Annual Which Survey on Cruiselines (UK)

[Rosroz]

I have sailed with many cruise lines including Azamara and its a shame 

that Azamara has been allowed to slip and thats even BC , , I feel Royal C had little interest they were to busy  building their Mega ships , and Celebrity is nothing like it used to be .

I’m hoping that the new owners will give it the love and attention it deserves,  there are many things that need addressing to bring it back up , I feel what is keeping it going is its loyal fan base, having recently sailed on the Onward, the food was often not up to par, the dreaded shower curtain is so awful, the staff are still excellent and it is very good  value for money.

Oceania is currently my favourite but it is a bit like Gods waiting room and their prices seem to have risen dramatically but no way is it a rival for Azamara, Oceania is a far more superior product.

[federalexpress]

Having only ever had two cruises, one on HAL and one on Azamara, I am not able to comment on whether the ratings shown ring true, but I am a member of Which and I can comment on them.

 

While I value their product reviews, I am always very wary of a survey like this. Even if, as I assume, every single one of those surveyed had been on a cruise in the past 12-18 months, for the smaller cruise lines with typically 1-2% market share, the sample size barely merits the term. A couple of dozen people at best. This is no way to produce any kind of realistic industry ranking. I generally view these rather lightweight surveys as Which doing PR. They tend to get their name in the press when they say they have 'research findings'.

 

For what it's worth, and without much of a basis for comparison, we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise with them in January, partly because it did in the end very much fit in with our own preferences. Smaller more intimate ships with a very informal atmosphere and not so much loud music blaring everywhere. I've no idea if Viking or Oceania or Celebrity is better but I wouldn't rely on the Which survey for that, I'd look at Cruise Critic and for an idea of recent developments, good or bad, look at the boards for each line. That's what I did to pick AZ in the first place...

[uktog]

18 minutes ago, Rosroz said:

I have sailed with many cruise lines including Azamara and its a shame 

that Azamara has been allowed to slip and thats even BC , , I feel Royal C had little interest they were to busy  building their Mega ships , and Celebrity is nothing like it used to be .

I’m hoping that the new owners will give it the love and attention it deserves,  there are many things that need addressing to bring it back up , I feel what is keeping it going is its loyal fan base, having recently sailed on the Onward, the food was often not up to par, the dreaded shower curtain is so awful, the staff are still excellent and it is very good  value for money.

Oceania is currently my favourite but it is a bit like Gods waiting room and their prices seem to have risen dramatically but no way is it a rival for Azamara, Oceania is a far more superior product.

It is such a small sample we will never know but I wonder how many people who responded to the survey were those who travelled on Onward?   First they had all the issues just after launch when the ship wasn't really guest or crew trained ready, it seemed to pick up but then from the transatlantic for a couple of months it dipped again.  Like you in that second period our food  was certainly not up to par and there were reports on a UK social media forum of several others having that view.  Reading here it seems Onwards food is a better again, maybe personnel changed.  But if there was a high % Azamara respondents from Onward and its less good months - and given some discounting that was going on for its fares last summer in the UK and it was doing ex UK sailings that is very possible - that might also have distorted the data.

The other thing to bear in mind this survey is of UK guests, they may be looking for different things which could explain some of the reasons why some say never had a problem and others are saying different.

[fruitmachine]

3 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

Obviously many don’t agree with you judging by the result of the survey! 

42 or fewer. 

 

For that was the number of respondents with an opinion of Azamara, of which you can assume that about 21 rated it higher than the published result.

[Riocca]

3 minutes ago, uktog said:

It is such a small sample we will never know but I wonder how many people who responded to the survey were those who travelled on Onward?   First they had all the issues just after launch when the ship wasn't really guest or crew trained ready, it seemed to pick up but then from the transatlantic for a couple of months it dipped again.  Like you in that second period our food  was certainly not up to par and there were reports on a UK social media forum of several others having that view.  Reading here it seems Onwards food is a better again, maybe personnel changed.  But if there was a high % Azamara respondents from Onward and its less good months - and given some discounting that was going on for its fares last summer in the UK and it was doing ex UK sailings that is very possible - that might also have distorted the data.

The other thing to bear in mind this survey is of UK guests, they may be looking for different things which could explain some of the reasons why some say never had a problem and others are saying different.

Quite possible, but also a couple of big online U.K. travel agents had some very large trade bookings on some repositioning cruises, Quest in particular. These were packaged with flights and pre and post cruise stays that were not without their own problems, as usual many passengers were led to believe that Azamara were responsible for things the travel agents had booked. 
 

Now independent of RC I fear that some of our less scrupulous travel agents might take advantage of Azamara’s desire to grow passenger numbers. A few years ago we experienced an Azamara cruise that RC dumped on the U.K. market using a travel agent they owned at the time. With 80% U.K. passengers most having bought the deal with no idea what to expect and had been given flights that were far from acceptable the experience was not the usual Azamara one. If it was someone’s first experience of Azamara then they probably would give low scores on a survey.

 

 

[uktog]

I so agree @Riocca which is why I am always so frustrated that Azamara oldco certainly did nothing when agents were letting them down and there is no evidence to date that has changed.  Why oh why do they allow some many practices and misrepresentations from travel agents - are they too precious to touch??

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, Riocca said:

Over the 20 years we’ve been cruising we’ve been on 16 different ocean cruise lines so we have been able to hone our likes and dislikes and know our tastes have changed significantly over that time.

 

We used to enjoy formal nights and production shows but now prefer a more relaxed low key style however sometimes it’s the cruise lines have changed. In the early days P&O was our go to line but post Carnival it’s become too family focused with ships that are way too big for our liking. We enjoyed Celebrity for a short while until they became millennial focused with music everywhere. 

 

All cruise lines provide something different so people should do their research to see if it provides what they like. If I booked MSC thinking it would be like Azamara when I am disappointed is it MSC’s fault or mine for booking the wrong cruise line? Mine of course so it would be unfair to criticise them for my mistake, but these days that’s part of the problem people won’t acknowledge their own mistake and want the cruise lines to change to their requirements.

 

We’ve been on a few cruises that haven’t lived up to our expectations but realised we were as much to blame for choosing the wrong cruise line. Wouldn’t dream of leaving bad reviews as we know that lots of others enjoy what they offer it’s just not for us so we just wouldn’t book again.
 

 

I agree with most that you have said. However when I review a hotel, a cruise line, etc I leave a honest review. Sometimes it might be negative. But I have benefited from negative reviews more than from positive ones. Nothing is perfect and I do not like to see descriptions from loyalists in which not a word of dissatisfaction is given. I doubt about those reviews.

Ivi

[Riocca]

55 minutes ago, uktog said:

I so agree @Riocca which is why I am always so frustrated that Azamara oldco certainly did nothing when agents were letting them down and there is no evidence to date that has changed.  Why oh why do they allow some many practices and misrepresentations from travel agents - are they too precious to touch??

I can only suppose that with their customer service being in transition and difficult to contact at times they are reliant on travel agents to take the burden. This gives the travel agents the upper hand and no doubt that despite what Azamara says the agents will say anything to get bookings, especially as Azamara have been running some attractive promotions for travel agents.

[uktog]

Interesting podcast that was shared on Facebook from Azamara.  Maybe the technology in the long run will work - as they say it is "change or die"

 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2005886/12362736?fbclid=IwAR33AP0dILeXgVU_-JyY8Adm-83KySWRpaTRPnaw7D7nzV-fPVPqo2jHJ_0