Anybody onboard currently?

[takemewithyou]

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Please do. We will not be happy if our cruise next month is on a floating disco. Hopefully the hotel director acts on your feedback as they are the one ultimately responsible for your onboard experience. 
 

I hope it’s not a case of turn the volume down for the this cruise when they complain and then crank it back up for the next cruise until they complain
 

Glad to hear the furniture is changing around the public areas, that has to be one they want to sort out before they get to Miami and the “bigwigs” visit

I am  counting on you to make sure it all gets worked out for us as you on the cruise before us in December! 😀😀

I agree that it shouldn’t be that we have to complain on one cruise and hope it doesn’t go right back to the status quo the next cruise! 

Edited November 16, 2022 by takemewithyou

[Roel94]

15 hours ago, lisiamc said:

We are currently on Onward, waiting for morning trivia in ten minutes. The ambient music is so loud that we can’t have a conversation. The Den doesn’t need to sound like a disco at 9:15am. I’m not sure why they can’t seem to change this when so many people complain. We just received the “How is your cruise so far?” note last night. I will definitely mention it.

Have you talked to Tony? Does not even need to be on. Another room to stay out of.

[Roel94]

11 hours ago, AJCM said:

We finished a B2B2B on Pursuit recently (including the four ships get together). As our first cruise since 2019 has finished, I’ve lacked the enthusiasm to closely follow the board as I recover from the inevitable jet lag flying west to east for 24 hours.

 

I’ve just read several pages of this thread and people are talking about how to avoid aspects of White Night (eating and attire).

 

To give a different perspective, for many this is the highlight of the Azamara cruise experience.  

 

I encourage people to get into the spirit - arrange a table with friends or ask to join a table and make new friends, eat what you do like from the buffet (there’s a really wide choice), make sure you leave space for the crepe suzette. Seems to me plenty of people leave once the eating finishes and the dancing starts,so you don’t have to fully throw yourself into the night. 

 

However, if you want to fully enjoy the night, I suggest you wear white and dance. The music, singing and dancing is great fun and the whole crew make a tremendous effort to make it a special experience. One outfit in white doesn’t take up much room and plenty of people wear their white more than once. From some comments it’s clear that some people don’t want to wear white. It’s not compulsory but imho everyone looks great and who’s watching that closely anyway. If you wear white you’ll likely feel more a part of the night. It’s a great night if you choose it to be. If you choose not to wear white (completely up to you) you’ll probably still have a very enjoyable night but feel a little out of place.

 

This comment is not intended as. a criticism of anyone - just trying to give a different perspective to people who may not have cruised with Azamara before.

Totally agree with you on wearing white and dancing. Sometimes my meal in town keeps me full all night.

[uktog]

A very fair perspective by AJCM. 

There will be those who love While Night and it’s good that it’s special for them. And there will be those who for whatever reason are unable to wear white, eat at a buffet or dance. They too need to be welcome at whatever part of the event if any they choose to join. 

I can understand why people leave after the meal, if you are not able to dance it can on many itineraries get quite chilly if you are just sitting watching. If only Azamara had a roof over its pool deck - now that would be ideal ……

 

On my upcoming cruise I may or may not go to all or part of White Night it will depend on many things. If I do go I’ll run the risk of not being in white unless I find something in Miami (not going to waste too much time on that) and I will not be dancing other than something slow - that works for me and others shouldn’t worry about what I’m up to!

 

I do hope those that do go have a wonderful time and that everyone whatever they do has an enjoyable evening. 

 

[oddjob16]

On 11/17/2022 at 7:03 AM, uktog said:

A very fair perspective by AJCM. 

There will be those who love While Night and it’s good that it’s special for them. And there will be those who for whatever reason are unable to wear white, eat at a buffet or dance. They too need to be welcome at whatever part of the event if any they choose to join. 

I can understand why people leave after the meal, if you are not able to dance it can on many itineraries get quite chilly if you are just sitting watching. If only Azamara had a roof over its pool deck - now that would be ideal ……

 

On my upcoming cruise I may or may not go to all or part of White Night it will depend on many things. If I do go I’ll run the risk of not being in white unless I find something in Miami (not going to waste too much time on that) and I will not be dancing other than something slow - that works for me and others shouldn’t worry about what I’m up to!

 

I do hope those that do go have a wonderful time and that everyone whatever they do has an enjoyable evening. 

 

So it's the TA with Onward in feb?

[uktog]

11 minutes ago, oddjob16 said:

So it's the TA with Onward in feb?

No its much sooner!!

[DS]

39 minutes ago, uktog said:

No its much sooner!!

The TA on Onward is NOW!   WE left Lisbon today heading for Miami.   In the spring it does not do a true TA... it goes from Miami to the Canaries in Feb, does a few Canary  intensives, then gets to Lisbon in early April.

[Benthayer Gonbak]

On 11/7/2021 at 7:05 PM, marinaro44 said:

Wondering how one person sees "no choice" and another sees three or four choices available on three of the four courses.  Parallel universes?

 

i like you idea better, but if you are vegetarian I only recall one, or perhaps dairy free is only one too.  I don’t remember if the original Azamara menus had classic menus that included vegetarian, nor do I now know since I’m not normally being exclusive.   
 

on many ship bell pepper free has become nearly impossible.  In all but Waldorf salads, on fish for fish and chips, and on bacon and mashed potatoes.  I never found it in oatmeal though🤣🤣🤣  and constantly in beef stroganoff!  

[uktog]

10 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

So it's the TA with Onward in feb?

but not this week 🙂

[oddjob16]

20 minutes ago, uktog said:

but not this week 🙂

Just wondered. We just booked Pursuit TA out of Rio in march...

[Mackdogmolly]

6 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Just wondered. We just booked Pursuit TA out of Rio in march...

It will be great to meet you @oddjob16!

[DS]

Onboard the ONWARD, Transatlantic from Lisbon yesterday (11/20) to Miami (12/1).  Number of passengers about 315 ( or 317, or…).

Senior Officers are:  

Captain Gianmario Sanuineti

Hotel Director Tony Markey

Cruise Director Eric De Gray

Asst CD  Martin Lawson

F&B Iwn Pennings

Ex Chef Shiju Sekharan.

 

Our only port stop was to be Hamilton Bermuda, but today, in his noon announcements the Captain said we had to redirect because of a couple of low pressure systems in the mid-Atlantic that were making 5 to 6 meter waves, so we could not maintain enough speed to get there on schedule.  Instead, they are investigating Nassau, and we are taking a more southern route.   Given the earlier kerfuffle about Bermuda landing permits, fees, etc., I’m sure this will generate a bunch of conversation…

 

A lot of the crew who have been on in the fall left before this cruise because of US visa issues:   we lost a couple of dining room waiters we had in the fall, one of the butlers, several of the bar waiters.  In fact, our room steward was brought over from another ship simply because he had US visa.

 

In response to frequent topics:

Patio open for lunch, but not for dinner (not enough quests per the staff);

Comp wines are a mix of Azamara labeled and others (a very nice other Syrah last night…).  Tony had a Q&A today and wines were discussed:  head office has hired a sommelier to revamp the entire wine (and other liquor packages) program;

No info on tonic water (not my usual mixer…).

Other topics from Tony…

 

       The comms difficulties with shore side was discussed.   They are keenly aware of our difficulties.   They closed the Wichita call center during the pandemic, and when they reopened only about 20% of the people came back –others had taken other jobs or did not want to work.   They are back to about 50% now.  Even so, the kinds of questions and calls they get are much more broad than pre-pandemic, so they are having difficulty getting new folks up to speed.

              Turns out that since ONWARD was never owned by RCCL, Azamara is using it as the guinea pig for many things, including technology testing. One of the fall-outs of the split was that the “Big-fat-book-of-rules-and-procedures-for-everything!” was owned by RCCL and none of the Azamara ships were allow to continue to access it.  They have been trying to go from memory (which explains some of the differences amongst the ships.)  Tony will probably be charged with writing the master version for Azamara.   Sounds like at some point he will step aside as one of two regular HD’s on ONWARD.  Elizabeth will do the entire 2024 World Voyage.   Between now and then, Tony will work on the SOP and fill in on any ship that needs an HD.

              Yes, they are discussing getting a newly built ship.   Sycamore Partners is supportive.   Probably looking at about 1000 passengers.   Nothing decided yet.   When it is, it is still a two to three year project—have to find a ship yard (some have closed), have to find steel, other supply chain issues.

              Speaking of supply chain issues (and he did on almost every topic/question that was asked)  they know precisely where the huge cargo contain of balcony chairs, carpets, wall covering, etc. is—its sitting in Shanghai.   The port was closed for a long time because of COVID, but the containers kept piling up.   When it opened again, the “big boys” who had hundreds or thousands of containers hired all the ships.   Azamara had 1 container!   And have been unable to get it loaded.  They did have a second container full of wine, which they found in Sydney.  After it had sat for a year or more in heat and cold and heat and… they ended up throwing most of it away… tested one bottle per case, then if needed dumped the rest.   (Now there’s a job that we passengers could have helped with if they had asked!)

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 minutes ago, DS said:

Tony had a Q&A today

Thanks for this detailed report!  And it all sounds like good news – at least in the sense that they are aware of the problems and have solutions in the works (or tied up on Shanghai...)  Very hopeful.

[tgg]

Thanks DS for taking the time to do a complete report. Sorry you'll miss Bermuda.

 

For those of us with upcoming Onward cruises, you've answered lots of questions and helped us understand the tough stuff that Azamara is dealing with.

 

We look forward to boarding on Dec. 12 - whether we have new balcony chairs or not.😃

[uktog]

Thanks @DSfor the comprehensive update. Little concerned about your reference to procedures- are they saying they’ve no procedures documented now?   Hope not!  
 

That said if it’s like any company sale it’s not a case of starting with a blank sheet. You amend the existing ones and remove references to oldco specific terms and processes and replace them. Most procedures are not unique so no copyright applies.  

Interesting they’re using Tony with least experience on ships hotel side to do it. Wonder what drove that decision. - new thinking? Others not available? Fitted with schedules?  Last company sale I was involved in albeit not in this industry we put our most experienced person to write draft one to get all the legacy knowledge then used them plus two others one very new and another from a different point in the service delivery chain to finalise the way forward. 

[lisiamc]

9 hours ago, tgg said:

Thanks DS for taking the time to do a complete report. Sorry you'll miss Bermuda.

 

For those of us with upcoming Onward cruises, you've answered lots of questions and helped us understand the tough stuff that Azamara is dealing with.

 

We look forward to boarding on Dec. 12 - whether we have new balcony chairs or not.😃

The current ones are not horrible. The cushions dry very quickly if they get wet, and the chairs and table align nicely for eating.

[DS]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

Thanks @DSfor the comprehensive update. Little concerned about your reference to procedures- are they saying they’ve no procedures documented now?   Hope not!  
 

That said if it’s like any company sale it’s not a case of starting with a blank sheet. You amend the existing ones and remove references to oldco specific terms and processes and replace them. Most procedures are not unique so no copyright applies.  

Interesting they’re using Tony with least experience on ships hotel side to do it. Wonder what drove that decision. - new thinking? Others not available? Fitted with schedules?  Last company sale I was involved in albeit not in this industry we put our most experienced person to write draft one to get all the legacy knowledge then used them plus two others one very new and another from a different point in the service delivery chain to finalise the way forward. 

The RCCL big book was apparently softcopy and they were literally no longer able to access it.  They did go by memory and try to replicate the procedures, but sometimes memory is incomplete or differs.   Tony said they wanted a native English speaker with some writing experience and a long tenure onboard with Azamara -- he has these although not as HD

[JYDCruise]

On 11/20/2022 at 9:59 PM, Benthayer Gonbak said:

on many ship bell pepper free has become nearly impossible.  In all but Waldorf salads, on fish for fish and chips, and on bacon and mashed potatoes.  I never found it in oatmeal though🤣🤣🤣  and constantly in beef stroganoff!  

Fortunately, we were able to dodge bell peppers for the most part on Azamara cruise this past summer.

 

I understand why chefs use them - bell peppers are colorful, cheap and take up a lot of room in a dish, and apparently most people like them. But their flavor permeates any dish in which they are used and I . . . dislike them. With apologies to Harlan Ellison: “Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate bell peppers since I began to live. There are 86 billion neurons that fill my brain. If the work hate was engraved on each of those billions of neurons it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for bell peppers at this micro-instant. Hate. Hate.” 😄

[Roel94]

5 hours ago, DS said:

The RCCL big book was apparently softcopy and they were literally no longer able to access it.  They did go by memory and try to replicate the procedures, but sometimes memory is incomplete or differs.   Tony said they wanted a native English speaker with some writing experience and a long tenure onboard with Azamara -- he has these although not as HD

Ryzard and Tony have been around the longest. But if the goal was to have English as first language that would be Tony.

 

I been on three ships in 2022 and see some differences in each ship.I seen the patio open for dinner. White Night was Bright Night and food. Was plated Abd good. One ship had chocolate night ..others did not. One ship has cheese night,. That  was great. 
 

these are little things the big ones are how we each see the ship,our cabin etc. But I like to see both cheese and chocolate back on all ships.If it not working then stop it. 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

5 minutes ago, JYDCruise said:

Fortunately, we were able to dodge bell peppers for the most part on Azamara cruise this past summer.

 

I understand why chefs use them - bell peppers are colorful, cheap and take up a lot of room in a dish, and apparently most people like them. But their flavor permeates any dish in which they are used and I . . . dislike them. With apologies to Harlan Ellison: “Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate bell peppers since I began to live. There are 86 billion neurons that fill my brain. If the work hate was engraved on each of those billions of neurons it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for bell peppers at this micro-instant. Hate. Hate.” 😄

 

😂  As a friend with allergies said, “what’s the matter with broccoli or carrots for color!”   My husband reacts poorly to eating bell peppers too.  My feeling is not only do they overpower many dishes, no food should be in every dish.  The current craze is one of the health propers from a fairly cheap vegetable.  

[takemewithyou]

Can anyone on Onward currently verify if Windows Cafe is back to buffet fro dinner instead of the themed sit down and be served dinners that we once had?

Thanks.

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, Benthayer Gonbak said:

My feeling is not only do they overpower many dishes, no food should be in every dish.

Agree. For awhile, it seemed to me that out in the world cilantro was in every dish. And my DH and I are among those for whom it tastes very unpleasant.

[uktog]

And as for their obsession with garnishing everything with nuts -  even DHs favourite lemon meringue tarts had to go off limits in September.  One lunch time he was reduced to Jello or ice cream for dessert.... he felt like he was back in baby school.  

 

Evenings were equally bad. Veg now have to added slivers of almonds.  

 

I was a little disappointed the maitre d response was to default to we would prefer you to pre order everything.  One of the things we liked about Azamara previously was that we did not need to do that, we could work around their regular menus so long as some one knew what was in each dish and could guide us.  He's always struggled with knowing tonight what he will want to eat tomorrow

 

The chefs obsession with "textures" and particularly nuts has been a yuk for us.

 

 

[Roel94]

18 minutes ago, uktog said:

And as for their obsession with garnishing everything with nuts -  even DHs favourite lemon meringue tarts had to go off limits in September.  One lunch time he was reduced to Jello or ice cream for dessert.... he felt like he was back in baby school.  

 

Evenings were equally bad. Veg now have to added slivers of almonds.  

 

I was a little disappointed the maitre d response was to default to we would prefer you to pre order everything.  One of the things we liked about Azamara previously was that we did not need to do that, we could work around their regular menus so long as some one knew what was in each dish and could guide us.  He's always struggled with knowing tonight what he will want to eat tomorrow

 

The chefs obsession with "textures" and particularly nuts has been a yuk for us.

 

 

I know Charles can not eat nuts but I did not realize how much they been added to the standard meals or sweets. I do pre order many veggie meals and found not the same from ship to ship. But yet to have a veggie with nuts.  Someone else said they pre order a lot too. So I guess times have really change .

[Roel94]

Ann, for the record I have been on three ships..not JR..in 2022 Abd going back on Onward. One of my special orders on Quest was the old cheese soufflé and I eat it as a main. It was different every time. Always had in Prime C. Felt like different people made it.

 

on Pursuit I had Agung make it twice.Blew me away.it was perfect but made his way. Also got my hands in black truffle that he used on pasta. Again great.

 

but when I order from the menu a veggie dish and it Asian and no flavor etc I question it. Favorite is tofu with friend rice.one person one time.

 

I have no serious allergeries but those peppers are awful for my stomach. I gave up years ago the salmon burger at pool grill as I could not find out what was in it but it upset my stomach. At that point we had two ships and wonder how they all were the same. Turkey burger going downhill.

 

Will look on Onward in veggies for nuts ..now I will be looking for them..yet to see in Prime C