New Atlas Ocean Voyages info

[keokukjoe]

3 minutes ago, amunhbuu said:

We haven't picked excursions yet.  We noticed when looking over the list that there were no times listed.  Did someone provide you that info @keokukjoe?  Didn't know if we could do multiples per day?  The ones we are really interested in are in Portugal and the Canary Islands.  We have been to the Caribbean islands multiple times.

We are signed up for the 3d/2n pre-cruise Lisbon stay. Don"t know about when the other excursions leave or if you can sign up for more than 1 per day because of time restraints or conflicts. I didn't ask.  I'm pretty sure that you won't have any problem signing up for the excursions since the ship is just 50% booked.

[saddledowndani]

2 hours ago, amunhbuu said:

We haven't picked excursions yet.  We noticed when looking over the list that there were no times listed.  Did someone provide you that info @keokukjoe?  Didn't know if we could do multiples per day?  The ones we are really interested in are in Portugal and the Canary Islands.  We have been to the Caribbean islands multiple times.

We are on the 8/13 cruise and we got a full excursion list with times a few weeks ago. It definitely helps when picking excursions to know the time of day. Would rather explore earlier in the day if possible in the heat. 

[joyce Ottawa]

On 7/13/2021 at 6:52 PM, jwsfun said:

Joyce, have you received documents yet?  Cruise tickets etc.??

We have received email confirmation with a Guest number ID, to sign in on the booked guests tab, but it doesn't work, now it says the site is undergoing maintenance...more waiting...

[jwsfun]

19 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:

We have received email confirmation with a Guest number ID, to sign in on the booked guests tab, but it doesn't work, now it says the site is undergoing maintenance...more waiting...

Interesting!  Keep us posted!  Anxious to see how a new cruise line does on it's first voyage.  It's not something that has been done in a while.  We appreciate you keeping us all up to date.

[MMG3]

On 7/16/2021 at 12:15 AM, joyce Ottawa said:

We have received email confirmation with a Guest number ID, to sign in on the booked guests tab, but it doesn't work, now it says the site is undergoing maintenance...more waiting...

I was able to put my preferences into MyAtlas before the maintenance message. Hope the situation is resolved soon for other passengers. 

[keokukjoe]

14 minutes ago, MMG3 said:

I was able to put my preferences into MyAtlas before the maintenance message. Hope the situation is resolved soon for other passengers. 

We did as well but I wonder if their "maintenance" of the site will actually retain our entries. Bigger question: has anyone actually received their documents???

[goghd]

I'm very frustrated with Atlas and their Info flow.  Leaving in less than 3 weeks and no official mailing or emails from the cruise line as promised.  They botched my excursions and are fixing. I'm told they pulled down the my Atlas site because their staff was overwhelmed with phone calls to clarify.  Atlas is just not ready for prime time.

Hope they can get their act together.

[keokukjoe]

28 minutes ago, goghd said:

I'm very frustrated with Atlas and their Info flow.  Leaving in less than 3 weeks and no official mailing or emails from the cruise line as promised.  They botched my excursions and are fixing. I'm told they pulled down the my Atlas site because their staff was overwhelmed with phone calls to clarify.  Atlas is just not ready for prime time.

Hope they can get their act together.

Very worrisome. Do you have your flights confirmed? I don't mean the info that Atlas  gave you but going directly to the airlines' websites to see if the flights  are actually confirmed/paid for rather than just being "held". The lovely gentleman who ran the AOV air department is no longer employed at Atlas. 

[jwsfun]

On 7/15/2021 at 6:15 PM, joyce Ottawa said:

We have received email confirmation with a Guest number ID, to sign in on the booked guests tab, but it doesn't work, now it says the site is undergoing maintenance...more waiting...

As of this moment - "My Atlas" appears to be back up and operating.  a few of my entries from prior did not save so if you previously filled out you may want to double check.

[saddledowndani]

7 hours ago, goghd said:

I'm very frustrated with Atlas and their Info flow.  Leaving in less than 3 weeks and no official mailing or emails from the cruise line as promised.  They botched my excursions and are fixing. I'm told they pulled down the my Atlas site because their staff was overwhelmed with phone calls to clarify.  Atlas is just not ready for prime time.

Hope they can get their act together.

I’m with you! We are 4 weeks out and have had a ton of issues with details. Itineraries were missing excursions, had incorrect flight dates, etc. Our travel agent was having to deal with all of it and it seems like it is all correct now. Flights have not really been an issue, got our updated flight info a few weeks ago and verified they were on the carrier sites which they were. I haven’t heard one word from Atlas directly. We are staying at pre-cruise hotel and I wanted the confirmation number of the hotel so I could add to my rewards program and Atlas says they don’t have that back from the hotel which seems odd to me. Would also like to know about the included transportation since we are using their pre-cruise hotel which means having to land in Cairo and then take a 2.5 hour ride to Alexandria. Going to give my agent a break for a few days before I start asking for that info. 

[joyce Ottawa]

We got our package via Fedex today, although our package didn't include flight info, insurance info or information on the pickup at the airport.  Atlas made all the flight arrangements .  We arrive around 11am in Greece on Aug 4, but so far I can only assume someone will be there to pick us up.  We will have a PCR molecular test before leaving home, and another rapid test will be administered at the pier, (we are double vaccinated). The agent I talked to at Atlas thought boarding would start around 3pm.  Apparently we will get email confirmation of all this sometime before we leave home, I sure hope so.  We do have the flight info from our travel agent, but I was expecting something official from Atlas . Our travel agent spent a lot of time trying to sort out the flights, she suggested better options than Atlas (we really didn't want to leave Cairo at 4am, no point going to bed at the hotel! She found us a flight leaving at 8am, much better.) The My Atlas site is running now and we were able to input our data. I have spent a lot of hours on the phone with Atlas trying to get solid answers, I must admit to being a little disappointed that they seem rather disorganized, although I know they had to change itineraries at the last minute for a cruise ship, that's not easy. Hopefully the onboard experience will help us forget all the time spent getting organized!

[amunhbuu]

Best of luck!  We will all be keeping a close eye on any updates.

[keokukjoe]

1 hour ago, joyce Ottawa said:

We got our package via Fedex today, although our package didn't include flight info, insurance info or information on the pickup at the airport.  Atlas made all the flight arrangements .  We arrive around 11am in Greece on Aug 4, but so far I can only assume someone will be there to pick us up.  We will have a PCR molecular test before leaving home, and another rapid test will be administered at the pier, (we are double vaccinated). The agent I talked to at Atlas thought boarding would start around 3pm.  Apparently we will get email confirmation of all this sometime before we leave home, I sure hope so.  We do have the flight info from our travel agent, but I was expecting something official from Atlas . Our travel agent spent a lot of time trying to sort out the flights, she suggested better options than Atlas (we really didn't want to leave Cairo at 4am, no point going to bed at the hotel! She found us a flight leaving at 8am, much better.) The My Atlas site is running now and we were able to input our data. I have spent a lot of hours on the phone with Atlas trying to get solid answers, I must admit to being a little disappointed that they seem rather disorganized, although I know they had to change itineraries at the last minute for a cruise ship, that's not easy. Hopefully the onboard experience will help us forget all the time spent getting organized!

Joyce: l hope that you will have a fabulous time. If they didn't send you the documents via FedEx, what did they send in the box? Please take and post lots of pics and your first-hand info about the ship and your experience.  BON VOYAGE!

[joyce Ottawa]

This is the package that we received, for those that were curious, with a leather document folder. I will try to keep you posted on the trip. Anyone else on this specific sailing on August 4th, Athens to Alexandria?

[keokukjoe]

2 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:

This is the package that we received, for those that were curious, with a leather document folder. I will try to keep you posted on the trip. Anyone else on this specific sailing on August 4th, Athens to Alexandria?

Hi Joyce: Thanks. Just looks like more "pretty" marketing material. At least they sent you your luggage tags. We won't weigh down our luggage with this stuff- it will stay at home! I guess that they decided not to ship the backpacks. Perhaps they will be waiting for you on the ship. Your voyage is full at 75% capacity. The Roll Call for your sailing date 8/4 has a few more passengers so you can check there.

Exciting news is that the ship actually left the shipyard yesterday, arrived in Porto this AM and is on its way to Lisbon where it is scheduled to arrive Monday AM. Plenty of time to get to Piraeus on or before 8/4. 

[joyce Ottawa]

I agree, just marketing stuff, plus the future trips brochure was all out of date, waste of postage! I hadn't heard about the backpacks, so nice surprise, I hope!  I couldn't find the roll call for this sailing, only the old one of Aug 4 Black Sea. Thanks for the update on the ship movement, yay, it sails!!

[MMG3]

9 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:

I agree, just marketing stuff, plus the future trips brochure was all out of date, waste of postage! I hadn't heard about the backpacks, so nice surprise, I hope!  I couldn't find the roll call for this sailing, only the old one of Aug 4 Black Sea. Thanks for the update on the ship movement, yay, it sails!!

Hi Joyce,

I recently joined the old roll call, but there isn’t much activity. My DH and I will be joining you and others on Aug 4th.

Btw, we are also Canadians but are currently living in Switzerland. 
Looking forward to boarding in just over a week,

Margaret 

Edited July 26, 2021 by MMG3

[joyce Ottawa]

2 hours ago, MMG3 said:

Hi Joyce,

I recently joined the old roll call, but there isn’t much activity. My DH and I will be joining you and others on Aug 4th.

Btw, we are also Canadians but are currently living in Switzerland. 
Looking forward to boarding in just over a week,

Margaret 

Hi! nice to hear from other Canadians! We are so much looking forward to this resumption of travel...in between moments of" is this a good idea?"  We fly out a week tomorrow .

[jwsfun]

Joyce!!!!!!  All of us sailing after you are waiting with “baited breath” to hear how it is going. Can’t wait to read your review!!!

[saddledowndani]

On 7/25/2021 at 5:56 PM, joyce Ottawa said:

I agree, just marketing stuff, plus the future trips brochure was all out of date, waste of postage! I hadn't heard about the backpacks, so nice surprise, I hope!  I couldn't find the roll call for this sailing, only the old one of Aug 4 Black Sea. Thanks for the update on the ship movement, yay, it sails!!

Hi Joyce,

did you ever get your transfers and such? We are waiting for our info the 8/13 trip still… 

Thanks for sharing - it’s getting so close!

[joyce Ottawa]

I got them yesterday, with the wrong flights home!  Another phone call to make!

[keokukjoe]

2 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:

I got them yesterday, with the wrong flights home!  Another phone call to make!

OMG! it's one thing after another. I sincerely hope that your experience on the ship will be wonderful and that you'll have a safe and exciting journey. You were awfully brave to book the first commercial voyage with Atlas no matter how deeply discounted it was. I don't want to use the term "guinea pig" but don't you feel like one now? I would be in panic mode. I certainly hope that they can straighten out your flight fiasco since you are leaving in a few short days. Please keep us all updated. Those of us on later cruises can't wait to hear about your experience.

[joyce Ottawa]

Yes, we are definitely feeling a little guinea pig-ish!  We are now booked on a 3:30 am flight out of Cairo to go home. Oh yay…( we are staying for the land trip to the Valley of the Kings after the cruise). So much for that hotel night which we are paying for.  
 I asked my TA to ask about OBC with respect to all the time spent on the phone … the Atlas rep said that as a Portuguese company, they weren’t set up for that… what???

So we are really hoping that a wonderful trip will make us forget all the pre-trip stress. 

[amunhbuu]

Best of luck!

 

[keokukjoe]

3 hours ago, joyce Ottawa said:

Yes, we are definitely feeling a little guinea pig-ish!  We are now booked on a 3:30 am flight out of Cairo to go home. Oh yay…( we are staying for the land trip to the Valley of the Kings after the cruise). So much for that hotel night which we are paying for.  
 I asked my TA to ask about OBC with respect to all the time spent on the phone … the Atlas rep said that as a Portuguese company, they weren’t set up for that… what???

So we are really hoping that a wonderful trip will make us forget all the pre-trip stress. 

Joyce: Bon Voyage!!!