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Azamara Very Gay-Friendly


tv24
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Just wanted to let my brothers and sisters know that our recent crossing on Azamara was especially gay-friendly. The Cruise Director and Guest Relations Director hosted 2 LGBT gatherings that were well-publicized in the daily bulletin. We had our own lovely corner for a well-served cocktail party both times with fully welcoming reports from the officers, who also explained that the Azamara CEO is (wisely) fully supporting the LGBT passengers. This was followed by hosted tables in the center of the main dining room for a rolling group of LGBT passengers who wanted to dine with the gay Guest Relations Director and the gay Concierge. This helped support nightly LGBT meet-ups in the cocktail area plus a general gay-friendly vibe throughout the entire cruise. We could not be more happy and we felt totally welcome, embraced and out and proud. We've been on almost ten other lines and never felt so welcome. Many many thanks to Azamara staff and management for a job well done.

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Hey TV24, thanks so much for the information on Azamara. My other half and I will be celebrating our honeymoon on the Quest this October, out of NOLA. With a smaller ship, we were wondering about this and are really looking forward to meeting the cruise director, captain, staff and hopefully, other GLBT passengers.

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Hey TV24, thanks so much for the information on Azamara. My other half and I will be celebrating our honeymoon on the Quest this October, out of NOLA. With a smaller ship, we were wondering about this and are really looking forward to meeting the cruise director, captain, staff and hopefully, other GLBT passengers.

 

Hi Mermen: Thanks for the message. I can see that you are loyal Celebrity customers. Lots of AZ passengers have sailed on Celebrity frequently and try out AZ to test the waters. We find AZ quite a step above Celebrity, although with the smaller ship, there are smaller shows and fewer things to do on board. If you have a lot of ports, you can focus on the port experience. I expect/hope that your LGBT experience will be terrific, as ours has been on 2 recent crossings on the Journey. Have a great cruise and see you around the Bay Area!

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  • 1 month later...

My partner & I did a 16 day Panama Canal cruise a couple of years ago on the Journey & from start to finish it was a really great experience. Saying that we are not overly social - whomever we meet - gay or otherwise - should they be interesting, nice & fun we certainly enjoy interacting. My partner is also a golfer - I'm not - so he's always open to meeting people onboard who will join him in a round. We both have extensive cruises under our belts - prefer smaller ships on better lines. We started w/ a few days in Laguna Beach at Casa Laguna - a very special hotel on Pacific Coast Highway and sailed out of San Diego. we really liked sailing out of San Diego as opposed to LA. So easy & another plus w/ the smaller ships(sans thousands of other passengers & crew)was that our first day (and last) onboard was all ours & we had lunch outside on a beautiful day(this was February). From the time the car dropped us off to when we were in our cabin was less than 30 minutes.

 

Specifically the Journey staff, food & entertainment was up to par w/ a good Westin Hotel. Whether we were relaxing by the pool, having a meal in the dining room or cocktails in one of the bars we found it a totally professional & relaxing experience. we live in NYC so the relaxation is important - even w/ a few dances in the late nite lounge we came away renewed. The ship was more quiet than say an NCL ship but the quality onboard was more to our liking. - I do not recall there being GLBT meets at that time but the officers always interacted with us - their initiation - and conversed, had drinks asked if we were enjoying ourselves. The other passengers seemed well travelled & cordial. After the cruise we stayed several days at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Ft Lauderdale - absolutely faboo!!!!

 

I certainly would recommend the line to anyone - singles, gay couples or groups. And the ship itself was wonderful, I'm not a fan of the new mega ships - I look forward to more early morning coffee on the aft deck just cruising along. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have.

Edited by Rotterdam
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As an aside, TV24, I've found you to be the most friendly on the Azamara community board, and appreciate your posts!

 

I've found a lot of the posters to be fairly cliquish and just stuffy, have never run across this with Celebrity or Princess. Most are free with their comments, suggestions, answers, etc. I'm sure the roll call board would be similar, so wont join that for now.

 

Sure hope this isn't the temperature of the cruisers we're going to be with for 16 days. :confused:

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As an aside, TV24, I've found you to be the most friendly on the Azamara community board, and appreciate your posts!

 

I've found a lot of the posters to be fairly cliquish and just stuffy, have never run across this with Celebrity or Princess. Most are free with their comments, suggestions, answers, etc. I'm sure the roll call board would be similar, so wont join that for now.

 

Sure hope this isn't the temperature of the cruisers we're going to be with for 16 days. :confused:

 

Thanks for your note, Mermen. But no worries for Azamara. I don't know what it is about Cruise Critic, it sometimes does develop into a bit of a clique, people who know each other either in person or electronically, and they just write back-and-forth to each other on the boards. But I am confident that you will find your fellow passengers every bit as friendly on AZ as you have on Celebrity. They are a lot of the folks, loyal Celebrity PAX try out Azamara as a little upgrade to their cruising. I'm sure you will meet lots of friendly folks. Bon voyage!

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As an aside, TV24, I've found you to be the most friendly on the Azamara community board, and appreciate your posts!

 

I've found a lot of the posters to be fairly cliquish and just stuffy, have never run across this with Celebrity or Princess. Most are free with their comments, suggestions, answers, etc. I'm sure the roll call board would be similar, so wont join that for now.

 

Sure hope this isn't the temperature of the cruisers we're going to be with for 16 days. :confused:

 

I'll echo what tv24 said, don't worry about the temperament of the Azamara Board as I really don't believe it will be indicative of what you'll experience onboard. I worried about this with our first Azamara cruise and it was the complete opposite. We met the nicest people we have ever cruised with and immediately booked a second cruise. I don't really know why their CC Board can be so boisterous but we just completed our second cruise and it was as perfect as the first. We don't often join roll calls, especially those that start to plan gift giveaways and door decorating, but the one on our recent Azamara cruise was kind of quiet and subdued so we joined and met some great people, often eating dinner together and doing tours. Azamara really has become our line of choice as we have felt completely comfortable and really enjoyed the passenger mix on both cruises.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Dave and Steve

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This will be our first Azamara. Will be our 49th cruise and what happens? Our

2nd upgrade ever in all these years. I think we will like Azamara

 

Bob en Cor

 

Know the feeling, on the Azamara cruise from a couple of weeks ago, it was our first upgrade ever and we got to spend 11 spoiled days in one of the Club Continent Suites. I think it's a conspiracy; they upgrade you so you get to live the high life for a couple of weeks and then hope you'll pay full price in the future to enjoy added space and amenities. :) We probably won't get the upgrade again but we enjoyed it while we had it!!! Dave

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Going in November with with my partner on our first AZ from Singapore to Hong Kong. Heard great stories. Really looking forward😊😊

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-N910F met Tapatalk

 

That's a great itinerary. We did it on Celebrity 2 years ago. Tres bon voyage!

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  • 1 year later...

Even though this thread is a bit old, sounds like most of the people liked Azamara quite a lot. We are booked on the Journey this coming June and, while we have been on Crystal, Cunard and Regent before, this will be our first time with Azamara. This is a rather port-intensive cruise, so we will not have a lot of sea days, but looking forward to a relaxing atmosphere, pleasant dining options/experiences, etc. while on board.

 

If anyone has been on them recently, are the standards still up to the high praises expressed in this thread of a couple of years ago?

 

Any information would be most helpful....thanks!

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I started this thread after our last Azamara cruise, and now 2 years have passed, and we have not found an Azamara itinerary that works for us. So no new news from me. Our 4 AZ cruises were all crossings, which is pretty much what we do on the sea. We've loved all of our AZ crossings because of the quality of the ships and the super-friendly passengers, including the gay folks. However, from other PAX I've learned that AZ shines on port-intensive cruises. AZ does not have a lot to do on board on sea days, so to have fun ports to visit during the day, and then to enjoy the bars, restaurants, shows, and disco at night seems to be a good combo for many PAX. I always recommend Azamara, a nice step up from the mass market lines, but not as pricey, or even snooty, as the luxury lines.

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  • 2 months later...

We are really anticipating our first Azamara cruises. Western Med from Rome Oct 28, 2018 and B2B TA from Barcelona Nov. 6, 2018. If any family are going or have any advice, we would really appreciate knowing about it.

Mike and Ron, 36 years to date, :) and San Antonio

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hey everybody.

I have just found this thread and wanted to comment.

Azamara openly welcomes the LGBT community with informal elegance.

Kudos.

Brian

 

I can echo Brian. We're traveled lots of lines, recently Princess and HAL, and no one, no one, comes close to embracing the LGBT community like Azamara. Love it!

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  • 1 month later...
We are really anticipating our first Azamara cruises. Western Med from Rome Oct 28, 2018 and B2B TA from Barcelona Nov. 6, 2018. If any family are going or have any advice, we would really appreciate knowing about it.

Mike and Ron, 36 years to date, :) and San Antonio

 

All I can say is, have a great time. Azamara is a great cruise line and VERY gay friendly. We have made a lot of friends during our cruising aboard, both gay and straight, both cruisers and staff. They will make you feel "at home" from your boarding to each time they welcome you back on board after a port call with a very friendly "welcome home". Enjoy !!!

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