Azamara Onward, The Good and The Bad

[norn iron]

4 hours ago, Mrmatt said:

I am booked for 4  June on Onward and getting slightly concerned about all the issues being referred to. Can someone clarify what major issues are with the ship?

Mrmatt, we are onboard 18th June. from previous experience Azamara have got their together pretty quickly after maiden voyages. 

I am hopeful and optimistic for our cruise on the 18th. Keep these threads informed when you are on board.

[norn iron]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

It is good Azamara stepped up to the plate. Well done!

The trouble with the shake down trips they did was they used travel agents and press people. All their reports on social media were highlighting how wonderful it  was. Some were Azamara regulars who are agents so I’m surprised they didn’t spot things weren’t right. Or is it that shake down cruises given as freebies only give very limited feedback on the functionality of each room. 
Id suggest a shakedown of say six days with everyone moving room every two days. Yes a little inconvenient but it would really test out each room. Everyone should have a detailed checklist for the room they are in and accurate completion should be a condition of getting the freebie 

Great idea. Definitely needs consideration.

 

I know up until about eight years ago Royal Caribbean did something similar. Obviously their ships are much larger so they also employed a Mystery Shopping company to bring on 2-300 mystery shoppers to take part in the early stage feed back, this was in addition to the press and travel trade.

[mchell810]

11 hours ago, AJCM said:

for anyone wondering, this is Apple’s spellcheck interpretation of what should be customer- bizzare error correction.

 

I often have similarly creative words from Apple's auto-correct.  On my iPhone, in a text, it often changes a word after I've hit send  😱

Edited May 19, 2022 by mchell810

[TravelerAtHeart]

Tried to board Azamara Onward's 2d sailing from Ravenna and unfortunately I tested positive at the port and my husband negative.  Taken to an Italian quarantine hotel with very little explanation.   We are in separate rooms, no air conditioning during late spring Italian heat wave.  My husband had to ask late the next day for information and some contact to call.  I get conflicting information regarding testing or next step.  I have never heard from an Azamara Rep.

I have sailed Azamara before on other voyages.  Very disappointing.  

[blag]

22 minutes ago, TravelerAtHeart said:

Tried to board Azamara Onward's 2d sailing from Ravenna and unfortunately I tested positive at the port and my husband negative.  Taken to an Italian quarantine hotel with very little explanation.   We are in separate rooms, no air conditioning during late spring Italian heat wave.  My husband had to ask late the next day for information and some contact to call.  I get conflicting information regarding testing or next step.  I have never heard from an Azamara Rep.

I have sailed Azamara before on other voyages.  Very disappointing.  

I am not clear. Does 2d mean a 2-day cruise?

As I understand things, because you have tested positive, you must remain in quarantine for 10 days, and then re-test. Either the place in which you are confined will arrange that for you, (or perhaps your insurers?), or you can request assistance to visit a pharmacy where a test can be conducted. If you test negative after the 10 days, you may be able to go on your way, but a negative test will mean another 5 days in quarantine, and so on.

As I say, I believe this to be the case.

Here are some resources:

UK Gov

US embassy

ISS

 

Just as a matter of interest, did you test before leaving home? 

Edited May 19, 2022 by blag
Afterthought

[andrcan]

51 minutes ago, blag said:

If you test negative after the 10 days, you may be able to go on your way, but a negative test will mean another 5 days in quarantine, and so on.

 I say, I believe this to be the case.

 

Are you sure that after negative test one has to quarantine for another 5 days in Italy? Sounds rather unusual. Would you please refer to your source?

[blag]

11 minutes ago, andrcan said:

Are you sure that after negative test one has to quarantine for another 5 days in Italy? Sounds rather unusual. Would you please refer to your source?

Oops. Error, which I'll try to correct. 

 

CORRECTION

I referred to 10 days quarantine, then test. If positive at that test, another test after 5 days. That is, to the best of my knowledge what friends here have been required to do.

 

Cannot amend now that other posts have followed. DUHHHH! 

Edited May 19, 2022 by blag
Big error

[andrcan]

14 minutes ago, blag said:

Oops. Error, which I'll try to correct. 

 

CORRECTION

I referred to 10 days quarantine, then test. If positive at that test, another test after 5 days. That is, to the best of my knowledge what friends here have been required to do.

 

Cannot amend now that other posts have followed. DUHHHH! 

Oh, I see. Thanks, got it now.

[uktog]

3 hours ago, blag said:

I am not clear. Does 2d mean a 2-day cruise?

As I understand things, because you have tested positive, you must remain in quarantine for 10 days, and then re-test. Either the place in which you are confined will arrange that for you, (or perhaps your insurers?), or you can request assistance to visit a pharmacy where a test can be conducted. If you test negative after the 10 days, you may be able to go on your way, but a negative test will mean another 5 days in quarantine, and so on.

As I say, I believe this to be the case.

Here are some resources:

UK Gov

US embassy

ISS

 

Just as a matter of interest, did you test before leaving home? 

2d means second eg Onwards seconds cruise. 
whether or not we test before we leave from home is irrelevant these days for many of us who travel a few days ahead so don’t expect everyone will. We will still need to test at the port or somewhere near embarkation 

[harrodsfan]

A friend just got back from italy,,, quarantine is 5 days. 

[blag]

54 minutes ago, harrodsfan said:

A friend just got back from italy,,, quarantine is 5 days. 

That contradicts the information contained in the link I provided previously (ISS), but it is true that in the Italian version of that page the period of quarantine is now 5 days! 

[kool kruiser]

Currently onboard and on next voyage as well. Will post observations when home but this cruise has been really enjoyable. Public rooms excellent, food really good, staff terrific, other than front desk and their line manager. Had an issue that they dealt with abysmally. Resolved to my complete satisfaction by Tony,, the F and B manager as the Hotel Director, for understandable reasons, could not make our scheduled meeting. I only mention this as the poor front desk was previously mentioned. 
To summarise, if you coming on board, don’t worry unduly, you should enjoy a great cruise!
colin

[Mrmatt]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:33 PM, norn iron said:

Mrmatt, we are onboard 18th June. from previous experience Azamara have got their together pretty quickly after maiden voyages. 

I am hopeful and optimistic for our cruise on the 18th. Keep these threads informed when you are on board.

Thank you. This is reassuring. We have enjoyed any previous Azamara cruises without complaint.

[Qwltngcruiser]

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but it appears the lady who posted the video of room 6000 took the video down. It’s no longer in my history feed and I can’t search for it on YouTube anymore. Wonder if someone made her take it down?  There’s some pretty awful pics of a bathroom onboard on the fb group…..quite frankly, worse than the video showed. 

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Qwltngcruiser said:

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but it appears the lady who posted the video of room 6000 took the video down. It’s no longer in my history feed and I can’t search for it on YouTube anymore. Wonder if someone made her take it down?  There’s some pretty awful pics of a bathroom onboard on the fb group…..quite frankly, worse than the video showed. 

You may be over-thinking this. I don’t think she can be “made” to take her video down unless she’s in violation of policy for the place she posted it.  I can reassure you that no matter how awful some cabins looked on the maiden voyage, many others, including ours, looked exactly as they should, and they have been fixing the incomplete ones as quickly as possible. 

[Qwltngcruiser]

4 hours ago, lisiamc said:

You may be over-thinking this. I don’t think she can be “made” to take her video down unless she’s in violation of policy for the place she posted it.  I can reassure you that no matter how awful some cabins looked on the maiden voyage, many others, including ours, looked exactly as they should, and they have been fixing the incomplete ones as quickly as possible. 

I’m sure she wasn't “made” to, but coerced into doing so for her benefit or otherwise is quite possible. I doubt she just had a change of heart. From the pictures I’ve seen of other’s vacations on the ship, it doesn’t look like the rooms were “as they should be” to me. There are too many people reporting that Azamara dropped the ball with this one. It’s fine to be loyal to a company, but they have changed ownership and this is the first refurbished ship they’ve put out since…..clearly this new company isn’t giving the attention to detail that was shown in earlier ships. It’s a shame, really. 

[lisiamc]

29 minutes ago, Qwltngcruiser said:

I’m sure she wasn't “made” to, but coerced into doing so for her benefit or otherwise is quite possible. I doubt she just had a change of heart. From the pictures I’ve seen of other’s vacations on the ship, it doesn’t look like the rooms were “as they should be” to me. There are too many people reporting that Azamara dropped the ball with this one. It’s fine to be loyal to a company, but they have changed ownership and this is the first refurbished ship they’ve put out since…..clearly this new company isn’t giving the attention to detail that was shown in earlier ships. It’s a shame, really. 

I was there, so I really DO know how our cabin looked, and how our friends’ cabins looked.  I was also on Journey’s third voyage, when she was still part of Celebrity, and things were not perfect then either, but they improved very quickly. In my opinion, Maiden Voyage/Inaugural Cruise is code for Some Things Will Not Be Quite Right Yet.
 

Definitely, everything was not completely perfect on the Onward Inaugural Cruise, but we have had our cruise price refunded as a future cruise credit.  That is a very generous response as far as I am concerned, since we had a wonderful time despite some minor (in our particular case) teething troubles. Some people may be happier with another cruise line. I am still very happy with Azamara.

Edited May 23, 2022 by lisiamc
clarity

[excitedofharpenden]

42 minutes ago, Qwltngcruiser said:

I’m sure she wasn't “made” to, but coerced into doing so for her benefit or otherwise is quite possible. I doubt she just had a change of heart. From the pictures I’ve seen of other’s vacations on the ship, it doesn’t look like the rooms were “as they should be” to me. There are too many people reporting that Azamara dropped the ball with this one. It’s fine to be loyal to a company, but they have changed ownership and this is the first refurbished ship they’ve put out since…..clearly this new company isn’t giving the attention to detail that was shown in earlier ships. It’s a shame, really. 

This is a public forum and it's very possible that she saw this thread. 

 

Phil 

[laurieb]

2 hours ago, Qwltngcruiser said:

I’m sure she wasn't “made” to, but coerced into doing so for her benefit or otherwise is quite possible. I doubt she just had a change of heart. From the pictures I’ve seen of other’s vacations on the ship, it doesn’t look like the rooms were “as they should be” to me. There are too many people reporting that Azamara dropped the ball with this one. It’s fine to be loyal to a company, but they have changed ownership and this is the first refurbished ship they’ve put out since…..clearly this new company isn’t giving the attention to detail that was shown in earlier ships. It’s a shame, really. 

Perhaps the fact that she had her cruise refunded as a future cruise credit, as did everyone on the ship, caused her to have second thoughts about her video.  And what's too many people, 10? 20? Give the new owners credit where credit is due, they just cost themselves a lot of money being so generous as to give these FCC's.

[Qwltngcruiser]

30 minutes ago, laurieb said:

Perhaps the fact that she had her cruise refunded as a future cruise credit, as did everyone on the ship, caused her to have second thoughts about her video.  And what's too many people, 10? 20? Give the new owners credit where credit is due, they just cost themselves a lot of money being so generous as to give these FCC's.

It was a very generous move by the new company to refund. However, it also makes it clear just how many people had to be upset about the condition of the ship and to the level of unhappiness of those people to spark such a refund. 

[excitedofharpenden]

49 minutes ago, laurieb said:

Perhaps the fact that she had her cruise refunded as a future cruise credit, as did everyone on the ship, caused her to have second thoughts about her video.  And what's too many people, 10? 20? Give the new owners credit where credit is due, they just cost themselves a lot of money being so generous as to give these FCC's.

I really hope they were able to recoup at least some of it from the shipyard. 

 

Phil

[TravelerAtHeart]

On 5/20/2022 at 12:46 AM, harrodsfan said:

A friend just got back from italy,,, quarantine is 5 days. 

That friend was lucky, not per my Italian quarantine contact.  They would not even test until the 7th day.

[TravelerAtHeart]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:51 AM, blag said:

I am not clear. Does 2d mean a 2-day cruise?

As I understand things, because you have tested positive, you must remain in quarantine for 10 days, and then re-test. Either the place in which you are confined will arrange that for you, (or perhaps your insurers?), or you can request assistance to visit a pharmacy where a test can be conducted. If you test negative after the 10 days, you may be able to go on your way, but a negative test will mean another 5 days in quarantine, and so on.

As I say, I believe this to be the case.

Here are some resources:

UK Gov

US embassy

ISS

 

Just as a matter of interest, did you test before leaving home? 

I completed 7 nights quarantine before they would test.  Was told it must be ordered by their Health Dept. first; then if positive result can get tested by anyone next time.  Luckily the test was negative on that first time and we were able to fly home the next morning.  Sad we did not have our Azamara sailing, now another FCC to find time to fit in.  Still have never heard from an Azamara Rep;  we love our Azamara sailings.  Finally after the first Italian contact (Marco), Marina the second contact was not inconsistent in her information and I believe she is the one who pushed for the test that Friday so we could fly home Saturday.   Was negative before leaving home and most people do a little extra traveling, or easy visiting to "time adjust" before a cruise to enjoy entry country just like they often stay a few days extra so had always planned to test at the port.    This was just an unfortunate situation with very little communication.   

[joyride]

Wow TraveleratHeart. I'm so sorry that happened to you. So basically you sat in a hotel in Italy, in separate rooms for a week and then flew home? I can't imagine. Were you very sick, or was it just mild?  We are leaving this weekend for Barcelona and will test before we leave. But we will still be on the plane and overnight in Barcelona before doing embarkation on the Pursuit. I'm wearing my mask, but others aren't. We are both vaccinated and double boosted, but it seems that may not even be enough. Very sad to hear that Azamara didn't take better care of you guys. Did they take care of the hotel and flights home?

 

[sovilav01]

18 hours ago, Qwltngcruiser said:

I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but it appears the lady who posted the video of room 6000 took the video down. It’s no longer in my history feed and I can’t search for it on YouTube anymore. Wonder if someone made her take it down?  There’s some pretty awful pics of a bathroom onboard on the fb group…..quite frankly, worse than the video showed. 

Something I don’t understand, we were on 1st and 2 nd legs on the Onward and this bathroom  was locked because on maintenance, I don’t think this picture should have been on Cruise Critic as it wasn’t opened to public.