srvpoo

What was the general dress for dinner??

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Having gone through an outsourcing of enterprise IT that was almost as disastrous as this one, may I suggest that the reason both Explora and Azamara chose this software may be that it was the only package available.  [Last time I looked at Best Buy, I didn't see any "cruise line enterprise software" boxes on the shelf!  LOL]

Problems arise with inadequate testing before a complete installation 

15 minutes ago, CHTobi said:

Five of them, post-COVID. Would you like the dates? And maybe the itineraries? 😉

No, just curious to most recent experiences on Azamara 

5 hours ago, Marylebone37 said:

Never… even after a very good Pursuit cruise in May/June.  That cruise was booked during the RCCL days (including excursions).  They never got my OBC correct on board, but luckily gave me several hundred dollars more than what they were supposed to.  How many other accounting errors are they making like that which is potentially costing the company lots of needed $$$$.

 

My online account still shows my late May cruise listed as upcoming (it's now almost August!) but with red error messages all over the screen.  Loyalty points are still wrong.  Past cruise history still not available. No executive level suite communications about the status of issues and resolution plan for many, many weeks now.  And all the "sale" emails, travelers reporting far less than full occupancy on ships…. hmmmmm.  It's not just not worth the hassle or risk anymore with Azamara. There are much better alternatives out there, at least right now. 

Never got it corrected but got several hundred dollars more that you were supposed to ??????????

On 4/23/2023 at 11:49 AM, CHTobi said:

Individual experiences and perceptions differ and therefore there seem to be different realities. It is wonderful that things are as perfect as they always were for you. But not everyone agrees with you - as you very well know. The art and ability to agree to disagree comes in handy in situations like that. 

When was your last Azamara cruise

Where do you meet the Azamara agent at the airport for hotel transfers ? 

Is the Chefs Table included with a suite?

On 5/12/2023 at 8:23 AM, uktog said:

Dear Azamara Guest,

We deeply value your trust and loyalty to Azamara. As many of you are aware, we’ve completed the final steps of becoming an independent company. As part of this process, we implemented new technology to support all aspects of our business.   The most critical and complex component of transitioning our reservation system was to transfer bookings for future cruises from our former parent company’s system into our new system. We underestimated the complexity of moving over these bookings and as a result, trip components and prices may appear inaccurate in some guests’ accounts. We deeply regret the inconvenience or frustration this process has caused you and your travel companions. I can assure you that we are working diligently to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.   We want to assure you that all your booking information remains secure, and you’ll be able to sail with us as planned at the same rates you reserved. In the most concerning cases, customers may see a balance due that is not accurate. No additional payment outside of the original balances on the original booking is required, even if one appears in the account.   We understand that many of you and your travel advisors have questions, which has led to an increase in our call centre volume. Wait times have been unacceptably high, which has made servicing existing bookings and making new reservations difficult. We recognise that the current pre-cruise process does not meet the Azamara standard. To address this issue, we have: Increased overall global call centre staff to help answer request forms in a more timely manner. Added a dedicated call centre option for sailings within 30 days. Added IT resources to repair bookings and account accuracy to fix any incorrect information before you board so you can have a stress-free experience. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this transition period. We remain committed to providing the exceptional service and experiences that have made Azamara one of the most respected and beloved brands in the travel industry.    Thanks,

I hope your onboard services are better than your website services. Totally unacceptable that a company of you size does not have a functioning website. My future cruise does not appear and no response to my email.

How does the food quality and selection on the ocean compare the  river??

On 8/23/2021 at 10:52 PM, wangel said:

Cruise Critic People

 

I’m currently on the Celebrity Equinox day 10 of a 12 day southern Caribbean cruise. We did Aruba yesterday and will be doing Curacao today and then two days at sea back at Fort Lauderdale. I will now give you the Pro’s and Con’s of this cruise. Just to let you know I’ve done 14 cruises (about 1 a year) of which 10 were with Celebrity. I’m currently on the 11^th floor in AquaClass.

PRO’s

1.    Getting on the ship – Much faster. I had a 2:30 get on and got to the dock at 1pm. I was on the ship before 1:25.

2.   Staff is as exceptionally friendly. Really not much different than before.

3.   The ship is very very clean. Even more so due to covid. You can see them at all hours of the day and night deep cleaning and sanitizing.

4.   You can never get rid of chair hogs at the pool, but due to the population on this ship around half; the pool and pool chairs are much more readily accessible.

5.   Ship is designed for cell phone usage. You will need your cell phone so that you can make appointments for dinner or the spa. Much more convenient and quicker. Yes you can still do it the old way too.

6.   Room TV’s now compatible for USB. Yes, I’m a TV addict and will often bring a jump drive full of movies or TV shows that I want to binge watch. Now you can plug right into the USB port of the TV and get a directory of your movies. It appears only AVI movies work. MKZ does not work. Also, I have been known to bring my own TV remote, but didn’t really need it this time. My TV is a Samsung model HG43NF690GFXZA. I brought a 256 gb jump drive full of movies.

7.   Room steward is fantastic! Aren’t they always! Great room steward.

8.   Evening entertainment has been very good. Notice I didn’t say excellent?! Think of a very cheap casino on the Vegas Strip. That is how the entertainment is.  

9.   Internet speed. You have your choice of slow and fast. I can only comment on the fast. Price was around $399, but if you are Elite you get 30% off which brought the price down to around $240 for one user. Yes, only one user, but can be switched from one device to another at no charge.

 

OK, now for the bad news.

 

CON’s

1.    Food quality and selection (even in the buffet) is terrible. Golden Corral or Denny’s quality at best. You will get sick of it quickly. Fruit under-ripe for the first few days. Same menus day after day. No midnight buffets, no big parades of food anymore either. I go on cruises for the food and now, what should be so simple, they ruined. Even at the fancy restaurants, they are just taking their regular food and just making it look fancy. I ordered Salmon Sushi rolls and the salmon inside the rolls was the same smoked salmon from breakfast. Really!

2.   Lack of bar attendants so you can’t order (All Inclusive) drinks. I had the AI and before shows no drink attendants. Up at the buffet no drink attendants, by the pool no drink attendants: most areas – no drink attendants. OK, if you look hard, sometimes you can find one. Often times I just gave up. Stop at one of the bars on the ship to get your drink before dinner or a show.

3.   Very difficult to tell what is covered on the regular drink package and the better one. I have the regular one. Much too often the bar attendant would tell me that there would be an upcharge for what I wanted like a strawberry slushee or something else. It’s not real clear what is included in each drink package. Keep in mind that you glass of wine will likely be part of your AI, but if you want to purchase the entire bottle, you only get 15% off the price of the bottle. So it pays to get drinks by the glass.

4.   Celebrity has set the schedules of all the restaurants, so that around lunch time you are forced to eat at Golden Corral on deck 14. They want everyone to eat there. Deck 14 is called Silhouette (buffet) and it is cheap slop.

5.   Stopping at the various islands and the ship won’t let you off (due to covid) – forcing us to book a Celebrity tour to get off the ship.

6.   Sushi use to be free every night. Now it is pay only. I use to love the sushi before dinner. Nope, not any more. Not only that, but the Sushi on 5 restaurant opens at 3pm. Can’t even have it for lunch anymore. The prices are like a high end sushi restaurant. The restaurant is normally empty.

7.   Qsine specialty restaurant at $55 / person – Quality and Quantity lacking. (I had to go up to the buffet after dinner to get more food. Small quantities do not always mean better!). On the other hand if you are traveling with an 8 year old and they want to see a 3D cartoon on their plate, then by all means go to this restaurant.

8.   Food quality is poor to mediocre. Steaks are tasteless or too tough. Things are overcooked or undercooked. Overall, there is nothing REALLY good at any time.

9.   If you paid extra for AquaClass and Persian Gardens – it is now by appointment only. They only book 8 people at a time. Even with the boat half full, appointments book up quick. My suggestion is to book all your days quickly.

10.               The hot tubs allow a maximum of only 3 people. Yes there are many Karen’s who monitor this and will not let you in if you try and put 4 people in the hot tub. Overall, AquaClass is not worth it any more. You don’t get all the benefits and the food in Blu is pretty much the same as in the main dining room.

11. Activities are minimal and often downright silly waste of time. If you like going to Trivia or playing silly games, then by all means go ahead. Most of their activities are a silly waste of time.

12.               When a show or activity is over, there is no control of allow people to leave without clustering together. In other words, no social distancing.

13.               They use the same rag to clean every table instead of using a new cloth or paper. I remember some restaurants where I live using a new clean paper towel for each table so as not to spread covid. Not here, they use the same rag from table to table.

14.               The Persian Garden sounds good on paper, but keep in mind with only two saunas, what happens when one sauna is down for repairs for two days or a group reserves all the good times? Not good.

15.               Passengers are supposed to wear masks when off the boat. Many did not and nobody said anything.

16.               Many of the tours like Aruba were more trying to sell us Aloa Vera than showing us the island.  

17.               Many of the on-ship activities now cost! Yes, going to the Deal or No Deal game show on the boat or some other activities now costs.

18.               Water – yes water! They are now serving water in aluminum cans instead of plastic water bottles. The water from the aluminum cans tastes “tinny”. I’ve been ordering more Coke and drinking less water due to this tinny taste.

 

SIDE NOTE 1: There is a router in each room. For those who are computer literate: They are Aruba brand routers, model AP-303H-US. If you slide the front up, you then have access to four RJ45 ports on the bottom and 1 more inside the router. I have not played with them yet, but might. They appear functional.

 

SIDE NOTE 2: You can use a Travelmate Titan (Google it if you don’t know what it is) to divide your internet among up to four users. A very handy device: Ex:  if you brought two laptops and two cell phones as I did and you want to connect them all at the same time? It works fine. Just keep in mind that if your speed is 400 mbps, when you connect four devices all using the Internet it divides it by 4, which means 100 mbps for each user. The speed of the Internet varies. In the middle of the night is the fastest speeds. Morning, Late afternoon or early evening is the busiest and consequently the slowest. Expect to see speeds change from 400 mbps to as slow as 0.50 mbps.

 

Hope some of the above helps you.

sounds like you are pretty hard to please!!!  I was on the ship 2 weeks ago and respectfully disagree with your opinions

On 8/23/2021 at 10:52 PM, wangel said:

 

our cruise on Equinox was outstanding !!!!!!

I observed a passenger present a photo of her vax card on her phone and it was accepted

On 8/14/2021 at 6:25 AM, Bo1953 said:

Either have five (5) different responses in writing from the responder OR review the website and printout what is 'explicitly' written there as the policy.

 

Many of us do complain about the different responses received from different CSA's, the real question for me is ask, where I can find it at the website. Because that person will not be at dockside when checking in to verify the information they gave you... and good luck trying to get them on the phone when trying to check in too...

 

Unfortunately, in the current environment, we all have to do a bit more work to get on vacation rather we like it or not. AND as most conveyances of transportation will tell us is: It is our responsibility to know what we need before leaving home.

 

Not fun for a few of us before getting on vacation, but well worth it for those of us who really, really, really want to hit the decks and high waters!!!

 

In health and bon voyage

Just returned from Celebrity Equinox Eastern Carribean cruise Sunday the 15th. I usually cruise with Azamara bit with covid issues we decided to try Celebrity. It was excellent. Main dining room was very good but specialty restaurants were excellent. Service was outstanding, everyone was very friendly and ship was very clean. I would highly recommend! we were in a veranda with balcony and was very happy with it.

Are cruise passenger require to have a negative covid test for excursions to St Maarten, Tortola and Nassau?

1 hour ago, Dwight1 said:

There are no large ships allowed at st. barts,  only small ones like Windstar and others.

St Maarten. my mistake.  Celebrity Edge

Are cruise passengers allowed to tour St Barts, Tortola and Nassau without being with a ship escorted group ? We are looking to book the August 8 departure.

What are the odds that the August Viking River Cruises will be a go. Specifically the Grand European tours

Does Viking offer liquor packages?? what are the prices for cocktails off the menu?

Check prices on Silversea or Seabourn, Viking etc and tell me what you get extra for the price

In 4 cruises with Azamara, I have never had anything but outstanding experiences. Great and friendly service, great food and outstanding port visits. You always get what you pay for.

I submitted an e mail explaining why i missed the required deadline for the program. I explained why I waited for them to make their final payment and Azamara the honored my submission. Kudos to Azamara for their great customer service. Guess that's why I am so loyal to them. Thanks again to Azamara !!

I see it now. My bad !  LOL

I recently booked my 5th cruise on Azamara. I invited 2 couples that are new to Azamara. I just completed the Refer and Receive form and it was denied because of the fine print ( form must be submitted within 14 days of booking). I did not see that requirement because it is not on the form, only in the fine print of terms and conditions. I filed the for within 2 days of them making their final payment for the cruise that is in July 2019. Just another nit picking, annoying thing that Azamara doe to their customers. Bonnie can you appeal for me. Although minor this could jeopardize any future bookings with Azamara.

What can on board credit be used on? any restrictions?