Newbie Azamara Cruiser - Shore Excursion "Workaround"

Long time cruisers with 1st Azamara cruise(s) in August. Learned a hard lesson about Shore Excursions and the "workaround". By reading the CC boards I learned that there was a "workaround" for booking Shore Excursions if you wanted to use your OBC. You have to book and pay with you Credit Card and then....once onboard cancel, have the credit go on your onboard acct and then at the end of the cruise it will be credited to the Credit Card on file. What I didn't know was that you needed to do it ASAP as excursion pricing would take a sizeable increase and/or availability would change/disappear. We've cruised both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and.....as of a couple of years ago.....OBC was available to use pre-cruise. Curious why Azamara doesn't offer this? A couple of excursions we wanted to book have gone from $89pp to $149pp and $139pp to $199. Is this typical? Kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth for a cruise line we've wanted to try.

Do you mean prices went up over time before the cruise, or that they were higher once you got onboard?

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Do you mean prices went up over time before the cruise, or that they were higher once you got onboard?

 

 

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Either way it is still a disgrace that this situation is ongoing, it should have be sorted out months ago.

Do you mean prices went up over time before the cruise, or that they were higher once you got onboard?

 

 

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As their cruise is in August and they are first time cruisers that’s easy, they’ve gone up before boarding. I’ve noticed that’s happening as well.

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As their cruise is in August and they are first time cruisers that’s easy, they’ve gone up before boarding. I’ve noticed that’s happening as well.

 

 

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You’re right - I missed the ‘August’.

I must admit I usually book any excursions I definitely want to take as quickly as possible as I know some get booked up very quickly, especially where there’s a limit to numbers. For example we took the ship’s excursion to Petra on our Athens to Dubai Cruise last autumn and booked that straight after booking the cruise. I’m sure that was numbers limited because it included lunch in the Movenpick hotel near the entrance to Petra - the hotel could only accommodate a certain number of people.

I guess prices can always change over time, but these do seem big increases!

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When you ask to have your pre-booked excursions canceled and re-booked they will be re-booked at the same price as you paid when you booked them in advance. You will retain your slot(s) in the excursion. You will be given a refundable credit on your on-board account in the amount you paid in advance and the charge for the re-booked excursions will count against your non-refundable on-board credit you have from Azamara. You can ask to have this done anytime on the cruise by going to the shore excursions desk.

Nothing disgraceful about this at all.

It’s not the process the guest is highlighting it’s the fact that the base cost is increasing so if you don’t book early you pay higher dollar cost whether by using cash or obc. The increases quoted are not insignificant so to some readers they are disgraceful

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It’s not the process the guest is highlighting it’s the fact that the base cost is increasing so if you don’t book early you pay higher dollar cost whether by using cash or obc. The increases quoted are not insignificant so to some readers they are disgraceful

 

 

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It’s nothing that doesn’t happen in other areas of travel - cruise prices go up, airline fares go up, hotels book up or increase in price. I don’t see the disgrace in that, it’s a fact of life.

It’s not the process the guest is highlighting it’s the fact that the base cost is increasing so if you don’t book early you pay higher dollar cost whether by using cash or obc. The increases quoted are not insignificant so to some readers they are disgraceful

 

 

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I try to book the ones I want six or more months out. I have cancel some on ship or ship cancels them for me. I need to watch prices more. I knew they went up but not this much.

It’s nothing that doesn’t happen in other areas of travel - cruise prices go up, airline fares go up, hotels book up or increase in price. I don’t see the disgrace in that, it’s a fact of life.

It's the fact that despite repeated promises you still cannot book in advance using OBC that is disgraceful.

Some of the prices are ridiculously expensive anyway.

Ship’s excursions are always expensive, no matter what line it is. We used to cruise with HAL and their excursions were horrendously expensive.

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I made sure to get written confirmation that we can do the shore excursions "work around", but this is new to me regarding the prices. Will they really honor the original prices you paid for the tours when they do the "work around" if requested?

I made sure to get written confirmation that we can do the shore excursions "work around", but this is new to me regarding the prices. Will they really honor the original prices you paid for the tours when they do the "work around" if requested?

Yes they will, their computer programme knows what you paid.

Ship’s excursions are always expensive, no matter what line it is. We used to cruise with HAL and their excursions were horrendously expensive.

 

 

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When I first looked at the available Shore Excursions I made note of the pp cost for the ones we were considering. I realize that many shore excursions are expensive and some do go up in price but I've never seen one jump from $89pp to $149pp and another $139pp to $199pp. Thus my OP.

We're cruising with friends who have only cruised once, do no know about Cruise Critic and would not know about the "workaround" if I hadn't found out about it myself. For experienced Azamara cruisers and/or those who post on Cruise Critic it isn't the problem that it is for those who don't.

That’s what made me stay with Cruise Critic once I had found it - so much brilliant information. Now we need to work out how to make sure everyone who cruises knows about it![emoji6]

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Glad I read this. I had no idea I would have to cancel an excursion and then rebook once onboard in order to use my OBC. How tedious and seemingly a step that should be able to be avoided. Do all the cruise lines work this way?

Glad I read this. I had no idea I would have to cancel an excursion and then rebook once onboard in order to use my OBC. How tedious and seemingly a step that should be able to be avoided. Do all the cruise lines work this way?

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do not......and you can use your OBC (from the cruise line) to pre-book excursions, dining etc. Azamara is part of the same parent company Royal Caribbean International but operates differently. Not sure about any other cruise lines. Sure would be nice if we could use OBC to book ahead of time. :)

When you ask to have your pre-booked excursions canceled and re-booked they will be re-booked at the same price as you paid when you booked them in advance. You will retain your slot(s) in the excursion. You will be given a refundable credit on your on-board account in the amount you paid in advance and the charge for the re-booked excursions will count against your non-refundable on-board credit you have from Azamara. You can ask to have this done anytime on the cruise by going to the shore excursions desk.

 

 

 

Nothing disgraceful about this at all.

We had several that we booked ahead, cancelled and rebooked onboard last year, and they were all charged at the higher onboard price

We had several that we booked ahead, cancelled and rebooked onboard last year, and they were all charged at the higher onboard price

Oh that’s REALLY bad news! And will it make any difference if my OBC is from my TA?

Is there a way to download a Shore Excursion brochure for a particular cruise? We have another one booked in February and I'd love to have the ability to save them....possible PDF....and see the offline.

PS.....checking for our August cruise again and the excursion in Honfleur to Giverny and Monet's house jumped up another $40.......now it's $189pp. We got it a few days ago for $149pp. Sure wish I'd know to book it when I saw it at $89pp but I was waiting to hear from a private guide we'd used before.

You mention that you are going with another couple. That opens up another possibility for you: a private tour for 4 people almost always costs less than the big-bus tour from the cruise ship. We rarely take ship's excursions [on our upcoming Viking Ocean cruise, we aren't even taking the included tours because they don't include enough].

You mention that you are going with another couple. That opens up another possibility for you: a private tour for 4 people almost always costs less than the big-bus tour from the cruise ship. We rarely take ship's excursions [on our upcoming Viking Ocean cruise, we aren't even taking the included tours because they don't include enough].

so true

We had several that we booked ahead, cancelled and rebooked onboard last year, and they were all charged at the higher onboard price

I believe we've had verification from Bonnie that cancelled and re-booked excursions will be honored at the original price once they had to extend the work-around.

You mention that you are going with another couple. That opens up another possibility for you: a private tour for 4 people almost always costs less than the big-bus tour from the cruise ship. We rarely take ship's excursions [on our upcoming Viking Ocean cruise, we aren't even taking the included tours because they don't include enough].

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I believe we've had verification from Bonnie that cancelled and re-booked excursions will be honored at the original price once they had to extend the work-around.

That would be great! We have two cruises in September that I’ve booked tours and paid for. I’d really like to use some of our OBC for them.

Has anyone recently done this and can confirm that the prices don’t increase?

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