New to Azamara - Some Questions

Thank you all in advance. People on the Azamara forums provide great information and are very helpful. It's our first cruise on Azamara. My reaction from reading these boards is that Azamara places itself upscale from mass market lines, but slightly downscale from luxury lines. If that's the case, it's fine by me. Got a great price for a 2016 Venice/Croatia itinerary.

• What is a typical upcharge for an Azamanian Evening?
  
• If you have had experience with the Azamanian Evening in Hvar, did you enjoy it? Anything special?>
  
• Do most people just stay with the complimentary drink packages?
  
• Is it difficult getting reservations in the specialty restaurants (read somewhere that someone complained about getting shut out)?
  
• Is the quality of food better in specialty restaurants than in main dining room?
  
• Are shore excursions typical of mass market lines excursions or better?
  

HI- Welcome. I think you will have a wonderful time on Azamara

1) There is no charge for the Azamazing evening, you sign up as you would for other excursions, but no charge associated.

2) No experience with Hvar

3) Drinks are a hot topic and you will get lots of comments. I am fine with the free drink package (5 cruises), but if you really want you non-listed brand then order it, the cost of 7-10 drinks on a cruise is not prohibitive.

4) Reservations are more difficult to get on shorter cruises (especially the last few nights). You should check the schedule (in your stateroom) when you board the ship. Avoid white night and the Azamazing evening night and you can easily you make a reservation(or 2 or 3) soon after you board the ship. Also, on the first night you can usually walk in to the specialty restaurants without a reservation.

5) Again subjective, I would say yes, but the problem for me is that I eat too much in the specialty restaurant (since I pay- silly). The MDR food is very good. There is a nice atmosphere and great service. I sometimes fine the service excessive in the specialty venues, but that’s only my personal feeling.

6) I try to avoid all ship organized shore excursions, I have no patience for waiting for tardy participants. Get on your roll call forum and try to join in passenger-organized excursions, or organize one yourself. Much better.

HAVE FUN!!!

Thank you all in advance. People on the Azamara forums provide great information and are very helpful. It's our first cruise on Azamara. My reaction from reading these boards is that Azamara places itself upscale from mass market lines, but slightly downscale from luxury lines. If that's the case, it's fine by me. Got a great price for a 2016 Venice/Croatia itinerary.

 

• What is a typical upcharge for an Azamanian Evening? There is no charge for the evening
  
• If you have had experience with the Azamanian Evening in Hvar, did you enjoy it? Anything special?>Yes it is a very special evening in a lovely setting and with a most talented performer I will say no more because people sometimes spoil some of the surprises on these boards
  
• Do most people just stay with the complimentary drink packages?We do and have a great time
  
• Is it difficult getting reservations in the specialty restaurants (read somewhere that someone complained about getting shut out)?I would have said no until our last trip when it was difficult but not impossible
  
• Is the quality of food better in specialty restaurants than in main dining room?Is it quality or is it the service - I find the food in both to be to my tastes
  
• Are shore excursions typical of mass market lines excursions or better?
  

Thank you all in advance. People on the Azamara forums provide great information and are very helpful. It's our first cruise on Azamara. My reaction from reading these boards is that Azamara places itself upscale from mass market lines, but slightly downscale from luxury lines. If that's the case, it's fine by me. Got a great price for a 2016 Venice/Croatia itinerary.

 

• What is a typical upcharge for an Azamanian Evening?
  
• If you have had experience with the Azamanian Evening in Hvar, did you enjoy it? Anything special?>
  
• Do most people just stay with the complimentary drink packages?
  
• Is it difficult getting reservations in the specialty restaurants (read somewhere that someone complained about getting shut out)?
  
• Is the quality of food better in specialty restaurants than in main dining room?
  
• Are shore excursions typical of mass market lines excursions or better?
  

I did the 7n Venice/Croatia this summer in July. A fabulous cruise....

1. There is no charge for the Azamazing evening, however if you sign up for it and then do not go then they do say they will charge you. I have not ever heard of anyone being charged though.

2. Hvar - we had the most wonderful evening with the performance by a local cellist - who was stunning. However you may have a different performer but the location is worth it alone.

3. Yes!

4. It is becoming more difficult, I feel especially on shorter itineraries, so I would recommend booking as soon as you board if you require a specific day/time.

5. Quality and presentation - yes, but that is not to say that the quality, presentation and variety elsewhere is good too. Many I know do not every go to the Speciality restaurants

6. Sorry, I never go on ship shore ex.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to both of you for the information, especially about the Azamanian evening. As a first timer and with Hvar being a good one, that sounds like something we'll do. Also, good to know that many do independent excursions not from ship. No roll call yet, but our cruise isn't until July 3, 2016.

My husband and I too are first timers on Azamara having previously cruised with RCCL (Caribbean) then a few years later with Celebrity ( Panama Canal). We much preferred Celebrity although I did love the long mall on RCCL because of the shops and bars, and I also loved the "wow" factor" in the main part of the ship. Initially we chose Azamara because of the Itinerary (we are going beginning of April 2016 to Singapore and cruising 13 nights Far East). We had originally planned a mid summer Med from Southampton on the biggest newly built RCCL ship (Anthem of the Seas) I think (we only live about 40 miles from the port) but then decided that the big ship with all the singing all dancing atmosphere would be better for the younger crowds so decided on Princess from one of the Med Ports until my husband saw the flyer from our previous cruise line drop through the door and mentioned the Far East (its a big special birthday for me). Anyway, having never heard of Azamara I then began to trawl the web site and the forums and to my delight found it to be "right up our street".

I hate crowds and I know cruising has changed in the last decade and having previously done the formal dining on the other 2 cruises we wanted something more "laid back" but "selective dining etc" and I began to like the Azamara way of life more and more.

99% of reviews seem positive (you cant please all of the people all of the time) but from where I am sitting I don't think anyone can go far wrong. In fact we are thinking about a med cruise for summer 2017 on Azamara but will wait until we have completed our 2016 cruise before we decide. You never know we may just sign up whilst on board.

Our roll call for April has about 6 of us already enrolled and hopefully nearer the time it will begin to fill up.

I have already started planning our trips - well, looking and collating all of the options for the ports. One of our fellow roll callers is also looking and trips etc. I know its ages away but time will fly and before we know it. it will be Christmas again.

Thank you all in advance. People on the Azamara forums provide great information and are very helpful. It's our first cruise on Azamara. My reaction from reading these boards is that Azamara places itself upscale from mass market lines, but slightly downscale from luxury lines. If that's the case, it's fine by me. Got a great price for a 2016 Venice/Croatia itinerary.

 

• What is a typical upcharge for an Azamanian Evening?
  
• If you have had experience with the Azamanian Evening in Hvar, did you enjoy it? Anything special?> Anna Ruchner or close to that spelling .so good i got her CD.. tou walk from the tender dock around the waterfront then uup stairs and at an outdoor venue.. it becomes a dance club alte night. afterwards iwalked and took pictures of the church and got ice cream before tenderign back. .amde for a more relaxed evening.
  
• Do most people just stay with the complimentary drink packages? i tend to buy better ber or rum at pool and at night get better vodka.. many pacakges but can not drink that much
  
• Is it difficult getting reservations in the specialty restaurants (read somewhere that someone complained about getting shut out)? I book all of them on day 1 adn cancel as needed. easier for me.
  
• Is the quality of food better in specialty restaurants than in main dining room? I feel that way as made to order but not all agree.sent food back in MDR but never on deck 10.
  
• Are shore excursions typical of mass market lines excursions or better?
  

I think they all use the same vendors in each port. but A does give more wine tasting in tours than the bigger lines but over all think the same.. also please look on Ports of call as there thry can mention private guides and also search online for them. I use a mox of both. some palces like Kotor just walked on my own. .no tour.

Are shore excursions typical of mass market lines excursions or better?

I have organized private tour shares and I have participated in private tour shares organized by others when sailing with Azamara; in general, those are my preference... That said, I have found that the Cruise Critic Roll Calls for Azamara cruises can sometimes have rather minimal participation in terms of the number of participants/posts--I attribute it to being aboard a ship with a smaller number of guests who tend to be highly traveled/have very specific port plans in mind--so as to make organizing or participating in private tours more difficult and, from a financial risk perspective, sometimes inadvisable as compared to my experience when creating my tour plans while sailing a mass market line [in my case, Celebrity; I've sometimes filled tours overnight after posting my offering and have had waiting lists/needed to turn interested cruise mates away]...

For instance... For my 7 February sailing aboard Journey in South America, there are five cruise mates participating in the Roll Call [not including two non-passenger "guests" who contributed] with fewer than 25 posts [ten of them mine] in total... If I had attempted to pull private excursions together during that trip--fortunately, I decided to hold off until I got a sense of the Roll Call dynamic--I'd have never gotten the critical participant mass to make them economically viable and/or lost deposits as some tour operators require [the same thing happened during my Azamara cruise in Europe during 2010; in Asia--during 2014--I filled the groups I organized]...

To my mind, private tour sharing is possible when sailing with Azamara but is not necessarily a "sure thing"...

My experience with doing Azamara's "Land Discovery" offerings--and I'm only doing Azamara sponsored excursions for my upcoming trip--have been quite favorable but have not been materially different from a quality or content perspective [though Azamara groups may be modestly smaller and they sometimes offer boutique experiences consistent with their Destination Immersion/Night Touring concept] than I've encountered with Celebrity... In fact, most of the offerings in South America are identical to those offered by Celebrity when I visited several of the same ports with them in 2012 [as suggested above, I suspect that proven tour operators are commonly used across the Royal Caribbean family of brands]...

My husband and I too are first timers on Azamara having previously cruised with RCCL (Caribbean) then a few years later with Celebrity ( Panama Canal). We much preferred Celebrity although I did love the long mall on RCCL because of the shops and bars, and I also loved the "wow" factor" in the main part of the ship. Initially we chose Azamara because of the Itinerary (we are going beginning of April 2016 to Singapore and cruising 13 nights Far East). We had originally planned a mid summer Med from Southampton on the biggest newly built RCCL ship (Anthem of the Seas) I think (we only live about 40 miles from the port) but then decided that the big ship with all the singing all dancing atmosphere would be better for the younger crowds so decided on Princess from one of the Med Ports until my husband saw the flyer from our previous cruise line drop through the door and mentioned the Far East (its a big special birthday for me). Anyway, having never heard of Azamara I then began to trawl the web site and the forums and to my delight found it to be "right up our street".

 

I hate crowds and I know cruising has changed in the last decade and having previously done the formal dining on the other 2 cruises we wanted something more "laid back" but "selective dining etc" and I began to like the Azamara way of life more and more.

 

99% of reviews seem positive (you cant please all of the people all of the time) but from where I am sitting I don't think anyone can go far wrong. In fact we are thinking about a med cruise for summer 2017 on Azamara but will wait until we have completed our 2016 cruise before we decide. You never know we may just sign up whilst on board.

 

Our roll call for April has about 6 of us already enrolled and hopefully nearer the time it will begin to fill up.

 

I have already started planning our trips - well, looking and collating all of the options for the ports. One of our fellow roll callers is also looking and trips etc. I know its ages away but time will fly and before we know it. it will be Christmas again.

Hello Jarronwood from West Sussex too! Where are you?

Have been on 4 Aza cruises including HK to Singapore so happy to help!!!

I have talked with XSport and others here and as a guest on his upcoming cruise... I always say i am not cruising adn try to answer the questions if i ahve been to that port. NCL and princess and other use the same vendors in general..

I once was o nan island and go not get a private tour operator as they were all booked with the ship. .hat happens on a small island.

geting a private tour in say Bangkok or Dublin is easy. .i done just one on one and loved it. you stop and go at your pace. .i done small groups of 5 to 12 on private.

i find which cruise and what port makes a difference on roll calls too. .example the black sea or norway more post vs S America. so some soem cruises you can gain more info than others and you can get a tour set up..

i would look onlin for some private tours adn go one on one.

also you can post your ports here and we are allowed to suggest private vs ship vs walk around on your own. as long as we follow the guide ines we can gice yuo lots of info- more so under Ports of Call.

Hello Jarronwood from West Sussex too! Where are you?

Have been on 4 Aza cruises including HK to Singapore so happy to help!!!

Hi, we live in Worthing - where abouts are you?

Hi, we live in Worthing - where abouts are you?

My MiL is about to move to Worthing, so anticipate spending more time there over the coming months! I am in Chi. Have sent you a FB.

Everyone has so thoroughly responded to your questions that there's not much for me to add. But if I may toot our company horn a bit, our Land Discoveries (shorex tours) are varied & excellent!

In addition to the more traditional tours, we have the Insider Access tours which are small group, behind the scenes experiences. We have the Nights & Cool Places which are exclusive nighttime tours. And new this year we are announcing Cruise Global, Eat Local experiences, featuring dining in restaurants where the locals eat.

Everyone has so thoroughly responded to your questions that there's not much for me to add. But if I may toot our company horn a bit, our Land Discoveries (shorex tours) are varied & excellent!

In addition to the more traditional tours, we have the Insider Access tours which are small group, behind the scenes experiences. We have the Nights & Cool Places which are exclusive nighttime tours. And new this year we are announcing Cruise Global, Eat Local experiences, featuring dining in restaurants where the locals eat.

Thanks BB MacLaird. Looking forward to our first cruise. We'd consider an eat local experience in Venice on our last night and we could be booking a couple of Land Discoveries if an active roll call doesn't materialize. The local dining experience in Venice on our last night/overnight is a possibility as well. We are a good ways away from the cruise (July 3, 2016). For Europe, we have been going on Princess bigger ships. This will be a new experience for us. Looking forward to it.

I'll throw in my two-cents worth on food quality. We are foodies, live in the San Francisco area and eat out often in good restos, and are very concerned about cruise ship food quality. We have cruised on about 10 different lines including 2 luxury lines, Crystal & Seabourn. We found the quality in the MDR on Azamara to be quite good, better than most lines. The Specialty restos are fun to try, worth it for a special occasion, especially the steak house. I don't think you will be disappointed with the food on AZ.