Spending $1000 onboard credit on Azamara Pursuit

[mappyuk]

Have been given a large credit for our upcoming cruise of the Adriatic and dont think it will be spent on excursions as we are happy to just freely explore. Also, I think the category of cabin gives us access to speciality restaurants and am not a huge fan of the spa. I hear that there is an onboard  shop so perhaps will spend it there. Is there a list of what they sell so I can get an idea of what we can spend it on?

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just make sure you do your onboard shopping before the last day of the cruise.  We were literally in line to pay when it was announced that we had entered local waters early and the shop had to shut down immediately!  😲

[Leo_On_Geo]

January was my first experience with the new "upgraded" shops. Everyone I spoke with were dissapointed with the new merchandise.  Very expensive high end (5K purses?).  In the past I could always spend the last 270 OBC on a bunch of gifts (perfume, lotions, travel sizes, even "local" items), but I was hard pressed to find those types of items.  Time will tell if this changes. 

I am not a spa person either, but their Elmis line is a less expensive option, so I bought a bunch of lotions from them with my remaining OBC

[ChucktownSteve]

Regardless of how much OBC you have, they apparently want you to add cash to the purchase because they stock VERY expensive, overpriced items. It was on Pursuit this past December.

I wound up buying my DW a Mary Frances bedazzled purse for several hundred dollars.  It was about $125 more than I could have bought it online for at a reputable site.  The worst part is the bedazzling began separating from the purse within one month. All they had was the floor sample with no back stock.   I'll never trust their shops again.  I tried to email Azamara but I must be dead to them except for booking cruises.

Edited April 6, 2022 by ChucktownSteve

[laurieb]

44 minutes ago, Leo_On_Geo said:

January was my first experience with the new "upgraded" shops. Everyone I spoke with were dissapointed with the new merchandise.  Very expensive high end (5K purses?).  In the past I could always spend the last 270 OBC on a bunch of gifts (perfume, lotions, travel sizes, even "local" items), but I was hard pressed to find those types of items.  Time will tell if this changes. 

I am not a spa person either, but their Elmis line is a less expensive option, so I bought a bunch of lotions from them with my remaining OBC

Purchasing the Elemis products is a very good suggestion.  I never think about that.

 

[Marmaduke]

I was not impressed with the new shop's merchandise when I was on board Journey earlier this year.  Purchasing Elmis products from the spa sound like a good idea.  Can anyone give me an idea of what products they have available and approximate prices?

[donaldsc]

Do they have any good watches.  That is what I usually buy when I have OBC that I have to use.  It doesn't matter if they are over priced as you are using OBC so they are really free.  You can always gift a watch to a worthy recipient if you are one of those people who don't wear watches.

 

DON

Edited April 6, 2022 by donaldsc

[travelberlin]

Is there possible to leave unspent onboard credit as additional gratuities for the crew? Or can it be uses for a future cruise booking?
Ivi

[radarcruiser]

Go on two shore excursions.  That outta do it. 

[Lookyboy]

4 hours ago, laurieb said:

Purchasing the Elemis products is a very good suggestion.  I never think about that.

 

I agree. I am an Elemis user and on Azamara vessels, the prices are usually much less than we pay here in Scotland for Elemis products.

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Is there possible to leave unspent onboard credit as additional gratuities for the crew? Or can it be uses for a future cruise booking?
Ivi

You can put it in the Crew Welfare fund if it’s refundable OBC from a travel agent.

[Gardendog]

1 hour ago, travelberlin said:

Is there possible to leave unspent onboard credit as additional gratuities for the crew? Or can it be uses for a future cruise booking?
Ivi

Not if it was “given” by Azamara. If it’s OBC from a travel agent you can use it for extra gratuities for the crew. I don’t think you can use OBC for future cruises, but someone else would know this I’m sure.

[hiccups]

If you need transportation to the airport after your cruise, you can use it for that provided they are offering transportation.  Sometimes there's also a tour included.

 

I bought one of the Azamara bathrobes once and still use it  🙂 

[KirkNC]

4 hours ago, Marmaduke said:

I was not impressed with the new shop's merchandise when I was on board Journey earlier this year.  Purchasing Elmis products from the spa sound like a good idea.  Can anyone give me an idea of what products they have available and approximate prices?

We agreed on our recent Quest cruise.

[KirkNC]

We had close to that for each of our recent three legs.  We spent some on specialty restaurants including one Chef’s Table.  We purchased unlimited internet, DW went to the spa once, we took more ship excursions then we normally would.  The excursions tended to be pretty good, some with groups as small as eight.  I bought a few bottles of wine as well as some after dinner drinks.  We still ended up leaving a little on the table for the last leg as there was literally nothing of interest to us in the shops.

[cruiseaholic78]

Chucktown Steve
I wound up buying my DW a Mary Frances bedazzled purse for several hundred dollars.  It was about $125 more than I could have bought it online for at a reputable site.  The worst part is the bedazzling began separating from the purse within one month. All they had was the floor sample with no back stock.   I'll never trust their shops again.  I tried to email Azamara but I must be dead to them except for booking cruises.

 

I have no idea if this will work with the new management but I had problems with Furla purse I had bought on the ship. I sent a message to the mail below and they sorted it out for me. Its always worth a try. Rosalyn

Customer.Services@Hardingretail.com

Edited April 6, 2022 by cruiseaholic78

[Riocca]

2 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

Chucktown Steve
I wound up buying my DW a Mary Frances bedazzled purse for several hundred dollars.  It was about $125 more than I could have bought it online for at a reputable site.  The worst part is the bedazzling began separating from the purse within one month. All they had was the floor sample with no back stock.   I'll never trust their shops again.  I tried to email Azamara but I must be dead to them except for booking cruises.

 

I have no idea if this will work with the new management but I had problems with Furla purse I had bought on the ship. I sent a message to the mail below and they sorted it out for me. Its always worth a try. Rosalyn

Customer.Services@Hardingretail.com

Unfortunately Azamara have replaced Hardings, a U.K. company, with Starboard Cruise Services. Starboard is a LVMH Moët Hennessy company so I suppose considered more upmarket, we always found Hardings to have good customer service but have no idea about Starboard.

[wjfan417]

We went through $1000 OBC very quickly on this cruise. We did end up purchasing a lot of Azamara tours which we wouldn’t normally do since we weren’t sure we’d be able to leave the ship on our own. Also upgraded our drinks and wi-fi plans, and purchased a laundry package.

[mdpa]

39 minutes ago, wjfan417 said:

We went through $1000 OBC very quickly on this cruise. We did end up purchasing a lot of Azamara tours which we wouldn’t normally do since we weren’t sure we’d be able to leave the ship on our own. Also upgraded our drinks and wi-fi plans, and purchased a laundry package.

Completely agree, a few tours, drink package, and wi-fi or specialty dinners. Wish I had $2,000 to spend.

[uktog]

The shops on Quest in September had far better merchandise than is now onboard. It’s very disappointing. 
You can’t use obc on future bookings by the way 

[travelberlin]

5 hours ago, uktog said:

The shops on Quest in September had far better merchandise than is now onboard. It’s very disappointing. 
You can’t use obc on future bookings by the way 

Is it possible to find out if the shops are getting new products in some European ports? How do they restock?
Ivi