New rules - positivity!!

[cindilouwho]

How about a few posts on why we LIKE Azamara!!

 

I will go first -

 

I LIKE AZ because the staff and crew are working hard to make the difference. From the outgoing and young Captains to the Hotel Directors who know your name to the cabin "butlers" who smile and help as much as they can - everyone onboard is trying their best the make the "brand" shine -Regardless of how much or little the passengers have paid!

[crzrr]

The crew was fabulous on all 3 of our cruises. I've never had so many people ask if there was anything that they could do for us (now if I could get that to happen at home;)!)

 

The food is excellent - not always to my liking but that's my personal taste and the fact that I like to try new things (some I will never try again:) as once was enough).

 

The itineraries are great and I love the overnights. But, after having been on other ships, I have to say that the staff and crew really make the difference for us.

 

Btw Cindi, I think that you would be a lot of fun to cruise with. Which cruise are you going on? Never mind - just saw Betty Boop!

 

Sue

[cindilouwho]

The crew was fabulous on all 3 of our cruises. I've never had so many people ask if there was anything that they could do for us (now if I could get that to happen at home;)!)

 

The food is excellent - not always to my liking but that's my personal taste and the fact that I like to try new things (some I will never try again:) as once was enough).

 

The itineraries are great and I love the overnights. But, after having been on other ships, I have to say that the staff and crew really make the difference for us.

 

Btw Cindi, I think that you would be a lot of fun to cruise with. Which cruise are you going on? Never mind - just saw Betty Boop!

 

Sue

 

What were your past sailings?

 

I was on the Journey in April of 2008 from Barcelona.

[greeneg]

I would agree that the Crew at all levels absolutely do make Azamara special. By the time we disembark, it's like leaving a whole new bunch of friends behind, but you are already looking forward to seeing them again.

 

I do have some reservations about some of the management decisions and lack of coherent information, but those reservations do not include the Crew; they have been wonderful on all of our sailings.

[crzrr]

We were on the Quest in March 2008 in the Caribbean. Then we did the Journey in Sept. 2009 roundtrip from Barcelona - our best cruise ever. Then we were on the Journey in March 2010 from Miami into the Caribbean again. Some of the crew were on all 3 cruises with us which was so much fun.

 

We are booked on the Journey for April 24, 2011 Venice to Athens, then May 1, 2011 Athens to Rome. We are going with good friends who we met a LONG (right Brenda ;)) time ago on a Celebrity cruise. They went on the Quest cruise and loved Azamara as well.

[crzrr]

Ed - I agree. Some things in relation to the brochures, announcements, etc. could have been handled much better. I am hopeful that Azamara will learn from past mistakes. The onboard staff and crew are absolutely amazing though and I suspect tend to get as frustrated with management as we do.

[cindilouwho]

We were on the Quest in March 2008 in the Caribbean. Then we did the Journey in Sept. 2009 roundtrip from Barcelona - our best cruise ever. Then we were on the Journey in March 2010 from Miami into the Caribbean again. Some of the crew were on all 3 cruises with us which was so much fun.

 

We are booked on the Journey for April 24, 2011 Venice to Athens, then May 1, 2011 Athens to Rome. We are going with good friends who we met a LONG (right Brenda ;)) time ago on a Celebrity cruise. They went on the Quest cruise and loved Azamara as well.

 

I am meeting a couple from SA on the Quest that I sailed with on X in 2006. Also planning on going are a couple who I met on the Journey from CA. I have such a wonderful circle of friends that I have made aboard the ships! This will be my 79th cruise and I have to say I haven't had a bad one.

 

Nothing beats having fun......and I MEAN that! Maybe one day we can cruise on the same ship Sue!!! You sound like fun too!!!

[crzrr]

79 cruises! You are my hero! We are in our late 40's (ok I am, the big guy just turned 50) and tell our daughters that our retirement is going to be spent sailing around on a cruise ship. We figure that it's cheaper than assisted living. And since we are being positive, Azamara looks like a good retirement home to me.

[cindilouwho]

79 cruises! You are my hero! We are in our late 40's (ok I am, the big guy just turned 50) and tell our daughters that our retirement is going to be spent sailing around on a cruise ship. We figure that it's cheaper than assisted living. And since we are being positive, Azamara looks like a good retirement home to me.

 

OMG - you took the words out of my mouth ........ I am very busy spending the inheritance!!!! It's more fun than I had making it!!!

 

I will be joining you both or shall I say you will be joining me .... I am 55! Just starting to take advantage of that SENIOR DISCOUNT!

 

I am NOT going gently into that good night............

[crzrr]

On the positive side, you are getting a discount! Allows for more cruises!

[Lanz]

We are sailing on the Quest out of Barcelona and will probably spend a few days before the cruise; could you recommend and tours? Thanks and Best Regards

[California Native]

I like AZ because 2 weeks ago I called with a list of 15 detailed questions for my B2B direct booking

JESSICA, the res agent was very gracious

She answered the questions that she could and then took down my phone number and email to follow up with the rest of the answers

2 days later I received an email ..apologizing for the delay (what delay, I thought) and she had contacted the ship, contacted various departments

and got all the answers I requested.

She was very courteous, she owned the call that she received randomly through the phone q ~ it wasn't even a booking she made (so no incentive for her time), she researched, and then she delivered the info back to me in speedy fashion..

Kudos to Jessica in the Azamara call center

She performed her job in the manner that Larry Pimintel demand of me when I worked for him in reservations at Classic Hawaii.

His expectations for res agents were obviously being acted upon.

It was nice to finally see a change from the old ways

of being transferred all over through RCCL, Celebrity and finally to Azamara.

K

[crzrr]

Lanz, I can't recommend any tours in Barcelona as we just walked the city. It was fantastic. There is so much to see. We did stay in the Hotel Royal on Las Ramblas. They had a cruise special where they picked you up at the airport and your room was available which was fabulous as we arrived early in the morning. We had a room overlooking Las Ramblas, received a bottle of Spanish wine, and then they drove us to the ship on the day of departure. All was done very professionally and the rooms were very nice. It was a wonderful place to stay.

 

K- what a wonderful experience. Kudos to Jessica and hopefully it is a sign of things to expect from Azamara. Did you get any good information in response to your questions?

[California Native]

 

K- what a wonderful experience. Kudos to Jessica and hopefully it is a sign of things to expect from Azamara. Did you get any good information in response to your questions?

 

Well, just a few of the questions were..

Confirm what ports were tender or dock

where did the tender land

where was the dock location

what ports had transfers, where did the transfer drop off

(all of this was for our planning of DIY days in port)

did my Discoverer email minutes roll over to the next day or was it use or lose it on a daily basis.

please confirm once and for all about Skype. if no, could that possibly remotely change..

anyway, those were just a few of my questions and she answered every single one.

also, she took it a step further and asked if we were leaving the ship in Israel and Egypt and reminded me

of the procedure to do so.

[Dick in Falls Church]

Lanz-

we found the hop-on hop-off busses very good--but don't try to use them right up until the time they show as last bus. To best of my memory, there are two different companies, which run slightly different routes. The 2 day tickets are only a bit more than the 1 day.

[crzrr]

Lots of good questions! Do the internet minutes roll over? Thanks.

[California Native]

Lots of good questions! Do the internet minutes roll over? Thanks.

 

 

They said no, but I'm going to ask once onboard

Sometimes rules that our state side can be bended a little

once onboard! (shhhh!)

I will be doing a blog on our online travel journal for friends and family

plus adding pictures ...

so it would be nice if they would roll them over!

[California Native]

ANOTHER REASON ...... Why I like AZ

when I booked direct, I was perfectly fine with the price for our lower inside cabin category (7003)

I then went on the Pacific Princess once again with my mom and realized that the location would be very bad for 24 days for my DH,

who has only cruised 1 time

I then called AZ and explained that I needed to change to more mid ship which made it a Category 10.

It was a price jump, but it had to be done. I made a joking comment to the res agent...well, there went my 3 massages in the spa and he said ...

Ma'm can you hold on one sec, I want to see if I can do something here...

He comes back on the phone and says next week we are offering a B2B discount for 200USD off of each sailing..

I'm going to cancel your original booking, rebook it as a new booking and then apply this upcoming discount.

that my supervisor just approved for me.

[spw1947]

We're still in the planning stages for our first Azamara cruise (NE Asia, 5 March 2011) and the constant negativity has not been encouraging: good to see a new thread.

 

In Barcelona last year we enjoyed a market tour and cooking class with http://www.cookandtaste.net/

 

Watch the Hop on Hop Off buses as there can be very long delays boarding at popular sights eg Gaudi's temple and houses. This can throw your plans into disarray.

 

Sue

[Jade13]

 

He comes back on the phone and says next week we are offering a B2B discount for 200USD off of each sailing..

I'm going to cancel your original booking, rebook it as a new booking and then apply this upcoming discount.

that my supervisor just approved for me.

 

 

 

This may be a bit OT but,

 

I don't know what you do regarding trip insurance but just be careful regarding the ones that can be paid at final payment and cover pre-existing conditions as they can only be the first and only booking for a specific date. We usually use CSA because we can pay at final and it covers family members not traveling with us who may have pre-existing conditions that we do not know about. We booked onboard and than canceled when we got home, moved the deposit to another cruise and than ended up booking the same original Azamara cruise while on Celebrity last week. So, we have now canceled and rebooked the same cruise. I have no idea what we will do regarding insurance unless I can get a waiver from the underwriter. The reason they do this is to stop people from canceling and rebooking because they suddenly have a condition and did not get insurance in the first place. Someone wrote about this on the HAL boards a couple of years ago about an over 50K insurance denial for someone who had canceled and rebooked.

 

So, the Rep saved you a total of $800.00 ($200.00 per sailing per person)?

[schmidlapp]

Answer to original ?

QUALITY OF CREW, size of ship, QUALITY OF CREW, unique ports, QUALITY OF CREW, new semi inclusive policy and finally QUALITY OF CREW.

AZ management do you get it yet? Please take care of your crew, they are what really makes the experience.

[cindilouwho]

I am feeling POSITIVELY POSITIVE about my upcoming sailing on the Quest!!

 

I LOVED the new brochure I got a few months ago - WOW - I wanted to frame it it was so beautifully done....I was thinking of using it as a COFFEE TABLE book!!!

 

I loved the big, high table at Prime C for a large group of people....it was so much fun to sit up front and say hi to everyone that arrived.

 

The aft dining area in Windows was lovely in the morning for breakfast. The purrrfect beginning to the purrrfect day!! Sorry - I am a cat person!!! :D

 

Thanks to everyone for sharing their positive experiences!

[Lanz]

Thanks to all for comments on Barcelona, I will definitely look into the Hotel Royal

[vival]

Thank-you Cindilou for starting this thread its great to focus on the positive for a change!

 

We have only done two cruises the first on the Serenade of the Seas and the second on the Journey. While there was absolutely nothing wrong with our first cruise, we enjoyed our second so much more. In fact I don't think we would sail on a large ship again. We loved everything about Azamara;the size of ship, fellow passengers, no formal nights, the fact that we could eat when and with whom we chose, the fabulous staff etc etc!

 

We have booked for August 2011 at the new prices, which while expensive are still considerably cheaper for us in the UK than Oceania, Silversea, Regent etc.

 

I really hope that Azamara can attract enough passengers to sustain this fantastic brand and not suffer the fates being discussed on another thread.

[cindilouwho]

Yeah!!! Now I feel better.

 

I am a wise consumer. I am NOT anyones' cheerleader unless they deserve it. I also come on the boards to get great info which is usually the case. I am happy to move on and plan my excursions and read the reviews.

 

I am on the Asia sailing of Jan 8 - my friends are paying about $180.00 per person per day. They just booked it. To my mind, that is not wild pricing. They are in a balcony.

 

I believe that Larry Pimental was on the boards for live chat a few weeks ago.......did anyone bring up the issues then? HMMMMMM....... :o

 

Granted I sailed 2 years ago but I did not find the towels threadbare, I thought the room was well enough done and the mattress was ok but not as great as other ships I have been on. I was soooo exhausted from all the excursions, laughing, dancing and sailaway parties that I slept like a baby every night.

 

The food was fine and in some cases great and found that the best thing was that I DIDNT HAVE TO COOK IT OR CLEAN UP!!!! I also got to eat with wonderful people from all over the world. I LOVE my food and feel it an important part of the cruise but order wisely - in mass production the simple things are often the best.

 

We all have diverse opinions, and we are all entitled to them. We are entitled to express them and as long as the tone is not vicious or hurtful then all is fine. In my travels I have met many wonderful people, I have also met many who are not so wonderful. Sometimes I try to help them be a little happier because being happy makes you healthier and without our health - we have NOTHING. All you can do is try - then move on.

 

Let's keep this message up there in the posts - I look forward to more great info and POSITIVITY!!!