the ship.  Everyone returned and we indeed missed the storm.  Our guides were at the next port and asked about the weather a they had had 90 winds.  I don’t recall if that was km, but that’s still uncomfortable. ——we had a calm night at sea. 

[Grandma Cruising]

16 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

In the topic ‘Anyone on Board right now’ CC member norn iron reports that the included draught beer has changed from Newcastle Brown to Carlesberg and that in Suites instead of 4 half litres of spirits, you get your choice of spirits but only 1x1 litre bottle. I have amended the spreadsheet accordingly https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE/edit

I have just learned from norn iron that this is a trial on Onward only. Have adjusted the spreadsheet again! 

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, blag said:

Whilst the change of beer is probably not significant, the reduction in quantity of spirits in suites* is a potentially worrying sign of a trend toward reductions in value-for-money.

For my wife, the change from real maple syrup to a less-expensive, and less-satisfying alternative a few years back was the first sign... 

*albeit on a trial basis, I it seems.

Don't let the trial succeed!

I would urge all suite guests to register their dissatisfaction with this cheeseparing! 

Why is it cheeseparing?  You still get the same volume of spirits as before and many people were swapping out bottles to achieve this anyway.  I can think of many suite guests who will actually like this change

Edited June 28, 2022 by uktog