nonrev1

She is not saying she wants to book a tour on another ship....she would like to fill a tour by posting on a roll call of another ship in port the same day. I have done it before and it is a bit more difficult. At least when you are on the same ship you can meet ahead of time and firm up meeting times and places. I also worried that we had weather and was not sure if both ships would be in port that day. Setting up a tour and having people from other ships join you is doable but takes a bit more work. Maybe you can find a tour on someone else's roll call and join them. 😄

Bummer, I was hoping that we were being kept in the dark! :(

I went online to view the PDF of tours offered for my upcoming cruise and there were three options available for selecting what ship I am booked on. It says: Quest / Journey and Passages.

What is Passages?

Not sure if this will apply to Azamara .....but, when we sailed to Cuba with Fathom, they were not allowed to have Cuban currency on the ship. ( we sailed on one of the first cruises so I am not sure if that changed or not, but I am guessing not). When we entered the Havana cruise terminal, there was a currency exchange that had more than a dozen windows open for exchanging currency.

Just remember there is an additional surcharge when exchanging US dollars. Not sure where you are from but if you have access to CAD or Euros, you will do better with the exchange.

I understand your frustration. We had a large OBC on our last cruise and tours were cancelled. We were waitlisted for other tours and never got off the waitlist. If they are going to offer an OBC that can only be used for shore excursions, then they need to stop cancelling shore excursions. I am worried because we are doing a B2B for 25 days and have a large OBC. If tours cancel, we will once again lose the incentive for booking early, B2B and onboard.

I might be mistaken but I think it has to be a new booking and you can not apply the complimentary nights to an existing reservation.

I think your review was spot on! My only experience that was different was with the photographer. We did have a pushy, aggressive one on our last Azamara cruise and we were both put off and surprised by it. We told him very politely that we did not want pictures and he did not want to take no for an answer. At this point in our cruising lives, we don't need anymore walking down the gangway pictures, dinner table or fake backdrop pictures. We recently took our first O cruise. While Azamara hands down is our favorite, I do like that O does not have ship's photographers.

Azamara offers a superior product to Celebrity.

We were there! It is truly a wild time in Venice. Every hotel was sold out and there were parties everywhere. It was an opportunity to really become immersed in the culture and history of Venice. What an excellent opportunity to experience this while on an Azamara cruise.

Thank you Xport for the explanation.

Yes, I was one of the vocal customers when they were making the changes. Very frustrating since customers who have fewer cruises than we do, but started cruising later have higher status. It is really about the benefits they took away. I am not sure how Azamara is supposed to be the higher end cruise line but the loyalty benefits are richer with Celebrity.

It is nice to hear they are looking at a change with the internet. We were just on the Quest and that was not an option ad not mentioned.

But....something has to change with the laundry. The bags have gotten smaller and we will be on the ship for 25 days. Even though my husband and myself both have loyalty and paid two fares, we have to share a laundry bag. We get three small bags for 25 days. I'm not sure how my husbands laundry will get done. Lol.

I have been a loyal cruiser to Azamara but still have not reaped the benefits of Le Club Voyage.

I have two cruises on celebrity and 12 on Azamara. When they separated the programs, and converted our points… We got fewer points than if we had sailed on celebrity. It made no sense to me, especially since the price points of the two products are very different. Our Internet minutes got cut drastically and even when we do get to the next level it will never be what we had. Again, I don't understand why at the same level at celebrity when the price point is lower you get more. Back in 2013 when they changed the program, it really hit us with our points. Then there was another moment in time in 2014/2015 (that I did not realize) they made yet another change. I guess what frustrates me is that if I had started cruising with Azamara later, I would be at a higher level in LCV. But, since we were earlier cruisers, we were penalized in the conversion of points. For example....my 2014 14 day balcony was 42 points. My 8 day balcony in 2016 is 40. There was nothing different about as Azamara at that time. Why the discrepancy in points? Like I said, the earlier you cruised the less benefits you are getting now and takes you longer to achieve status. Where is the recognition for loyalty? Less free laundry than celebrity, less internet, fewer points......but, a much higher price point. I just don't get it.

We were on the Quest New Year's cruise and were told late January.

My first Azamara cruise was out of Hong Kong during the Super Bowl. Bill is absolutely correct.....the game was on at 6:30 am on Monday with no commercials. They threw a great party.....lots of food and drinks. Even had the lounge decorated with balloons matching the Super Bowl team's colors.

I am looking forward to the updates. Change takes time. I hope with the updates that my information will automatically populate after entering my loyalty number when checking in online for a booked cruise Crazy to have to put in the information each time as if I never cruised with Azamara before. I know.....baby steps! :)

I am so glad they are working on the functionality to let us pre-book tours with our OBC's. We were on the New Year's cruise and one shore excursion was canceled (but, they scrambled to get it reinstated for us) and we were wait listed on another. (we never cleared the waitlist but found out from our friends that there was room)

There was a promo that was offering large OBC's and if we had been allowed to pre-book, the ship would have had a much better idea of how many people would take tours and be able to plan accordingly.

Thank you for checking!

Lauri

We would be interested in booking this cruise but not if we were unable to wander on our own. I don't understand why we were allowed to on Fathom but not on this cruise. When we filled out our documentation ( US regulations) we had choices. 1- we would only go ashore if on a ship's excursion , 2- we could do ships excursions or go on our own and document our people to people and maintain records for 5 years 3- go entirely on our own if we were there doing ministry work and provide documentation.

Bonnie, is it confirmed that we can only leave the ship in Havana is if we are on a ship's excursion?

We were on the 2nd Fathom sailing to Cuba. The rules changed for us the day before departure. For Fathom's first cruise, everyone had to take a ship sponsored excursion and could not go off on their own. The day before our cruise, the rules changed and allowed us to go off on our own. However, we were told that we had to document what we did and had to include what our people to people experiences were. We were then told to hold onto that for five years unless the US laws changed once again. I am betting that between now and then, there will still be some more changes.

We absolutely loved Cuba and want to go back. My wish list includes an itinerary that offers multiple stops in Cuba with extended stays.

Sweet! Too bad it could not be earlier.....a quick stop on the way back to Miami on the Quest New Year's cruise. :)

When they had the About Rose products onboard, there were no alternatives so I would assume the same with the Eco products. I had an allergy to About Rose and brought my own products with me.

Strange question.....in the shower is it a bar of soap or shower gel?

Thanks!

Just booked the same cruise in August.....not LCV, but balcony cabins are available. Can't wait!

I was not on your cruise but what you experienced seems very similar to my experience on a Fathom cruise to Cuba. We wanted to be one of the first and paid a premium for it. There were so many travel agents and head office staff on board that paid almost nothing for the cruise yet received preferential treatment. They had complimentary wine pairings, specialty dining, wine and paint etc. The tours were not as advertised and I felt like we had to do a lot of the leg work to experience what we wanted to experience. At those prices, everything should have been perfect or at least close to 90%. It was far from it.

We had great expectations ...but were not given recognition as a full premium fare paying customer. Instead they focused on the media/travel agents and home office staff.

We found two things odd with all of the precautions Oceania took of serving in the buffet area.

1 - There were hand sanitizer stations everywhere but no one was using them and no staff ever mentioned using them as you boarded/returned to the ship, entered the restaurants etc.

2- There is a salad bar area outside at Waves grill - that was self serve, if you walked inside for salad it was not.

Just returned from my first O cruise and here are some of my thoughts:

First some background.....I am in my low 50's, have been on over 40+ cruises and choose a cruise because of a destination (unless we are sailing with family).

This year we went on Disney, Fathom and Holland America. We have not cruised with Azamara in two years primatily due to timing and redundant itineraries.

We chose to cruise on O for two reasons - the itinerary and we have heard how wonderful they are. We wanted to like them because they have more ships and some outstanding itineraries.

Unfortunately, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot with them. When we boarded the ship in Quebec City, it was cold and pouring rain. We ran into the tent where they were processing the passengers but we were still sopping wet. They had three lines....1 - Suites 2 - Status 3- everyone else. Since we were not in a suite and had no status, we were in the riff-raff line. There were 7 agents checking in passengers but not one was assigned to work our line. We had to wait until there was no one in line 1 or 2 before they would check us in. We kept asking but they said this is how it was done. Unfortunately, we arrived at the same time as an airport bus. Very frustrating. They had a questionaire that came out on day three asking " how is everything so far" and I told them about the boarding process. It took them until day 11 of a 14 day cruise to get back to me. They appologoized and said they had similar feedback from others.

We loved the grill up on deck 9 and the buffet in the evenings. One thing that was sorely lacking was an aft bar outside on deck 9. it is the perfect place for a sailaway but they do not serve drinks unless the buffet area is open. So - if you want a drink during a 5:00 pm sailaway, you have to find a bar that is open and bring your own drink out.

We loved that there were no ship photographers and no art auctions.

Italian specialty restaurant was excellent - Steak specialty restaurant , just ok.

We did like that there was no upcharge for the restaurants.

We found many of the employees seemed to be operating on auto pilot. They would look over and beyond you in the morning and if you wanted coffee, you had to wave and get their attention.

The first two nights we ate in the main dining room and the waiter introduced himself to us on the second night like he had never seen us the first night. (we were by far the youngest on the ship - we stuck out)

We ate in the Italian specialty restaurant 3 times. The Maitre d' kept introcuing himself to us like he never saw us before. Again - we felt as if everyone was on auto pilot just speaking their lines.

We did spend some time with the Captain and he was wonderful and tried to help us watch the Cubs win the World Series. He was even going to give us his phone so we could stream it , but his did not work, either. He offered to buy us a drink as a consolation.

Which brings me to - how can you not show the world series? We asked the cruise director and he said "you picked the cruise not the game". Not a great answer.

Drinks were very pricey and the wine package was one of the most expensive I have seen. And - there was no Pinot Grigio on the ship by the glass until our second day in New York. (that was after 8 days)

The breakfast buffet was excellent. The dinners were very good, but the portions were very small. We saw quite a few people order two meals.

Entertainment - Evening entertainment was poor. Daytime was repetitive.

We would probably not cruise on O again unless they were offering the most amazing itinerary in the world at a great price that included everything. (my husband says never - I say probably not) This year we were on our first HAL cruise and honestly - we had a much better onboard experience. (Yes, we were surprised)

This was just our opinion and what we experienced on our cruise.

Thank you Bonnie, I am looking forward to coming home to Azamara in December! We will try not to stray again. We just need to have Azamara add some new routes. 😄

I will add my comparison thoughts to this thread when we get home.

I have been on 12 Azamara cruises and I am currently on my first O cruise. After reading so many positives about O, I am underwhelmed and looking forward to returning to Azamara in December.

I will post my comparison when we return home. One thing, I know we are not all Cubs fans - but, being the Cubs making it to the World Series is huge! We will be back in U.S. waters after tomorrow and O will not get the games. quite a few people have asked. 😔