beachseeker

Looking forward to your posts. We are cruising at the end of the month on the LA to Miami Panama Canal cruise stopping at many of the same ports. Have a great cruise and thank you for starting the thread.

Actually the CEO of RCCL said there would be no more "steep discounting" within 30 days of a departure. They indicated they would rather to upgrades or let some cabins go empty rather than discount by what became 90% at times to fill every cabin. For example Carnival last year had $49 fares! And RCCL $149. Those days are gone for RCCL and the lot, but discounting is not over!

Now that we are retired and spending time in Florida, we had hopes of getting in on some of these last minute deals. Timing is everything. However, on our Vision of the Seas cruise last year that we had booked early, there was a last minute sale of $199 per person to fill the ship. It was horrible. Lots of high tiered Royal Caribbean cruisers demanding special treatment and throwing their status level in everyone's face. I felt so sorry for the Concierge. It was his first cruise in his new position. It will take something really spectacular to entice us back to Royal Caribbean after that cruise.

Last night's Azamazing evening was not very good,lots of glitches. Talking to many people today I did not find anyone that thought is was good. In fact many thought is was very amateurish.

Having experienced a less than wonderful Azamazing Evening in St Maarten and watching the comments in the past two years on this topic, I'm not sure the Caribbean cruises lend themselves to the Azamazing Evening concept. Cruises in other parts of the world seem to have highly praised Azamazing Evenings but not so much on the Caribbean cruises. Our Azamazing Evening next month is in Cabo. We are attending and hoping for an enjoyable evening.

We have done 38 cruises on 10 different cruiselines.

 

We never saw a film in the cabin. We were about three times in a ships Cinema and watched a movie.

 

We even do not watch the news. We´re on vacation and want to have the time of our life with doing the total opposite to our normal life.

 

We love the shows on Azamara, love sitting outside having a nice drink, our listening to some musicans in a lounge.

 

We do not need a movie played for money or for free in the cabin.

I can have that at home every evening, but not the special feeling a ship gives us every day and night.

Wuppis, I agree with you. Wouldn't occur me to watch a movie. On sea days I am by the pool or on our balcony. I love sea days. DH prefers to book cruises with no sea days and hates laying by the pool and is not a gambler so no casino. He is very nice to me and will book cruises with sea days. You will find him wandering the ship but mostly watching movies that he brought from home. If he can connect to the TV he will do that. If not, he will watch on his computer.

Everyone enjoys their free time differently. If he can watch movies during his relax time then I don't feel as guilty as I enjoy my relax time.

Thanks Pam. We know we are boring to those not in CC suites. However, we were initially assured through our TA and the Celebrity/Azamara rep from Sydney that 8043 (also mentioned in a post as being assured of a shower by Azamara) would be getting a shower. (It is medically inconvenient for my wife to get in and out of a tub).

We saw the original port and starboard division, thought it was sensible and we were lucky. Saw all the other confirmations and relaxed, paid our final payment. Now we see that all N1s get tubs, and all N2s get showers. No logic here.

Azamara kept the details to themselves, then at the last minute gave out the details a few weeks before the refit. They have then switched around. Confusing, and a bit incompetent.

We also know that April 15th after refit on Quest may be testing, but we hope Singapore will be more efficient, and we look forward to all we have heard about the crew.:)

This is not my understanding. Everything that I have read confirms Pam's posting.

We were on the Pacific Princess (an Azamara twin) last month on a Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale Panama Canal cruise. We had a port side Deck 6 balcony and thus avoided the very hot sun most of the day. We watched the entry to the Miraflores Locks from deck 11 which was not great because of the blue glass panes on the front of the deck. Between the first and second lock we went to the open area starboard on deck 5 to see the ship rise as the water entered the lock. That was very interesting. We had an early lunch in our balcony while going through the Pedro Miguel Lock and saw the Canal staff leave the ship on a tug boat as we left the lock.

 

I'm sharing our experience to let you know that one of the best places from where to see the Canal in a R-ship is the Spa on deck 9. By standing on the steps in front of the thalasso therapy pool, you are above the blue glass panes on the stern and can take great photos. I got some great shots of the Gatun Locks.

 

Canal Day is very humid and long. There is plenty of time to seek a variety of interesting vantage points.

We are on Azamara's LA to Miami at the end of the month. DH chose port hoping to avoid hot sun in the afternoon. Thank you for the heads up on the Spa area on deck 9.

Happy to report that our XPress Passes have been released this morning. Interestingly, our TA was not contacted. We let him know. Bonnie, thank you for your help. Thank goodness for CC and a way to reach out when all other avenues appear to be at a standstill.

LOL. We even take our luggage scales away with us just in case, especially if we go to the US because we love shopping there.

We travel with the scales also. On our land trip over Christmas to Santiago we bought too much wine and other items and had to buy a small suitcase because we were way over in weight. Using the scales a couple of days before returning told us we were too heavy!

When we first started cruising, we would get the suitcases out and set up in the spare bedroom at least a week before the cruise. Now, we pack the day before.

Good evening beachseeker,

I'm still digging into this. I will get it resolved one way or the other! Please give me a day or two.

Bonnie

Thank you! Email has been sent with all the information.

 

Bonnie has been instrumental in solving a lot of problems so rather than chastising her for not giving you an exact name, I suggest you try her suggestion (and also Nicole). It's worth a try.

We have been talking to Azamara Customer Service for over a week with no solution thus our frustration and the reason for my reaching out for help. Trust me, we have tried to solve this without coming to Cruise Critic first. I tried all avenues before posting except Nicole. Like you I didn't think our problem fit Nicole's job responsibilities, but I'm willing to try anything to get someone's attention to help us resolve this error.

Hi Beachseeker,

the best email to use in the USA is: AzamaraCustomerService@AzamaraClubCruises.com

Bonnie,

I am disappointed that others are given a specific person to help and I'm given a generic email. I have talked to Azamara customer service as has our TA for a week. Azamara changed the port and credited us only for the Ixatapa excursions. Why they are saying they credited us twice for all the excursions is beyond me. The only credit on our credit card statement is the credit for Ixtapa. But we are being held ransom and Azamara will not release the XPress Pass unless we pay for our excursions again, including the cancelled excursions. Add this to our 2017 cruise which was cut from 8 to 7 days and the cost of the cruise was not reduced, we have a very sour taste in our mouth for a much anticipated cruise. We have had this cruise booked for over one and a half years.

Bonnie,

You have posted emails for help in the UK and Australia when things cannot be worked out. Is there a go to person for us in the US? When Ixtapa was cancelled on our Panama Canal cruise sailing in the 29th of February, Azamara sent us an email saying our two excursions in Ixtapa had been credited to our credit card and we still had excursions scheduled for Nicaragua and the Azamazing Evening. All, that is good.

Now, Azamara will not release our Xpress Pass because they say we owe them for all the excursions we had booked, including Ixtapa. According to Azamara they credited our account twice on January 7th. Our credit card account is only showing the credit for Ixtapa. This has been going in for over a week and our TA is getting no where.

Help!

Different pieces of the promotion packages can be purchased on board with OBC (e.g., a number of specialty dinners and a chef's dinner, upgraded liquor) but I don't think the promotion packages can be. Maybe Azamara should consider bundling some of their on board offerings for sale on board at a discounted price, a la the More to Love promotion.

The three promotions are listed on the website in the same place that the beverage packages are listed. Looking at the website would lead one to think you could purchase the More To Love packages.

I don't remember seeing an overnight for Azamara in the Caribbean but I will admit we don't look at Azamara when we are planning a Caribbean cruises. I do know that Celebrity is spending two days in a port on the Eclipse, often St. Maarten. The cruise we have booked is staying in Curacao for two days.

For a brief time an online TA had the old cruise and the new shortened cruise both listed for sale. There was a $500 per person difference in the two cruises for the stateroom that we booked. So, Azamara thought the difference between an 8 day cruise and a 7 day cruise was $1000 for our stateroom.

Our TA forwarded the letter that he received from Azamara explaining that our cruise had been modified. Major and Menorca had been dropped and replaced with Sete and shortened by one day. They were offering $400 OBC per stateroom for the change and we would have to rebook. Our TA sends us our new cost and the price for 7 days is exactly the same as the 8 days and the OBC was only $100 per person. TA said Azamara was firm on the cost of the cruise.

Not a good way to treat a customer. Our TA spent the day arguing with Azamara and in the end we got more OBC but certainly not the difference in their posted prices or the difference in our per day cost of our original booking. We really don't like or want OBC, preferring savings on the cost of the cruise. We kept the reservation but it leaves a very bad taste in our mouth. We sail in a month and will make a decision after our Panama Canal cruise.

Beyond disappointed to learn that Azamara chartered the Quest R/T Barcelona to Canaries for October 2017. We were looking forward to an unusual itinerary and an opportunity to spend time in Barcelona in connection with a cruise. The alternatives offered by Azamara of repositioning cruises from Barcelona with most days at sea are not appealing.

 

Years ago, some cruise lines offered this itinerary but now the Canaries ae pretty much only R.T from England.

 

Any chance that Azamara will offer this trip again in the next couple of years. I would go on another cruise line but I could no find such a trip.

I think the charter is in December, San Juan to San Juan. The charter affected most of the cruises from October 14th through the end of the year. Our cruise is shortened by one day. Two ports were dropped and a new port added. Spent most of the day on the phone with our TA who spent most of his day on the phone with Azamara dealing with our cruise in a month and the shortened cruise in 2017. I'm not going to post details tonight. Best to let it sit but needless to say it wasn't positive.

During our recent 16 days on the Journey, we noticed lots of empty tables in both Prime C and Aqualina. In fact, the specialty restos were almost never full, and we at there most nights. You might have to be a bit flexible as to the time of your reservation, but you should be able to get a table for your special celebration.

It is interesting the different dynamics on different cruises. On our first Azamara cruise to the Mediterranean we ate in the Speciality Restaurants 3 times making reservations the day before or day of. On our 2nd cruise to the Caribbean, speciality restaurants were booked solid after boarding was complete. I assume one of the differences is the longer port times for the Mediterranean cruise with many people eating onshore.

Our cruise (October 14, 2017) is back on Azamara's website. It is now a 7 day cruise instead of 8, 2 ports dropped and replaced with a new port. Overnight in Livorno is still in the itinerary so we are good. No other missing cruises are posted yet.

Have just spoken to my TA about the missing cruises on Quest from October to December 2017. She contacted Azamara and was told that an official statement would be sent to all TA's with clients booked on any of the affected cruises explaining the situation and listing their options, in 48 hours time. Looks very much like yet more charters for the Quest.

 

I booked on the Quest Trans Atlantic exactly 12 months ago and paid a deposit of £500. If the cruise is indeed cancelled I hope that the situation is resolved quickly.

Ughhh... Hope it's not true but that is what we suspected from the beginning. Just finished sorting out a charter on Celebrity Summit, losing a very unique itinerary and spending more money. Will start looking for a cruise that goes to Croatia and Livorno. Definitely want an overnight in Livorno. Ughhh!

 

I am going to try to be quieter now.

Please don't stop posting. You have asked good questions which has resulted in helpful discussions. I have not lost a spouse but we did lose our only child three years ago. It is so hard to carry on at times and you are to be commended for continuing to cruise without a partner when it was something you enjoyed so much as a couple.

Hmm… I am learning more and more, today. How on earth do you know where you want to dine, over a 14 night period? Again, first time cruiser, late August; I will have a suite but my friend won't. I do want to try Prime C (not sure about Aqualina) but are the menus for the rest of the ship posted that far ahead, also?

Don't worry about asking questions. We have cruised Azamara before and have the same concerns you do. We really don't want to book the speciality restaurants for all 16 days and then cancel the days we don't want. That just doesn't seem fair to everyone else. But, last time both restaurants were booked after day 1 so it would be helpful to know a schedule when boarding.

Will see how it goes next month.

For me, Azamara is also about destination as well as the onboard experience and you cant get a Celebrity ship as far inside the Reef as we were on this trip or docking right inside town in Bordeaux.

Ports and time in port is what attracts us to Azamara. Our last cruise was in a Sky Suite on the Eclipse. To be honest, our onboard experience on the Eclipse was much better than our 2nd cruise on Azamara and significantly less expensive even though it was 6 days longer. Because our first Azamara cruise was awesome, we are cruising with Azamara again for our Panama Canal Cruise at the end of February. We really want Azamara to be our go to cruise line but our Eclipse experience in terms of service, food, and perks are going to be hard to beat even though the Eclipse is a much larger cruise ship.

We boarded the Quest on Friday with suite access to the specialty restaurants. While checking in, we were asked where we wanted to eat that evening, and if we wanted a wine package as usual. We find out 24 hours later that most of the specialty dining reservation times for the next 14 days were booked due to a ship wide dining package promotion, except for a few 9:00 pm times in Aqualina! If we had known their new policy is to sell out the restaurants as quick as possible for the cruise, instead of previous experiences of asking our butler to make a reservation a day or two in advance, we would have booked our dining for the entire 2 weeks upon arrival. With some very responsive attention to this issue by head waiters and restaurant managers Lupo, Milo and Mario, space has been found for us where and when we desired.

 

This is continued proof Azamara's culture is to to please the customer where possible. If a need exists, ask for a solution instead of holding it inside and being unhappy.

I'm glad it worked out for you but we had the exact same situation happen to us on our last cruise two years ago. We were told by our butler that he could not get us reservations after the first night for the rest of the cruise. When we visited with restaurant managers in both Prime C and Aqualina, we were told that they were booked and there wasn't anything they could do. When I posted my frustration on CC, I was chastised for wanting to eat in a specialty restaurant more than once. We were very frustrated that a perk that is one, not the only, but definitely one of the top reasons for booking a suite was not delivered. Hoping for a better experience in March.

I got that information on a German website, which I cannot mention here. It didn't say the 14th was sold out, like it did for the other one. It isn't showing any cabin availability for your cruise.

The cruises are still listed on TA websites but you can't book any after the October 4th cruise. On Azamara's website there are no cruises listed for the Quest between October 14 until January 2018. Something is up. Hope it is only tweaking and not a cancel. We just finished sorting out a charter on the Celebrity Summit. Lost a very unique itinerary and it took Celebrity a loooong time to admit that our cruise had been cancelled. Back to the original reason for this thread, we really want 2 days in Livorno.