Scubaaah

22 hours ago, Former Goalie said:

I have used TIS probably a couple dozen times over the course of almost 20 years, and made two claims which were paid in full.  Highly recommend Steve and his crew!

I'll reply to Scubaaah, and I'm sure Steve will, as well.

When we first started to cruise, we purchased cruise line insurance, didn't read the terms and paid up for the easiest and most convenient product.  I remembered my Dad didn't take out insurance for a once in a lifetime voyage, couldn't make it because of his wife's illness, and the very substantial fare was a total loss.

After our first or second cruise, I started researching third party insurance, such as Steve offers.  Typically, less expensive, and offers much better and comprehensive terms - with some hoops one must be careful to jump through.  I remember my first discussion with Steve, "Why can't I just insure cost of the cruise, why must I insure everything prepaid and nonrefundable, when the cruise is all I want to insure?"  Steve's response, "If you want cancel for any reason, those are the terms," (secondarily pre-existing conditions).

I've never purchased cruise line insurance since. 

To your question, you probably don't have any recourse.  The insurance provider probably required you pay for the insurance at final payment or, less likely, at the time you made your deposit.

You would have good reason to be unhappy if the agent that sold you the cruise, also sold you the insurance when you made the relatively small up front deposit, unless the insurance underwriter required full payment at initial deposit.

When we have purchased from Steve, I believe we have always purchased from an underwriter who allows us to "pay as we go."  If the initial deposit is $1,000, we write for that amount initially, then pay the additional premium as we add more prepaid and nonrefundable expenses.  Not every underwriter offers this option, Steve would be able to guide you to one that will.

 

Thanks for your reply. Our issue is that it doesn't seem correct that we paid in full for the insurance when we only made a small deposit for the entire cruise, which we could cancel up to early April '22. It's just a substantial amount to lose and a total waste of money to be out of $1,358. 

16 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Scubaaah,

 

I'm sorry to hear your agent hasn't helped you.

 

Which exact policy did you buy?

 

Steve Dasseos

We purchased Leisure Care by AON. That's what they sold us. 

When I saw this post about trip insurance I wanted to ask if anyone has been victimized by the same situation we just experienced and if there's anything we can do: We had last year booked a cruise on AZ set to depart August 2022 using one of the cruise travel agent companies. At the time of booking, the agent sold us travel insurance as well. With the whole COVID situation and the uncertainty, we decided to cancel the cruise. Since we were well before the full payment date, we will get a refund, BUT NOT for the insurance, which cost us $1,358!!! 
A friend of ours told us he never buys insurance until he pays in full, an option the agent did not discuss with us. We feel completely hoodwinked by this agent. Has anyone else been victimized by this type of situation? Is there anything that can be done to get our money back?? 

Oh, thank you @edinburgher for that info! I visited Portofino many years ago but my husband hasn't. If SM is nicer/has more to see than we may skip going altogether. We won't have time for all three places and our excursion to Cinque Terre will take up most of the day. Any special places in SM that stand out in your mind that are a not-to-miss? 

1 hour ago, marazul said:

Yes. Taxi. It's a short trip of about 10 minutes and there are buses and boats, but if you don't want to wait, take a taxi. About 10-12 euros.

That's great!! Thanks so much! 

Type A-er here as well! Our cruise on AZ is next August and we've more than begun our planning. Venice is our last port with an overnight and we have no idea if that will remain. As we get closer to flights opening up, we're certainly needing more info. I've emailed our travel agent and am waiting to hear back. If anyone has updated info, please share! Thanks!   

Hello group! One of our port stops will be Santa Margherita and we're doing an excursion to Cinque Terre that returns at around 4-4:30pm. The ship doesn't leave the port until 8pm so we were thinking of fitting in a quick trip to Portofino. My questions are: do you think we'll have enough time to do that? If so, what is the best way to get to Portofino and back to Santa Margherita in time? Thanks for any info! 

Thank you all for your really helpful advice. I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION on a different topic and this is about excursions. We've identified some of the excursions offered by AZ that we'd like to take vs. other operators. They are in our cart but if we "check out" do we have to pay for them now? Or do they get added to your final bill when the cruise ends? When we went on the Paul Gauguin we selected the excursions but we didn't have to pay for them until the final bill. Does AZ work the same way? Thanks again for any help.  

8 hours ago, Riocca said:

When we were overnight in Venice on Journey on the last night of the cruise Azamara brought onboard Italian tenor David Righeschi for a performance on deck.

As Azamara normally dock at San Basilio not the cruise terminal it’s an extremely atmospheric special event with Venice as the backdrop.

 

 

958E25DE-936C-46A9-AEA7-7E814B86F3E5.MOV 152.47 MB · 1 download

 

 

That must have been fantastic! Do you recall what time the performance started? Was it way after dinner? or before dinner? 

19 hours ago, ECCruise said:

Nothing is certain, of course, but the chance of the Azamazing Evening (or what is replacing it through spring) happening on the last night are virtually zero.

If it is an Azamazing Night, likely in Livorno, at the Goldoni Theatre, which we loved.

Review here (not ours, BTW).

Thanks for the reply, that is good to know! Dear friends of ours are embarking on our ship for the very next itinerary out of Venice and we are meeting up with them for dinner. We would hate to miss either one, so whew!!! The Goldoni Theater evening sounds fabulous, thanks so much for sharing! 

Thank you everyone who provided such great info and answers to my questions. Really appreciate it! 
So here's another question about the Azamazing evening...clearly they hold this on an overnight or on a late night in a port. What are the chances they would choose the last evening on the itinerary? Our final stop is a Venice overnight. Do you think they would have it on that last night? It would seem that people may want to take advantage of an evening in Venice on their own/excursion, and especially needing to pack and depart early. We also overnight in Livorno and have one 9:00pm departure elsewhere. Thoughts? 

On 6/8/2021 at 7:26 PM, Dr H said:

Very sad you have to wait more than a year to travel with Azamara. Somewhat off topic, would you be willing to change the date of your cruise? I/we used to live in Italy, and August is the absolute worst time to go there. It is hotter than hell, mobbed with tourists, at least it used to be, and the country closes down for Ferragosto, basically everything shuts down for a month, and that includes museums. I would STRONGLY urge you to change your travel date if you can. Fall months are wonderful, the dead of winter is wonderful, and springtime is wonderful. Summer, especially August, definitely not wonderful! Okay, on to questions. Priority Embarkation. In the old days, the fancy rich people had a special check in counter, away from the riff raff. In reality, when you have fewer than a maximum of 700 passengers and about 10 check in counters, plus a lot of paperwork done on line weeks before departure, there is rarely a wait to check in and board. Our last cruise, transatlantic, there was a line at priority, and poor, humble souls that we are (Veranda, not even Veranda Plus), we had no wait at all. Now this was all pre-Covid. We think we are now going to be assigned check in times to avoid crowding. In the past, you could request a time slot from noon to about 4PM to check in; my guess is that we will now be assigned that slot. Specialty dining your big advantage in the suite. You can't pre-book, but you will be directed toward the reservation area as soon as you put down your glass of champagne after boarding. It cannot be missed, and if it is, you can call the restaurants directly, or have your poor butler do it for you. You won't go hungry, and the likelihood of missing a specific date and/or time is really, really slim. (Secret only Azamara regulars know: You can order Prime C desserts in Aqualina, and Aqualina desserts in Prime C. Don't tell anyone, please. The Prime C doughnuts with 3 dipping sauces are to die for. Our secret). White Nights. Anyone's guess... Bring a white shirt and white trousers or shorts. Show up in a suit at night in Italy in August, you are asking for a heat stroke. Excursions: if you book with the ship a) you will pay a lot more, b) get a quality trip, and C) most important, the ship will not leave without you. Many moons ago, we got stuck in unimaginable traffic  on a tour in Indonesia. We were more than 2½ hours late getting back to the ship, which was well past sailing time. The ship was held, the restaurants were kept open extra hours to accommodate us. That wouldn't have happened on a private tour. That said, we've been on some amazing private tours world wide (Tours by Locals) that have not run into any problems, and were significantly less expensive than the ships tours. Do your homework. Lastly, there is a self service laundry on board, no charge, and soap is provided. It can get crowded, but you really meet some nice people there. I did lose a sock on my first cruise about 10 years ago, which is still annoying. I'm very OCD, and I haven't lost a second sock to balance out the drawn in all these years. That's about my biggest, running complaint with Azamara. Enjoy. And seriously, change your dates if you can. We will be doing Italy intensive this October, the Sea Gods willing.  David

Thanks, Dave. Yes, well we actually did first think about going in the spring, closer to our actual anniversary date, but quite honestly the hot weather doesn't bother us. We're Floridians! And we're very used hot, humid weather. We'd rather be hot than cold, especially because we'll be spending time pre-cruise in Milan and the Lakes area. 
Also really appreciate your feedback about the ship's tours - we'd rather pay a little more for quality and the oh-so-important part about getting back to the port in time or having the ship wait for us, especially since it will be crowded when we're there. We have selected some tours in some ports by private groups, but none that will be at risk of being detained. Speaking of the ship's excursions, how far in advance would you suggest we actually purchase them? We don't want to get closed out but clearly we're more than a year away. Thoughts? 
Thanks again for all of your info! 
 

On 6/8/2021 at 3:20 PM, Grandma Cruising said:

Just to answer some of your questions - priority embarkation and disembarkation relates to the beginning & end of the cruise only. As Azamara ships have less than 700 passengers, you don’t need to worry about getting on and off in port, there is rarely a queue. If it’s a tender port, then you may have to wait a while but never for too long.

 

You can’t book speciality restaurants ahead, but once onboard you can book at the reservation desk on deck 9 in the entry to ‘Windows Buffet’ or in the other reservation desk which will probably be on Deck 5, either in Spirits bar or in Discoveries bar.

 

Of course as Uktog says all of this information, including everything in the ‘tips’ topic is pre-COVID, and pre Azamara being bought by Sycamore, so none of us really knows how things will work in the future, we can only talk about our past experience until cruises get started again.

Thank you so much! Yes, I was watching a video on Azamara and about it's recent purchase by Sycamore, but I guess until things really start up again no one will know. 

On 6/8/2021 at 1:41 PM, mj_holiday said:

As  has been mentioned, the way things are going to be done in the future due to COVID are not known.  

 

I have some added information about White Night that I wish I would have realized before our first cruise.  We have been on one Azamara cruise and we have another one booked because of their great intensive itinerary for destinations.  So we have been to one White Night.  It is a very large buffet on the deck with lots of buffet stations,  lots of tables set up and people saving tables early.  DH and I are not fans of large buffets.  This one had such long lines that we really didn't know what the line we were in led to.  There was music and dancing after dinner and all had a good time.  I later realized that the main dining room was open for dinner with a nice menu.

 

On or next Azamara cruise, if White Night looks like it will be similar to what past ones were like, we will go to the dining room for dinner and come up on deck afterwards to listen to the music.

Thanks so much for this great info! 

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

 

Wonderful, thank you for answering my questions! 

1 hour ago, Scots Caz said:

there is a great thread here that should cover most if not all of your queries

 

Thank you so much! This is really helpful! 

Hi everyone! We have booked for our 30th Anniversary the 11-Night Intensive Italy in a Continental Club Suite on the Journey for next August 2022. This will be our first time on AZ and we haven't been huge cruisers. We've taken a few Celebrity and one RCCL through the Caribbean (we live in SoFlo) and then went on the Paul Gauguin in French Polynesia. Now we're super excited for this trip and of course have tons of questions, some general about the ship and others about the ports from those who may have visited these places. Any info is greatly appreciated!!!  

1. What do they mean by priority embarkation and debarkation - if we can board the ship early, what time? Do we get to debark sooner at each port?

2. Can you make reservations in the specialty restaurants ahead of time and if so how? If not, how do you make them on the ship/where do you go?

3. What night during the itinerary do they typically have the White Party? And what exactly is the Azamazing Evening? Do they book a venue off the ship for this? And again what night do they typically do this during the itinerary?

4. Is it better to book excursions through the ship in some ports and use alternate operators in others? 

5. Any recommendations for tour operators? Clearly the travel sites are full of recommendations but due to COVID some of these may have changed/out of biz.  

If you have any other recommendations that I haven't asked above, please feel free to share!! Really appreciate it!!