Topic: Would Azamara suit?

Hello all!

As a new member to the forum, but not new to cruising, i thought i would see if anyone could help me out with some much needed advise!

I am a cruise regular with Celebrity, and recently returned off the stunning Equinox in the Caribbean. Whilst on board i learned of a sister line to Celebrity, Azamara Cruises, which looks really good i must say! Looking through this site i see that they have had some fantastic reviews and are now offering $500 to spend on most voyages! I am very tempted to give it a go, but im not sure what to expect on board? Is it really like Celebrity? is it as quiet at night as i have heard? Any advise would be great as im still undecided!

Thanks

I'm a massive Azamara fan, having cruised on Journey round the eastern Med and Holy land last October and November. I'm still a Celebrity fan too, but the smaller, more luxurious feel of Azamara takes what I think is the best of Celebrity and then upgrades it further. The food is much better than on Celebrity, the service is better, the ships are beautiful. I don't know about 'quiet' at night - there was no less going on aboard Journey and you get to know fellow cruisers better.

Most people know that I am also a Azamara fan and have recommended it so many times with the proviso that it is a small ship and consequently you will not get the range of activities and bars that the big ones provide.
I never had an early night or a quiet night on any of my three cruises on them unless it was of my own choosing.
Don't go on expecting entertaining extravaganzas but go with the knowledge that within a short space of time the staff will recognise you and do so much to make you feel part of an elite family. .....Neil

Small but nearly perfectly formed

Azamara Journey near the top of the list of my favourite ships, see my review back in Dec 08. For port hopping - VG. But trans-atlantic 6 days at sea - lack of "intellectual" activites.

Celebrity Century bigger ship but still VG.

Consider Swan Hellenic - Minerva - good excursions included, lots of brain exercise & an even better class of punter ;-)
"What I like about this ship is that it is so middle claaass"
2 Lords, 5 Sirs, half doz Dr. & one Admiral (mind you he was retired and anyway only a Rear Admiral so he wouldn't improve the tone too much)

HI, we have just returned from the Quest and I would say do not book, we found the food lacking the entertainment between average and downright awful, they are changing their brand and I feel we got caught in the middle of this, the public rooms are very crowded, nothing much is going on after 9.30, we have all travelled with Celebrity and RCCL and 3 of us with Cunard, we all felt on every count Celebrity was better and Azamara not worth the premium.

Depends. If you want small ship luxury, try the 3 small sister ships, Royal, Ocean and Pacific Princesses. You will only pay 15% serivce charge instead of the exorbitant 18% on these two ships, will not have to queue for an hour when everyone wants to get into the dining room at once, and will not be unceremoniously dumped off the ship at the end of your cruise. This was not a patch on my Celebrity cruises, which cost me a fraction of the price.

I am another Azamara fan
They are in the process of re-branding and prices have increased, hence the $500 credit! (we were all lucky to get such good prices earlier)
I have to say that I don't consider them 6 star! very good and the staff are so friendly but they would have to do something more for 6 star.
Very much a comfortable 'country house' cruise.

QUOTE:

Small but nearly perfectly formed

Consider Swan Hellenic - Minerva - good excursions included, lots of brain exercise & an even better class of punter ;-)
"What I like about this ship is that it is so middle claaass"
2 Lords, 5 Sirs, half doz Dr. & one Admiral (mind you he was retired and anyway only a Rear Admiral so he wouldn't improve the tone too much)

One of my favourite quotes concerns when we were sitting close to two ladies on Minerva II and one said to the other, "My dear, I've looked through the passenger list and I have searched "Who's who" and , quite honestly, there is no one worth knowing on this cruise"
Looks like she should have been on yours.

QUOTE:

Depends. If you want small ship luxury, try the 3 small sister ships, Royal, Ocean and Pacific Princesses. You will only pay 15% serivce charge instead of the exorbitant 18% on these two ships, will not have to queue for an hour when everyone wants to get into the dining room at once, and will not be unceremoniously dumped off the ship at the end of your cruise. This was not a patch on my Celebrity cruises, which cost me a fraction of the price.

I am just wondering if most of your statements concern Celebrity and not Azamara. Whilst I appreciate that the entertainment is not to everyone's taste and that exhorbitant to you means three extra cents in the dollar, not once did anyone on any of my three cruises on Azamara wait for any length of time to enter the dining room, when we embarked and when we disembarked we were met and said farewell to by more executive staff than I have even seen on other ships.
As my intro says it's not for some then but the same applies to Oasis, Destiny and Marco Polo. ....Neil

No......actually I have only ever been on one Celebrity cruise, which was wonderful. But as you say, I like small to middle size ships, and the one I sailed on was a middle size. Celebrity seemed to be one of the first lines to start the "lets build the big ships" trend since I remember being on a land based holiday in Antigua when it was the first visit of I think the Constellation, since they had just dug out the harbour to accommodate her. I depart on my third small Princess voyage - down the Amazon, complete with Yellow Fever certifcate - in 10 days. I actually have a limit of 2000 passengers for a ship. Over that, you lose out on quality of food and service and its a different atmosphere on board. Thats totally my experience in my 30 odd cruises on 19 lines. Other people will have different requirements and views. How many people for instances take cruise after cruise on RCL, and love it. For me it was so awful never again. For a new cruiser, unsure of the market, it must be confusing to know just which line and which ship.

As for the rebadging, they are aiming at the European market since I am reliably informed by an American Travel Agent friend, that the Americans try Azamara once, but do not rebook, and that my experiences on the cruise with them, was nothing out of the ordinary. We had a whole saga about tipping and service charges, which is something of a culture thing. Americans demand good service, and hate to "get in the line". Certainly, there were some very angry people in the dinner lines on the Journey, and comments that they were paying "18%, darn it, for this" and "we can't even reserve a table". My experiences were more like "lets extract as much money as possible from them" attitude as I got on the worst cruise I ever took on my one and only ever outing on Royal Caribbean (before they built mega ships), and not Celebrity which I had already enjoyed. In the main, I will stick to the smaller Princesses and any HAL ship - they are all the right size for me (largest 2050 capacity). The service and food quality are better. Maybe I spend too much time in America, I don't know. Different elements have importance to each individual. That why we have such a wide choice of companies and ships.