Azamara Journey refit 2020-surely too long away.

[alfredo1]

Having been on Pursuit and Quest this year and enjoyed the huge benefits of the refit in terms of passenger comfort, general extra inside lounge space, revitalised "Living Room", and upgraded cabins I am astonished that Azamara do not intend to refit the Journey until October 2020, and now even more so as we have just booked a cruise next year on Journey assuming that the upgrade would have taken place. Even in 2018 the ship was starting to look shabby, so what state will she be in after another year.

Bonnie, would this be a acceptable reason to cancel without penalty as we are hugely disappointed?

[marinaro44]

11 minutes ago, alfredo1 said:

Having been on Pursuit and Quest this year and enjoyed the huge benefits of the refit in terms of passenger comfort, general extra inside lounge space, revitalised "Living Room", and upgraded cabins I am astonished that Azamara do not intend to refit the Journey until October 2020, and now even more so as we have just booked a cruise next year on Journey assuming that the upgrade would have taken place. Even in 2018 the ship was starting to look shabby, so what state will she be in after another year.

Bonnie, would this be a acceptable reason to cancel without penalty as we are hugely disappointed?

Journey looked fine to me this past May and June, in both our suite and public rooms.  We're on Journey this fall for nearly a month and very much looking forward to the cruises.

[BBMacLaird]

Hi alfredo1, the Journey’s DD must just seem a long while off. In actuality we abide by SOLAS.

”According to SOLAS regulation, every sea-going vessel has to undergo two dry docks within a period of 5 years.”

I am with marinaro44 in thinking the Journey is quite lovely. 

As for cancelling your future booking, I’m not the one to ask about waiving penalties. Call our Customer Service and plead your case. I hope you get satisfaction.

 

[Covepointcruiser]

The Journey was looking beautiful in May.   Didn’t use a magnifying glass to find faults and never will.   If the OP is set to be disappointed, they should cancel.   Try one of the wonderful revitalized ships on Celebrity, a few people like them, most prefer the ships before the improvement.

[Rabo]

No problem with the Journey in July!

[laurieb]

55 minutes ago, Rabo said:

No problem with the Journey in July!

Agree!

[IBsaved]

Just off the Journey a week ago and it was lovely with no problems whatsoever!  Sure it could use a bit of a facelift but did it affect my cruise - not at all.  The crew was so friendly and always acknowledged us no matter where we were on the ship...the food, service, cabin attendants just all were excellent IMHO.  The Captain was present throughout the ship and even greeted us as we disembarked the ship.  We would definitely cruise with AZ again

[oddjob16]

8 hours ago, alfredo1 said:

Having been on Pursuit and Quest this year and enjoyed the huge benefits of the refit in terms of passenger comfort, general extra inside lounge space, revitalised "Living Room", and upgraded cabins I am astonished that Azamara do not intend to refit the Journey until October 2020, and now even more so as we have just booked a cruise next year on Journey assuming that the upgrade would have taken place. Even in 2018 the ship was starting to look shabby, so what state will she be in after another year.

Bonnie, would this be a acceptable reason to cancel without penalty as we are hugely disappointed?

The Azamara Journey refit planned for october 2020 has already disrupted a couple of sailings after october 10th due to late decisions as of where and when. You cannot seriously mean that they should change that and go for an earlier refit and ruin more schedules. 

The Journey looked splendid last time we were on board just a few weeks ago and we have two cruises booked on her before the refit next year. Only pity is that we would have done a B2B on the october 10 th sailing if they had kept the original schedule. 

I wouldn’t worry about Journey’s state or fitness. She will be stellar all the way due to her fantastic crew.

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, Rabo said:

No problem with the Journey in July!

 

4 hours ago, laurieb said:

Agree!

Me too.

[uktog]

A while ago, all the comments from senior folks was that Journey would go to Belfast for its retrofit.  Then for whatever other reasons Belfast fell from favour.  Now we can see why. My guess is that other acceptable yards were already booked hence the push out to 2020.

 

I am a huge fan of the Den, however, we had a month on Journey in May/June where the entertainment in Spirits was so good (Gemma Rose) that we hardly noticed it wasn’t the Den.  Elsewhere onboard maintenance is ongoing (carpets were changed overnight  in one place as I recall as an example). I don’t know what the expectations of others are but I.  can see scuff marks and a bubble in wallpaper as I type this and it will be sometime before this home’s “dry dock “ happens.

 

Here I am in a family home not a showhome and  on vacation Journey is one of my homes away from home in every sense of the word. 

Edited August 8, 2019 by uktog

[excitedofharpenden]

11 hours ago, alfredo1 said:

Having been on Pursuit and Quest this year and enjoyed the huge benefits of the refit in terms of passenger comfort, general extra inside lounge space, revitalised "Living Room", and upgraded cabins I am astonished that Azamara do not intend to refit the Journey until October 2020, and now even more so as we have just booked a cruise next year on Journey assuming that the upgrade would have taken place. Even in 2018 the ship was starting to look shabby, so what state will she be in after another year.

Bonnie, would this be a acceptable reason to cancel without penalty as we are hugely disappointed?

The scheduled dry dock for Journey was to be third quarter of 2020.  In line with requirements.  It’s pretty tricky to fit these in exactly because of yard availability/ship location.  It’s been pushed back a couple of months.  I believe that the reason Quest was done before Journey in the schedule is that they wanted to finalise removal of the casino (and staff there).  Journey had electronic gaming tables and a cruise sales desk in the Spirits Bar area added after reimagination.  An idea that didn’t work.  But there are no casino staff there to speak of.  

 

As for the shabby comment, I was on Journey for back to back cruises in September 2018 and she certainly wasn’t shabby.  I’ve seen comments like this picked up by others who suddenly feel like they are about to board a garbage scow.  To me it’s nonsense.

 

Phil

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you Phil and uktog for your endorsements of our Journey. She is home-away-from-home for many, and the staff is stellar. I hope alfredo1 feels reassured to keep his booking, and if not, I hope we can accommodate his wishes without CX penalties.

[hubofhockey]

30 minutes ago, BBMacLaird said:

Thank you Phil and uktog for your endorsements of our Journey. She is home-away-from-home for many, and the staff is stellar. I hope alfredo1 feels reassured to keep his booking, and if not, I hope we can accommodate his wishes without CX penalties.

 

I feel like some of the negative comments are being made by those who are somewhat down on Azamara in any case.  

[Cool Fool]

We just got off our first voyage on Journey on July 29. We really liked it. It’s a little old school but that made it all the more comfortable. The public areas are really nice. 

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

Thank you Phil and uktog for your endorsements of our Journey. She is home-away-from-home for many, and the staff is stellar. I hope alfredo1 feels reassured to keep his booking, and if not, I hope we can accommodate his wishes without CX penalties.

 

We are soooooo looking forward to our first Az cruises, B2B Journey in the Caribbean. Nothing I have read is causing me any concern, and the anticipation is rising! Thanks.

[AllisonJames]

As one of the OP's of the "tired" opinion (our July 17 - 29 cruise and my review on this board) I'll stand by my assessment but please note that in my perspective "tired" does not in any way mean "run down."  And some of my assessment was based on the condition of my stateroom and normal wear and tear issues such as carpet stains or woodwork marks or upholstery that is worn -- it's not like there's a giant hole in a wall or something (which was the actual case at a high-end resort we once stayed at).  The one specific area in the stateroom (in addition to the wallpaper which I already mentioned) that I think is going to eventually need to be addressed on the AZ ships is the "wood" work (not sure it's actual wood) on the entire closet/shelving area/safe/mini-fridge area.  It just doesn't look that nice and seems dated.  I thoroughly enjoyed the new lounge chair cushions on the pool deck and how spiffy they looked.  Not all furniture cushions/pillows were replaced and the couches/chairs on the top deck need new ones next.  Again, my opinion.  I still love the decorating style/colors on the AZ ships.  I recently noticed that Oceania is "reimagining" their ships and when I saw the new photos of the first one, I did not find the decor appealing at all.  Every area seemed to have a different printed carpet and color scheme and nothing seemed to blend.  it made my head hurt and was not relaxing.  AZ did a wonderful job on their reimagining.

[NeilWM]

We have just disembarked in Stockholm after 24 night B2B. No obvious signs of major wear and tear except minor issues with wallpaper in cabin. Our shower was actually rewallpapered whilst we were ashore one day. Captain and crew as friendly and efficient as ever.

[BBMacLaird]

34 minutes ago, NeilWM said:

We have just disembarked in Stockholm after 24 night B2B. No obvious signs of major wear and tear except minor issues with wallpaper in cabin. Our shower was actually rewallpapered whilst we were ashore one day. Captain and crew as friendly and efficient as ever.

Thank you NeilWM ❤️