Is AZ going the way of other cruise lines?

[chromered7]

We are due to sail with AZ for the first time next year. We normally cruise with X but felt that the changes that were being made were against why cruised with them originally.

In researching cruises for 2016 we looked at alternatives and found that AZ appealed to us. It had a sound history of very good customer service and quality of food. AZ also had destinations that were interesting with destinations we had not been to before. I review the topics on the AZ page as well as the roll call for our ship. I have been alarmed at several threads relating below quality food in the MDR and concerns of the daily wine available. These are similar to the issues that we experienced on X, smaller portions of food, inconsistent food quality in the MDR, reductions in staffing levels and changes to entertainment, which is why we looked at other cruise lines. We are now wondering if the reputation that AZ had still stacks up and have we made a mistake by cruising with them . This is not a small amount of money to gamble with and we will watching the AZ message board for developments. I have a theory that post ship refurb cruise lines look at rationalising services to off set refurb costs.

[nordski]

We have sailed Azamara for the past four years and have two more cruises reserved.

 

We consider the totality of our experiences on board, and obviously have really enjoyed each cruise. We can't picture it being much better.

 

That being said, there are some cruisers for whom individual aspects of a cruise may be crucial and, perfectly reasonably, this leads to dissatisfaction. I'm certain they will find a better option elsewhere.

 

Specifically, in October on the Journey, we found the food in the MDR and the specialty restaurants as good as ever. In fact, we could have eaten in the specialty restaurants every night as part of our suite perks, but we only did so twice as we enjoyed the MDR so much

 

Secondly there is always a "theme" service in the Windows Cafe that you can enjoy with, it is to be hoped, a beautiful view from the outside tables. Perhaps ironically, with refurbishment there was a plan to convert this area to a sushi bar, and this plan, which encountered much criticism on this forum, was abandoned.

 

My understanding is that the grill area on the ships will receive a major enhancement and will also be available for evening meals.

 

Those who cruise much more often than we do now find the menus repetitive and in need of an update. That is a valid criticism which seems to be receiving some comment; see the Azamara Asks sticky above.

 

As for the wines, some of them may well have changed since we were on board. As I understand it the replacement policy, if you did not like the wine du jour, was one of courtesy. The actual policy, I believe, has not changed.

 

Our last cruise on X was in Aqua last April. We enjoyed it, but it is a very different experience and, finances permitting, we prefer Azamara if not just for the wonderful staff and fellow cruisers.

 

At this point we would never consider an Azamara cruise a "gamble" as to whether we would consider it value for money.

[pickypicky]

To the OP: We are not frequent cruisers, but I feel compelled to say that I don't think you should be alarmed by the negative reviews. Perhaps some people just cruise too much? Our last AZ cruise was in August. We have another booked. In all honesty, my husband found that the MDR food lacked the wow factor. I, on the other hand, prefer what they offered: beautifully plated and perfectly seasoned dishes in manageable portions. I prefer this to "lobster" (not cold water) or "steak". And service rivaled that of the best restaurant at home. Add to that a nice glass of wine and you have a perfect evening, IMHO. And, as Nordski points out, there is an extremely tempting buffet every evening if the MDR menu doesn't appeal or you don't want to pay for a specialty restaurant. Maybe I just haven't cruised enough to be jaded, but I consider myself to be fairly discerning, at sea or on land. We sail Azamara primarily for their itineraries. Go for it. Book the cruise and quit reading Cruise Critic. It will be what you make it!

Edited December 29, 2015 by pickypicky

[tv24]

I disembarked from the Azamara Journey Dec. 11. While I have posted that I was somewhat disappointed in the food in the MDR (not as fabulous as on previous AZ cruises), I must say that the food elsewhere was quite good. And I was always happy with the included wine, more than happy. In all aspects, AZ was way superior to our experience on Celebrity. We enjoyed Celebrity, especially since we had the good fortune to eat in Aqua, but in all areas AZ is a big step up. Check it out and see what you think. I know you will feel pampered.

[TalaTraveller]

We are due to sail with AZ for the first time next year. We normally cruise with X but felt that the changes that were being made were against why cruised with them originally.

In researching cruises for 2016 we looked at alternatives and found that AZ appealed to us. It had a sound history of very good customer service and quality of food. AZ also had destinations that were interesting with destinations we had not been to before. I review the topics on the AZ page as well as the roll call for our ship. I have been alarmed at several threads relating below quality food in the MDR and concerns of the daily wine available. These are similar to the issues that we experienced on X, smaller portions of food, inconsistent food quality in the MDR, reductions in staffing levels and changes to entertainment, which is why we looked at other cruise lines. We are now wondering if the reputation that AZ had still stacks up and have we made a mistake by cruising with them . This is not a small amount of money to gamble with and we will watching the AZ message board for developments. I have a theory that post ship refurb cruise lines look at rationalising services to off set refurb costs.

Hi Chromered7

 

Do not worry about the cruise, we were on our first AZ cruise in March 2015. We have our next booked for Feb 2016 and again for Dec 2016.

 

Yes there will be some points that will be disappointments, but on the whole we had a fantastic time. We found the food fantastic. Their poolside buffets were immaculately planned, and the staff couldn't do enough for you. Try the restaurant brunches - they are awesome with such a choice you won't know where to start!

 

If you want something special for dinner, if you talk to the Maitre D with 24 hours notice they will prepare it for you, we did with a Chinese meal, it was great.

 

We found the wines perfectly drinkable, with wines from a different country offered each day.

 

Go for it and enjoy; and you will have a great time.

 

G

[Grandma Cruising]

I agree with everything said here. We have done 3 cruises with Azamara and have our fourth booked for October 2016. We would now be reluctant to look at any other cruise lines, the whole experience is just wonderful. I have been one of those commenting on the food in the MDR, but only that on our last cruise I did not feel that it had the 'wow' factor it had previously, but it was still very good indeed.

I think you will really love the whole atmosphere on whichever Azamara boat you have booked - where else would you see all the senior staff, including the captain, stopping to talk to passengers every day, where else would you find crew so willing to go the extra mile to fulfill your every wish?

 

 

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[excitedofharpenden]

I will add the "don't panic" commentary here. Having cruised on Celebrity quite a lot since 2002 I took my first Azamara cruise in 2011. I average four or five Az cruises a year. I have seen no drop in food standards and enjoy Azamara now as much as I did at the start. The food I have always found to be a step up from Celebrity. I was on the Journey November transatlantic which has drawn many comments here about the food and personally I didn't have an issue. I ate five times in the MDR and all the meals were very good. The Specialty restaurants were excellent and I'd recommend at least one visit to them. Prime C just gets the nod from me as my favourite.

 

Celebrity can't compete with the later nights, the deck parties and docking positions these smaller ships have in port nor do they offer the same standards of service and friendliness onboard. At least that is how I feel.

 

Phil

[Prefdavid]

We were also on the TA alongside Phil & Tom and we were a little disappointed with the choice and "lack of wow" in the MDR, so only ate there on three evenings.

 

However we enjoyed two evenings each in both Aqualina and Prime C as well as the French Chef's table (a superb occasion) and just enjoyed the buffet in Windows cafe on the other nights.

 

Perfectly happy with the wine choices and were nearly always able to get an alternative to the daily wine when we asked.

 

The small disappointment experienced with the MDR doesn't over shadow the great time we had on board. So many lovely people to meet and a crew who go out of their way to make your time on board special.

 

There's no doubt that we'll be back and hope the OP stays with their booking and enjoys the unique Azamara experience.

[oliveau]

I agree with everything said here. We have done 3 cruises with Azamara and have our fourth booked for October 2016. We would now be reluctant to look at any other cruise lines, the whole experience is just wonderful. I have been one of those commenting on the food in the MDR, but only that on our last cruise I did not feel that it had the 'wow' factor it had previously, but it was still very good indeed.

I think you will really love the whole atmosphere on whichever Azamara boat you have booked - where else would you see all the senior staff, including the captain, stopping to talk to passengers every day, where else would you find crew so willing to go the extra mile to fulfill your every wish?

 

 

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I couldn't have put it better myself. Good points, well made.

[welshfamily]

We have cruised with Azamara only once.

Before last summer we had only cruised with Celebrity although we had been considering Azamara for a while.

We cruised in a suite and unfortunately didn't eat in the MDR so cannot comment on the food there however we have booked a balcony for our next port intensive cruise. We ate in the evening buffet 4 times, the speciality restaurants, the White night buffet and the chef's table.

 

 

Perhaps a list of what was better about Azamara will help reassure you.

1. Service. The staff were charming, helpful and happy. Nothing was too much trouble.

2. Sun beds. Plentiful and comfortable.

3. Tenders. Walk straight on. Continually running. we had free shuttles when tendering into a 'industrial' port.

4. Included drinks. These were more than adequate but we are not wine experts, to give you some idea I would have classed the selection as around the £8-12 mark in a Uk supermarket. No member of staff tried to sell us anything.

5. Evening buffet in Windows cafe.

6. White night party.

7. Pool grill.

8. The atmosphere on board. I have left this to last as I cannot really put my finger on what made this so much better than Celebrity. It just was.

 

 

Now a list of things which were just as good.

1. Entertainment. Although Cabaret style ,so very different, we enjoyed the vast majority. Excellent pianist.

2. Beds and towels.

3. Windows cafe for breakfast and lunch. ( compared to Blu ) Although there was less choice tables were set, service was good ( if you wanted service ) but you could also help yourself. We preferred the mix of coffee and juice bought swiftly whilst choosing own breakfast. Best thing about this was when ordering eggs they were delivered to table you didn't stand and wait. We liked the lunches, again less choice but better quality.

4. Bars ...less...but far nicer atmosphere as we began to recognise fellow cruisers and enjoyed their company.

5. Coffee shop. Compairable to Celebrity before the drinks packages.

 

Lastly things which were worse.

The shower.

 

Hope this helps.

[ChucktownSteve]

I'd like to thank the contributors to this thread. Since we have a first time upcoming AZ cruise booked which is still a ways off, it's good to see that at this point, we have apparently made a good choice to include AZ.

 

I'd also like to compliment Bonnie. From what I've observed in other threads, she is an incredible AZ social media ambassador who appears to really care about her cruisers. I wish the new X blogger would be more than just a cut and paste bot who can take a lesson from Bonnie.

 

So THANK YOU!

[tv24]

The work that Bonnie does is amazing. I have found no other line that invests so much effort and talent in working with the Cruise Critic community. I think it's money well-spent for AZ, and we CC'ers are thrilled to have the assistance of Bonnie on all of our little and big issues.

[Grandma Cruising]

The work that Bonnie does is amazing. I have found no other line that invests so much effort and talent in working with the Cruise Critic community. I think it's money well-spent for AZ, and we CC'ers are thrilled to have the assistance of Bonnie on all of our little and big issues.

 

 

Hear, hear.

 

 

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[BBMacLaird]

Aw shucks y'all I appreciate your compliments! :o

As I was reading through this thread from beginning to end just now I didn't expect to see my name and role come up. My role interacting with all of you is quite enjoyable. The long-timers will recall from my bio that I spent most of my life in marketing, revenue management and international sales for various small-ship cruise lines so some of the issues are deja vu. I now enjoy the honor of being the liaison on Cruise Critic for our line Azamara Club Cruises. But enough about me...

 

I'm gratified to see cool heads responding on this thread about the overall product and service delivery on our ships. Sometimes the little (or not so little!) issues get a full head of steam and seem to dominate the airwaves. No one wants to believe a company employee (e.g., me) when we say all is still great so hearing from you, our loyal and frequent cruisers, helps calm the waters.

Your feedback is always appreciated, as well as read and shared with appropriate departments, for example, yes, we are exploring what happened to the "Wow factor" in the Discoveries Restaurant (e.g., dinner entrees.)

 

p.s. now who is the new X blogger? Anyone have a link to his/her profile on CC? I will be happy to help out my brother/sister blogger :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

Bonnie: here is a link to a recent post from the "official" Celebrity Cruises account:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=48604332&postcount=51

When I click on the user name, I go to their profile page. There is also a User Note with the information you are looking for, but I'm not sure if that is visible to non-Hosts and therefore I don't think I should repeat it. You may need to go to the Cruise Critic admins to get this info.

[BBMacLaird]

Bonnie: here is a link to a recent post from the "official" Celebrity Cruises account:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=48604332&postcount=51

When I click on the user name, I go to their profile page. There is also a User Note with the information you are looking for, but I'm not sure if that is visible to non-Hosts and therefore I don't think I should repeat it. You may need to go to the Cruise Critic admins to get this info.

 

Thank you Host Jazzbeau.

[nirmd01]

Don't go with high expectations & you won't be dissappointed. We cruised the Quest on 2 Dec this year for 10 nights & were a little dissappointed that what we experienced didn't quite meet the hype about this ship & cruiseline. We have cruised with several cruiselines, even on some smaller ships than the Quest, & had much better experiences. We thought the food was bland, of average quality & menus not really balanced nutritionally. The staff were lovely but no more attentive than we've experienced on other ships. The AI drinks package was ok but limited- my OH had to pay for port & I was unable to enjoy my usual tipple as there was no bitter lemon as a mixer. Actually, Thomson's (TUI) have a much greater choice in their AI package.

Azamara market themselves as a 5* cruiseline, which it may have been in the past, but I do not believe it is now. If we hadn't been expecting a 5* cruise, we would have been more satisfied with our cruise. We weren't the only ones on the cruise of this opinion.

[chromered7]

This is the dilemma , you cannot ignore such a recent cruise experience. Cruising is now more expensive but the overall quality is so varried so to get a true picture seems impossible. Should a cruise be such a gamble , it is true that you cannot do much about the weather but if cruise is 5 star then you would expect your experience to reflect that . Cruise companies rationalise not to improve their service but to increase their revenue whilst the quality suffers. When researching a cruise the quality of service is important along with the destinations etc. My concern is what I thought was a cruise company with a sound quality reputation is perhaps not as good as I first thought.

 

 

 

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[upwarduk]

I am providing a link to the Roll call for our 1st Azamara cruise on Quest.

One of the experienced Azamara passengers is at present on the Christmas cruise and has positive comments about the food.

Post 575 here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2109945&page=29

Edited January 2, 2016 by upwarduk

[Grandma Cruising]

We have cruised with other lines and never experienced the same 'vibe' as on Azamara, I find it hard to describe, but it's a mixture, I think, of the friendliness, as well as attentiveness, of all crew and officers and the lovely passengers, good food and a good range of included drinks.

 

 

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[Spursgirl]

We have cruised with other lines and never experienced the same 'vibe' as on Azamara, I find it hard to describe, but it's a mixture, I think, of the friendliness, as well as attentiveness, of all crew and officers and the lovely passengers, good food and a good range of included drinks.

 

 

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Completely agree Grandma Cruising. I find it almost impossible to define what makes Azamara so special.

 

We cruised on Journey in November and had our usual wonderful time. Is the food in the MDR as good as it was when I first started cruising with Azamara back in 2008? No. But is the food bad? Definitely not. As the OP of another thread I think it is time the MDR menu was reviewed and refreshed. But that is because I have cruised on Quest and Journey countless times and am so familiar with the dishes offered. If I was a first time Azamara cruiser I think it would be perfectly fine.

 

On our most recent cruise both speciality restaurants always fantastic were even better IMO.:)

[chromered7]

"If I was a first time Azamara cruiser I think it would be perfectly fine". Are you suggesting that we now accept the lesser quality of food in the MDR because we are new to AZ?

[Spursgirl]

"If I was a first time Azamara cruiser I think it would be perfectly fine". Are you suggesting that we now accept the lesser quality of food in the MDR because we are new to AZ?

 

Is that really a serious comment Chromered7. Of course that is not my suggestion.

 

In common with most cruise lines I have sailed with over the last 8 years food in main restaurants has changed and in my opinion is not quite as good as it was. Does this mean the food in Azamara 's main restaurant is bad, absolutely not in my opinion.

 

Only you can decide whether to go ahead with your Azamara cruise. I really hope you do and enjoy it.

[Zimbo]

I have not sailed Azamara before, but have booked an upcoming cruise with them due to the itinerary and what looks to be a decent refurbishment of the product.

 

I did plenty of research, including on the CC forums. If you base your final decisions on the posts found here, then good luck finding an alternative. The Seabourn, Silverseas, Crystal, Regent, Oceania boards are similarly littered with posts bemoaning a degradation in food quality, included drinks, service levels, etc, etc.

 

Bottom line is, people get jaded even if the product has not changed, or get comfortable and then vent when inevitable changes push them out of that comfort zone (even if such changes are not in any way or form a downgrade). Forums provide a fertile breeding ground for complaints, and tend to amplify a vocal minority.

[BBMacLaird]

I have not sailed Azamara before, but have booked an upcoming cruise with them due to the itinerary and what looks to be a decent refurbishment of the product.

 

I did plenty of research, including on the CC forums. If you base your final decisions on the posts found here, then good luck finding an alternative. The Seabourn, Silverseas, Crystal, Regent, Oceania boards are similarly littered with posts bemoaning a degradation in food quality, included drinks, service levels, etc, etc.

 

Bottom line is, people get jaded even if the product has not changed, or get comfortable and then vent when inevitable changes push them out of that comfort zone (even if such changes are not in any way or form a downgrade). Forums provide a fertile breeding ground for complaints, and tend to amplify a vocal minority.

 

Zimbo, welcome to the Azamara forum. I so appreciate the research and your macro-perspective you've shared with us. I hope you'll come back regularly!