Bloodaxe

Antarctic was our first Azamara cruise back in 2008 It was booked on Celebrity Journey but by sailing day Azamara had been created.

That was what sold us on Azamara, still our best ever cruise and in my opinion Azamara was at it best in those early days.

19 minutes ago, JoJo1947 said:

We booked Flam Railway direct around £40 pp don't leave it too long.

Anyone know how close the dock is to the Railway station and is it walkable or is transport required.

We can walk a good way but not has mobile has we used to be.

Thanks to everyone for your information.

1 hour ago, Glenndale said:

The Flam train ride on our Northern Lights trip is priced at £89pp.

Do it yourself approx £35pp.

Thanks for that, I had seen it priced on the websites for 500 krona, which has you say is around £35.

I am interested if the Saga included Bus Tour will worth doing but if we decide to do the train will book direct.

16 minutes ago, arlowood said:

Not sure what the description of the "included" excursion shows but if it involves just the trip on the Flam railway from Flam to Myrdal and back then you can easily do it on your own.

 

We did that trip with P&O some years ago and discovered that the "Scenic" railway is in fact a commercial service that links Flam to Myrdal where passengers can pick up a connecting service to Oslo or Bergen, whichever you prefer.

 

Consequently our tour group were initially coralled in a holding area while other paying passengers were allowed to populate several of the rear carriages. We were then led forward to occupy a couple of the forward carriages. The journey to Myrdal is scenic with points where the train slows for photos and also a stop  at a scenic waterfall. You then have about 30mins wait at Myrdal before boarding the return train which does not stop on the way back.

 

I think with P&O we were charged maybe £30 or £40 per head for the trip whereas you could just buy a return ticket at the station in Flam for  a fraction of the cost.

 

I'm guessing if it's a Saga included tour then you're not being charged so in that case there may not be much benefit in doing it on your own, other than being more flexible in your timetable if that is feasible

The included tour is described has a scenic tour by bus, I believe the train ride will be offered has a extra charge tour.

Not had the full details of tours yet has the cruise in not until late May so cannot be booked until later.

Just wondered if anyone had done the included tour and what that is like.

Anyone done the Flam included scenic excursion,. is it worth  worth booking or is it much better to book a train tour.

Have done scenic trains in various part of the world,  just wondering how the included trip compares.

We did a full transit a few years ago on Celebrity Infinity cruising up the coast of South America through the Canal ending in Florida.

We were in the old Canal but I believe the newer bigger Celebrity Ships have to use the new one.

Obviously another case of autocorrect, enjoyed the chess jokes but

seriously Saga cheese board is excellent.

18 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Even the cheese board has reduced and it’s the same offering every night.

 

On my last cruise the menu for the celebration night showed a different selection and I got quite enthused, then it came and it was the same sad tiny plate of very basic cheeses. I did ask why it was not what was shown on the menu and was told that was all they had (he did bring me more though),

The Best Chess Board I have ever had at sea was Sagas, you can choose your own every night from a great selection of at least 8, has many has you like.

Has they say you get what you pay for most of the time.

44 minutes ago, brian1 said:

LOL,yeah it was an 8000 mile away gamble.Walking on one of the biggest golden beaches I've been on amongst thousands of penguins.Their summer but bloody cold and windy.

Totally agree about the Falklands being a gamble when on a cruise, we did the cruise with Azamara some years ago and were lucky to land.

Just days before us the QE2 was on its final world cruise and had to pass them bye.

The locals were very disappointed had they had planned a special welcome for the Ship due to it's part in the war..

2 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I’m a bit late to this party, and have resurrected this thread to say:

 

Now I’m worried! IMO, Waitrose free coffee is incredibly vile, probably on purpose, so they won’t get many takers. I’m keeping fingers crossed that Saga coffee is at least drinkable. ☺️

 

I’m a horrible coffee snob 😁 who buys freshly roasted beans and grinds them at home to make espresso, because it’s hard to get good coffee in high street coffee shops. Like @Bloodaxe, we’ve always enjoyed the barista-made coffee on Azamara, and feel it is one of their strong points. 
 

Oh well, the coffee won’t make or break our cruise, and I’m sure we will find many other things to enjoy if the coffee falls a bit short. 

Unfortunately the coffee was has I had expected but we did enjoy our cruise, now booked again for May

42 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

I looked on the Azamara site yesterday and they seem to heavily discount cruises up to 5 months to go, currently discounting up to early June. I don’t know if there is a price guarantee or not but I wouldn’t be too pleased if I had booked at full price. The discounted price being all inclusive is quite good.

They did have a price guarantee in the US but I don't think it has ever applied in the UK, it's not really all inclusive speciality restaurants and premium drinks are extra charge.

42 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

I looked on the Azamara site yesterday and they seem to heavily discount cruises up to 5 months to go, currently discounting up to early June. I don’t know if there is a price guarantee or not but I wouldn’t be too pleased if I had booked at full price. The discounted price being all inclusive is quite good.

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Used to be P&O Adonia and was very popular. 

All 8 ships were originally built for Renaissance cruise line around 2000, they went out of business shortly afterwards.

After various owners Azamara now have 4 and Oceana cruises have the other 4, lovely ships.

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Cape Town this morning

 

Today we join Azamara Pursuit for a 12 night South Africa Cruise

 

The ship only holds 900 guests so will be the smallest ship we have cruised on. Apparently it's often only half full this time of year as well.

 

The food gets great reviews and drinks are included

 

Can't wait.

 

Boarding appears from what I can see to be very laid back. No online check in required prior. No luggage tags needed prior. We just have to turn up with passports and baggage and credit card to swipe. And they take a photo. Apparently. Hopefully it's as easy as that.

 

I guess on smaller ship cruises with less passengers they dont need to have done much in advance.

 

 

 

Azamara ships only hold around 700 guests when full, a world away from the new mega ships, they are now over 20 years old but very well maintained, our favourites.

17 minutes ago, beaujolais said:

We have just returned from the SoA Christmas cruise and the complimentary wines were the worst we have ever been offered on over 20 years of cruising apart from the dry rose'

The wines offered are all available at discount stores in the UK at under £6 a bottle, I checked online

We drank from the "to pay" offerings mainly after the first few nights

We also decided to purchase wine after the first few nights has they are very reasonable prices, cheaper than many restaurants on land.

On 1/7/2024 at 2:34 PM, Bloodaxe said:

 

The available cabins on E deck are close to the front and rear of the Ship, thank you everyone you for your replies.

They are not showing any discounts, decision time seems to be running out.

Went ahead and booked, E Deck at the back.

Thank you for the advice everyone.

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

The standard price increases as you go up the decks (you do get a better view from the upper decks).

Are the cabins on E deck shown as grade-L? This grade is at each end of the deck, and not available when the cruise first goes on sale (I think they are held back for entertainers), any unused L-grades get offered for sale nearer to sailing date.

Reason I asked is because E deck usually gets sold out quite quickly - it is a popular position.

You may sometimes hear people talking on the promenade when you are on the balcony, but the sound insulation on the new ships is very good, we have been on E deck (aft and midships) more than once (by choice) and no noise in the cabin. Very steady position, too.

 

 

The available cabins on E deck are close to the front and rear of the Ship, thank you everyone you for your replies.

They are not showing any discounts, decision time seems to be running out.

The cruise I have been looking at only seems to have E Deck and Sun Deck standard cabins still available.

Is there a reason why E Deck cabins are so much cheaper than the ones higher up, are they restricted views or close to the promenade deck?.thanks in advance.

You will have a great time, we loved South Africa, did a escorted tour then went back for a self drive holiday.

Have also done many cruises with Azamara all over the world, has been out favourite line since it started in 2007.

11 hours ago, wcc19 said:

The ship has 4 screws.  On our cruise before the current one, 3 screws were operating and one was not.  It is unclear whether the fourth one has been fixed yet or not.

That's news to me, to the best of my knowledge the main propulsion unit has two screws but four Generators to provide the power for the Ship., It also has bow thrusters.

I fully understand my comment about Saga Car Insurance had nothing to do with the cruise arm of Saga.

I was responding to the poster taking about Saga insurance, obviously your claim with Car Insurance went much better than mine.

The attitude of the Volkswagen garage really surprised me at the time.

17 hours ago, Alchymist said:

SAGA halted their efforts to sell the insurance business in September and in the meantime their cashflow looks quite disturbing. I sincerely hope that they will thrive, because they do offer a lot to us of senior years, even if there are concerns that should be addressed. If one looks at their revenue against earnings lover the last few years, they haven't made as much progress as the dreaded Carnival and it would be awful if the insurance business sank them. (Not the ships, of course.) Institutional holdings and insider holdings are pretty high, but not too sure if that is a good or bad thing at the moment.

An experience a few years ago turned me away form Saga insurance, someone ran into the back of my parked car doing a few hundred pounds of damage.

At the time the car was nearly new so I went to the local VW main dealer, they took one look at my insurance and said sorry we do not deal with Saga they take far to long to pay up.

They would repair the car but I would have to pay and make the claim with Saga myself

Luckily the 3rd party insurers paid up and the garage were happy to deal direct with them.

I no longer have any insurance with Saga and other than the Included  cruise insurance and never will.

5 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

I've  had two Queens grill cruises total 28 days and one Saga 30 days this year . As I said I  had to send 3 QG meals back as inedible,  and often had to resort to the la carte , sole or lamb quite often. Cavair not the best and a bit of a gimmick and Chateaubriand doesn't turn me on. I ordered off menu a couple of times, one a simple risotto Milanese,  flavourless,  same for a simple Mac cheese,  asked for osso bucco but didn't have ingredients, but Cunard do an excellent curry.  My only dissappointment on Saga was liver, which last year was melt in mouth, this year more like pub food. Had lobster as often as needed in coast to coast. A suite on Saga is roughly same price as QG Saga a bit dearer but you get more. Remember whether you approve or not,  suites are not rationed to use of Speciality restaurants.

 

Of course non suites don't have as much access to speciality restaurants,  but then you must compare Saga food to Brittania in Cunard with no off menu ordering and a smaller menu. That's a clear win for Saga.

Our one Saga cruise so far was in September, we found the food OK for the most part but not great, one of the best meals in the main dining room was the Liver.

In recent years we can only really compare  Saga with Azamara and to be honest Azamara would still be our line of choice but we are not fans of flying anymore which rules them out.

39 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

If you are a good sailor and don't have to be midships,  then there are no bad cabins on Saga, they are all very good. So last minute guarantee bookings can be reasonable 

I agree but they do not seem to be offered on many cruises.

I will keep looking has we cannot commit very far in advance to get the best price. 

Until recently I would never have seriously considered Saga, but not wishing to fly to join a cruise anymore the home pick up and included insurance did appeal.

We enjoyed our first cruise with them in September but have not booked another yet.

I do not usually like booking very far in advance and Sagas policy of reducing discounts doesn't really suit that

If we could get a good discount nearer sailing date I would be more likely to book.

I do think the cruises are rather overpriced.

We have never cruised P and O probably never will,  has others have said you pay your money and make your choice.