uktog

Thank you for clarifying - I would agree you suffered from less than perfect service. Not sure in my language it was unprofessional which I see is inappropriate behaviour/conduct in relation to guest interaction and guest property. Encroaching personal space, looking in drawers etc is inappropriate and unprofessional, not showing empathy is less than perfect service. I hope you shared your findings with the appropriate managers

Care to explain and evidence?

Local currency throughout so Norwegian Kroner in Bergen and Sterling everywhere else but Dublin which is Euros- this is a relatively easy itinerary not needing too many currencies

Is there not also an emerging issues with some ports (?? including Norway) that Azamara vessels hit as they cannot use shore power when in port? The curse of older vessels

In April it was $8 before the discount - a good add on for me as it got me sparkling water that I like (the included is too flat for me)

I’m not sure I would see the whisky absence as a big issue but if that had been my butler I would have gone straight to the General Manager as that behaviour is unprofessional and unacceptable. Anyone going through guests drawers without their permission should be asked to leave. Joining you at dinner without your invitation is also an absolute no no

If you are talking about a Perry Golf cruise as I said in Post 13 above, no issues indeed the group adds to the cruise experience rather than detracts. Often the men are golfing and the ladies go as singles on excursions or start to team up with non golfing guests during the day. To be honest I look for Perry Golf cruises when choosing my cruises despite being at crazy golf skill level and never played a round of proper golf in my life

Thank you for the clarification. I don’t think the vagueness helps posters trying to keep within limits. I think this needs clearly defining and incorporating in the guidelines or forgotten about and existing rules about disruptive behaviour relied on to manage the occasional lapses. I think many were quite surprised by last nights post. Thanks for the communication

Owners suite guests get Best of the Best (a one night event) and Speciality Restaurants but not chefs table included in their fare

I am a non golfer married to a golf agnostic. We’ve been on many cruises that have been Perry Golf events. We’ve never heard anything but their guests raving about their experience and how good the golf is/ how well they are looked after. We’ve also loved the company of that group of guests. It’s so professionally handled having the group enhances rather than detracts from everyone else’s experience.

Thanks - when did this guideline start as I can’t see it anywhere? I can see the reason on one hand but there are so many good reasons not to have this restriction. For example people booked on a similar itinerary in the past sharing specific information or future bookers looking for it for the future; people on the previous or next cruise sharing or seeking information; local experts answering queries re transport and docking positions etc. Some things are very specific and in any event many people I meet at Meet and Mingle events only follow the roll calls. Can you clarify what is or isn’t permitted? I was about to help someone on a roll call asking for information about a port near here. I won’t post for now to avoid falling foul of what I didn’t know!

You can unsubscribe from emails so you should be able to get figures from Perry Golf and then say “opt out of marketing”

Sometimes surveys are also used to confirm the status quo is the right way to continue to operate

I would rebook now to the later flight. Athens can be a slow disembark usually starts about 7.30 or later. You are 45 minutes to the airport

But you had the option to say none of the above. The UK prices in the examples wasn’t far off what is charged.

I thought it was an excellent well constructed survey unlike the amateur survey monkeys of the past. The way it presented over a series of questions what combinations you wanted and also looked to find your dealbreakers will give them very good data for analytical purposes. I certainly saw this as being a much more professional piece of research than in the past

I agree - I think your judgement will always be different if you have paid "full whack" for your cruise and thats the people I want to hear from. Secondly the "gushers" want to stay in the pocket of the cruise line to get the best deals for their clients. They are often also running facebook pages in tandem with travel agencies so you see comments like "I will have some good offers coming soon". So of course we can only talk about the wonderful and post photos beside key players etc. On one Facebook site I was removed for answering perfectly valid questions of clarification pre cruise and another, when I had issues with my first reservation I got accused of being a troll and got vicious messages from someone who continues to gush to this day. I know here has a disadvantages in some eyes about not being able to message posters but I would say thats a huge plus.

Ask the question again to Azamara you’ll probably get a different answer 😃

When we were on onward they did the event on the port side of the living room at the back where the long table is. It doesn’t really work well there. You can’t circulate round the table if others are sitting down and it’s very hard to work out who was part of the roll call and who wasn’t. Group conversation is impossible. This is the curse of doing away with the library for another bar.

I think there’s an issue with “Seaware” out of the box which leads to a less than ideal experience however once cruise lines pay for customisation as Azamara seems to be doing - hence changes coming on stream in the summer and further releases beyond then based on the CEO webinar- it will start to fit better for the guest. It’s got all the advantages of an integrated system so the very important management functionality filters down to be a guest benefit in time (such as better knowledge about each guest’s preferences, improved inventory control, less inventory wastage etc etc) Seaware was a change for us all, our baptism with Azamara was very poor, they know that, however it’s going to be the future for many lines (Veronix also have hotel management systems and other leisure related packages) so we need to accept it and move on. At least Seaware brings combined intelligence to the software developers from many cruise lines and guests aren’t at the mercy of home build patch and bridge systems Azamara struggled so much to migrate away from.

I was expecting you to call it from a house phone using the number in your room information and taking a note of it - that’s what I’d have done in the situation you had. I suppose working abroad as a solo female in crazy places I’ve become very creative and adaptable in hotel/travel situations Yes we had bars closed but never had an issue - you must have been unlucky. Are you going to give Explora another chance or seek a deal elsewhere in the future?

We had a large number of influencers and agents on the ship so rooms were used for their presentations day and early evening. We never had a problem finding somewhere to sit/drink. We also had the annoyance of the models wanting us not to sit on sofas as it impacted on photos but we managed. They did alter the dynamics and what was available to us but I’d still call it a niggle. Like the lack of doorbell would be a niggle to me and I’d dismiss it as a situation that arose because of how you unfortunately had to use the room more than anything else. And for coffee before 7 I accept you can’t instantly get it outside your room I’m not sure why calling for room service to deliver to an agreed place is such an issue. Much more hygienic than open machines touched by many. My niggle was the lack of reasonable entertainment offering in the evening exacerbated by an over excited self focussed cruise director (who has fortunately moved on) - but again we moved on. For us we are thankful we’ve even been able to get away so I suppose niggles don’t get any real attention from us.

I would only bother if others issues were significant (eg relating to food quality entertainment etc). I see the items stated on the post not as issues more as niggles - I agree to a point about evening coffee though I have had beautiful coffees up sitting beside the whisky bar when I was onboard. For me, no ship 100% meets my “peculiarities”. I adapt wherever I go or learn to live with the tiny things. I could certainly do that easily on Explora

I should have added our first Explora experience was surrounded by influencers and people on freebies but we were able to see beyond that to be happy to book again. It is an issue and something I would be aware of when choosing itinerary - shorter trips starting on ending in Miami may be more at risk

We have many cruises on Azamara and have had one cruise in MSC Yacht Club and two on Viking. We prefer quiet, relaxed with good attentive service but not over the top fawning. On Azamara we usually go for a Club Continent. We hate big ship. loud entertainment or loads of upcharge all around the ship. We prefer fewer children (but do not need child free) and have no need for onboard shopping. Good food matters to us as does some "piano bar" entertainment. With that background we can say we tried Explora when it was still settling in last Autumn but liked it so much we have booked two more cruises. Compared to Azamara the food is far better and more to our tastes and even the base level suites are far better than a club continent. There is much more guest space than Azamara - it is more on a par with Viking. However in terms of pools and outside space the order of preference is 1. Explora 2. Viking 3. Azamara. In terms of entertainment our preference is 1. Viking 2. Azamara 3. Explora I am glad we have found Explora - we were not enjoying Azamara as much as we used to, though weve since had a better experience on them - and would encourage others to try it with an open mind