Shore Excursions

[LewiLewi]

When does Azamara announce their shore tomorrow excursions for booked cruises? My cruise is about 9 months away, and I haven’t seen any announced shore excursions to date.

Also, when you book an excursion, do you charge it to a credit card, or can it be paid for with OBC?

Thank you.

[candkd]

It's usually 6 months out but I'm still waiting for July cruise to post the excursions. And yes you an pay with OBC.

[crzrr]

It varies by cruise.  Some are out for cruises next year.  Just keep checking - and go into "manage my reservation" to check.  If you want to pay with OBC you will have to call customer service to do that.

[ECCruise]

Keep checking, and ignore the "Excursions coming soon" tag that is on all sailings on the website.

 

We have excursions available for our mid-2025 sailings.

[Grandma Cruising]

2 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Keep checking, and ignore the "Excursions coming soon" tag that is on all sailings on the website.

 

We have excursions available for our mid-2025 sailings.

Remember you need to click on the pencil/paper icon on the right hand side of the excursions page, then click on the ‘Available’ tab.

[LewiLewi]

5 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Remember you need to click on the pencil/paper icon on the right hand side of the excursions page, then click on the ‘Available’ tab.

I followed your directions and was able to find excursions. There are only two excursions listed,hopefully, more will be added on.

Thank you to everyone.

[laurieb]

More will be added closer to sailing. We’re cruising may/June this year; more being added daily.

[ghstudio]

There is no way to book excursions on our Dec 24 cruise....even though they are shown.  I've tried going through the pencil/paper icon or just clicking on the cruise and the excursions show, but there is no way to book them. Hey, it's only been a year since the new management has taken over...but I digress.  We actually have some excursions booked...but now, we can't add any new ones....we can just look at their descriptions.  Oh, just as an aside, excursions are shown for our stop in Bonaire that has been removed from our sailing.....I guess we swim to shore to take those excursions....and yes, we have one booked. 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

6 hours ago, ghstudio said:

There is no way to book excursions on our Dec 24 cruise....even though they are shown.  I've tried going through the pencil/paper icon or just clicking on the cruise and the excursions show, but there is no way to book them. Hey, it's only been a year since the new management has taken over...but I digress.  We actually have some excursions booked...but now, we can't add any new ones....we can just look at their descriptions.  Oh, just as an aside, excursions are shown for our stop in Bonaire that has been removed from our sailing.....I guess we swim to shore to take those excursions....and yes, we have one booked. 

 

Have you tried a different browser? I use Safari on an IPad. When I click on the paper/pencil icon, then the ‘available’ tab I see the excursions with ‘Book’ in a blue oval

[uktog]

I had exactly the same issue last week for a cruise in February. Browser made no difference switching between Mac, iPad and iPhone plus neighbours laptop no joy. Ended up having to phone. I posted then the system is still “buggy” and whilst I only had a few minutes wait for the call to be answered the agent was not competent and there were issues which I had to call about again to resolve 

[ghstudio]

I've tried safari and chrome on my ipad and chrome, opera, firefox and windows explorer on both windows 10 and 11 (seriously...I did it just as a test)......none of them allow me to do anything other than see what excursions are offered (including those at a stop that is no longer on our itinerary).  The only thing I haven't tried (yet) is to use a VPN and sign in through Tibet.  

[ECCruise]

We've booked six or seven excursions in the last month or so.  Looked online at to what is available, make selections, noting name and date and time, pick up the phone and call.  Tell the agent booking ID, excursion selections, book with OBC (if available).  Never took more than 5-10 minutes and shows on the website (excursion and balance of OBC) in a matter of minutes.  

[Mackdogmolly]

27 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

We've booked six or seven excursions in the last month or so.  Looked online at to what is available, make selections, noting name and date and time, pick up the phone and call.  Tell the agent booking ID, excursion selections, book with OBC (if available).  Never took more than 5-10 minutes and shows on the website (excursion and balance of OBC) in a matter of minutes.  

That’s what I did too

[tgg]

3 hours ago, ECCruise said:

We've booked six or seven excursions in the last month or so.  Looked online at to what is available, make selections, noting name and date and time, pick up the phone and call.  Tell the agent booking ID, excursion selections, book with OBC (if available).  Never took more than 5-10 minutes and shows on the website (excursion and balance of OBC) in a matter of minutes.  

That's what worked for us in December 2023. Although we booked through a travel agency, there was no problem booking our shore excursions directly with Azamara by phone.

Of course, it SHOULD be possible to book on Azamara's web site using OBC. Until then, a phone call will work.

 

[uktog]

3 minutes ago, tgg said:

That's what worked for us in December 2023. Although we booked through a travel agency, there was no problem booking our shore excursions directly with Azamara by phone.

Of course, it SHOULD be possible to book on Azamara's web site using OBC. Until then, a phone call will work.

 

I also would love to do it online. My biggest gripe about calling is even though the excursions were not involving OBC I was paying at the time with my credit card on both occasions the call handler has refused to send any paperwork of confirmation to me because it’s booked through a travel agent.  The only proof I currently have for a trip next week is a screenshot of my onboard account (though it doesn’t say paid) and my credit card statement. 
If I pay the full total myself I believe the excursions booking has nothing to do with the travel agent. 

[uktog]

I need to tell others about the call handlers attitude to queries about Shore Excursions.  It left me shocked,  highly disillusioned and the full realisation that this is probably no longer the cruise line for me given how their agents address queries/requests.

 

Here is the background - and I apologise  the prices are in Sterling but you will get the drift.

 

We are heading to Japan for the Japan Intensive in April.  The costs of excursions have increased a lot however its a one and done so we would be looking to swallow the costs for convenience - we do not feel able to DIY there.  Silly I know but respect that please.

 

We will stay 2 nights post cruise with a very early flight home on Day 3, so came up with a plan to use the Azamara little tour and airport drop off at Haneda on disembarkation. We booked a (cancellable) hotel adjacent to the airport which coincidentally does a shuttle to Disney so we might have gone there.  Early in the week that tour was costing £135 or so each.  Expensive I know but we were happy to swallow it.

 

Last night I went on line and the cost of the tour was now £215 each (wow) AND reduced to 3 hours only. What did not make sense was that the equivalent tour which goes out to Narita is 4 hours and is costing £115.  So as part of a call about the beverage package I ask if the cost of the tour could be checked to see if it is correct.  The agent was clearly only prepared to parrot back what she saw on Seaware which is the same as I see but it got worse.  I pushed could she query it here is the sequence of responses and a paraphrase of what she said

 

"You need to understand prices change" - my response absolutely but why is the longer tour that does the same things apart from going to a different further out airport so much cheaper

"They will be using a different tour operator" - hmm look could we still get that checked

"No thats the price, you need to understand they increase" - well can I speak to someone

"No customers are not allowed to speak to Shore excursions" - well how can we get someone to look at this, can you not raise a ticket

 

RIGHT - here is the gobsmacking reply

 

"They are very very busy and to be honest we probably won't get an answer until after you have sailed in April"

 

I gave up

 

Unbelievable way to run what should be a revenue enhancing operation.  I will rejig our Tokyo plans now to handle the two days very differently but that call shocks me that Azamara have agents who will not even try

 

PS Although I had not opted out of the survey I got no post call stay on the line survey

 

Edited February 9 by uktog

[laurieb]

Sorry you did not get the responses you had hoped for.  I do have to agree that the tour operator makes the calls regarding cost.  I have also noticed on my May/June cruises that some of the tours have gone way up in price.  

[excitedofharpenden]

48 minutes ago, uktog said:

I need to tell others about the call handlers attitude to queries about Shore Excursions.  It left me shocked,  highly disillusioned and the full realisation that this is probably no longer the cruise line for me given how their agents address queries/requests.

 

Here is the background - and I apologise  the prices are in Sterling but you will get the drift.

 

We are heading to Japan for the Japan Intensive in April.  The costs of excursions have increased a lot however its a one and done so we would be looking to swallow the costs for convenience - we do not feel able to DIY there.  Silly I know but respect that please.

 

We will stay 2 nights post cruise with a very early flight home on Day 3, so came up with a plan to use the Azamara little tour and airport drop off at Haneda on disembarkation. We booked a (cancellable) hotel adjacent to the airport which coincidentally does a shuttle to Disney so we might have gone there.  Early in the week that tour was costing £135 or so each.  Expensive I know but we were happy to swallow it.

 

Last night I went on line and the cost of the tour was now £215 each (wow) AND reduced to 3 hours only. What did not make sense was that the equivalent tour which goes out to Narita is 4 hours and is costing £115.  So as part of a call about the beverage package I ask if the cost of the tour could be checked to see if it is correct.  The agent was clearly only prepared to parrot back what she saw on Seaware which is the same as I see but it got worse.  I pushed could she query it here is the sequence of responses and a paraphrase of what she said

 

"You need to understand prices change" - my response absolutely but why is the longer tour that does the same things apart from going to a different further out airport so much cheaper

"They will be using a different tour operator" - hmm look could we still get that checked

"No thats the price, you need to understand they increase" - well can I speak to someone

"No customers are not allowed to speak to Shore excursions" - well how can we get someone to look at this, can you not raise a ticket

 

RIGHT - here is the gobsmacking reply

 

"They are very very busy and to be honest we probably won't get an answer until after you have sailed in April"

 

I gave up

 

Unbelievable way to run what should be a revenue enhancing operation.  I will rejig our Tokyo plans now to handle the two days very differently but that call shocks me that Azamara have agents who will not even try

 

PS Although I had not opted out of the survey I got no post call stay on the line survey

 

Shocking. Was this the UK call centre?

 

Phil 

[uktog]

No US agent no background call centre sound. Wasn’t logged in when she answered the call 

[laurieb]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

No US agent no background call centre sound. Wasn’t logged in when she answered the call 

I had an interaction with an agent that was definitely working from home, and she was not good.  I ended the conversation, called back and talked to someone else 

[Jay19]

My interactions with agents lately have been very good to excellent.    I have been getting through in just a couple of minutes and have been able to do what I wanted very quickly and easily.  There was one exception, and in that case it was obvious in the first couple of minutes that this person was not going to be helpful so, like Laurie, I just politely ended the call, called right back and got someone else.  When the calls took ages to get through I used to feel I had to persist, even though I knew I was going to end up getting angry, now I just don't bother.    I honestly do think that things have improved dramatically from early last year though.

 

One thing I was impressed with this week was that I used the contact form to ask for pdf shore excursion brochures for our autumn cruises.    I was expecting to have to wait a while but in fact I got them within a couple of days.    The accompanying email did say to remember that pricing and availability is subject to change so I will likely book the ones I really want soon.  On our upcoming Japan cruise I booked excursions quite early but even then there was one that was sold out. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

12 hours ago, laurieb said:

I had an interaction with an agent that was definitely working from home, and she was not good.  I ended the conversation, called back and talked to someone else 

I see this advice all the time on Cruise Critic, and it often seems to work.