OK, So Who Is The Best Then?

[troutfisherman]

Hi All,

 

Well we have a RCCL cruise booked for December and that will take us both to Crown and Anchor Diamond members. So we are thinking of a change to a more 'adult' type of cruise. Not quite SAGA but not Disney either, if you get my drift!

 

So my question is, as we have reciprocal club benefits with Celebrity and Azamara who is the best of the bunch for a more sophisticated cruise experience?

 

Looking forward to the replies and thanks in advance. :D

 

Dave

[uktog]

I know you have posted on the Azamara board but I will post on both questions

 

For a more adult sophisticated experience, Azamara without a doubt, though it will typically (but not always) cost you more than Celebrity. When doing price comparisons, make sure you factor in how much is included in Azamara that you have to pay for on Celebrity

[troutfisherman]

Appreciate the post, thanks.

[WELSH WIZARDS]

Sophistication is in the personal eye of the beholder.

We have sailed with both, only the once with Azamara , and I doubt we will so again.

While Azamara can sail to places the larger ships do not, in some ways, we found Azamara rather lacking whilst on board .

Entertainment, things and places to do and go, such as lectures, films and quizzes etc . Food choices also were much more limited, especially at lunch times .

We had a similar experience with Oceania .

Free wine , less passengers , smaller ship , etc does not make any ship automatically superior, it's more about what will work for you .

You will make the best personal choise if you consider which factors matter the most in making your selection.

[Project_gal]

You will make the best personal choise if you consider which factors matter the most in making your selection.

 

I agree! If the OP lists their particular idea what they are looking for on a "more sophisticated" cruise we can give more specific advice.

 

From our perspective, we loved Azamara before it was rebranded to Azamara Club Cruises but, now, our choice is Celebrity but I know that we are not necessarily average cruisers and our reasons may not be your reasons.

 

Sue

[PSCruiser]

I've only sailed with Azamara once and was not impressed for many reasons, mostly because early in their history they oversold their onboard experience.

Two points - I feel like the small size of the ships limits your onboard options, and personally when the seas get heavy I'd prefer to be on a bigger ship.

Second, does Azamara have a breakfast and evening lounge similar to Captain's Club elite? I don't know.

[epbucky]

I find myself in complete agreement with both WELSH WIZARDS and Project_gal. We also have only been on 1 Azamara cruise (compared to about 8 on Celebrity) but we were actually a little bit disappointed in our Azamara experence. One issue which simply cannot be avoided is the small size of the cabins (especially the bathrooms) due to the age of the ships. Unless you are ready to drop some big bucks for a suite, you are not going to get "spacious" (even by cruise ship standards) accommodations. The other issue for us was the entertainment options (or lack thereof) on these ships. There simply is not a whole lot to do in between meals and shore time. I was able to completely read a rather lengthy novel from cover to cover on a 10 day Adriatic cruise and that is probably the only time I have ever done that on a cruise! Bottom line for us is value per $ paid. While we enjoyed our cruise on the Quest, we felt we got much better value on the Celebrity Expedition which we took immediately prior (it was a back-to-back) for a WHOLE lot less money. At comparable pricing, I would be happy with either one, but given the premium Azamara charges, we feel Celebrity is the better value. But once again it all comes down to what YOU are looking for. The only way you will find out for sure is to try them both and see which one is the better fit for you.