Azamazing Evenings - What's The Consensus?

I will be doing my first Azamara cruise this December to South America. We signed up for the Azamazing evening in Rio. While perusing their website, I have noticed how fantastic the evenings in different ports sound. This could be a big selling point for me, as I don't like organized shore excursions, but this seems very unique, as it's not a tour, but an experience. What is the overall consensus on this board about these evenings? In the reviews I have read, there are more negative comments than positives, but I generally don't listen too much to reviews. Do you guys think these evenings are more of a hit or a miss?

Michael

the worse was mexico for me and the over all the best was europe.. if a long bus ride it is never worth it.. not enough food and you have to be ready so early that at times i rather do my own thing. not doing the one in europe as i have a day tour i rather do in stead.. about 50% are good.

We've sailed on the Quest where two evenings were held. The first was in Belfast....we didn't attend but friends did and were very disappointed...not with the venue but the logistics. We attended the one in St Kitts.....venue was not a good one for people with mobility problems.....logistics were much worse than Belfast. Not excited about attending another one.

Attended one in Cochin, really enjoyed it, first class entertainment, great food and setting. It involved a short bus trip but the logistics were handled very well

We've attended two: an excellent one in Tokyo and a good one at the Codorniu winery in Barcelona.

I really don't understand the severity of judgement I see directed at the Azamazing Evenings. I can only think that it has something to do with that old axiom about how you don't value something that's given to you free; only that which is charged for is good. I look at the Azamazing Evening as a bonus. I don't pay for it so if it's wonderful, I'm ahead of myself.

Our Azamazing Evenings? First one on the Quest in the West Indies was fabulous. Great band, the Governor came on board, lots of enthusiasm all around and everything was really festive. We're on the Journey next and our event will be in a 16th century building in Malta and if it's not amazing you can knock me over with a feather. Next up, Gibraltar in September and it's the concert in the caves, a repeat from another voyage so I know we're in for a real treat.

Our experience is that the Azamazing Evening is A-Ok. :)

We are doing a B2B in June. Our first Azamazing evening is in Epheseus which sounds great and our second in Chania Crete. Question I have is should eat before? Is there somewhere to eat after in case the food is "inadequate". We never sailed Azamara so are new to the logisitcs of dining on Azamara.

Our Azamazing evening was in Monaco. We had dinner onboard before the event. It was a lovely evening of entertainment at the Monaco Aquarium. I thoroughly enjoyed it.:)

Our Azamazing evening was in Monaco. We had dinner onboard before the event. It was a lovely evening of entertainment at the Monaco Aquarium. I thoroughly enjoyed it.:)

Our evenings start at 6 pm. Is it possible t oeat before then? Thanks.

you can get the buffets thy open it early but another options is to go to the buffet afterwards.. thry have food then too and plenty of wine.. i know some people do room swervice- iheard great things about the Belfast event. also the Monte carlo event too. iskipped it to go out with friends but i almsot wsih i had not. oh the one in the cave can be wet as water does drip from the ceiling.

We'va ttended 6 so far and it's about a 50 / 50 success rate. A lot has to do with the venue, and whether they try to serve a sit down dinner usually resulting in a less than satisfactory experience. The officers and crew really go all out to make it as pleasurable as possible. Dinner is served in both the MDR and buffet before the event and usually there is food, drinks and desserts in a location like the Looking Glass after you return. Heike makes some mean crepes suzette!

We did one in Yalta last year. We had an early dinner aboard before transferring to a winery for a concert and wine tasting. The concert itself was good but the finger food poor (in our opinion). The venue was outside and it had poured with rain while we had our dinner aboard ship - all the seating and tables at the winery were still dripping wet! We felt there was too much push to buy wine.

When they transported us back the timing was not right for so many buses and we had to wait about 30 minutes + in a queue on the wharf to get back aboard. It was very cold, which was unexpected as the weather had been extremely hot for several days. They were handing out cold towels, but blankets would have been more appropriate! So some logistic issues.

I am not complaining - just stating some issues. We heard very mixed reports of different opinions.

Any reviews of the Evening event in Capri?

Thanks for all the replies!! It sounds as if the Azamazing evenings are just as spotty as the reviews suggest. Like I said, it is a concept that could very well sell me on the AZ experience, as long as I am happy with the onboard service. I love scrolling through all the different evenings listed on the website....they sound amazing. I'm looking forward to ours in Rio and will certainly go with an open mind.

Michael

Thanks for all the replies!! It sounds as if the Azamazing evenings are just as spotty as the reviews suggest. Like I said, it is a concept that could very well sell me on the AZ experience, as long as I am happy with the onboard service. I love scrolling through all the different evenings listed on the website....they sound amazing. I'm looking forward to ours in Rio and will certainly go with an open mind.

 

 

 

 

Michael

That's certainly an interesting take on it. Maybe you're the passenger they were aiming for when they created the Azamazing Evening--someone who would be so captivated by a special event of one evening that they'd come along for the rest of the cruise. It's certainly food for thought. Is the Azamazing Evening the tipping point that brings people over to Azamara when (all other things being equal) they could choose Oceania or Seabourn? Hmmm.

Next up, Gibraltar in September and it's the concert in the caves, a repeat from another voyage so I know we're in for a real treat.

We went to the first Azamazing Evening in the cave in Gibraltar and it was a really lovely experience. Wear sensible shoes, as the floor is slippery, and maybe take a very light raincoat to sit on as the seats can be a bit damp. The show was excellent and, for us, it was a unique evening out, capped off by a firework display when we got back on board. I do hope you enjoy it in September.

Has anyone got a review of the evening in Marseilles?

[quoteI really don't understand the severity of judgement I see directed at the Azamazing Evenings. I can only think that it has something to do with that old axiom about how you don't value something that's given to you free; only that which is charged for is good. I look at the Azamazing Evening as a bonus. I don't pay for it so if it's wonderful, I'm ahead of myself.

Azamazing evenings are not free, you have paid for it somewhere in the price of your cruise fare.

I have so far attended 2, Gibraltar was great, Fethiye in Turkey was awful, mainly because the meal was poor. For me the Azamazing evenings are not a selling point, I would rather have a lower cruise fare. I sail with Azamara because I like the onboard experience.

We are doing a B2B in June. Our first Azamazing evening is in Epheseus which sounds great and our second in Chania Crete. Question I have is should eat before? Is there somewhere to eat after in case the food is "inadequate". We never sailed Azamara so are new to the logisitcs of dining on Azamara.

The Ephesus evenings are great. Recommended.:) We have done it twice. The food was finger food and canapés,-not enough for dinner and consequently we had a light meal before we went on our second Ephesus Evening. We just had some burgers from the pool BBQ and that was more than enough. ( Food at the Pool BBQ is actually quite nice. Love the burgers. ):D

I think there have been quite a few changes to how the evenings operate based on feedback so just be aware an evening that was not good in the past may be much better now

They have reduced the dependence on external catering and have set up more catering on board that is timed to fit in with the event - such as early buffets and as others have said, some pretty mean crepe suzettes made to order by the Hotel Directors/F and B managers on your return.

When you are on board, they give you very specific information relating to the transport and catering for your evening, it does vary from what happens last time as they build on what they have learned

The Ephesus evenings are great. Recommended.:) We have done it twice. The food was finger food and canapés,-not enough for dinner and consequently we had a light meal before we went on our second Ephesus Evening. We just had some burgers from the pool BBQ and that was more than enough. ( Food at the Pool BBQ is actually quite nice. Love the burgers. ):D

We loved the music from the goats on the hillside. Impromptu and quite funny. Difficult to control nature.

Looking forward to the goat singing in Ephesus, Tim. I laughed out loud when I read that.

:) Lynne

We experienced our first Azamazing Evening in Fuerte Amador, Panama last month. We were underwhelmed. The location was changed from Panama City to on-board. Instead of taking the pax to the venue, they brought the performers to the pool deck area. They were performing while we were having dinner.

At least there were no problems with the food, but we felt the entertainment was lacking. It was advertised as native Panamanian music and dancing. Perhaps so, but we had no idea who the performers were or what they were depicting in their performance. There was no program description provided to allow us to follow the action.

I understand that the change of venue was in response to a previous Azamazing Evening in Panama where the problems with transfers from ship to location were rampant.

i

 

back to the actual topic on the thread--for the monaco evening did it start at 7? they were still serving dinner in the dining room earlier?

 

thanks :)

I think the Monaco evening did start at 7 or 7:30. There was a buffet set up in the MDR for dinner before the event, as well as the usual buffet in Windows.

And after returning to the ship , there was a small buffet set up in the Looking Glass. At the Aquarium, they served wine, and small canapes and deserts.

If you are not interested in the Azamazing evening, it would be an ideal night to eat at Aqualina or Prime C.

I've only been on two Evenings, the first Quest Azamazing Evening in Gibralter and the second just this month in Sorrento. I thought they were great both in the venue and entertainment and also in the logistics of transporting hundreds of passengers from the ship to the place. Especially in Sorrento where we all had to be tendered to port; driven up from the port to a transfer point in a small bus; and then driven to the Hilton grounds in a large bus for the wonderful food and entertainment. All this within about 45 minutes from the time the first passengers left the ship until the last ones left. I certainly was not disappointed with the evening nor were the other passengers seated at our table. They were all first-time Azamara cruisers and all said that if this was indicative of special Evenings, they would book Azamara again for sure.

I'm two for two in having thoroughly enjoyed two AzAmazing Evenings that were--as promised--truly amazing... The first was in Ho Chi Minh City [at a venue that Azamara had used before] and the second was in Tokyo [at a venue that Azamara hadn't used before]... Both were staged at beautiful, culturally appropriate venues with local entertainment, displays, and snacks that were nicely done and further promoted Azamara's concept of destination immersion...

While some will no doubt always be better than others [if for no other reason than geography], I do have the sense that Azamara has fine tuned--and will continue to fine tune--what works and has learned--and will continue to learn--what doesn't work for so ambitious, so unique, and so logistically difficult an undertaking... I found them to be very worthwhile and pleasant diversions...

Perhaps I was just lucky but, in both my experiences, the events--from dining opportunities aboard ship before/after, to transportation, to content/feature inclusions--were impeccably planned and orchestrated...

I very much look forward to experiencing whatever Azamara has in store for us in South America and the Caribbean next winter...