hamrag

That is correct, ONLY if all your drinks chosen are included with the classic package. Otherwise post #3 nails it for you. 😉

You do remember you're the thread author though?? 😉

From reliable sources: Your post is dubious! 😉

Interesting....Seabourn Sojourn has announced termination of that identical (which was the final) leg i.e. Singapore to Athens a day earlier (2nd May), on their ATW cruise. The only reason we know this is because the ship will then transit with crew only, around Africa to Athens to recommence the scheduled cruises from Athens and we have just booked the Athens to Barcelona cruise 5 June. This is a replacement for the cancelled Oceania Insignia cruise, Barcelona to Southampton, which was part of the ATW cruise which can no longer transit the Red Sea area. All being well, this will be a new cruiseline experience for us.

Respectfully, based on our 4 Az cruises - 2 pre and 2 post Covid - that does not reflect our experience! Firstly, Az is not a luxury line, nor does it claim to be. It sits in the premium category between mass and luxury lines and, in our experience, achieves that most of the time (across about 80% of the cruise experience). We have not, on any 4 of our cruises found the culinary experience excellent throughout. MDR can be a hit or a miss, varying between good enough and very good. Food temperatures have varied between warmish and hot enough. We find the specialties to range between very good mostly, sometimes excellent, and always mix it equally between MDR and specialties.....we do not use suites (specialties included in cruise fare), so have to pay for the specialties which works well for us. Having sailed across 18 different cruiselines, we have a good understanding of the difference between each cruise category. To the author, we consider X to be at the higher end of mass cruising but don't find the MDR on Az to be any better than X. Having said that you will have a much better restaurant for Sky suite, I'd suggest more akin to Az specialties, than you would have with the Az MDR. Some have reported the menus do not change but, for us at least, there is enough variety to sustain interest across a 7-10 days, perhaps not so much on a 15 day cruise. Some who book suites do report they still use the MDR some nights. We enjoy Az, and it is firmly on our current preferred lines list, alongside Oceania, Windstar and MSC Yacht Club. Mostly, Az offers best value across all of those particular lines which are weak for entertainment (except MSC)....so that may be another consideration for the thread author.

Reading these boards, that is part of the problem, they tell us the celebration is off ship and allow us to book such. But then it changes last minute to onboard, that's what happened to us last May in Dubrovnik!

That's a true 'spin', as you clearly will have several less £ in pocket unless you use points etc.! My main reason for posting is I had no idea you were heading to the western 'down under'.... wow, what a fabulous cruise ahead of you! Not been paying close attention to Az in recent times, just now and then. Enjoy, we had a very good Quest experience in November from Lisbon to Barbados with beautiful sunny days from the day following Madeira.

Having sailed four cruises on Azamara, we are yet to experience the Azamazing event off-ship, and fear that will be our Az future also! Our June Oceania cruise has been cancelled, and we most likely will book a last minute Az cruise as a replacement! My DW, a year older than me, all being well will hit the big 70 at this time next year. Her lifelong ambition has been to visit Oz and Kiwi, and Az have most suitable cruises Feb 2025 which I am considering along with others....which, although less cost, are not as good in terms of itinerary....so it'll be more Az for us hopefully! 😊

Bon Voyage, hope this one gets you 'back on board' with Az! Safe travels. Lang may yer lum reek.

Precisely our approach too, other than for an iconic 'one-off' itinerary!

Wow, never seen anyone drink pints of Sauv Blanc before! 🤣

Welcome to Sycamore Partners! 😉

And they're still selling it, low pricing, at only 3 months or so out!

We received news today that our Oceania Insignia 15 night cruise Barcelona to Southampton early June is now cancelled. It was a segment of its ATW cruise, scheduled to transit Suez Canal and on to the Med. Now it's going all the way around Africa with a significant segment now having an additional 15 sea days. It was a fabulous itinerary, but we've honestly little to complain about relative to the dreadful war territories worldwide currently. Horrific times for so many people. We may end up choosing an Az or Windstar itinerary to replace it.

I must confess a failure to see what the Atlas Bar delivered on Onward! We used it three evenings during pre-dinner times, aligned to specialty restaurant visits, and there were very few patrons in the venue.

In the belief they'd make a greater contribution to their bottom line, but a significant reduction in uptake may scupper such plan!

- is it really worth paying that much extra for a balcony room? Ocean View, except category 08 much smaller, is 170 sq ft and Balcony 175 sq ft so we would never pay significantly more for a balcony. Bear in mind, the balcony space apart, everything else is much the same....the bathrooms are identical, some have said it's like the old telephone boxes back in the day or coffin sized. They are not far wrong, a coffin would have to go upward to fit in it, but for me at 15 stone or 210 pounds and relatively fit it is perfectly manageable. Our 4 Az cruises have all been inside, so that or an outside is adequate for us. Across all our 58 cruises, we probably had a balcony on 25% of them. My DW loves to interact with, and watch, people and always says the rest of the ship is her balcony.....me, provided I'm on a ship, I do not care what the cabin is like...within reason!

For me, 'Miami tells ship' is crew speak for Miami has told the captain that total costs for the trip require to be within budget. At a time when the world appears more and more volatile many costs continue to rise. Slower speeds, with resultant lower fuel costs, are an easy win for the captain!

Was the review you read an Oceania review? We only ever encountered a fraction of the number you quote!

Across the years, on some other lines, we've used OBC to purchase jewellery for DW at prices we felt were fair....I don't believe many would choose to purchase such on a cruise. On our first Az cruise we had an unbelievable amount of OBC, on B2B cruises enhancing the amount both cruises, but the small jewellery unit on board wasn't offering anything that attracted. We ended up buying stuff we neither needed or wanted just for the sake of using it up. So much is included onboard, and these particular cruises were in the Caribbean so there were only a couple of excursions that were of interest.

This link provides details that may help. https://www.azamara.com/static-assets/beverage-packages.pdf

It's not a deal breaker for us. Because the MDR is simply not up to the mark we always mix it so, on a typical 7 nighter we do 3 MDR, 1 white night and 3 specialty. That will add $35 each to our costs, equivalent to $10 total per night. It doesn't change our dining strategy at that level of cost!

Whilst not entirely disputing that end of cruise tipping took place to some extent, the tale appears to be somewhat embellished given some of the language used e.g. 'flying'; 'fists full'.

But....the TA obviously wants to sell the cruise....! 😉

😄 😄