ECCruise

1 hour ago, Marylebone37 said:

Yet Azamara is broadcasting these offers to the public. That’s what is concerning. Are they a bit desperate? Or have they ticked off enough TA’s due to their systems issues that they have to go public? 

I get direct offers all the time from Azamara.  And Celebrity.  And Holland.  And Oceania.  And Princess....on and on.

Respectfully, I think you are looking for a problem that doesn't exist.

If you drill down past the inside guarantee price highlighted (e.g. the 7 night France intensive), I don't find almost $800 a night for a V1 or $1200 per night for an N1 to be concerning at all, especially since that is a good deal more than we've paid for our last 20 Azamara sailings (including 9 in the last year).

As others have said, zero chance of making the 7:55 and 10:45 is at the very edge.

We've embarked and disembarked in Piraeus many times and the best time we ever made to ATH was around 45 minutes.  And a couple of times, with traffic, the trip was over an hour.

9 hours ago, DS said:

Without providing any light, but adding confusion to the issue... I asked Azamara customer support  "Will there be a shuttle from Piraeus port to Athens city on 30 August?   There does not seem to be a shore excursion “Athens on your own” that day, which leads one to believe that there will be a shuttle. "

 

Realizing that Athens is a bit away from Piraeus, we were not hopeful... But the response we got is ... unfathomable?

"We can't guarantee there will be free shuttles at the Ports to take you into town. The only way to know is if if you are part of an excursion that says you are being shuttled.

 

Well, that was basically unhelpful...

 

Have never seen a shuttle into the city of Athens from Piraeus on any cruise line.  Depending on which of the piers your ship is located, walking to the Metro, tram or bus could be as short as a couple minutes to as long as 30 minutes.

As for Tenerife, we were told by a very senior officer that it was strictly due to the expense.  Taxi unions were never mentioned. And this was our 3rd post-pandemic porting in Tenerife, and the first 2 times definitely had shuttles.

On our Quest sailing last month, most of the ports did not warrant a shuttle.  But in Tenerife, where a shuttle has always been provided, we were told that there would not be one ("they take advantage of cruise companies and are too expensive").  Pax had to make the 25-40 minute walk to the very edge of the city or to the central part on their own. 

Finding that out and seeing the "free shuttles where available" scrubbed from the website makes me think that if the local authorities don't provide it, then it's not happening.

33 minutes ago, MVPinBoynton said:

I just saw this thread and checked what our June 19 cruise is doing.  It is being done both on ship or off ship in Kotor.  With it being a tender port, we were surprised they were having an off ship AzAmazing evening.  It will be interesting to see how they do it. 

This is the way that all of ours that were moved onboard (and there were 5 like that).  First designated as Azamazing, then both Azamazing and Destination Celebration (onboard) and then just onboard.

We've reached the point that unless we feel strongly that they have signed a contract for the entire season (e.g. Montevideo, which is spectacular and would not be even a close approximation onboard) we assume that it will be a Destination Celebration.

Definitely prices are still high.

The debt issue will remain for a while, and employment costs are still up, but with inflation falling to very close to historic levels for the last several months, how long they will try to use that excuse for big price increases remains to be seen.

We are finding that we can be much more effective $$$ wise by doing land trips than we can by doing cruises (although we still have 7 booked at what we consider somewhat reasonable pricing).

You likely will not know until you get there.  We've done both--docked at New Port (where most ships berth) and tender to old port.  Don't think any cruise ship would dock at the old port.

35 minutes ago, peajay said:

 Personally I consider myself a passenger or a customer, for me guests are something else.

I don't think I've ever been on a cruise where I wasn't referred to as a "guest" by everyone associated with the cruise line.  From Captains to deck hands and everyone in between. Most cruise lines even refer to their receptions as "Guest Services."

45 minutes ago, PirateWife said:

We are on a cruise in September that finishes in Lisbon but arrives that morning. We are going to keep our luggage with us. We have high hopes of making our 11:05 am flight.

Self walk off and pre-booked transportation and you should be fine.

We've disembarked in Lisbon quite a few times, including last month.  In general, the earliest disembarkation time was around 07:00, so if you want to get off prior to that time you will need to secure permission from Azamara, as well as the understanding that you will handle all of your own luggage.

The 2 times that we disembarked early, we notified Guest Relations as soon as we boarded the ship and reminded them again the day before the last day.  

I don't think I've ever had TA OBC show up before boarding (and actually, not before the 2nd day often) so unable to use for anything like shore excursions before you are on the ship. But once you are there you can use it for anything that is permitted even before it shows on the account. 

That's really late to dump booked pax.

31 minutes ago, Toronto Guy said:

Whenever somebody asks how many cruises i have been on, I run in the other direction.  What I like about Azamara is that it is a well-travelled crowd that isn't a bunch of competitive snobs.

Same here.  And the funniest thing is that if they voice how many they have been on and it is like 20, they expect to top you.

And running is the only choice other than lying and undercounting (which is silly) or telling the truth, (which blows their 20 away and completely alienates them.)  So we say "oh, a few."  

And hit the bricks. 

17 hours ago, mdeegooden said:

ECCruise, curious why Oceania didn't work out.  What removed them from future consideration?

Our first 5 times on Oceania we found them spectacular.  The food (of course), the service, the whole experience.  Cruise #6, in Alaska, started showing "stress cracks" for lack of better words.  Service not as crisp, food still good but not outstanding.

Cruise #7 was the Amazon one.  Service cold and frankly, almost surly in some cases. Nothing even remotely like Azamara.  No contact with senior officers at all.  And the snob factor, with many pax, was at Force 10.  It was all about how many "O" sailings you had been on, what cabin level, where you lived, etc.  Left us cold.

We did the Amazon in 2019 with Oceania.

I think we expected more of the Amazon that really doesn't exist.  We knew that Manaus would be a big bustling city, and Boca de Valeria would be remote (but felt a little staged to us with all the kids running to greet you), but I guess we expected more of the Amazon portrayed in movies and travelogues, and that probably doesn't really exist any longer (especially with the destruction of the rain forests during the last decade or so).

It was interesting, certainly, but definitely a one and done experience.

As was our sailing with Oceania, which was I think a "seven and done."  No longer even have them on the radar.

And no, do not remember any requirement for a YF vax.

1 minute ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

And yet the myth goes on that this was an improvement that Azamara should copy!

Yep.  Comes up in almost every Q&A with Captain/HD.

20 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Reports from those sailing in those Oceania cabins are that the shower doors were not a good idea.  The showers are still too small, but now there is no give when your body (especially your funny bone) hits the door.  Azamara upgraded the curtains so they don't cling, which is the best compromise available.

Another report re: shower doors on the O R class ships.

Before experiencing them, our take was "Finally!  No more shower curtains!"

After experiencing them, our take was "No way!  Shower curtains vastly preferable!"

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Once again you're trying to remake Azamara into Celebrity.  Please no.

Honestly, to some degree we had a feeling that Azamara may be slowing remaking itself to Celebrity based on our 26 days on Quest just completed a week or so ago.

$50 Specialty restaurants.  $125 Chef's table.

The EXPO we have always enjoyed on longer sailings replaced by the "Quest Fair" (an old Celebrity tactic) that is nothing more than revenue generating departments (Shore Ex, Booze packages, Specialty dining) setting up tables in the LR selling their wares.  No engineering department highlighting equipment, no security staff discussing procedures, no deck department, no HR, etc., etc.  A major fail and virtually no attendance, unlike the events held in the Cabaret, which are typically very well attended.

A bit too much Woo-woo for our tastes, frankly.  There were times we really did feel like we were back on Celebrity with things like Liar's Club.

No shuttles in any of the ports (admittedly, not needed in some) including Tenerife, where there has always been a shuttle since the very edge of the city is a 25 minute walk and center city is 35-40 minute walk, some of it uphill. 

The whole thing just had a different feel to us, including comparing to 36 days on Pursuit only a couple of months before.

Lots and lots of first-timers on these 2 sailings so perhaps it wasn't as noticeable to them as it was to us. 

On 4/10/2024 at 10:16 AM, BrendaJ said:

Honestly, the prices are bonkers - many of these itineraries are over $1,000 Canadian per person per night for a standard verandah cabin. At that price point, Silversea and Seabourn are looking pretty good.

Yes.

Many are approaching $900 to $1000 US for a V1 for 2, though.  The Canadian exchange rate must be bonkers.

Having spent 62 days on Pursuit and Quest in last 4 months with varying satisfaction (and considerably off from as recently as a year ago) those prices are a no-go for us.  Much better price/value relationship (both downstream and upstream) elsewhere.

6 minutes ago, Toronto Guy said:

I think the Atlas Bar is a great addition, I just wish it had a little more life to it like Celebrity's martini bar with some current music.  If I hear Abba or Neil Diamond one more time on board, I'm going over the rail.

Absolutely hate Celebrity's Martini Bar so that would be a hard pass for us.

Plus, we were given the information (evidently based on insufficient revenue) that Atlas Bar(s) would not be making an appearance on the other 3 ships.

Plus, these dry docks are not long enough to accomplish the changeover.

With the wide variance of how much of a page a stamp takes (anywhere from 1/5 a page or so to a full page) I would think it would have been prudent for Azamara to give some pre-cruise  proactive guidance (e.g. 11 pages when asked). 

8 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Just a heads up. On the World Voyage we have had several folks having to go home early. Why? Their passports stamp pages were full and no more space for additional stamps. Ridiculous yes but never the least it has happened.

Make sure you have ample space for immigration stamps. When renewing passports one can pay extra for extra stamp clearance pages.

Excellent advice and there is no longer an extra cost for extra pages.

More Azamara inconsistencies. 

No lobster in 9 sailings in the last 2 years. Quest ×4, Journey ×2, Pursuit ×3. As recently as December and last week. 

Caveat: we have no interest in lobster on a ship but do understand that people do enjoy it.