Shazaam

We had been looking forward to cruising with Heike in March and will definitely miss her ever-present touches and personality around the ship.

One wonders how long it will take for another part of the dream team, Eric de Gray, to also accept a new opportunity, perhaps with Heike again.

Azamara have now announced that they will be proceeding with their 2022 South Africa cruises. As such, we have decided that the health risk is too great to go there in either 2022 or 2223, so we are pulling the plug on our February 20th one.

Winter 2024 cruises are now live on their website.

They are live now!

The Journey does feature the absolutely unique, extraordinarily talented and energetic Eric de Gray as Cruise Director. For many cruisers who have experienced Eric's originality, that alone is enough to tip the balance in favour of the Journey. 

That said, the Pursuit offers the incredible, visibly almost everywhere at the same time, multi-lingual charming Hotel Director, Heike. She has an equally huge following of experienced cruisers as Eric has, so the balance can easily swing in this direction.

So, you can't go wrong with either ship, each featuring rock star-like senior officers. Better yet, book one on each and then draw your own conclusions!

I just received the following message from Azamara that strongly suggests they will be moving ahead with their Pursuit South Africa cruises.

"Dear Azamara Guest,

We would like to provide you with an update regarding our Africa sailings departing between January 3, 2022 and March 4, 2022.

At present, we're only pending confirmation from the South African Government regarding the formal opening of ports. Our intentions are to move forward with our planned voyages to this bucket-list destination once we obtain this formal approval in the coming days. To help alleviate any uncertainty, earlier this summer we extended final payment to 90 days prior to your voyage. Please note that this extension is applied automatically to your booking and you should expect to receive an updated invoice soon, if you have not already received it. If you have specific questions, please contact your Travel Advisor or visit https://www.azamara.com/contact-us for your local Azamara call center number.

As we monitor global developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19), our priority remains the health and safety of our guests and crew, as well as providing amazing vacation experiences. We've enhanced our health and safety standards through our new Explore Well at Sea program including vaccination of guests and crew, advanced testing and screening protocols, more rigorous sanitation measures, and innovative medical services - to ensure a care-free Azamara experience. In addition, we are continuously evaluating all travel requirements based on local conditions from government officials and local port authorities.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation throughout our journey as we have worked to manage this very fluid situation. Please be assured that we will keep you up to date as soon as we have more information.

Thank you for choosing Azamara®. We look forward to seeing you onboard soon!

Sincerely,

AZAMARA®

Given the continuing Covid situation in South Africa and their low rate of vaccination, this strikes me as a very risky decision/gamble that they are taking. 

On our recent cruise in March, we had the opportunity to convert our Discoverer + WiFi entitlements into a $130 credit that could still be exercised on the 3rd day of the cruise. This meant that we used one of our entitlements (we each had one) for the first two days and then cashed in the other towards the full cruise package. It saved us a further $40 for doing so.

We just rebooked the cancelled 2018 TA with the 2019 one. Since the original booking, we are now entitled to a 7% LCV discount. The net fare is essentially the same, considering an extra 2% discount and a 16 day (2019) rather than 17 day TA.

While our $200 OBC for booking onboard carried over, they would not honour transferring the additional $300 OBC originally intended for their shore excursions. We did, however, obtain the current $300 OBC early booking credit. So it's a wash except for the fact that we will receive one day less for the same rate and our extra 2% of savings was absorbed by their rate increase. The $250 OBC for having had the 2018 TA cruise canceled results in $750 total OBC from Azamara for 2019 vs. the $500 OBC for the 2018 cruise.

As a side note, we are also booked on the 2017 Quest TA leaving Barcelona Nov 4th. Although the original Nov 7th cruise was canceled in January 2016 by Azamara, even though I had booked directly with Azamara, I was never informed by them of the cancellation. It was only in late July 2016 that I learned via Cruise Critic of the cancellation. When I contacted them, besides a perfunctory verbal apology, I was only given $200 extra OBC for their error when I rebooked the 3 day earlier cruise.

Thank you all. I appreciate your responses.

I am only receiving 5% off a Journey cruise this coming March. However, having just had my 2018 TA on the Journey canceled by Azamara, I just rebooked it for 2019 and I did receive a 7% discount.

Interestingly, the shortened 2019 16 day TA (from the original 2018 17 day) and the extra 2% savings essentially means, I am still paying the same rate.

I have tried searching for the answer to this with very mixed results.

We graduated to the Elite+/Discoverer+ level in March this year. Should I have received a 7% discount on my 2017 November cruise instead of the 5% rate applicable at the time of booking two years ago?

Your experience in having dealt with this would be greatly appreciated.

In the fall of 2006 during a Southern Caribben cruise, we were on the Volendam attending the Mariner's Club reception for repeat guests. HAL hold a short ceremony to award medals on a ribbon to passengers who have attained their 250, 500, and 750 days of travel with HAL. We saw two couples receive their 250 day medal and another hit their 500 one.

The Captain then mentioned that individual sailing with them on that cruise was a woman who was at over 2,800 days of sailing with HAL alone; about 8 1/2 years worth. We saw that she was riding a small scooter to move about.

Without ever having spoken directly to her, we gleened from other passengers who seemed somewhat familiar with her that after her husband died (apparently a US Admiral with a hefty pension), some serious tension developed with her children and she opted to cruise continuously. According to what we had heard, she had a travel agent who ensured that she was able to do so with minimal, if any, time in between cruises.

Although she was a regular guest at the captain's table, not everyone found her to be on the pleasant side.

K

We are booked for the 12-1-13 Transatlantic Sailing on the Silhouette, in a Veranda Cabin. Yesterday I called my TA and had her cancel and rebook our trip to take advantage of the 123 Program. We got the drink package and prepaid gratuities, we also took advantage of bumping up to an Aqua Class Cabin, great promotion!

Did you get both the drinks and free gratuities from X or just the drinks with the free gatuities coming from your agent?

Either way it's a great deal.

K

That got my attention, too.

 

Must have been booked last year.

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/genericHtmlTemplate.do?ICID=Cel_12Q3_Teachers_Getaway_Sale&pagename=teachers_savings_promo

For our recent Equinox TransAtlantic, we were able to get this $300 teacher's discount in the early fall, in addition to, being able to get a military discount. It allowed us to move from a C2 to an Aqua A1 and save about $400 overall. It helped finance our premium drink package that we now view as an essential element of all future TA crossings.

We enjoyed the TA so much that we've booked it again for the Silhouette this fall and we're now sorting out with our agent how best to convert our onboard booking to take advantage of the 123 promo.

Yesterday, I called Celebrity direct to swap the $200 OBC for a 2014 Australian/NZ cruise to the drink package. No problem as the rate was still the same and no rebooking so our $200 deposit is intact without the need to put down the full $900 deposit. I did this because of the reports on this thread of different X agents applying the policies differently. So thank you to all of you who have shared your experience in converting existing reservation for this promo. It sure helped us!

Hopefully, my agent will achieve equal results for the Silhouette cruise.

K