Hello Carol Cabezas (CEO), What on Earth is Going On?

[srvpoo]

15 minutes ago, CHTobi said:

Five of them, post-COVID. Would you like the dates? And maybe the itineraries? 😉

No, just curious to most recent experiences on Azamara 

[babykay]

On 4/23/2023 at 9:57 AM, alfredo1 said:

What should be worrying for Azamara, if they monitor this forum, are the ongoing and continual complaints and dissatisfaction from obviously long time cruisers and supporters of Azamara who do not seek to put the line down but want it deliver the standards experienced some time ago now. We have cruised with Azamara since the early days, been top cruisers etc. and could have bought a nice apartment with what we have paid them, but found that Azamara delivered what we wanted at decent value for money, but there is no denying that things things are awry just now. Over three cruises last year we could see things improving, but still not as good as expected and the huge turnover of crew would not have helped.

The current situation with website and contact centre is disgraceful, it is impossible to properly research cabin availability and book online or even by telephone due to the lack of knowledge being displayed and it seems at times prices are unrealistically high despite the repeated "special offer" emails, to such an extent we have just booked a like for like cruise with Seabourn at a better price all in than Azamara. Something has to give and in troubled times Azamara should be pushing forward unbeatable value to maintain and increase their customer base rather than chasing increasing fares without delivering the quality expected. Wonder how Larry P. is doing??

 

 

 

I think Larry is doing quite well and the product he is creating sounds amazing.  This absolutely would not be happening under his management.  It really is quite astounding that people think this too shall pass.  WHEN?  First it was May, then June, then July.  Still dismal.  Personally, I find that the passive aggressive attitude of Azamara is pretty awful.  Let me give you just one example from my recent cruise on the Pursuit.  I had paid for some shore excursions and got receipts from them.  when I got onboard, I didn't receive some of the tickets.  So, I visited the shore ex desk and was told that I would need to bring my bank records to prove that I had paid.  I told them that I had receipts from Azamara but they told us it wasn't good enough.  So, I had to go back to my stateroom and go through bank records.  I was able to access them and bring them to the shore ex desk.  I was given the tickets without apologies.  Later in the voyage I went to cancel a shore ex.  She said that I should wait until 48 hours before to see if I felt more up to it.  She told me that I would have to let her know by the evening of tour Stornaway day. The Shore Ex office was closed most of the day but I went as soon as they were open.  Same lady told me that I had missed the cut off by 2 hours.  They were closed for 6 hours.  I told her that she told me the evening of the Stornaway day.  She said there was nothing she could do.  Very nasty lady, and totally incompetent in my opinion.  So the bullying goes both ways. 

[babykay]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:27 AM, federalexpress said:

 

I'm curious to know what those brilliant Azamara concepts were and how they differ to today's offer.

 

I have no particular skin in this game. I've cruised with AZ once and may not do so again. But that is because I'm not big into cruising, so may not take any cruise again, but they would likely be my first option if there was a location- like my S America trip- which is much easier undertaken on a ship, because I liked what I had (a few inevitable gremlins aside).

 

What was/am I missing?

 

 

Impeccable customer service.  Open lines of communication.  A builder of loyalty.  The ability to say "We are sorry".  

[tango9]

I was also just on the Pursuit and had problems with shore excursions.  I had booked an excursion prior to sailing and it was on my online account as booked but somehow Azamara switched excursions on me and I had not taken a screen shot so  shore excursions did not believe me.  My traveling companions had the same issue with the same excursion. The price went from $124 to $199 onboard. Another excursion was changed to two hours shorter with no lunch as promised and the price went up $75.  The onboard account was also incorrect.  I gave up.  BUT the rest of the experience on Pursuit was wonderful. I have booked more Azamara but  will take written proof of everything.

[babykay]

On 5/5/2023 at 8:17 AM, crusinbanjo said:

yes, their website was hacked with a Ransomware attack.  They had to shut down, cancel some cruises  and rebuild their website and call center IT, but I think they are back up and running again.

Nope - the are bankrupt and owe 198 million dollars to passengers.  

[federalexpress]

1 hour ago, babykay said:

Impeccable customer service.  Open lines of communication.  A builder of loyalty.  The ability to say "We are sorry".  

 I think most of the problems you cite are to do with offboard issues. I was asking about 'concepts' onboard the ship that are now not there. I can't see any evidence of that having changed much. Of the areas you quote,  customer service was overall v good onboard, other than the shorex, and even that was just one below par person without much empathy. Communication lines were very open for me- I had some issues with wine, and that was looked after and I got a sorry. Otherwise, all good. The crew were fantastic. The butler exceptional.

 

But I sailed early in the year and it seems apparent, if I am to believe others, that the pre cruise experience- and there's parts of that which will also affect onboard- has been shambolic at times, if not most of the time. The CEO has much to answer for from what I can see. It's possible RCCL also played their part in doing the minimum, or even less than that. A lot of issues seem to be connected with the loyalty program but as a seriously infrequent cruiser, that passes me by, though it's clear it is a major issue for many.

[babykay]

37 minutes ago, federalexpress said:

 I think most of the problems you cite are to do with offboard issues. I was asking about 'concepts' onboard the ship that are now not there. I can't see any evidence of that having changed much. Of the areas you quote,  customer service was overall v good onboard, other than the shorex, and even that was just one below par person without much empathy. Communication lines were very open for me- I had some issues with wine, and that was looked after and I got a sorry. Otherwise, all good. The crew were fantastic. The butler exceptional.

 

But I sailed early in the year and it seems apparent, if I am to believe others, that the pre cruise experience- and there's parts of that which will also affect onboard- has been shambolic at times, if not most of the time. The CEO has much to answer for from what I can see. It's possible RCCL also played their part in doing the minimum, or even less than that. A lot of issues seem to be connected with the loyalty program but as a seriously infrequent cruiser, that passes me by, though it's clear it is a major issue for many.

Larry oversaw the entire operation.  If there was a problem onboard it was solved by Larry within hours.  He was reachable and reactive.  The other deficiet onboard from post Larry was abysmal entertainment and very detached entertainment crew. The new kids they had onboard didn't know how to say basic travel words like Cairo, or Reykjavik and they were just phoning in the trivia. The future booking guys were downright rude.  I walked past and saw that one of them was in his office without anyone there with him.  I popped my head in and asked if I could ask a quick question and without looking up, he pointed to a clipboard and said if you want to speak to me, you will need to sign up there.  Needless to say - I never found an occasion that I really wanted to speak with him after that. That would have absolutely never stand with Larry.  They crew seemed unhappy except for the service staff who looked exhausted from working very hard to please guests who came on feeling beat up by the home office. 

[federalexpress]

2 hours ago, babykay said:

Larry oversaw the entire operation.  If there was a problem onboard it was solved by Larry within hours.  He was reachable and reactive.  The other deficiet onboard from post Larry was abysmal entertainment and very detached entertainment crew. The new kids they had onboard didn't know how to say basic travel words like Cairo, or Reykjavik and they were just phoning in the trivia. The future booking guys were downright rude.  I walked past and saw that one of them was in his office without anyone there with him.  I popped my head in and asked if I could ask a quick question and without looking up, he pointed to a clipboard and said if you want to speak to me, you will need to sign up there.  Needless to say - I never found an occasion that I really wanted to speak with him after that. That would have absolutely never stand with Larry.  They crew seemed unhappy except for the service staff who looked exhausted from working very hard to please guests who came on feeling beat up by the home office. 

 

No idea who Larry is but all I will say is I simply don't recognise your experience from the cruise I took in January. The crew were excellent, some of the best service I've come across, with the exception of the shorex individual, and I've spent most of my career in the leisure and tourism sector so I know how hard it is to pull off.

 

Maybe it has got worse since January or maybe I was lucky in my experience but to be honest, when it comes to the onboard experience and what others have said on here, you look like the outlier, not me.

[JYDCruise]

2 hours ago, babykay said:

Larry oversaw the entire operation.  If there was a problem onboard it was solved by Larry within hours.  He was reachable and reactive.  The other deficiet onboard from post Larry was abysmal entertainment and very detached entertainment crew. The new kids they had onboard didn't know how to say basic travel words like Cairo, or Reykjavik and they were just phoning in the trivia. The future booking guys were downright rude.  I walked past and saw that one of them was in his office without anyone there with him.  I popped my head in and asked if I could ask a quick question and without looking up, he pointed to a clipboard and said if you want to speak to me, you will need to sign up there.  Needless to say - I never found an occasion that I really wanted to speak with him after that. That would have absolutely never stand with Larry.  They crew seemed unhappy except for the service staff who looked exhausted from working very hard to please guests who came on feeling beat up by the home office. 

Different cruises, different experiences, I guess. We only have 2 Azamara cruises under our belts, both post "Larry", but have been overall very happy with the onboard experience. The entertainment was generally fine, singers/dancers all decent-to-quite talented, all seemed personable in random encounters, and the house band was really quite good. A couple of the guest entertainers were meh, but most were interesting. "Abysmal" is certainly far from our experience, and our group consists of multiple people with serious musical training and experience, some performing professionally, so we tend to be pretty picky but that said, you may have experienced something quite different.

 

Our limited forays with trivia were fine as well, with humorous and engaging hosts. (We under-performed at musical theater trivia this last trip, only getting 38/40 points . . .   second place was 26 😁 /humblebrag).

 

The crew was excellent and friendly, top to bottom, and any negatives are all very minor (except for issues nailing down how much OBC I had, and from where). Even signing up for excursions was fast, efficient and painless.

 

As for the main topic at hand, I am somewhat surprised that there hasn't been any shakeup in Azamara's executive staff, at least not as seen here: Azamara executive team. Given the magnitude and duration of the problems in IT, customer support and marketing communications/PR, I'd expect to see at least some of the team "pursuing other opportunities" or opting to "spend more time with their families".

Edited August 1, 2023 by JYDCruise

[uktog]

5 hours ago, federalexpress said:

 

No idea who Larry is but all I will say is I simply don't recognise your experience from the cruise I took in January. The crew were excellent, some of the best service I've come across, with the exception of the shorex individual, and I've spent most of my career in the leisure and tourism sector so I know how hard it is to pull off.

 

Maybe it has got worse since January or maybe I was lucky in my experience but to be honest, when it comes to the onboard experience and what others have said on here, you look like the outlier, not me.

Larry Pimintel is a cruise industry veteran and the previous CEO of Azamara. @babykayis absolutely correct it’s very  hard to imagine the current situation re communications happening under his watch.  He managed to maintain that open channel sometimes in pretty challenging situations despite the big parental handcuffs. 
 

Some of the entertainment changes were started when he was in charge but the speed of change as is happening everywhere has hastened. Some of the changes have led to good new hires, some of the legacy staff are out of their depth and I think Larry would have addressed that (or not made the deployment decisions in the first place). 

I have seen all the onboard behaviours @babykaymentions including being directed to the clipboard but never all on the same ship. - the imperfect storm

 

We do have to recognise English is not the first language of all the entertainers and even when it is, some have accents and use dialects others not unreasonably cannot follow. However I do think in the case of trivia new materials are needed, staff should prepare better for the quiz (eg make sure they can read the questions in advance!!) and stop playing the dummy clown when acting as question master. Some staff get that, others lack or have forgotten the professionalism of old. 

 

The foot soldiers do try hard, many are very tired they are being asked to do more and more but keep trying to respond because they want to keep their jobs. The quality of supervision and support they receive from middle management in particular is not up to scratch - it lets the hard working front line serving staff down from what we observed. It’s only going to take one or two of the long serving junior staff to jump ship to another line and many will follow - they are a big family many came en bloc to Azamara and could equally leave that way. So far inertia has saved this from happening. 
 

I hope someone wakes up and smells the coffee at Azamara very soon!!

[Grandma Cruising]

Very puzzled by this exchange. I certainly haven’t been aware of tired crew on any recent cruise nor have I ever been turned away by Shorex staff when no-one was with them. We’ve had issues raised, either with guest relations or on the mid cruise form, dealt with very quickly, with apologies given.

We’ve also come across some absolutely brilliant service ‘stars’ who went way out of their way to make our cruise feel really special.

 

[federalexpress]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Larry Pimintel is a cruise industry veteran and the previous CEO of Azamara. @babykayis absolutely correct it’s very  hard to imagine the current situation re communications happening under his watch.  He managed to maintain that open channel sometimes in pretty challenging situations despite the big parental handcuffs. 
 

Some of the entertainment changes were started when he was in charge but the speed of change as is happening everywhere has hastened. Some of the changes have led to good new hires, some of the legacy staff are out of their depth and I think Larry would have addressed that (or not made the deployment decisions in the first place). 

I have seen all the onboard behaviours @babykaymentions including being directed to the clipboard but never all on the same ship. - the imperfect storm

 

We do have to recognise English is not the first language of all the entertainers and even when it is, some have accents and use dialects others not unreasonably cannot follow. However I do think in the case of trivia new materials are needed, staff should prepare better for the quiz (eg make sure they can read the questions in advance!!) and stop playing the dummy clown when acting as question master. Some staff get that, others lack or have forgotten the professionalism of old. 

 

The foot soldiers do try hard, many are very tired they are being asked to do more and more but keep trying to respond because they want to keep their jobs. The quality of supervision and support they receive from middle management in particular is not up to scratch - it lets the hard working front line serving staff down from what we observed. It’s only going to take one or two of the long serving junior staff to jump ship to another line and many will follow - they are a big family many came en bloc to Azamara and could equally leave that way. So far inertia has saved this from happening. 
 

I hope someone wakes up and smells the coffee at Azamara very soon!!

 

Thanks for explaining who Larry is/was. It remains the case that I don't recognise the issues raised in relation to my own cruise. I have a pretty high quality threshold on holidays but it was easily matched, even surpassed on my cruise. 

 

That said, it is my one and only cruise with AZ and only second ever so I am a rank amateur compared to some of you on here who seem to have sailed dozens of times over the years. You have a rather bigger sample size than me! Moreover I sailed before all this changeover nonsense happened (in fact the date might have actually been while we were onboard). It seems clear that has been an unmitigated disaster on the IT side. Moreover some of the criticisms raised would have passed me by. I had no interest in loyalty programs or the future cruises booth, I booked almost all my own excursions, I don't do trivia and was only an occasional participant in entertainment options, aside from the excellent Azamazing evening and a well run bridge group. Finally I was in a CC suite with a butler who became my main conduit for any issues arising and who was exceptional. In truth, I probably have relatively little to bring to this debate, though I note very many others on here who also seem a bit perplexed with the onboard criticisms.

 

Anyway, I wish you and babykay many years of happy cruising on whichever line you choose.

[uktog]

Thanks @federalexpress

Everyone has equally important views I believe. Given the disappointment I’ve expressed here, it may surprise people to hear I’ve spent the last two weeks defending Azamara to others.

The context is that I was on a river cruise.  Actually I hadn’t meant to be on a river cruise. It was a late substitution for a cruise cancelled by another cruise line and in fact we did try and go with Azamara in our time window but they couldn’t help though we later found out they could have as there were lots of available rooms but that’s another saga. 

It was an excellent River Cruise, and I will do a review on the river cruises board in due course. Most of the guests on the river cruise where typical Azamara target market indeed many had sailed on Azamara up to 10 to 15 times. What was so sad was without prompting by us or expressing any of the concerns we have, virtually all of them spoke extremely negatively about recent on-board or shoreside experiences on Azamara some even believed the line had already started to fold in financially (tried to counter that but we kept getting the no smoke without fire response or from some travel agents comments that they and colleagues no longer work with them so it’s only a matter of time) - see how the communication vacuum creates pressure! Most did not plan to return to Azamara.  
None of them used cruise critic so they are perhaps the silent vanishing group.
People had spotted we cruise with Azamara because we were using one of the blue Azamara bags which are go to for day-to-day moving around ports. Typically the conversation would be do you still cruise with Azamara, we would say yes and then they would launch in to telling us their tales of woe and service issues both shoreside and onboard. We would try and defend Azamara but would try and be empathetic rather than cheerleaders.
This was with people who we got to know over 10 days on a cruise where everyone used included tours and we found even when there were little issues all were very very balanced. We never heard them being unreasonably negative about the river cruise experience, so they did not strike us as people looking out for reasons to complain. 
However our defence of Azamara failed and most of the passengers we met who had once been with Azamara are heading elsewhere. 
It’s a very small sample but it worried us. 

[federalexpress]

Interesting and it is indeed worrying, if not for me, then for sure AZ senior management. And their owners. These are not easy times for private equity though unless they are trying to offload pension liabilities, it doesn't really make sense for PE forms to see their acquisitions go bankrupt. Though they may be transactioned in a fire sale.

 

As an aside, I wonder if the strains are widespread among the industry. As I say, I have very limited cruising experience but a relative recently went on a family cruise with MSC out of Southampton. I could have advised the risks of sailing with that particular line, especially in summer holidays- I may not cruise much myself but I've worked with some cruise lines so know the brands. The ship was actually overbooked, not just full, and the experience so appalling, they disembarked on the second stop and spent over £1000 flying home. It must have been bad because I believe they got their money back, so MSC must have realised the shortcomings. 

 

There were a lot of accumulated losses during Covid. Maybe some cruise lines are trying a bit too much to make that money back, to their long term detriment.

[babykay]

4 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Very puzzled by this exchange. I certainly haven’t been aware of tired crew on any recent cruise nor have I ever been turned away by Shorex staff when no-one was with them. We’ve had issues raised, either with guest relations or on the mid cruise form, dealt with very quickly, with apologies given.

We’ve also come across some absolutely brilliant service ‘stars’ who went way out of their way to make our cruise feel really special.

 

I agree - there are some stars on my cruise.  Mid cruise form?  We didn't get a mid cruise form. And I had trouble with the shore ex staff - but these were future cruise agents - I would envision that they would be very accommodating. We have been home a week now and still haven't received the critique form. 

[babykay]

5 hours ago, uktog said:

Larry Pimintel is a cruise industry veteran and the previous CEO of Azamara. @babykayis absolutely correct it’s very  hard to imagine the current situation re communications happening under his watch.  He managed to maintain that open channel sometimes in pretty challenging situations despite the big parental handcuffs. 
 

Some of the entertainment changes were started when he was in charge but the speed of change as is happening everywhere has hastened. Some of the changes have led to good new hires, some of the legacy staff are out of their depth and I think Larry would have addressed that (or not made the deployment decisions in the first place). 

I have seen all the onboard behaviours @babykaymentions including being directed to the clipboard but never all on the same ship. - the imperfect storm

 

We do have to recognise English is not the first language of all the entertainers and even when it is, some have accents and use dialects others not unreasonably cannot follow. However I do think in the case of trivia new materials are needed, staff should prepare better for the quiz (eg make sure they can read the questions in advance!!) and stop playing the dummy clown when acting as question master. Some staff get that, others lack or have forgotten the professionalism of old. 

 

The foot soldiers do try hard, many are very tired they are being asked to do more and more but keep trying to respond because they want to keep their jobs. The quality of supervision and support they receive from middle management in particular is not up to scratch - it lets the hard working front line serving staff down from what we observed. It’s only going to take one or two of the long serving junior staff to jump ship to another line and many will follow - they are a big family many came en bloc to Azamara and could equally leave that way. So far inertia has saved this from happening. 
 

I hope someone wakes up and smells the coffee at Azamara very soon!!

Bravo - I could not have said it better.  

[Leo_On_Geo]

42 minutes ago, babykay said:

I agree - there are some stars on my cruise.  Mid cruise form?  We didn't get a mid cruise form. And I had trouble with the shore ex staff - but these were future cruise agents - I would envision that they would be very accommodating. We have been home a week now and still haven't received the critique form. 

The mid cruise critique is now a QR code printed in the insider. You have to look for it, and that makes it hard, because most people are expecting the previous printed page request. You really have to know to look for it. Although it is prominently advertised in the insider.  
 

As to not getting the post cruise critique, that probably has to do with your email address. I have found that some of my cruise bookings had  a misspelled email address while other cruise bookings  had the right email address. So sometimes I got the post cruise assessment, and sometimes I didn’t. It took quite a while to get that straightened out. 
 

The times when I didn’t receive the post cruise critique, I wrote directly to The LCV, hostess, and ask for the comments to be passed on. Better than nothing.

[babykay]

1 hour ago, Leo_On_Geo said:

The mid cruise critique is now a QR code printed in the insider. You have to look for it, and that makes it hard, because most people are expecting the previous printed page request. You really have to know to look for it. Although it is prominently advertised in the insider.  
 

As to not getting the post cruise critique, that probably has to do with your email address. I have found that some of my cruise bookings had  a misspelled email address while other cruise bookings  had the right email address. So sometimes I got the post cruise assessment, and sometimes I didn’t. It took quite a while to get that straightened out. 
 

The times when I didn’t receive the post cruise critique, I wrote directly to The LCV, hostess, and ask for the comments to be passed on. Better than nothing.

Great point - I had no idea.  I would have utilized it had I known. 

[Whitby100]

2 hours ago, Leo_On_Geo said:

The mid cruise critique is now a QR code printed in the insider. You have to look for it, and that makes it hard, because most people are expecting the previous printed page request. You really have to know to look for it. Although it is prominently advertised in the insider.  
 

As to not getting the post cruise critique, that probably has to do with your email address. I have found that some of my cruise bookings had  a misspelled email address while other cruise bookings  had the right email address. So sometimes I got the post cruise assessment, and sometimes I didn’t. It took quite a while to get that straightened out. 
 

The times when I didn’t receive the post cruise critique, I wrote directly to The LCV, hostess, and ask for the comments to be passed on. Better than nothing.

I may need a lesson in technology, but don’t you need internet to use a QR code? If so, what do those guests without do?  If not, thanks for the tip.

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, Whitby100 said:

I may need a lesson in technology, but don’t you need internet to use a QR code? If so, what do those guests without do?  If not, thanks for the tip.

You can access the form without the WiFi but would need WiFi to submit it.  We gave feedback onboard in November on two counts

1.  The reference to the QR code in the Insider was so small many would miss it.  There was no comment made say at the end of the shows each night about using it

2.  Although paper attention to detail/feedback forms were available from Guest relations, no one highlighted this, therefore many guests were completely unaware that they could use this paper process

 

Whilst some Azamara guests are comfortable using feedback codes, and leaving out blank forms in every room might not be environmentally friendly in the future, the current Azamara guest profile is now awash with QR code tech savvy guests so its kind of a millennial solution for the wrong audience.

 

It felt like they did not want any feedback!

[babykay]

11 minutes ago, uktog said:

You can access the form without the WiFi but would need WiFi to submit it.  We gave feedback onboard in November on two counts

1.  The reference to the QR code in the Insider was so small many would miss it.  There was no comment made say at the end of the shows each night about using it

2.  Although paper attention to detail/feedback forms were available from Guest relations, no one highlighted this, therefore many guests were completely unaware that they could use this paper process

 

Whilst some Azamara guests are comfortable using feedback codes, and leaving out blank forms in every room might not be environmentally friendly in the future, the current Azamara guest profile is now awash with QR code tech savvy guests so its kind of a millennial solution for the wrong audience.

 

It felt like they did not want any feedback!

Really good points. I actually didn't even know there was a guest magician on until 2 nights later.  It was lots and lots of ads and things tended to get lost.  But I am not super tech savvy - just ask my kids or better yet - ask my grand kids. 

 

 

[Leo_On_Geo]

The QR Code comes with internet minutes for guests to fill out their comments.  I asked at GR and they provided the old insider for the day I missed the QR Code and I passed it around for others to use. I have also been asked by numerous staff to submit mid cruise comments.  I don't agree that they do not want to hear comments from the guests.  I have been repeatedly told that they would rather address issues in real time, than after the guest got of the ship when nothing can be done. A satisfied guest is a future asset.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Leo_On_Geo

[urlaub]

On 4/23/2023 at 2:18 PM, ghstudio said:

The obviously poor or complete lack of planning and preparation for the change of systems is really inexcusable management.  The lack of executive communications and any timely response to phone calls or emails just compounds the situation.  Surely (from the CEO's point of view), this is all due to their vendor.....reality is that the CEO owns the problem of lack of planning and/or lack of execution of whatever plan they had.   

   

It's difficult to understand how some folks think this situation is normal or even slightly acceptable..

I am waiting for a correct confirmation since March from Azamara. Also onboard in May they were unable to confirm our booking for a cruise on Onward. That is the problem. I will not book another Azamara cruise until they do their job.

Onboard everything was fine but …

[travelberlin]

On 7/31/2023 at 8:45 PM, babykay said:

I think Larry is doing quite well and the product he is creating sounds amazing.  This absolutely would not be happening under his management.  It really is quite astounding that people think this too shall pass.  WHEN?  First it was May, then June, then July.  Still dismal.  Personally, I find that the passive aggressive attitude of Azamara is pretty awful.  Let me give you just one example from my recent cruise on the Pursuit.  I had paid for some shore excursions and got receipts from them.  when I got onboard, I didn't receive some of the tickets.  So, I visited the shore ex desk and was told that I would need to bring my bank records to prove that I had paid.  I told them that I had receipts from Azamara but they told us it wasn't good enough.  So, I had to go back to my stateroom and go through bank records.  I was able to access them and bring them to the shore ex desk.  I was given the tickets without apologies.  Later in the voyage I went to cancel a shore ex.  She said that I should wait until 48 hours before to see if I felt more up to it.  She told me that I would have to let her know by the evening of tour Stornaway day. The Shore Ex office was closed most of the day but I went as soon as they were open.  Same lady told me that I had missed the cut off by 2 hours.  They were closed for 6 hours.  I told her that she told me the evening of the Stornaway day.  She said there was nothing she could do.  Very nasty lady, and totally incompetent in my opinion.  So the bullying goes both ways. 

Which ship? 
Ivi

[travelberlin]

I was on Azamara Onward at the end of June. I was very pleased with the friendliness of the crew and with the service onboard. Guest services specially Wresley and Maribell (both managers) were very good.

 

I have had several excursions and from the three people working at the shore excursion desk, two of them made a very good impression. I believe their names were Fernando and Jan.

 

I have used the Spa services for a manicure and my nails have suffered with the procedure. I am trying to get my nails healthy again. I am afraid it will take some time. People on the Spa were very friendly though.

 

I found the condition of the ship not as good as the condition of the other ships. Some things were out of order. I had to change cabin twice due to certain issues with the cabins. I was lucky that the ship was not fully booked and they had free cabins in my category. 
 

Overall I had a great cruise. Onboard experience made me forget the pre cruise stress. I have not booked another cruise onboard though because the solo discounts have increased to 50% and even so the cruises with solo discounts were not many. But Azamara remains for me a cruiseline to book if the price meets my expectations.

 

Ivi