ChucktownSteve

Its horrible to have to order lobster, scallops and filet off the everyday menu in Compass Rose. 🤣

mrlevin is correct. We did the navigator last month, booked our pre-reservation the first sea day. We had no trouble getting two additional Prime 7 reservations once on the ship. We shared. One of the reservations was a little later than we prefer but it was still excellent.

Celebrity has been doing Power Up Points (PUP) which add captain's club points for doing stuff. They co accumulate on AZ until the split Those helped put me over the Discoverer+ before my next AZ cruise. It's a hassle but if you're close to the next level you might want to check it out. Most of the quizzes equate to five club points. There is a huge thread on Celebrity for it. Someone usually posts a link to the quiz and someone else usually posts the answers. lol Free points.

Miaminice, Thank you for the positiveness making the best of a less than desirable situation. I was surprised on our February Apex cruise how much more elevated the food and service was than my previous Celebrity cruise pre-covid. Frankly I feel Celebrity stepped up by upgrading y'all when they didn't have to. Then giving your friends the option to quarantine in a hotel or stay onboard for the next cruise certainly shows a strong improved customer service attitude. I hope those crew attitudes continue. It would make me consider cruising Celebrity more frequently.

One of the perks of the Club veranda over the ocean view or inside cabin is the Balcony! If you go to the P1 category, you get a great panoramic view of the horizon.

Another key contributing factor is how much rainfall there is. We sailed several years ago to Quebec in the first week of October but because the previous rainfall was lacking, the colors were very delayed. Too difficult to predict if you're booking far out. Maybe the Farmer's Almanac can help?

cwn, I concur about the friendliness of the Regent passengers. We found that very prevalent during our 16 night Navigator cruise last month. It didn't matter if you were in a lounge, restaurant or on an excursion. As first time regent cruisers, I found other passengers much more open to that than our Oceania cruise. When I sailed solo on Azamara last December, several people invited me to join them.

Chris, Thank you for this excellent report and other linked stories. I am following closely since we'll be doing this cruise in three months. I'm also enjoying the pics. We were given Monopole when we embarked the Navigator last month. Then we were given a bottle of Veuve Clicquot for the first two bad evenings in Compass Rose. We gave the two bottles to the hostess for taking very good care of us the rest of the cruise. Chris, my question relates to your statement about speaking with other passengers on their experience and if they feel they are getting value for their money. Do you feel that you are getting your value for the money on this cruise?

I received my five for the webinar as well which also put me over into E+ on Celebrity and Discover+ on Azamara. They're still co-earning. Guess I can stop this now that I reached 750 club points. I'll never get to Zenith at three tiimes the number of E+ points required. BTW I didn't actually listen to the webinar. I had my speakers turned off. Just let it play. lol

Thankx for venting. You confirmed my decision to take the Regent Air credit was correct. Delta changed my flight from direct to a non direct. However I was able to immediately select another direct flight online and not be on hold. No deviation fees. No extra charges to select my airline. I wouldn't dump the cruise line because their air stinks. Just deal directly and get the flights/airline you want without as much hassle.

I concur re: Celebrity laughingly luxury. We sailed Regent a couple of weeks ago. No charge for liter bottles of Grey Goose, Seagram's VO and Johnny Black premium liquor in the suite or anything ordered for that matter. All excursions included at no additional cost. So were WiFi and gratuities. (yeah I understand the cost was built into the cruise price along with the air and hotel room. lol) However when I booked this cruise the beginning of last year, I priced a Celebrity suite with the same square footage as the Regent suite. Regent actually came out a little less PP/PN with all the Regent extras included. Our bill at the end of the cruise was $0. Even left about $8 NF OBC on the account. The whole amount was spent on overpriced stuff in the ship store.

We're sailing from "Venice" in May 2023. We booked August 2021. I presume that is prior to the chance so we would be given the free transportation to Ravenna. Is that an accurate presumption or does someone know differently? Is there an official port change date?

"Our iconic "X" is the mark of luxury, the mark of contemporary spaces that are at once coolly sophisticated and warmly inviting. Where the culinary experience is influenced by global cuisines and designed by our Michelin-starred chef. Where our staff provides seamless and intuitive service that’s both personal and unobtrusive. Where everything is designed to provide unparalleled luxury cruise vacations for travelers of every age. Our fourteen award-winning ships offer unique experiences in more than 300 destinations on all seven continents."

All the cruise lines you mentioned are mass market. Celebrity marketing claims to be luxury. Luxury lines don't charge for room service delivery. Do they?

Practice makes perfect; as they say.

Absolutely. Looking forward to the view!

Well I for one was on the verge of changing our Greek intensive next year to a much lesser cost Caribbean cruise to use the deposit. However after hearing a lot of good reasoning, watching the video and seeing comments here, I decided to keep the booking as is. Hopefully AZ will keep improving and growing by the time we embark. Thankx

If it makes y'all feel better, on our recent 16 night Regent cruise, they experienced the same staffing and supply chain problems that Azamara has been having. They were still going through training issues of new crew as well.

So it appears that Gary's suggestion it is probably new crew who haven't quite reached the Azamara service level is why we're getting differing reports/opinions. I wish Ryszard had been on our December Quest sailing. I don't even know who the HD was; she was never visible.

Same for me but I'm 3 points away. Then I don't know that jumping through these hoops will ever get me to the next level.

I appreciate your candidness. I'm conflicted, hoping for positive things about Onward because we did book her. While we've usually sailed in a veranda cabin, I stepped up to a suite. So I'm now trying to mentally justify that decision. Ryszard was the Hotel Director on the best cruise we've sailed to date. It was an incredible experience. He was everywhere and arranged such out of the box events including an onboard talk by Lech Walesa. (Our sympathies to Mr. Walesa's family on his passing last month) Ryszard's was one of the things that made that cruise exceptional. Now Sycamore wants to hide the HDs? Sorry to hear that. I too hope my fears are unfounded. A Greek Isles intensive is on my bucket list and Azamara itineraries are the best at immersion, IMO.

We are booked on Outward next May. I'm not as concerned about the maiden voyage because all ships sailing maiden regardless of the cruise line have adjustments. What I am concerned is how the new owner, Sycamore Partners, handles the cruise line going forward. I was not wowed on my December 2021 Quest sailing. There were supply chain problems for common liquors and food items on the cruise. I'm still getting the run around with the ship's store for a defective Mary Francis purse for my wife. It was the last month Starboard Cruise Services, had the gift shop before they transferred to a better company. However Azamara after a few months of my emailing them sent me to the current vendor not the December one. It's still a cluster. I'm hoping Sycamore gets their act together. The Azamara pre RCG sale was very good. My jury is till out on the new owner. There are some positives but many negatives. Perhaps it's a learning curve. Perhaps covid related. Who knows the reasons? Without the clout of RCG, the Venice port is now two hours away for our May Greek Isles cruise while the bigger cruise companies are closer to Venice. My bottom line is every review has some validity based upon their current cruising AZ experience. I'm going to read them all and weigh them on credibility of detail. The previous Azamara experience is moot even though the best cruise we ever had was on Azamara. Just MHO. YMMV.

We had rain a few days on our last month's cruise. I left the Regent umbrella in the closet and grabbed one by the elevators as we left the ship. It was more convenient and we didn't have a wet one in our closet. 😁 Oh and if you happen to break your leg, the umbrella can double as a splint!

Better than using it on the overpriced ship stores.

GOARMY, We'll be disembarking Mariner the day you embark. We had final payment as we embarked Navigator to Montreal. I too hope the ripples dissipate by our cruise so you'll have smoothe sailing too.