Veranda vs Veranda Plus

[SailorJack]

I am going to be a first time Azamara cruiser and wonder if someone can tell me the benefits of booking a Veranda Plus stateroom as opposed to the less expensive Club Veranda stateroom.

 

Thanks,

 

Jack

[ECCruise]

Here are the benefits, but if you have status from Celebrity (which currently passes over to Azamara), some of these would be redundant.

Cabins are exactly the same as standard Veranda. 

• Complimentary Internet (120 minutes) or $130 towards a full voyage unlimited package.
• One free bag of laundry service per stateroom, every seven days.
• One night of complimentary specialty dining for two, every seven days.
• Priority embarkation and debarkation.
• Complimentary in-room spirits.   

[uktog]

Some people say some of the cabins are under noisy traffic areas so the value is even less and it is an incentive to offload the rooms.  I would save the money and buy a speciality dining pass and any extra laundry you need especially with the free internet booking deals currently being offered

Edited March 17, 2021 by uktog

[SailorJack]

Thanks for the input.  The cruise I am going to book also offers In-room spirits. Anyone had any experience with that perk? How does that work?

 

Thanks,

 

Jack

[uktog]

That is a standard perk for veranda plus.  You get four 375cl bottles (Johnie Walker,  Stoly vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin and Brandy)  You can usually swap out one if you want two of another.  It is not replenished.  To be honest unless you plan to drink a lot in your room its not worth it.  We usually just carry back a glass of wine or a drink mid afternoon or at night and its no distance to go and get a drink (included in your fare) when you need it.  Not a perk of huge value in my mind.

[laurieb]

I think the only real value is the location of some of the P1 cabins, being the far aft cabins (on 6 or 7).  We've stayed on deck 7 in one before they became premium, and loved the view!  Didn't love the soot so much though. 

[excitedofharpenden]

14 hours ago, uktog said:

That is a standard perk for veranda plus.  You get four 375cl bottles (Johnie Walker,  Stoly vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin and Brandy)  You can usually swap out one if you want two of another.  It is not replenished.  To be honest unless you plan to drink a lot in your room its not worth it.  We usually just carry back a glass of wine or a drink mid afternoon or at night and its no distance to go and get a drink (included in your fare) when you need it.  Not a perk of huge value in my mind.

Another of my issues with the bar set up is there's very little space to put it in a standard cabin and it will take up valuable counter space. Ok in a suite, but I think a lot of the perks in the Plus cabins are just fluff. To me the location is more important as Laurie says. 

 

This is a photo of the bar set up bottles.  

 

Phil 

[mj_holiday]

19 hours ago, uktog said:

That is a standard perk for veranda plus.  You get four 375cl bottles (Johnie Walker,  Stoly vodka, Bombay Sapphire Gin and Brandy)  You can usually swap out one if you want two of another.  It is not replenished.  To be honest unless you plan to drink a lot in your room its not worth it.  We usually just carry back a glass of wine or a drink mid afternoon or at night and its no distance to go and get a drink (included in your fare) when you need it.  Not a perk of huge value in my mind.

Is this a special perk for the reservation?  I thought that this was a perk for Club continent suites.

[excitedofharpenden]

36 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

Is this a special perk for the reservation?  I thought that this was a perk for Club continent suites.

Standard for V Plus too. 

 

Phil 

Edited March 18, 2021 by excitedofharpenden

[uktog]

39 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

Is this a special perk for the reservation?  I thought that this was a perk for Club continent suites.

Applies to veranda plus as well. It’s not a temporary marketing perk but a standard inclusion for veranda plus. When we are in suites we hardly use the spirits as we prefer to have pre and post dinner drinks in the lounges mixing with others 

[NC&KY]

First thing we do, once we get the spirits we like, is to pack them in our suitcases for bringing back home unopened.

[Mackdogmolly]

15 hours ago, laurieb said:

I think the only real value is the location of some of the P1 cabins, being the far aft cabins (on 6 or 7).  We've stayed on deck 7 in one before they became premium, and loved the view!  Didn't love the soot so much though. 

I agree, Laurie B. We have stayed in the far aft cabins on 6 and 7 too, and loved them. Don’t think I would pay the extra money they are asking now though.

Betsey

[TeaBag]

As newcomers to Azamara, we did book the P1 and tried to get it for the second sailing but it was gone by the time my TA phoned.  I am familiar with how much Celebrity has gone up, so I guess Azamara has too.  I am really looking forward to the view especially going through the Suez.

[laurieb]

10 hours ago, NC&KY said:

First thing we do, once we get the spirits we like, is to pack them in our suitcases for bringing back home unopened.

That’s what we do too

[laurieb]

8 hours ago, TeaBag said:

As newcomers to Azamara, we did book the P1 and tried to get it for the second sailing but it was gone by the time my TA phoned.  I am familiar with how much Celebrity has gone up, so I guess Azamara has too.  I am really looking forward to the view especially going through the Suez.

The view will be worth it!  I hope either you or your TA keep an eye on the cruise; cabins open up frequently these days so you may be able to grab one (even if it’s a different one) for your second sailing 

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 hours ago, NC&KY said:

First thing we do, once we get the spirits we like, is to pack them in our suitcases for bringing back home unopened.

 

3 minutes ago, laurieb said:

That’s what we do too

We did too – and our Butler was shocked!  [I didn't think they could reuse them, since they were unopened when we got them.  Maybe we were depriving the crew bar of free drinks?  Hadn't thought of that...]

[excitedofharpenden]

4 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

We did too – and our Butler was shocked!  [I didn't think they could reuse them, since they were unopened when we got them.  Maybe we were depriving the crew bar of free drinks?  Hadn't thought of that...]

Just to say, the crew are not allowed to do this. Alcohol, especially the hard stuff is strictly controlled. 

 

Phil 

[TeaBag]

16 hours ago, laurieb said:

The view will be worth it!  I hope either you or your TA keep an eye on the cruise; cabins open up frequently these days so you may be able to grab one (even if it’s a different one) for your second sailing 

Thanks for the advice laurieb.  We are on a waitlist.  We could have booked the cabin above but I have read too much about the noise level from the sunset bar on deck 9 to book it.

[uktog]

16 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

We did too – and our Butler was shocked!  [I didn't think they could reuse them, since they were unopened when we got them.  Maybe we were depriving the crew bar of free drinks?  Hadn't thought of that...]

Why would you jump to that conclusion about your butler?  Bear in mind several of the butlers do not drink alcohol on religious grounds so they would have little interest in the crew bar.

Phil is correct, staff cannot take drink to the crew bar, however if you are wishing to leave unopened bottles for the crew, you have to arrange this through the Guest Relations Manager, Bar Manager or Hotel Director (no more junior staff can do this.)

Some ports do not allow you to remove alcohol at the end of the cruise due to reasons of duty.  We received a letter in our suite when arriving at Singapore (I think it was there it was on a b2b2b so trying to recall which port it was).  It advised the authorities would be scanning cases for alcohol and so not to take the bottles off as duty was not paid on it.  I am not sure what happened or if any one did attempt to take alcohol off.  We usually take some unused drink home if we have space in the case and weight allowance.

Edited March 19, 2021 by uktog

[cruise47]

We will be sailing Azamara for the first time in December.
We are sailing out of Florida and returning to Florida. We are not heavy drinkers can we packed all the unopened liquor bottles and bring them back home?.

Edited March 20, 2021 by cruise47

[excitedofharpenden]

7 minutes ago, cruise47 said:

We will be sailing Azamara for the first time in December.
We are sailing out of Florida and returning to Florida. We are not heavy drinkers can we packed all the unopened liquor bottles and bring them back home?.

Yep. 

 

Phil 

[janbvacation]

Hi all,

Interesting to read the differences, thanks for all your help!

I was wondering how it is with the perk for one night of complimentary specialty dining for two, every seven days.

Is this per every full 7 days? Or per section of every 7 days? E.g. on a 12 day cruise would you be able to make use of this 1 or 2 times?

 

First timer on Azamara Journey in June 2022, booked P1.

Elite with Celebrity.

[PirateWife]

3 hours ago, janbvacation said:

Hi all,

Interesting to read the differences, thanks for all your help!

I was wondering how it is with the perk for one night of complimentary specialty dining for two, every seven days.

Is this per every full 7 days? Or per section of every 7 days? E.g. on a 12 day cruise would you be able to make use of this 1 or 2 times?

 

First timer on Azamara Journey in June 2022, booked P1.

Elite with Celebrity.

Just 1.

[tgg]

On 3/19/2021 at 2:57 AM, excitedofharpenden said:

Just to say, the crew are not allowed to do this. Alcohol, especially the hard stuff is strictly controlled. 

 

Phil 

We offered the liquor to our butler, who told us that he would be put back on the first flight to India if he accepted it.

[les37b]

I've just put a bid in to upgrade from ocean view to veranda. I've already paid for 4 nights (out of 10) in the speciality restaurants, so the other option for veranda plus becomes less attractive. Not interested in 4 bottles of spirit and 120 mins of internet and a bag of laundry isn't worth it for me to pay the extra.