Food Questions

[ChucktownSteve]

On 11/30/2020 at 7:30 AM, rollie said:

Thanks everyone for your replies.  You have been very helpful with our decision to book a future cruise with Azamara.

 

Rollie

 

Rollie,  I hope you enjoy Azamara.  We did much more than the degraded Celebrity as you pointed out.  We currently have two Azamara cruises booked for 2021.  Looking forward to them.

[TeaBag]

Lynda, what a lovely surprise to get your post this AM.  Yes, I would love to talk to you and if it were not for COVID, I would love to meet you for coffee somewhere too.  Maybe we will be able to do that once we get our vaccine.  We are hoping for March but maybe I'm smoking opium!!

I would love your email and then we can connect.

Edited December 16, 2020 by TeaBag

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, TeaBag said:

Lynda, what a lovely surprise to get your post this AM.  Yes, I would love to talk to you and if it were not for COVID, I would love to meet you for coffee somewhere too.  Maybe we will be able to do that once we get our vaccine.  We are hoping for March but maybe I'm smoking opium!!

I would love your email and then we can connect.

I'm smoking something too😄. I'm hoping for March also. I have a trip to Taipei booked end of April and all fingers crossed to see my friend there. Oh and to mention. If you haven't been to Taiwan then go. I did it on an Azamara cruise. Amazing place and the reason I want to go back. 😎

 

Phil 

[TeaBag]

Great advice, Phil.  We loved Taipei, Busan etc. when we sailed Millennium from Hong Kong to Vancouver. 

[Lynda S]

5 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Lynda, what a lovely surprise to get your post this AM.  Yes, I would love to talk to you and if it were not for COVID, I would love to meet you for coffee somewhere too.  Maybe we will be able to do that once we get our vaccine.  We are hoping for March but maybe I'm smoking opium!!

I would love your email and then we can connect.

Perfect!  My email is the following (no spaces or dashes in it)

LyndaDSwain at gmail dot com

I look forward to your email, I am so excited about this cruise even if it is a long ways off.  

Phil, thanks for the advice on Taiwan, we have not been but will look forward to it someday!

[excitedofharpenden]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:35 AM, Lynda S said:

Perfect!  My email is the following (no spaces or dashes in it)

LyndaDSwain at gmail dot com

I look forward to your email, I am so excited about this cruise even if it is a long ways off.  

Phil, thanks for the advice on Taiwan, we have not been but will look forward to it someday!

Taipei as a city is amazing. Well ordered and lots to see (and eat!). We also stopped at Hualien and went to Taroko Gorge which is stunning. Taiwan was a surprise!

 

Phil 

[Baynanno1]

13 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Taipei as a city is amazing. Well ordered and lots to see (and eat!). We also stopped at Hualien and went to Taroko Gorge which is stunning. Taiwan was a surprise!

 

Phil 

 

Indeed Taroko Gorge is quite stunning.

It was also a cool relief from the heat we had been experiencing as we cruised.

Trish

[Mackdogmolly]

13 hours ago, hamrag said:

Indeed, that does sound ridiculous! That said, we did not feel the MDR lived up to the Azamara 'premium' status so perhaps not such a bad idea after all.

We found the food in the MDR to be, for the most part, excellent.

[hamrag]

3 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

We found the food in the MDR to be, for the most part, excellent.

We found the specialty restaurant food was superb, without exception, across 6 visits on our B2B cruises at excellent pricing when purchasing the 3 meal package on each cruise. 

[jelayne]

16 hours ago, hamrag said:

Indeed, that does sound ridiculous! That said, we did not feel the MDR lived up to the Azamara 'premium' status so perhaps not such a bad idea after all.

We too didn’t feel the food in the MDR was worthy of a premium line.  We didn’t try room service but not that the food would be different.  We are hoping the MDR is better than our previous experience.

[bigmjh]

3 hours ago, jelayne said:

We too didn’t feel the food in the MDR was worthy of a premium line.  We didn’t try room service but not that the food would be different.  We are hoping the MDR is better than our previous experience.

Something seems to be overlooked ... Azamara is under new ownership and these dining experiences may very well change ... maybe for the better (🤞) ... maybe not.

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, bigmjh said:

Something seems to be overlooked ... Azamara is under new ownership and these dining experiences may very well change ... maybe for the better (🤞) ... maybe not.

Very true.

If the overall dining experience from the Specialties to The Patio and everything in between would be fine with us. Hopefully they will keep the focus on local sourcing that often made it to Windows.

[hamrag]

5 hours ago, jelayne said:

We too didn’t feel the food in the MDR was worthy of a premium line.  We didn’t try room service but not that the food would be different.  We are hoping the MDR is better than our previous experience.

We dined with 2 other couples in the MDR on our first night, so a group of 6 of us, and none of us had sailed Azamara previously nor were we known to each other at that point. The poor menu and average food quality was a topic of conversation that we returned to often during the two B2B cruises.

 

Whilst we wouldn't go as far as to say it was by any means poor, one of the couples decided they would not return to the MDR and ate exclusively thereafter in the specialty restaurants. That couple refused to attend the White Night, which we did and thought was fantastic in every regard. On the second leg of our B2B, despite our recommendation, they still wouldn't go along. Bar none, on the 15 cruiselines we have sailed, Azamara is in a league of it's own for White Night (most lines have a variant)....no one else comes close, in our opinion it's an event not to be missed! 

 

On each of our 7 night B2Bs it was White Night and 3 in the specialty restaurants that saved our dining experience. At it's best, we found MDR to be above average only on a couple of occasions.

[ECCruise]

Not that it isn't always the case, but this proves that food, whether in a local restaurant or on a cruise ship, is highly subjective.  I can't say we've ever had a bad meal on Azamara or even close to that.  Not perfect by any means but then we weren't paying for perfect.  

[hamrag]

13 hours ago, bigmjh said:

Something seems to be overlooked ... Azamara is under new ownership and these dining experiences may very well change ... maybe for the better (🤞) ... maybe not.

 

This interesting link details what the Az competitor has planned, might give the new owners food for thought (pun intended). I came across it on the Oceania boards.

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oceania-cruises-unveils-new-oceanianext-enhancements-to-the-guest-experience-301290247.html

 

 

[ECCruise]

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

This interesting link details what the Az competitor has planned, might give the new owners food for thought (pun intended). I came across it on the Oceania boards.

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oceania-cruises-unveils-new-oceanianext-enhancements-to-the-guest-experience-301290247.html

 

 

This is one area where we have found Oceania a slight tick above Azamara (overall food quality) although there are areas (like more local sourcing) that I like more on Azamara.

 

But having done 25 days on O and 24 days on Azamara virtually back to back in end of 2019, first months of 2020, as both lines existed at that time, Azamara wins big in overall experience.

Edited May 14, 2021 by ECCruise

[Riocca]

There I think lies the difference, Oceania is an epicurean cruise line, it’s usp is providing a fine dining experience. Azamara’s forte is destination immersion with more overnights and late nights in port.

That doesn’t mean that the foods not important but it’s not the main reason to cruise with Azamara.

Personally we’re not great foodies so it’s not an important point in choosing a cruise line. That said we appreciate good products cooked well, on the whole Azamara have provided that for us.

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

This interesting link details what the Az competitor has planned, might give the new owners food for thought (pun intended). I came across it on the Oceania boards.

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oceania-cruises-unveils-new-oceanianext-enhancements-to-the-guest-experience-301290247.html

 

 

Interesting, but really amounts to no more than ‘we’re updating our menus’. I think you’re right that Azamara could do to have a menu revamp before they start again

[uktog]

5 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Interesting, but really amounts to no more than ‘we’re updating our menus’. I think you’re right that Azamara could do to have a menu revamp before they start again

A menu revamp requires quite a bit of chef training.  Whether they have time to do this as well as quarantine and other covid training time will tell.  I think they might have a challenge anyway as a large number of galley crew came from India and might not be available at the start up- so will this mean they have to restart with tried and tested?

[SUFTUM]

I’m more of a reader than a writer on CC, which got me wondering how one of the AZ contributors rates the food on cruise lines.

Their posting #60 on the thread below indicates a bit of a foodie in our midst!

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

After all this time locked down, they will be needing to do a lot of refresher training anyway – so why not do new menus at the same time?  No need to relearn the old menus if they would be replaced soon – go straight to the new.

[excitedofharpenden]

25 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

After all this time locked down, they will be needing to do a lot of refresher training anyway – so why not do new menus at the same time?  No need to relearn the old menus if they would be replaced soon – go straight to the new.

Maybe they have?

 

Phil 

[norn iron]

I notice I've been rumbled in post #48. I very rarely comment on cruise line food because the subject is so subjective.

Like Riocca in post #45 we appreciate good food well cooked, and we get that onboard Azamara.

[uktog]

Agree, good food, well cooked and served with a smile..... thats all I need, it doesn't need to be fancy though I do like eating in starred places from time to time

[Skicruiser55]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Agree, good food, well cooked and served with a smile..... thats all I need, it doesn't need to be fancy though I do like eating in starred places from time to time

I second that!  Bottom line for me is that I don’t cruise for the food - as long as I can find something I like to eat on the menu I am happy.  I cruise for the ports and cultural experience - I can eat at fancy places at home.