Azamara's tours: are they worth the cost?

[Nippy Sweetie]

That's it really. We're veterans of Viking and like their included tours. We were shocked at the costs of Azamara's excursions. Do people find them good value or should we do our own thing? We like just wandering about in pleasant places rather than shuffling along behind a guide. Any thoughts from experienced Azamara fans?

[excitedofharpenden]

I've never been on Viking so can't compare their free excursions.  It's difficult thing to answer. "Value" depends  upon the person. It's also hard to generalise. I've been on some super Azamara excursions. I've been on some that weren't as good.  However I've had a pretty good hit rate.  Out of probably 15 Azamara excursions I've enjoyed 95% of them. Perhaps I'm easily pleased?

 

Bottom line.  You'll pay a premium for doing ship tours. If you have OBC to burn then it can be a nice way to use it up. The best ever excursion I did was also the most expensive.  An overnight tour to Petra. I nearly baulked at the price.  So glad I didn't.  It was amazing with memories to last a lifetime. 

 

Phil

Edited July 15, 2022 by excitedofharpenden

[Nippy Sweetie]

Thanks. We're currently just overwhelmed looking at all the various tours available for our Intensive Italy cruise. OH has snapped up a visit to the Ferrari museum but beyond that we just don't know how to choose!

[excitedofharpenden]

21 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Thanks. We're currently just overwhelmed looking at all the various tours available for our Intensive Italy cruise. OH has snapped up a visit to the Ferrari museum but beyond that we just don't know how to choose!

That was one of my favourites!  For a car buff it's amazing. A bit of advice for him as an extra. There is a Ferrari concessionaires nearby and at least when I was there a few years ago you could pay them €100 or something and drive a Ferrari around the streets of Maranello with someone from the garage. Google it. It's probably listed by someone. It was fab. Just remember he needs to take his driving licence. 

 

Phil 

[Nippy Sweetie]

Not sure he'd be keen to do that. He's more of a vintage (20s/30s cars) man. Will tell him though. Thanks. 

[hiccups]

Compared to what you can book yourself for a lot less, they're only so-so.  That being said, if you have OBC to spend, that's an easy way to use it.

Also, if you can't find others on your cruise to share a tour with (which is what we've done in the past), it's certainly better to do an Azamara excursion than to miss out.  However we've also booked a couple Azamara excursions and then gotten onboard and found they'd been cancelled.

Edited July 15, 2022 by hiccups

[beatnix]

@Nippy Sweetie If I visit a place for the first time, I enjoy to walk around and catch various impressions. When we are in ports we have been before, we like to explore a special aspect. 

Are you booked on Journey in August? 

[Beamafar]

We’ve booked a number of the ship’s excursions but only because we have $1000 shore excursion OBC included in the fare.   I wouldn’t book any, otherwise.  They are waaaay overpriced!  

[beatnix]

12 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

We’ve booked a number of the ship’s excursions but only because we have $1000 shore excursion OBC included in the fare.   I wouldn’t book any, otherwise.  They are waaaay overpriced!  

Us too! But I think with a tour it is easier to visit special places.

Edited July 15, 2022 by beatnix

[excitedofharpenden]

28 minutes ago, beatnix said:

@Nippy Sweetie If I visit a place for the first time, I enjoy to walk around and catch various impressions. When we are in ports we have been before, we like to explore a special aspect. 

Are you booked on Journey in August? 

I'm with you. Some of my most enjoyable port experiences have just been to go and do that. Or sit and watch the world go by. Soak in the atmosphere.

 

It works for the familiar too. I've been to Dubrovnik a ton of times. One of the most memorable there was getting off the ship in the evening and eating onshore on an overnight. It's one of the many reasons that such itineraries knock those of the large ships into a cocked hat. 

 

Phil 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

It's one of the many reasons that such itineraries knock those of the large ships into a cocked hat.

Someone on a Port forum blithely said you have to do a land tour to visit Argostoli Greece – until I showed him my Azamara itinerary that calls there on October 15.  Azamara regularly has uniquely-intensive itineraries, but thanks to the deletion of Venice this particular cruise got better and better!

[Nippy Sweetie]

We're on the October Intensive Italy on Onward. All the tours look so picturesque but when we think about it many involve hours on buses. There are some small boat trips which look fun. I'd quite like to visit some of the small farm/family visits but OH not keen.

I suspect we'll just get off the boat and go for a wander and soak up the atmosphere. As we live in Europe if we find places we particularly like we can go back for a longer trip.

[beatnix]

26 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

... As we live in Europe if we find places we particularly like we can go back for a longer trip.

That is, what we also do! 

[dayreamer5]

We are on the Italy intensive from 6th August. Happy to do private tours with others if anyone is interested. 

[TillyTheGreat]

14 hours ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Thanks. We're currently just overwhelmed looking at all the various tours available for our Intensive Italy cruise. OH has snapped up a visit to the Ferrari museum but beyond that we just don't know how to choose!

I'd say, from what my DH said, that the Ferrari museum was excellent; quite a long coach trip (from Ravenna) and well worth the journey and the cost.  This was recently - early May, on Onward.  And, generally, we think the excursions ARE worth the money... however, we are senior citizens now, and we enjoy the comfort and safety-net of being escorted.     Sylvia.

 

That's useful, Phil, about being able to drive around the streets - perhaps there'll be a 'next time'. 

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, dayreamer5 said:

We are on the Italy intensive from 6th August. Happy to do private tours with others if anyone is interested. 

Good idea to post this on the roll call for your cruise.

[lisiamc]

We’ve done some Azamara tours that were very enjoyable, and some that were pretty much the only way or at least the most convenient way to do something we wanted to do. Overall, I can’t say that we’ve felt we were getting many bargains, though, and a few were just total duds.
 

We have had many good experiences teaming up with others on a roll call and sharing a tour, too. Although sometimes the people with the strongest organisational drive to arrange a tour are the ones who want to do the marathon 9-hour tours, which is about 3 hours more than my lazy self is up for.😁

Edited July 16, 2022 by lisiamc

[donaldsc]

13 hours ago, dayreamer5 said:

We are on the Italy intensive from 6th August. Happy to do private tours with others if anyone is interested. 

 

You need to post this message on the specific cruise roll call.

 

DON

[donaldsc]

21 hours ago, Beamafar said:

We’ve booked a number of the ship’s excursions but only because we have $1000 shore excursion OBC included in the fare.   I wouldn’t book any, otherwise.  They are waaaay overpriced!  

 

I would disagree w this statement.  A lousy tour is still a lousy tour even if it is free.  It is also a waste of my limited time in port.  One time on an Azamara cruise we won a free tour in an on-ship raffle.  We had planned to do some specific things in the city but my wife convinced me to do do the free tour.  It was one of the worse waste of time awful tours I have ever taken in my life.  If you have OBC that you have to use buy something on the ship that you wouldn't buy because it is free or use if for on-board stuff.  Even worse - do you what you really want to do at a stop instead of doing something that you don't want to do because it is free.

 

DON

[Beamafar]

Who said anything about lousy tours???   The ones we’ve booked are ones we would do privately, otherwise (and would be a fraction of the cost of the ship excursions).    The OBC is for shore excursions, only (we had this confirmed by our TA) so we’ve booked using this rather than spend more money paying for non-ship tours.

 

PS - The OBC is NOT “free”.  You can be sure that the bean counters have factored it into the cruise fare. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Beamafar

[Nippy Sweetie]

Yes we do have experience of some pretty awful tours. I don't like long bus journeys or slow guided tours of places we're not interested in. On those we tend to dive off (after explaining to the guide) We will use the onboard credit on some tours but will most likely do our own thing. 

[john1970]

We have had a mixed bag of tours with Azamara. Some have been great and really made a difference to our port of call. Some really poor value and a waste of valuable time. What I have noticed is that once they started to give lots of OBC the prices shot up. 

[manc]

We have done private tours, ship excursions and explored alone hiring a xar or just wandering.

Our main objection to the ship excursions are the long visits to souvenir shops eg in Israel, Egypt, and elsewhere. Being locked in a shop while trying to be persuaded to purchase items we wouldn't want or carpets we should never get home is a complete waste if time when you are supposed to be sightseeing 

[Port Power]

I’ve done many successful private tours through my roll call.  Great value, and personal.  However I’ve done great AZ tours.  In Portugal there was one with only 6 passengers in a 4WD (SUV).  Another in Spain with two Jeeps, so four passengers in one vehicle with a girl from the Casino as chaperone. Fabulous tours.  Then there was a tour in Washington that wasn’t so good.  The chaperone was wife of the destination lecturer, and because she couldn’t keep up with the guide, we all had to slow to a dawdle!  Unfortunately when you book a tour, you don’t know if there will only be 6 or so guests. Those tours are worth the price.  Not all tours involve a big bus.

[uktog]

I’ve done great ship tours and shocking ones

Ive done great private tours and some shocking ones

Ive been on shocking ships tours and the other bus had a great tour

Ive done a great private tour only to find others the same day had a poor time in another van with the same provider

Ive found other guests great company on ships tours and experienced appalling behaviour by one guest on a private tour and vice versa

There’s no perfect answer, private tours are not always the way to go nor are ships tours something to never do. 
 

It’s a case of do your homework, recognise your personal budget and tolerance for others and choose what works for you. Then go and make the most of it. No point in whining or letting that shop stop you did not like spoil the day. It’s not about what you could have done recognise what you did do. 
 

Ok?