Azamara Competitors??

Why would you say the food is better on Oceania and what is better about Azamara itineraries?

 

 

I've posted in a few threads that I greatly preferred the food on Oceania, plus the specialty restaurants aren't an extra charge.

 

I like that Azamara has late port departures so you have more time on shore if you want to take advantage of it.

 

You don't have to pay for speciality dining if you are in a suite on Azamara and even if you are not in one, the dining packages are great value. You also usually get your preferred dining times....that certainly wasn't my experience on Oceania unless you gave the Concierge or Maitre'd an "advance tip" if you get my meaning. That does not happen on Azamara. As the bigger suites get to book their speciality times so far ahead of the more ordinary cabins, then the times we wanted to go were all booked up.

 

I also didn't want to share a table with six other people when I was dining with my partner on Marina and on Azamara all speciality dining tables are just for two.... unless friends are joining you of course. For me the food was great on O but it is just as good on Azamara IMHO anyway but dining at a time I didn't like on a large table of strangers never felt really "special" to me at all. I much prefer Aqualina and Prime C but of course, that is just my opinion and others will have their own thoughts.

 

You don't have to pay for speciality dining if you are in a suite on Azamara and even if you are not in one, the dining packages are great value.

 

For me the food was great on O but it is just as good on Azamara IMHO anyway but dining at a time I didn't like on a large table of strangers never felt really "special" to me at all. I much prefer Aqualina and Prime C but of course, that is just my opinion and others will have their own thoughts.

 

You're right, everyone has their own opinions--we don't wish to pay for specialty dining, so it's no "great value" to us on Azamara. For our tastes, we just found the food better on our Oceania cruise than our Azamara cruise. Having only sailed once on each line, however, it could be a situation where we got the best of Oceania and the worst of Azamara. The Patio in particular left much to be desired--I ate there three times and I had nothing that I even finished, let alone would consider ordering again. Discoveries was much better, so we stayed with that for most of the cruise and had some very nice meals.

 

You don't have to pay for speciality dining if you are in a suite on Azamara and even if you are not in one, the dining packages are great value. You also usually get your preferred dining times....that certainly wasn't my experience on Oceania unless you gave the Concierge or Maitre'd an "advance tip" if you get my meaning. That does not happen on Azamara. As the bigger suites get to book their speciality times so far ahead of the more ordinary cabins, then the times we wanted to go were all booked up.

 

Lottie-I never tipped this past winter. I got in to Red Ginger several times at the time I wanted. This was past the allowed amount. I did notice that both oceania and regent allows guests in suites to book meals and tours ahead of others. i do not agree with this at all. But I do like you can book online-which AZ still can not let you.

 

I also didn't want to share a table with six other people when I was dining with my partner on Marina and on Azamara all speciality dining tables are just for two.... unless friends are joining you of course. For me the food was great on O but it is just as good on Azamara IMHO anyway but dining at a time I didn't like on a large table of strangers never felt really "special" to me at all. I much prefer Aqualina and Prime C but of course, that is just my opinion and others will have their own thoughts.

 

This part funny. As i travel alone i wanted a sharing table. Worked fine years ago on Marina but not this winter on the smaller ship. One meal the other couple wife made me feel i was on the witness stand and I finally just walked out. Plus the fish was ruin by the sauce. So then iate alone and found everything much more relaxing. yet, it would of been nice to fine nice people to eat with.

 

You don't have to pay for speciality dining if you are in a suite on Azamara and even if you are not in one, the dining packages are great value. You also usually get your preferred dining times....that certainly wasn't my experience on Oceania unless you gave the Concierge or Maitre'd an "advance tip" if you get my meaning. That does not happen on Azamara. As the bigger suites get to book their speciality times so far ahead of the more ordinary cabins, then the times we wanted to go were all booked up.

 

I also didn't want to share a table with six other people when I was dining with my partner on Marina and on Azamara all speciality dining tables are just for two.... unless friends are joining you of course. For me the food was great on O but it is just as good on Azamara IMHO anyway but dining at a time I didn't like on a large table of strangers never felt really "special" to me at all. I much prefer Aqualina and Prime C but of course, that is just my opinion and others will have their own thoughts.

Well said. Regent's specialties had the same serious--to me--issues. Booking months ahead at midnight after those in bigger staterooms got first dibs at the best dates and times.is not my idea of "luxury." Sharing with four to six strangers is not my idea of "luxury." Having to grease someone's palm to get additional reservations is not my idea of "luxury." Anyone who thinks Regent is a "luxury" line does not understand "luxury." And Oceania is only Regent's little sister.

 

You don't have to pay for speciality dining if you are in a suite on Azamara and even if you are not in one, the dining packages are great value. You also usually get your preferred dining times....that certainly wasn't my experience on Oceania unless you gave the Concierge or Maitre'd an "advance tip" if you get my meaning. That does not happen on Azamara. As the bigger suites get to book their speciality times so far ahead of the more ordinary cabins, then the times we wanted to go were all booked up.

 

I also didn't want to share a table with six other people when I was dining with my partner on Marina and on Azamara all speciality dining tables are just for two.... unless friends are joining you of course. For me the food was great on O but it is just as good on Azamara IMHO anyway but dining at a time I didn't like on a large table of strangers never felt really "special" to me at all. I much prefer Aqualina and Prime C but of course, that is just my opinion and others will have their own thoughts.

 

Thank you for the explanation. Agree on not wanting to have dinner with total strangers. That seems to be a cruise tradition from the past that some still like, but many of us would like to leave in the past (1990s). On a long itinerary, we enjoy getting to different restaurants, especially high quality specialty restaurants. Well, our Azamara cruise is still a long ways away and we have another M Class on Celebrity up next for Alaska next June. Looking forward to both.

Interesting how we all have different views about sharing dinner tables. When we were on cruises where there were set dining times and you sat at the same table every night, we always asked for a table for 2. I guess we were worried about not getting on with the others assigned to our table and having to sit with them every night.

On Azamara, when we eat in Discoveries, we always ask to be seated on a shared table. We enjoy meeting and talking to other guests and have got to know some great people.

If we eat in the speciality restaurant we either book on our own, or have shared a table with people we have become friendly with during the cruise.

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This part funny. As i travel alone i wanted a sharing table. Worked fine years ago on Marina but not this winter on the smaller ship. One meal the other couple wife made me feel i was on the witness stand and I finally just walked out. Plus the fish was ruin by the sauce. So then iate alone and found everything much more relaxing. yet, it would of been nice to fine nice people to eat with.

 

I'm sorry you had to experience that. We like a mix--dining alone occasionally, but generally prefer to share and meet people. We were lucky on our cruises with assigned dining times/tables and always had great company. I've kept in touch with many of our dining companions over the years.

 

One thing that was a first for us on our Azamara cruise was that when we went to the dining room one evening, we were asked if we wanted to share. We said that was fine, and I assumed we'd be seated at an already-occupied table because that's what's always happened in the past when we've been asked to share. They seated us at a table for four, and then after about 15 minutes, said they would go ahead and take our order since I guess no one else wanted to join a table.

 

What was really funny was that they then seated a couple at a table for two next to us, and we had been seated at a table next to them earlier in the cruise, and both evenings we talked across the way. We ended up with dinner conversation after all :)

 

I'm sorry you had to experience that. We like a mix--dining alone occasionally, but generally prefer to share and meet people. We were lucky on our cruises with assigned dining times/tables and always had great company. I've kept in touch with many of our dining companions over the years.

 

One thing that was a first for us on our Azamara cruise was that when we went to the dining room one evening, we were asked if we wanted to share. We said that was fine, and I assumed we'd be seated at an already-occupied table because that's what's always happened in the past when we've been asked to share. They seated us at a table for four, and then after about 15 minutes, said they would go ahead and take our order since I guess no one else wanted to join a table.

 

What was really funny was that they then seated a couple at a table for two next to us, and we had been seated at a table next to them earlier in the cruise, and both evenings we talked across the way. We ended up with dinner conversation after all :)

 

I had a four top one time on AZ. . not as fun as a larger table of 6 to 8. i am learning more and more couples want two tops so hard when single.

Excellent advice!

I'd also not be too swayed by views here. Work out what matters to you and what would be a nice "extra" over what you currently have.

Watch also that posts on all the cruiseline boards will also depend on what type of room the person usually has and what matters to them (officer interaction or not, unlimited free drink, high end catering, shows etc etc etc).

My comparisons when I'm making them are all the lines where the ships are between 400 and 1000 guests because small size is what really matters to me.

What excellent advice and I totally agree with you.

I'll preface my comments by stating that we're Australian and we just don't get the OBC that Americans seem to get with Azamara cruises, so keep in mind this represents a point of difference when considering alternatives - it's just not an issue for us. Also, once we book, we're locked in to that cost and don't have the opportunity to take advantage of any later discount offers. These two benefits would certainly be a consideration for USA guests in decision making against competitors.

Once we tried Azamara we were sold - quality of food, friendliness of guests and crew (general atmosphere overall), entertainment - especially White Night, included wine with meals, itineraries, docking positions (particularly important in Asia), price point for balcony cabins, discounted shore excursions. We've just finished our 13th cruise in Stockholm and still love the experience (the Britain and Baltic cruises have been right up there with best).

Since we started, they've added a full complimentary alcohol package, Azamazing nights, free nights at each LCV level and removed the shore excursion pre-cruise discount.

We will never go back to big ships.

For comparison, we've done Regent 7 Seas (Alaska) and Silverseas (Adriatic) - loved them both but considerably more expensive - until now.

With those luxury lines, instead of a cabin you get a suite, so of course it will be more expensive. You also get top shelf liquor included; another higher cost factor.

For Japan 2019, we were looking at Azamara V3 cabin. We considered we'd need to do shore excursions in each location and I used an Azamara excursion cost of $200 per person per day I.e. Full day excursions. Regent includes them gratis. I factored in Az ultimate liquor package, which we have just used and enjoyed very much (very good wine by the glass on top of better spirits, liqueurs and beer). The net price difference for us to do Regent was about an extra $100 per day.

If we had compared using Az suite as the starting point, I'd imagine Regent would be well ahead. Regent has only a 12n Japan cruise and the itinerary is not as good. However, they include a 3n Tokyo extension before or after, in a 5star hotel and escorted tours; so, it's not a direct comparison but it was close enough for us.

We intended booking B2B Azamara for Europe 2018 while just on board. However, despite 3 and 2 free nights respectively and 7% LCV discount, the cost per day (before adding the liquor and 3n specialty dining packages) was >AUD 1,000 per night. Too high for us.

We'll keep our eye on it and if they offer these cruises as a double upgrade we'll certainly book, because the price will be right for us for Azamara standard (let's face it, the non-suite cabins are small and not that great; the TV is woeful and the Wi Fi is deplorable). However, we'll get home and start looking at alternatives. We may end up booking elsewhere and spending more but if we do, we'll be in far superior accommodation; albeit that we'll miss all the things we love about Azamara.

We certainly hope to still do Azamara many more times - we just hope that their pricing doesn't continue to drive us to seek out alternatives.

Happy cruising

Tony

Tony, a point of reference for the Regent included tours. They are far from all and the number is going down every year. The included excursions are the bus ones and usually only a half day. Thy use a cost figure of about $150 to $175 value for the included ones. Anything more, full day, meals, are called Regent Choice and they do cost up to hundreds of dollars pp.

That said, won't cruise Regent due to their horrid home office and general cheapness. Moved to Azamara and they have now probably lost our patronage as well with the horrible way most people are being treated for the Journey October cruises in October/November being significantly changed due to a charter which we all understand however the offers we have received have been less than awful and not in line with the usual excellent on board experience. Many posts describing how poorly people are being treated, for instance many of us have lost a 17 nite TA that included quite a few ports and they are expecting us to accept a 14 nite cruses 2 weeks earlier from Lisbon with only 3 ports, two of which are overnight however late arrival and early departure in both so really only one full day and then they are asking us to pay the same as we booked at for the 17 nite price with 6 ports. Many of us are looking elsewhere.

Tony Forgot another important issue with the Regent included excursions. They are totally NOT unlimited as they advertise. I follow that board and quite often the included excursions are full before the last people are able to pre-book. They will put you on a wait list and sometimes will add additional busses and the like and you will get on the excursion however there are ports and excursions that are capacity limited and in that case without a lot of cancellations, and people many times won't cancel a free (included) excursion so you are now at the port and possibly no way to enjoy your day. Plenty of deceptive advertising like the buy one get one free that others use as well yet nobody pays the full price or doesn't get the two for one. Seems like the Regent mentality has been embraced by the Azamara bean counters.

After 7 cruises with Azamara we will be trying Silversea for the first time in November. We have booked a veranda suite for 20% less per night than Azamara are asking for an oceanview cabin in 2019.

Tony Forgot another important issue with the Regent included excursions. They are totally NOT unlimited as they advertise. I follow that board and quite often the included excursions are full before the last people are able to pre-book.

Booking tours became available last week for a Regent April 2017 cruise. Our choice of excursion is already full!!!!

I am reading often about more people searching for alternatives to Azamara. This is happening because of a noticeable increase in price, which makes people wonder if for that price not another cruiseline could be better. In our case we are noticing that not only other cruiselines in the so called "luxury" category have comparable prices to Azamara, but in many cases they are even cheaper. I guess Azamara has contributed through its price policy to increase the number of its competitors.

This year we have chosen 2 cruiselines, which probably are competitors to Azamara. One is Oceania and the other is Windstar. Both on small, nice ships with lovely itineraries, which was actually one of the main reasons why we also choose Azamara.