Negative Reviews

We have enjoyed a number of cruises on Azamara Quest and although have noted economies it is still our favourite ship and we recommend it highly.

However there are far more negative than positive reviews over the last few months. Most complaints focus on the poor quality of food and wine offered.

We are booked the 32 day Canada/Eastern USA charter on Quest later this year so hope Azamara address these and other issues raised.

Lines such as Viking will compete with Azamara so standards need to be kept up or regular cruisers will look to other options.

I was on Quest for 24 days over the Christmas period. I did not post a review on the reviews site. If I had I would probably have viewed it overall as 4 star. I suspect there are many like me in that group. I do still like the underlying product a lot. The cruises this festive season on Quest had a demographic which may or may not be driving the lower scores

On board we met:

1. A lot of new cruisers to Azamara many who had been lured by marketing that talked about luxury. A number took the view that the experience although good was oversold. Others were very happy particularly those who had never cruised before but as such may not have posted reviews

2. On one of the cruises around 66% were repeat cruisers, the highest ever number. Many there were a little more negative than we've heard in the past and yes the issues were food and wine, plus a few noticing staff were less positive. I'd put the staff issue down to the fact it was Christmas, they were working flat out plus inevitably and rightly having some after hours fun and were missing families.

We thought the food was still really beautifully cooked and presented. The issue was some of the nights choices were more limited and certainly for beef lovers there was less than before. For us that problem is solved once The Patio comes in, the carnivore in the group can always be fully satisfied.

I will be honest, yes the wine was a disappointment especially the Rose. There was also a rule being applied about no Cosmopolitans without a beverage package (Bonnie has already posted that staff are being retrained to make included Cosmos, this also seemed to be a Quest only issue) and another Quest issue was that they were trying to charge for wine if you did not drink the wine of the day but took a wine of the day from a different day. It's gone quiet about that on the boards so I am assuming that's also been over turned.

We had other trips on Quest last year and we did notice they seemed to be trying out a lot of things (not all good) and were more aggressive at upselling than in the past. It will be interesting to see if Journey is like that next month in which case it's a corporate direction.

I think finally and I commented on it here when I came back these were cruises to new places and they felt like the "Guinea pig" cruises. Lots of things were unknowns to the crew. This would I am sure have extended to provisioning which might have further impacted on the food. It certainly impacted guests who got a lot of conflicting (and inaccurate) information about ports of call from onboard staff. This did really annoy some and it then became the negative downward "and another thing" spiral.

So are the views and scores valid, yes they are to those who wrote reviews and yes it's probably running at 4-4.5 stars not a solid 5 but it's still a really great product and most of the glitches may already be fixed.

Hope this helps, I'm certainly looking forward to my next cruises on Azamara

Our November/December 2015 cruise was great. Yes, I did post that the food seemed to have less 'wow' factor than before, however it was still all beautifully cooked and presented food. Everything else was just as wonderful as previously - fantastic crew, lovely ship, no problems.

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I was on Quest for 24 days over the Christmas period. I did not post a review on the reviews site. If I had I would probably have viewed it overall as 4 star. I suspect there are many like me in that group. I do still like the underlying product a lot. The cruises this festive season on Quest had a demographic which may or may not be driving the lower scores

 

On board we met:

 

1. A lot of new cruisers to Azamara many who had been lured by marketing that talked about luxury. A number took the view that the experience although good was oversold. Others were very happy particularly those who had never cruised before but as such may not have posted reviews

 

2. On one of the cruises around 66% were repeat cruisers, the highest ever number. Many there were a little more negative than we've heard in the past and yes the issues were food and wine, plus a few noticing staff were less positive. I'd put the staff issue down to the fact it was Christmas, they were working flat out plus inevitably and rightly having some after hours fun and were missing families.

 

We thought the food was still really beautifully cooked and presented. The issue was some of the nights choices were more limited and certainly for beef lovers there was less than before. For us that problem is solved once The Patio comes in, the carnivore in the group can always be fully satisfied.

 

I will be honest, yes the wine was a disappointment especially the Rose. There was also a rule being applied about no Cosmopolitans without a beverage package (Bonnie has already posted that staff are being retrained to make included Cosmos, this also seemed to be a Quest only issue) and another Quest issue was that they were trying to charge for wine if you did not drink the wine of the day but took a wine of the day from a different day. It's gone quiet about that on the boards so I am assuming that's also been over turned.

 

We had other trips on Quest last year and we did notice they seemed to be trying out a lot of things (not all good) and were more aggressive at upselling than in the past. It will be interesting to see if Journey is like that next month in which case it's a corporate direction.

 

I think finally and I commented on it here when I came back these were cruises to new places and they felt like the "Guinea pig" cruises. Lots of things were unknowns to the crew. This would I am sure have extended to provisioning which might have further impacted on the food. It certainly impacted guests who got a lot of conflicting (and inaccurate) information about ports of call from onboard staff. This did really annoy some and it then became the negative downward "and another thing" spiral.

 

So are the views and scores valid, yes they are to those who wrote reviews and yes it's probably running at 4-4.5 stars not a solid 5 but it's still a really great product and most of the glitches may already be fixed.

 

Hope this helps, I'm certainly looking forward to my next cruises on Azamara

Thanks Ann for the nice summary. Hopefully we'll get those Cosmos on Journey no problem;)

Phil

We have just returned from the Journey. This was our first Azamara after six Seabourn cruises. We were impressed with Azamara, even though there were many problems after the dry dock and the staff were exhausted. We found the cabin very small after Seabourn, and missed the bath which we always have, but we paid a lot less and feel that we certainly got what we paid for.

The food was excellent and, apart from a couple of slower waiters, the service was very good too. The poured free wines were very good, apart from a a couple, and we know our wines. The waiters were happy to give you a taste and find something from previous days if that is what we preferred. No problems with that at any time. The cocktails were good, but the gin and tonics were always flat! I like mine fizzy. The beer choice is poor and we do enjoy a glass of sparkly which is not included, but we can live with that! We have booked another Azamara and will always consider them in the future. Can't say fairer than that. Hope this restores your confidence.

 

We are booked the 32 day Canada/Eastern USA charter on Quest later this year so hope Azamara address these and other issues raised.

.

I hope your cruise is wonderful, but I think I have read that charter companies have some control on the food and beverages (i.e. possibly not included). So I would think it might be a bit harsh to judge Azamara, for what might be the responsibility of the charter company.

After all the 'perceived' negative comments, Azamara Club Cruises has been awarded the 'Favourite Specialist Cruise Line' at the Waves Awards.:)

What more can I say - WELL DONE AZAMARA !!

https://twitter.com/StuartAzamaraUK/status/700459328487235585?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjc18y&refsrc=email

We haven't sailed with Azamara for about 2 years now. We are going transatlantic in April. If the service has degraded to the point that there isn't enough beef at dinner in the MDR, the tonic water is a bit flat, cosmopolitans are not included in the drink package, and some of the staff was a bit down during their Christmas holiday, I suspect I will remain thrilled with the Azamara product. Now to be consistent with the complainers, on our first Azamara cruise in 2010, I did indeed have the misfortune of ordering the Beef "Stroganoff" for dinner one evening in the MDR. Truly a meal to remember, and NOT in a positive manner. It was vile beyond any disaster my wife ever created, although possibly not as bad as the crock pot "Chicken Treblinka" done with tahini-peanut butter sauce. But it was close. I have no problem reporting less than adequate performance, when top dollar price is being paid. However, 3 Azamara cruises, Mediterranean, Indonesia, Northern Europe/Atlantic, I have only glowing things to say about them. And I'm really looking forward to the now completed refurbs.

Like other cruisers we are Seabourn fans, but we have had now 4 Azamara cruises and my only comment is that I wish Brandy was included in the free drinks.

I have had no problem with getting a Cosmopolitan on any of the 4 cruises we have had with them. We have noticed that certain things are not done now which were included on our first cruise with them and that was only about 3 years ago.

Staff seem as friendly as always.

I own two hospitality businesses that rely heavily on reviews. We've been very fortunate to have limited "bad" reviews. What is important for the reader is that the review is one person's perspective and people that want to vent are significantly more likely to post a bad review. Vis-a-vis Azamara, people expect excellent service, get it, and most don't bother sharing their positive experience. Personally I am NOT in that category.

If you search my profile you will be able to read reviews I have written for the many Celebrity Cruises we have taken. When writing a review I always consider what I would want to hear about.

Regarding the complainers, it's important to see exactly what they are complaining about. If it is the food, my response/attitude is: "Did I have to cook it?" and "Is it as good or better than what i would get at home?". If the answer to the first is yes and the second is no then I am happy. Are there going to be dishes someone may not like? Sure. But tell your server and they are MORE than happy to bring you something else. I laugh when the people complain that something isn't "hot". To them I say take a walk from the galley to the wait station to the table and see how long it takes. If my food arrives to me warm to hot I am good with that. If it's cold I ask my server if they can take it back and bring me one that is hot, but do I let that ruin my dinner? No way.

It's all perspective.

I own two hospitality businesses that rely heavily on reviews. We've been very fortunate to have limited "bad" reviews. What is important for the reader is that the review is one person's perspective and people that want to vent are significantly more likely to post a bad review. Vis-a-vis Azamara, people expect excellent service, get it, and most don't bother sharing their positive experience. Personally I am NOT in that category.

 

If you search my profile you will be able to read reviews I have written for the many Celebrity Cruises we have taken. When writing a review I always consider what I would want to hear about.

 

Regarding the complainers, it's important to see exactly what they are complaining about. If it is the food, my response/attitude is: "Did I have to cook it?" and "Is it as good or better than what i would get at home?". If the answer to the first is yes and the second is no then I am happy. Are there going to be dishes someone may not like? Sure. But tell your server and they are MORE than happy to bring you something else. I laugh when the people complain that something isn't "hot". To them I say take a walk from the galley to the wait station to the table and see how long it takes. If my food arrives to me warm to hot I am good with that. If it's cold I ask my server if they can take it back and bring me one that is hot, but do I let that ruin my dinner? No way.

 

It's all perspective.

Have I misread this? I think I would only be happy if my answer to the first question was " no" and the second "yes"!

We are aware of the potential issues with a charter and drink package appears to same as usual Azamara inclusions. We have friends who are regular Azamara cruisers who were less than impressed with their last cruise. Keeping fingers crossed that our Quest cruise is as wonderful as usual. We chose this cruise because of the amazing itinerary.

If any product is sold as high quality with a good reputation

I own two hospitality businesses that rely heavily on reviews. We've been very fortunate to have limited "bad" reviews. What is important for the reader is that the review is one person's perspective and people that want to vent are significantly more likely to post a bad review. Vis-a-vis Azamara, people expect excellent service, get it, and most don't bother sharing their positive experience. Personally I am NOT in that category.

 

If you search my profile you will be able to read reviews I have written for the many Celebrity Cruises we have taken. When writing a review I always consider what I would want to hear about.

 

Regarding the complainers, it's important to see exactly what they are complaining about. If it is the food, my response/attitude is: "Did I have to cook it?" and "Is it as good or better than what i would get at home?". If the answer to the first is yes and the second is no then I am happy. Are there going to be dishes someone may not like? Sure. But tell your server and they are MORE than happy to bring you something else. I laugh when the people complain that something isn't "hot". To them I say take a walk from the galley to the wait station to the table and see how long it takes. If my food arrives to me warm to hot I am good with that. If it's cold I ask my server if they can take it back and bring me one that is hot, but do I let that ruin my dinner? No way.

 

It's all perspective.

Surely the point is that despite whatever time it takes to get from galley to the table the food must be hot. It is not the customers fault that the process of getting food to the table affects how it is served. You can have varriables on any cruise line. If a cruise line sets itself up as a high quality business with high standards they they will held against those standards. Of course you cannot please all of the people all of the time but surely all comments, positive and negative should be heard.

Surely the point is that despite whatever time it takes to get from galley to the table the food must be hot. It is not the customers fault that the process of getting food to the table affects how it is served. You can have varriables on any cruise line. If a cruise line sets itself up as a high quality business with high standards they they will held against those standards. Of course you cannot please all of the people all of the time but surely all comments, positive and negative should be heard.

100%. And if 1 person has a negative comment it should be viewed as that person's opinion and should be viewed by the reader as such. But if many people make a negative comment then it's likely the cruise line has something that needs to be addressed and the reader should take the comment into consideration when deciding whether or not to take a cruise with that line.

Many reviews are good. Some reviews are bad. While nothing is perfect, most cruise lines try to a good cruise. I don't expect perfection. There are some people who complain about everything. While some of those complaints and suggestions may be valid, some are just venting. If somebody dislikes anything so much, I wonder why they return again. Seems to me that if you don't enjoy a cruise, there are many other vacation options. I have been on vacations when things haven't gone as expected. The good cruiseline/tour co. will accept blame and try to fix the problem. I respect Azamara/Celebrity as a cruise line that does the right thing. I keep coming back. I am Discoverer+/Elite+.

After all the 'perceived' negative comments, Azamara Club Cruises has been awarded the 'Favourite Specialist Cruise Line' at the Waves Awards.:)

 

What more can I say - WELL DONE AZAMARA !!

 

https://twitter.com/StuartAzamaraUK/status/700459328487235585?cn=ZmxleGlibGVfcmVjc18y&refsrc=email

Talking to Stuart on the Azamara stand yesterday at the Telegraph Cruise Show, he said this award was particularly important to Azamara as it is based on Customer comments.

It was a good show yesterday, very busy and the Azamara stand looked to be very busy. We also had the honour of talking with Nicole Lukacs and her lovely mother who had accompanied her to London for a few days.

Looking forward to joining the Journey next week in LA:)

I recently spent 40 days on the Quest, embarking in Bali and leaving the ship in Auckland. All I can say is it was a wonderful experience overall. It was Azamara's inaugural season for Australia and New Zealand, and just like most ships "inaugural cruises", things weren't perfect, but then, they never are. However, the staff was terrific, the food was great for the most part, and the ports were interesting and worth visiting, (again for the most part.) I'm sure Azamara may "tweak" the schedule a bit in the future. My only real complaint was the included wines, which IMHO, had declined in quality from previous cruises, and I voiced that complaint in the survey.

As someone already mentioned, it comes down to perspective. Do you look at the glass as half empty or half full. In my case, I felt very blessed to be able to spend such an extended amount of time on a cruise line that I love, on a lovely ship(that will soon be updated) and visiting places that were interesting and unique.

I'm certainly not a pollyanna by any stretch of the imagination! But I believe Azamara is a wonderful cruise line that listens to it's customers and tries to accommodate their wishes as much as possible. They also have a business to run. So looking at it from the big picture, I will continue to be an Azamara cheerleader and look forward to the 6 more cruises I have booked with them.

That should say it all.;)

I recently spent 40 days on the Quest, embarking in Bali and leaving the ship in Auckland. All I can say is it was a wonderful experience overall. It was Azamara's inaugural season for Australia and New Zealand, and just like most ships "inaugural cruises", things weren't perfect, but then, they never are. However, the staff was terrific, the food was great for the most part, and the ports were interesting and worth visiting, (again for the most part.) I'm sure Azamara may "tweak" the schedule a bit in the future. My only real complaint was the included wines, which IMHO, had declined in quality from previous cruises, and I voiced that complaint in the survey.

As someone already mentioned, it comes down to perspective. Do you look at the glass as half empty or half full. In my case, I felt very blessed to be able to spend such an extended amount of time on a cruise line that I love, on a lovely ship(that will soon be updated) and visiting places that were interesting and unique.

I'm certainly not a pollyanna by any stretch of the imagination! But I believe Azamara is a wonderful cruise line that listens to it's customers and tries to accommodate their wishes as much as possible. They also have a business to run. So looking at it from the big picture, I will continue to be an Azamara cheerleader and look forward to the 6 more cruises I have booked with them.

That should say it all.;)

Hi Judy, we will be embarking Journey in December 2016 and the cruise spends a lot of time in Bali ports. I've been researching in earnest what to do in the various ports, but I would love to hear what tips you may have/what you did. (our trip is the December 23 2016 Singapore/ Bali trip.) We were on Azamara Journey for the Christmas/New Years trip Buenos Aires to Rio in 2014 and loved it. (I wrote a glowing review on CC) Thanks for any hlp/tis, Judy!

*help or tips, Judy*

We have just returned from the Journey. This was our first Azamara after six Seabourn cruises. We were impressed with Azamara, even though there were many problems after the dry dock and the staff were exhausted. We found the cabin very small after Seabourn, and missed the bath which we always have, but we paid a lot less and feel that we certainly got what we paid for.

The food was excellent and, apart from a couple of slower waiters, the service was very good too. The poured free wines were very good, apart from a a couple, and we know our wines. The waiters were happy to give you a taste and find something from previous days if that is what we preferred. No problems with that at any time. The cocktails were good, but the gin and tonics were always flat! I like mine fizzy. The beer choice is poor and we do enjoy a glass of sparkly which is not included, but we can live with that! We have booked another Azamara and will always consider them in the future. Can't say fairer than that. Hope this restores your confidence.

Thanks Margbem. I also draw comparisons between Seabourn and AZ and usually find that AZ comes out on top as a better buy. If you want a larger room, you might want to consider one of the suites on AZ, but then the cost comparison becomes about the same. Interesting to me, with all the with all of Seabourn's bragging about luxury and "Just ask, and we will deliver," I find that the food quality on AZ is superior. Wines comparable.

I read the reviews from people who have sailed on the Journey since the refit. Reviews are bad. Has Azamara missed the boat on its refit. On my last cruise on the Journey, the boat operated well in spite of the worn furnishings. However, the worn furnishings turned me off. I did not rebook at that time. I was hoping that the new furnishings would be an improvement. Hope with time, everything will be fixed, painted, repaired, etc. I will be reading reviews. I am looking at fall cruises and hesitate to book on Azamara. With all the good options available, I will probably book on another line for the fall. Maybe , they put the Journey back into operation too soon. Never book a cruise right after drydock.

Having been on the first cruise after refit I find it hard to agree with some of the reviews, however some people were affected more than others and as always you will get a higher proportion of passengers who are unhappy posting reviews than those who were satisfied.

That said it is hard to deny that there were issues, but our experience was that these were addressed promptly but being in the Caribbean with mostly tender ports it was not possible to get some things that should have been simple to sort. With things like the notorious missing bath plugs, one item that did affect us, you just can't go ashore and buy 32 of them! We know we tried, but with English resourcefulness we improvised and had no problems taking a bath.

More important was the overall quality of the refit which we thought was very good indeed, some of the venues are so much better than before, especially areas like the Living Room. We had a CC suite and found it a much more pleasant and well fitted space than before.

Azamara's u.s.p. is it's staff and the service they supply and we found that to be as good as we have always enjoyed. As regards the more subjective areas of food and drink we were perfectly happy with both.

We have been on post dry dock cruises before and expected problems so maybe we were in a better frame of mind than those who were unaware. It's not changed our position as regards Azamara it's still our cruise line of choice, we have a further 7 cruises booked with Azamara 3 of which were booked onboard Journey on that cruise. We are experienced cruisers and if for one minute we had considered that the issues on that cruise were more than a blip we would not have committed to more cruises.

We look forward to getting back on Journey in August for 18 days and enjoying the improved facilities.

We were also on that cruise, our first time on Azamara. I know some people had problems (we had none), but we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. We have no parameters on which to judge the new furnishings etc but thought everywhere looked very nice. The staff were great and one particular couple had lots of issues but laughed them off (and they weren't minor ones) in order to enjoy their holiday. We booked another cruise whilst on board. We are regular Seabourn cruisers so have high standards! We will certainly cruise Azamara in the future.

Hi Judy, we will be embarking Journey in December 2016 and the cruise spends a lot of time in Bali ports. I've been researching in earnest what to do in the various ports, but I would love to hear what tips you may have/what you did. (our trip is the December 23 2016 Singapore/ Bali trip.) We were on Azamara Journey for the Christmas/New Years trip Buenos Aires to Rio in 2014 and loved it. (I wrote a glowing review on CC) Thanks for any hlp/tis, Judy!

Hi, just a quick comment, as I don't want to hijack the thread.If you want more detail, send me your e-mail address. jrsebastian 65 at g mail dot com.

We spent 3 &1/2 days in Bali before the Quest sailed from there. We stayed at the Grand Niko Hotel in Nusa Dua, because we wanted to be away from all the hustle and bustle of Kuta and surrounds. It was a good choice for us.

We hired a private driver to see the sights for 1 3/4 days. In summary, Bali has a horrendous traffic problem, and getting around the island to see the sights is a real challenge in terms of time.Pick your itinerary with that in mind. It's a beautiful island with friendly people, but the traffic and smog really detracts from the allure, at least for us.