Azamara on "Worst" list. Oh my🤯

[oddjob16]

Just read Gary Bembridge's latest report and he now has Azamara on the list of cruise lines to steer well clear of. How damaging this will be in the long run is difficult to say, but it definately going to be a huge dent in the hull.

https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-lines-to-steer-well-clear-of-these-days/

 

Personally I know the product is stellar once you get on board, but this must be a serious wake up call for the on shore organisation. 

Edited October 6, 2023 by oddjob16

[uktog]

At least he is positive that he thinks it will change. But certainly the other six lines listed to avoid I would contend are not the company Azamara wants to keep. 

[Dr H]

As a rule, I really love the guy's YouTube videos. He raised the Azamara alarm more than a year ago, and I think that alarm was quite justified. I was very surprised to see that this current video was posted less than two weeks ago. The line also had a scathing review from two cruisers about 8 months ago. I don't think there is any question that Azamara's customer service is about as low get, and not improving at any rapid pace. This is cause for major concern. Had I not been cruising with them for 10 years, yes, I would definately have second thoughts about traveling with them. That said, we continue to hear overwhelming approval of on board service. My eyes are open. I have deposits down on two rather pricey B2Bs in Summer, 2025. That is a long time from now, and I hope I'm alive in 2025. We leave for Rome in about 4 weeks for a B2B. If things are sketchy I will be posting. If things are great I'll be posting. As for bad reviews, as our moderator can attest, all of us have an occasional bad day. And I firmly believe in an old political quote, "Trust, but verify."

[ECCruise]

Having sailed a total of over 150 days since the restart with 3 of the lines he bashes (NCL, Princess and Azamara) I disagree with lots of what he says on all 3 lines.

 

But since this is an Azamara board, I will only comment on his take there.

 

1) Have noticed not the slightest depreciation in onboard service rather than his "mixed."   Overall experience nowhere near "under par."

2) I see some negative reviews, but nowhere near the "a lot" that he touts.  I saw one long diatribe by what I could only describe as classic whiners and a couple of other sub-par takes.

3) Obviously the IT issues are legend (, but we've never had a "problems onboard" that he claims. 

4) And as an aside, after having some problems with stateside customer service 6 months or so ago, the difference we've experienced in those interactions (and we've had quite a few) in the last couple of months is like night and day.

 

Most of what he relates is culled from sitting at home and reading reviews. And maybe there is some aggregation value there, but that is about as subjective as you possibly can get. 

[Mackdogmolly]

7 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

And as an aside, after having some problems with stateside customer service 6 months or so ago, the difference we've experienced in those interactions (and we've had quite a few) in the last couple of months is like night and day.

That’s what my TA says too.

[ECCruise]

7 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

That’s what my TA says too.

Ours says the same. And boy, was she negative 6 months ago. 

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Just read Gary Bembridge's latest report and he now has Azamara on the list of cruise lines to steer well clear of. How damaging this will be in the long run is difficult to say, but it definately going to be a huge dent in the hull.

https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-lines-to-steer-well-clear-of-these-days/

 

Personally I know the product is stellar once you get on board, but this must be a serious wake up call for the on shore organisation. 

He had a poor experience recently and I think that has weighed heavily on his "avoid" rating. He said there were signs of cutbacks and a fall in service standards. I can't agree with either of these from what I've seen, but shoreside yes. However, that alone would not make me avoid. So I think his opinion is unfairly skewed. 

 

Phil 

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

Ours says the same. And boy, was she negative 6 months ago. 

Same

[excitedofharpenden]

40 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

Same

It's not good, is it?  I changed to a new ta fairly recently.  Before I booked she said not good, but getting better. Since I booked and had an issue. that's changed to "they are very difficult to deal with".  This is not sustainable. They need to get to grips as a priority. Stop sending me daily marketing emails and get your house in order!

 

Phil 

[NewSalty]

Having sailed Azamara recently (June 2023), I have to agree that the on-board experience is still outstanding, compared to our prior sailing in September 2022 and 3 recent Oceania cruises).  We booked through a TA, and purchased our excursions before the great IT changeover debacle, so we were pretty well shielded from that.  We're currently booked for a May 2024 cruise, again through a TA.  The IT experience for this cruise has not been near as horrible for us as what I've been seeing in CC, but that may largely be because we have no OBC for this cruise.

 

With that said, I do have my concerns about the new ownership and the on-going viability of the line. The IT mess is very concerning - if people can't (or won't) book cruises, then they won't be buying those cruises.  I've noticed that Azmara cruises tend to fill up much later than one of their primary competitors (Oceania) - at least the cruises I've been interested in.  And generally, only after Azamara puts them on a huge sale of one sort or the other.  The new sales policy is definitively start high (higher than Oceania) but eventually go as low as necessary (I've seen 50% reductions) to fill the ship.  This reeks of desperation - I pray that it is working, because I want Azamara to stick around.  Unfortunately, it drives me nuts, as I am a long term planner, and hate having to wait for the inevitable sale before purchasing. 

 

 

[wjfan417]

My husband and I are currently on the Pursuit ending the first leg of a B2B, and were on the Quest in July. Both cruises had several first time Azamara cruisers, and everyone we spoke to loved the cruise and said they would book again. Pursuit is completely sold out for the next segment of our B2B.

[G2G]

4 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

He had a poor experience recently and I think that has weighed heavily on his "avoid" rating. He said there were signs of cutbacks and a fall in service standards. I can't agree with either of these from what I've seen, but shoreside yes. However, that alone would not make me avoid. So I think his opinion is unfairly skewed. 

 

Phil 

Totally agree. I cannot fault the service I had onboard Quest in June & I am looking forward to boarding Onward in November. If I was feeling that way inclined, I could complain about Nirvana, but I pay my money & in all honesty in the past 15 years have had a very good experience. I also sail other lines, but love the Azamara experience. 

[avw]

12 hours ago, oddjob16 said:

Just read Gary Bembridge's latest report and he now has Azamara on the list of cruise lines to steer well clear of. How damaging this will be in the long run is difficult to say, but it definately going to be a huge dent in the hull.

https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-lines-to-steer-well-clear-of-these-days/

 

Personally I know the product is stellar once you get on board, but this must be a serious wake up call for the on shore organisation. 

Never heard of the guy. I looked up his web site. He seems to be quite full of himself with very extensive details of his entire personal life. His opinion is simply one man's opinion. And, in my personal opinion, his overall assessment is WRONG. I can't wait to get on Azamara again. I currently have 5 future cruises coming up on Azamara, all booked as a result of my wonderful recent onboard experiences. I hope he doesn't deny some people the opportunity to have a wonderful cruise experience because of his incorrect classification of Azamara.  

Edited October 7, 2023 by avw
needed to add a missing word

[Hammer61]

I find him a bit "clickbait" he had a YouTube review of Azamara about a year ago that was titled a cruise line going downhill rapidly or something along those lines that was very sensational in its wording in part i expect to get people to watch it = $.

 

I watched it and at the time thought if these gripes and issues are the worst you can come up with it really is very trivial. Most seemed to be down to the new staff getting used to getting back to work after COVID, one server gave him a coke instead of a diet coke i think it was, another forgot his bacon at breakfast one morning, he was also full of praise for the way Azamara crew handled a problem with his cabin though and he was promptly moved and helped in that regard and also liked the food and service overall, but still went ahead with the clickbait headline. 

 

His stuff on YouTube is ok, but i do find him a bit patronizing at times, some of his tips for travelers are really the obvious or you have to be an idiot not to realize or see, other channels do a better job i think but he has a big following so each to their own.

 

We were on the Quest in February, and it was maybe the best cruise we have been on and will be booking Azamara again.

[swigso]

One thing that could be improved is the booking process. Why do I need to provide all my details before I can see what cabins are available. I just leave the site.

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, avw said:

Never heard of the guy. I looked up his web site. He seems to be quite full of himself with very extensive details of his entire personal life. His opinion is simply one man's opinion. And, in my personal opinion, his overall assessment is WRONG. I can't wait to get on Azamara again. I currently have 5 future cruises coming up on Azamara, all booked as a result of my wonderful recent onboard experiences. I hope he doesn't deny some people the opportunity to have a wonderful cruise experience because of his incorrect classification of Azamara.  

The issue I have with YouTube reviews is that many of them put themselves across as the definitive review when in fact all they are, as you point out, their personal opinion. I've seen some of Gary Bembridge's stuff. Some is ok, but when you have a dramatic title like "cruiselines to avoid" I think it's more to do with attention grabbing to get views of his channel and that makes me lose respect.

 

I don't think Gary is very keen on change from what I've seen. Take the review with the pinch of salt it deserves I think. And it's not just Azamara he says to avoid. 

 

Phil 

[oddjob16]

As the OP I have to point out that Pembroke's article is by no means anything close to my own impressions if Azamara. I have not yet been subject to any negative from head office or the onshore organisation as such. My TA is handling all my requests and does a very good job. 

The fact that Azamara finds itself on such a list is what worries me.  A lot of people find this guy very informative and take his opinion to be very objective and serious.

Edited October 7, 2023 by oddjob16

[Riocca]

All these YouTubers earn money by getting “clicks” so the headline is always sensationalised to grab attention, they all look to cruise lines for free cruises and upgrades so I don’t believe any of them as their views can be tainted because they feel they haven’t had enough attention. We have our likes and dislikes like everyone else, and many of these people have very different views from us, only review I trust is our own but we wouldn’t inflict our views on anyone else. 

[oddjob16]

Typo. Bembridge not Pembroke

[cruisemom42]

Never heard of Gary Bembridge before I heard his name here a few times. I venture to guess many cruisers are in the same boat so to speak. I certainly wouldn’t allow his opinion to inform mine.

[Huntingdon1701]

Ironically, it was one of Gary's earlier youtube videos that persuaded me to try Azamara for the first time. I find the actual content of the videos/articles generally reasonable, but the titles have been moving significantly towards clickbait this year. 

 

However, the onshore customer service from Azamara has been so terrible for two out of three of my cruises that I'm at the point where next month's will probably be my last. Even the fantastic onboard experiences I've had don't outweight the pain of dealing with shoreside, not at the price point Azamara charges. I'm better off with MSC's Yacht Club. 

[norn iron]

Unfortunately Gary Bembridge’s videos are all about Gary Bembridge!

 

I tracked back through all of his videos in chronological order (from the most recent) and unless he cruises and then doesn’t do a video (highly unlikely) it is over a year since he set foot on an Azamara ship.

 

He is making assumptions by what he has read about the substandard shoreside experience, and not reflecting the onboard professionalism.

[DreadPirateRobert]

My first experience with Azamara was in June of this year. Obviously I can’t speak to what it used to be like but we really enjoyed our time. We did the Ireland intensive so with long port stops and overnights we really didn’t spend that much time on the ship. 
The time we did was quite pleasant. There is a casual elegance that we enjoy. The crew was very friendly, the food quite good. Our ship, the Pursuit was clean and very well cared for. 
Our experience exceeded our expectations so much that we booked a B2B for ‘24. 

[Mackdogmolly]

5 hours ago, Huntingdon1701 said:

However, the onshore customer service from Azamara has been so terrible for two out of three of my cruises that I'm at the point where next month's will probably be my last

This is exactly why we use a TA. They absorb all of the pre-cruise pain, and we just enjoy the ride. 

[Huntingdon1701]

10 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

This is exactly why we use a TA. They absorb all of the pre-cruise pain, and we just enjoy the ride. 

UK TAs are not as good. Besides, I like doing the planning so I'd lose part of what I enjoy about cruising. I can keep it with other lines.