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Thoughts on my First Azamara Cruise

ragwing

By ragwing,
in Azamara

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ragwing

ragwing

Posted
Posted

Hmmm, where to begin...

My lovely wife and I are relatively newbies in cruising, two on the Zenith to Bermuda and one the Caribbean on the Grand Princess.

 

Booking the Zenith again with our favorite late 8:30 seating, two formal nights and memories of the first two Zenith experiences brought us a little confusion when we discovered we'd been moved to the Azamara Journey.

 

A quick call to the agent confirmed that the Zenith was no longer with Celebrity and that Azamara was a new company within the Celebrity fold.

As a consolation, we were moved from our favorite Zenith Cabin (1022) to a large two room Royal suite on the Journey. Everything else was to be the same, 8:30 seating etc.

 

After boarding at 1pm, we waited for clearance to get into our cabin which was pretty quick. Getting there ourselves (used to be escorted on Zenith but not big thing..), we found the aircondisioner to be off and NOTHING we did would reawaken it.

 

Regrettably, my first call to guest relations was to have something fixed.

1 hour, two hours - still no A/C so I made another call to inquire. This time I asked if someone would call back just to let me know what was going on and "oh by the way, our luggage hasn't arrived yet". Off we went to get a little bite to eat.

 

Getting back at 4pm for the departure - still no a/c (our cabin faced the sun by the way) and no luggage and no call to advise about status.

 

One more call to guest relations with a request for a call as to status and by the way - our luggage STILL hasn't arrived!!

 

Well, to shorten this portion, at 5 pm we had our luggage arrived. Well, it arrived and then some, we had someone else's bags as well.

 

At 6:30 the technician arrived to fix our a/c - took about 10 minutes and he was VERY NICE to deal with and SO friendly.

 

Well, after the a/c was fixed, I asked our butler (what a great guy!) about our 8:30 seating and could we get a table for just two this time around. This is when I found out Journey ha open seating or "cattle calls" as I've heard them referred to. Not only that, there are NO formal nights or semi-formal nights (MY TUX IS SO GORGEOUS, I'm depressed that I have no need of it on the "cruise").

 

Well, I guess we didn't get off to the best of starts with Azamara by any stretch.

 

We did however, have a wonderful time meeting some excellent couples at the Captains table and through out the cruise.

 

The staff was EXCELLENT. So much so that I collected three names to send off to Azamara for excellent service and just plain being friendly.

 

If anyone has the name and number of someone of "authority" and candor at Azamara, I would appreciate it. I need to relate our trials and tribulations as well as the good times and outstanding service received from some of the staff.

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SheilaNC

SheilaNC

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Hi,

Met you at the Captain's Table...email me and I'll send you the contact people that have worked for us. We had a great cruise and have sent comments re: great and not so great 'stuff' onboard Journey.

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ragwing

ragwing

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Hey Sheila!

Hope you still have my email address! Left you guys a message at guest relations (our phones went out completely). They said they would deliver it.

 

Hope to see you on another cruise.

 

Best,

 

-Jim

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SheilaNC

SheilaNC

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Jim,

We did not get your message and were wondering what happened. Also don't have your email address (or rather probably do but it's lost in the myriad of notes and other papers that I haven't gone through). Can you send to me using email address below? Sorry we missed dinner together and hope we can get together sometime in the future. Art sends his regards to you and Linda.

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Spender Nui

Spender Nui

Posted
Posted
Hmmm, where to begin...

My lovely wife and I are relatively newbies in cruising, two on the Zenith to Bermuda and one the Caribbean on the Grand Princess.

 

Booking the Zenith again with our favorite late 8:30 seating, two formal nights and memories of the first two Zenith experiences brought us a little confusion when we discovered we'd been moved to the Azamara Journey.

 

A quick call to the agent confirmed that the Zenith was no longer with Celebrity and that Azamara was a new company within the Celebrity fold.

As a consolation, we were moved from our favorite Zenith Cabin (1022) to a large two room Royal suite on the Journey. Everything else was to be the same, 8:30 seating etc.

 

After boarding at 1pm, we waited for clearance to get into our cabin which was pretty quick. Getting there ourselves (used to be escorted on Zenith but not big thing..), we found the aircondisioner to be off and NOTHING we did would reawaken it.

 

Regrettably, my first call to guest relations was to have something fixed.

1 hour, two hours - still no A/C so I made another call to inquire. This time I asked if someone would call back just to let me know what was going on and "oh by the way, our luggage hasn't arrived yet". Off we went to get a little bite to eat.

 

Getting back at 4pm for the departure - still no a/c (our cabin faced the sun by the way) and no luggage and no call to advise about status.

 

One more call to guest relations with a request for a call as to status and by the way - our luggage STILL hasn't arrived!!

 

Well, to shorten this portion, at 5 pm we had our luggage arrived. Well, it arrived and then some, we had someone else's bags as well.

 

At 6:30 the technician arrived to fix our a/c - took about 10 minutes and he was VERY NICE to deal with and SO friendly.

 

Well, after the a/c was fixed, I asked our butler (what a great guy!) about our 8:30 seating and could we get a table for just two this time around. This is when I found out Journey ha open seating or "cattle calls" as I've heard them referred to. Not only that, there are NO formal nights or semi-formal nights (MY TUX IS SO GORGEOUS, I'm depressed that I have no need of it on the "cruise").

 

Well, I guess we didn't get off to the best of starts with Azamara by any stretch.

 

We did however, have a wonderful time meeting some excellent couples at the Captains table and through out the cruise.

 

The staff was EXCELLENT. So much so that I collected three names to send off to Azamara for excellent service and just plain being friendly.

 

If anyone has the name and number of someone of "authority" and candor at Azamara, I would appreciate it. I need to relate our trials and tribulations as well as the good times and outstanding service received from some of the staff.

 

Two comments:

 

While chowing down with the captain I hope you made your feelings known to him.

 

Great pictures.

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ragwing

ragwing

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Hey Don!

 

This is our first time away from our beloved though now retired travel agent so we called the Celebrity Cruise Lines number, the one on their website.

 

I'm sure it's a contractor we dealt with but all billing and such came to under the Celbrity header.

 

-Jim

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ragwing

ragwing

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Hey Journey Fan!

 

No changing facilities. This i one of Bermudas "open" beaches, that is to say - just find yourself a piece of sand and plunk down. No concession stands, no changing rooms, no vendors of any sort. Just you and the wonderful scenery.

 

-Jim :)

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ragwing

ragwing

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Two comments:

 

While chowing down with the captain I hope you made your feelings known to him.

 

Great pictures.

 

-----

 

We actually had a chance to speak with him a day after or two after when he was making his "rounds'. He seemed genuinely concerned and had his aid take notes.

 

We tempered our comments with critiques of excellence that we had found as well hoping to achieve a little balance.

 

 

Thanks for the comments on the images.

More coming.:)

 

For those interested, look at www.macmurph.com for more images. Over on the right side you'll see the titles for all the albums being posted, mine included.

 

Clicking on an album will bring you to a full page of thumbnail images. clicking a thumbnail enlarges it! Enjoy!

 

-Jim

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