lkmamom

Excited to follow along with you! Thank you for doing this!

Moving tis up so Mariner cruisers can reply😊 Wondering if you will stop at Labadee

That would be so awesome Karter thank you! Have a great cruise!

Anyone out there on the Mariner right now? Just curious as to how your cruise is going so far. Thank you!

Thank you for all of the kind reviews!! We will be embarking this coming Saturday, so have been reading everything :) Just a quick question, what time did disembarkation begin, if you do not mind. Thank you!

Best wishes Michael for a wonderful cruise!! I am sure you and your will have a fabulous time.

Bonnie, thank you for researching our dilemma. I guess I feel it is time to let sleeping dogs lie. The words and mannerisms expressed will always be between my husband and I and the staff we spoke with. I know what was said, and how it was said, and it was a surprise to us. I felt we asked very logical questions in a calm, cordial, timely way ( we started the day after embarkation asking for clarification and never got a straight answer).We just have never had that kind of an experience with Azamara. And yes, it left a bad impression, because I know that is not the norm for this cruiseline.

We would have never preferred early disembarkation but, our flight was changed, and after working with Delta, this was the best workable solution for us to get home. And honestly, if you had talked with staff BEFORE the cruise that told you it would not be a problem, and that the front desk would call a taxi for you when you are ready to leave:)......why would you think there would be a problem?

Anyway, thank you again for your time Bonnie. I thoroughly appreciate all of your thoughtful contributions to the Azamara message boards.

Thank you Bonnie for your interest. I would be interested just for future reference sake if you get an answer back as well. I remember when I talked with Azamara before our cruise left and inquired about early disembarkation, the lady I spoke with was so nice and told me to ask the front desk to call us a taxi. She said they do it all the time, it will be no problem and she was sure there would be other people doing the same. To be totally honest I never gave it another thought till we got there and I told the front desk the first night we were onboard.

I remember when we asked the concierge gentleman for a phone number that we could try to call a taxi, he googled and found some numbers and that is when the huffs and puffs started. My guess, and it is just a guess, is that they did not have a relationship with the taxis but one was formed with the van company and that was why that was not a problem. The first taxi he called there was a very short exchange and then he hung up. Not sure what was said on the other end.

Venice was a very beautiful city, and we were so happy to visit. Maybe someday we will go back and try this again:)

Linda

PS Just for reference to the original poster......so sorry for all of this. I apologize. If you do decide to use a hotel as we did, we stayed at the Marriott Courtyard by the airport not Holiday Inn. They were fabulous, very accommodating.

Thanks all. We were surprised as well. If you knew me, you would know that I research every single aspect of our trip months before we go. From what I had read, I did not think getting to the airport would be that much of an issue. Looking back, two things.....our son said we could have challenged the airline and had our tickets changed, but I did look into that and the other flights did not have the economy plus seating we had paid for. Secondly, we docked at a different place than I had reviewed and I think (not sure) we would have been okay with transportation at the other docking point in Venice.

Kathy, there will never be another cruise I am sure......like the one we traveled on with you and your husband. To us, that was perfection. Unfortunately, now we hold everything in comparison to that one. And all of our other cruises on Azamara have been top notch. That is why we keep coming back. This one was off. The challenges of norovirus on the Journey were very visible on the ship. The staff handled it well and Captain Sindre was fabulous, but one could tell it was a strain for them, understandable. We had wonderful conversations with Captain Sindre, and he even drove the tender back to the ship one evening while we were on the same tender :) everyone cheered.

We have never required much on all of our many cruises. This time, though I had maps and thought I understood the transportation options, I needed some clarification. In all of our cruises on multiple lines I have never encountered this type of response. It was kind of shocking, especially for Azamara. The ports and our cruise together as a family though was fabulous! We all thoroughly enjoyed every port and Montenegro was a wonderful surprise!!! We had planned well before the cruise.

We met and made some wonderful new friends, and that makes the little snafoos like this well......okay. I wonder, looking back, if the people at the front desk or the concierge gentleman was new. We missed the port maps they always used to have inserted with what was going on the ship that day. There were some for Montenegro at the desk but that was it. Hate complaining, I really do. I guess more than anything, I was disappointed. Not the reception I have received from the front desk on cruises past on Azamara.

Hi Michael,

We needed to do the same on our Journey cruise about a month ago. I pray the front desk has the information to help you on your cruise because that certainly was not the case while we were onboard. I will not go into what was said to me by the front desk and concierge because every time I think about it I go wild!!!

When we first booked our flights we had a late morning flight out of Venice so thought it would be okay. Our flights were changed by the airline and now we had a 6:30 am flight. We had never been to Venice before so had no idea it would be so difficult to get transportation to the airport. We decided it would be best to stay at a hotel close to the airport the night before (that had a shuttle) and honestly, that was the best decision we have ever made!!!!! I called Azamara and asked what their procedure was to leave the night before disembarkation and it was exactly as stated by previous posters. We really did not think it would be a problem walking off with our own luggage and decided we would have dinner onboard and then leave about 8pm for our hotel by the airport. We were told by concierge on Journey that we had two options, to pay a van that they would call to take us which was mega bucks (cannot remember the exact amount but it was very expensive!!) or to walk our bags to the nearest water taxi port, then stay on the water taxi to the stop where taxis would be waiting. Now what I did not understand was if vans could get there at the port, why could taxis not get there? Did not make sense. And the expert that was brought onboard from Venice told my husband taxis would be waiting. The concierge gentleman suggested we make a trial run with the water taxi when we ported in Venice just so we would know what to do. Well, we are in our 60s fairly fit, but to carry all of our bags off the ship rolling them on uneven terrain for quite a distance just did not make sense. So back to the concierge we went with our reinforced question of why could they not call us a taxi if they could call us a van? After several moments of eye rolls (infuriated me) and heavy huffs, the concierge agreed to call us a taxi. Long story short (so sorry) we had dinner then left. There were no friendly goodbyes, no can we help you with your luggage, just get off. We walked out of the Venice cruise terminal and then about a block to where the concierge said the taxi would be. I saw two taxis sitting just short of the area he said, and to be honest am quite sure they would not have arrived in the time he would have called and we walked there. We just asked if the guy would take us to the hotel and off we went.

I apologize for telling you this angry story. I have always been such an Azamara cheerleader, and so to be talked to as we were it was quite distressing. There was another couple that we met in line to talk with the concierge with the same issue. They were promised a call for a taxi to the airport at 3:30 am. We saw them at the airport and they did indeed call one for them, but they also said the same happened to them. They were first time Azamara cruisers and were so disgusted said this would be their last. The hotel shuttle got us to the airport by 5:30am (I think it opens then) and it was a zoo. Very long lines. Again, so very thankful we stayed at the Holiday Inn the night before. I hope you will report back your experience. Hopefully the crew have mastered this by now.

We were never in any way mean or nasty with the front desk or concierge. We just felt like they did not want to help us unless we bought the very expensive van package. We really did enjoy our cruise, it was awesome despite the norovirus on the ship, everything was handled so professionally, so when we experienced this, it was kind of a letdown. I just felt the money we paid for the hotel the night before was insurance that we would be at the airport on time because to be honest, I was not so sure a taxi would be there to take us at 3am.

We were there last week and had a great private guide. If you email me and put Kotor in the subject I will send you the information.

Kathy

kizzo123 @ hotmail. com

Hi Kathy! Hoping you remember Larry and I. we sailed with you and your husband on our last Azamara cruise which started in Dublin Ireland:) I would also appreciate any information you could offer about Kotor. We are taking a family cruise on Azamara at the end of this month and Kotor is one of the stops! Did you also stop in Dubrovnic?

Thanks, hope you are doing well!

Linda

Bonnie, come with us on the Journey this May/June! We are porting in both Kotor and Dubrovnik!! Would LOVE it!

Oh thank you thank you everyone!! We will be traveling to Kotor on Azamara Journey this May/June!! So exciting to see the pictures and to read the blog.

Linda

Thank you so much for this post!! We will be on the cruise in May, and this will be our family's first visit to Venice! We are very appreciative of any advice, thank you!

Linda

Thanks so much for your kind report Linda! we will be visiting some of the same ports on our cruise next May so loving your trip reports. Please also say hi to Russ, Ross and Philip. The entire crew is awesome, but my husband and I were especially so fond of these three on our British Open cruise last May. I hope we can see them again someday! Enjoy, and happy sailing!!

Linda and Larry

Happy Birthday Andy!! May you be blessed with many more happy healthy birthdays, and lots more cruising!!

Dear Cruise831, I apologize, but I care for my elderly mom and I really do not participate a lot on cruise critic. I really do not have the time to scan these. If there is something that you are particularly interested in I am very happy to help you. Again, I apologize. And truthfully, basically each day outlines the times the tours leave and includes a city map for those that want to do their own thing.

Linda

Hi, the only extra excursions that we purchased were the Zurich city tour and the Zaanse Schans Windmill Village, in Amsterdam. It was freezing cold, windy and can you believe thunder stormed, but the village was really charming, and we were very happy we went. It was so interesting to watch the wooden shoes being made. It is quite touristy, if you will, but we enjoyed it. From our experience, we were very pleased with all of the included tours that Avalon offered. But we loved our cruise, and it was our first, so we did not have a bad experience to compare it to. Some friends we met on the ship did the Red Light Tour in Amsterdam. When we spoke with them briefly before we disembarked, they said they were glad they went but would never do it again. The went on a Friday night and it was quite crowded there. Maybe it is just me, but I had no desire to go:o

Hi Got2Cruise! I did not have a chance to write a review, sorry. I brought back the daily newsletters that were left on our bed each evening (such a nice remembrance that Avalon provides), so if you have a specific question maybe I can help :)

Linda

PS Also, the main reason that we opted for the Avalon tour was that the bus to take us to Basel for embarkation was not going to arrive until late afternoon the day of embarkation. The Avalon Zurich tour started about 11:00 if I remember correctly, so that gave us something to do instead of waiting around the hotel as we saw many do. We both actually enjoyed it. A bus came and loaded our luggage, and then off we went for a walking tour around the city and the lake. The weather was very rainy so we were happy to have the guide to explain so many spots that we might have missed. We really felt it was worthwhile for us, and we had the chance to meet a lot of fellow cruisers that we would be spending the week with :)

We just completed this same river cruise with Avalon earlier this month. We stayed at the Moevenpick airport as recommended by Avalon. I have to say honestly, it was a very good decision. The hotel was very clean, quiet and the included breakfast buffet in the morning was very nice. The transport into the city was quite easy via train (station very close to the hotel) or, what was easy for us was the shuttle the hotel provided to and from the airport and the train to the city. We found the restaurants and shopping to be awesome at the airport! We took the train to Lucerne (very easy)one day, and walked around the city on our own. It was a beautiful trip despite all of the rain. The day of transfer to the ship we did Avalon's city tour of Zurich which we really enjoyed. I am quite sure we would have not seen half of what we saw if we had done it on our own. The buses then went back to the hotel and picked up passengers and went on to Basel for embarkation. It was very organized and honestly we enjoyed the experience very much! I hope you enjoy your trip with Avalon as much as we enjoyed our first river cruise!

Linda

We've just come back from our 2nd cruise with Azamara; this time traveling with friends who had never gone with Azamara before. It was very interesting to compare what each of us felt were pros and cons and in the end it all boiled down to what we personally valued. My friend missed the solarium found on Celebrity ships, for example. That's something that I would not give a second thought given that you'll never find me lounging by the pool, covered or open deck. What I treasure on Azamara ships--the lovely, wide, quiet Deck 5 promenade with the teak loungers--is something my friend doesn't give two hoots about as she never goes there. See? Different strokes for different folks. It's all about what you want to see on a ship and how much you need to have those certain amenities, bearing in mind that all ships offer you some things and deny you others. Start from there and work your way up. Off the top of my head: Do you need a spacious shower and a wide balcony and cutting edge contemporary decor? Not going to find it on Azamara. On the other hand, do you like a captain and crew who are visible and enjoy interacting with passengers, without pretense? Azamara excels at that and it's something that's unique to the culture. My husband and I like that very much and it's an intangible that in our mind makes Azamara more valuable to us than other more modern ships with flashy new bells and whistles. You and your wife have different ideas about what's going to make your anniversary cruise special so I can only tell you that in our view Azamara offers little cons and so, so many pros.

I loved this and it says exactly how my family and I feel.

First off....Hi Kathy, good to see you on Cruise Critic! Our family also has an Azamara cruise booked for May 2015. All of this conversation has me a bit concerned as well. And, after the day I have had trying to talk with the staff at Azamara, I am REALLY concerned. I had questions, and when I spoke with three different individuals, I got three different responses. Each left me on hold to check with someone else. We love Azamara, and we are cheerleaders, but feeling a little nervous here........

Linda

I just wanted to send you a note because I am thinking my post may have been lost in your original thread. My husband and I are excited because it appears we are on the same river cruise:D Only a few more weeks!

Linda

Just moving this up hoping that you will see it :)

I just wanted to send you a note because I am thinking my post may have been lost in your original thread. My husband and I are excited because it appears we are on the same river cruise:D Only a few more weeks!

Linda

We have all but finalized our cruise on the Avalon Visionary going from Basel to Amsterdam leaving on 5/3/14. There will be 8 of us. We want to have sliding glass windows. Any thoughts on Category A vs. B rooms? The ship is new so I don't expect much engine or thruster noise, but I don't know. We are leaning toward the B rooms, as close to mid-ships as possible.

 

Thanks.

Hi Novice2cruise!! I am so excited!!! For weeks have tried everything to find someone on our cruise and there you are!! This will be our first river cruise as well, so we are trying to absorb as much information as we can these last few weeks. Are you getting excited?

:DLinda

I would like to thank both reviewers of the cruise so much!!!!! We are leaving for this same itin at the end of this month. I think the cruise begins May 3. Interesting points about Lucerne. We are booked to stay at the Moevenpick in Zurich, and we most likely still will, but we really wanted to try to see Lucerne.

Very excited about this cruise, it is our first river cruise. I am sure that it will be worlds different than an ocean cruise. We have had many tell us after their first river cruise they would never do another ocean cruise they loved it so much.

Thanks again for all of the help!!!!

Linda