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Tell me about Azamara in comparison to Royal and Celebrity


caymancouple
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I'm just sharing this just everywhere tonight! Hope it helps, my humble opinions, backed by solid independent research and facts, no fake news:') : Enjoy!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2324530

 

Familygoboston, TYVM for posting the link. I never would have found your exceptionally well written review on the RCL board without it. I like that it was particularly informative. We have our first Azamara cruise in less than two months after several Celebrity sailings. I was very much looking forward to the cruise but even more so now after reading your post.

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Thanks Familygoboston. We have sailed quite a few mass market lines (including RCL) and agree wholeheartedly with your assessment based on our first Azamara cruise last summer. This is very subjective, but for us a big part of the Azamara advantage is the overall look and "feel" of the ship. Peaceful, intimate, friendly, gorgeous--but not glitzy--décor, ease getting on and off, being able to get anywhere on the ship in only a few minutes. Also, Azamara offers the Perry Golf cruises which is what encouraged us to try the line in the first place! As you can see by our signature below, we are going again in August!

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  • 1 month later...

Azamara is our favorite. Less people, drinks included, better service. Does an overnight in ports. Very personalized. We love it.

 

 

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I cruise all three but Azamara would always be my choice if finances allowed. Nice size, easy tendering, great food, enough entertainment..fantastic not to mention longer port stays and overnights.

 

 

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I have yet to have sailed Azamara. That being said we are going to do a B2B this Oct from Roma to Miami. So I really do not know what it will be like. DW and I are going to reach Discoverer/Elite Plus on the last leg of the cruise. We have sailed Carnival, Celebrity, Royal, and NCL. Of those my favorite is Celebrity. Our first cruise was on the Zenith and will forever be our favorite ship. After our first 3 or 4 cruises on Celebrity things slowly started to change. Cruise companies have to have a pretty darn good crystal ball to anticipate what the sea going demands will be. Hence the Bigger, Glitzier, Entertainment Packed, Gymnasium Stocked, Action Packed mega Ships are happening today. I have found that Celebrity, with their Aqua Class offering suited us. Particularly for Blu.

 

Royal Caribbean has a great product and is much more family oriented than Celebrity appears. And I know celebrity has a GREAT kids program. Royal's loyalty program is/was top notch when last we sailed them. I found the food to be ok. I found the Specialty restaurants on the Allure TOP NOTCH! I wish that Royal would remove those old hard potatoes they seem to store in the mattresses on the Brilliance and Vision, and we were in suites too. Terrible Matresses. Wonderful on the Allure!

 

I think Carnival and NCL provide a similar level of product. But NCL has the "Ship within a Ship" at the HAVEN. Both provided a great product just not what I was really looking for. The food on NCL I found to be lacking in their MDR. The Specialty restaurants were GREAT and I would never sail NCL without pre-buying a specialty dining package for every night. Carnival's food was at par with Celebrities and Royals. I would prefer Carnival over NCL but not by much, they both are very good.

 

What I am looking for is an experience where I can be wowed by the food and attitude of the folks who make our vacations top notch, the crew. Where the passengers are friendly, and there is just a relaxing atmosphere. We lost that feeling we had on the Zenith when she was sold/moved to another RCI company

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I have yet to have sailed Azamara. That being said we are going to do a B2B this Oct from Roma to Miami. So I really do not know what it will be like. DW and I are going to reach Discoverer/Elite Plus on the last leg of the cruise. We have sailed Carnival, Celebrity, Royal, and NCL. Of those my favorite is Celebrity. Our first cruise was on the Zenith and will forever be our favorite ship. After our first 3 or 4 cruises on Celebrity things slowly started to change. Cruise companies have to have a pretty darn good crystal ball to anticipate what the sea going demands will be. Hence the Bigger, Glitzier, Entertainment Packed, Gymnasium Stocked, Action Packed mega Ships are happening today. I have found that Celebrity, with their Aqua Class offering suited us. Particularly for Blu.

 

Royal Caribbean has a great product and is much more family oriented than Celebrity appears. And I know celebrity has a GREAT kids program. Royal's loyalty program is/was top notch when last we sailed them. I found the food to be ok. I found the Specialty restaurants on the Allure TOP NOTCH! I wish that Royal would remove those old hard potatoes they seem to store in the mattresses on the Brilliance and Vision, and we were in suites too. Terrible Matresses. Wonderful on the Allure!

 

I think Carnival and NCL provide a similar level of product. But NCL has the "Ship within a Ship" at the HAVEN. Both provided a great product just not what I was really looking for. The food on NCL I found to be lacking in their MDR. The Specialty restaurants were GREAT and I would never sail NCL without pre-buying a specialty dining package for every night. Carnival's food was at par with Celebrities and Royals. I would prefer Carnival over NCL but not by much, they both are very good.

 

What I am looking for is an experience where I can be wowed by the food and attitude of the folks who make our vacations top notch, the crew. Where the passengers are friendly, and there is just a relaxing atmosphere. We lost that feeling we had on the Zenith when she was sold/moved to another RCI company

 

 

 

Welcome to Azamara!

I think that you have found your perfect cruise line!!

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I have yet to have sailed Azamara. That being said we are going to do a B2B this Oct from Roma to Miami. So I really do not know what it will be like. DW and I are going to reach Discoverer/Elite Plus on the last leg of the cruise. We have sailed Carnival, Celebrity, Royal, and NCL. Of those my favorite is Celebrity. Our first cruise was on the Zenith and will forever be our favorite ship. After our first 3 or 4 cruises on Celebrity things slowly started to change. Cruise companies have to have a pretty darn good crystal ball to anticipate what the sea going demands will be. Hence the Bigger, Glitzier, Entertainment Packed, Gymnasium Stocked, Action Packed mega Ships are happening today. I have found that Celebrity, with their Aqua Class offering suited us. Particularly for Blu.

 

 

 

Royal Caribbean has a great product and is much more family oriented than Celebrity appears. And I know celebrity has a GREAT kids program. Royal's loyalty program is/was top notch when last we sailed them. I found the food to be ok. I found the Specialty restaurants on the Allure TOP NOTCH! I wish that Royal would remove those old hard potatoes they seem to store in the mattresses on the Brilliance and Vision, and we were in suites too. Terrible Matresses. Wonderful on the Allure!

 

 

 

I think Carnival and NCL provide a similar level of product. But NCL has the "Ship within a Ship" at the HAVEN. Both provided a great product just not what I was really looking for. The food on NCL I found to be lacking in their MDR. The Specialty restaurants were GREAT and I would never sail NCL without pre-buying a specialty dining package for every night. Carnival's food was at par with Celebrities and Royals. I would prefer Carnival over NCL but not by much, they both are very good.

 

 

 

What I am looking for is an experience where I can be wowed by the food and attitude of the folks who make our vacations top notch, the crew. Where the passengers are friendly, and there is just a relaxing atmosphere. We lost that feeling we had on the Zenith when she was sold/moved to another RCI company

 

 

 

Zenith was our first cruise too! Loved the smaller size. We sailed on the century several times and liked it too. Azamara hits all the plus points for us. The food, atmosphere, fellow cruisers. You'll love it I have no doubt!

 

 

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Familygoboston: Beautiful review and I agree completely.

 

Being much less eloquent, Spouse and I love Azamara. Embarking on Journey or Quest is like comping home to Mama after a long time away. The officers and crew welcome you into their home. Embarking at 8PM in Leith after a long day of touring, the Hotel Director saw us and remembered us from a cruise 18 months earlier. The housekeeping folks are long-term and enjoy their work. We are not "foodies" and Michelin 3-star restaurants don't impress us. However, the food on Azamara is superb to include the variety offered at the evening buffets. So much so that we passed up eating at the specialty restaurants on more than one cruise which are included with suites.

 

Fellow guests are educated, interested in the destinations, and well versed in international issues, to include US politics. Its like conversing with old friends at a club. My favorite conversation was with an Australian university professor who stayed up all might listening to the 2008 US election results. Most "fascinating" was a series of conversations, including over dinner, with a "Waste Management" professional from New Jersey looking to visit his relatives in Bari and complaining that the rural locals in Italy didn't speak English and didn't want to take his US dollars. The fascinating part was that after explaining that I had worked for US intelligence we didn't see him or his wife the last half go the cruise...

 

Azamara guests appear much more international than those on RCI and X. Love X and the Millennium class and sorry that two are on the blocks. Will be a loss for X. Very comfortable ships and maybe the "perfect" size between the mega ships and Azamara for combining destination and onboard activities.

 

RCI has become "mass market" and appears more interested in their own "bottom line" than guest satisfaction. Worst cruise ever was on Oasis out of Southhampton to Fort Lauderdale. Just out of a yard period the crew was surly, things didn't work, trans-Atlantic weather drove everyone inside which meant it really felt stuffed, and the shows/entertainment were terrible. Swore off RCI until earlier this month for a quick run to Havana out of Tampa on Empress. Good trip on the older ship even with its smaller cabin and venues. The crew felt a bit overwhelmed at times with a full load of passengers, but did a good job anyway. Kudos to RCI for Empress. Comparing Empress with a cruise last year on Serenade out of Quebec down the Canadian and US east coast, RCI's regular fleet gives the feeling to us of "thanks for stopping by but we are really don't care if you come back."

 

The spouse loves the new Royal class Princess ships and they might just be a better version of the Solstice class. Maybe best buffet venue in the fleet and best theater seating for those of us with long legs. Friendly crew, as well. Earlier this year a really great cruise on Hurtigruten's Fram out of Ushuaia to landings on Antarctica south of the Antarctic Circle. For a small expedition ship (200 quests) she was well appointed, friendly engaging crews (ship, hotel and expedition), good cabins, great food, and comfortable common areas.

 

Back onboard Quest in October for a return to the Adriatic and Italy. Home again at sea.

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We are about to book Azamara for a cruise a couple years out. It is a Southeast Asia 15-day itinerary that is perfect and at a perfect time for us (mid October to the end of October). It has multiple night stopovers in Bangkok and Viet Nam. I'm still a little nervous about making this booking this week. The price is great and the TA is throwing in $1,700 OBC. I'm nervous because of the size of the ship. Other than some old dumpy Carnival ships i was on when I was young (Holiday & Mardi Gras in the late 80s and 90), the smallest ship we have been on was this month on the Constellation in the Adriatic. We loved it, but it's three times the size of the AZ ships. For what it's worth, we had Aqua on the Constellation and loved the service on Blu. We also had the Classic Beverage package, which seems better than we would get on Azamara without an expensive upgrade.

 

I suppose the vacation is about the ports, but I'm a little worried that we could get bored with four days at sea. We had booked two AZ cruises before. The first we canceled and went to Israel on a land vacation. This summer's AZ cruise was canceled by AZ. It was a great itinerary, but started in Istanbul and AZ gutted the entire 14-day itinerary and moved it to two different 7-night itineraries in ports we have done before. I suppose I need to visualize sea days on Azamara.

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We are about to book Azamara for a cruise a couple years out. It is a Southeast Asia 15-day itinerary that is perfect and at a perfect time for us (mid October to the end of October). It has multiple night stopovers in Bangkok and Viet Nam. I'm still a little nervous about making this booking this week. The price is great and the TA is throwing in $1,700 OBC. I'm nervous because of the size of the ship. Other than some old dumpy Carnival ships i was on when I was young (Holiday & Mardi Gras in the late 80s and 90), the smallest ship we have been on was this month on the Constellation in the Adriatic. We loved it, but it's three times the size of the AZ ships. For what it's worth, we had Aqua on the Constellation and loved the service on Blu. We also had the Classic Beverage package, which seems better than we would get on Azamara without an expensive upgrade.

 

I suppose the vacation is about the ports, but I'm a little worried that we could get bored with four days at sea. We had booked two AZ cruises before. The first we canceled and went to Israel on a land vacation. This summer's AZ cruise was canceled by AZ. It was a great itinerary, but started in Istanbul and AZ gutted the entire 14-day itinerary and moved it to two different 7-night itineraries in ports we have done before. I suppose I need to visualize sea days on Azamara.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the ship and activities on sea days. There are plenty of things organised on Azamara, just like Celebrity. A smaller ship means less sizable venues (although there are still plenty of them including restaurants), but there is still plenty to do and good places to sit and read if that is your thing. I started cruising on Azamara in 2011, having sailed exclusively on Celebrity ships and was also worried about its size, but I now prefer the smaller ship. One area that you will notice is the stateroom. If you are booking a non-suite cabin Azamara are not as roomy as Celebrity, particularly the bathroom and the balcony if you have one, but it's a trade off for me. You never have to walk far to an outside deck space and I find the whole experience on Azamara more relaxed and enjoyable.

 

Phil

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hubofhockey,

We are pretty much like you as far as being Celebrity fans and liking Aqua Class for Blu as well. We were on the Connie, the Millie, and the Summit as far as "M" Class ships go. I prefer the previous ships like the Horizon and Zenith. They were about 2 + times the size of the Quest and Journey, The service seemed better, at least through the fog of this old memory. It seemed that the food was a bit better and the ambiance. Dinner had a pianist. Some of things I didn't like after a while was the strict dress code. At first it was fun dressing up in a tux, then I got over it.

 

 

We are scheduled on an October B2B. I'll let you know my impressions. The first cruise is pretty port intensive, the second more sea days.

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Thanks ProfessorEFFE and Phil. Looking forward to your impressions ProfessorEFFE. They would mean more to me than someone who is an Azamara regular because your frame of reference is similar to mine. We'll manage to relax on sea days (maybe do some laundry, spa, gym, and just sit by pool or overlooking ocean).

 

I really wasn't expecting much from the Constellation and had hoped that my first Celebrity ship would be an S class. We booked for the itinerary, but that 2,000 capacity ship hit a sweet spot for us. In fact, we liked it so much that we booked the Millennium next June for Alaska (we have not been there yet).

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hubofhockey,

 

Will do I will take pics and everything. Just to make sure I am not bored out of my mind on sea days, I'll be bringing about 50 dvd's of movies. Well I converted them down to a micro sd card to use in my ipad and iPhone.

 

 

The first leg we will be in an inside cabin. I wanted to see how it was in the affordable section ;p it's the port intensive leg so we don't expect to be spending much time in our stateroom.

 

 

On the second leg we have a Club Ocean suite. To see how the other half lives.

 

 

More to come.

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