ECCruise

Same here. And the funniest thing is that if they voice how many they have been on and it is like 20, they expect to top you. And running is the only choice other than lying and undercounting (which is silly) or telling the truth, (which blows their 20 away and completely alienates them.) So we say "oh, a few." And hit the bricks.

Our first 5 times on Oceania we found them spectacular. The food (of course), the service, the whole experience. Cruise #6, in Alaska, started showing "stress cracks" for lack of better words. Service not as crisp, food still good but not outstanding. Cruise #7 was the Amazon one. Service cold and frankly, almost surly in some cases. Nothing even remotely like Azamara. No contact with senior officers at all. And the snob factor, with many pax, was at Force 10. It was all about how many "O" sailings you had been on, what cabin level, where you lived, etc. Left us cold.

We did the Amazon in 2019 with Oceania. I think we expected more of the Amazon that really doesn't exist. We knew that Manaus would be a big bustling city, and Boca de Valeria would be remote (but felt a little staged to us with all the kids running to greet you), but I guess we expected more of the Amazon portrayed in movies and travelogues, and that probably doesn't really exist any longer (especially with the destruction of the rain forests during the last decade or so). It was interesting, certainly, but definitely a one and done experience. As was our sailing with Oceania, which was I think a "seven and done." No longer even have them on the radar. And no, do not remember any requirement for a YF vax.

Yep. Comes up in almost every Q&A with Captain/HD.

Another report re: shower doors on the O R class ships. Before experiencing them, our take was "Finally! No more shower curtains!" After experiencing them, our take was "No way! Shower curtains vastly preferable!"

Honestly, to some degree we had a feeling that Azamara may be slowing remaking itself to Celebrity based on our 26 days on Quest just completed a week or so ago. $50 Specialty restaurants. $125 Chef's table. The EXPO we have always enjoyed on longer sailings replaced by the "Quest Fair" (an old Celebrity tactic) that is nothing more than revenue generating departments (Shore Ex, Booze packages, Specialty dining) setting up tables in the LR selling their wares. No engineering department highlighting equipment, no security staff discussing procedures, no deck department, no HR, etc., etc. A major fail and virtually no attendance, unlike the events held in the Cabaret, which are typically very well attended. A bit too much Woo-woo for our tastes, frankly. There were times we really did feel like we were back on Celebrity with things like Liar's Club. No shuttles in any of the ports (admittedly, not needed in some) including Tenerife, where there has always been a shuttle since the very edge of the city is a 25 minute walk and center city is 35-40 minute walk, some of it uphill. The whole thing just had a different feel to us, including comparing to 36 days on Pursuit only a couple of months before. Lots and lots of first-timers on these 2 sailings so perhaps it wasn't as noticeable to them as it was to us.

Yes. Many are approaching $900 to $1000 US for a V1 for 2, though. The Canadian exchange rate must be bonkers. Having spent 62 days on Pursuit and Quest in last 4 months with varying satisfaction (and considerably off from as recently as a year ago) those prices are a no-go for us. Much better price/value relationship (both downstream and upstream) elsewhere.

Absolutely hate Celebrity's Martini Bar so that would be a hard pass for us. Plus, we were given the information (evidently based on insufficient revenue) that Atlas Bar(s) would not be making an appearance on the other 3 ships. Plus, these dry docks are not long enough to accomplish the changeover.

With the wide variance of how much of a page a stamp takes (anywhere from 1/5 a page or so to a full page) I would think it would have been prudent for Azamara to give some pre-cruise proactive guidance (e.g. 11 pages when asked).

Excellent advice and there is no longer an extra cost for extra pages.

More Azamara inconsistencies. No lobster in 9 sailings in the last 2 years. Quest ×4, Journey ×2, Pursuit ×3. As recently as December and last week. Caveat: we have no interest in lobster on a ship but do understand that people do enjoy it.

I am assuming then that they changed the experience from the one we had in Namimbia in December. Bad enough that they cancelled the Azamazing Evening which was an African cultural and musical experience in the desert (which we would gladly have spent a couple hours doing) but to have it replaced by the awful show we had to witness was an affront, frankly. Although the German community is a very small % of the Namibian population, about 70% of the show was German influenced. What was billed as an oompah band (but was 2 bad musicians playing American oldies) and traditional German dancers ( that danced to the "Cotton eyed Joe" an annoying American country tune) There was some African drumming and an a Cappella group, but nowhere enough to make up for the embarrassment of the rest of the show. And to be told, frankly, that the reason for axing this (and presumably the other 3 we've had cancelled in the last year) was strictly one of cost cutting.

Or, they were just deferring the lack of them to Miami.

I guess I am not comfortable paying the per diems they want going forward and dealing with the extreme inconsistencies we experienced between Pursuit 3 months ago and Quest today. And I have suspicions that what we are seeing is Miami yanking harder on the purse strings (and perhaps using Quest as the test)

I think that's one of the many things now overtaken by Miami. Tanya's words to us on the 17 day we are presently on was "we hope Miami sends us more lecturers."

Traditionally, Azamara has been good with lecturers, and although I would expect lectures on a sailing such as this, it may be something else that is changing. On our 9 day in Brazil this month, zero lecturers, neither destination nor Enrichment. On the 17 day that followed it, 1 Enrichment lecturer with a few varied topics. No destination lectures whatsoever, so all for 12 ports on the 2 sailings we had no information save the printouts the day of attival that they grab from Whatsinport word for word.

On Quest now and the standard internet is as it has been for years (and on HAL 2 weeks ago): slooooow. To get decent internet on both lines we needed to upgrade. And at a price less than we were paying for terrible internet 15 years ago.

Looking forward to your thoughts, Phil. We are currently on Quest in the middle of 26 days and starting to gather our thoughts. Some in the same vein.

Must be brand new. Never seen it offered on any of our 8 sailings in the last 18 months, on 4 different continents.

Just got off Oosterdam 14 days in South America 3 days ago. No more old people than any of our last non-Caribbean =X= sailings. Likely less. Plenty of non-old people in the Rolling Stone rock venue (Celebrity has nothing similar every night)

I think closing pools, serving all food, offering medical care is a quite obvious admission of the problem. Maybe not the admission of guilt that you seen to seek, perhaps. Friends just disembarked Pursuit, were impacted personally but yet said the complaining and whining was extraordinary. If it is like virtually all illnesses of this type, the blame almost assuredly goes to poor hygiene. On Quest as we speak and the horrible hygiene is breathtaking. Almost no sanitizing of gym equipment before or after use. Strolls right past the hand sanitizers. Neglecting hand washing in the rest rooms. All of which I have witnessed in just the last 3 hours. This is how illnesses spread and there is little Azamara or any cruise line can do to teach these clowns how to be adults.

That was my thought about that post. This is definitely not isolated on Azamara and to put all the blame on them is misdirected. There needs to be a concerted effort (CDC? WHO?) to investigate what is happening.

Pursuit is a different animal. No on demand movies, no interactive TV, etc that we were able to find in 40 days.

Horrible on the Oosterdam right now. On the way from the gym to the Lido at 7:30 AM and 70-80% of what they consider to be prime loungers with towels, old clothes and books resting on them. And knowing that the owners are likely back nestled in their beds since both the gym and the Lido are largely empty.

If your tablet has Smart View to share the screen it may work if it is a Samsung TV which they usually are.