Azamazing Evenings – coming back?

[Mrs Miggins]

8 hours ago, Mrs.Dukes said:

We are currently scheduled off the ship in Koper in July - Viennese Waltz and White Horses.

There may be a little difficulty in re-scheduling this particular evening to an onboard event !

[jcruizer]

Wow. Very nice. There's hope for us on ours.

[CptBoatface]

On 5/26/2024 at 11:32 PM, Mrs Miggins said:

There may be a little difficulty in re-scheduling this particular evening to an onboard event !

Didn't Lyle Lovett have a song about riding a pony on his boat? 🚢 

[curmudgeon98]

I'll give my compliments to Azamara.  We just got an email notice that the "destination celebration" which had been scheduled onboard in Bilbao has been upgraded to an "Azamazing Evening".  Same headline performers, but adding a dance troupe and moving to a theater in the city.  This is for a cruise just five weeks away.

 

This is an appreciated touch, as it didn't appear that the cruise dock is an especially scenic location.

[manc]

If it's the  Chocolate Box Threatre it was a good experience when we did it. We  stayed in Bilbao and met the rest of the cruisers at the theatre as didn't want you waste any time in Bilbao and the port is well out of town. 

[Dynacruiser]

21 minutes ago, manc said:

If it's the  Chocolate Box Threatre it was a good experience when we did it. We  stayed in Bilbao and met the rest of the cruisers at the theatre as didn't want you waste any time in Bilbao and the port is well out of town. 

 

We did that in Bilbao, we stayed in town and planned to meet the Azamara group at the theater (forgot the name).  The theater workers looked at us like crazy people when we came in and asked about the Azamara event.   We were completely puzzled, scratching our heads...

 

True story:

It turns out that Azamara had changed the venue at the last minute (so were we told), and after 1 hr waiting at the advertised theater, we started walking back into town, just to run into some Azamara people standing outside of a different theater, blocks away!  It was just by chance that we found the correct theater and joined the performance before it started!

 

I punished Azamara by drinking like 20 glasses of free wine at the entrance!  Truly enjoyable performance, glad I didn't miss it.

 

Lesson learned, if you are planning to go directly to the venue, double check with Azamara a day earlier.   I highly suspect that the change of venue was not a last-minute decision, but one of the many typos on their announcements. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jcruizer]

Ours seems to be ashore now in an opera house. Yay they listened...

[scotsahoy]

We heard from a reliable source on Journey last month that the new CEO is keen to reinstate Azamazing Evenings ashore.

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, scotsahoy said:

We heard from a reliable source on Journey last month that the new CEO is keen to reinstate Azamazing Evenings ashore.

Very good to know.👍

 

Phil 

[hamrag]

We are soon, all being well, to sail Onward. That'll be our 5/6th Az cruise and still we shan't experience a true Azamazing Evening. Again, it's an onboard event, a choice 6.30 or 8.30 so it's still not cutting the mustard for us so far!

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

We are soon, all being well, to sail Onward. That'll be our 5/6th Az cruise and still we shan't experience a true Azamazing Evening. Again, it's an onboard event, a choice 6.30 or 8.30 so it's still not cutting the mustard for us so far!

On our Onward cruise in September the event is outdoors, in the main square of Gibraltar.

Edited July 31 by Grandma Cruising

[curmudgeon98]

2 hours ago, hamrag said:

We are soon, all being well, to sail Onward. That'll be our 5/6th Az cruise and still we shan't experience a true Azamazing Evening. Again, it's an onboard event, a choice 6.30 or 8.30 so it's still not cutting the mustard for us so far!

That's too bad.  They seem to be making a substantial effort to bring them back; it looks like mostly seven-day or transatlantic are the ones left out.  

[ECCruise]

31 minutes ago, curmudgeon98 said:

That's too bad.  They seem to be making a substantial effort to bring them back; it looks like mostly seven-day or transatlantic are the ones left out.  

Yes, but there never has been one on a crossing so I would not expect them to be added now.

[hamrag]

1 hour ago, curmudgeon98 said:

That's too bad.  They seem to be making a substantial effort to bring them back; it looks like mostly seven-day or transatlantic are the ones left out.  

To be clear, we'd never expect one on a transatlantic which we did Lisbon to Barbados last November. Interestingly, the others have been seven day cruises which fits with your theory!

 

TBH, it doesn't really bother us it's just we'd like to experience such an evening on land rather than onboard!

[aussie travel bird]

On 8/1/2024 at 3:49 AM, hamrag said:

We are soon, all being well, to sail Onward. That'll be our 5/6th Az cruise and still we shan't experience a true Azamazing Evening. Again, it's an onboard event, a choice 6.30 or 8.30 so it's still not cutting the mustard for us so far!

Only 2 of our last 9 (in 12 months) have been onshore the last not being at the venue advertised. However I believe there was notification when we were recently on the onward that all 2025 AzAmazing evening will be onshore where possible, ie suitable venue, transportation, security etc. Our 2 remaining cruises for 2024 are onboard one being NYC and I do hope that changes. Being docked in manhattan gives them many options. I have hope now with the poster above who says theirs has changed to shoreside. I don’t expect our Western African one in 2025 to be shoreside as I don’t expect them them have suitable facilities for the whole ship. There may be security issues too. On our recent Onward Norway cruise there was a Miami rep onboard who was canvassing locations for AzAmazing evenings. The resounding feedback is guests want them ashore and they have listened to the destination immersion catch cry from guests. We certainly have been vocal. I wonder how I get that job? I guess you’ve been unlucky too. 

Edited August 2 by aussie travel bird

[QueenP]

1 hour ago, aussie travel bird said:

Our 2 remaining cruises for 2024 are onboard one being NYC

Please dear Aussie bird this Kiwi bird would love for you to tell us all about that trip either as a live from or after it's over!

[marinaro44]

14 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

Our 2 remaining cruises for 2024 are onboard one being NYC and I do hope that changes.

We, too, hope.  Wouldn't Radio City Music Hall be a treat.  $$$$, though.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Since the beginning of this thread we have had public statements by the new Azamara CEO Dondra Ritzenthaler that she is committed to bringing back AzAmazing Evenings as we knew them, and recent reports show that they are starting to come back.  So I asked Phil if we should change the thread title and he agreed.

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Since the beginning of this thread we have had public statements by the new Azamara CEO Dondra Ritzenthaler that she is committed to bringing back AzAmazing Evenings as we knew them, and recent reports show that they are starting to come back.  So I asked Phil if we should change the thread title and he agreed.

Thank you Host Jazzbeau. I'm keeping fingers crossed and am hopeful that Dondra, the new CEO for Azamara is going to put emphasis back on Azamazing Evenings for most cruises, realising there will be exceptions as before like repositioning cruises. 

 

Phil 

[MamaFej]

We have four Azamara cruises booked.

For our Panama Canal cruise, we have an evening onboard listed for when we are in Costa Maya, Mexico. 

For South Africa, we have an evening ashore.

For Scotland, we have an evening ashore.

For Ireland, nothing is listed. I am hoping that's because Azamara are working on one ashore. 🤞🏼

 

We've only cruised twice previously with Azamara, B2B in 2022, so we've only experienced the onboard events. We are really looking forward to the onshore ones.

[ChucktownSteve]

55 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

We have four Azamara cruises booked.

For our Panama Canal cruise, we have an evening onboard listed for when we are in Costa Maya, Mexico. 

For South Africa, we have an evening ashore.

For Scotland, we have an evening ashore.

For Ireland, nothing is listed. I am hoping that's because Azamara are working on one ashore. 🤞🏼

 

We've only cruised twice previously with Azamara, B2B in 2022, so we've only experienced the onboard events. We are really looking forward to the onshore ones.

We have three Azamara cruises booked.  One later this year is onboard.  The other two are not listed yet.

 

However our BEST Azamazing evening was our first AZ cruise which included 3 nights in St. Petersburg in 2017. This was also the best cruise I've ever taken of all time since 1985.  The other Azamazing evenings have been onboard.

 

I'm hoping the two not yet scheduled AZamaging evenings next year wind up being off ship.  This is encouraging though.

[bunnybeck]

On 8/2/2024 at 4:40 PM, aussie travel bird said:

Only 2 of our last 9 (in 12 months) have been onshore the last not being at the venue advertised. However I believe there was notification when we were recently on the onward that all 2025 AzAmazing evening will be onshore where possible, ie suitable venue, transportation, security etc. Our 2 remaining cruises for 2024 are onboard one being NYC and I do hope that changes. Being docked in manhattan gives them many options. I have hope now with the poster above who says theirs has changed to shoreside. I don’t expect our Western African one in 2025 to be shoreside as I don’t expect them them have suitable facilities for the whole ship. There may be security issues too. On our recent Onward Norway cruise there was a Miami rep onboard who was canvassing locations for AzAmazing evenings. The resounding feedback is guests want them ashore and they have listened to the destination immersion catch cry from guests. We certainly have been vocal. I wonder how I get that job? I guess you’ve been unlucky too. 

We are on Norway June 2025 and just saw that our evening is in Trondheim for a “Concert at Nidaros Cathedral”.

[Werangels]

We are very pleased the new CEO is committed to bringing ‘proper’ Azamazing Evenings’ back.  It is such a differentiating factor for Azamara and more importantly gives their customers a chance to take away a lifetime memory.  Whilst you can bring the people and culture on board, you cannot bring the venue which is often the unique feature which makes it’s such a lifetime memory.

 

This and the drop in the quality of food has been what has put us off.  

[susiesan]

My Croatia Intensive cruise on Pursuit is coming up soon, departing Fusina on September 8. I received an email yesterday informing us that the Azamazing evening in Kotor is now being held onboard.If the onshore event is coming back it's not for my cruise. I'm very disappointed, especially since we'll be docked in Kotor and could have walked into the town for a performance.  I was looking forward to the event onshore as something special that no other cruise line does. . Now it's just another performance on the ship in a small venue with bad sightlines.

[hamrag]

9 hours ago, susiesan said:

My Croatia Intensive cruise on Pursuit is coming up soon, departing Fusina on September 8. I received an email yesterday informing us that the Azamazing evening in Kotor is now being held onboard.If the onshore event is coming back it's not for my cruise. I'm very disappointed, especially since we'll be docked in Kotor and could have walked into the town for a performance.  I was looking forward to the event onshore as something special that no other cruise line does. . Now it's just another performance on the ship in a small venue with bad sightlines.

Yes this has been our experience too with Az, never had one off ship and our next cruise in September it's also onboard!

 

Perhaps the title should have been amended to

-azamazing evenings -- allegedly coming back....