Azamara Hyperbole or truth

Page 84 of 2014 brochure.

As a suite guest you enjoy complimentary dining in Prime C and Aqualina.

Quote

" as is 24 hour white linen room service from our restaurant menus"

Does this actually mean I can order and get my goats cheese souffle .fillet steak and Grand Marnier souffle at 3.30 am!!? or are they over promising?

Our excellent Butler said "no". Only from Room Service menu. MDR menu is available during dining hours. I suppose you could have food from the buffet as well. But no food from Prime C or Aquilina at any time.

Butler was excellent and made us very happy so when he said no we believed him.

I read that as 24 hour room service from the current restaurant menus, so when certain dining areas are open, you can get those delivered to your stateroom

... and they can still always enjoy the wonders of complimentary dining in, rather than from, Prime C and Aqualina too!;)

... and they can still always enjoy the wonders of complimentary dining in, rather than from, Prime C and Aqualina too!;)

… only if they can get a reservation.:D

Page 84 of 2014 brochure.

As a suite guest you enjoy complimentary dining in Prime C and Aqualina.

Quote

" as is 24 hour white linen room service from our restaurant menus"

 

Does this actually mean I can order and get my goats cheese souffle .fillet steak and Grand Marnier souffle at 3.30 am!!? or are they over promising?

Hi Procter,

I'm puzzled. Do you seriously expect Azamara to keep a dedicated Specialty Dining galley open, and deliver to your cabin at 3:30 am ? Or, are you trying to be amusing ? Or, are you looking to create a controversy where there isn't any ? FWIW, as much as I love Azamara's Specialty Dining, I'd never wish to consume such items at 3:30 am. If I did that, I'd probably require a trip to the medical facility LOL.

Getting back to your question, I read the paragraph in question, and certainly didn't read it to include Specialty Dining. I've enjoyed Azamara's room service on a couple of occasions, and the menu was perfectly fine. Just my .02 cents.

… only if they can get a reservation.:D

Hi Cat616,

Is it tough to get reservations ? We are not hearing any such comments on this forum. The most we've heard, is a very few guests not getting the exact time they desired. We found the Specialty Dining folks to be very accomodating, though we have not sailed with Azamara in a while.

I'm curious to hear about recent experiences.

Hi Cat616,

 

Is it tough to get reservations ? We are not hearing any such comments on this forum. The most we've heard, is a very few guests not getting the exact time they desired. We found the Specialty Dining folks to be very accomodating, though we have not sailed with Azamara in a while.

 

I'm curious to hear about recent experiences.

Last June we tried to get reservations late (last couple of days) in the cruise and nothing was available for any times. We were not unhappy about that, as we do not expect reservations to be turned away just in case a suite guest may want one.

I cannot say it is a common thing as it may have just been the demographics on that particular cruise. I can say, just because you are in a suite do not expect to get reservations just because you have already paid to eat there through your cruise fare.

Never had a problem, Andy. People just have to understand they seat people either early in the evening or later, after the early cohort would be finished, in order to seat as many as possible.

Haven't seen anywhere that suite passengers are guaranteed reservations every night. The specialties are open to everyone, first reserved, first seated.

Proctor obviously has time on on his hands, and nothing better to do than trawl through the Azamara brochure and website trying to find faults and printing errors. Little amuses the innocent.

Is it tough to get reservations ?

I'm curious to hear about recent experiences.

Both Prime C and Aqualina were booked up on the December 21st and December 28th sailings. :)

Both Prime C and Aqualina were booked up on the December 21st and December 28th sailings. :)

Hi Ed,

Was that the case, if you requested early ? Perhaps it had something to do with the holidays ? I'm very surprised, as nobody has been mentioning it on here. I know that Cat616 said they couldn't get in, but they asked late in the sailing. My experiences with many specialty dining venues, which btw, were significantly larger, is that it's very tough to obtain a reservation, during the latter part of your cruise.

I can only repeat, what I've suggested countless times... always book as early as possible (I recommend Day 1 of your sailing) to avoid any disappointment.

Happy New Year Ed. I hope you had a wonderful time on Quest. How were the Waffles ? :)

Hi Ed,

Was that the case, if you requested early ?

Well, on the first cruise I heard folks say that they couldn't get in. The waiters on the first cruise told us we better book the nights we wanted for the second cruise "now" because the restaurants were almost sold out before the sailing.

Happy New Year Ed. I hope you had a wonderful time on Quest. How were the Waffles ? :)

Thanks Andy. Happy New Year to you and yours also. And' date=' by the second sailing,[ with a little training;)'] the waffle cook was making the waffles "almost" as good as Celebrity. :)

We were on the Quest from San Juan to Miami and sailed in a suite. We were asked to eat in a specialty restaurant the first night but because we prefer to not share a table we were given the choice of before 6:45 and after 8. The meet and mingle was at 6 so we went at 8:30 to Aqualina. When we arrived, there were several large tables empty. We missed the production Voices which everyone said was awesome because of the late reservation. Next day we asked our butler for a reservation in Prime C for Wednesday due to Azamazing evening on Monday and New Year's Eve/White night buffet on Tuesday. On Monday butler said we had a 6:45 reservation for Wednesday and we asked for reservations in Prime C and Aqualina on Friday and Saturday. He returned later that day and said there were no reservations available for the rest of the week. On Wednesday we went to Prime C at 6:45 and we had no reservation but they seated us anyway. We asked about future reservations and they too said they were booked and had been since the cruise began. We had excellent meals in the MDR and I wasn't that upset but DH enjoys the specialty restaurants and was very frustrated. When you pay that more more for a suite and one of the biggest perks is unlimited access to Specialty restaurants and Azamara doesn't deliver it does go in the negative column and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Can you book specialty dining prior to sailing? I thought it was only available once onboard.

We were on the Quest from San Juan to Miami and sailed in a suite. We were asked to eat in a specialty restaurant the first night but because we prefer to not share a table we were given the choice of before 6:45 and after 8. The meet and mingle was at 6 so we went at 8:30 to Aqualina. When we arrived, there were several large tables empty. We missed the production Voices which everyone said was awesome because of the late reservation. Next day we asked our butler for a reservation in Prime C for Wednesday due to Azamazing evening on Monday and New Year's Eve/White night buffet on Tuesday. On Monday butler said we had a 6:45 reservation for Wednesday and we asked for reservations in Prime C and Aqualina on Friday and Saturday. He returned later that day and said there were no reservations available for the rest of the week. On Wednesday we went to Prime C at 6:45 and we had no reservation but they seated us anyway. We asked about future reservations and they too said they were booked and had been since the cruise began. We had excellent meals in the MDR and I wasn't that upset but DH enjoys the specialty restaurants and was very frustrated. When you pay that more more for a suite and one of the biggest perks is unlimited access to Specialty restaurants and Azamara doesn't deliver it does go in the negative column and leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

The "perq" isn't "unlimited access"to the specialty restaurants. It's that there is no charge for suite passengers. All passengers have equal access.

The "perq" isn't "unlimited access"to the specialty restaurants. It's that there is no charge for suite passengers. All passengers have equal access.

I know that all passengers have access but Azamara's website says "Complimentary seating throughout the voyage in specialty restaurants". That implies to me that a suite guest can eat in a speciality restaurant every night if they wanted to. My point is that we were not able to get reservations on this cruise except the first night. I don't know where the mixup occured on our Wednesday reservation, whether it was Prime C or our butler. They seated us because there was an Azamara excursion that was late returning and we were seated at their table. We had a totally different experience on our Mediterranean cruise in 2012. We asked for reservations 24 hours before and the specialty restaurants were usually empty. We ate in speciality restaurants twice on a 10 day cruise so we certainly did not eat there every night. Maybe it was because we were in the Caribbean but it was a different experience this time.

Whoa!!

Andy,Sue-denim and Marinaro44.

Let us have some background here.

I have been sailing Azamara from before it became Club cruises and LOVE the line and will not sail/cruise with any one else.

I am a great supporter of all the staff and have written specific commendations both on board and to Miami so I am not a disgruntled customer.

Indeed if I was I would not be booked in an owners suite for Christmas 2014 in Brazil.

What does get up my nose (and lots of others) is the lack of competence/laziness/lack of attention to detail (insert your own adjective here) of Azamara shore side.

Some examples

1: Azamazing evenings on all voyages.

These then turns out not to include trans Atlantic and despite very many useful suggestions Azamara refused to arrange one.

2: Azamazing evenings which were obviously not checked out as capable for numbers concerned.

See various threads re Tenors or arranging an outdoor concert at 8.00pm 1000 ft up a mountain in late October in Cyprus on a Bank Holiday with all shops closed.

I also acknowledge great evenings like Gibraltar and Black Sea.

3: Latest news on UK website being 2 years out of date which took some 4 months to sort out.

Indeed if you go onto the UK website today there is no news and not even any information in “archive “ also.

Competent I think not

4:The furore about all inclusive which took 2 months to sort out and even had an RCI travel agent misdescribing the offer

5: In view of 6 pages of booking conditions I would expect the Azamara info to be correct and I quote the page exactly.

“As a suite guest, dining in Aqualina and Prime C is always complimentary, as is 24 hour white linen room service from our restaurant menus “

Note plural

If this does not mean that are not guaranteed your choice of speciality why have you paid an extra $1000.

Indeed some travel agents of the Eskimo variety are advertising “Complimentary speciality dining throughout the voyage”

If it does NOT mean 24-hour restaurant service then it should say during restaurant hours and 24 hour room service which by the way is available to all passengers so should not be described as a perk of suite guests.

Additionally I have still not received a contact from Azamara in reply to their email request for comments on our last voyage and their request as to whether I wished to comment further.

I then wrote to CEO office on 28 November and followed up with further email early January to which I have received a reply which typically did not address or answer my specific questions.

I note that here have been several comments re non availability of Speciality dining for suite guests and you can be sure I will be booking mine on Day 1.

All I can say is if you stop flogging a dead horse (raising the transatlantic issue), digging up old issues (the beverage inclusivity debate) and focussing on minutiae (were you serious in your post about 24 hour soufflés) maybe you will get a better response.

Was your complaint that remains unanswered one of substance or minutiae? - maybe they do not realise it is something you want followed up.

As regards restaurant booking, it has always been the case that you could make them for around 6-6.30 or after 8.30. This allowed them to run two sittings and accommodate as many guests as possible. We have always made our reservations Day one having reviewed the entertainment plan and buffet schedule given out at embarkation, we make the reservations ourself in case we do not see our butler for some hours. We may leave some days as "to be decided" in which case we do ask our butler to make these reservations and we have never had an issue

Sorry, Procter, nowhere does it say a suite guest is guaranteed every night access to a specialty restaurant. And that extra $1000 gets a Club Continent suite passenger 50% more deck space than a verandah passenger, at about 15-20% higher fare, and, now, 266% more Club Voyage points. So stop complaining. Azamara should raise suite fares significantly to reflect the additional space suite passengers occupy and the additional perqs offered.

Whoa!!

Andy,Sue-denim and Marinaro44.

 

 

Let us have some background here.

I have been sailing Azamara from before it became Club cruises and LOVE the line and will not sail/cruise with any one else.

I am a great supporter of all the staff and have written specific commendations both on board and to Miami so I am not a disgruntled customer.

Indeed if I was I would not be booked in an owners suite for Christmas 2014 in Brazil.

What does get up my nose (and lots of others) is the lack of competence/laziness/lack of attention to detail (insert your own adjective here) of Azamara shore side.

Some examples

 

1: Azamazing evenings on all voyages.

These then turns out not to include trans Atlantic and despite very many useful suggestions Azamara refused to arrange one.

 

2: Azamazing evenings which were obviously not checked out as capable for numbers concerned.

See various threads re Tenors or arranging an outdoor concert at 8.00pm 1000 ft up a mountain in late October in Cyprus on a Bank Holiday with all shops closed.

I also acknowledge great evenings like Gibraltar and Black Sea.

 

3: Latest news on UK website being 2 years out of date which took some 4 months to sort out.

Indeed if you go onto the UK website today there is no news and not even any information in “archive “ also.

Competent I think not

 

4:The furore about all inclusive which took 2 months to sort out and even had an RCI travel agent misdescribing the offer

 

5: In view of 6 pages of booking conditions I would expect the Azamara info to be correct and I quote the page exactly.

“As a suite guest, dining in Aqualina and Prime C is always complimentary, as is 24 hour white linen room service from our restaurant menus “

Note plural

If this does not mean that are not guaranteed your choice of speciality why have you paid an extra $1000.

Indeed some travel agents of the Eskimo variety are advertising “Complimentary speciality dining throughout the voyage”

 

 

If it does NOT mean 24-hour restaurant service then it should say during restaurant hours and 24 hour room service which by the way is available to all passengers so should not be described as a perk of suite guests.

 

Additionally I have still not received a contact from Azamara in reply to their email request for comments on our last voyage and their request as to whether I wished to comment further.

I then wrote to CEO office on 28 November and followed up with further email early January to which I have received a reply which typically did not address or answer my specific questions.

 

I note that here have been several comments re non availability of Speciality dining for suite guests and you can be sure I will be booking mine on Day 1.

I applaud you

You are one of the few Azamara loyalists who does not see everything through rose-colored glasses.

The shore side part of the operation is a disaster on every front. The on board experience is great.

I think the complimentary dining in the Specialties does mean that in theory a suite guest could make a reservation in either restaurant for every night of the cruise. They are, however, paying for that privilege. Perhaps it's the law of unintended consequences, but if every suite passenger did that, it would surely result in some passengers not getting a reservation at their desired time or perhaps not at all.

That is why I greatly prefer the Oceania approach. No charge for the specialty restaurants. EVERYONE is guaranteed a certain number of reservations which you can book ahead of time, with higher cost cabins getting more reservations than lower cost cabins and getting to book earlier (only fair). NO ONE gets extra reservations until everyone has booked his or her minimum. Once you are on board EVERYONE can get extra reservations, subject to availability, regardless of their cabin assignment. On my last cruise, out of 10 nights, I had 7 meals in the 4 specialities on O. I was NOT in a suite. I might have been able to do 10 out of 10 but I did not try.

Suite passengers on O have a terrific additional perk -- they can have their butler serve course by course from any of the Specialties in their suite (even mixing and matching courses from the different restaurants) . In that way, suite passengers get to eat the special food, without preventing others from having additional reservations. A win win IMO.

I still believe that for any line that claims to be luxury (and with Azamara's higher prices) there should not be a charge for the Specialty Restaurants.

Whoa!!

Andy,Sue-denim and Marinaro44.

 

 

Let us have some background here.

I have been sailing Azamara from before it became Club cruises and LOVE the line and will not sail/cruise with any one else.

I am a great supporter of all the staff and have written specific commendations both on board and to Miami so I am not a disgruntled customer.

Indeed if I was I would not be booked in an owners suite for Christmas 2014 in Brazil.

What does get up my nose (and lots of others) is the lack of competence/laziness/lack of attention to detail (insert your own adjective here) of Azamara shore side.

Some examples

 

1: Azamazing evenings on all voyages.

These then turns out not to include trans Atlantic and despite very many useful suggestions Azamara refused to arrange one.

 

2: Azamazing evenings which were obviously not checked out as capable for numbers concerned.

See various threads re Tenors or arranging an outdoor concert at 8.00pm 1000 ft up a mountain in late October in Cyprus on a Bank Holiday with all shops closed.

I also acknowledge great evenings like Gibraltar and Black Sea.

 

3: Latest news on UK website being 2 years out of date which took some 4 months to sort out.

Indeed if you go onto the UK website today there is no news and not even any information in “archive “ also.

Competent I think not

 

4:The furore about all inclusive which took 2 months to sort out and even had an RCI travel agent misdescribing the offer

 

5: In view of 6 pages of booking conditions I would expect the Azamara info to be correct and I quote the page exactly.

“As a suite guest, dining in Aqualina and Prime C is always complimentary, as is 24 hour white linen room service from our restaurant menus “

Note plural

If this does not mean that are not guaranteed your choice of speciality why have you paid an extra $1000.

Indeed some travel agents of the Eskimo variety are advertising “Complimentary speciality dining throughout the voyage”

 

 

If it does NOT mean 24-hour restaurant service then it should say during restaurant hours and 24 hour room service which by the way is available to all passengers so should not be described as a perk of suite guests.

 

Additionally I have still not received a contact from Azamara in reply to their email request for comments on our last voyage and their request as to whether I wished to comment further.

I then wrote to CEO office on 28 November and followed up with further email early January to which I have received a reply which typically did not address or answer my specific questions.

 

I note that here have been several comments re non availability of Speciality dining for suite guests and you can be sure I will be booking mine on Day 1.

I have to disagree with Proctor reference point number 2.

I was also on this cruise, and throughly enjoyed the Azamazing evening.

It was organised exceptionally well by both Azamara and the village people of Omodos.

These are the facts!

It was a public holiday in Cyprus on that day, yet the village came out to welcome everyone from Azamara Journey. ALL of the shops were open. The bars and restaurants around the village square were all open. Food and drink were in abundance. The tour around the village was informative and interesting.

Some of the guides pushed their parties quickly through the tour, to the finale at the village square, this meant there was little time to support the shop keepers who had opened their shops.

On the negative side, the show was poorly managed, with costume changes taking over 20 minutes, culminating in the final performance being cancelled.

And in the lap of the gods, not even Azamara can control the weather.

Passengers were advised to bring sweaters or coats. It did get cold in the mountains, and some passengers had come badly prepared.

I am warm blooded and had a coat, however I was sympathetic to those who suffered from the cold. Aside from the cold it was an excellent evening.

Can you book specialty dining prior to sailing? I thought it was only available once onboard.

Hi Sandi,

My understanding is that you cannot book Specialty Dining in advance of your sailing. A few Years ago, you could make 1 booking in advance, but no longer.

This thread seems to be about the "complimentary" dining. Even without my rose-colored glasses ( never had any), and in this context, the word "complimentary" would mean "given free". :)

So: suite guests can dine in the specialty restaurants for free. Some people may think that the way Oceania does it is better and some may think it is fair to have a charge for specialty dining.

All this has been discussed to boredom in other threads, hence the remark from Uktog about flogging the dead horse. It will not move. It is dead. Ceased to exist.:rolleyes:

Can you book specialty dining prior to sailing? I thought it was only available once onboard.

I think you can only book them on board. Even if it was possible to book in advance through the web site, the web site would. undoubtedly, screw it up :D