Emerald Azzurra Anyone?

[no fuss travel]

The one thing that no-one has commented on is the closets.  This ship has the best closets I have had on a ship.  They had two shoe racks, ample drawers, lots of space and the hanging cupboards.  The owner was onboard with our cruise from Dubrovnik to Venice and he told us that his wife designed the closets.  All other cruise lines could take a lesson from his wife.

Food was fantastic.  You could get an omelette made to order at breakfast.  First time on a ship that I can say the scrambled eggs were delicious.  Crew was very friendly and helpful.  The ports were great and the included tours excellent.

There was a tour group on our sailing which at times was annoying as the TA that brought them was overbearing at times and seemed to treat other passengers as second class.  She also broke the rules at Trivia, which irked a few passengers.  The cruise director was a character and fun to listen to.  The captain was English and had salad with P&O Holland America and Princess ships.  He said he preferred the smaller ship and was a bit of a character.  He even sang at Karaoke.

They are building more ships and putting a fair number of them in Asia.  It will be interesting to see what they offer in the future.

Would I recommend them. YES.  Do not expect top entertainment.  The ship is too small, but expect friendly crew and excellent food.

[McDougal]

Hello all. I appreciate all the info I found in this forum! We are sailing on the Azzurra March 8-18. Holy Land, Egypt/Israel. Curious if anyone knows the arrival/departure times for ports of call on the Azzurra. We want to do an excursion on our own in Hurghada, but hard to plan not knowing these times. Emerald has not been very responsive.

Also, does anyone here know if Visa is needed in Egypt on a cruise? We are US citizens.

Thanks!!

[Zeuschina]

I can't help you, but I have been wondering the same. How do we find out Port arrival/departure times?

Can't find anything on Emerald or any other sites. Sailing 26th August , Rhodes to Athens.

[ColdCruise]

Everyone posting on this thread - great information. Now looking into this company’s offering!

 

i think the term “word of mouth” came up a few times (and hope @Don P has recovered and found a wonderful substitute for their missed 50th celebration)

[Don P]

4 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

Everyone posting on this thread - great information. Now looking into this company’s offering!

 

i think the term “word of mouth” came up a few times (and hope @Don P has recovered and found a wonderful substitute for their missed 50th celebration)

Thank you so much for remembering me!  I have fully recovered from my COVID-19 experience.  I was glad that I had purchased travel insurance as we were fully reimbursed except for the cost of the premium ($800).  We made an effort to rebook with Emerald and sought a discount or onboard credit to offset the insurance premium cost.  Our logic was they had received our full payment and might be a bit sympathetic to us for having to cancel the cruise the day before departure.  The response was negative.  I know some may say that “business is business” and they did not have to do anything.  I thought maybe a $500 discount or an onboard credit would have been a goodwill gesture.

 

We are doing a cruise through the Greek islands this year with another cruise line.  This trip will be with three other couples.  Had Emerald offered me a discount or onboard credit the eight of us would have booked with them….”business is business”.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Don P
Added words.

[tmthompsonsc]

I just returned from 14 day Meditteranean with Emerald Azzurra. A few of the comments refer to how they will not let you know arrival times in ports. My travel agent persued this to no avail.  So because of this I was not able to book a private tour in Rome, AND the cruise did not offer an option for Rome. You are paying premium dollars yet not premium product, stuck in Rome port for a full day, imagine that! Further the Hotel Manager Paul refused to give me 10 minutes of his time to make my feelings known. Would not cruise or recommend them because of this. There are a lot of positives about the product, they refer to themselves as a luxury yacht, I do not consider the product luxury. Also they are dealing with what their engineers refer to as design problems, and there are always septic/sewer odors.