Azamara cancelling key cuba excursions at the last minute?

[cheeseburger2]

We're going on the 11/20 Miami to Cuba cruise and were informed just today that the excursion to see Buena Vista Social club was just cancelled. No explanation why other than "operational reasons". This was one of the main reasons we booked this cruise, and to be informed so unceremoniously that it's no longer an option, with very little time to figure out alternate evening plans or whether we can book directly with them.

 

The Azamara experience has been a nightmare so far. From constant website malfunctions to poor or missing information on how to handle the Cuban visa situation, to huge markup and complete mismanagement of their tour offerings. What a disappointment they have been. 

 

This was going to be our first cruise with them and it's looking like it will be our last.

 

Anybody else affected by this? What are you going to do?

[travelberlin]

I am sorry to hear about this. I would be disappointed also if I were you. Is there a roll call on this cruise? Can you book Buena Vista Social Club privately? I know it is not optimal but I do not think you can do any thing with Azamara about cancelled shore excursions. It has happened many times. The only thing you can do is to try to do it on your own. 

Ivi

[BBMacLaird]

"Operational Reasons" could feasibly mean lack of demand. There is a minimum number of participants required to operate a tour.

[ellbon]

I would book it on your own. Much cheaper and easy to get too. I have my agent looking into booking it for Dec.

[DiamondDiva]

We are on the 11/24 Journey and just got the same email for our upcoming visit.  Very disappointed in this news, with no real explanation. Does this mean the venue has issues or is it transportation concerns?  It is very hard to communicate with the venue ourselves to find out about a solo visit, as email is sketchy in Cuba. So difficult to find a last minute private visit.   

 

I have also read here on CC about docking/pier issues currently in Santiago de Cuba. If we have to tender, will this affect the Azamazing Evening scheduled at the Heredia there? 

 

Again no info on this from Azamara. 

 

Bonnie,  I doubt a lack of demand, as many are likely to want a ship -sponsored evening trip to a famous venue in a city so many are unfamilar with.  Also, if that is the case, just say so.  

 

Elbon, just read your answer while typing. Please return with the outcome.

 

Thanks.

[tgg]

There are clubs all over Havana that play the traditional Afro-Cuban music popularized internationally by the group called Buena Vista Social Club.  Find a private guide who will take you to one for a whole lot less than a ship's tour.  Take a look at the CUBA board here on CruiseCritic and you'll find numerous suggestions about guides. 

 

 

[cpkcruiser]

Last November, we chose a classic car driver at the pier for a tour and he recommended that we go to the Buena Vista Social Club that evening. He drove us there and took us inside to buy tickets and we then continued on our tour. That evening we walked to the club and had a great time. I highly recommended it. 

[ellbon]

I have done clubs on my own-agent got me one  seat at the  National Hotel.  Now having her look at the hotel for this  hotel. esle i will taxi over and get a ticket on my own.

 

[DiamondDiva]

Talked to a nice woman at LCV today about this.  It seems all of the tours to the Red Room have been canceled by the club, not Azamara.  She had no idea why, but I was her third in a row, all on different dates. 

 

She had not heard about any changes/ concerns about a pier problem in Santiago de Cuba that might result in tendering and therefore might cause an issue for the Azamazing Evening there. 

 

We have a private tour from Blexie our first day in Havana, so I try cpkcruiser’s idea above. Thanks for all the help, everyone.

 

 

 

[jelayne]

I understand the OPs frustration.  We have had our itinerary changed, booked shore excursions cancelled for “operational reasons”,  no info on when or what the Azamazing Evening would occur until 6 weeks out.  Now we have a date but as of last night no idea what the evening will be.  Oh and after months and contact with LCV and tech support I can sign in to my account but that is it, I can’t navigate from there to anything.   To book a excursion  I must log in to the Voyage Planner, for Check-in I had to log in separately.  

You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.

 

[tgg]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

I understand the OPs frustration.  We have had our itinerary changed, booked shore excursions cancelled for “operational reasons”,  no info on when or what the Azamazing Evening would occur until 6 weeks out.  Now we have a date but as of last night no idea what the evening will be.  Oh and after months and contact with LCV and tech support I can sign in to my account but that is it, I can’t navigate from there to anything.   To book a excursion  I must log in to the Voyage Planner, for Check-in I had to log in separately.  

You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.

 

Because we are on the same December 11 cruise, I thought I would try to sign into my account and see what happened.  Our cruise came right up and there was a link on the same screen to the Voyage Planner.  All the excursions were listed, with the ability to book them.  There was also a link to the Check-In option.  Both are on the right hand side of the page. (I'm using Chrome on a laptop.)

[jelayne]

11 hours ago, tgg said:

Because we are on the same December 11 cruise, I thought I would try to sign into my account and see what happened.  Our cruise came right up and there was a link on the same screen to the Voyage Planner.  All the excursions were listed, with the ability to book them.  There was also a link to the Check-In option.  Both are on the right hand side of the page. (I'm using Chrome on a laptop.)

 

When I log in, like you my cruise comes up with links for the Voyage Planner & Check-In however neither work.   The Azamara techs looked into it and determined the best thing was for me to Login to the Voyage Planner and Check-In individually.

 

BTW is there anything in the Voyage Planner on tge Azamazing evening?

Edited November 7, 2018 by jelayne

[tgg]

3 hours ago, jelayne said:

 

When I log in, like you my cruise comes up with links for the Voyage Planner & Check-In however neither work.   The Azamara techs looked into it and determined the best thing was for me to Login to the Voyage Planner and Check-In individually.

 

BTW is there anything in the Voyage Planner on the Azamazing evening?

 

Nope. We know it will be Dec. 14.  But the destination/program are not listed. Some past evenings have been truly amazing.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

[Bimmer09]

22 hours ago, jelayne said:

I understand the OPs frustration.  We have had our itinerary changed, booked shore excursions cancelled for “operational reasons”,  no info on when or what the Azamazing Evening would occur until 6 weeks out.  Now we have a date but as of last night no idea what the evening will be.  Oh and after months and contact with LCV and tech support I can sign in to my account but that is it, I can’t navigate from there to anything.   To book a excursion  I must log in to the Voyage Planner, for Check-in I had to log in separately.  

You don’t get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression.

 

Never a  truer word spoken than those highlighted in red.

 

We have had our itinerary (Journey January 15 2019) changed but we rolled with the punches and the change is not disagreeable as it gives another overnight which is a hallmark of Azamara.

 

It's not something we have experienced more than once sailing with Princess 12 times and the once was the same ports but in reverse order and as all our excursions were Princess ones no harm was done.

 

We have now lost our one Azamara excursion in Havana and while I would like a solid honest reason from Azamara it's not essential but it would speak to their customer service mantra if one was given. We plan for these vacations and for us visiting Havana gave us the opportunity to hear Cuban music in its natural setting-like hearing Cajun music in New Orleans, Blues in Chicago or Bluegrass in Nashville. However we can go to the Red Room by ourselves and I am sure at a lesser cost and there is at least one other Havana music excursion to hear "Buena Vista-style" musicians. Having seen the original BV musicians a couple of times I am not expecting greatness from those using their name but as long as there are some maraccas, bongos, ear-splitting trumpets and someone singing in a foreign tongue I will, with the aid of a Cuba Libre or two, have a great Cuban experience.

 

We come from the land of Princess where their website is a thing of beauty and so easy to use when it comes to excursions. We have no Princess bookings right now but when we did we had access to excursions that showed videos, how many steps were involved and how many people had signed up or how many places were available on any given excursion. A great resource. On Celebrity and Azamara we are dealing with a different breed of web experience

-one which is much more vague as to what you will get and one which is at times frustratingly amateurish given the effort and product that seems to be delivered on the ships.

My cruise on the Journey is something I look forward to immensely. I am already won-over to

Azamara (for at least this cruise), based on what I know about the line thus far, without stepping on a ship. A few bumps in the road (sea?) are not a major turn-off from the brand, despite some bemusement on my part at some of the improvisation that has taken place lately.

 

I'll write about my cruise when I come home January 25th and I expect it to be a very positive review, all head-scratching aside. While the Head Office/website may not be AzAmazing or up to par with the ship experience they may try harder if Bonnie reports back that there is "a lot of head-scratching going on".

My cancelled excursion was still available to book after I read the cancellation email, so no kudos there for the organization or awareness at HQ.
Norris

 

 

 

[DiamondDiva]

Bimmer, I agree with most of your statement above...this is my second Azamara cruise and I know most of it will be just great.  But the Cuba trip is a bit different, as getting in touch with anyone on the island to try to find out if the Red Room has an issue that is causing these cancellations, whether or not one can book solo, where else to hear some great music, etc is more difficult due to the lack of consistent internet and communication ability.  Most often on our 30+ cruises, we book ourselves most places, but due to lack of info and contact, opted to stay with a few ship tours and a few private, using Trip Advisor for guide suggestions.  I am hoping my Havana guide can assist us with this in some way.

 

Yes, eventually we will find something somewhere, but time is getting short and info from Azamara was confusing (memo was very generic and involved more than one cancellation issue, but only one applied to our specific sailing, for example), and we leave fairly soon.    LCVpeople seemed to have few answers.

 

  If the Santiago de Cuba pier repair situation I have seen mentioned on other lines here on CC applies to us as well, will it affect our Azamazing evening and cause another cultural heritage cancellation if tendering becomes necessary?  If so, more disappointment for many.  Yes, we all know anything can happen in travel, but getting us info helps. 

 

By the way, Norris, I love your blogs and am a born and bred Chicagoan, NW side.  You have shared much fun and valuable information for so many of us!  Thanks for all of the fun reviews!

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

Azamara has tendered Azamazing evenings in the past, so tendering wouldn't necessarily mean the evening would be cancelled.

[aimee0715]

For those wondering about the AzAmazing Evening in Santiago, don’t count on it. We leave on November 10. I just got an email stating that they can’t do the AzAmazing evening in Santiago so they are having it on November 18 which is our second night in Havana (we arrive at 6 PM on the 17 and leave at 3PM on the 19th). We won’t be able to participate because we have already purchased our tickets for Tropicana. I imagine a lot of passengers already made plans for that night in Havana. 

[jelayne]

Did they tell you what the AzAmazing will be?  We know ours is Havana, also on our 2nd night but no other info.  

[Bimmer09]

12 hours ago, DiamondDiva said:

By the way, Norris, I love your blogs and am a born and bred Chicagoan, NW side.  You have shared much fun and valuable information for so many of us!  Thanks for all of the fun reviews!

 

 

Thank you for reading my "Gentleman's Seafaring Journals" as I call them. I am very happy to hear you enjoy them!
By the time I board the Journey it will have been a year since we cruised and wrote an account afterwards (Crown Princess ABC islands) and I imagine this next one will be  longer than usual given the new cruise line and much anticipated itinerary.

We've just had one cruise this year but next year Cuba and the Norwegian Fjords are booked so I will have plenty to write about and photograph.

68 days until we step aboard the Journey and they can't pass quickly enough.

Cheers!

Norris

 

[aimee0715]

4 hours ago, jelayne said:

Did they tell you what the AzAmazing will be?  We know ours is Havana, also on our 2nd night but no other info.  

This is from the email:

 

we were able to secure a brand new one-of-a-kind night on Sunday, November 18th at The Grand Theater in Havana, which is home to the Cuban National Ballet and the International Ballet Festival of Havana. Watch in awe as the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba company perform their moving artistry in a setting that exudes elegance. The company's performances combine, in an original way, elements of flamenco, ballet, and contemporary dance with Spanish and Afro-Cuban rhythms. In addition, we have a full evening of onboard entertainment arranged for our evening in Santiago de Cuba.

[gaspari]

The Azamara Evening in Havana last week was exceptional. ballet / modern dance at the Grand Theatre Havana, which everyone seemed to really enjoy.

Edited November 23, 2018 by gaspari
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[gaspari]

You can book the Parisian Cabaret at the National Hotel at a counter in the reception of the hotel for35 CUC (just a cocktail) or 50 CUC incl. the meal. Cafe Taberna had super music and dance in the afternoon for the cost of a drink and a tip for the band.

Edited November 23, 2018 by gaspari
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