uktog

As there’s so much confusion on whether yellow fever exemption letter will be accepted next year on our SA trip (they were not this year it transpires) looks like our b2b2b will have to go so currently nothing until 2 biggies in 2024.

Azamara speciality restaurants are now $35 pp.without a package and on three recent Azamara cruises in different parts of the world (not that I’m bothered what people wear) I would say Azamara was much much less dressier than in the past. Can’t remember when it changed but jeans are now permitted at dinner in the main dining room. I think service now very much depends which vessel you are on and what point in the crew rotation and training cycle you are at. Having increased capacity by 25% Azamara openly admit they’ve struggled to recruit to their previous standards. There’s a lot of vacancies and there have been some very strange promotion decisions. Our recent Onward cruise was post transatlantic where 200 staff had to be replaced because of US visa issues. Service was not up to the usual standard and the galley really struggled to get hot food out. Probably for now you have to focus on the hard differences and not the soft ones dependent on individual attitudes and competence.

I have done both and have cruises booked on both in the coming year. As you will see on these boards both lines have fierce blinkered loyalists - and if you go to other social media they’re even worse! My view in the current climate - each line has their strengths which typically counter the others less good points. To name some: Azamara includes all base drink all the time, however compared to Viking their included wines are really poor. Add on drinks packages cost about the same, but Azamara you can add just one guest and you can buy it prorated mid cruise. Vikings wine choice and quality on their packages is far superior. Food and service are about the same. My recent Azamara experience would be one cruise it was superior the other it was much inferior to Viking. Consistency is becoming an issue on Azamara. The Azamara speciality restaurants are fine, again inconsistent of late and at times the service can be OTT. There can also be issues getting bookings and you cannot make any arrangements before boarding. Manfredis has a better choice than Aqualina but doesn’t cost you $70. Azamara Chefs Table is a real fine dining experience not matched on Viking. Cabins on Viking are way better in terms of layout and functionality. The ships are more spacious and a big thing on Viking with the pool roof you keep the pool space and facilities regardless of the weather. There is no indoor spa pool or steam rooms available to all on Azamara (used to have free access to steam room and sauna but that’s now charged for apart from the top suites). Entertainment is a very personal thing. At times I think I like Azamara better at other times Viking. I think it depends on the entertainer. Azamara does focus on bringing local acts onboard and does have its once a cruise deck party and in most cruises a short special evening event and they are back to doing these ashore. These are good but lately we’ve felt so much crew attention goes to the set up and delivery of these events that other things suffer. For example you start losing precious pool space on a ship with less space from just after lunch on the day of the White Night Party. And because there’s no roof the party is really at the mercy of the weather gods. We’ve frozen on too many to get excited about them. Enrichment. This one there is absolutely no contest. Azamara is very weak here. The calibre and range of speakers is far far superior on Viking who have genuine experts with slick visual presentations. Azamara rely too much on a few rather elderly presenters who claim expertise in every part of the world and offer very poor visual presentations. One our last Viking cruise we had 4 real experts on Azamara 2 only one, a former “spy” was even remotely engaging. Excursions. We are currently of the view we like the Viking included trips for orientation and find their “to purchase” offerings a more realistic price. We choose based on where we are what we do. Sometimes on Azamara we invest in the more high cost “exclusive” experiences some have been absolutely memorable for all the right reasons sadly a few have been for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately unlike Viking whose excursions desk is staffed all day on Azamara they work very reduced hours so if you have issues or want advice it’s not that easy. Unlike Viking they do not offer daily short presentations on the next port. Their so called expert wraps that up in their presentation on the history and culture quality variable real advice lacking and on our last Azamara cruise due to scheduling issues (they’ve only one venue) two ports were covered AFTER they were visited! We love that Viking offer tour departures throughout the day and at a more appropriate time for the activities. Azamara dispatches everyone 8-9.30 sometimes with other trips going at 1 so you can be wine tasting by 9 am - yuk. We also prefer the way Viking pre allocates your bus when the tickets are issued but will try and switch you if you want to make a group. Internet is a big consideration- currently Viking is free and pretty good allowing for location constraints Azamara was flakey and charged for unless you were at the highest loyalty or in s big suite. That may change Azamara have finally started moving to their new far more efficient service and the argument was always “we need a better service before we can give free access to all”. They seem to recognise that guests expect free WiFi but were probably very constrained by their former Royal Caribbean owners business model where IT was concerned. You might think I’m saying Viking is therefore better. Well there are areas Azamara are still well ahead. One is a big one for us. If there are issues with a port or weather challenges Azamara will pull out every stop and more to give you an alternative port. We again enjoyed that this summer where on the same day Viking also abandoned calling at the port but substituted a sea day. Azamara will still in many cases head to a port and try (within the boundaries of safety of course) and try - Viking do not. For example on our Norway cruise after we had left a port and still expecting two more Viking announced they wouldn’t be calling at any more ports for the cruise - cue 4 sea days the final day drifting at 5 knots to kill time and gobsmacked land tour guys welcoming other ships but having Viking no shows. That was a big turn off for us. You will hear also mention that Azamara officers are far more visible and engaged with guests than Viking. I think that one is changing- some of the staff who were the visible officers have left Azamara and the some of the new ones are not as interested in guest engagement whilst on Viking they are becoming more visible. However if being pandered to due to your loyalty or higher category of room and dining with officers is your thing Azamara is for you, if you want a ship fully open to all (subject to availability) a one class experience Viking is for you. And one final thing in our experience Viking advertise prices and generally stick to them but you have larger deposits and earlier payment dates. Azamara is constant sale sale sale it’s very hard to guess when to push the button but you’ll find much more late availability on Azamara than Viking

Exactly my experience and thoughts though I’ve no experience of P and O I did find talks in a different league on Viking. It was a rambling experience again on Onward after a painfully inaccurate experience on Quest in the summer. I wonder how Azamara review the feedback given that many have given up and don’t attend.

Nice review and very accurate in my experience thanks

However if you are viewing quotes from the UK, Vikings fare includes gratuities and air fare whereas Azamara only includes gratuity. You have to go to a further menu to see air fares. You can do your own air in the UK, but Viking only reduces the total cost by a very small amount so its not really worth it.

They are on our website

Thanks to Port Royal's recommendation we went to Catherines on our tour this week and were absolutely delighted with having the combination having the beautiful beach setting and the comfort of lovely chairs on their lawn and the most delicious food and service. The only down side, be careful, the taxi dispatcher was adamant it was US$50 each way. We paid it but feel now we were ripped off between him and the driver we were allocated.

They will try and accommodate you if the issue is medical or an allergy if you order ahead because that is easy keeping an item out but they are not your private chef so are unlikely to be able to cook individual dishes just because of taste preferences. You can ask if they did agree it would be a one off not every night

Correction it’s 17th. I got flight and cruise days muddled!

15 July is scheduled to be the naming ceremony and inaugural cruise

Oh dear our Christmas was also completely cancelled due to ill health all round. Luckily the little one doesn’t know what the day is. Hope your family recovers soon. We hope to mark the day during the next week

Our grandson hopes Santa might call at Grandma and Grandpa’s so he makes sure there is a sack with his name under our tree decorated with decorations bought from all around the world. It’s a story of 30 years travelling. Wishing everyone a very happy and warm Christmas- the midnight bells have just rung here

Being lowly I save money on the cost of my sleeping quarters where I am only in residence awake for a short time. I can spend what I save in speciality, restaurants and other treats on board and still come home, having not paid out as much as a suite would have cost.

Carlsberg is the draft becks and bud were the bottles last month. The Carlsberg at the pool bar wasn’t right some days. I’m not sure some of the new bar staff knew how to look after the lines. We upgraded not because of that but because DH loves Estrella Dam which they had on the package

I would not go as far as to say strong but I would say these materials are useful. However, on our recent Caribbean cruise, there were no materials available (maybe someone had borrowed them) and whilst accepting it was a substitute port, it would have been helpful if someone had known a little but more about RoadTown BVI. Ships do call there so it is not an unknown, but the information available was woefully lacking. I think though my bigger beef, and I would have to question even why they have destination speakers on board, was the talks could not be scheduled for two of the ports until AFTER we called there. There were other talks on that were not time critical so why were two destination talks put on for the first two sea days and all the islands covered in them?

So sorry to hear your plans are being disrupted. Interestingly the UK FCO advice does not include a no travel warning so UK guests would not be covered by their insurance if they cancel. The information on the government website dated yesterday includes this A service from Machu Picchu has begun to resume a partial service, with travel possible some of the way before the service connects with vehicles for onward travel to Cusco. My guess is Azamara are trying to work through options but will recognise there are risks. All I can suggest is you keep trying to get in contact with them - have you tried calling or messaging on Facebook or Twitter? Sorry I cannot be more hopeful and I hope your trip works for you

You pay based on what is left when you sign up so in your example a Day 2 sign up would mean you pay 6 days. Thats why I always say unless there is a Day 1 special offer (seen that only once though) check out what you think of the included drinks on Day 1 and decide on Day 2. Given you board in the afternoon Day 1 is a short day anyway

Have you been in The Den/Spirits on ships recently (the area that replaced the casino)? The entertainers in there really are now drawing in the crowds - in fact you could not get a seat post show on Onward as Vassi did her slots. They are also doing late night sets in there some nights with the cruise director or the jazz band. By the time they wind up, people are ready to call it a night. We find people call it a night not due to "age" but due to the activities they have scheduled for the next day and as many cruise for the destination they either need to recover from an extensive days touring or build up their strength for an early start the next day. I for one am very happy there is no casino. I would not avoid a ship with a casino although is a casino was impinging on limited social space that would be a red flag.

Its not unusual to be honest for Azamara. You can look at the 2024 excursions, that gives you a lot of information but Grandma is right, especially in English speaking well developed countries few people use shore excursions and Azamara knows that so will not expect many to make a decision to purchase a cruise on the basis of the shorex offering. The only trips in NZ you really need Azamara for are the ones involving chartered trains eg in Dunedin although sadly for now that train is mothballed but may be back by the time you go

Must be a different rules now - we wanted to give our spirits to the crew bar but it was a no

No he is not that photo was taken on 1 december and he left the next day. We were onboard when all these photos were being taken - there is no spontaneity in them - marketing were managing it and it took some time!!!

You cannot give them to crew they are not allowed to accept it

They did up to covid (2020)

It was the finger gestures calling him over that caught my husband's roving eye 🙂