Is this the cruise line for me?

[dulcemariamar]

I am looking for advice to find the next new cruise line for my family. Currently my favorite cruise line is Princess but of the most popular brands I have never tried Celebrity. (Carnival, Princess, Holland America, NCL and Disney we have been on). 
 

I have one preteen and they are chill and can take or leave a kid club so I don’t need to do a typical kid friendly cruise 
 

I want to be able to explore smaller ports.

 

I want good quality food.

 

I like live music and trivia and the option of seeing a show or two.

 

I don’t want to be nickeled or dimed.

 

I havent sailed since the pandemic because of being more high risk but I promised my partner to give a cruise a try next year. A mega ship doesn’t appeal to me now and I have followed these boards and it seems the quality of things have gone down a lot the last few years on the major cruise ship lines. 
 

is this true for Azamara ? Any suggestions from experienced cruisers

[Whitby100]

Sounds like we are pretty similar in interest, except for the family travel.  Children (under 18?) are virtually non existent in my experience on Azamara, and there are zero activities for youngsters.  Having said that, the staff will welcome them. Maybe some itineraries have kids on board? I have only cruised with Azamara (due to our shared interests) so can’t compare to other lines. 

[seahappy08]

Staff and food wonderful. Entertainment, not a lot of variety but AzaMazing evening was fantastic. Bathrooms very small. We have sailed mostly with Celebrity and think this may be a better fit for your family.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Celebrity is one of the many cruise lines with lots of negative posts about cost cutting, and unless you book in The Retreat there are lots of extra costs.  Azamara will be a breath of fresh air with no nickel-and-diming!  Reports here have been solid that Azamara is not cutting costs and that quality is as good as ever.  [The only issue is the disastrous website migration.  Book with a TA and let them use their superior portal and contacts.]

[suec12]

I think Celebrity is similar to Princess and HAL as far as not many children, decent but not exceptional food  - however have sailed none of them post pandemic. The Celebrity ships are actually not THE mega ships but Azamara is much smaller. It might depend on where you are sailing. We often sailed Celebrity with teens / young adults - they liked the ships but Azamara is a level up!

 

[harrodsfan]

We love Azamara for all the reasons you might like it, no nickel and diming. Our bill at the end was $100 for a purse I bought on board. Trivia is great and several ( 3 or 4 ) times a day. Onboard entertainment is ok. No fighting for seats there or in deck. The food everywhere is wonderful, minimum priced wines and drinks are just fine. Sure excursions are pricy but you can do on your own with viator.  We also love the friendly staff and passengers. The white night party is really fun. And the smaller size and fun ports is fabulous.

[AllisonJames]

For me, the decision would come down to: will your child be happy on the cruise if there are no other kids their age on board? Because not only might there not be any pre-teens, there may not be any children at all. In our four AZ I have seen probably less than 10 under 16s total and most of those seemed to be infants/toddlers.  We cruised with our kids on many of the lines you mention (we liked Norwegian and Princess the best of the mass market lines) and although we were not at all impressed with Celebrity and the “class system” we experienced, it might be worth a try for you and your pre-teen.  And when they turn 16, you might consider Viking Ocean, definitely feels like a step up from the mass market, smaller ships with more facilities than AZ (indoor pools for example, movies under the stars, an outdoor infinity edge pool). The Viking ships are gorgeous. We love AZ, but it’s not the best choice for younger people in my opinion.

[beatnix]

We love to travel with Azamara because of all the things you mentioned @dulcemariamar and also because there are no kids on the ships. For Kids you will find no reduced fare and also no entertainment. Last year we met on 4 cruises just a few children - most of them family of crew.

3 weeks ago - the youngest person was 21.

[lisiamc]

As others have said, it’s very possible, even likely, that your child will be the only one on the cruise. Maybe you could bring along a friend for him/her as well?

[Rosroz]

I think your child would be bored out of their mind, 

I know Celebrity is not the same as it was , but to be honest what is these days , Celebrity I’m sure would be a better fit. 

[Work in to Cruise 2023]

I think that it depends on the child - what activity do they like, what type of entertainment will appeal to them.  If you are on an itinerary that you believe your children would like - they will enjoy the cruise.  They do not need to attend all activities or entertainment - they may want to stay in the room and watch a movie, read a book, sleep whatever.  I do not believe anyone else can say whether or not a person/child/teen would enjoy the cruise, the parent should know what type of activities their child likes and should discuss the cruise and its amenities with them before hand.  As cruisers we all have different likes/dislikes when it comes to a cruise line, whether it be entertainment, food, activities or excursions. I believe Azamara is a great fit for anyone, it is what you make it.  Last summer we had multiple children, ages between 5 and 16 years old,  on our 3 cruises - they were all very well behaved, joined in with everyone and were having a great time.  My 9 year old granddaughter will be aboard with us in November.  I do not expect all the on ship experiences and activities will appeal to her but I am planning our excursions with her in mind.  This will be her first cruise experience and we are all looking forward to it.

[sofietucker]

Taking our first AZ cruise in a couple of months, but based on everything I've read, I think the *smaller* Celebrity ships would be a better fit for you. We cruise them a lot, the Solstice and Millennium classes have a capacity of 2800 and 2K respectively, 3-4 ships in the classes. Solstices have lawns on the top deck. Lots of entertainment and stuff to do--even karaoke and pickleball! A bit more sedate than the other cruise lines (except the VERY sedate HAL, lol), but still plenty of fun. Good food. We're looking for even smaller ships and unusual itineraries; we hope that Az will fulfill our dreams (after 30+ cruises). But Celebrity will always be our go-to.

Edited July 6, 2023 by sofietucker

[Dr H]

I love Azamara, I love my kids and grandkids, but this is NOT a cruise line for children. It is unfair to them to bring them on board. There is the occasional child, invariably the child of a crewman, the rare teen who is already a tad weird because he is having the time of his life, but generally, speaking, no, this is not a line to take kids on. Celebrity, yes, they won't go bonkers. but for the kid's sake, Azamara would be torture. Join us when the kids are ready.

[aururab]

On 6/27/2023 at 11:24 AM, dulcemariamar said:

I am looking for advice to find the next new cruise line for my family. Currently my favorite cruise line is Princess but of the most popular brands I have never tried Celebrity. (Carnival, Princess, Holland America, NCL and Disney we have been on). 
 

I have one preteen and they are chill and can take or leave a kid club so I don’t need to do a typical kid friendly cruise 
 

I want to be able to explore smaller ports.

 

I want good quality food.

 

I like live music and trivia and the option of seeing a show or two.

 

I don’t want to be nickeled or dimed.

 

I havent sailed since the pandemic because of being more high risk but I promised my partner to give a cruise a try next year. A mega ship doesn’t appeal to me now and I have followed these boards and it seems the quality of things have gone down a lot the last few years on the major cruise ship lines. 
 

is this true for Azamara ? Any suggestions from experienced cruisers

Did you end up deciding to book Azamara? 

We have done several cruises with our kids on the typical lines, the last was Royal Caribbean out of San Juan, and while we fit in a few hours of family type activities, overall we were some of the first on and off the ship at each port (no sea days) and were just too worn out to worry about such things. 

We have found a summer 2024 itinerary that matches exactly with what we are looking for, it is a port intensive itinerary, with no sea days. We will be off after breakfast, and back for a late dinner and then we all be too tired to do much of anything I expect. 

Our other option wouldn't be a cruise, it would be to do pick two islands and cart our stuff around, so Azamara is looking quite appealing... 🙂
 

[deadzone1003]

Granted, Azamara is not geared for kids - if you pick a very port intensive itinerary, like in Europe, the kids will really don't have much free time. Sort of like a cross country travel by car - how much time do your kids will interact with other kids, especially if every day is a new day to explore?  If there is alot of sea days, pick a different line.

[the_dylaness]

We have two children, elementary and middle school aged.  We've sailed Celebrity, RCCL, and Disney with them, with X overall being the best fit when we sail as a group. They don't need tons of entertainment and honestly found the RCCL and Disney crowds a bit overwhelming.  

 

Having said all that, we just disembarked our first Azamara cruise (just husband and myself) and I do think my kids would've been bored to death. There are really very few activities that are even remotely family oriented, and although it's not my preferred activity, at least sometimes on the larger lines the evening theater show, for instance, is of interest (singing/dancing/acrobatics, or a magician...) The Azamara shows were fine (we saw only a few) but would not have interested our children in the least.

 

I hope you find a good fit!

[donaldsc]

I have done 3 cruises with 4 grandkids in AK on Princess w/o their parents as their coming-of-age cruise.  We don't like Princess but one of the reasons we picked them was because of the kids activities.  All 4 of the kids said that the kids activities were totally stupid and did not any part if them.  I agree but it was their choice and not ours as to what they wanted to do on board.

 

Obviously Princess is not Azamara but my point is that they enjoyed their cruising experience because of what they did on the ship and the excursions they went on and they did not bother to interact w any of the many other kids on board.  What you do depends upon your kids but some kids do not need a playground on a ship filled w other kids to have a very good cruising experience.  There could have been zero kids on board except for them and they would not have cared.

 

DON

[Fair Play]

Only saw 1 family with 2 small kids, very well behaved. They did not take over the pools or hot tubs.

Staff were really good with them and probably enjoyed the demographic change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KEN31VA]

I have been on many cruise lines, including Azamara, and they all have some pluses and minuses.  My take on Azamara is that their major plus is their itineraries and their major minus is their cost.  

[Whitby100]

I would add their all inclusive concept as my major plus.  You know what you need to budget when you book - no extra expenses like alcohol, soft drinks, gratuities, etc.  No need to spend another penny unless you wish.  If the itinerary suits and the budget fits, I’m in! 

[yogagal47]

We did a two week cruise in 2018 that went from Edinburgh to Copenhagen, mostly visiting Norway ports including many of the fjords. There was a lovely family on board with 4 kids- a few grade schoolers and a few middle school age. They love Azamara. This was not their first cruise with the line. They were very active in every port. They seemed to be having a wonderful time. They attended all the shows in the evening and the performers got to know the kids and were super engaged with them as they did lots of the onboard game activities as well. Many families enjoy spending time with their kids on this type of trip and are not looking for glitzy entertainment or kids clubs for them. Good luck whatever you decide.