First Azamara cruise: some impressions and opinions

[DavidTheWonderer]

Hello Wendy,

 

I'm glad you and David enjoyed your first Azamara cruise.

 

We have just booked cabin 8055 and are aware there will be some disturbance from the patio. However as breakfast is not served there we are assuming it is not too worrisome in the morning.

 

Can you confirm please?

 

Mornings are fine. During the day and evenings, it is just occasional scraping of chairs being pushed towards or away from the tables, which is not too bad. At night they do some sort of tear-down of the tables and chairs, which can be a bother. One night was particularly loud, but the other nights it was OK for us, but as Wendy said we live in noisy downtown Toronto.

[poss]

Thanks for the thread, David. Am reading with interest. I suspect, though, that we'll stay with Regent, mainly because (to borrow from Bill) one of us doesn't handle change well.

[DavidTheWonderer]

Thanks for the thread, David. Am reading with interest. I suspect, though, that we'll stay with Regent, mainly because (to borrow from Bill) one of us doesn't handle change well.

 

Aren't we all spectacularly lucky to be able to make such choices at all?

[Grandma Cruising]

You don't have to show a card for drinks for the included drinks.

 

 

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[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hello Wendy,

 

I'm glad you and David enjoyed your first Azamara cruise.

 

We have just booked cabin 8055 and are aware there will be some disturbance from the patio. However as breakfast is not served there we are assuming it is not too worrisome in the morning.

 

Can you confirm please?

 

There was the odd shuffle of chairs in the morning, but not much really, so no, I wouldn't worry about the mornings, but there will be noise at night. If you're night owls out doing the shows or the casino you probably won't notice, but we go to bed fairly early.

 

We are indeed lucky to have all these choices.

 

I also found the staff very good about the included drinks, it was quite seamless. And there was no attempt to upsell.

[travelberlin]

Thanks for your review. I agree with you on the comments on Oceania. I have not sailed with Regent but I have sailed with Silversea and Crystal. Up to now my favorite cruise line is Azamara. I guess that I do like the athmosphere more in Azamara than in Silversea or Crystal. Crystal and Silversea have better food according to my opinion, however I do not think that in the short run I would sail with them again. As long as Azamara gets me where I wish to go, I prefer sailing with them.

I see your point in terms of value with included business airfare and all included at Regent. I might give it a try one day...

[Lottie A]

There was the odd shuffle of chairs in the morning, but not much really, so no, I wouldn't worry about the mornings, but there will be noise at night. If you're night owls out doing the shows or the casino you probably won't notice, but we go to bed fairly early.

 

We will be out enjoying the ship's entertainment until late at night so noise from The Patio above 8055 probably won't affect us that much. However, it would bother us early in the morning!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

There was the odd shuffle of chairs in the morning, but not much really, so no, I wouldn't worry about the mornings, but there will be noise at night. If you're night owls out doing the shows or the casino you probably won't notice, but we go to bed fairly early.

 

We will be out enjoying the ship's entertainment until late at night so noise from The Patio above 8055 probably won't affect us that much. However, it would bother us early in the morning!

 

That's what I thought from your posting, Lottie! Good cabins for night owls! :)

[marinaro44]

A posting to correct some factual errors. We have spent a month-plus in CC suites on both Journey and Quest.

 

1. Both nightstands have a drawer, not just one.

 

2. There are five shelves behind one of the closet doors. One has the safe at the back. The other four are ideal for clothes.

 

3. While I would have preferred drawers up off the floor, both my wife and I have used the three large drawers for our clothes with no issue. This is not a big deal.

 

4. We have been in both 8062 and 8064 for extended periods, both about under the middle of the port side seating area in Windows. We've never heard a chair scrape above us. We do hear the occasional cart roll over our room, seemingly before the buffet opens for a meal and then after it closes. It's never disturbed our sleep. Again, no big deal.

 

5. While I wouldn't have selected the "second" chair in CC suite, it is not "awful." I read in that chair often and quite comfortably.

 

6. While a CC suite may not be quite the size of Regent base suites, it feels more spacious to us. We had a penthouse on Regent's Navigator. It was about as wide as a veranda or oceanview on Journey or Quest, so it was very narrow and long. As a result, while it had more square footage, it always felt cramped to us because it was so narrow. And it had less natural light as the glass wall by the veranda was about two-thirds the size of a CC suite's.

[DavidTheWonderer]

I just realised that in this thread, nobody has mentioned that Wendy has a separate one discussing our Azamara cruise over on the Regent board.

 

Hers is more focused on comparing Azamara and Regent. We haven't been on Regent for a while, and originally she was intending to wait until after our upcoming Miami - Panama Canal - Lima cruise on Regent's Mariner in January before getting into the detailed comparisons. However, in part because of other posters on her thread, that plan has pretty well gone by the boards.

 

You may find that discussion interesting. It is at:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2412349

[Spursgirl]

There was the odd shuffle of chairs in the morning, but not much really, so no, I wouldn't worry about the mornings, but there will be noise at night. If you're night owls out doing the shows or the casino you probably won't notice, but we go to bed fairly early.

 

We are indeed lucky to have all these choices.

 

I also found the staff very good about the included drinks, it was quite seamless. And there was no attempt to upsell.

 

Thank you Wendy and David,

 

I am completely reassured by your responses. As Lottie A commented we are never early to bed so noise in the evening won't be bothersome.

 

And as we have booked a cruise in high summer, I like to rise early to enjoy the start of the day on the balcony so a little noise in the morning will be fine too.

 

As others have said how fortunate are we all to have these minuscule issues to worry about.

[DavidTheWonderer]

A posting to correct some factual errors. ...

 

1. Both nightstands have a drawer, not just one.

...

4. We have been in both 8062 and 8064 for extended periods, both about under the middle of the port side seating area in Windows. We've never heard a chair scrape above us. We do hear the occasional cart roll over our room, seemingly before the buffet opens for a meal and then after it closes. It's never disturbed our sleep. Again, no big deal.

 

I hate to be pedantic here, but our cabin had one drawer. The second nightstand, on "my" side of the bed had a bin. So what I said was not an error, although pointing out that other cabins are laid out in a better fashion than 8057 is good information.

 

Similarly, the noise issue in 8057 was pretty well as Wendy and I have reported. Again, not an "error". Also again, it is good to know that it is not an issue in 8062 and 8064. In fact, in my original post I specifically said that I was told by an experienced Azamara passenger that the even-numbered cabins on deck 8 were much quieter.

 

Apologies for my pedantic ism. Over on the Regent boards, there are cheerleaders who believe that Regent is the "One True Cruise Line (Blessed be its Name)", and any criticism whatsoever is apostasy. So I am perhaps too sensitive to the use of the words like "wrong" or "error" in Cruise Critic postings.

Edited October 14, 2016 by DavidTheWonderer

[MissyMom]

I don't know what you mean by a "bin." My nightstands on both ships had a shelf below the top of the nightstand and under that shelf was a large drawer that slides in and out like any other drawer. I was able to store easily 15 or so pairs of socks in that "drawer."

[florisdekort]

Apologies for my pedantic ism. Over on the Regent boards, there are cheerleaders who believe that Regent is the "One True Cruise Line (Blessed be its Name)", and any criticism whatsoever is apostasy. So I am perhaps too sensitive to the use of the words like "wrong" or "error" in Cruise Critic postings.

 

 

I don't think marinaro44 was responding to your post, but to some of the reactions to your post in which these claims were made.

 

Floris

 

 

 

 

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[upwarduk]

I don't know what you mean by a "bin." My nightstands on both ships had a shelf below the top of the nightstand and under that shelf was a large drawer that slides in and out like any other drawer. I was able to store easily 15 or so pairs of socks in that "drawer."

 

In our cabin 6069 one 'bedside table' had a very narrow drawer, certainly only enough for my iPad, kindle and a few packs of tablets.

On my husband's side it was a very deep drawer, which easily held his camera, phone, wallet with plenty of space to spare.

[ellbon]

I never used them but for my sleep mask. all those tablets sit on the desk so i know where they are unless charging them. never thought to add gym socks to the mix

[excitedofharpenden]

Hey David! Good to meet you and Wendy and glad the cruise was a success.:cool:

[Hoyaheel]

In our cabin 6069 one 'bedside table' had a very narrow drawer, certainly only enough for my iPad, kindle and a few packs of tablets.

 

all those tablets sit on the desk so i know where they are unless charging them.

 

Pretty sure you guys are talking about different kinds of tablets :D Upwarduk seems to mean small medicine tablets, while ellbon refers to electronics.....

 

Different sized drawers to hold either, to be sure.....

[Wendy The Wanderer]

In our cabin 6069 one 'bedside table' had a very narrow drawer, certainly only enough for my iPad, kindle and a few packs of tablets.

On my husband's side it was a very deep drawer, which easily held his camera, phone, wallet with plenty of space to spare.

 

That's exactly how it was. I had the shallow drawer on my side, David had the deep "bin".

 

As for the shelves inside the cupboard beside the closet, where the safe is. These are not ideal for storing clothing, especially not lingerie, socks, scarves, that kind of small thing. We made do.

 

And that second chair wasn't awful, but the whole alignment of easy chair - table - metal chair - office chair - desk made a barrier that made getting back and forth from the balcony awkward.

 

A friend of mine pointed out that if they made the bed a Queen, they would have lots of room for a loveseat. The bed was huge, btw. We could have had our emotional-support St. Bernard sleeping between us.

 

But on the whole, the cabin was just very spacious, without the kind of good "marine architecture" that we expect in the planning of the space.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hey David! Good to meet you and Wendy and glad the cruise was a success.:cool:

 

You too! It really was a great success. Looking perhaps at New Zealand, but not until 2018. We're booked up for 2017.

Edited October 14, 2016 by Wendy The Wanderer

[ellbon]

Pretty sure you guys are talking about different kinds of tablets :D Upwarduk seems to mean small medicine tablets, while ellbon refers to electronics.....

 

Different sized drawers to hold either, to be sure.....

 

In the state the Ipad is called a Tablet. Pils are pills. . In the UK they call pills tablets. my pills stay out on desk fro cruise. pout of sight out of mind. my kindle and ipad are either charging or left on desk as i use both on balcony.

[Hoyaheel]

Yes, I understand the difference in tablets, which is why I made the post in the first place. I speak American English and a pretty passable British English as well.;)

[Spursgirl]

Yes, I understand the difference in tablets, which is why I made the post in the first place. I speak American English and a pretty passable British English as well.;)

 

As a Brit with an American partner, you would be the first American I have come across to boast of speaking passable British English (also known as English!) And in case LOP is lurking, that is a joke :D:D:D

[Penzance]

Spursgirl -- Good one :D:D:D

[Melissaghoti]

We are indeed lucky to have all these choices.

 

Don't know if I'm lucky or not; I'm just happily spending my children's inheritance and my landscaping budget on cruising. Azamara got me addicted last year and my kids are fine with that. I guess my tidier-lawned neighbors are too.

 

Melissa