Azamarajunkie

Hi,

 

I've got a booking on Pursuit in October. I've seen reviews/videos of the other cabins but no mention of inside cabins. Have they been refitted as part of the changes as well?

 

Thanks

We had a look at the inside whilst on the Pursuit recently, yes, they have been reimagined, especially as when it was Adonia/Fathom, there were 3 and 4th berths in them which now no longer exist. They came down from the ceiling.

FAO Host Grandma

This thread is providing excellent advice for new persons to Azamara who read Cruise Critic, despite the odd thread drift for which I for one apologise.

I wonder if it’s now possible to create a sticky document detailing the advice that can be printed out and kept updated, similar to the cabins thread that UKTOG created to great effect. It should be possible to create a pdf document in say MSWord, or Apple Pages to attach to the thread. It would of course need a disclaimer that Azamara may change some some of the information.

There are no fans in the bathrooms. I knew this ahead of time and brought a solid air freshener with a neutral scent. It also helps to crack the door when showering to reduce the fog on the mirror. Speaking of mirrors, there is a mirror to the side of the main bathroom mirror that flips and one side is magnified for shaving or applying makeup.

There was certainly an air extraction vent in the shower room on our recent Pursuit cruise (V1 cabin) . Also, you need to beware that opening the door whilst showering has been known to set off the fire alarm. This is oftened mentioned when doing an engine control room or Bridge visit whilst on board. I imagine you have to be having a pretty steamy shower though!

How does one know how many points older cruises are supposed to get? I don’t remember a point system for our 2008 Azamara cruise. In fact, Im not familiar with the point system at all. And RCL cruises don’t count, correct?

 

 

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There was a good discussion on the points system here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2608069&highlight=Azamara+points

It’s always worth searching this forum for the answers, many questions raised have often been discussed before,.

Cabin #8026

Azamara Pursuit 28th to 30th August 2018

Choose again. Yes

Noise issue: none other than on White Night due to chairs being moved for setup. Didn’t notice anything after White Nights, probably due to Mr Tattinger!

Balcony: Pursuit has smaller oblong table leaving more room than on Quest and Journey, interconnecting doors on both sides are solid metal, not glass.

Room: fully refurbished, fridge is located under desk near balcony door. 1 three pin UK socket, 2 Euro, 2 US style sockets above desk.

Bathroom, same size as all veranda cabins, with shower curtain,

Some basic questions:

 

It’s been suggested to book spa treatments, specialty restaurants and chefs table as soon as you get aboard the ship. I assume one books the spa on deck 9 at the spa. Is there someone at the specialty restaurants when you board or are reservations through the phone only? With whom do you make your Chefs Table reservation?

 

Will we know when the White Night Party will occur so as to not book something else that night? Our cruise is a repositioning one and has no late nights in port and a number of days at sea.

 

 

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The person taking your booking will have a list of all the important dates to avoid. We usually avoid the Indian Buffet, White Night, Azamazing Evening and any other special buffet that takes our fancy. We have occasionally been caught out by being invited to a hosted table, but we find the speciality restaurants are very understanding and rebook us as needed.

Just a quick thanks to everyone at Azamara for making the naming ceremony available.

Don and I were lucky enough to experience the Pursuit's maiden voyage to Norway -- so it was very special, indeed, to be able to "attend" this event, via live-stream.

Thanks, Bonnie -- for both the reminder and the link!

 

Janell

We experienced it live here on the Pursuit, it was fantastic. Some great speeches by Richard Fain and Larry Pimentel, and the two godmothers are lovely people. I’m sure Bonnie will post a link to the whole video, it is worth watching, it’s currently playing on our stateroom TV, so we can relive the experience. Dinner in the MDR this evening was excellent, up to the usual standard, off to the show shortly, to be followed by fireworks at sailaway

Pursuit is a lovely ship, and it will be good to see Quest and Journey updated to reflect the changes sometime in the near future.

Well, it’s only a 4.5 hr drive from the previous port of call at Muscat if anything serious happens!

Bonnie, if it helps this is the content of the’Other’ survey

Dear Valued Guest,

We are inviting a select group to participate in a survey that will help us better understand our guests' thoughts on cruising-related topics. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete. We hope you'll make your opinion count as your feedback is very important to us.

To participate, please click here.

If the above link does not work, please copy and paste the following link into your internet browser:

http://royalcaribbean.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9HMm7Y7CmpJUhx3?Q_DL=cGF06ayIfV9w8ux_9HMm7Y7CmpJUhx3_MLRP_eeOW0cMsgsytval&Q_CHL=email

Please be assured that all of your responses will remain strictly confidential and will only be used to improve products and services at Azamara Club Cruises.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Bonnie

We had two surveys, one related to Shore Excursions, which is the one on your link, the other one was entitled ‘please take a minute to share your thoughts’ which included questions about small ship sizes, using zodiacs and fewer passengers, hence the speculation that has arisen in this thread.

Steve

If they’re hoping some Azamara's are willing to try Siversea, going by our recent ship visit on the Silver Wind, they will need to update the decor and rooms. Azamara ships since they were reimagined are much posher. I do acknowledge that we’ve only been on Silver Wind, and that their newer ships may be better. I can only say, we were not impressed, although the food was very good.

We are sailing on the Azamara Quest from Venice this coming Sunday (August 26th) and are heading to the airport in less than 48 hours. I was bewildered by the sparse amount of information regarding my cruise, particularly which terminal we would use for embarkation. I actually booked a hotel near Piazzale Roma, thinking that we could use the People Mover and would be sailing from Marittima. All of my documents and emails from Azamara described the port as simply "Venice". I finally called Azamara today to confirm the terminal and was told San Basilio. When I asked the agent why the lack of information, she told me that a packet of information had been sent to my TA. So... I called the TA and shared my conversation. After a long period on hold, and a TA call to Azamara, they e-mailed the information to me. Imagine my surprise when it was simply the online booking information which I had already printed when I completed the online booking with AZ. Once again, the online booking information identified the departure terminal as "Venice".

 

What am I missing? Is this typical of a "luxury entry" cruise line service? Where am I supposed to obtain the information regarding the cruise? I'd love to know which ports are going to be tendered or even which terminal will be used when we dock. Have others received more detailed information about their AZ cruise or does "luxury" cruising mean its all a big surprise? Have others received information from their TA or directly from AZ?

 

I've received much more detailed information from Princess and Celebrity in the past, and I was at least expecting the same (or more) from Azamara. Very frustrating when I could have purchased 10 cruises on Princess for the price of this single Azamara.

I know what you mean about documentation, we’ve just returned from Seabourn which sent us copius amounts of pre cruise information, luggage tags, leather travel wallet etc, however we don’t miss all this on Azamara, as has been said before, the onboard experience by far outweighs the pre cruise experience!

SAN Basilio is a short taxi ride from your hotel, and a much nicer terminal than Marittima, after you drop off your bags and check in, there is a 5 minute walk to the ship to board, or a shuttle if you prefer.

Have a great cruise

An extended list of included spirits is available from Guest Relations.

All dining room menus for your cruise and speciality restaurant menus are available through the interactive TV in your stateroom ( except Pursuit at the present time)

These posts and information are fantastic. I have been enjoying all comments. Question before I order a new tote bag. In the past Azamara has given totes as a welcome gift- did this happen on your cruise? Alsun and others, you have added to my excitement of boarding the Pursuit in a couple of weeks- Thank You.

Yes Azamara still hands out Tote bags, it should be on your bed as you arrive, if not your room attendant will quickly provide one for you. We are currently using two of ours as beach bags in Sardinia!

And the most important post: our wonderful team who looked after us!

 

Elro - Butler

Akilesh - Stateroom Attendant

Lourecin - Assistant Stateroom Attendant

 

They were fantastic. Always looking after us, making sure we were happy. They were cheerful, made time for a chat, took care of our room and made it spotlessly clean, answered questions and just pampered us completely.

 

As this is our first cruise, I was secretly hoping for a towel animal as I had read on CC that some cruise lines do this. I knew that Azamara doesn't do them, but one evening we happened to chat to the whole team and A mentioned that I had this (silly) wish.

 

The next day, two beautiful towel swans appeared! When asked who made them we were told it was a team effort, so of course we needed a photo taken with the swans & the team!

 

Also, Elro gaves us some of the best practical advice to get our bearings on board of Pursuit.

The carpet in the corridors don't have a pattern that shows easily which direction is aft or forward. But Elro said just to follow your nose, as all the food (restaurants) are located at the aft.

 

In addition it is good to know that if you use the stairs, you will always face aft when arriving at a floor.

 

 

Elro is a lovely butler, we had him in March on the Journey, I remember he said he was going to Pursuit.

Look what we found today when we came back to our room!

 

As some of you may recall, we were not happy with the provided Earl Grey. Actually, not happy was a bit of an understatement, we found the Fields & Select brand absolutely disgusting, and have only been drinking the Bigelow Earl Grey tea which is sort of acceptable.

 

We did mention this to Thomas (F&B) and he offered to source an alternative for us like Twinings. Well...this was in Oslo, and although I did see Thomas several times since then, he hadn't come up with the goods yet...

 

Well today, he (and Robert) more than made up for this with a lovely display in our room!

 

A great example of the Amazing customer service we have experienced at Azamara!

 

Thank you Thomas and Robert!

 

I knew they wouldn’t let you down Alsun, so glad you’re having an Azamazing time as well. Enjoy the remainder of your cruise, we too are having very wet weather today back in Blighty, just had a very wet drive along a river, formerly known as the M25 on the way to Gatwick!

Really loving your pictures and live blog, it brings back memories of one of our first ever cruises which was to Norway and Bergen, sadly not on Azamara.

Seabourn isn’t at all stuffy, just nice, you’ll be fine there. On our recent Seabourn cruise, there was even Beer Pong on the top deck hosted by the Cruise Director!

Great photos Alsun, shame about the weather, hope it brightens up for you, I won’t tell you how hot it is here in Kent!

Brings back memories of the sisters meet we had in Barcelona with Quest and Journey, that was special as well. So glad you are enjoying your cruise.

Hi Alsun

Have you had the mid cruise questionnaire yet, I’ve always found if you put something on it that you think can be improved, a response and action is usually quite quick, may be worth mentioning the scones.

We had a quick response when we mentioned that we were having difficulty in getting Twinings English Breakfast tea then suddenly a box arrived in our suite from the Guest Relations Manager for our personal use! Also when the fresh orange juice machine had broken down, and mentioned that the replacement was a bit watery, two glasses of freshly squeezed was delivered to our room each day. The moral of this is, if you think something needs improving, either mention it to the Hotel Director (Ryzard) or put it on the mid cruise questionnaire. We’ve always found Azamara to be most responsive to guests genuine concerns.

Further post said they thought maybe the member of staff was talking about duty free purchases. When you bring alcohol aboard, it’s usually duty paid.

 

 

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We brought duty free Gin on board in Singapore, Malta and Gibraltar with no issues, took it straight to our room. Never have we had it taken off us on Azamara on boarding the ship.

Ports of Call are: Greece ( Monemvasia, Katakolon, Syvota,Kerkira, Nydri, Nafplion), Italy ( Brindisi (Lecce), Venice Croatia (Dubrovnik, Zadar, Vodice) and Kotor, Montenegro.

 

Thanks !

We’ve just come back from the exactly same cruise on the Odyssey, it was a great cruise, you will enjoy it.

This is a potted summary of what we did

Monemvasia - we walked up to the old town, lovely and not to be missed, and went swimming in the afternoon

Katakolon - we had a lovely wine tour to the Mercouri Winery - plenty of wine and nibbles. It was a ships tour

Sivota. We walked to a beach, Bella Vraka and swam in the sea, quite a walk and a busy beach.

Kerkira - we hired a car and toured the island, going to Kassiopi, again swimming in the sea at Pipitos Beach, then drove up the highest point of the island, Moni Pantokraton - great views over Corfu

Nydri - lazy day on the beach, 5 Euro for lounger and umbrella

Nafplion - walked around the old town, took a lift up through the Napflion Palace Hotel to the top of the ruined castle AkroNapflio. Not the highest point which is a different castle Palamidi which we’ve saved for another visit

Gythion - walked around the old port, went to the Ancient Theatre then walked to Selenitsa Beach where there were Sea Turtle nests .... and went in the sea.

Brindisi - we did shopping with the Chef in the morning, then walked around the lovely old town.

Venice - walked a long way into the city to visit a bag shop we’d been to before - we’ve often been there!

Dubrovnik - Did a really good ships wine tour visiting 4 wineries again with lots of wine and nibbles. Didn’t bother with the town, been there many times

Zadar - ship was moored by the musical steps, walked around the interesting old town

Vodice. - went to the Krka National Park on a ships tour, very good but wished we’d known we could have swam beneath the waterfalls there. It wasn’t highlighted on the tour description

Kotor - one our all time favourite places, don’t miss the sail in/out. We climb up to the old fortress, it’s an energetic climb, and not for the faint hearted, but worth it for the view. If you intend doing this it’s better to do it as early as possible before it gets hot and busy

Hope the above helps, we thoroughly enjoyed this itinerary.

Sorry to go back to IT but for information there’s no interactive tv on Pursuit apparently the equipment left by P&O won’t support it so there needs to be a major upgrade that will be done at sometime, will try to get more information later.

 

 

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Hi Riocca, do you mean the big screen that’s usually by the Cruise Sales desk, or the TV in the room that shows your account details, dining menus etc?

We went to Krka from Vodice when the Odyssey visited there in July. We were late arriving due to late leaving Venice the day before and the tour didn’t start until 1.30pm. Although the park was busy, it was a lovely walk around and despite what others have said the waterfalls were impressive. What was annoying was the tour description did not say to take swimming gear, and when we got there,it was possible to swim in the water below the falls so go prepared. We were there on a Sunday and it was mostly locals, but were told by our guide, it can get very busy if there any big ships in the local ports and the numbers allowed in the water are then restricted.

We also docked in Zadar by the singing steps, also a lovely place to walk around, there is also a decent beach there(small stones) if you’re prepared to walk along the seafront for 20 mins or so.

Yum, love the Jazz brunch. Can’t wait until our next cruise in October on Quest.

I think I’ve got my Thomas’s confused, mines definitely not Scottish or Short!