NEVER will cruise again with Azamara

I've already posted my review of our 12 night cruise from Miami to Costa Rica, March 9, 2015 through the Panama Canal, just in case anyone would like to read it.

The decision that Azamara made to leave port in Miami knowing that there was a MAJOR PLUMBING PROBLEM was a really poor decision and will cost this cruise line my business forever.

There were many other problems with this cruise but no toilet or shower is unforgivable.

The compensation we were given is a joke and not going to work in appeasing anyone.

I can't find your review, has it posted yet?

Yes, my review posted a few days ago. Click on "member reviews" "Azamara Journey" the title is OOOOOO the Toilets. I thought my review was harsh but compared to the other reviews posted there so far.....mine was the least harsh.

Oops! I had a hiccup in my brain and was looking for Quest. I have friends who sailed on Journey out of Miami yesterday (about 20 of them), I hope the plumbing issues don't continue for them.

Wow! What compensation did they offer? I'd like to hear from Bonnie on what she knows about this cruise.

Wow.

What is wrong with Journey.

If you look at last 7 reviews on this site and disregard the 2 year old India trip (why bother posting now!!??) you will see that Journey had 11 points out of 30.

As regular visitors will know I posted a fairly damming review of Xmas New Year cruise and it appears no lessons have been learnt.

1: Shortages of items beer

2: Sewage problems.

3: Issues with obtaining wine of your choice fron provided wines.

4: Disputes with doctors resulting in passengers disembarking early.

I know that if it was up to Heike/Adel then these problems would never have passed the first day.

It is obvious that MIAMI must be exercising an iron control on stock levels etc as well as on maintenance budgets.

Good to see that Jose (Honduras) and Ibrahim(Egypt) continue to get good reviews and as we have seen Jose mature over the last 5+ years it really is time that Azamara gave him a promotion.

We would have been on the cruise following this one going from Costa Rica thru the Canal and to New Orleans to Miami. For medical reasons we had to cancel. We were so looking forward to this cruise and am anxious to hear reviews of the follow up cruise we woulda been on. Rough seas noone can control but to have that so bad on the Caribbean side vs the Atlantic side is a bit unusual. The toilet issue in my opinion should have been fixed before leaving port!

After reading another thread about UK clients being booked onto ridiculous indirect flights when short direct ones from their local airports are readily available, I was already wondering whether it was a mistake to book another Azamara cruise. Now I'm starting to look forward to our 2016 cruise on Journey with trepidation. This is not good, given the price paid, and we don't have the luxury afforded to the USA clients of being able to cancel without losses.

After 15 cruises with Azamara, we decided it was time to say goodbye. This is a link to my post in September, following our 26 day B2B on the Journey.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2102940

Too many things were not working. The crew was not happy, the food was subpar, and the entertainment quality had declined. We have not been back.

We leave on a 14 day Seabourn cruise in a week.

I am new to Azamara but not to cruising. Not trying to be Azamara Expert by any means, just tossing out a few thoughts. You can go to any Line's board and find similar complaints. The two Azamara ships are 15 years old. Any original equipment left will be nearing end of service and need renewing. Plumbing problems are particularly troubling on ships and are usually expensive to properly repair. I agree that no passenger ship should be sailing with inoperable plumbing. This is usually a drydock fix and they are probably stretching it out as far as possible. I have seen plumbing complaints on other boards concerning the former R-Ships so there might be some basic design issues. I do hope they get things sorted out before any more bad feelings are created. I personally know some of the staff from their SeaDream days and that is the main reason we are booked on our first Azamara cruise. Hoping for the best.:D

Oh, this is very very concerning! We are scheduled to cruise after dry dock next year, but this was our first try in Azamara, and I did investigate several other premium lines before settling in this, so these recent reviews are making me glad I don't have to pay final payment for a while. The lack of response from the usually very responsive AZ officials is also concerning! Problems can happen, but a proactive response is what you look for!

Lady DDS, I have a few questions for you about your tours...If I decide to stay with this itinerary, it's sounds like the AZ tours are poor. This a shame for a line that is marketing itself as about the destinations. But I'd like to investigate private tours just in case- can you share who you toured with in Cartegna and Panama City and how to contact them? Also, I thought the museum in Panama would be interesting, but it sounds like it's small? Can you wander around or is it just a captive audience thing? I did sign up for it, but if it's not being well received maybe they can change it before we leave, we can hope!

We sailed AZ Journey a couple years back and the condition of the ship was less than stellar. For some reason AZ is resistant to new ship builds.

There are too many nice new modern ships out there to sail, so we always look at the age of the ship first then itinerary.

For all of those concerned about upcoming Azamara voyages, I can speak from personal experience that the Journey was in beautiful shape when we sailed right before Christmas. It was our first time on this line - most of our experience having been with Crystal and Celebrity Solstice Class - and we were really impressed by the lovingly maintained ships, elegant decor and great staff. So impressed, that we immediately booked two more cruises with Azamara. Anyone who says that the ships are rundown are not being truthful. They are wonderful ships in brilliant condition. This is not to negate people's complaints about what they experienced with the plumbing issues on the recent cruise - I am sure that was very unpleasant. Our first and last cruise on Holland America was in 2013 and we had similar issues on that ship with broken toilets and leaking ceilings. Hopefully AZ can get the plumbing situation resolved quickly, because this can certainly turn someone off from a cruise line permanently.

Michael

After reading another thread about UK clients being booked onto ridiculous indirect flights when short direct ones from their local airports are readily available, I was already wondering whether it was a mistake to book another Azamara cruise. Now I'm starting to look forward to our 2016 cruise on Journey with trepidation. This is not good, given the price paid, and we don't have the luxury afforded to the USA clients of being able to cancel without losses.

You can always book through the US and should get access to choice air, works for RCI and Celebrity.

Thank you TxnAquarian, we love Crystal and are Elite Plus with Celebrity. After reading some of the recent reviews on Journey, we were questioning our decision to sail on this ship. We enjoy sailing different lines and like to compare. We love transatlantic sailings and decided to try Azamara. Your comments help knowing that you also have sailed different lines.

We have our first Azamara cruise in July of 2016 and have no plans to cancel. Every line goes through problems with ships. I'm convinced this problem will get a permanent fix. In the meantime, I'm sure everyone will keep an eye open on the next few Journey itineraries. Some will overreact and cancel cruises. Maybe that will lower prices for the rest of us.

After 15 cruises with Azamara, we decided it was time to say goodbye. This is a link to my post in September, following our 26 day B2B on the Journey.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2102940

 

Too many things were not working. The crew was not happy, the food was subpar, and the entertainment quality had declined. We have not been back.

 

We leave on a 14 day Seabourn cruise in a week.

We sailed on the Journey last fall on a B2B. After reading your review it doesn't sound as though you were on the same ship we were. :eek: We did not find any of the negative things you posted. The crew and staff were awesome, as always. We thought the food was wonderful and never had an issue. We also did not see any "drunks". If the included drinks are indeed causing problems, we did not notice any.

My only regret with Azamara is that we won't be sailing with them until next summer and it's on the Quest. If Journey was doing our itinerary, we would be on it.

We also had no issues with our cabin steward. In fact, one day I forgot to turn the do not disturb sign around and came back to find our cabin was not made up. We went up to the sunset bar and when we returned to clean up for dinner, it had been made up. He explained to me when they see the do not disturb sign, they are not allowed to disturb the pax, as was stated in a comment just below your review.

Just debarked Journey on Friday in Miami. Not aware of any plumbing problems on this last cruise.

I have other thoughts on what was my first Azamara cruise but I'm going to percolate on them for a couple of days before considering writing a review.

March 9 and March 21 were our first and second Azamara cruises. Yes, there was rough weather; very rough. Fortunately neither of us are bothered by this. Yes there were plumbing problems; fortunately again we were not impacted by this. Certainly had we been in one of the affected cabins, we would have been uncomfortable and unhappy - until the situation was resolved.

The Captain did a lot to keep everyone informed about both situations with frequent announcements regarding progress in resolving the plumbing issues and weather updates. Senior staff were very visible throughout both cruises.

Also, I must say that I have never seen a friendlier, more willing to please crew in over 30 voyages. Everyone appeared to be empowered to make the decisions necessary to provide the best possible guest experience. The only less than stellar interactions with staff were surprisingly at Guest Relations. Several of GR were the only people I encountered who seemed uninterested in providing an optimum guest experience. To put this in proper perspective, we never had any issues, merely needed change one time, had a couple of questions at other times. Tine was always smiling and helpful, however the other two we interacted with were much less so.

The ship itself was in great condition. I loved the elegant common areas. The decor of the entire ship was beautiful and very well maintained. Also, everything was kept very clean. The entire ship seemed a very well-oiled machine; well run.

Service was excellent in every venue. When our beer of choice (not one of the complimentary) was unavailable in the Sunset Bar, the bartender quickly went elsewhere to get 4 bottles. There were always plenty of servers available in the buffet to carry your plate and get your beverage of choice. The servers in Mosaic quickly learned our preferences. Waiters in every eating place were great without being stuffy or too formal. In all, we were very impressed and pleased.

We had a wonderful time and I would not hesitate to recommend Azamara. In fact we have B2B booked in both 2016 and 2017.

I saw a report about the message light being out (stubbornly) on the phone, and the occupants being assumed to be rude. Now, that would stir my feathers a bit. because if I am being assumed to be rude and mean, I want to be able to take that assumption right out of that equation. There will be no doubt. Azramara doesn't have to talk on any extra work for me.

Also, I must say that I have never seen a friendlier, more willing to please crew in over 30 voyages. Everyone appeared to be empowered to make the decisions necessary to provide the best possible guest experience. The only less than stellar interactions with staff were surprisingly at Guest Relations. Several of GR were the only people I encountered who seemed uninterested in providing an optimum guest experience. To put this in proper perspective, we never had any issues, merely needed change one time, had a couple of questions at other times. Tine was always smiling and helpful, however the other two we interacted with were much less so.

It's so interesting that your experience mirrors our own. We felt that the entire shipboard staff were fabulous, with the exception of Guest Relations. The ladies who worked there were so unfriendly and irritated by any small request, that it got to the point that I was intimidated dealing with them and made a point to avoid them for the rest of the trip.

Michael

Hummmm... very surprising. We have had 4 cruises on this line and we have been delighted in most every way.

To the OP, I'm sorry you had such a poor cruise that would make you not wish to sail on Azamara again. I post this not to doubt you, but hopefully allay fears that some reading here may have.

I'm currently on Journey. The loos are working, the crew are happy and engaging (well, they are wonderful actually) and the food both in the main dining room and buffet has been excellent. I've been on Journey about a dozen times. I love this ship. It's true to say it's not brand new, but it is very clean and I think charming. It will be nice to see it properly refurbed, but in the meantime I continue to be very comfortable. Since I have read bad reports (including one person via another review medium who called it small and old and a bathtub) I've made a point of asking other passengers how they are enjoying their cruise and it's been a unanimous positive response. Everyone seems very happy.

So don't panic. All is well here. Oh and so far the weather across the Atlantic is beautiful. Smooth and sunny, warm skies.

Phil

We are the ones who were basically forced to disembark. They offered us only a credit on a future cruise with them. We spoke to the credit card company who said this was a fraud case. They sold us a " luxury" cruise, and we did not get a luxury cruise. We got a stateroom without a toilet. That is not luxury. They owe us a refund.

Really? You paid for a " luxury" cruise and the toilets didn't work and you are ok with that?? When we were on the Miami to Costa Rica leg they left port knowing the toilets didn't work , and they announced when they finally found the problem it was a leak in the galley, which was not confidence inspiring about the food. They repeatedly told us the problem had been fixed so it's interesting to see that on the return trip there were in fact still problems.