Mickey22

Hong Kong to Sydney on Seabourn in April,  Norway with Azamara in August 

Hello, 

  We have also done the SeaCow snorkeling excursion twice.  Really loved it and  would highly recommend it to anyone

Norris,

  We are on Azamara next year and I am considering just buying the tickets for the railway in Flam online rather than doing a ship excursion. How far is it from the dock to the rail station?  Would we be missing something by doing it on our own versus with the ship?  Thanks and loved your review. 

    Jane

We just returned from a 10 day cruise on Equinox, we were in Aqua so Blu was our dining room.  I can honestly say the food, with the exception of 1 appetizer was wonderful.  In addition we purchased a 3 pkg specialty dining for Murano, Tuscan Grill and Qsine.  We enjoyed each of them but I do miss the old Qsine. Le Petite Chef was entertaining and the  food was very good but I think its a one and done. After all how many times do you want to see the same thing.  I miss the variety of foods that were available in Qsine, we always went to dinner there at least once on every cruise and I do wonder how many people will be repeat customers in the new concept.  Hope you have a great cruise.

Thanks for making the time each day to take the rest of us along on your cruise. I have really enjoyed reading your review. I have always been one of those people who don't like to many sea days in a row but now that it's over it seems as though it went by to quickly.  I hope you both had a wonderful time and wish you a safe journey home.

Jane

We booked a guarantee Aqua cabin for Oct 4 on the Equinox and got our room assignment last week.   It just showed up in our planner. This was our first time booking a guarantee and we booked the cruise on Aug 5.  Before we were assigned a room we got a move up offer which we decided not to do and fortunately we are happy with what we got.  Have a great cruise!

 Jane

Hi Norris,

  We are booked on the Azamara Norway Intensive cruise next year so I am really looking forward to your port reviews. Your pictures of London are beautiful, have been there several times but never did the river cruise so something to put on my to do list for next year.  Can't wait to read the rest of your review!

 Jane

Hello,

  Will be following along as my husband and I are on the Equinox on Oct 4, also in aqua.  We did the ABC Islands on the Equinox last year and went snorkeling on the Sea Cow (is it called the double dip snorkel?).  It really was great and we are doing it again in Oct.  We have been spoiled by the Great Barrier Reef, Tahiti and Bora Bora.  Bonaire is the best (most color and coral) that we have seen in the Caribbean and I am sure you will love it.  Hope you both have a wonderful cruise!

Jane

Hello,

 I was wondering how long before your sailing you received the email with a room assignment.  We just booked a guarantee for an October 4 cruise.  This is the first time we have booked without selecting a room and I was just wondering how far ahead of your cruise you were notified of your room number.

  Thanks and have a great cruise!

Jane

My daughter wants to get married on a cruise stop in St Lucia. Royals, Destination I do wedding package will plan that for you. I was hoping someone who has used this could let me know how it worked out for them. The package is expensive and does not include much. Also if anyone can suggest a wedding planner on the island that they have used, Thank you

Where did you see the list of strike dates? We arrive on the 18th.

Jane

Glad to hear you are safe and back in your home. The damage can be repaired....

Jane

We used them twice last year. Airport to hotel and cruise ship to airport. In fact there was a large group of us waiting for our cars at the end of the cruise as we were off the ship early. All cars arrived on time. No problems. We are using them again in October.

Jane

We use Suntransfers and have never had a problem.

Jane

Thanks for the update....I booked my excursions this morning for my October cruise!

Jane

Here's the response I received. It's hard to understand why this is so difficult.

Dear Bev,

 

 

Thank you for your loyalty to Azamara Club Cruises.

 

In regards to your concern with the Onboard Credit Usage work around; so far this work around is available for Voyages in the month of August and September.

Unfortunately we have not received any update if this will be extended. We kindly request you to contact us in the middle of August, we might have an update by then.

 

Should you have any questions please contact us at 1-877-999-9553 or via email atAzamaraCustomerService@azamaraclubcruises.com

I also emailed customer service and got the same response. Very disappointing .

We have a Royal Caribbean cruise in November and we were able to use our OBC to pay for unlimited internet . Perhaps Bonnie can look into this again.

Jane

I called this week to check on availability for the land discoveries I would like to book. I also asked about a date for using OBC to book on the website. He couldn't give me one, my travel agent also called and was not able to get a target date. Bonnie, I think it is fair to say that if final payment is due and has been paid, then we should have the ability to book now and cancel and repay using OBC on the ship. It is actually a win win situation for Azamara as they fill up the tours and get to charge us a higher price onboard, but at least we know we will get the excursions we want.

Jane

Hello,

Have not heard of Bonappetour, but we will be in Barcelona in October and have a cooking class scheduled with Barcelona Cooking.

http://www.barcelonacooking.net

Jane

And here

Bonnie,

What is the fix date scheduled to be? We are on the Quest in October and have just made our final payment. As most of our OBC is for land discoveries only, we would like to be able to book excursions.Sorry to say this is not a great first impression of Azamara for us.

Jane

Thought I would expand on my rental car recommendation for Tuscany. Many tourists, who are on a very tight schedule, will only have time to go to Florence...or perhaps Florence and Siena. Our first few trips to Tuscany, where as cruise ship passengers. So we did the usual Florence and Pisa tours. After a few trips we rented a car at the port (Livorno) and drove ourselves to San Gimignano and Volterra (love these towns). When we finally started taking extended land trips (always with a rental car) in Italy we expanded our travel within Tuscany and started driving to smaller towns like Cole Val d'Elsa, Monterrigioni, the S222 wine road between Florence and Siena, etc. We started to realize that much of the charm of Tuscany lies in its smaller villages and rural areas. You cannot experience this part of Tuscany on trains....but must have a car (or a decent tour).

 

The reality of cruising in Europe is that being limited to port days is, indeed, a huge limitation. We still love cruising in Europe....but also love (even more) our extended European driving trips. After nearly fifty years of extensive international travel we think that our ideal vacation is a combination of cruising and land time. Those that limit themselves to European cruises will have to settle for missing an awful lot of Europe. And those that never take a European cruise will also miss out on all that makes cruising a very special way to travel. And, of course, there are also the River Cruises which is a topic unto itself.

 

Hank

Hank,

We too, are going to rent a car between cruises (from Civitavecchia) and drive to Florence where we will be staying for 8 days. The plan is to take some driving trips to other towns. Originally I had wanted to drive to Pisa for the tower and then stop for the afternoon in Lucca before the return drive. I just found out there is a large comic convention in Lucca during this time period (late October, early November). Can you suggest any other places to stop between Pisa and Florence? We hope to do Volterra and San Gimignano on another day.

Thanks

Jane

Since our cruise is in October we also have to wait to book land excursions. We very rarely use ship tours preferring to use private guides but don't want to waste OBC designated only for excursions. What I don't understand is why the price would change. Would Azamara actually contract with a tour provider without a firm price?

The guide we found through tours by locals met us and accompanied us to the restaurant, stayed awhile and then came back to take us on a tour to see tbe mosiacs while meal was cooking.

We did a cooking lesson arranged by Tours by Locals. It was in a restaurant before opening, we made homemade pasta, sauce, bread and meat. While it was cooking we went we did a town tour and then returned to eat our meal. A great day

Bonnie,

I am also sailing in October and would like to book now . Why isn't this refund system availsble to everyone who has OBC that can only be used for Land Discoveries?

Jane