Shore Excursion Cancellation email

[betsey]

Leaving today for a cruise on the Pursuit. I got an email late last night from Azamara with the header "Cancellation Confirmation - Shore Excursion Azamara Cruises" and absolutely nothing in the body of the email.   Looking online at my Voyage Planner, it looks like they cancelled a tour in Florence. What the...??? Now it's too late to rebook any other tour, and too late to rebook with an outside operator as well.  Not a good way for Azamara to start off the cruise IMHO.

[aliaschief]

We recently were on a cruise in Norway and an excursion was cancelled the morning of the tour. Reason. Local tour guides went on strike that day. Sometimes the.issues are not the fault of the cruise line. Just saying.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

[betsey]

Thanks. I'm a little paranoid. Last cruise on AZ in February, they cancelled just about all the excursions we booked. Had to do a lot of scrambling.  Heading to SFO shortly for our flight, where all of the food service workers are on strike.  

[Ithikan]

Betsey, I am sending positive thoughts in the direction of your cruise... Such an appallingly late cancellation of that Florence excursion is a big deal, IMO.  

I am specifically hoping that the massively awesome chocolate 'Welcome Aboard' cake will be yours to savor, especially in light of those pesky airport strikes.  Safe Travels and Happy Cruising!

 

[betsey]

Ithikan, thank you, I agree. Florence is one of those bucket list cities. I think I figured it out. Our tour was to include a visit to the Accademia and since it's on the first Sunday of the month, the museum is free to everyone, and timed reserved tickets are not available. So that would not be possible. To me that would not have been a deal breaker on the tour.  I would have liked it if Azamara would have explained that instead of sending a completely blank email. Not handled well. 

[mchell810]

40 minutes ago, betsey said:

Ithikan, thank you, I agree. Florence is one of those bucket list cities. I think I figured it out. Our tour was to include a visit to the Accademia and since it's on the first Sunday of the month, the museum is free to everyone, and timed reserved tickets are not available. So that would not be possible. To me that would not have been a deal breaker on the tour.  I would have liked it if Azamara would have explained that instead of sending a completely blank email. Not handled well. 

 

I got one of those "Cancellation Confirmation" emails with no information as well.  (Lucky for me the cruise is not until November.)  I find it very frustrating that Azamara would send out such messages.   I know some will say it's old RCCL tech issues, but I have had cancellations before -- with Azamara and Celebrity -- and each one always named the specific tour that was cancelled.

 

I hope you find a way to enjoy Florence.

[donaldsc]

It is a really bummer that Azamara did that.  However Florence is a small city that you can very easily do w/o a tour if necessary.  Just a thought.  

 

DON

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, betsey said:

Ithikan, thank you, I agree. Florence is one of those bucket list cities. I think I figured it out. Our tour was to include a visit to the Accademia and since it's on the first Sunday of the month, the museum is free to everyone, and timed reserved tickets are not available. So that would not be possible. To me that would not have been a deal breaker on the tour.  I would have liked it if Azamara would have explained that instead of sending a completely blank email. Not handled well. 

Do they still have a 'Florence on your own' tour?  You could switch to that and see much of what you were scheduled to see.  Rick Steves has excellent coverage including a walking tour – and his Pocket Florence book is available on kindle so you can still download it:

https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Pocket-Florence-ebook/dp/B07ZZ2SZWK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3896BDU2ATGL4&keywords=rick+steves+florence&qid=1664317811&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjc1IiwicXNhIjoiMS45OSIsInFzcCI6IjEuOTIifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=rick+steves+florence%2Caps%2C73&sr=8-1

[luv2travel90266]

As a reminder many of us do tours off ship direct with the tour operators. I was able to put a group of 8 persons together recently on my Pursuit Cruise through the Cruise Critic Roll Call link. Fewer people and better pricing was a plus too.  I suggest you see if a roll call has been created for your cruise. 

Link to Roll Calls

Edited September 27, 2022 by luv2travel90266
adding link

[Baynanno1]

1 hour ago, luv2travel90266 said:

As a reminder many of us do tours off ship direct with the tour operators. I was able to put a group of 8 persons together recently on my Pursuit Cruise through the Cruise Critic Roll Call link. Fewer people and better pricing was a plus too.  I suggest you see if a roll call has been created for your cruise. 

Link to Roll Calls

Good suggestion, but a bit late for the OP who was leaving home already to join the cruise.

[luv2travel90266]

Take a look at viator.com. They are a travel site that may have tours of interest from your ports. Good luck. 🍀 

[betsey]

Now that we are back, a follow-up to this post. When we boarded the ship, there was a long line of irate guests looking to rebook their Florence tours that were inexplicably cancelled. The onboard staff had no explanation for the cancellation. I overheard one shorex staff person respond to one guest who just wouldn't give it a rest, "That was in the past, this is the present."  Okay. We ended up booking the Florence on Your Own and decided to make the best of it. 

A side note: my profession is a tour guide. In the past I have been a tour planner for shore excursions for a vendor in California. I have planned and conduct tours for a living, and this was my vacation, and I truly wanted someone else to guide me around. I didn't want to deal with the logistics of finding my way around - to me, it is "work."  Oh well. 

On the positive side, the escort we had was truly an outstanding guide to and from Florence. Knowledgeable, entertaining, and his English was excellent. He really made the day. 

On the negative side, beside the overwhelming number of people there waiting in line for every museum because it was free, there was a foot race in town, where all of the participants were wearing lime green t-shirts.  The entire city was complete gridlock of people, making even trying to walk across Ponte Vecchio impossible. I will forever remember visiting Florence as a sea of green t-shirted people!  

 

Two other shore excursions on the trip were also cancelled on short notice with little explanation, leaving us scrambling to plan our port activities.   As a cruise line that touts their "destination immersion" this made some of our port calls very disappointing. 

[Leo_On_Geo]

16 hours ago, betsey said:

Now that we are back, a follow-up to this post. When we boarded the ship, there was a long line of irate guests looking to rebook their Florence tours that were inexplicably cancelled. The onboard staff had no explanation for the cancellation. I overheard one shorex staff person respond to one guest who just wouldn't give it a rest, "That was in the past, this is the present."  Okay. We ended up booking the Florence on Your Own and decided to make the best of it. 

A side note: my profession is a tour guide. In the past I have been a tour planner for shore excursions for a vendor in California. I have planned and conduct tours for a living, and this was my vacation, and I truly wanted someone else to guide me around. I didn't want to deal with the logistics of finding my way around - to me, it is "work."  Oh well. 

On the positive side, the escort we had was truly an outstanding guide to and from Florence. Knowledgeable, entertaining, and his English was excellent. He really made the day. 

On the negative side, beside the overwhelming number of people there waiting in line for every museum because it was free, there was a foot race in town, where all of the participants were wearing lime green t-shirts.  The entire city was complete gridlock of people, making even trying to walk across Ponte Vecchio impossible. I will forever remember visiting Florence as a sea of green t-shirted people!  

 

Two other shore excursions on the trip were also cancelled on short notice with little explanation, leaving us scrambling to plan our port activities.   As a cruise line that touts their "destination immersion" this made some of our port calls very disappointing. 

Azamara has no control over what tour operators do. Sometimes cancellations are due to staffing issue on the tour operators part, and in this case I think it was because of the traffic restrictions imposed by the Florence marathon. Other times cancellations are done because not enough people sign up for a particular tour. I’ve had that happen to me several times And it is disappointing. 

[luv2travel90266]

On the "Florence on your own" ship excursion I note they start a a leather factory. We plan to buy timed tickets to the Uffizi and have no interest in wasting time at the  leather factory and store,  just looking for a ride to and from the ship. It appears it is difficult to do by ourselves from Livorno as the train station is not easy to get to/from the industrial port where docked. Anyone have info on where stops and where the pickup spot is back to the ship?

[luv2travel90266]

4 minutes ago, aussie travel bird said:

Florence in December? None of the ships are in Europe at this stage so I don't know what the issue is.  It can't be anytime soon.  The Quest is in Australia, Pursuit is in South America, Journey in Africa and the Onward in the Caribbean so I would say there's time to research and organise something in Florence.

Booked on the AZA Journey in Livorno April 6, 2023. I am planning the stops now. Happy to pay the premium to do the excursion with Azamara. The issue based upon my research is it is hard to get from the port to the train as the taxis refuse the short trip. Been to Florence before so want to spend most of our time there at the museum. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by luv2travel90266

[nordski]

27 minutes ago, luv2travel90266 said:

On the "Florence on your own" ship excursion I note they start a a leather factory. We plan to buy timed tickets to the Uffizi and have no interest in wasting time at the  leather factory and store,  just looking for a ride to and from the ship. It appears it is difficult to do by ourselves from Livorno as the train station is not easy to get to/from the industrial port where docked. Anyone have info on where stops and where the pickup spot is back to the ship?

We took a version of that trip. If it is the same leather factory where the bus dropped us, it is near a Church and Palazzo. I think the Church is Santa  Croce. Regardless, if my memory is correct it was about a 10 minute walk to the Ufizzi on streets that are mostly limited to pedestrians.

 

To get back to the ship, we met at the Church as it was a bit of a hike to the pickup spot. That location was in a fairly large park where a number of tourist buses parked.

 

Of course, all of this is dependent upon them going to the same showroom.

 

I hope others can add details from their experience and correct my memory where it has gone astray.

 

Enjoy the Ufizzi. It is one of my favourites.
 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, luv2travel90266 said:

On the "Florence on your own" ship excursion I note they start a a leather factory. We plan to buy timed tickets to the Uffizi and have no interest in wasting time at the  leather factory and store,  just looking for a ride to and from the ship. It appears it is difficult to do by ourselves from Livorno as the train station is not easy to get to/from the industrial port where docked. Anyone have info on where stops and where the pickup spot is back to the ship?

The reason for the stop at the leather store is that they have the only free WC in Florence!  No need to buy anything.  Pee now or forever hold your...

[betsey]

When we went on this tour in October, the first stop was at Pierotucci Leather Factory. Note: it is not in Florence, but on the outskirts. It was more of a restroom stop than a hard-sell shopping stop. One couple did have a tour guide that they were meeting, and they were going to get an uber from there. We then bused into Florence, where we got off the bus, and the guide walked us into Piaza Santa Croce, and took us to a jewelry and leather shop called Misuri, where that became our designated meeting point at the end of the day, where he guided us back to the bus that was parked in a different location. I hope this helps.

[luv2travel90266]

Thank you. It helps a lot. The ride appears to be 90 min from the ship to Florence. Sound like I won’t be able to split at the Leather Factory. Probably then need to get my entry reservation for the Uffizi  for 2 1/2 of leaving the ship. 

[betsey]

Your timing is right.  Enjoy Florence.  We had a great guide named Andrea, hope you get him.

 

 

[roberts2005]

10 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

Thank you. It helps a lot. The ride appears to be 90 min from the ship to Florence. Sound like I won’t be able to split at the Leather Factory. Probably then need to get my entry reservation for the Uffizi  for 2 1/2 of leaving the ship. 

In May, on the Onward, the guide arranged for a taxi to pick a couple up at the leather factory.  They later met us at the pick up point by the church of Santa Croce.

 

the tour that includes a stop in Pisa, did not do the leather factory .