Is Azamara too social for me?

[Mummble]

Hi all!

 

I have been reading these Azamara boards for some time and am in the very early stages of planning a 2018 or 2019 trip. I love many of Azamara's itineraries, the ships look to be lovely, and there seems to be some nice included features at a manageable cost.

 

However, after reading many comments about how social everyone is I am wondering if it isn't right for me? My husband and I are both pleasant people, but we really vacation to get time for just us. My work demands lots of socializing in my day-to-day schedule, and my husband's work demands lots of overtime. Will it be frowned upon if we just want to sit at dinner the two of us? I know it sounds nuts (and we really are nice people!) but our vacation style is just about us.

 

I know ultimately it is probably a 'try it and see' kind of thing, but I would love to hear from other introverts or anyone else' experience.

 

Thanks!

[midwestchick]

DH and I almost always dine at a 2 top on all our cruises. I like to be social to a point. We enjoy our meals and really don't feel like conversing with near strangers when we eat. There are other times we enjoy being social with fellow pax.

You can be as social as you choose. No one will force you to be social.

I'm sure you'll enjoy Azamara.

[NC&KY]

DH and I almost always dine at a 2 top on all our cruises. I like to be social to a point. We enjoy our meals and really don't feel like conversing with near strangers when we eat. There are other times we enjoy being social with fellow pax.

You can be as social as you choose. No one will force you to be social.

I'm sure you'll enjoy Azamara.

Ditto. And we HATED the White Night and ate at a 2 top that night in the main dining room as well. You will be fine.

[midwestchick]

Ditto. And we HATED the White Night and ate at a 2 top that night in the main dining room as well. You will be fine.

 

We are social on White Night. 😉 One of our most favorite evenings on the ship. We wouldn't miss that activity for anything.

[florisdekort]

The nice thing about Azamara is that you can be as social or not-social as you want to be at any moment in time. And there is an abundance of tables for 2 in all dining venues. I'm sure you'll have an excellent time!

 

I have enjoyed white nights and skipped white nights depending on my mood. The same for Azamazing evenings. If on the day you're in the mood for some fun and a party, go. If you're not, plenty of other options to enjoy in private too.

Edited October 26, 2016 by florisdekort

[QueenP]

Im an introvert and so is my mum. We socialised a little and met some nice people but mostly kept ourselves to ourselves. We ate at our own table and spent evenings in our cabins. Its such a lovely relaxed environment, you will have a lovely time.

 

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[midwestchick]

the nice thing about azamara is that you can be as social or not-social as you want to be at any moment in time. And there is an abundance of tables for 2 in all dining venues. I'm sure you'll have an excellent time!

 

I have enjoyed white nights and skipped white nights depending on my mood. The same for azamazing evenings. If on the day you're in the mood for some fun and a party, go. If you're not, plenty of other options to enjoy in private too.

 

👍 👍 👍 👍 🤗 😄

[roaming_kiwi58]

You can be as social or not as you want. Some would say my husband and myself are anti-social. We like to eat on our own and do our own thing. Azamara is our favourite cruise line.

Do what you want and enjoy. I am sure you will enjoy Azamara too.

[upwarduk]

I used to go to the Living Room in the afternoon, when we had sea days, when my husband went to the gym. There were many couples here, using it as a reading room. In fact it was quite difficult to get a seat, so many people liked the quiet atmosphere.

 

There were various social groups on our recent TA, I think mainly sourced via the Progressive Quiz teams.

[Grandma Cruising]

I agree with all the comments here. You can be as social as you want to be, but it would be quite possible not to talk to anyone else at all if you didn't want to. What is great is that all the staff treat you as individuals - it really seems to matter to them that you enjoy your cruise in whatever way suits you. On other lines we have felt we were just a number, not on Azamara.

 

 

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[DavidTheWonderer]

I don't mean to put down the OP's question, which is a fair one which has been nicely answered by others.

 

However, I have a picture of Eric, the "five foot eighteen inch tall" cruise director, marching around the ship with a taser, and anybody caught not socialising with their fellow passengers getting zapped! (Yes, my wife agrees with you that my sense of humor is sometimes bizarre. I, of course, don't agree.)

[orchestrapal]

Hi all!

I have been reading these Azamara boards for some time and am in the very early stages of planning a 2018 or 2019 trip. I love many of Azamara's itineraries, the ships look to be lovely, and there seems to be some nice included features at a manageable cost.

However, after reading many comments about how social everyone is I am wondering if it isn't right for me? My husband and I are both pleasant people, but we really vacation to get time for just us. My work demands lots of socializing in my day-to-day schedule, and my husband's work demands lots of overtime. Will it be frowned upon if we just want to sit at dinner the two of us? I know it sounds nuts (and we really are nice people!) but our vacation style is just about us.

I know ultimately it is probably a 'try it and see' kind of thing, but I would love to hear from other introverts or anyone else' experience.

Thanks!

 

We too are like you and " want to be alone" and have no interest in what we call camp events as well as no need to glad hand the captain and officers.

None of this exists on Oceania and we have enjoyed them for years.

Actually booked an Azamara cruise with the intent to avoid all the group stuff but had to cancel for medical reasons. Re-booked same cruise with Crystal and are then returning to Oceania. sounds like you also would enjoy Oceania.

[Hoyaheel]

Thank you for posting this! I had similar concerns prior to a river cruise we did. I'm not social (my favorite part of cruising is reading with a glass of wine on my balcony;)) But cruising is nice for us as a couple because my husband can be social and I can be an introvert - or socialize if I feel like it.

 

I've found we actually prefer LARGE dining tables to just us - allows me to be quiet and absorb while my husband has opportunities to chat & meet new people. My "quiet" doesn't tend to be commented on as often at a large table as at a table for 4 it might be:D

 

[i guess I wasn't as concerned about Azamara because I know on a ship that size I'll be able to find privacy - on a river cruise, not quite so much:o]

[sabbo55]

I agree with the above posters. You can do either or both. At times it is nice to mingle with others and at other times it's great to be in your own world. There are plenty of places to be alone on the ship.

 

Having met with Nancy and her husband (midwestchick) on our last Azamara cruise, it was great to make new friends.

 

Don't miss white night!!

[midwestchick]

I agree with the above posters. You can do either or both. At times it is nice to mingle with others and at other times it's great to be in your own world. There are plenty of places to be alone on the ship.

 

Having met with Nancy and her husband (midwestchick) on our last Azamara cruise, it was great to make new friends.

 

Don't miss white night!!

 

 

Hi sabbo,

Any Azamara cruises planned? Thought of you when we did The Godfather tour in May....we loved it. :D :D

[AllisonJames]

The nice thing about Azamara is you can make it what you want it to be. I too was concerned about too much socializing before my first time on Azamara because I have a job that is chock-filled of social events so I really need to decompress on vacation. We ate dinner by ourselves most nights, skipped the White Night and Azamazing Evening in favor of quiet time on board, but enjoyed chatting with other guests on shore excursions and at the Perry Golf cocktail parties. I loved sitting on the sundeck (often I was the only one there) or in the Living Room reading a book. In the end it was a very nice balance. Enjoy!

[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree with everything that's been said above [well, not the part about tasering ;)]. One other insight: the daily trivia was much more at a "fun" level rather than competitive and the teams were fluid -- if DW or I wanted to do something different one day, nobody complained that we had let them down and if something else wandered by looking like they would like to join in they were welcome. Why is this relevant to somebody who probably wouldn't think of doing the trivia competition?--because it shows the informal, welcoming and nonjudgmental attitude of both the crew and passengers. You can be who you want to be on Azamara.

[sabbo55]

Hi sabbo,

Any Azamara cruises planned? Thought of you when we did The Godfather tour in May....we loved it. :D :D

 

 

Yes. Azamara Quest from Barcelona on April 18th...can't wait!!

 

I hoped you enjoyed the Godfather Tour..I still tell people about it. When I watch the movies now I say..."I was there".

[midwestchick]

Yes. Azamara Quest from Barcelona on April 18th...can't wait!!

 

I hoped you enjoyed the Godfather Tour..I still tell people about it. When I watch the movies now I say..."I was there".

 

 

We're on the Quest in Sept., b2b. Two great itineraries. We sailed out of Barcelona in May. I hope you get a chance to visit Monserrat. If you still have my email address, I can share some tour information with you.

We loved The Godfather tour and also loved Castemola...gorgeous view.

[Mummble]

Thanks so much everyone! I was so excited about this cruise line and then had gotten a bit worried about being anti-social. It sounds like it will be pretty easy to do whatever works for us... so long as I avoid the guy with the taser. ;-)

 

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[nordski]

I don't mean to put down the OP's question, which is a fair one which has been nicely answered by others.

 

However, I have a picture of Eric, the "five foot eighteen inch tall" cruise director, marching around the ship with a taser, and anybody caught not socialising with their fellow passengers getting zapped! (Yes, my wife agrees with you that my sense of humor is sometimes bizarre. I, of course, don't agree.)

 

Perhaps, in the case of you and Eric, the humour is a Canadian thing. :)

[nordski]

It sounds like it will be pretty easy to do whatever works for us..

 

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Absoutely, at least in our experience.

 

Sometimes those who haven't sailed on Azamara incorrectly, in our view, characterize the friendliness on board as some sort of enforced "bonhomie".

 

We have only once observed a staff member being "intrusive" and it wasn't directed at us. It was also, I believe, successfully dealt with by management although I may be corrected by a member of this forum.

 

We also find our felllow cruisers very aware of the appropriate personal space to recognize and maintain. That has not always been the case on other cruise lines, but that may be simply random luck.

 

Enjoy your cruise and please return with your assessment.

[comas]

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.co.uk/destinations/2018-world-journey/life-onboard?utm_source=phase1_consumer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=lcv_wj18_nonbooked_guests_all8_all_mkts_10262016&intcmp=lcv_wj18_nonbooked_guests_all8_all_mkts_10262016&ecid=em_21426567&rid=313872370&mes=Lel8_all_mkts_10262016&emsc=CC+2-6DWSMID&emct=S&lnkid=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.azamaraclubcruises.com%2Fdestinations%2F2018-world-journey%2Flife-onboard%3Futm_source%3Dphase1_consumer%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dlcv_wj18_nonbooked_guests_all8_all_mkts_10262016%26intcmp%3Dlcv_wj18_nonbooked_guests_all8_all_mkts_10262016

 

Sorry about the enormity of this link!

It's a recent email from Azamara, which includes interesting information about the captains and crew. Eric de Gray is mentioned. He is very talented as we experienced in June on the Journey. And he IS 5' 18" (in his own words).

[hrhdhd]

We have only once observed a staff member being "intrusive" and it wasn't directed at us. It was also, I believe, successfully dealt with by management although I may be corrected by a member of this forum.

 

I thought my ears were burning! ;)

 

I did handle the matter on cruise number three, which was the third time it happened with the same crew member.

 

Related to the topic, I have taken three cruises solo on Azamara, and I hang out with people as little or as much as I care to. I take the occasional cruise line excursion or ask to sit with people for meals (although with the addition of more tables for two during the revisioning [or whatever], that's less necessary), but I am happy to sit in my cabin and/or on the veranda and be with myself.

 

And of course, there are fabulous travelers such as nordski who are happy to let us introverts get some people time. :)