Food quality levels.

Interested in travellers thoughts on Azamara food quality, i am considering booking a suite, and reading some recent reviews there appears to be some disenchantment with the food. Could someone give me a comparison between speciality restaurants and the food quality on Seabourn/ Crystal etc.

Your observations are appreciated.

Interested in travellers thoughts on Azamara food quality, i am considering booking a suite, and reading some recent reviews there appears to be some disenchantment with the food. Could someone give me a comparison between speciality restaurants and the food quality on Seabourn/ Crystal etc.

Your observations are appreciated.

The quality of the food is certainly not better than Crystal or Oceania. I have never been on seabourn so cannot say. It is a cut above celebrity in my opinion

Thanks for your reply, i am really trying to establish if food would be comparable to luxury lines in speciality restaurants.

If you book a suite you can eat in the speciality restaurants at no extra cost and the food there is superb. We usually book verandah sand are very happy with the food in Discoveries (MDR)

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In my opinion, the food in the speciality restaurants is as good, or better, than anything on Regent or Silversea. Main dining room food is a little below that on similar dining rooms on those lines but still very good.

Just off the Journey where we ate many of our 16 nights in either Prime C or Aqualina. Both were excellent in quality and service. The Chateaubriand in Prime C is the best steak we have ever eaten on a cruise. The MDR was very good as well. Did not have a bad meal on the whole cruise. We rated the food as excellent on our post cruise survey.

Thanks for your replies x

Just off the Journey where we ate many of our 16 nights in either Prime C or Aqualina. Both were excellent in quality and service. The Chateaubriand in Prime C is the best steak we have ever eaten on a cruise. The MDR was very good as well. Did not have a bad meal on the whole cruise. We rated the food as excellent on our post cruise survey.

Funny I was disappointed in the fish. They ruin the sle bu nit giving me the butter sauce abd using a tomato base something. I got it due to you. Also many meals lacked seasoning . The best food I had were special ordered soups.

Tilly: During the past 3 years, I've spent 68 nights on Seabourn, 32 nights on Azamara, and 25 nights on Crystal. All the time on Seabourn was in a suite, so we dined in the Specialties most nights. Food quality is an extremely important part of the sailing experience for me, and I tend to be picky. IMHO the speciality food on AZ is way superior to that in the MDR on Seabourn, although the speciality menus on AZ are limited. On our last AZ cruise, the food in Discoveries (MDR) was a bit off, but the Hotel Director took notice and promised improvement. We dined very well while on Crystal where my only criticisms were with the Prego restaurant which seemed like a standard old fashioned Italian resto. On the other hand, while we loved the experience of Seabourn and the people we met on board, we were quite disappointed with the food quality, way too many complete misses, some quite shocking. I think you will be extremely happy with dining in the specialties on AZ, food quality, service and atmosphere. On the Journey, they now have outdoor evening dining at the Patio, which I am eager to try.

Interested in travellers thoughts on Azamara food quality, i am considering booking a suite, and reading some recent reviews there appears to be some disenchantment with the food. Could someone give me a comparison between speciality restaurants and the food quality on Seabourn/ Crystal etc.

Your observations are appreciated.

I have been on Crystal, Silversea, Oceania and many times on Azamara. Food quality is very subjective of course, but I would say that Azamara food compares very well to all of them, with Crystal just having the edge.

Funny I was disappointed in the fish. They ruin the sle bu nit giving me the butter sauce abd using a tomato base something. I got it due to you. Also many meals lacked seasoning . The best food I had were special ordered soups.

Robin, I'm sorry I steered you wrong. I thought the Sole was really good. The lobster was good, I had it twice and Greg once. While I would have preferred butter, the pasta it was served with was tasty. The lemoncello soufflé was wonderful. I had the special the first night, trout, and it was my least favorite entree. I love trout but it didn't taste fresh and was over cooked, IMO.

Robin, I'm sorry I steered you wrong. I thought the Sole was really good. The lobster was good, I had it twice and Greg once. While I would have preferred butter, the pasta it was served with was tasty. The lemoncello soufflé was wonderful. I had the special the first night, trout, and it was my least favorite entree. I love trout but it didn't taste fresh and was over cooked, IMO.

I too had the Sole in Aqualina this week, but I always have it with steamed vegetables as I prefer it that way rather than with the tomato pasta etc. It was excellent as usual. I agree about the Chateaubriand in Prime C, best steak I have ever eaten, although it is closely followed by the Rib Eye I had on the last night.:(. I had the Grain Soufflé (no added sugar) and it was excellent too. We ate Prime C, Aqualina, MDR, and Windows, all were excellent. We had dinner in our room one evening from the MDR and despite being delivered to the other end of the ship by our butler it was as good as if it were being eaten in the MDR, and we got to keep the half empty bottles of wine!!

We didn't eat in the Patio Grill in the evening as it seemed lacking in ambience, but I understand that the lighting is going to be softened for the evenings.

Sorry, Tillie...I meant to type that we were in a suite on AZ. If you book a suite on AZ and eat most of your dinners in the specialty restos, you will be pleased. IMHO, they are much, much better than the dinner cuisine on Seabourn. Most of the less-than-favorable comments on CC for AZ food have to do with the cuisine in Discoveries, the MDR. We loved Discoveries on our first and second AZ crossings, but this last time (Nov. 2015), not so much. We are hopeful that the issues will be addressed and happily resolved. AZ is not luxury cruising, but IMHO, the food is better than Seabourn and comparable to Crystal. Give it a try and see what you think.

I agree with others that the dining experience on a cruise is a VERY important factor. We were on Azamara Journey (Buenos Aires to Rio) for Christmas/New Years 2014/2015 in a Club Continent suite, so we often ate in Prime C or Aqualina, but also the MDR and we had the Mexican Buffet one night (we're from southern California). People have been complaining about Aqualina having gone down a bit of late, but we loved it then (especially me, since I never miss an opportunity to order carpaccio). We found the food in all venues to be quite good and often superb, with good service--- there were probably some special meals and menus because of the holidays, but all was nicely done and presented.

So, Tilly, we were also on Seabourn Odyssey May 2015 Venice to Athens trip (better prices than Azamara for what we wanted, as this was the only time I ever booked a cruise rather late) and we loved Seabourn, too. And we thought the food on Seabourn and the service was very good. We never ate in Restaurant 2, every time I checked the day's menu, the choices weren't appealing/rather odd. I guess they are re-doing this with Thomas Keller. I did like one menu, but it was sold out.

You really can't go wrong on either Azamara or Seabourn, imo. Friendly, engaging crew on both lines. While we have sailed other lines (Crystal, Celebrity and others) in the past, we've decided we prefer the smaller ship ambiance and in the case of Azamara, the extended port stays. We are also very destination oriented in choosing cruises-- that is first and foremost-- we will be on Azamara Journey for the December 23 Singapore/Bali cruise-- we loved the itinerary!

So what IS luxury cruising? Just wondering...

For me it's being looked after, not having to think about anything, and being treated like a member of the family.

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Tilly - we have six Seabourn cruises under our belt and have just done our first Azamara. We dined in the MDR each night apart from doing one Aqualina (OK), one Prime C (excellent) and one Chef's Table (marvellous!). We thought the food generally was superb, as good as Seabourn except the lunchtime buffet didn't have huge prawns and sometimes the hot beef was poor. The desserts at lunchtime were superb. You will enjoy Azamara. Go for it! PS. We booked another whilst on board.

On another note: we have only ever cruised on Seabourn's triplets. This September we sail on Odyssey, taking our sons and their wives. We are slightly concerned about a drop in standards because of this Keller stuff!

Thankyou to everyone for being so helpful.

I think we are going to give it a try, SB food last summer felt like it had really slipped, and our best meal on board was at the outdoor grill! When you pay for Seabourn you dont expect that many average and below average meals.

To add, the AZ and O itineraries are also so much nicer. We have found that the SB ones are getting very repetitive.

Thankyou to everyone for being so helpful.

 

I think we are going to give it a try, SB food last summer felt like it had really slipped, and our best meal on board was at the outdoor grill! When you pay for Seabourn you dont expect that many average and below average meals.

 

To add, the AZ and O itineraries are also so much nicer. We have found that the SB ones are getting very repetitive.

I hope you enjoy it so much you have to ask the Admins to change your screen name!

i hope you enjoy it so much you have to ask the admins to change your screen name!

+1 :)

Well lets hope so!!

So what IS luxury cruising? Just wondering...

Well I am no expert. And there are a lot of folks on CC who draw a clear line between the luxury cruise companies versus the others, and they always do not include Azamara among the luxury lines. IMHO the luxury lines (Seabourn, Crystal, in my experience) provide a level of service and an array of features that exceed those on the next level down such as AZ. But you pay for what you get. And luxury may not be your taste. We are very happy with AZ and will return April 5, with great expectation. If you want more info on the luxury lines, spend some time on the respective CC threads. Interesting stuff.

Thank you for the reply, tv24. I guess since we sail Azamara in a Club Continent suite, it is luxurious enough for us since we can, and do, often dine in the specialty restaurants (and as long as we get our must-have bath tub). We liked Seabourn, this May 2015 in a veranda suite, too. It's been a while since we were on Crystal, but for our current tastes, the ships are too big. Also its been quite some time since we were on Silverseas Silverwind-- that ship is too small. I sound like Goldilocks... but Azamara and Seabourn's ships are just right! Size-wise, there is enough to do on sea days and they can dock in many ports that larger ships have to tender to. We also love the longer port stays and overnights that Azamara offers. I hear you about reading other lines' message boards-- last night I looked at Oceania's out of curiosity and it seems that since NCL bought it, people are NOT enjoying the experience at all. And Tilly, I think you will love Azamara!

Was on Seabourn May 2016, not 2015.

Was on Seabourn May 2016, not 2015.

That date is yet to come lol