Azamara 2019 Prices

[Cruise Junky]

Hi CJ,

Are you quoting per couple or per person in your daily prices? The US prices are saying $3299 pp for club veranda, which is 472 per diem. And I bet it’ll be included in sales [eventually] since April is a shoulder season...demand can be hard to predict.

 

I see $4969 for two US or $709 a day US or $6408 cdn for two or $915 cdn per day for the lowest category of balcony which is outrageous for the size of that cabin. I could be staying at some of the top hotels in Europe for that price.

 

It was featured in the latest sale, the price lasted all of about 12 hours before Azamara jacked up the base price so $2,000 off became about $400 very quickly.

 

So while I appreciate that eventually you will blow it out as there doesn't appear to be many cabins sold, we'll be sticking with Oceania for that time frame that doesn't seem to play the same game with prices.

[Cowboy Ranger]

O was a frequent Regent customer and have taken 28 and 36 day cruises with them When they say ALL inclusive they mean it the price you pay going in is your final price. And when you add all the value, air, liquor,tours together it makes is very reasonable. Further here in the USA we have agents who will discount you/ rebate you 8 to 10% off the fare you booked The food is outstanding, way beyond other lines except Oceania.. ( which I feel is currently the best at sea) The Azamara cruise fare of ( when you add your air, grats, tours transfers etc) comes in at about $700.00 per day per person...for a friggen' inside cabin. That is an obscene ripoff ! Hence my original question...are they kidding!!!

 

Now After some Regent cruises, I decided that I did not want all the extras and wanted to pick and choose what I got. Regent's sister is Oceania which offers the choice of air on not, Liquor or not, tours or not.. The Ala carte version of Regent, except as mentioned I think Oceania has better cuisine and options

Looking at an Oceania cruise to Norway without air or liquor It comes in at $325 a day... almost 50% less than Azamara !!!.

Azamara may fill their ships but it will be with suckers willing to pay double what other premium/ luxury lines are charging.

 

Id look ar Oceania if your considering a jump up from Azamara and get an agent who will rebate you 8-10% and you wont look back.

Please specify the cruises used for this comparison on Oceania and Azamara, vessels and departure dates.

 

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[Chris86]

In my experience Azamara and Oceania have complete 180 degree pricing strategies. Which I'm sure is structured so they compliment each other.

Oceania tend to price upfront reasonable fares and have very little movement. You do see downward movement in certain regions such as Asia, South America, Tahiti, Caribbean etc.

pros - first in first dress is rewarded. Generally customers feel at ease they are getting the fair price.

cons - alot of stock gets tied up early leaving little room to book close in sailings

Azamara price overly high to begin with (typically double / 1/3rd more than what it will eventually go for) but they almost always have dramatized sales. Such as complimentary balcony upgrade or half off the second guest etc. When you factor in these promotions the pricing comes down on par/ or less than Oceania. Oh don't forget the fire sales where you can get on at mass market pricing.

pros - typically any room type is available at any time. If you need to cancel a upcoming O cruise. Your sure to find something available on Azamara.

cons - frustrating system. Creates anxiety among guests wondering if their price is fair.

I know my budget and will only sail on that :)

[cinnamon]

I may be missing out but I’ve never seen ‘fire sales’ in the U.K. with Azamara available at mass market pricing. [emoji45]

 

 

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[uktog]

I may be missing out but I’ve never seen ‘fire sales’ in the U.K. with Azamara available at mass market pricing. [emoji45]

 

 

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Current prices for this summer are very low for late bookings for example the Baltics 12 nights is being sold for almost 50% less than the prices being asked for nine months ago

[AllisonJames]

As the starter of this thread, thought I would provide an update as it is almost one year later. The 2019 cruise we are tracking is Irish Seas/British Open 7/17/19. We did this in 2016 and it was the highlight of my husband's life since he's an avid golfer. When the 2019 itineraries were posted, the cost of this cruise was 6699 pp for the lowest veranda category. We thought paying more than $1,100 a night for AZ was pretty ridiculous. This cruise does tend to be popular and we do it along with the PerryGolf package which drives demand because Perry brings on about 100 or so guests. All summer the price was stable. On our cruise last August we booked onboard to get the small LCV discount, reduced deposit and onboard credit, (there were no sales at the time on this one) all the time hoping we'd catch a sale. So far in this year, the cruise has not been less than the initial price, and in fact is now on the "spend or save" sale but the price still is around the same or perhaps a bit higher. So we are still waiting and it's not very booked but there's still 14 months to go. On our last Irish Seas we got two price drops at one year out and 9 months. We're booked on Pursuit's maiden voyage and we are trying an oceanview stateroom this time because we have found we don't use our balcony much on cool weather cruises (we live in Texas, so Northern Europe in the summer is cool to us!) and it was $2,500 less so we want to see if the cost difference is worth not having a balcony. But I don't like that we are "downgrading" our accomodations in order to keep AZ within our budget when there are luxury lines that are the same cost or even less now.

[Grandma Cruising]

We’ve had ocean view and balcony staterooms. We’ve now decided that we generally make too little use of the balcony to pay a premium for it. The only exception was the Far East cruise where the ship went up the river into Ho Chi Minh City early in the morning - we did go out on the balcony to watch that.

Also we reckon you are much more likely to get an LCV Upgrade from an ocean view to a verandah, than you are to get one from a verandah to a suite, as there are a lot more verandah staterooms than CC Suites..

 

 

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[Priya2]

We (in the UK) booked very early the Antartica cruise from Buenas Aries in January ‘19 with the second person 50% off & onboard credit. We compared it with a very similar, slightly longer cruise with Celebrity. Pro rata regarding the nights and adding the additional costs of what we would pay for drinks (without a package), a relatively modest amount (not much alcohol, premium coffee, mineral water, Coke Cola), the onboard credit and gratuities. The cost of Celebrity in a Balcony Cabin £9800. The cost of Azamara in a Suite, so including all meals in specialty restaurants as well as everything else £9811! We have nothing against Celebrity, but this was a no brainer! This will be just our second Azamara cruise. To those here more experienced, have we just got a one off great deal, or does it always, or mostly pay to book very early?

[excitedofharpenden]

We (in the UK) booked very early the Antartica cruise from Buenas Aries in January ‘19 with the second person 50% off & onboard credit. We compared it with a very similar, slightly longer cruise with Celebrity. Pro rata regarding the nights and adding the additional costs of what we would pay for drinks (without a package), a relatively modest amount (not much alcohol, premium coffee, mineral water, Coke Cola), the onboard credit and gratuities. The cost of Celebrity in a Balcony Cabin £9800. The cost of Azamara in a Suite, so including all meals in specialty restaurants as well as everything else £9811! We have nothing against Celebrity, but this was a no brainer! This will be just our second Azamara cruise. To those here more experienced, have we just got a one off great deal, or does it always, or mostly pay to book very early?

The prices for this cruise have been all over the place. If that is the total cost for a suite for two of you then you got a great deal I think.

 

Phil

[Priya2]

The prices for this cruise have been all over the place. If that is the total cost for a suite for two of you then you got a great deal I think.

Phil

It is for two of us, so I’m very pleased. It’s comparative though isn’t it. That would have been expensive even a couple of years ago. It only looks great because the costs of decent cruises have risen so much. If the industry pushes it much further, it could price out most ordinary people. I guess then, prices might come down again! :rolleyes:

[ABoatNerd]

Priya2, excellent observation about pricing / loss of customers.

 

This affects non America customers the most, our cruises are 32% more due to the failing CDN $.

 

We used to cruise each year while we worked, but due to cost, now we cruise every 2 years and that gap will be extended further to probably every 3 years.

 

Between the ugliness of air travel and the rapid escalation of cruise pricing - cruising is losing status in our household.

 

Customized land vacations are in planning as well as driving trips in North America.

 

From the amount of new ship building, the industry must believe their nurvanna days will never end.

 

But "what goes up will come down"

[Priya2]

From the amount of new ship building, the industry must believe their nurvanna days will never end.

 

But "what goes up will come down"

Agreed! You are in a perfect place for some great road trip holidays. We flew to Calgary, stayed in Banff and drove the Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise etc from there. Then we ditched the rental car and took the Rocky Mountaineer train to Vancouver. That’s much cheaper than a cruise, especially with no trans-atlantic flight. I also strongly recommend road trips including the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Death Valley and Zion National Park, if you haven’t been yet.

 

It says a lot about how far the cruise industry are pushing prices when we find ourselves discussing alternative types of holidays on cruise critic!

[TeeRick]

We are booked for Celebrity South America (Chile to Argentina) in Jan 2020 in the smaller Sky Suite (14 days) but the price is very high. We are Celebrity Elite members so we will get points and status on Azamara so looking forward to the release of 2020 itineraries this month to see if we want to switch. It will be interesting to see the price differential as Azamara offers a very similar cruise. Has anybody done Azamara in S.America? We have also noticed that Oceania seems to be less expensive than Azamara so considering Oceania as well.

[Priya2]

We are booked for Celebrity South America (Chile to Argentina) in Jan 2020 in the smaller Sky Suite (14 days) but the price is very high. We are Celebrity Elite members so we will get points and status on Azamara so looking forward to the release of 2020 itineraries this month to see if we want to switch. It will be interesting to see the price differential as Azamara offers a very similar cruise. Has anybody done Azamara in S.America? We have also noticed that Oceania seems to be less expensive than Azamara so considering Oceania as well.

We did Azamara Costa Rica (more Central America) in January this year. It was a lovely cruise.

[Grandma Cruising]

We did it too. It was great.

 

 

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[excitedofharpenden]

It is for two of us, so I’m very pleased. It’s comparative though isn’t it. That would have been expensive even a couple of years ago. It only looks great because the costs of decent cruises have risen so much. If the industry pushes it much further, it could price out most ordinary people. I guess then, prices might come down again! :rolleyes:

You did really well. This cruise is always going to be expensive because Azamara don't do many. I did the Norway Nordkapp cruise a few years ago and until they offered GTY inside cabins near sail date that was expensive too. I got an OV on this Antarctica cruise for just under £5k total with my booking onboard benefit. Never to repest deal!

 

Phil

[TeeRick]

We did Azamara Costa Rica (more Central America) in January this year. It was a lovely cruise.

 

Thank you. Which ship?

[Priya2]

Thank you. Which ship?

The Quest, but all Azamara ships are mirrors of each other really. This includes the Persuit, which has her maiden voyage in August. We are booked on her going to Antartica in January ‘19.

[BBMacLaird]

The Quest, but all Azamara ships are mirrors of each other really. This includes the Persuit, which has her maiden voyage in August. We are booked on her going to Antartica in January ‘19.

 

Lucky you! January will be here in no time!

[caripoo]

Knowing that Azamara reads these posts, they will see that MANY of their loyal customers will now be sailing Regent, Seabourn, Oceana....getting more bang for their buck.....For many years we were loyal to the Royal Brand...starting on RCCL, then moving on to Celebrity...when their ships got to big, we moved to Azamara...but now, we look at itinerary and price with the smaller ships....and after doing 2 Viking River cruises, we told ourselves NOT to wed ourselves to one brand...we are now doing a Crystal next year!!

[TeeRick]

The Quest, but all Azamara ships are mirrors of each other really. This includes the Persuit, which has her maiden voyage in August. We are booked on her going to Antartica in January ‘19.

 

Thank You!

[Cruise Junky]

I literally laughed out loud at the new promo and prices that started yesterday. $9,000 Canadian for a basic balcony on an off season 7 day Spain Cruise. Hmmmm NO. Or even better $11,600 for 7 days in May from Barcelona to Rome with ports so close together you could drive it. Oceania wants $7,000 for a very similar itinerary on Rivera which has far superior staterooms.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Cruise Junky

[JVNYC]

I literally laughed out loud at the new promo and prices that started yesterday. $9,000 Canadian for a basic balcony on an off season 7 day Spain Cruise. Hmmmm NO. Or even better $11,600 for 7 days in May from Barcelona to Rome with ports so close together you could drive it. Oceania wants $7,000 for a very similar itinerary on Rivera which has far superior staterooms.

 

I agree with you completely. Prices are waaaayyy too high in the US with this new promotion....they jacked up the prices considerably. I had 2 cruises on hold a few months ago and I just re-priced them and they went up between $700-900 per person. No doubt would I book Riviera or even Seabourn at these prices.

[Cruise Junky]

I agree with you completely. Prices are waaaayyy too high in the US with this new promotion....they jacked up the prices considerably. I had 2 cruises on hold a few months ago and I just re-priced them and they went up between $700-900 per person. No doubt would I book Riviera or even Seabourn at these prices.

There is a nice Seabourn one that an OV is comparable in price to the Az balcony. Balcony cabin comes in at $5,600 cdn pp. so a bit higher, but still..it’s Seabourn.

[Wickets]

A four day VX to Cuba March 2019 is now $5617, doubled since March this year. That’s more per day than the Grand Loft suite on Anthem of Sea, everything included with Genie to help you with anything.

 

 

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