Seriously considering Azamara for first time

[excitedofharpenden]

50 minutes ago, uktog said:

Don’t hold your breath Phil. I’m still waiting for a response post auto emails from June and July about two existing bookings I was entitled to lift and shift. In the end I gave up and cancelled 

Fortunately the ta I am using for next March on which the FCC will be applied has said she'll deal with it on my behalf if I don't get anywhere, but we'll see!  I don't really want to bother her for a cruise she has nothing to do with, but of course it's being applied to one she is looking after. 

 

Phil 

[hubofhockey]

When I see long time Azamara cruisers this upset, I am relieved that I canceled my cruise a couple of weeks ago.  We'll return only after the regulars here says the waters are safe.  Booked an Oceania instead.  

[ChucktownSteve]

This morning I expressed my Azamara concerns to my TA for a Dec 2024 cruise. 

 

This was his response, "Those issues should be well ironed out by your cruise in December.  We have had good feedback for the onboard experience aboard Azamara recently, actually, including some customers who are long time Azamara customers who were especially nervous about the transition."

I sure hope it is accurate and he's not just trying to placate me.

Edited September 7, 2023 by ChucktownSteve

[wjfan417]

1 hour ago, ChucktownSteve said:

This morning I expressed my Azamara concerns to my TA for a Dec 2024 cruise. 

 

This was his response, "Those issues should be well ironed out by your cruise in December.  We have had good feedback for the onboard experience aboard Azamara recently, actually, including some customers who are long time Azamara customers who were especially nervous about the transition."

I sure hope it is accurate and he's not just trying to placate me.

I changed TA’s recently. Before doing that, I asked my new TA if they had any issues booking and dealing with Azamara and she told me that they had no problems with booking Azamara.

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

When I see long time Azamara cruisers this upset, I am relieved that I canceled my cruise a couple of weeks ago.  We'll return only after the regulars here says the waters are safe.  Booked an Oceania instead.  

Good luck.  I don't like the recent reviews on the Oceania forum.  You might want to look at Silversea – their 'port to port' fares are very well priced and still include a choice of excursions in every port.

[the_dylaness]

Following with interest. First Azamara cruise is in a few weeks... I've sailed on Celebrity enough times to be "Elite" (ugh, I hate that name) over the past 14 years.  We have also sailed in everything from an inside on Carnival (never again) to balcony rooms on Silversea, Seabourn, and Crystal, and many things in between, so I think we have a good variety of perspectives...  

 

Celebrity, for us, has become just a bit predictable and in some cases too commercialized, for lack of a better word.  I don't want a foot detox program, I don't want to go to an art auction, I don't want to be pestered for extra money at every turn.  I will say that they had a much more user-friendly online shore excursion booking system, check-in, etc.  The "Flights by Celebrity" was a serious debacle that I used once and regretted.  (All said and done I spent over 17 hours on the phone with them fixing a problem THEY created.)

 

Hoping Azamara is a better option for the cruises we take just as a couple.  We also cruise with our school-aged children and Celebrity was overall a reasonably good fit there.  

[hubofhockey]

21 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Good luck.  I don't like the recent reviews on the Oceania forum.  You might want to look at Silversea – their 'port to port' fares are very well priced and still include a choice of excursions in every port.

Silversea fares are a little too high and it may be a little too formal for me. My brother and some friends have been selling me on Oceania for a while.  I found an itinerary I liked with an overnight in Bordeaux, so now is the time.  

[hamrag]

8 hours ago, hubofhockey said:

....My brother and some friends have been selling me on Oceania for a while.  I found an itinerary I liked with an overnight in Bordeaux, so now is the time.  

The culinary experience on Oceania is much better than Azamara (can be mitigated by Az specialties at sensible pricing). The standard drinks package on Azamara is better than Oceania (wine with lunch & dinner only).

 

Overall, everything else is much of a muchness. Generally we choose for itinerary, and both Oceania and Azamara are usually considerations for a suitable itinerary. We have Az booked November, and Oceania summer 2024. 

[ECCruise]

On 9/6/2023 at 8:05 PM, ChucktownSteve said:

This morning I expressed my Azamara concerns to my TA for a Dec 2024 cruise. 

 

This was his response, "Those issues should be well ironed out by your cruise in December.  We have had good feedback for the onboard experience aboard Azamara recently, actually, including some customers who are long time Azamara customers who were especially nervous about the transition."

I sure hope it is accurate and he's not just trying to placate me.

My TA would echo the same.  As would we with the onboard experience on the 5 we've done since the restart.

Our TA was pulling her hair out over the problems between say April and late July.  Was really ready to stop booking Azamara.  But then the 3 bookings we've done since late July, and how smoothly they went, she had a real change of heart.  (We have directions to the port, boarding times, boarding passes and line by line description of OBCs--on a July 2025 sailing).  In addition, we had a pretty major problem on one of our upcoming bookings which took a good while to sort out, but when it did, it was to everyone's satisfaction.

 

And jumping out of this fire (if it is one) into another one is no panacea for sure.  Check out the boards on Oceania, on Explora (wow, they virtually axed most of their itineraries and replaced many with very short sailings) and the Granddaddy of them all, Celebrity, where many, many Elite, Elite + and even Zenith are bailing.  Fast. 

[360Guy]

Greetings….it has been 11 years since our last Azamara cruise on the Quest along the Croatian coast.  It was really very nice.  The past 12 years have been on Celebrity including a 10/2021return to service on Millenium and a 4/2022 1st sailing on Solstice out of Southampton with a very full ship.   We’ve never really had a bad experience on Celebrity but the recent noise volume on their CC boards is pretty stiff.

 

We sail on Millenium Best of Japan 10/12 that has been sold out for almost two years (oversold at one point) so will have an opportunity to provide feedback.
 

After this long winded intro we are looking at the Azamara Onward June 1, 2025 Lisbon to Southampton 10 night.  Getting some quotes and hope to book soon.   Wonderful itinerary and we really like that we can bring wine onboard as we make stops in Portugal and France and pay the reasonable corkage.  It has a great itinerary.

 

We also booked a Crystal Serenity Canada Quebec to NYC in September 2024.  This will be our first foray into the luxury space and their return to service has been very good as CC posts are reporting.  The per diem on this cruise is multiples of Celebrity and Azamara, but we had one booked before COVID and then they went bankrupt. 
 

I really enjoy and appreciate the time everyone takes on these boards sharing their experiences and recommendations!

Edited September 9, 2023 by 360Guy

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks @360Guy  I hope you will post a review of your Azamara cruise here – and also a comparison of your first Crystal experience compared to Azamara.  I am open to both luxury and near-luxury cruise lines – the itinerary is always the deciding factor, and if the itinerary is good enough I'm not sure the luxury cruise adds enough value to justify the extra cost.  [But I'm willing to continue the scientific data gathering, as a service to others!]

[JonoBhoy]

On 8/20/2023 at 9:11 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

@ECCruise, like you I've done quite a lot of Celebrity before discovering Azamara. They are such different products really. Considering the two Azamara ships when they first sailed for them were going to be known as Celebrity Quest and Celebrity Journey. Thank goodness that never happened. Thank you Larry Pimentel for that idea. 

 

I became somewhat tired of the larger ships and as far as atmosphere and service for me Azamara are indeed streets ahead of Celebrity. As time went on and cruising both lines I just found the Azamara product more honest and the service more consistent.  Coupled with the more appealing itineraries and a more active and we'll travelled fellow guest and for me I ended up doing fewer and fewer Celebrity and more and more Azamara. 

 

Azamara aren't for everyone, but if you fancy trying a smaller ship with less venues, but a bigger heart then give them a go. 

 

Phil 

 

 

This is really encouraging to hear. My wife and I very recently booked onboard Onward next year (Adriatic Adventure), it will be our first time on Azamara, and first time on a smaller ship in general. I only came across this chat board after booking, and skimming though some of the headline threads did leave me a little concerned. This will be only our sixth cruise, mostly on Celebrity with a couple in MSCs Yacht Club. The reality is we have enjoyed every cruise we've been on regardless of any minor cons, so, as always, I take the comments on this board with a pinch of salt (which the Celebrity food could do with!) as I suspect most of what I've read will simply dissolve based on all the wonderful experiences I suspect out upcoming cruise will offer.

 

The reason for us trying something new is two fold; One, our last cruise was on Edge (Caribbean) in the Retreat in Jan 23 (we booked in Jan 22 before the cost of everything went haywire), it was great (not without fault) but the cost of booking that product for a comparable itinerary now is +60-80% on what we paid previously...which when placed side by side with the product simply doesn't represent value for money. Two, the Med itineraries on offer from the bigger ships simply don't excite us (been there, done that) whereas the ports of call and experiences outlined from Azamara are streets ahead.

 

I very much look forward to our first experience with Azamara, and all being well I suspect we may have a new line to consider when booking future cruises, but the reality is we will likely chop and change between lines/ships based on what we want to get out of a trip, but my hope is Azamara can be added to the mix for us going forward... 🙂