Live from Onward (BCN to VCE)

[ghstudio]

Aboard the Onward from Barcelona to Venice in a veranda room on 7 midship.  Very quiet location. It’s wonderful being on a ship with less than 700 passengers…in fact our cruise only has a little over 500.  There are no crowds anywhere….there is no waiting anywhere….it’s a wonderful way to cruise.  The staff is incredibly friendly…and they use your name.  When you’re sitting in a public area, someone is always asking if they can get you anything.  

 

We have the basic included liquor package and there is a list of what’s included.  We noticed no zero alcohol wines or beers so we asked.  No problem…what would you like…we have Heineken 0.0 and several zero alcohol wines….and they are included, don’t worry about the list.  Wow!! 

 

We had all the usual horror issues pre-cruise with the new web site…and we didn’t know what to expect…we had no boarding passes or luggage tags.  We just showed up at the pier….no problem at all…they had a list with our names…check in was the easiest we’ve ever had (this is our first Azamara cruise).  No wait at all to check in…but a short wait in the terminal where they had cookies, water and coffee.  Our luggage arrived almost immediately in our rooms.

 

Surprisingly, the rooms have more space than we’ve had on Celebrity/Princess ships…more electrical outlets…just the smaller bathrooms and showers.  It’s more like being on a river cruise where the cabins are smaller.  Beds are a bit softer…foam but I’ve slept very soundly…as I said extremely quiet.  OK….The comments about small bathrooms are valid…you have to sit a little catty corner on the toilet and the shower is so small that the shower curtain rubs against you….more like a cabin on a river cruise…but it’s really efficient use of space…so yes, the gripe is valid, but it shouldn’t deter anyone from booking on Azamara ships.

 

The food….excellent and interesting.  We are used to Celebrity/Princess/HAL and the food on this ship is more interesting…they actually spice the food…..we’re more than pleased. If a dish should be spicy…it is spicy (and I love spice).  The pastries are better than celebrity (and far better than HAL and Princess).  OK..in fairness, the onion soup on Celebrity is better as are the breadsticks 🙂

 

I should mention that although the website problems before the cruise worried us, all of the OBC’s and excursion bookings were correct on board.  

 

If I had to find some negatives, just to balance our very positive experience….the towels are more like loophas than I’d like;  we usually avoid the eventing shows on  ships…and we should have followed our practice….it’s not a strong point on this cruise.  Other music around the ship is very good though. I’m typing this listening to one of the bands in the Living Room enjoying an included famous grouse…..sitting at a window with window seats available for others….try to find that on a Celebrity/Princess/HAL ship….

 

I won’t review the ports…we haven’t taken any ship excursions yet….we enjoy just walking around in different ports. For whatever reason we have $1400 OBC on this cruise so excursions are essentially included and we are doing some later on the cruise.

 

Overall, despite our concerns dealing with Azamara HQ and website prior to the cruise…..we are rethinking our cruise schedule to see is we can fit in or replace a cruise with another on Azamara.  Yes…it’s that nice to be on a small ship where they care about YOU, there aren’t crowds…and the minor annoyance at the bathroom size is minor.

 

We are elite Plus on Celebrity…don’t like their new ships and constant repeating of the same cruises; We have some status on Princess but based on two cruises in the past 9 months, we will not book Princess again…they have just gone down hill post covid, in our opinion.  we have some HAL cruises booked because they have the most interesting itineraries. 

 

We now are looking forward to our next Azamara cruise.  

[takemewithyou]

Great to hear!  I remember you had many concerns pre cruise.  Glad it’s all working out well.  
 

Many of us here were once Celebrity cruisers.  I liked the M class very much…..back in the day.  the S class not so much and forget the E class.

[Dr H]

GHStudio, that was a remarkably accurate account of a trip on Azamara! If I have to complain about anything, it is the shower. Have you tried the two LARGE showers in the locker room? Open to the public, fat towels, lots of hot water spraying everywhere. I disagree with your assessment of the onion soup, but that is obviously totally subjective. Personally, I prefer the MDR onion soup to the Prime C soup, but that's me. You are correct about the bread sticks on Celebrity. In fact, after 2 cruises with Celebrity, they are the only thing on board that is superior to Azamara. Scotch wise, my vice. Famous Grouse may be the biggest seller in the UK, but I've never had one. I'm a single malt fan. With $1400 of credit in your pocket, or their computer, might I suggest you order a scotch. The good stuff runs about $10-11. a glass, more for a double. We never take any of the liquor packages, After more than 10 years cruising with Azamara, last Fall I actually blew about $50 on a better bottle of wine, which followed us around the ship for about 2½ days. Our combined bar tab may have hit about $75.  a fraction of our OBC, and included about 3 top end Martinis and a few glasses Glenlivet. Anyway, you have made me both envious and anxious. Envious that you are onboard right now and I'm not, and anxious because I'm not onboard right now and have to wait for our B2Bs starting the first week of November. Continue to have a wonderful trip, looking forward to meeting you one day.

 

[ChucktownSteve]

I am so glad you're having a wonderful experience.  We found that we also enjoy the smaller ships. Better service, better food, better itineraries and it's like welcome home when returning from an excursion. 

 

Out of our last five cruises within 14 months, only one was an E class with about 2,000 souls. The others were 750 and less.  Our next two are on AZ.

Too bad you didn't get an Azamara cruise under your belt before the split.  Your current AZ level would have been carried over to Discoverer+.

Edited July 11, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[cavaaller]

Thank you for taking the time to give us this great report.

Reviews have become so scarce, it is lovely to read a good one!

 

If you find time: could you tell us about your boarding experience in Barcelona? (When did boarding start, how was the drill handeled?)

 

thanks again, I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Edited July 11, 2023 by cavaaller

[ghstudio]

We arrived at the bcn pier at 11am.  There were porters to tag and take our bags, but the terminal wasn’t open until noon.  Just across from the terminal, there’s a coffee shop with many tables so we sat and had some coffee (with other passengers who arrived early).  When the terminal opened, we walked over and there were many check in stations, so no wait.  Like most, we didn’t have a boarding pass, but they found us quickly on their list and it wasn’t a problem at all.  We then went to a waiting area because boarding is 2pm.  When boarding started, they boarded suite customers first but our wait was maybe 15 more minutes. When we got to our cabin, 2 of our 3 bags were already waiting outside our door…the third appeared by the time we finished eating the buffet lunch.  Didn’t have to search for a table..there were many empty.

[KevintheIrishDJ]

My concern for the Nov. cruise is getting Loyalty Points & OBC's straightened out. Prior posts say it only took a few minutes; however, with "everyone in the same boat" was the line at customer service very long.

Edited July 11, 2023 by KevintheIrishDJ

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

My concern for the Nov. cruise is getting Loyalty Points & OBC's straightened out. Prior posts say it only took a few minutes; however, with "everyone in the same boat" was the line at customer service very long.

Honestly, I'm not sure how many times it has to be posted on this board that you don't need to worry about your loyalty level. They will know your cruise history on the ship. And I see so many times people posting that their OBC was correct or at least sorted out with no problems. 

 

Phil 

[excitedofharpenden]

@ghstudio, have a great cruise. Glad you are enjoying so much. I've left Celebrity behind too. No longer appeals to me. I'm not their demographic any longer. 

 

Phil 

[ECCruise]

Hello @ghstudio

Been following your posts for years, mostly re: Celebrity since that was our choice for 32+ sailings.  Welcome to the world of Azamara.  You still have a White Night and an Azamazing evening to experience, so more good things coming your way soon I hope.

[KevintheIrishDJ]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Honestly, I'm not sure how many times it has to be posted on this board that you don't need to worry about your loyalty level. They will know your cruise history on the ship. And I see so many times people posting that their OBC was correct or at least sorted out with no problems. 

 

Phil 

I hope it will be corrected. My question is how long have people waited online to get it corrected.

[ghstudio]

23 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

Hello @ghstudio

Been following your posts for years, mostly re: Celebrity since that was our choice for 32+ sailings.  Welcome to the world of Azamara.  You still have a White Night and an Azamazing evening to experience, so more good things coming your way soon I hope.

A amazing night tonight and access sushi and sashimi for dinner.  For me it will be a black night . I have black but not white with me 🙂

[ECCruise]

15 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

I hope it will be corrected. My question is how long have people waited online to get it corrected.

We waited less than 5 minutes.

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

I hope it will be corrected. My question is how long have people waited online to get it corrected.

And you do not have to go in line (I presume you mean in line onboard and not online on a computer/phone) on embarkation day when lines are longer anyway as people deal with a variety of issues.  Chill out and go when there are no lines later in the cruise.  You only need your OBC sorted just before you disembark and as regards your loyalty future cruise sales can also help.  Again no one is reporting problems with points.  @excitedofharpenden is right - you are worrying over nothing, time to stop flogging the deceased horse

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

I hope it will be corrected. My question is how long have people waited online to get it corrected.

What?  Loyalty points or OBC or both?  How many people need to post here to advise you?  You dont need to worry. See my previous post. Why don't you just wait until you are actually on the ship? 

 

Phil 

[TeaBag]

ghstudio, glad you are enjoying your Azamara cruise.  Funny, we thought the onion soup on Quest was way better than Celebrity's.  I was happy to see that you found the food well seasoned.  We had the best waiter on Quest that we have ever had on any of our cruises.  They really do want you to enjoy yourself.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[norn iron]

5 hours ago, KevintheIrishDJ said:

My concern for the Nov. cruise is getting Loyalty Points & OBC's straightened out. Prior posts say it only took a few minutes; however, with "everyone in the same boat" was the line at customer service very long.

There is an old Chinese proverb I learnt many years, (and I'm addressing your concerns as worries)

 

"if you worry you die, if you don't worry you die, so why worry"

[KevintheIrishDJ]

3 hours ago, ECCruise said:

We waited less than 5 minutes.

Thanks.

 

[ChucktownSteve]

3 hours ago, ghstudio said:

A amazing night tonight and access sushi and sashimi for dinner.  For me it will be a black night . I have black but not white with me 🙂

Since this is your first AZ cruise, I hope you realize it's OK to attend White Night in clothes other than white.  The AZ passengers are welcoming regardless of whether you wear white, Red, Blue or Black. Just tell someone if they mention it, you're wearing white underwear!  😁 But they won't.  It's about enjoying the cruise!

Edited July 11, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[LuAnn]

So glad to see that you are enjoying AZ. I've seen your posts forever on other line's boards...nice to have you here now!! 

[ChucktownSteve]

2 hours ago, norn iron said:

There is an old Chinese proverb I learnt many years, (and I'm addressing your concerns as worries)

 

"if you worry you die, if you don't worry you die, so why worry"

So you also like good Chinese food?

[ghstudio]

6 hours ago, ChucktownSteve said:

Since this is your first AZ cruise, I hope you realize it's OK to attend White Night in clothes other than white.  The AZ passengers are welcoming regardless of whether you wear white, Red, Blue or Black. Just tell someone if they mention it, you're wearing white underwear!  😁 But they won't.  It's about enjoying the cruise!

Oh, I’m not worried….but I do plan to wear all black…just for fun. I will tell folks that I am masquerading  as “the black sheep” in the flock 🙂 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Oh, I’m not worried….but I do plan to wear all black…just for fun. I will tell folks that I am masquerading  as “the black sheep” in the flock 🙂 

 

Johnny Cash is alive and well and living on Azamara 🙂

 

Phil 

[aliaschief]

Do the verandas still have the hard uncomfortable fiberglass shell seats or have they been replaced with the more standard chairs? Thanks for sharing your cruise.

[tidespring]

Yes indeed. We disembarked from Onward in Barcelona last Saturday. Still have the uncomfortable chairs on the balconies and next to the pool bar. Not so bad on the bottom but certainly painful on the back. One of the minor faults with this ship, out of the three different Azamara ships we have sailed on.