24 days in Quest - our take on Azamara now

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you UKtog for your dual cruise review, and expert feedback.

I'll make sure the Hotel Management team get a chance to read this thread (note: almost all are on the Journey involved with the dry dock but they are reading my emails when they have a few minutes here & there!)

[nordski]

Only the smaller ships, not Celebrity. I've done a Norwegian Fjords cruise on Celebrity and one on Azamara. Chalk and cheese.

 

Phil

 

Agree.

 

We did the Eastern Med in May on the Constellation and in Oct. on Journey.

 

Some differences in itineraries, but the REAL differences go far beyond that.

 

There always seem to be "changes" that are more or less acceptable to cruisers. I really appreciate uktog's assessment as some of her concerns match ours as well.

 

Hope her issues are noted and, as far as possible, addressed. I will note that some of those issues, seem to be a little more common on Quest for some reason.

Edited January 19, 2016 by nordski

[beachseeker]

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.

[TrulyBlonde]

On the other hand, Celebrity has improved their offerings at the Suite level and may start poaching Azamara customers if reports like this one continue. We just upgraded our Greek Isles cruise this summer to a Sky Suite, and the cost per day is less than our Veranda on Quest even though we booked under the super BOGOHO offer. We get the Luminae suites restaurant, premium beverage packages, unlimited internet, a butler, a concierge in Michael's Club -- plus the wider range of entertainment. A suite on Celebrity M-class may be a better value than Azamara -- who'd a thunk it? I'll be sure to do a comparative report in August.

 

Our cruise on Solstice (30 days to OZ and NZ) this past Nov.2015 was fabulous and the CS or SS and the BOGOHO offer is wonderful and makes it all inclusive.

 

AZ has always had some very nice itineraries but I would choose Celebrity before cruising with AZ again. The butler service is the best we have ever had, and the staff tries to please in every way.

 

The wine steward in Luminae made certain we were provided with wines we enjoyed and throughout the cruise they made sure we were given our favorites in every dining venue on the ship. They truly went out of their way.

 

We have booked Japan with them for a future cruise and although a larger ship, the service is incomparable from our viewpoint.

[Azamarajunkie]

Our cruise on Solstice (30 days to OZ and NZ) this past Nov.2015 was fabulous and the CS or SS and the BOGOHO offer is wonderful and makes it all inclusive.

 

AZ has always had some very nice itineraries but I would choose Celebrity before cruising with AZ again. The butler service is the best we have ever had, and the staff tries to please in every way.

 

The wine steward in Luminae made certain we were provided with wines we enjoyed and throughout the cruise they made sure we were given our favorites in every dining venue on the ship. They truly went out of their way.

 

We have booked Japan with them for a future cruise and although a larger ship, the service is incomparable from our viewpoint.

 

We were on the Solstice last October from Oz to Fiji and back. We were very impressed by the food and service on the ship, our first Celebrity experience, despite the size of the ship. What we didn't like was trying to find a quiet location on a sunbed outside, there was always a constant booming of bass music over the speakers, and the only way of escaping it was to go to the inside pool area. Something we have never experienced on Az.

 

As we were travelling with friends we were in a normal verandah cabin on deck 9 so didn't have a suite or butler service on this occasion as we tend to do on AZ. Having said that I would not hesitate to to choose Celebrity again if the itinerary and price was right. We had the classic beverage package and found all the wines and drinks to be of equal standard to Az, and we were also lucky to get the same table of 4 and waiters most nights despite being on the open seating option for dining . I think the key here is to establish a relationship with the dining room hostess and book the night before.

 

Having said all this we are very much looking forward to the next 4 cruises on the Journey, starting next month in LA:)

Edited January 19, 2016 by Azamarajunkie

[Spursgirl]

I am sure April will be great, looking forward to it, despite the things I highlighted - I can see the reasons for the Aqualina change, shame as always the website is behind reality but more importantly, how do I persuade Fabio to get the Limoncello Baba back onto the choices......

 

When we were organising our Aqualina reservations on Journey in November Lottie A noticed that one of her favourite dishes no longer featured on the menu and remarked on it to me. She was overheard by the F&B Manager who happened to be in the restaurant at the time. He came over to say hello, said it would be no problem to prepare the dish for her and asked when would she like it.

 

I have no doubt you would get the same response. The Aqualina Maitre D on Journey, Lese (sp) is a lovely man and very guest focused.

[workingtocruise-59]

When we were organising our Aqualina reservations on Journey in November Lottie A noticed that one of her favourite dishes no longer featured on the menu and remarked on it to me. She was overheard by the F&B Manager who happened to be in the restaurant at the time. He came over to say hello, said it would be no problem to prepare the dish for her and asked when would she like it.

 

I have no doubt you would get the same response. The Aqualina Maitre D on Journey, Lese (sp) is a lovely man and very guest focused.

 

Yes, Laze is quite lovely and , indeed, very guest focused.

[uktog]

When we were organising our Aqualina reservations on Journey in November Lottie A noticed that one of her favourite dishes no longer featured on the menu and remarked on it to me. She was overheard by the F&B Manager who happened to be in the restaurant at the time. He came over to say hello, said it would be no problem to prepare the dish for her and asked when would she like it.

 

I have no doubt you would get the same response. The Aqualina Maitre D on Journey, Lese (sp) is a lovely man and very guest focused.

 

Thanks, it's just my strict upbringing still affects me after all these years - we were always drilled to eat what's on offer and not ask for anything different. I can't shake this off all these years later :)

[welshfamily]

I am glad to hear you still considered the cruise good even with all your concerns as I believe we are travelling with you in August.

 

Unfortunately my husband and I were obviously brought up as you were. We would never dream of asking for an item off menu. Perhaps it's a British problem drilled into us by our mothers .... There are starving children in the world who would be grateful for your dinner..... was the refrain in our house if we didn't wish to finish a meal.

 

My daughter will really struggle as she hates Lamb.....with a passion and only drinks Rose... and cocktails.

 

I am afraid you and she will have to be banished to the Speciality restaurants and a wine package if we are traveling on the same cruise. :)

[Grandma Cruising]

I am glad to hear you still considered the cruise good even with all your concerns as I believe we are travelling with you in August.

 

 

 

Unfortunately my husband and I were obviously brought up as you were. We would never dream of asking for an item off menu. Perhaps it's a British problem drilled into us by our mothers .... There are starving children in the world who would be grateful for your dinner..... was the refrain in our house if we didn't wish to finish a meal.

 

 

 

My daughter will really struggle as she hates Lamb.....with a passion and only drinks Rose... and cocktails.

 

 

 

I am afraid you and she will have to be banished to the Speciality restaurants and a wine package if we are traveling on the same cruise. :)

 

 

I agree - it must be a British thing. I would find it really difficult to ask for something not on the menu too.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Spursgirl]

I am glad to hear you still considered the cruise good even with all your concerns as I believe we are travelling with you in August.

 

Unfortunately my husband and I were obviously brought up as you were. We would never dream of asking for an item off menu. Perhaps it's a British problem drilled into us by our mothers .... There are starving children in the world who would be grateful for your dinner..... was the refrain in our house if we didn't wish to finish a meal.

 

My daughter will really struggle as she hates Lamb.....with a passion and only drinks Rose... and cocktails.

 

I am afraid you and she will have to be banished to the Speciality restaurants and a wine package if we are traveling on the same cruise. :)

 

But that is exactly the point. We didn't ask for an item off menu. A casual remark between friends was overheard and in an effort to please which in my experience is the Azamara way the dish was offered.

 

We were surprised and delighted as were the crew members because they knew they had made our day

[wuppis]

Even in the MDR it´s no problem to ask for a special dish for a following evening.

 

I love sea scallops in a creamy sauce with some pasta and I try to ask for it on each ship, with all cruiselines we cruised, since an executive chef visited the passengers during dinner and asked if we have special wishes. That was a few years ago and everytime I ask for it, we get this special dish.

 

Last time on the Journey we asked also if we can get a Filet Mignon the other night, no problem. We were not told to visit the speciality restaurant, we were asked what we wished as a side order and got a perfect filet with Sauce Bernaise, some vegetables and a baked potatoe the next evening.

 

I hope they did not change this. I will know it in march, meanwhile its a sort of a test for my reviews, to ask for special dishes.

 

And especially on Azamra they´ve done everything to please the guest. Even the Executive Chef came to our table to talk with a passenger about his diet wishes.

 

Don´t hesitate to ask.:)

[MrMojoRisin]

Hi Uktog,

 

Thanks very much for your review. Sorry to hear that not everything lived up to your expectations, and I hope that Bonnie will share your insights with Miami.

 

I totally agree that a better system should be worked out for loyalty upgrades. I wonder where the issue begins. Is it in Miami, Or, perhaps the onboard team did not handle it right ?. Your observations are spot on, that upgrades should be done, based on loyalty to Azamara brand, and possibly to the RCCL family as well.

 

I'm also puzzled about the menu in Aqualina. When you have a moment, can you visit Azamara's website, and advise us if they are currently offering "menu 1" or "menu 2" (or neither). I will be sure to see if it's the same on JR when we sail next week.

 

About brand loyalty : Azamara should be working day and night, on getting Celebrity guests to book Azamara. There's a huge transformation going on at Celebrity, and most of their loyal guests are very displeased. I'm constantly reading about long time Celebrity guests "throwing in the Celebrity towel" and booking other brands. Heck, we NEVER consider any brand other than Azamara or Celebrity, and we sailed on 2 Princess cruises in 2015, and... may book more ! To make matters worse, it seems that Celebrity is well aware of the unhappiness, and does not seem to be overly concerned about their guest comments. That's not something that happens with Azamara, as they've always been extremely focused on guest feedback. From what we can tell, Celebrity management seems to have a "it's my way or the highway" attitude, and that spells trouble in my book. So many loyal Celebrity guests yearn for the way it used to be at Celebrity - which ironically, is very much what Azamara offers. IMO, AZ should be taking advantage of this massive opportunity. I sincerly hope Azamara's Miami team recognizes this golden goose, as it's being handed to them on a silver platter.

 

Thanks again for your insights, and welcome home !

 

Andy, your last paragraph is really about expanding the customer base, which is obviously a very necessary and sensible thing to do.

 

But surely, the starting (although not only) point for Azamara is to ensure the brand loyalty of the existing customer base. I, as I am sure many other posters here, have not only been repeat customers but also brand ambassadors in recommending Azamara to friends etc.

[Lottie A]

But that is exactly the point. We didn't ask for an item off menu. A casual remark between friends was overheard and in an effort to please which in my experience is the Azamara way the dish was offered.

 

We were surprised and delighted as were the crew members because they knew they had made our day

 

Couldn't have put it better myself! I like the new Aqualina menu very much, but just casually mentioned to Spursgirl that I did miss xxxxx from the old menu and the F&B manager overheard me and said it would be absolutely no trouble to prepare it for my next visit. That is the Azamara difference and long may it continue. I did not ask for an "off menu" item.

 

I have returned yesterday from a cruise on a huge, modern and glitzy ship and both the food and the service were appalling. The crew were unhappy and it showed. The ship was beautiful, our suite was incredible but it's always the food, service, crew and entertainment that I remember from my cruises and that was sadly lacking on this ship and cruise line. After this cruise I just can't wait to be on an Azamara (or Silversea) ship again, even if the experience isn't quite as good as it was on my first Azamara cruise in 2010.

 

Ann, thank you for your detailed and very interesting review. I found some of your points caused me some concern but I am glad you enjoyed your cruise overall. Like you, I hope the "bean counters" in Miami don't destroy the Azamara experience that we all love and value so much.

[Jarronwood]

Hi

 

I would not over stress - on average I would say it was 4 star not 3 star. We met a lot of first time Azamara cruisers who were very happy with their experience. It all depends on what cruise lines you have experienced before and we did detect in some areas (and not surprisingly) an extra effort being made to convert guests from Celebrity who loved the differences they saw.

 

Given that in the past Azamara has been responsive to feedback, I would not be surprised if some wine list adjustments are not underway

 

HI UK Tog

 

We have cruised with RCCL and Celebrity which was a few years ago when they had the formal dining rooms at specified times. No such thing as freestyle dining We liked Celebrity a lot more than RCCL but still felt it was too big for us and then having decided to do a cruise this year for "my big birthday" it was down to the drawing board and eliminating other lines. Azamara ticked every box for us and after reading such good reviews decided to book.

 

Anyway, I am not going to dwell on the bad reviews, we will make it a cruise to remember. (I was having a really bad day at work yesterday having heard a rumour that I could be out of a job which today is not the case) and so it is business as usual. Onwards and upwards.

[BBMacLaird]

"Fruit bowls in the room have been reduced (we've actually seen the housekeeping memo to this effect). Unless you are in a suite, no grapes just apples and oranges. Now we did get grapes when we asked with one of our attendants but not the other. Come on Azamara, what would it cost to revert to the previous arrangements? Would we notice $10 on our bill. Why not have cards at the start of the cruise for non suites give us a list of fruits (say apples, oranges, banana, grape and one other) and get us to select any three for each day - you do a one time start of cruise selection, virtually no additional cost, less wastage, better experience)."

 

Hello uktog, your cruise review has been sent to management as well as the UK office. As said earlier, we always appreciate feedback from our loyal guests.

I have received the following feedback re the observations you made on the fruit bowl (pasted above.) If I hear more on the other topics, I will post accordingly. Bonnie

 

"Instead of a full fruit basket we now set up a small fruit selection in the standard staterooms. Why? Because every day we replenish the fruit in each stateroom, and any fruit not used is discarded because health authorities do not allow anything to be recycled that has been returned from the staterooms.

The stateroom attendants are trained to ask the guest if there is any other fruit they would like. Maybe this did not happen and and we apologize for that. I have reminded our Chief Housekeepers to address it again.

Not sure where they [the guest] saw the memo. It might have been posted in the service areas, but that would mean guests are entering the service areas..."

[uktog]

[i

Hello uktog, your cruise review has been sent to management as well as the UK office. As said earlier, we always appreciate feedback from our loyal guests.

I have received the following feedback re the observations you made on the fruit bowl (pasted above.) If I hear more on the other topics, I will post accordingly. Bonnie

 

Not sure where they [the guest] saw the memo. It might have been posted in the service areas, but that would mean guests are entering the service areas..."[/i]

 

Thanks for the feedback on this - in answer to the comment I would be grateful if you could feedback to management, no I have never ever entered a service area, the memo was lying openly on the counter by the juice bar in Windows Café. I am not happy at the public posting of this inference that I have been anywhere in the ship I should not have been. I am also unhappy that management would even think I would do that and pass that comment to you.

Edited January 21, 2016 by uktog

[lahlah57]

Thanks for the feedback on this - in answer to the comment I would be grateful if you could feedback to management, no I have never ever entered a service area, the memo was lying openly on the counter by the juice bar in Windows Café. I am not happy at the public posting of this inference that I have been anywhere in the ship I should not have been. I am also unhappy that management would even think I would do that and pass that comment to you.

 

Wow.....poor attitude with inferences directed to you Uktog!

Kind of ugly Bonnie as well as management for accusations!

[excitedofharpenden]

Thanks for the feedback on this - in answer to the comment I would be grateful if you could feedback to management, no I have never ever entered a service area, the memo was lying openly on the counter by the juice bar in Windows Café. I am not happy at the public posting of this inference that I have been anywhere in the ship I should not have been. I am also unhappy that management would even think I would do that and pass that comment to you.

 

I can understand the circumstances surrounding Australia and their strict food hygiene rules, but knowing you Ann accessing crew areas is something you'd never do. It's a very odd response to your highlighting of the issue.

 

Phil

Edited January 21, 2016 by excitedofharpenden

[ChucktownSteve]

Wow.....poor attitude with inferences directed to you Uktog!

Kind of ugly Bonnie as well as management for accusations!

Talk about shooting the messenger. :confused:

[lahlah57]

Talk about shooting the messenger. :confused:

 

Bad form should always be called out. Messengers delivery could had put herself out of the loop and put management directly in the middle. Very "accusatory " while put in her words.

[welshfamily]

This is very disappointing. I have been impressed by the fact Azamara cares enough about their guest to have a 'spokesperson ' on this board.

 

Uktog has given , IMHO, a balanced account of her lengthy cruise. To post such a reply which infers the guest accessed an restricted area and read private messages and then to post this on an open forum is not only rude but incredibly bad customer service.

 

shame on you Azamara.

[Pam]

Oh, that wasn't tactful of management at all, was it?

[pully8]

totally agree with you. we have cruised on azamara quest and enjoyed the fruit bowl and a variety of grapes daily. petty to economise like that. but they have spoken so now we know. thanks for your review and critique. shame when standards fall. the accusation was bad form too.

[2fromTO]

"Fruit bowls in the room have been reduced (we've actually seen the housekeeping memo to this effect). Unless you are in a suite, no grapes just apples and oranges. Now we did get grapes when we asked with one of our attendants but not the other. Come on Azamara, what would it cost to revert to the previous arrangements? Would we notice $10 on our bill. Why not have cards at the start of the cruise for non suites give us a list of fruits (say apples, oranges, banana, grape and one other) and get us to select any three for each day - you do a one time start of cruise selection, virtually no additional cost, less wastage, better experience)."

 

Hello uktog, your cruise review has been sent to management as well as the UK office. As said earlier, we always appreciate feedback from our loyal guests.

I have received the following feedback re the observations you made on the fruit bowl (pasted above.) If I hear more on the other topics, I will post accordingly. Bonnie

 

"Instead of a full fruit basket we now set up a small fruit selection in the standard staterooms. Why? Because every day we replenish the fruit in each stateroom, and any fruit not used is discarded because health authorities do not allow anything to be recycled that has been returned from the staterooms.

The stateroom attendants are trained to ask the guest if there is any other fruit they would like. Maybe this did not happen and and we apologize for that. I have reminded our Chief Housekeepers to address it again.

Not sure where they [the guest] saw the memo. It might have been posted in the service areas, but that would mean guests are entering the service areas..."

 

First,

We rarely eat the fruit in our stateroom. It probably ends up being thrown out. I think uktog's idea of asking guests what fruit, if any, they would like is an excellant idea. No wastage.

 

Second,

I can not believe that azamara's response to a loyal customer is to suggest that she may have obtained information seriptitiously by entering a restricted area..... what?

 

Third,

I can't I believe that Bonnie would actually post this on cruise critic. Way too aggressive and completely inappropriate. This is our forum, not Azamara's. Please stop trying to manage us.