Azamara Quest Youtube Review, Good but some pretty awful!!

[Hammer61]

 

[Hammer61]

Geez!!! Now thinking will we regret booking our first cruise with Azamara? We are also on the Quest and the same sailing as these bloggers, just the reverse voyage from Sydney to Perth.

 

Having also read how Azamara have handled the cancelation of the Milford Sound and Bay of Islands stops on the NZ cruise due to not having the Hull of the ship cleaned im a little apprehensive as to how good this cruise company is now.

 

Could well be our first and last cruise with them.

[Edinburghgirl1]

On our cruise on the Quest  in November the band in the Livingroom couldn’t play one evening due to rain water pouring in through the windows behind them. The ship it would appear is poorly maintained. However guest services were in the main extremely helpful anytime we had occasion to visit them. There was one lady with a bit of an attitude but thankfully we didn’t encounter her often. 

[Mrs Miggins]

I watched this too.  In fact they were very complimentary about everything to do with Azamara generally.  However it was Azamara's response to a problem in their cabin that was poorly handled.

I would be interested to know if the "customer relations" manager is still with Azamara.  I have never encountered anyone with this title.  I would have thought the Hotel Manager would have dealt with water ingress and `i am surprised at the responses they had from Guest Services.   

The staff at Embarkation would have been from the local Ground Handling company and not Azamara itself but I am surprised that there was not more co-ordination.  We have never had any problems when boarding, quite the reverse.

The fact that this 'experienced' couple were taken by surprise when encountering rough seas around Australia is somewhat surprising.

I wonder if they participate on Cruise Critic.  

[boxman52]

There is no excuse for poor customer service. That's more than likely a culture issue within one department. The staff might feel their job is to push back on requests

That might also be wary of vloggers there are a lot 

On the Onward one lady in guest relations was being hugged by lots of passengers at the end of the cruise

My main bugbear is the repeated claim Azamara is a luxury line. The ships are very old & have few of the facilities of a luxury line. They push more the destinations  then the luxury of the ship 

This is reflected in the price. Simply compare the price per night with the inclusions plus OBC of Azamara and it's comparable with a standard cruise line. Viking is normally 2x as much and the the likes of Silverseas etc 3 or 4 times. Oceania is more too

 

[uktog]

26 minutes ago, Mrs Miggins said:

I watched this too.  In fact they were very complimentary about everything to do with Azamara generally.  However it was Azamara's response to a problem in their cabin that was poorly handled.

I would be interested to know if the "customer relations" manager is still with Azamara.  I have never encountered anyone with this title.  I would have thought the Hotel Manager would have dealt with water ingress and `i am surprised at the responses they had from Guest Services.   

The staff at Embarkation would have been from the local Ground Handling company and not Azamara itself but I am surprised that there was not more co-ordination.  We have never had any problems when boarding, quite the reverse.

The fact that this 'experienced' couple were taken by surprise when encountering rough seas around Australia is somewhat surprising.

I wonder if they participate on Cruise Critic.  

I’m wondering if they meant Guest Relations Manager. I did encounter someone in this role on Quest in August who did not reflect the Azamara I know. However we escalated the issue to Ryzard and it was perfectly handled. The manager then tried to bluff her way out of the situation and change her story but she knew we knew she was well in the wrong. 
Hopefully she’s getting more training and it’s an isolated misfit in the role 

[Grandma Cruising]

To be fair we were not over impressed with Guest Relations on Quest in October/November, when we tried to establish that we would be able to leave the ship early in Dubai (this was after BA moved our flight & we had an email from Azamara saying we would be able to disembark early). Every time we asked we got a different story, as did other passengers in the same position, and often the answer was given in a very exasperated fashion  - you could so obviously see them thinking ‘oh no, it’s them again,

[excitedofharpenden]

I had the worst experience of the GRM on Quest in October. Truly an awful attitude to an issue I had. Wonder if it's the same woman?  My friend was there and had to walk away it was so bad. People like this should not be in their post. They are certainly not typical and spoil it for all. It was detailed on my post cruise survey, but as I thought I had no follow up. 

 

Phil 

 

 

[oddjob16]

The review was too long to bother watching,- however I got the essentials and obviously there is a problem at the head of guest relations. We sailed with Quest in october and didn't have an issue with GR on that cruise. She is newly appointed as GR Manager and has previously worked in different roles onboard, including the Spa as a therapist and manager. Maybe a new post is imminent?

[marinaro44]

I'll never understand how someone can hear of one person's unfortunate incident and based on that decide they'll never choose that cruise line or hotel or resort or whatever.

[royallondon]

It just goes to prove how one person can undo the hard work of so many.  Having quality people in guest relations is key critical.  
 

 

[pully8]

We have watched many of their reports.

Will watch the follow on with interest.

Important to hear the good/bad and ugly if that is the case.

Agree it is not a luxury brand but nevertheless maintenance and repair standards sound in need of improvement. 

Same for staff training by the sounds. 

Pleasing some of their experiences were positive. 

.

[pully8]

1 minute ago, royallondon said:

It just goes to prove how one person can undo the hard work of so many.  Having quality people in guest relations is key critical.  
 

 

Agree. 

[lisiamc]

13 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

I'll never understand how someone can hear of one person's unfortunate incident and based on that decide they'll never choose that cruise line or hotel or resort or whatever.

I know! When I read reviews, I read most of the bad ones and evaluate. If they all complain about the same thing, then I believe there’s some merit in the complaints. If each bad review is a one-off, then I take them with a grain of salt. 

In this case, at least anecdotally, it sounds like a problem with one particular person on one particular ship, rather than a company-wide policy of supplying terrible customer service. (Certainly we have nearly always had excellent customer service.) Maybe a case of the person being a bad fit for the job?

Edited January 21, 2023 by lisiamc

[uktog]

40 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

I'll never understand how someone can hear of one person's unfortunate incident and based on that decide they'll never choose that cruise line or hotel or resort or whatever.

To be fair although a long video log (that is the style of these bloggers and is something their followers like) it is pretty balanced and people should watch the whole video before throwing in the towel. They should also think about all the good things the reviewers highlighted but Azamara will hopefully realise a poor experience at Guest Relations and an “off” culture there undoes so much good. 

[Grandma Cruising]

3 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

The review was too long to bother watching,- however I got the essentials and obviously there is a problem at the head of guest relations. We sailed with Quest in october and didn't have an issue with GR on that cruise. She is newly appointed as GR Manager and has previously worked in different roles onboard, including the Spa as a therapist and manager. Maybe a new post is imminent?

That’s interesting, especially if she was in the spa on Quest. I was very unimpressed with the spa. I booked for a treatment to use up the spa credit I had bought in the Indulgence package. I arrived a couple of minutes early to be told that the appointment ahead of mine was going to run over and I’d have to wait a few minutes. In the event I had to wait well over 20 minutes and, apart from initially being asked if I would like a drink, I was pretty much ignored. The therapist popped out once to apologise, but there was no attempt to put me at ease or chat to me by the spa reception staff.

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

To be fair although a long video log (that is the style of these bloggers and is something their followers like) it is pretty balanced and people should watch the whole video before throwing in the towel. They should also think about all the good things the reviewers highlighted but Azamara will hopefully realise a poor experience at Guest Relations and an “off” culture there undoes so much good. 

Aside from the fact that chances are they won't have to interact with her at all. If you do then you are likely to remember. What upset me was the way she undermined another member of the team in front of me who I know and like. I felt bad for him.

 

Phil 

[laurieb]

I couldn’t watch the whole thing.  I felt they felt they were privileged after the comment about not being offered a private transfer because of all the money they spent on their stateroom.  One thing I respect about Azamara is that there is no “class’ separation onboard.  I was also surprised that they were caught off guard with the rough seas.  I guess I need to fast forward to the room issues and watch that part of it.

[laurieb]

10 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

Geez!!! Now thinking will we regret booking our first cruise with Azamara? We are also on the Quest and the same sailing as these bloggers, just the reverse voyage from Sydney to Perth.

 

Having also read how Azamara have handled the cancelation of the Milford Sound and Bay of Islands stops on the NZ cruise due to not having the Hull of the ship cleaned im a little apprehensive as to how good this cruise company is now.

 

Could well be our first and last cruise with them.

Azamara is not the only cruise line that had to cancel stops in NZ; Celebrity canceled several on an upcoming cruise and I have no doubt other lines have also had to.  

[alfredo1]

We also viewed this and having been on board Quest some months ago we were taken aback by the content, especially if Ryszard was the Hotel Manager. He is one of the best and very adept at handling guest complaints correctly.

[tgg]

If the people who made this video are experienced cruisers, why did they not ask to meet with the Hotel Director?  

[uktog]

2 hours ago, laurieb said:

I couldn’t watch the whole thing.  I felt they felt they were privileged after the comment about not being offered a private transfer because of all the money they spent on their stateroom.  One thing I respect about Azamara is that there is no “class’ separation onboard.  I was also surprised that they were caught off guard with the rough seas.  I guess I need to fast forward to the room issues and watch that part of it.

Actually I think they had a genuine beef there. Azamara arranged all their travel. They were asked to wait in arrivals for three hours after a long flight so other flights would arrive and the transfer bus was full. They admit they should have just gone and got their own transfer but after over 10 hours of flying and a 7 hour time difference I’m sure I too might not have made the right decision. 

I did not take their comments on price paid as entitlement I took it as the kind of information their target viewing market would want to know. 

 

The rough seas were freak and I doubt they would have been so uptight about them if their cabin hadn’t had a maintenance issue and they were moved from midship to aft whilst their room dried out. 
 

I think you have to watch the whole thing to get the complete picture. 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, alfredo1 said:

We also viewed this and having been on board Quest some months ago we were taken aback by the content, especially if Ryszard was the Hotel Manager. He is one of the best and very adept at handling guest complaints correctly.

I’m not sure if he was onboard but in our situation the GRM did not tell him our situation though she said she did. You’re absolutely right, he solved it immediately we spoke directly to him and we realised he had not been contacted previously 

[oddjob16]

3 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

That’s interesting, especially if she was in the spa on Quest. I was very unimpressed with the spa. I booked for a treatment to use up the spa credit I had bought in the Indulgence package. I arrived a couple of minutes early to be told that the appointment ahead of mine was going to run over and I’d have to wait a few minutes. In the event I had to wait well over 20 minutes and, apart from initially being asked if I would like a drink, I was pretty much ignored. The therapist popped out once to apologise, but there was no attempt to put me at ease or chat to me by the spa reception staff.

It is probably some time ago since she was a Spa Manager. I think she has worked as  a Guest Relations Officer for a some years before she became manager

[travelberlin]

I have watched the whole video and OMG 😱. I hope Azamara takes corrective action. Unfriendly and inefficient guest relation personnel and ship in poor condition is not something cruisers expect. 
Ivi