Onward Rebuild

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Sunset Bar also being removed 

Boo.  Looks like cafeteria seating without it.  And, please, different chairs from those on Pursuit.

[voyager1964]

8 hours ago, Riocca said:

Just found an interesting picture from 2010 that shows the difference of deck 8 between Onward and the other Azamara ships. The Princess ship in the picture is Ocean Princess (R4) but this was the same for R1-R5, the Azamara ship is Quest (R7).

You can see that Quest was built with all standard balcony cabins on deck8 with 3 cabins per opening in the side of the ship, so there was a considerable amount of work done converting 3 balcony cabins to 2 CC suites. Onward as Ocean Princess has one opening per suite so in leaving the deck 8 layout as is there’s a lot less work to do, other than bringing them up to Azamara standard of course.

 

 

This means a very private balcony for a CC, does it not?

[tiggertom]

13 hours ago, Riocca said:

Just found an interesting picture from 2010 that shows the difference of deck 8 between Onward and the other Azamara ships. The Princess ship in the picture is Ocean Princess (R4) but this was the same for R1-R5, the Azamara ship is Quest (R7).

You can see that Quest was built with all standard balcony cabins on deck8 with 3 cabins per opening in the side of the ship, so there was a considerable amount of work done converting 3 balcony cabins to 2 CC suites. Onward as Ocean Princess has one opening per suite so in leaving the deck 8 layout as is there’s a lot less work to do, other than bringing them up to Azamara standard of course.

 

 

Elisabeth said in the video that Onward will have 52 continental suites rather than 36 that the other ships have.

Edited January 31, 2022 by tiggertom

[Riocca]

5 hours ago, voyager1964 said:

This means a very private balcony for a CC, does it not?

Unfortunately not unless Azamara make some changes, this is part of a picture taken on Ocean Princess a few years ago in a deck 8 mini-suite (CC suite).

So the partitions are the same as other balcony cabins.

 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, tiggertom said:

Elisabeth said in the video that Onward will have 52 continental suites rather than 36 that the other ships have.

Not good news for the Speciality Restaurants.  Thats almost a 50% increase in capacity.  OK they are taking the bar out in Aqualina, but they made a change a few years ago that crammed tables into the specialities to increase capacity to meet demand from non suite passengers when there were only 36 suites and it affected the ambience.    

Edited January 31, 2022 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

Not good news for the Speciality Restaurants.  Thats almost a 50% increase in capacity.  OK they are taking the bar out in Aqualina, but they made a change a few years ago that crammed tables into the specialities to increase capacity to meet demand from non suite passengers when there were only 36 suites and it affected the ambience.    

I agree. We will see how it pans out, but since the news of the extra suites it's been a concern. That and the extra pressure on the T-Pool area. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I agree. We will see how it pans out, but since the news of the extra suites it's been a concern. That and the extra pressure on the T-Pool area. 

 

Phil 

Agree was very difficult to get loungers previously will be impossible now unless they change the access rules eg no spa passes. Even then technically 102 people will be chasing 12 loungers 

[LT Hambone]

R.I.P. Sunset Bar, you were our favorite bar on the Quest.

 

So if Azamara is doubling the number of Continetal Suites, then that's means fewer total passengers, right?

 

Also, I noticed that the Onward deck plan posted by Azamara does NOT have Swirl and Top - any confirmation this will stay? They can take away my Sunset Bar, but if they take away our frozen yogurt station, then that's the last straw!

 

[Riocca]

As you can see the Sunset Bar has not been removed it didn’t exist on the ship anyway.

 

 

Someone did ask about the frozen yogurt machine but there was no answer. The Patio area has been stripped ready to install new equipment.

 

 

They also will be constructing a new stage on the pool deck.

 

[PirateWife]

4 hours ago, LT Hambone said:

R.I.P. Sunset Bar, you were our favorite bar on the Quest.

 

So if Azamara is doubling the number of Continetal Suites, then that's means fewer total passengers, right?

 

Also, I noticed that the Onward deck plan posted by Azamara does NOT have Swirl and Top - any confirmation this will stay? They can take away my Sunset Bar, but if they take away our frozen yogurt station, then that's the last straw!

 

Totally agree. The Sunset Bar is one thing. I still have the Pool Bar. But I must have the Swirl and Top.

[LT Hambone]

28 minutes ago, PirateWife said:

But I must have the Swirl and Top.

 

The Swirl and Top was closed on our October Quest cruise, so it had better be on the Onward for our cruise next summer! From the photo above, looks like there's more than enough room for the frozen yogurt machine.

 

 

Azamara - if you're reading these posts - please, PLEASE put Swirl and Top on the Onward !!!!!

[PirateWife]

1 hour ago, LT Hambone said:

 

The Swirl and Top was closed on our October Quest cruise, so it had better be on the Onward for our cruise next summer! From the photo above, looks like there's more than enough room for the frozen yogurt machine.

 

 

Azamara - if you're reading these posts - please, PLEASE put Swirl and Top on the Onward !!!!!

By November, Quest had the Swirl and Top operational. And it was self-serve. You were a month early.

Edited February 2, 2022 by PirateWife

[LT Hambone]

1 hour ago, PirateWife said:

By November, Quest had the Swirl and Top operational. And it was self-serve. You were a month early.

 

[Riocca]

It’s showing on the deck plan on Azamara.co.uk 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

10 hours ago, LT Hambone said:

 

The Swirl and Top was closed on our October Quest cruise, so it had better be on the Onward for our cruise next summer! From the photo above, looks like there's more than enough room for the frozen yogurt machine.

 

 

Azamara - if you're reading these posts - please, PLEASE put Swirl and Top on the Onward !!!!!

I don't see why they wouldn't. You can't trust brand new deck plans. There have been some omissions in the past. However, covid will have the final say. Fingers crossed we can move on. 

 

Phil 

Edited February 3, 2022 by excitedofharpenden

[uktog]

I think this highlights why Azamara needs to get a grip on the communications re Onward. Someone (maybe Bonnie?) needs a role in coordination of what message comes out when and with what explanation and how. Not criticising Riocca at all, they are sharing what was dropped onto a closed group so the rest of us can see it, which is great (but shouldn’t have to rely on that). All the reactions after cannot be good news to Azamara if they had another message to tell.

When the ships were reimagined some years ago (about two years before Pursuit) the communication was tightly controlled by the project team. We got lots of updates, but it was managed (by Richard Twynam as I recall but involving Nicole and Le Club Voyage, though it wasn’t called that then) and when a picture or series of pictures came out it wasn’t just the picture there were explanations of the changes, what they were and why.  These came regularly starting with some of the engineering stuff and you really looked forward to the next one.

In comparison, this time round it feels random, amateurish and not giving much hope for how corporate communication with the customers will be going forward 
 

Edited February 3, 2022 by uktog

[LT Hambone]

And...... now Swirl & Top is showing on Azamara.com !!!!

 

 

[Riocca]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

I think this highlights why Azamara needs to get a grip on the communications re Onward. Someone (maybe Bonnie?) needs a role in coordination of what message comes out when and with what explanation and how. Not criticising Riocca at all, they are sharing what was dropped onto a closed group so the rest of us can see it, which is great (but shouldn’t have to rely on that). All the reactions after cannot be good news to Azamara if they had another message to tell.

When the ships were reimagined some years ago (about two years before Pursuit) the communication was tightly controlled by the project team. We got lots of updates, but it was managed (by Richard Twynam as I recall but involving Nicole and Le Club Voyage, though it wasn’t called that then) and when a picture or series of pictures came out it wasn’t just the picture there were explanations of the changes, what they were and why.  These came regularly starting with some of the engineering stuff and you really looked forward to the next one.

In comparison, this time round it feels random, amateurish and not giving much hope for how corporate communication with the customers will be going forward 
 

I understand the frustration as everyone would like to know what’s happening with Onward, on the other hand I can understand Azamara wanting to share with a closed group as they maintain an element of control. The group has reached 5000 members, although that includes a number of staff, so they maybe  they feel that’s a good proportion of  interested customers.

 

 I chose to share some of the information on CC as there were a number of questions coming up that could be answered. Basically there’s not going to be a lot of difference between Onward and the other ships except of course deck 8 which was originally different from Azamara’s 3 ships.

 

The Sunset Bar was never going to be added to a 23 year old ship if it wasn’t added to An 18 year old Pursuit, remember Journey & Quest were only 6 years old when Celebrity added the bar.

 

The walkthrough really highlighted how much of the ship was original in the way of artwork and decoration, I’m sure once the Azamara stamp has been put on the ship there will be big reveals but as yet there’s nothing to see. Elizabeth did say they are doing a before and after video keeping track as the work progresses just as Ryszard did for Pursuit.

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks Riocca for posting the information. Like you I watched the video & found it interesting - it also showed what a lot of work there is to do. 

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, Riocca said:

I understand the frustration as everyone would like to know what’s happening with Onward, on the other hand I can understand Azamara wanting to share with a closed group as they maintain an element of control. The group has reached 5000 members, although that includes a number of staff, so they maybe  they feel that’s a good proportion of  interested customers.

My own view is that a closed group on Facebook is too exclusive and not the way to do it. I joined it, but left because I wasn't comfortable with the way it was promoted. I didn't think it was an officially run Azamara page. 

 

Phil 

[LT Hambone]

@Riocca - Thank you so much for posting these updates! I'm not on Facebook, so I would have never known (or seen) this group. Appreciate your posts!  👍

 

 

 

[Belfastman]

11 hours ago, Riocca said:

It’s showing on the deck plan on Azamara.co.uk 

 

This is the deck plan for Pursuit or Quest not Onward. 

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, LT Hambone said:

@Riocca - Thank you so much for posting these updates! I'm not on Facebook, so I would have never known (or seen) this group. Appreciate your posts!  👍

 

 

 

You've just proved the point I was making. 

 

Phil 

[Grandma Cruising]

I think it came up on my Facebook news feed because I look at the various Azamara pages quite often.

[Riocca]

13 hours ago, Belfastman said:

This is the deck plan for Pursuit or Quest not Onward. 

Oops! I pasted the wrong one, this is Onward.