Riocca

But can these new bigger luxury ships complete with Azamara’s ability to get into the unusual ports? If you’re happy with Le Verdon instead of The centre of Bordeaux, Cadiz rather than Seville how about Le Havre not Rouen the list goes on. I’ve seen Viking in the container port near Marseille rather than docking in the town as Azamara does. If your destination is the glitzy new cruise ship that’s fine, but while Azamara can offer a premium experience and access these unusual locations I will keep booking. My fear is that when Azamara get new ships, and it’s going to have to happen, they will go the same route as Oceania, Viking and Explora.

Like many I’ve had a look at their website, ships look lovely but again too big to get into some of the more unusual ports. Website itself is ok but not the best, prices as you would expect from MSC are competitive but t&c’s are off putting, early booking price requires 100% payment on booking otherwise it’s a 25% deposit. Although for U.K. bookings cancellation terms aren’t as bad as some £150 up to 150 days then 15% to 120 days 25% to 90 days etc.

Phil, I had a conversation with some of the Azamara U.K. staff when we boarded Quest in Southampton and was told that they are very aware of the situation. Five new call centre staff were starting at the beginning of September. Best advise is to phone at 8.30am when the U.K. ‘office’ opens, personally I always choose the option for new bookings you get through to the same personnel. Only a personal theory but I suspect the RC phone system shunts non sales calls to the end of the queue as happens in many automated phone systems.

Possibly not, we were told they were on order but there was a 12 month lead time from the manufacturer.

We neither read or write reviews we know what we like and how we want to cruise. If we make a mistake and select a cruise line that doesn’t deliver what we think then it’s not necessarily the cruise line but our poor choice, as I’m sure many other passengers enjoy what is offered. Reviews either seem to be from the cruise lines faithful or those with problems or buyers regret, we’ve cruised with 16 different cruise lines some we would return to others we wouldn’t but that’s based on just our opinion. If we have a problem we speak with the onboard staff who can address the issues, if they don’t then we won’t return. Getting back to the OP’s question we were on Onwards maiden cruise and didn’t have any problems other than one which was self inflicted. Yes it was disappointing that the shipyard hadn’t completed the ship to schedule but it was mostly cosmetic in areas that other than visual didn’t impact us as a passengers. We were in a CC suite and in our personal opinion the bathroom layout had been improved as had the practicality of the storage, we had all the required furniture and the air conditioning worked just fine.

Left Quest today and I understand things have changed and this is now not happening, know no more details than that.

Met them yesterday on tour in Porto and they’re really enjoying it, would think being a small ship we would have bumped into them sooner.

On Quest currently and it’s been open most nights, apparently Quest is the only ship up to full service levels for passengers and staff.

Shuttle bus today into Bilbao on Quest running every half hour with an hours break for lunch. Travel time is roughly 15 minutes dropping you near the Guggenheim.

Not required in Bordeaux as you dock in the centre of the city.

Container that missed Southampton was loaded yesterday in Bordeaux 😁 Q&A this morning with Captain and HD logistics at the moment are challenging but the new owners are committing resources to overcome it, they also have access to high quality suppliers worldwide. From other conversations suppliers have been told not to send Royal Club tonic which seems to have disappeared from all bars we’ve visited. Schweppes is now appears to be the standard tonic onboard.

Last night on Quest in Bordeaux we had a local group in a Can-Can Spectacular onboard. It’s probably the best thing we’ve ever seen onboard, I worked in Paris and it was as good if not better than anything I saw there. Full credit to Azamara at its best. IMG_1098.MOV

Just a missed shipment I believe, replacement was just what was available.

The new champagne is only temporary due to supply issues with NF.

I’ve not tried it but Carol said it was ok, it’s difficult on the pool deck from plastic to get a proper taste. Did notice that the Living Room still had NF last night, will try to find out if it’s a permanent change or due to a temporary supply problem.

Currently on Quest and in a CC suite this is the option now replacing the 4 half bottles of spirits. And on the Ultimate Package this is the champagne offering in replacement for the NF.

Wasn’t a problem on Onwards maiden, we changed a few and Artem was happy to do so. The menu is not limited to the specialty cocktails so anything is possible but it only stocks spirits from the Ultimate package and above.

Not forgetting the system was developed to run 3 very different brands which is possibly core to the many problems encountered, the fact it requires the same login details for each brand portal is indicative of how poor the system is. As Versonix Seaware who are producing the new software have experience with a large number of other cruise lines the new system will be better all round 🤞

It depends on what sort of itineraries, competitors like Viking do repeat itineraries year on year so block booking ports is easier. One of Azamara’s usp’s is doing unusual ports and itineraries and hopefully that will continue under the new management.

I asked one of the more senior customer service advisers a few weeks ago and was told they were expecting to release them within 6 months. I’m not surprised as uktog says there are too many variables at the moment both economic and geo-political. In the past Azamara have released itineraries very early then had to deal with problems and upset customers because of changes, so being cautious is probably the best approach even if customers used to early releases are frustrated.

They were saying first quarter of 2023 but last week’s email from Azamara’s President did mention 9 to 12 months for full implementation of the new IT system. Where the loyalty split will fit into this is unknown.

The Tapas did seem like an add on rather than a core strategy, given that the Atlas Bar is the ideal pre dinner venue for those dining in speciality restaurants it’s highly unlikely that anyone would want to spend on extra food beforehand.

They were having real problems on Onward transferring information from the RC system to Azamara’s new onboard system, they established a work round at the end of the cruise but that caused even more problems.

We didn’t receive anything on the last night the email a week or so later was a complete surprise.

Be interesting to know how you get on, never tried it but might want too one day.