Oceania vs Azamara thoughts

pretty sad that as people who live here we can not get a cruise like the Aussies have now.

The Montreal to New Orleans charter was up for sale in the U.K.for a number of months before Quest sailed from Southampton.

We met people on the train down to Southampton (TA going Southampton to Montreal for the charter) They had booked the TA and then were able to add the charter. I cannot believe that they are still sailing, I believe the chater is 33 days ( they have now sailed 21)

The Montreal to New Orleans charter was up for sale in the U.K.for a number of months before Quest sailed from Southampton.

We met people on the train down to Southampton (TA going Southampton to Montreal for the charter) They had booked the TA and then were able to add the charter. I cannot believe that they are still sailing, I believe the chater is 33 days ( they have now sailed 21)

If i had seen a sale sign I would of done some of it. I have cruised 8 week at once. no big deal. not sure about lasting until NOLA but from Canada to Charleston for sure

Your comparative review are very useful for me. Thanks procter.

pretty sad that as people who live here we can not get a cruise like the Aussies have now. same with their 5 week Med cruise.

No reason you couldn't be on those cruises. We are two of fourteen Americans now on the Quest charter in Charleston.

No reason you couldn't be on those cruises. We are two of fourteen Americans now on the Quest charter in Charleston.

I think it's a matter of finding which Travel Agents are selling it.

I read on their Roll Call a couple of months before sailing, that a popular UK on-line TA was selling it - but how do you find out who the TA is?

I did actually find out on the train going down to Southampton before our crossing to Montreal, as I was sitting opposite a couple who were doing staying on the Quest, but due to forum rules, I am not allowed to say who it was. Crazy.

for one, my american agent never offered to me. .I normally do not sail in fall. but this cruise from Canada to either DC or Charleston I would have. no reason to finish to fly home as I loved in Fl . If i was asked while on JR this June I would of booked it. packed some fall clothes and jump at the chance to go back up N and have a floating hotel. did not know to today some americans were on it. thought all Aussie. I was not interested in the World cruise but this cruise i was. I oh well.

I think it's a matter of finding which Travel Agents are selling it.

I read on their Roll Call a couple of months before sailing, that a popular UK on-line TA was selling it - but how do you find out who the TA is?

 

I did actually find out on the train going down to Southampton before our crossing to Montreal, as I was sitting opposite a couple who were doing staying on the Quest, but due to forum rules, I am not allowed to say who it was. Crazy.

One or two appropriate google searches would have found it. We all knew the dates, ship name, general itinerary, etc. The chartering agency was certainly going to advertise the cruise on the web.

18 Brits and 25 to 30 other non-Aussies or Kiwis also on board. Amazing cruise itinerary.

I have been on 12 Azamara cruises and I am currently on my first O cruise. After reading so many positives about O, I am underwhelmed and looking forward to returning to Azamara in December.

I will post my comparison when we return home. One thing, I know we are not all Cubs fans - but, being the Cubs making it to the World Series is huge! We will be back in U.S. waters after tomorrow and O will not get the games. quite a few people have asked. 😔

I have been on 12 Azamara cruises and I am currently on my first O cruise. After reading so many positives about O, I am underwhelmed and looking forward to returning to Azamara in December.

I will post my comparison when we return home. One thing, I know we are not all Cubs fans - but, being the Cubs making it to the World Series is huge! We will be back in U.S. waters after tomorrow and O will not get the games. quite a few people have asked. 😔

We will look forward to having you come home to AZamara!

I have been on 12 Azamara cruises and I am currently on my first O cruise. After reading so many positives about O, I am underwhelmed and looking forward to returning to Azamara in December.

I will post my comparison when we return home. One thing, I know we are not all Cubs fans - but, being the Cubs making it to the World Series is huge! We will be back in U.S. waters after tomorrow and O will not get the games. quite a few people have asked. 😔

I feel all ships should have the world series and super bowl even if i am not watching. thry just do not want to pay the money. sad!

But if they offer US big matches, I guess they should also offer big matches for other countries -State of Origin for Aussies, Cup finals for soccer and rugby and big cricket test matches for U.K. Passengers!

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Summer 2016 Euro Cup games were available onboard the Journey. They played in the casino, and on the cabin TV.

We are long time Celebrity fans who also like both Azamara and Oceania. We love the R ships on both lines but are especially fond of Marina. We first cruised

Riviera and came back thinking the food was not as good as Celebrity MDR.

I think this is largely a factor of the chefs onboard though. We have always had excellent food on Azamara. Because we all as passengers have different tastes ands preferences YMMV.

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Thank you Bonnie, I am looking forward to coming home to Azamara in December! We will try not to stray again. We just need to have Azamara add some new routes. 😄

I will add my comparison thoughts to this thread when we get home.

Thank you Bonnie, I am looking forward to coming home to Azamara in December! We will try not to stray again. We just need to have Azamara add some new routes. 😄

I will add my comparison thoughts to this thread when we get home.

Welcome home.

Just returned from my first O cruise and here are some of my thoughts:

First some background.....I am in my low 50's, have been on over 40+ cruises and choose a cruise because of a destination (unless we are sailing with family).

This year we went on Disney, Fathom and Holland America. We have not cruised with Azamara in two years primatily due to timing and redundant itineraries.

We chose to cruise on O for two reasons - the itinerary and we have heard how wonderful they are. We wanted to like them because they have more ships and some outstanding itineraries.

Unfortunately, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot with them. When we boarded the ship in Quebec City, it was cold and pouring rain. We ran into the tent where they were processing the passengers but we were still sopping wet. They had three lines....1 - Suites 2 - Status 3- everyone else. Since we were not in a suite and had no status, we were in the riff-raff line. There were 7 agents checking in passengers but not one was assigned to work our line. We had to wait until there was no one in line 1 or 2 before they would check us in. We kept asking but they said this is how it was done. Unfortunately, we arrived at the same time as an airport bus. Very frustrating. They had a questionaire that came out on day three asking " how is everything so far" and I told them about the boarding process. It took them until day 11 of a 14 day cruise to get back to me. They appologoized and said they had similar feedback from others.

We loved the grill up on deck 9 and the buffet in the evenings. One thing that was sorely lacking was an aft bar outside on deck 9. it is the perfect place for a sailaway but they do not serve drinks unless the buffet area is open. So - if you want a drink during a 5:00 pm sailaway, you have to find a bar that is open and bring your own drink out.

We loved that there were no ship photographers and no art auctions.

Italian specialty restaurant was excellent - Steak specialty restaurant , just ok.

We did like that there was no upcharge for the restaurants.

We found many of the employees seemed to be operating on auto pilot. They would look over and beyond you in the morning and if you wanted coffee, you had to wave and get their attention.

The first two nights we ate in the main dining room and the waiter introduced himself to us on the second night like he had never seen us the first night. (we were by far the youngest on the ship - we stuck out)

We ate in the Italian specialty restaurant 3 times. The Maitre d' kept introcuing himself to us like he never saw us before. Again - we felt as if everyone was on auto pilot just speaking their lines.

We did spend some time with the Captain and he was wonderful and tried to help us watch the Cubs win the World Series. He was even going to give us his phone so we could stream it , but his did not work, either. He offered to buy us a drink as a consolation.

Which brings me to - how can you not show the world series? We asked the cruise director and he said "you picked the cruise not the game". Not a great answer.

Drinks were very pricey and the wine package was one of the most expensive I have seen. And - there was no Pinot Grigio on the ship by the glass until our second day in New York. (that was after 8 days)

The breakfast buffet was excellent. The dinners were very good, but the portions were very small. We saw quite a few people order two meals.

Entertainment - Evening entertainment was poor. Daytime was repetitive.

We would probably not cruise on O again unless they were offering the most amazing itinerary in the world at a great price that included everything. (my husband says never - I say probably not) This year we were on our first HAL cruise and honestly - we had a much better onboard experience. (Yes, we were surprised)

This was just our opinion and what we experienced on our cruise.

Just returned from my first O cruise and here are some of my thoughts:

First some background.....I am in my low 50's, have been on over 40+ cruises and choose a cruise because of a destination (unless we are sailing with family).

This year we went on Disney, Fathom and Holland America. We have not cruised with Azamara in two years primatily due to timing and redundant itineraries.

 

We chose to cruise on O for two reasons - the itinerary and we have heard how wonderful they are. We wanted to like them because they have more ships and some outstanding itineraries.

 

Unfortunately, we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot with them. When we boarded the ship in Quebec City, it was cold and pouring rain. We ran into the tent where they were processing the passengers but we were still sopping wet. They had three lines....1 - Suites 2 - Status 3- everyone else. Since we were not in a suite and had no status, we were in the riff-raff line. There were 7 agents checking in passengers but not one was assigned to work our line. We had to wait until there was no one in line 1 or 2 before they would check us in. We kept asking but they said this is how it was done. Unfortunately, we arrived at the same time as an airport bus. Very frustrating. They had a questionaire that came out on day three asking " how is everything so far" and I told them about the boarding process. It took them until day 11 of a 14 day cruise to get back to me. They appologoized and said they had similar feedback from others.

 

We loved the grill up on deck 9 and the buffet in the evenings. One thing that was sorely lacking was an aft bar outside on deck 9. it is the perfect place for a sailaway but they do not serve drinks unless the buffet area is open. So - if you want a drink during a 5:00 pm sailaway, you have to find a bar that is open and bring your own drink out.

 

We loved that there were no ship photographers and no art auctions.

 

Italian specialty restaurant was excellent - Steak specialty restaurant , just ok.

We did like that there was no upcharge for the restaurants.

We found many of the employees seemed to be operating on auto pilot. They would look over and beyond you in the morning and if you wanted coffee, you had to wave and get their attention.

The first two nights we ate in the main dining room and the waiter introduced himself to us on the second night like he had never seen us the first night. (we were by far the youngest on the ship - we stuck out)

We ate in the Italian specialty restaurant 3 times. The Maitre d' kept introcuing himself to us like he never saw us before. Again - we felt as if everyone was on auto pilot just speaking their lines.

We did spend some time with the Captain and he was wonderful and tried to help us watch the Cubs win the World Series. He was even going to give us his phone so we could stream it , but his did not work, either. He offered to buy us a drink as a consolation.

Which brings me to - how can you not show the world series? We asked the cruise director and he said "you picked the cruise not the game". Not a great answer.

 

Drinks were very pricey and the wine package was one of the most expensive I have seen. And - there was no Pinot Grigio on the ship by the glass until our second day in New York. (that was after 8 days)

 

The breakfast buffet was excellent. The dinners were very good, but the portions were very small. We saw quite a few people order two meals.

 

Entertainment - Evening entertainment was poor. Daytime was repetitive.

 

We would probably not cruise on O again unless they were offering the most amazing itinerary in the world at a great price that included everything. (my husband says never - I say probably not) This year we were on our first HAL cruise and honestly - we had a much better onboard experience. (Yes, we were surprised)

 

This was just our opinion and what we experienced on our cruise.

We are in our early 60's and it was nice to read your "good and bad" review, nonrev1, as it echoed many of the experiences we had on our second and last cruise with Oceania this past March on their Riviera. Our first cruise with Oceania was in Mar 2015 on the Riviera and it was great! We mostly cruise with Holland America and Celebrity, but we had heard so much about Oceania we decided to spoil ourselves and take a 10 day Caribbean cruise for the "foodie" experience! And it beat all of our expectations. Not only were the entrees and desserts great in all the specialty restaurants as well as up on the Terrance Café, but the evening entertainment, the outdoor activity areas, the artist's loft, the culinary arts classes as well as our veranda suite were all very memorable not to mention the lack of children which made it even better! We thought we found our "let's spoil ourselves" cruise line without breaking the bank too much.

However, our second Riviera cruise this past March was just the opposite. From the first moment we went up to the Terrace Café to have lunch, we noticed something had changed. The variety of entrees weren't as plentiful as before and the desserts were no where near the same quality. It was still good, but the wow factor was gone. Now I must add we had just taken a HAL Panama Canal cruise, so those experiences were fresh in our minds for comparison purposes especially since HAL's prices are much cheaper. We had booked 2 culinary classes and were looking forward to the Artist Loft to take up some of the hours on sea days because there are no lectures or other activities to keep one entertained on sea days, except for maybe trivia. The evening theater entertainment was mediocre at best. Even HALs shows were a lot more entertaining than the ones we experienced and that's not saying much. Then on the second day, a norovirus outbreak occurred and wound up affecting over 8% of the passengers. Luckily, we weren't infected although I did catch a healthy dose of bronchitis which I probably caught the first day on board because Oceania doesn't keep folks from serving themselves the first two days like many of the other cruise lines do. In any event, the ship went into lockdown mode and ALL activities were shutdown for the remainder of our 14 day cruise. This meant all outdoor activities were closed as well as the culinary arts and Artist Loft classes. We were even denied access to one port. My point for bringing this up is that this was the 5th outbreak of the norovirus on the Riviera during a 4 month period. But I will also say this, the crew worked tirelessly in an attempt to sanitize the ship right up to the day we disembarked. However, the only time we saw an officer was when one of them had unlocked the driving range cage and was hitting some balls when we asked him if the sports area was opening back up. He quickly stopped what he was doing, locked the cage back up and walked away without saying a word. After the cruise and after writing a couple of letters to Oceania corporate, we were offered 25% off our next Riviera cruise, but you had to book it by the end of the year. Needless to say, we didn't take them up on their offer.

Because of this we are now in search of another "let's spoil ourselves" cruise line. We've narrowed our search down to Crystal (when the price is right) and Azamara. We know there are other luxury cruise lines, but these two seem to have filtered to the top, especially Azamara since you can combine Celebrity points with those accrued on Azamara sailings meaning we'll be at Discoverer level when we take our first 3 B2B cruises with Azamara in Fall 2018! And then there is all the OBC as well as all the other perks you get once you book the cruise as well as visiting some unique ports that only smaller ships can visit. Plus you don't have to book a megabuck suite to get an aft-facing veranda. Definitely all positives from what we can see! I'm sure there are some negatives and would enjoy hearing about them. But from where we sit right now, Azamara looks like they offer a pretty fair deal for what you pay.

We'll probably still stick to cruising a lot with both HAL and Celebrity as they do have some cool itineraries, but it sure looks like we've found a great "let's spoil ourselves" cruise line when one of Azamara's unique cruises fits into our schedule. At least that's what we're feeling when we read most of the Azamara reviews we've been seeing.

... Luckily, we weren't infected although I did catch a healthy dose of bronchitis which I probably caught the first day on board because Oceania doesn't keep folks from serving themselves the first two days like many of the other cruise lines do.

Ken, things must have changed on Oceania recently. On all our previous cruises on both their O and R class ships, Oceania has never had self-service in their buffet. This restriction was not only for the first few days, but for the entire length of the cruise.

The second evening of the cruise we were at Jacques at a table for six. The servers brought out some "finger food" on a single plate and placed it on the table for folks to pass around. They had also placed a bread bowl on the table as well for folks to pass around. But, you're right, in the Terrance Café there was no self serve.

However, I will also say that cruise taught me a good lesson, one my wife already knew, but you know us guys. We're a little slow when it comes to personal hygiene. Not any more. When I'm on a cruise, I'll wash my hands before I go into any restaurant as well as when we get back to the room. I'll also squirt my hands before and after going into a restaurant as well as when walking into and out of the theater, just in case some little bug decided to make my hands their home along the way. It might be over kill, but I haven't gotten sick on a cruise since then whereas I used to start getting sick about 7 days into a cruise on many occasions. But I've also found once you do it a few times, it becomes somewhat automatic like fastening a seat belt when you get in the car.

But anyway back to the point. About 7 days after eating at Jacques I started getting a scratchy throat. I may not have picked up the bug there, but I can't rule it out either. Thanks for asking me to clarify that point.

We found two things odd with all of the precautions Oceania took of serving in the buffet area.

1 - There were hand sanitizer stations everywhere but no one was using them and no staff ever mentioned using them as you boarded/returned to the ship, entered the restaurants etc.

2- There is a salad bar area outside at Waves grill - that was self serve, if you walked inside for salad it was not.

Are you saying you stayed in your cabin for 7 days after eating in Jacques ??

Are you saying you stayed in your cabin for 7 days after eating in Jacques ??

No. It usually takes about 7 days from when a cold virus "bug" gets into my system until my body starts demonstrating reactionary symptoms such as a scratchy throat. Up until then all is good. This is usually the time it takes for most folks for their bodies to react to a cold virus bug. However, sometimes if it's a weak bug, the scratchy throat goes away and all is fine while other times if my immune system isn't strong enough to deal with a particular strain, I get to deal with what follows as is the case with most folks I believe.

One great way to stay well onboard is to use the stairs (very doable on AZ ships). We almost never use the elevators, as you don't know who might've coughed or sneezed all over in a very small space, and we can usually get there faster by walking, plus its good exercise to take the stairs, anyway. My apologies to those with mobility issues who must use the elevators. Just throwing this out there for those capable of taking the stairs. :)

One great way to stay well onboard is to use the stairs (very doable on AZ ships). We almost never use the elevators, as you don't know who might've coughed or sneezed all over in a very small space, and we can usually get there faster by walking, plus its good exercise to take the stairs, anyway. My apologies to those with mobility issues who must use the elevators. Just throwing this out there for those capable of taking the stairs. :)

Great suggestion if you still have the mobility to do that. My DW and I on a cruise try to walk 1 1/2 miles around the ship after breakfast when at sea and avoid the elevators whenever possible, which is pretty much all the time. We realize one day that may not be the case, but until then it's a great way to keep in shape and burn off all those calories!!

Just returned from my first O cruise and here are some of my thoughts:

First some background.....I am in my low 50's, have been on over 40+ cruises and choose a cruise because of a destination (unless we are sailing with family).

 

We would probably not cruise on O again unless they were offering the most amazing itinerary in the world at a great price that included everything. (my husband says never - I say probably not) This year we were on our first HAL cruise and honestly - we had a much better onboard experience. (Yes, we were surprised)

 

This was just our opinion and what we experienced on our cruise.

Thank you for sharing your honest feedback.