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Anybody onboard currently?

takemewithyou

By takemewithyou,
in Azamara

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Zoey

Zoey

Posted
Posted

So do folks, or their travel agents, not look at deck plans any longer to research what is above or below them if they’re somebody who is bothered by a little noise, talking or scooting chairs? I’ve booked over fourteen cruises on my own, including Azamara, but never, especially on a ship I’ve never sailed, booked a cabin without checking out what is above or below me. If a few cabins are complaining about noise on the Veranda and I was in charge I would tell them to check the deck plan next time. If it was a guarantee booking I’d tell them they took the gamble of not selecting their desired location. 

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suec12

suec12

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Has anyone requested / posted menus from the MDR lately? I would enjoy seeing some - we will be on the Journey in Sept. but I'm thinking there are some menus that are used on all the various ships. Thanks!

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marinaro44

marinaro44

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Posted
6 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Yes you are right it is subjective. We do not like bland food but fortunately there are different offerings we can choose from.

The choice of food offerings depends also of the budget. Food at Crystal was excellent and I assume there the chefs had a good budget to work with. I have read somewhere at this board that the food on the Azamara ships has improved. Looking forward to taste it. 

Ivi

We did a Crystal in September.  Menus were more ambitious but execution was lacking in many cases.  Grand Marnier souffle was gritty and the texture of bread pudding.  Lasagna was a limp puddle.  Ditto pineapple cheesecake.  Deconstructed cannoli was gritty and broken-up shell soggy.  The highly-touted black cod was meh.  Lunch buffets were excellent.  And great to see Russ.

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uktog "Live from...." Rare

uktog

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15 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

We did a Crystal in September.  Menus were more ambitious but execution was lacking in many cases.  Grand Marnier souffle was gritty and the texture of bread pudding.  Lasagna was a limp puddle.  Ditto pineapple cheesecake.  Deconstructed cannoli was gritty and broken-up shell soggy.  The highly-touted black cod was meh.  Lunch buffets were excellent.  And great to see Russ.

Funny you should say that, we had similar examples of misses this cruise on Quest, steaks not cooked right, the escargot didn’t punch the flavour as it used to, sea bass skin limp not crispy, desserts lacking taste eg lemon tart where they lemon was very “absent”   

But we had some great dishes also especially the mustard encrusted short ribs and the halibut. 
I missed some old favourites like the trio of chocolate dessert and the mini baked Alaska (unless they were offered on the same menu the night we were in Aqualina). There were several mass cooks (eg Bananas foster, pancakes and cherries jubilee) in the main restaurant by HD and F and B. The waiters really pushed you to have them rather than order anything else that night.

The cheese plate remains a weakness unfortunately, very cheap bulk cheeses served. 

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MouseBerry

MouseBerry

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Wasn't Azamara a premium cruise line before? Well this doesn't sound premium at all. But this is our general experience in cruise industrie: everything is moved to the lower end and not directly related to Covid-19, it start much before that. We noticed this last year when we had two cruises on MSC Yacht Club. It felt more like regular MSC cruises 5 years ago.

We never used Az so far but give it a try and are open minded. But if food is not premium and some locations on the ship are closed for no good reason, this will be noted and remembered in future considerations😉 

 

cheers

MouseBerry

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suttonrunner

suttonrunner

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5 hours ago, uktog said:

Funny you should say that, we had similar examples of misses this cruise on Quest, steaks not cooked right, the escargot didn’t punch the flavour as it used to, sea bass skin limp not crispy, desserts lacking taste eg lemon tart where they lemon was very “absent”   

But we had some great dishes also especially the mustard encrusted short ribs and the halibut. 
I missed some old favourites like the trio of chocolate dessert and the mini baked Alaska (unless they were offered on the same menu the night we were in Aqualina). There were several mass cooks (eg Bananas foster, pancakes and cherries jubilee) in the main restaurant by HD and F and B. The waiters really pushed you to have them rather than order anything else that night.

The cheese plate remains a weakness unfortunately, very cheap bulk cheeses served. 

I totally agree with you regarding the main restaurant.  Out of my last cruise (March/April)  I ate in the main dining room only twice in the evenings  and both times I am afraid  the meals were not up to their pre-covid standards, the waiter did recommend a starter which was so disappointing as was the cheese plate. 

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combine

combine

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We were on Journey in January in a CC suite, with complimentary access to the Speciality restaurants. We chose to eat in the  main  dining room 5 of the 11 nights as the choice, quality of food and presentation was superb. There were several new choices which we really enjoyed.
 

The standards should be the same across the fleet , but sounds like there are a few misses of late. 
We really had no complaints with quality of food  at all. 

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travelberlin "Live from...." Rare

travelberlin

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, suttonrunner said:

I totally agree with you regarding the main restaurant.  Out of my last cruise (March/April)  I ate in the main dining room only twice in the evenings  and both times I am afraid  the meals were not up to their pre-covid standards, the waiter did recommend a starter which was so disappointing as was the cheese plate. 

Talking about pre-covid standards…My last cruise with Azamara was on December 2019 ( pre-covid). At that time, food on the MDR was very disappointing. I have compared it at that time with food at the Royal Caribbean ships, which means three stars at the most.

Since then there is a new owner and prices have increased. Somebody mentioned that food is better now. We shall see…

Ivi

Edited by travelberlin
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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

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Posted

Food has never been consistent across all ships of any cruise line – or even on the same ship from cruise to cruise if the Executive Chef changes.  Most cruise lines have corporate recipes, but the Executive Chef has a huge ability to tweak the flavors.  It seems that the current chef on Quest likes food spicy.  That would really suit DW and me, but obviously others prefer a lighter hand.  This is why so may CC posts say 'food is subjective.'

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LeCommandant

LeCommandant

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On 4/16/2022 at 6:48 PM, suec12 said:

Has anyone requested / posted menus from the MDR lately? I would enjoy seeing some - we will be on the Journey in Sept. but I'm thinking there are some menus that are used on all the various ships. Thanks!

Menu of the dinner today 😉 On Quest (MDR)

Discoveries Restaurant #03.pdf

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uktog "Live from...." Rare

uktog

Posted
Posted (edited)

I so missed the main course salad on my cruise.

 

Having heard how food is on Pursuit (they have a much more extensive specialities menu with less guests onboard) and seen photos of the Easter spread there, I think we chose the wrong ship for our pre Easter break.  Its like chalk and cheese.

 

I hope this week are getting better service in the MDR than many of us experienced the last night of the cruise - it made Fawlty Towers look good honestly.  Certainly not what should have been the "lasting impression" we should be left with.  People were feeding back to the maitre d circulating but you just felt they were disinterested we were the "leaving folks".

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mappyuk

mappyuk

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We are on board Pursuit currently and find the quality of food to be generally good for cruise food. It would be about average in restaurant quality. 
 

The biggest disappointment is probably Aqualina. We have had two meals there so far and both have disappointed. Either the cooking has been wrong, the dishes wrong or the quality of ingredients poor. We have them for the last night but will probably give them up for main dining room. We had a super night there last night. The waiter Jap was an absolute hoot. We loved him. 
 

M

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SunnyNy

SunnyNy

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1 hour ago, mappyuk said:

We are on board Pursuit currently and find the quality of food to be generally good for cruise food. It would be about average in restaurant quality. 
 

The biggest disappointment is probably Aqualina. We have had two meals there so far and both have disappointed. Either the cooking has been wrong, the dishes wrong or the quality of ingredients poor. We have them for the last night but will probably give them up for main dining room. We had a super night there last night. The waiter Jap was an absolute hoot. We loved him. 
 

M

Mappyuk, thanks for the update on Aqualina.  Don't blame you for sticking with the main dining room. Can you tell us who the Captain, Hotel Director and Cruise Director are?

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mappyuk

mappyuk

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20 hours ago, SunnyNy said:

Mappyuk, thanks for the update on Aqualina.  Don't blame you for sticking with the main dining room. Can you tell us who the Captain, Hotel Director and Cruise Director are?

Captain is Antonio Toledo

Hotel Director is Heike Berdos

Cruise Director is Tanya Roberts

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Mrs Miggins

Mrs Miggins

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All good on Quest. Our second week. Only slight complaints. the desserts are fairly tasteless and the CD’s voice is really annoying !

On 4/19/2022 at 4:04 PM, excitedofharpenden said:

That's what I'd do too. Interested to hear the outcome. 

 

Phil 

 

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HalifaxYorksCruiser

HalifaxYorksCruiser

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Got on board Quest at 3.45 after a very long day starting at 1am. Lots of messing around in the terminal which could if organised better be done far more quickly. Just paid for the full cruise internet package but the internet is woefully slow ( if you think 1990’s dial up you will get the idea! ). Time to hit the bar I think 🍺

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combine

combine

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Sorry to hear that @HalifaxYorksCruiservery hit and miss. 
We arrived at port at 1.25 thinking we would join the queue for our 2pm slot.
We got tested,  checked in and we were sitting in windows cafe with a glass of red at 14.05 . 
much quicker  than we had expected. 
 

hope the bar is keeping up with you ! 

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