Pre Cruise Information Package

[deneric]

Last year we did the RIO to LIS crossing and a few weeks before the cruise we received an online package from Azamara asking for choice of boarding time, luggage labels, port info Etc. We are doing the same cruise this year on March 15th and really looking forward to it. I understand that Azamara have a new Embark system and I am wondering if we will receive the online package as before and how many weeks before sailing does it normally arrive? Can anyone shed more light.

[Riocca]

11 minutes ago, deneric said:

Last year we did the RIO to LIS crossing and a few weeks before the cruise we received an online package from Azamara asking for choice of boarding time, luggage labels, port info Etc. We are doing the same cruise this year on March 15th and really looking forward to it. I understand that Azamara have a new Embark system and I am wondering if we will receive the online package as before and how many weeks before sailing does it normally arrive? Can anyone shed more light.

You can request the cruise ticket booklet any time after final payment, we are on the same cruise as you and received ours last November, I was talking to Azamara about another cruise and the agent offered to send the booklet then.

You are correct Azamara now has the easy check in system and having done it a few times since its introduction can confirm it does actually work. All you need is your passport and cabin number, check on their website under Booked Passengers and you will see all the information including boarding times which is now by cabin category, loyalty level and deck.

[oddjob16]

15 hours ago, deneric said:

Last year we did the RIO to LIS crossing and a few weeks before the cruise we received an online package from Azamara asking for choice of boarding time, luggage labels, port info Etc. We are doing the same cruise this year on March 15th and really looking forward to it. I understand that Azamara have a new Embark system and I am wondering if we will receive the online package as before and how many weeks before sailing does it normally arrive? Can anyone shed more light.

Hi, Denise. We are on Quest 8th april and received the Ticket leaflet from our TA some weeks after final payment, but we did actually put in a request for it. 
Gosh that Rio embarkation was not very efficient a year ago. Hopefully it is better this time. Wish we could have joined you.

[deneric]

Thank you Riocca & Oddjob16, We will contact Azamara / TA and have them send our online package. Good to hear from you Oddjob16, we are sad you are not joining us this year. Eric & Den

[blag]

On 2/10/2024 at 7:23 PM, Riocca said:

You can request the cruise ticket booklet any time after final payment

 

 

On 2/10/2024 at 7:23 PM, Riocca said:

All you need is your passport and cabin number, check on their website under Booked Passengers and you will see all the information including boarding times which is now by cabin category, loyalty level and deck.

I made the final payment for our April 18th sailing a few days ago, but I don't see any means of boarding information against the booking.

I would be grateful if you could be so kind as to identify exactly where and when I might expect to find this information. 

[Riocca]

1 hour ago, blag said:

 

 

I made the final payment for our April 18th sailing a few days ago, but I don't see any means of boarding information against the booking.

I would be grateful if you could be so kind as to identify exactly where and when I might expect to find this information. 

It’s on the website menu under Booked Guests - Easy check in, here’s a link https://www.azamara.com/gb/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin

 

There should also be a link on your booking in your account.

[blag]

11 minutes ago, Riocca said:

It’s on the website menu under Booked Guests - Easy check in, here’s a link https://www.azamara.com/gb/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin

 

There should also be a link on your booking in your account.

Thanks. 

I found that independently.

It think I misunderstood what was being said. I had assumed (wrongly, it seems) that the process was personalised, but the Web page referred to in your response is generic.

I do not see a link in the pages where my bookings are listed. (Is this what you mean by my account?)

At first glance this all looks much the same as the process with which I am familiar. Am I missing something? 

 

[uktog]

If you are booked through a UK agent, your “ personalised book” doesn’t appear online. It is sent to your agent who should forward it to you, however if you phone Azamara and your sailing is in the next month they will email it direct to you. This is based on my very recent experience for a cruise starting on Sunday booked through a UK agent. Your agent has to have sent your payment to Azamara for you to be able to get the booklet. Given you only paid a few days ago you may experience Azamara initially saying no if you call up in the next few days. 

[Riocca]

56 minutes ago, blag said:

Thanks. 

I found that independently.

It think I misunderstood what was being said. I had assumed (wrongly, it seems) that the process was personalised, but the Web page referred to in your response is generic.

I do not see a link in the pages where my bookings are listed. (Is this what you mean by my account?)

At first glance this all looks much the same as the process with which I am familiar. Am I missing something? 

 

No you’re not missing anything, if you ask Azamara for the ticket booklet the boarding information is still generic and refers you to the FAQ pages.

It will have all your personalised cruise information such as booked tours OBC etc.

[deneric]

Thank you everybody for your help and information regarding Embark times, Azamara Pre cruise package information Etc.

 

We are on the March 15th RIO to LIS cruise in just over 3 weeks time and had been given no other information other than that provided by our travel agent when booking and some recent updates of changes to arrival and departure times.

 

When we contacted Azamara to ask for our final cruise package (which came automatically from Azamara on the exact same RIO to LIS trip last year) we were told by the Azamara Representative that it was the responsibility of our TA to provide this.

 

We contacted our wonderful TA and today received our final details.

However the TA did say to us "I appreciate your patience and with the New Azamara systems.  They are doing business differently; such as releasing the travel packets and did not know you receive through the travel agent and not directly with the Guests."

 

FYI. Within this package we have received a "bar coded" boarding pass but the embarkation times are no longer choosable (as they were last year), it only refers you back to the web site FAQ which states that Embark begins at 2 pm and closes 90 min before ship's departure.

 

FYI There are no pre printed luggage labels as last year, but you can print them off from your Azamara web account and fill in your name and cabin number yourself if you wish. (or as they suggest, they provide these labels at your embark port)

 

I hope all this might help.

 

Regards Eric

 

 

[Dr H]

Interesting question. I/we have not gotten the booklet for the Rio crossing. However, just this past week I did get the booklet for our Iceland Intensive in late June. I just went to check it, assuming that it was for the Rio crossing, but surprise, it was not. The only thing we got was an e-mail informing us that we might be banished to St Helena Island if we failed to prove our passport information to Azamara for forwarding to the Portuguese authorities. I just entered our info. Should you see a late middle aged couple being dragged off the ship in shackles, rifles drawn, that would be us, and confirmation that the Azamara IT system still needs some work.

[blag]

2 hours ago, Dr H said:

passport information to Azamara for forwarding to the Portuguese authorities. I just entered our info.

Interesting.

How and where did you 'enter your info'.

Presumably you mean that you provided the relevant data into some online form? But where is this form, and how is it accessed, please? 

[uktog]

5 hours ago, blag said:

Interesting.

How and where did you 'enter your info'.

Presumably you mean that you provided the relevant data into some online form? But where is this form, and how is it accessed, please? 

Cruise I start Sunday never had such a form. I’m thinking though my agent has all that information and provided it. No email received about a form only emails about environmental rules in Antarctica 

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, blag said:

Interesting.

How and where did you 'enter your info'.

Presumably you mean that you provided the relevant data into some online form? But where is this form, and how is it accessed, please? 

If you go into manage my reservation for your cruise & click on the Guests tab at the top, you will see a form on which you complete information such as passport number- there are two tabs Guest #1 & Guest #2 ( or if you’re older as we are Senior #1 & Senior #2).

[blag]

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

If you go into manage my reservation for your cruise & click on the Guests tab at the top, you will see a form on which you complete information such as passport number- there are two tabs Guest #1 & Guest #2 ( or if you’re older as we are Senior #1 & Senior #2).

Thanks

 

I see this – NOW.

 

Of course, it is not obvious. On my Android phone in the Seaware app, there's a small icon that looks like a document (next to the little brush thingy). 

 

This leads to the following screen:

I saw this a while ago. I used the drop-down (COVID VACCINE), hoping that there would be more options, but it referred only to COVID vaccinations etc.. NOT Passports.

Until I read your post, I had not realised that there was additional content below this! It is necessary to scroll the page to reveal the form for data relating to Passports.

Thank you.

 

Mind you, it is quite a stupid form. It won't let me paste any data! And in the list of countries the first two entries are United States followed by Ukraine! The rest of the world is then listed alphabetically! 

Edited February 15 by blag

[Dr H]

Yeah, I couldn't find it either. Aza provided a direct link to it through the email notification they sent me. Somehow I doubt that failure to fill it out will have any consequences, but, I followed the rules like a good passenger.

[blag]

19 minutes ago, Dr H said:

Yeah, I couldn't find it either. Aza provided a direct link to it through the email notification they sent me. Somehow I doubt that failure to fill it out will have any consequences, but, I followed the rules like a good passenger.

I found it - eventually, but it was very difficult to provide all the data. The app refused to save the information I provided (even after pressing 'Store'), so I switched to the desktop version on my PC.

On the PC each time I invoked the 'Continue' or 'OK' button error messages popped-up. I am not sure whether the data has been saved. I was beginning to lose patience with the process so I gave up.

I'll check again when I feel less stressed.

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, blag said:

I found it - eventually, but it was very difficult to provide all the data. The app refused to save the information I provided (even after pressing 'Store'), so I switched to the desktop version on my PC.

On the PC each time I invoked the 'Continue' or 'OK' button error messages popped-up. I am not sure whether the data has been saved. I was beginning to lose patience with the process so I gave up.

I'll check again when I feel less stressed.

I'll add to this discussion and say that I don't find this area of the booking at all reliable.  My other half uses a CPAP machine so I booked one here. Months ago.  I checked a week or so ago and it's disappeared. This does not give me confidence of the other information. My travel agent provided me with a link to special needs on the website and I completed that (it asked a number of odd questions like dimensions and weight.  It's a CPAP machine!) and I received an acknowledgement email. The acknowledgement was of no use. It was this.  I do know that boarding from my experience late last year is dead easy with just your passport and the extension cable and distilled water will be provided if it's not there and I ask. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

They’ve sent out a pre cruise email to us. It’s headed up your checklist before you go. Some useful content in the link especially if you’re a first time cruiser. However I received it after I completed my first leg of travel. It’s 72 hours to embarkation so is way too late to be useful. Needs to go out 7 days before departure 

[Blocks]

I am on a cruise departing on 16th March and received a booking e-ticket by email earlier this evening. I booked direct with Azamara.

[hamrag]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

They’ve sent out a pre cruise email to us. It’s headed up your checklist before you go. Some useful content in the link especially if you’re a first time cruiser. However I received it after I completed my first leg of travel. It’s 72 hours to embarkation so is way too late to be useful. Needs to go out 7 days before departure 

Bon Voyage, hope this one gets you 'back on board' with Az!  Safe travels.

 

Lang may yer lum reek.

[Dynacruiser]

Just checking if I have understood the information correctly, as I am boarding in a couple of weeks:

 

1) Check in time for EVERYBODY starts at 2 pm.  No more assigned time slots.  I can see how some ports can get overwhelmed when everybody shows up early to reserve their specialty restaurants, but OK.

 

2) No need to check in online prior to the cruise, everything can be now done at the port.

 

3) There is some kind of personalized booklet that may be sent to you from Azamara or your TA.  I booked through a TA, and have not received anything. But it sounds like 

 

4) it is advisable to have printed proof that you are traveling with Azamara, as some port guards may not let you in unless you show this, depending on location.

 

5) Azamara has generic check in info here:  https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin

 

 

I hope I didn't miss anything.  Perhaps my only disappointment is now having assigned time slots.  Of course, often assigned times weren't respected.    Last year in Athens, we waited for about 3 hours to board, as everybody showed up at the same time, it was a local holiday and they didn't have enough people to process guests.