AZAMARA JOURNEY - FRANCE INTENSIVE VOYAGE

[NormHatter]

I'm looking at maybe booking Azamara Journey - 9 days France Intensive Voyage for our potential first cruise. Chose this because of not too much open sea, smallish ship and appranet good quality. I've been searching for relevant reviews but cannot find any. 

 

Before committing to the booking , I would be grateful to read  any reviews or advice on this journey if it exists - it's a lot of ££s to invest for 9 days!!

[Grandma Cruising]

What date is that? Have you looked at Journey reviews to get a feel for the ship?

If it’s not much open sea you want, have a look at Dubai to Athen (April) and Athen to Dubai (October/November). These go through the Suez Canal & the Red Sea with very little open sea. As they are ‘relocation’ cruises they are often good value for money.

Might also be worth you looking at the sticky topic Tips for Azamara Newbies, especially the spreadsheet ( the topic has the link in various posts).

I can’t comment on the itinerary as I’ve not cruised to any french ports.

 

[uktog]

3 hours ago, NormHatter said:

I'm looking at maybe booking Azamara Journey - 9 days France Intensive Voyage for our potential first cruise. Chose this because of not too much open sea, smallish ship and appranet good quality. I've been searching for relevant reviews but cannot find any. 

 

Before committing to the booking , I would be grateful to read  any reviews or advice on this journey if it exists - it's a lot of ££s to invest for 9 days!!

I have done this itinerary before - you are right the prices for the France intensive are high as are the prices for the Spain and Italy intensive. It’s nothing like the Suez trip at all - to us it’s far nicer which is why we are booked again. The ports are all very pretty and ones you can certainly explore on your own. There’s no visa hassles or immigration challenges between ports but as it’s intensive no long gaps between ports. Far more late nights in ports which are charming. The French intensive would make a great first Azamara cruise.

 

You can’t compare it to a canal transit repositioning which is always cheaper where actually we had rougher seas twice pre and post Canal. But that’s cruising currents and swell can get you anywhere! 

[Cruise Junky]

Love the itinerary but a lovely land trip of Brittany and Normandy would be a fraction of the price and very easy to do on your own.

[manc]

We have done this and would do it again. 

Interesting ports. Tremendous differences between towns. Easy to explore on foot..Shuttle buses where necessary

Little sea time.

White Nights and Azamazing Evening. 

Fantastic on board crew!

 

[Georgeven]

On 5/8/2019 at 2:23 PM, NormHatter said:

I'm looking at maybe booking Azamara Journey - 9 days France Intensive Voyage for our potential first cruise. Chose this because of not too much open sea, smallish ship and appranet good quality. I've been searching for relevant reviews but cannot find any. 

 

Before committing to the booking , I would be grateful to read  any reviews or advice on this journey if it exists - it's a lot of ££s to invest for 9 days!!

 

Just came Black from a back 2back 2 back in which the first leg was the intensive France but on Pursuit, loved the ports... 

 

J.-

 

[Wickets]

Just did Spain France and Italy 7 day cruises, France was my favorite for sight seeing.  We did private tours in Provence and really enjoyed them.   Crowds were much worse in Spanish and 

Italian stops.

 

The issue we had was there was no none EU stops and we were charged VAT on ship purchases. Extra 20-22% adds up.  Not sure if purchasing upgrade packages before board helps or not.

[Lottie A]

Yes wickets, I'm glad my Pursuit cruise in a few weeks stops at Kotor in Montenegro. That means it has a non EU port in the itinerary so we don't have to pay the VAT onboard. It can certainly add up if you do make a few purchases. 

The Azamara French Intensive cruise has lovely ports and it's a much better option than any Suez Canal cruise....IMHO anyway! 

[Baynanno1]

VAT is a pain, especially at those levels.

However, if you do your shopping on one or two occasions and spend a certain amount, you will be provided with documentation to reclaim at least some of that VAT as you fly out of your end country (shop personnel can tell you how much and it does vary from place to place).

[upwarduk]

On 5/8/2019 at 6:15 PM, Cruise Junky said:

Love the itinerary but a lovely land trip of Brittany and Normandy would be a fraction of the price and very easy to do on your own.

I have just returned from an intensive  land trip of the Normandy Beaches which visited the British, Canadian and American Beaches. Tours from the ship will probably only concentrate on the American Beaches.

[nordski]

2 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I have just returned from an intensive  land trip of the Normandy Beaches which visited the British, Canadian and American Beaches. Tours from the ship will probably only concentrate on the American Beaches.

 

This June Azamara has organized a tour for Juno Beach, the Canadian landing site.

 

This may be an anomaly.

[upwarduk]

5 hours ago, nordski said:

This June Azamara has organized a tour for Juno Beach, the Canadian landing site.

Good to see, probably for the Celebrations of the 75 th Anniversary of the D Day landings.

Quest certainly didn’t have one when we sailed on her 09.09.16, when we visited Honfleur, as I tried to arrange one.

[nordski]

8 hours ago, upwarduk said:

Good to see, probably for the Celebrations of the 75 th Anniversary of the D Day landings.

Quest certainly didn’t have one when we sailed on her 09.09.16, when we visited Honfleur, as I tried to arrange one.

 

I think you are correct about the decision this June. 

 

A lot of credit goes to Bonnie, who noticed on the Roll Call that Juno was a desired option, and to the central planners who made it happen.

 

It is even a challenge to find river cruises on the Seine which provide access to the Juno Beach Centre.

 

Your land tour must have been very interesting.

 

 

 

 

[Cruise Junky]

16 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I have just returned from an intensive  land trip of the Normandy Beaches which visited the British, Canadian and American Beaches. Tours from the ship will probably only concentrate on the American Beaches.

Our Normandy land trip remains one of our favourite vacations we've done. It's such a beautiful area.

[upwarduk]

7 hours ago, nordski said:

Your land tour must have been very interesting.

Yes, I am so glad that I did it, even though we had 2 very long 11 hour days. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by upwarduk