The Good and the Very Bad

I am currently on the Journey for the second of my back-to-back cruises. These are the first since the updating of the ship last spring. I find the new decor very attractive. The addition of the evening dinner service in the Patio is a big hit, and the barbecued spareribs are great. The tapas in the Living Room are very good and a nice touch, but not too many people seem to have discovered these. The Internet is also much faster.

As usual there is a fantastic and hard working crew. The food overall has been excellent as has most of the entertainment.

That's the good. Now for the bad. I have read some comments on Cruise Critic lately about cancelled shore excursions. But, none seem as extreme as my situation. So, far, I have had five cancelled. Yes, you read it correctly --FIVE. Three have been Insider Access or Nights in Cool Places excursions. These have been touted of late as part of the Destinations Immersion that Azamara has been advertising. Once, I went off on my own. Another time I just stayed on the ship. Three times, I signed up for other excursions, but they were not what I would have preferred. By the way, all the letters I have received have indicated these have been cancelled for operational reasons. I have been told that this means not enough people have signed up for the powers that be to allow them to proceed.

All in all, I have had two pretty nice cruises. But, I am reluctant to sign up for another one with this line given what I have been through. I am a destination immersions type person, and they failed to deliver.

So sorry to hear this. I can completely understand your reticence to sign up for the future.

I have not posted a review on my LCV cruise yet because I am still addressing Land Discoveries issues and I want to give Azamara the chance to come back to me but I can also add into the mix of your issues, land discoveries that were delivered but did not match the products advertised - and not in a small minor way.

that is disappointing to learn and unfortunate that you missed what you had planned for.

Our cruises last May/June we had booked an overnight excursion in Barcelona when on the Quest that visited the coastal region of Spain toward France. Having spent a fair amount of time in Barcelona previously, we were looking to visit other parts of Spain and at $1400 for the 2 of us we were surprised when we learned that we were the only 2 that signed up and instead of cancelling, azamara made it a private excursion.

We even stated to them that they would not be blamed for cancelling based on the poor turnout and actually expected it.

Nope the "private excursion" went on and it was fabulous.

The ones you listed require typically several more people and I would not doubt that the cancellation was that of the tour operator either for lack of participants OR perhaps they had a personnel problem.

If it was either of the above and Azamara took the brunt of guests such as yourself suffering, then kudos to Azamara. If the cancellation was due to Azamara issues, then you probably should have been given a better explanation and an alternative option if one was available.

FYI, we all run the risk of even privately booked excursions being cancelled albeit doubtful. When relying on others to participate, then there are no guarantees. If budget allows, book just for your own party.

I even read on the celebrity board once of a private excursion being shared by 6 participants and when it came time to pay at the end, one couple vanished without paying leaving the balance on the person who made the reservation...they never saw the couple on the ship again (not likely on Journey or Quest), nor received answers to emails/phone. Lesson learned was to collect money at beginning of excursion if not sooner.

Best of luck on future travels.:)

I am sorry to hear about your cancelled excursions. We have had excursions cancelled and it is very disappointing especially in areas where arranging private excursions is more difficult.

I had wondered why Uktog hadn't posted a review but had thought she had posted things seemed to have improved.( By the way Uktog... hopefully you will get a good resolution and be happy to post)

I have booked 7 excursions for our upcoming Singapore to Hong Kong cruise on the 30th of November and these were by no means cheap. I think I had better start looking at backup plans.

So sorry to hear this. I can completely understand your reticence to sign up for the future.

I have not posted a review on my LCV cruise yet because I am still addressing Land Discoveries issues and I want to give Azamara the chance to come back to me but I can also add into the mix of your issues, land discoveries that were delivered but did not match the products advertised - and not in a small minor way.

Ann, i have been waiting for your fair and valued review. I leave in 3 weeks and hope to read it before I go. I will say I had many tours canceled more or less not enough people. if i replaced the tour not as good. Also how did we win an award for LD tours against so many ships.

Also how did we win an award for LD tours against so many ships.

I read that it's the AzAmaziing evenings that won the award.

I read that it's the AzAmaziing evenings that won the award.

Now that makes sense

Not just for AzAmazing Evenings. The Editor's Pick Awards were for Best Luxury Cruise Line Shore Excursions and Best Luxury Cruise Line Refurbishment.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/editors-picks/luxury/

Bringing another thread into the discourse, Azamara might risk far fewer cancellations due to lack of participation if we could use OBC for excursions before we embark. I chose to keep my big chunk of Land Discoveries OBC and smaller amount of regular OBC instead of rebooking my spring cruise at a lower price. I wonder how wise that was.

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Bringing another thread into the discourse, Azamara might risk far fewer cancellations due to lack of participation if we could use OBC for excursions before we embark. I chose to keep my big chunk of Land Discoveries OBC and smaller amount of regular OBC instead of rebooking my spring cruise at a lower price. I wonder how wise that was.

 

 

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During the LCV cruise there was a one hour Q and A with Mr Pimentil and he confirmed we will be able to do thus sometime in 2017 but to achieve this major systems changed were needed which are part of s bigger overhaul of all Azamaras web systems. Unfortunately time at the Q and A was limited (not helped by guests making long speeches as preambles to their questions) so it was not possible to delve deeply and give feedback or debate issues such as this.

Good to hear. I can understand that it might take some Web reconfiguring, but shouldn't really take too long with good IT techies. I hope it happens in time for me to use! Thanks.

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Thanks.

Good news for our summer cruise if that happens

And ours next oct with any luck!

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So sorry to hear this. I can completely understand your reticence to sign up for the future.

I have not posted a review on my LCV cruise yet because I am still addressing Land Discoveries issues and I want to give Azamara the chance to come back to me but I can also add into the mix of your issues, land discoveries that were delivered but did not match the products advertised - and not in a small minor way.

I'm sorry I didn't meet you on the LCV cruise. I have been waiting for someone to start a thread. After all, there were quite a few of us cruise critic types on the ship. While I had a good time seeing the Gulf countries, I was not impressed with all the LCV hoopla. As one person who had been on the previous cruise said: The vibe has been sucked out of Azamara. I'm glad to say that it seems to be back on the current cruise.

Actually, I have also had tours that were different than advertised in terms of what was visited. However, that seems to be an Azamara trait. Usually, it does not bother me as what I do see interests me. I wonder if you are referring to the nighttime illumination tour in Bahrain. Where was the photographer who was supposed to be along to help people take nighttime photos? That certainly was a situation in what was advertised differed significantly from what was promised.

I booked a few excursions last Sunday for my upcoming cruise. Research told me the afternoon portion of a whole day excursion would have to be changed as the planned palace was closed for renovation. The palace closed in September.

Bonnie has found out what we will be doing instead, Fourtunatly we have never been to Bangkok so, for us, the change is fine. I do feel Azamara ought to have changed the discription online as others may not be happy with the change.

It will be interesting to see when we are officially told of the change.

 

I'm sorry I didn't meet you on the LCV cruise. I have been waiting for someone to start a thread. After all, there were quite a few of us cruise critic types on the ship. While I had a good time seeing the Gulf countries, I was not impressed with all the LCV hoopla. As one person who had been on the previous cruise said: The vibe has been sucked out of Azamara. I'm glad to say that it seems to be back on the current cruise.

 

Actually, I have also had tours that were different than advertised in terms of what was visited. However, that seems to be an Azamara trait. Usually, it does not bother me as what I do see interests me. I wonder if you are referring to the nighttime illumination tour in Bahrain. Where was the photographer who was supposed to be along to help people take nighttime photos? That certainly was a situation in what was advertised differed significantly from what was promised.

That is indeed one of the excursions I was referring to. To date despite raising the issue the only response I have had is "thanks for the feedback it's the first time in the area we are still learning". I am waiting to hear if any more will be done as we spent good money on trips that had serious flaws. I was told no one else had complained about the Bahrain evening I found that very hard to believe although all the "employee guests" on bus 2 maybe did not have a clue what the paying punters had signed up for.

I am glad the vibe has returned to Journey. It was also there on the 30 September and 7 October trips. I can understand exactly why you made the comment you did. Maybe for many having been on Presidents Cruises in X expectations were different from what was happening on this one. I loved the itinerary and the places we visited but I'm still trying to choose my words to do a review about the onboard experience. For sure land discoveries played a major part in us giving the cruise a low score in our post cruise survey.

That is indeed one of the excursions I was referring to. To date despite raising the issue the only response I have had is "thanks for the feedback it's the first time in the area we are still learning". I am waiting to hear if any more will be done as we spent good money on trips that had serious flaws. I was told no one else had complained about the Bahrain evening I found that very hard to believe although all the "employee guests" on bus 2 maybe did not have a clue what the paying punters had signed up for.

 

I am glad the vibe has returned to Journey. It was also there on the 30 September and 7 October trips. I can understand exactly why you made the comment you did. Maybe for many having been on Presidents Cruises in X expectations were different from what was happening on this one. I loved the itinerary and the places we visited but I'm still trying to choose my words to do a review about the onboard experience. For sure land discoveries played a major part in us giving the cruise a low score in our post cruise survey.

I really would love to read your thoughts before i leave in 3 weeks.. I believe you are about one of 4 to 6 people who give honest reviews. i might not always agree but I know they are honest. you have mention the LD more than once. On the ship I have gone to the HD to the LD manager the day of the tour and in writing. Under all but one manager I had calls back and have had price adjusted. rare I had fro money but did want to talk to someone. I am sorry you were un happy or that the vibe was missing .I like to know how you mean the word Vibe and how it came back. was having te Mia bosses there bring it down or what?

please try to help before I leave . I do feel it makes a huge difference who is at the LD desk.

We also had an issue on one of our LDs on the LCV voyage. What the description listed for itinerary was different than what our guide outlined when we got on the bus. The whole bus was upset so he cut other things short in order to fit it in. Otherwise he may have had a mutiny on his hands as many of us only took that LD for what they cut.

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Uktog- I'm sorry To hear about the Bahrain night tour disappointment. I was going to book it because I'm an amateur photographer but was worried about what actually was going to be offered in terms of photography guidance. I do know Lee Abbamonte was onboard and I thought maybe he was the photographer they had mentioned in the LD brochure. The tour was quite spendy if all you received was a bus tour and 5 minute photo opts.

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We are on the Journey now and prebooked five land discoveries. Luckily, none were cancelled. The ship and crew are fabulous. We booked a night in cool places on the next leg (B2B), so hoping that won't be cancelled. It seems to me that many people are not booking excursions with Azamara. This obviously impacts the numbers game on land discoveries. So far, we have been very pleased with the LDs.

Note to Robin/ellbon, Max and Derrick say hello! :):)

We have been very disappointed when several of our AZ excursions were cancelled due to low numbers. This used to happen on Regent years ago but since they changed to no charge for excursions ( all inclusive) that doesn't happen any more.

Would love to see prebooked excursions guaranteed unless increment weather prohibits.

We have been very disappointed when several of our AZ excursions were cancelled due to low numbers. This used to happen on Regent years ago but since they changed to no charge for excursions ( all inclusive) that doesn't happen any more.

Would love to see prebooked excursions guaranteed unless increment weather prohibits.

I'd love to be able to pre book excursions with OBC, and it sounds as though that's in the works. I think it will result in better numbers and fewer cancellations. I don't want to subsidize excursions I'm not interested in by having them included in an all-inclusive price that would, of necessity, be quite a bit higher than we pay now.

Would love to see prebooked excursions guaranteed unless increment weather prohibits.

Every time I read "I would love to see Azamara..." or "I think Azamara should..." I can't help but wonder how many people on here would be complaining the moment they see the price impact. Of course Azamara could guarantee shore excursions. However, we all would be paying 25+% more for our excursions. Everything has a price.

On the positive side, when people can use OBC to pre-book, Azamara will see much earlier which tours are selling and which are not, which should leads to fewer last minute cancellations.

Floris

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