New to Azamara

[mgfraser]

Hello Everyone,

 

My wife and I are contemplating an Azamara cruise, and are mostly interested in the quality of the meals.

 

We have been on eight cruises in the past 5 years: 3 with Celebrity, 2 with Oceania, 2 with Seabourn, and 1 with Crystal. We have enjoyed them all immensely.

 

Where might the quality of the food fit in based on our cruise experience above?

 

We have been on an Oceania ship that is the same as the two Azamara ships so we know mostly what to expect there.

 

Regards,

 

Malcolm

[Phxazzcruisers]

We have always found the food on Azamara to be of excellent quality. We only have experience with Azamara and Celebrity and feel that Azamara is even better than Celebrity. The best part of Azamara is the crew. They all go way out of their way to make you feel special. From the first "welcome Home" we hear when we board the ship we feel like we are part of a large great family.

[CintiPam]

I personally believe that although the food is good on Azamara that the food on Oceania is superior overall. The grill on the pool deck offers lobster, Kobe beef burgers and filet as well as burgers. At night in the buffet restaurant the variety of grilled to order items always includes great steak and seafood, including lamb chops, shrimp, lobster tails and steak. The specialty restaurants on Oceania really are very special when compared to Prime C and Aqualina.

 

That being said, the White Nights pool buffet and deck party is a great special evening, and Mosaics is very relaxing for coffees and in a better location.

 

Also at the buffet breakfast restaurant on Azamara, you can place your eggs order, which will be delivered to your table by your server. On Oceania, you have to stand there and wait while they are being made for you.

[Grandma Gilly]

Aa we all know, food is such a subjective thing. I agree with CintiPam about the grill on Oceania, I really enjoyed eating up there but not so much in the MDR. Speciality restaurants were great. Wasn't overkeen on the food on Seabourn, I found it to be repetitive -beef in various guises, some fish and virtually no chicken although I did like the caviar! Lunch in the buffet too was just OK. Food is certainly better than Celebrity, even Blu.

MDR on Azamara is very good and the speciality restaurants are truly excellent.

Sometimes at lunch I ony want a sandwich, not a whole production. Azamara is one of the few lines I have been on where I can get this.

Like all cruise lines, if there is something you specially want they will cook it with 24 hours notice.

Have sailed Crystal but it was too long ago to comment.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Grandma Gilly

[NC&KY]

You will find the food on Azamara a big step up from Celebrity. Between Oceania and Azamara, my wife and I came down firmly on the side of Azamara. While Oceania at its best is magnificent, we could not get over how uneven the food was. We had some of the worst meals we've ever had on a cruise on a recent stay on the Marina. Overall, we found Azamara to be better. I did reviews of both cruises, here http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=224877 and here http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=267082

[ginny123]

Thank you NC&KY for your post and previous review on Oceania. We were contemplating Oceania just before booking our latest Azamara and it looks like we made another good choice :)

 

Our cruises on Regent were in 2010 and 2011 (our first cruises, btw). We enjoyed our meals in the MDR but found the Specialty restaurants to be inconsistent with some wonderful meals and some not so good. The buffet at lunch was the best we've had as far as quality, variation, and consistency. I mention this perhaps as a comparison to your cruises on Seabourn?

 

When we took the kids on Celebrity in 2012 we were very pleasantly surprised by the MDR. While the quality and service were excellent, we thought the lack of variation in the MDR and on the buffet could become tiresome on a longer cruise. We also prefer much smaller ships.

 

We found the food on Azamara to be very, very good, consistently good, in December 2013. It was always served hot and promptly in the MDR where we ate all our dinners. In fact, we enjoyed our MDR meals so much that we never got around to trying the Specialty restaurants. We found the included wines served to be as good, sometimes better than on Regent. While the buffet was consistently good at all meals, the variety does not compare with Regent's. Azamara's buffet seemed to be right in the middle between Celebrity and Regent.

 

While the MDR is one of the reasons we are returning to Azamara, the staff's attitude is the main reason. Others on CC have talked about the service but we think it might be the staff's attitude about service. Maybe it has to do with the consistency from the captain (perhaps even management) down...everyone seems happy and comfortable to be there doing their jobs, which makes you happy to be there.

Edited February 12, 2015 by ginny123

[Hyundaigirl]

We've only done 1 Azamara cruise and that was this past October on Journey and prior to that only 1 previous cruise on HAL's Noordam. Other than Prime C, we didn't find the food to be exceptional. We thought he MDR food was average compared to HAL as was the food out at the pool deck.

[MightyQuinn]

...We have been on eight cruises in the past 5 years: 3 with Celebrity, 2 with Oceania, 2 with Seabourn, and 1 with Crystal. We have enjoyed them all immensely.

Where might the quality of the food fit in based on our cruise experience above?...

We have sailed some of the cruiselines you mention and have also enjoyed them immensely. Of course, food experiences are subjective and can vary cruise to cruise and across different ships in the same fleet, often dependent on the Executive Chef and team. But overall, our ranking is Seabourn, Oceania (R class) and Azamara for food quality, consistency and flavour. If we throw Oceania (O class) into the mix with their additional specialty restaurants, they are tied with Seabourn as our favorite. The Azamara food experience has improved considerably since we started sailing with them. For an additional data point, we would rank it as superior to Regent and miles ahead of HAL.

[Lottie A]

I have been lucky enough to have sailed Silversea, Crystal, Oceania, Cunard Grills Celebrity and Azamara....many times for Azamara. Of course, food is subjective but I would rank it as even for all of them, as each cruiseline has its good and bad meals. However.....apart from one special factor for me with Silversea, my cruiseline of choice would be Azamara every time. Why is that? Because of the wonderful crew and how they make the passengers feel so happy. No other cruiseline compares to that ....you have to experience it to understand it. :)

[Grandma Gilly]

I have been lucky enough to have sailed Silversea, Crystal, Oceania, Cunard Grills Celebrity and Azamara....many times for Azamara. Of course, food is subjective but I would rank it as even for all of them, as each cruiseline has its good and bad meals. However.....apart from one special factor for me with Silversea, my cruiseline of choice would be Azamara every time. Why is that? Because of the wonderful crew and how they make the passengers feel so happy. No other cruiseline compares to that ....you have to experience it to understand it. :)

 

Lottie, you couldn't have put it better