Boarding Time

[LoveChops]

Hello

We are going on our 1st Azamara cruise in October 2024, staying in a Continental Suite. 

Can someone please advise what the earliest boarding time is?

Thank you for your help. 

[combine]

https://www.azamara.com/gb/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin

 

This is the latest information re boarding, all available on the web site. In the next 11 months it could easily change so check back nearer your sail date. 

[LoveChops]

17 minutes ago, combine said:

https://www.azamara.com/gb/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin

 

This is the latest information re boarding, all available on the web site. In the next 11 months it could easily change so check back nearer your sail date. 

Thank you.

That's a late embarkation time! We cruise mainly with Celebrity and are usually onboard bt 11.30am at the latest.

[combine]

It will often depend where you are embarking.  This was ours for Chioggia (Venice ) in October. These details were in our Guest Ticket Booklet that we received 3 weeks before the cruise date.

[LoveChops]

4 minutes ago, combine said:

It will often depend where you are embarking.  This was ours for Chioggia (Venice ) in October. These details were in our Guest Ticket Booklet that we received 3 weeks before the cruise date.

Thank you.  We are in a suite so we'll go for 1.30pm 😊.

We are sailing also from Chioggia. We are staying in Venice for 2 nights pre cruise, is it easy to get to the port from Venice?

[blag]

1 hour ago, LoveChops said:

Thank you.

That's a late embarkation time! We cruise mainly with Celebrity and are usually onboard bt 11.30am at the latest.

Well, in my experience, Azamara's boarding times have always started early afternoon. What other cruise lines offer for boarding times is, basically, irrelevant. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by blag
Superfluous comma

[mole.man]

Azamara offered a transfer from Tronchetto, near the people mover, to the port in Chioggia. The cost was less than $30 each.

[Solent Richard]

7 hours ago, LoveChops said:

Hello

We are going on our 1st Azamara cruise in October 2024, staying in a Continental Suite. 

Can someone please advise what the earliest boarding time is?

Thank you for your help. 

I don't hold out much hope for you.

 

We have recently taken our first Azamara cruise (of 75 others) and it was probably the worst experience yet. Most passengers ignore the times and just turn up, coaches unload and there's a scramble for luggage labels, and zero checks on what status you have. Istanbul last month...

[excitedofharpenden]

25 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

I don't hold out much hope for you.

 

We have recently taken our first Azamara cruise (of 75 others) and it was probably the worst experience yet. Most passengers ignore the times and just turn up, coaches unload and there's a scramble for luggage labels, and zero checks on what status you have. Istanbul last month...

Hang on a second before you strike fear into people with your experience of one Azamara cruise. In all my cruises with Azamara it has never been an issue. OK, some are better than others (both pre and post covid), but last cruise in July from Athens was a breeze. I was on the ship by 12.30. Latest I think I have ever been let on the ship is 2.30pm. 

 

I don't really understand the race to get on the ship. The crew do their best to turn things round on the day. Of course you can't stop those turning up earlier than they should, but there are 700 guests. It's not like a huge mega ship with 1000s. Just chill and look forward to be being pampered for a few days. 

 

Phil 

[aliaschief]

Many; in fact most of the time if there is a poor embarkation experience it’s usually the ports staff and not the ship crew that is at fault. At least in our experience.

[blag]

1 hour ago, Solent Richard said:

I don't hold out much hope for you.

 

We have recently taken our first Azamara cruise (of 75 others) and it was probably the worst experience yet. Most passengers ignore the times and just turn up, coaches unload and there's a scramble for luggage labels, and zero checks on what status you have. Istanbul last month...

Well said! I have seen people advising turning up whenever it suits. Such advice leads to chaos and frustration for those who respect their allocated lots. 

[BuddyR]

We just arrived at Port Everglades to board the Onward.  Check in began at 11:00; however, we are waiting in a holding area until approximately 1:15 to actually board the ship.  Everything has been organized so far.

[Solent Richard]

53 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Hang on a second before you strike fear into people with your experience of one Azamara cruise. In all my cruises with Azamara it has never been an issue. OK, some are better than others (both pre and post covid), but last cruise in July from Athens was a breeze. I was on the ship by 12.30. Latest I think I have ever been let on the ship is 2.30pm. 

 

I don't really understand the race to get on the ship. The crew do their best to turn things round on the day. Of course you can't stop those turning up earlier than they should, but there are 700 guests. It's not like a huge mega ship with 1000s. Just chill and look forward to be being pampered for a few days. 

 

Phil 

Hi there Phil.

 

I actually 'Hung On' nearly an hour. watching overrun staff trying to check names of passengers disembarking buses so they could be issued with luggage labels. Those then in the line I earlier illustrated then became frustrated when another coach arrived and more chaos ensued. Finally for check in when we had dropped luggage it became apparent that not all check-in desks were manned.....

 

Then of course one has to join a queue onboard to make the speciality dining reservations that you purchased many months in advance...

 

 

...only to find the prime times unavailable. 

 

Things could only get better? 😂

 

As I said earlier, 175 cruises and that was the poorest start.

 

[fruitmachine]

7 hours ago, LoveChops said:

Thank you.  We are in a suite so we'll go for 1.30pm 😊.

We are sailing also from Chioggia. We are staying in Venice for 2 nights pre cruise, is it easy to get to the port from Venice?

Chioggia in April 2023 was straight on at about 12:30 and there were plenty already aboard before us (and not just B2B'ers).

[lisiamc]

2 hours ago, BuddyR said:

We just arrived at Port Everglades to board the Onward.  Check in began at 11:00; however, we are waiting in a holding area until approximately 1:15 to actually board the ship.  Everything has been organized so far.

This is often the way it goes when a ship makes their first arrival of the season into the USA after being in Europe or another region. There is a lot of paperwork and inspections to take care of in that circumstance. When the passengers embark on the next Onward cruise after yours, it should go a bit more smoothly, I hope. 

[royallondon]

2 hours ago, Solent Richard said:

Hi there Phil.

 

I actually 'Hung On' nearly an hour. watching overrun staff trying to check names of passengers disembarking buses so they could be issued with luggage labels. Those then in the line I earlier illustrated then became frustrated when another coach arrived and more chaos ensued. Finally for check in when we had dropped luggage it became apparent that not all check-in desks were manned.....

 

Then of course one has to join a queue onboard to make the speciality dining reservations that you purchased many months in advance...

 

 

...only to find the prime times unavailable. 

 

Things could only get better? 😂

 

As I said earlier, 175 cruises and that was the poorest start.

 

I wonder if this is pertinent to Istanbul?  Only we had the exact same experience.  Boarding time was 2pm, arrived at 2pm and the ships concierge asked us to take a seat only to watch subsequent arrivals coming in, forming a queue and boarding ahead of us.  Eventually boarded around 4pm when checked in by the concierge via a laptop.

 

Appreciate I’m on holiday and the ship won’t go without me, but you rightly point out the impact of securing decent speciality restaurant times.

 

Must say, Istanbul apart, a breeze normally and one of the benefits of small ship sailings.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have read several complaints about embarkation in Istanbul – on other cruise lines.  IMO this was not an Azamara problem, but a port problem.

[davekent]

Reading with interest as we have our 1st Azamara cruise leaving from Istanbul next June. Would it be safe to expect then in terms of our having no status with Azamara and having a basic cabin that by turning up at our due time at I guess around 4:00 we should hopefully miss any carnage driven by the scramble for early boarding? We would want to maximise our time in Istanbul anyway and would not be the end of the world on a 7 day cruise if timings for the speciality restaurants should we decide to use them were limited

[royallondon]

8 minutes ago, davekent said:

Reading with interest as we have our 1st Azamara cruise leaving from Istanbul next June. Would it be safe to expect then in terms of our having no status with Azamara and having a basic cabin that by turning up at our due time at I guess around 4:00 we should hopefully miss any carnage driven by the scramble for early boarding? We would want to maximise our time in Istanbul anyway and would not be the end of the world on a 7 day cruise if timings for the speciality restaurants should we decide to use them were limited

Hi davekent, you should have no problems at 4pm, sound thinking and enjoy your first Azamara cruise.

 

Regards

 

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 minutes ago, davekent said:

Reading with interest as we have our 1st Azamara cruise leaving from Istanbul next June. Would it be safe to expect then in terms of our having no status with Azamara and having a basic cabin that by turning up at our due time at I guess around 4:00 we should hopefully miss any carnage driven by the scramble for early boarding? We would want to maximise our time in Istanbul anyway and would not be the end of the world on a 7 day cruise if timings for the speciality restaurants should we decide to use them were limited

If you are coming from a mainstream cruise line you will not have any disappointment.  Arriving at 4 pm should indeed miss the rush, and you will be able to go straight to your cabin.  And the MDR on Azamara is so much better than mainstream cruise line MDRs that the specialities don't represent a huge upgrade.  [You can probably still get a reservation for that first night even with late check-in, if you want to try one out.]

[paf225]

I was on Pursuit for a cruise from Istanbul to Athens in May this year.  When I got to Galataport it was one of the quickest, hassle free embarkations I had ever experienced.  From the time I arrived at the terminal until I made it onboard was approximately 20 minutes.  There are a number of factors capable of impacting your embarkation experience.  Regards, Paul

[Grandma Cruising]

Quite agree. On our last 2 cruises we've had totally different experiences. Rio in March was awful, we arrived at the terminal just after 1 and didn't get onboard until well after 4:30. There seemed to be a number of reasons for this, not many check in desks staffed (responsibility of the port) and many passengers were on Azamara transfers from their hotels and they had been picked up at 11:15am. By contrast in Dubai a couple of weeks ago we left our hotel at 11:55am and were onboard at 12:30.

[blag]

18 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Quite agree. On our last 2 cruises we've had totally different experiences. Rio in March was awful, we arrived at the terminal just after 1 and didn't get onboard until well after 4:30. There seemed to be a number of reasons for this, not many check in desks staffed (responsibility of the port) and many passengers were on Azamara transfers from their hotels and they had been picked up at 11:15am. By contrast in Dubai a couple of weeks ago we left our hotel at 11:55am and were onboard at 12:30.

Our most recent embarkation in Rio could have been better, but the intervention of the Hotel Director improved things significantly.

As for our embarkation at Dubai, that was by far the worst we have ever encountered. Even with priority boarding we sweltered for two hours before finally getting to the desk. Admittedly most of this was not Azamara's fault - most of the delay was a consequence of a tortuously long queue for entry formalities for India. I think you were westward-bound out of Dubai, which probably explains why your experience differed. 

[java spot]

Never been an early boarder and am often asking how late I can board. In Istanbul however all bets seem to be off. I was the only one boarding somewhat late and had to sit and wait for them to hunt down the dog to sniff my luggage. Was close to half an hour. So the very very long trek to the ship was not appreciated. The old terminal was such a breeze. 

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, blag said:

Our most recent embarkation in Rio could have been better, but the intervention of the Hotel Director improved things significantly.

As for our embarkation at Dubai, that was by far the worst we have ever encountered. Even with priority boarding we sweltered for two hours before finally getting to the desk. Admittedly most of this was not Azamara's fault - most of the delay was a consequence of a tortuously long queue for entry formalities for India. I think you were westward-bound out of Dubai, which probably explains why your experience differed. 

No we were eastward bound and they were looking at visas. I think ours was good because we were among the first there and it opened just after we got there.