3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Azamara is not all-inclusive and not a luxury cruise line (assuming that's what you meant by high-end).  It is a Premium line, and provides high-end value in some areas but can't do so in all without charging luxury all-inclusive prices.  If included wine is a must-have for you (a completely rational view), you will likely be more satisfied on other lines; IMHO Azamara isn't likely to fix this to your satisfaction.

Thank you for your HO.  You are 100% correct.  As you are, we are seasoned travelers but in our 50s.  We have been very loyal to Azamara and are very familiar with their operations and the majority of their officers. Once we have completed the Azamara cruises we have booked with FCCs, we will be moving on to other cruise lines for many reasons....not just the wine. 

5 minutes ago, gotcha3 said:

Nothing like going through the expense of securing accommodation on an expensive, high-end, all inclusive cruise line only to have to bring your own wine aboard as theirs is rubbish.

 

We feel the same way....complained over and over again to them while we were on the current Onward World Cruise.  The premium beverage package doesn't offer any different wine choices than the included package.   The ultimate beverage package is very limited for the wine selection.  We hope the new CEO changes the below par included wine options.... with many other things she has to improve. 

2 hours ago, wjfan417 said:

Are there seats in those showers?

2 hours ago, wjfan417 said:

Are there seats in those showers?

In the ladies gym showers....one shower is bigger than the other but both are nice sizes.  Neither has a seat/bench. 

7 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

Just a thought have you checked your ‘Spam’ folder?

Ys

7 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

Just a thought have you checked your ‘Spam’ folder?

Yes

7 hours ago, aussie travel bird said:

Just a thought have you checked your ‘Spam’ folder?

Yes...unfortunately not in spam.  Yesterday, I wrote the support team that is taking the questions for the webinar and lets hope they will send us an invitation.  Thank you and have a super day.  

On 5/3/2024 at 8:47 AM, tgg said:

Azamara has scheduled a webinar for May 14 to introduce Dondra Ritzenthaler to loyalty members. I got this confirmation email after I registered:

 

 

Thank you for registering for "Exclusive Loyalty Webinar Q&A with Azamara's New CEO".

Please join us for an exclusive opportunity to meet our new CEO, Dondra Ritzenthaler! As a top-tier member of our loyalty program, we want you to be among the first to get to know her. Please RSVP and submit your questions in the Questions & Comments box below.

Please send your questions, comments and feedback to: salessupport@azamara.com

 

Can you please send me the email about the webinar.  I have made two phone calls to Azamara to try and and get the email invitation.  Yesterday the Azamara agent after being been put on hold for a long time....asked for my email address and told me I would receive the email inviting us to the webinar by the end of the day....did not receive the email.  I called again today and the Azamara agent put me on hold for a long time...she stated she reached out to Miami and to supervisors and they said the webinar was internal personal not guest.  I explained that many have received the webinar email that are guest.  The Azamara agent suggested I reach out to all of you who have received the email about the May 14th webinar so maybe I can provide customer service more info so I can be invited to view the webinar.  I just got off the 2024 World cruise and I am a long time Azamara loyal guest.....Im going to bite my tongue but you all know why.  Can you or anyone that has the email about the webinar please send it to me florida.mvr1 @ gmail .com

Thank you. 

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Thank you for posting.  The MR4 code has not expired and the price reduced has been reduced by $500 to $4499 for 15 days DV cabin.

  We booked Saturday for the 15 day Upper Mississippi Explorer for June.  June is almost sold out for DV cabins but August has availabilty.  Thank you for posting.  

15 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Onward is in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica today. Everyone will be back onboard for our 3:30 departure. We will be sailing for our Panama Canal transit tomorrow. We will overnight in Panama then our second day will be followed by White Night before sailing. Might be a tad warm out on deck.

Glad they cancelled Educador with it its current 60 day State Of Emergency.  
We have been to Puerto Limon a few times so we elected to stay onboard. We had the entire pool to ourselves.

Officers BBQ was at 12:30 and the ships orchestra will be performing for sail away. We ate a lite lunch as we are dinning at the Chefs Table Italian dinner in Aqualina. 
Last night’s performance was from VOXX the four British tenors. Great show.Tonight our Den pianist Marty Lake  entertains in Cabaret with a Tribute To Elton John.

Yesterday I walked into Cabaret when Cumulative Trivia. Was surprised to see Captain Karl hosting when Eric had other duties.

I believe Captain Karl is leaving in Lima and Captain G. Will take the helm. Captain Karl will rejoin later in cruise.

We booked a triple back to back this morning for 62 days sailing next January from Miami to Miami on a South American, Rio Carnival and Antarctica cruise.

Life is good on the Azamara Onward World Voyage.

 

 

 

I believe it is CD Eric that leaves in Lima.

Capt G will start with us in Tahiti.  I could be wrong but Capt G has told us this since sailing with him this summer and in FLL just a week ago.   

Just now, PAtravelbug said:

Daniel says that Iwan will come on on Jan 5.   Food and beverage manager.  I have missed him.  He was all over the ship last year and lovely. 

Thank you so much for letting us know.  We were really really hoping Iwan would be the F&B on the WC.  

44 minutes ago, Ethel6666 said:

Thanks, yes I could do that, but there isn’t an indication that they’ve been paid for, just the cost. (It looks the same as it did when I added them before I paid I think). Perhaps it’s all fine, but I had thought there might be some sort of confirmation.

Just interested to hear from others whether they normally receive any documentation when they book 

You can call Azamara and ask for an updated invoice.  It will show your excursions and what you paid for them.  They can email you the invoice unless you have a TA and they will have to email the updated invoice to them.  Once your TA receives it they can forward it to you in an email.  Hope this works for you.  I did this several times recently.   Good luck. 

32 minutes ago, downtowner said:

Happy that it is fixed.  We will be boarding on Saturday.

42 minutes ago, ifield said:

I heard the  Captain state  that it  was a failure if an electrical board/component......didn't hear a thing about propulsion issues at all.

Who is the Captain (Captain G or Smith)???  Thank you

7 hours ago, SeaDayLvr said:

Hi,

 

Booking a world cruise (all segments) onboard, would you recommend keeping this booking with Azamara or transferring to our travel agent?  We always use our travel agent but the world cruise is quite involved, and we wonder if it’s best to leave it with Azamara?   Can any world cruisers share their thoughts on this?  Thanks in advance.  

A question for you...just curious. 

We booked our 2024 Azamara world cruise on board on Nov 2021.  What benefits did you receive for booking your WC on board?  Thank you. 

7 hours ago, SeaDayLvr said:

Hi,

 

Booking a world cruise (all segments) onboard, would you recommend keeping this booking with Azamara or transferring to our travel agent?  We always use our travel agent but the world cruise is quite involved, and we wonder if it’s best to leave it with Azamara?   Can any world cruisers share their thoughts on this?  Thanks in advance.  

We will be going on Azamara WC.  I recommend using your TA if they give you a large rebate, OBC etc.  If they dont find one.  You will be leaving alot of money on the table. 

Even if you have a TA we have been able to contact Azamara direct and ask alot of questions, book excursions, book flights, etc.   If you have more specific questions you can email me at florida.mvr1 at gmail.com

Best wishes. 

10 minutes ago, uktog said:

I would be in a similar situation though it’s on a single voyage most if not all would be credit card not obc. Are you saying the refund is as obc?  That’s not so good the price used to be reduced and you paid a lower amount 

I can't comment and be sure if the refund would be OBC or your original payment.  Obviously inquire with them once on board.  It might be different because your purchases would be for only a single voyage.  Mine was very complex because of the number of excursions we booked.  

You are so right.  I was hoping they take the 10% off the total and then I would pay instead of months later getting a refund.  Again, mine was very complex and I was working with the excursion manager for weeks while I was onboard to book these excursions.  Not all had been loaded to the system etc.  I was truly grateful of his efforts. 

I guess my reply was to give a little hope that as of July they were offering 10% off future excursion bookings.   They even left an advertising flyer in the cabin.  There were a few that are excempt from the discount...overnight excursions,  grand prix....

Hope it works out.  

Yes, as long as it is not an immediate back to back cruise.

In July I purchased the majority of our January Azamara World Cruise excursions.  Once I arrived home, I called Azamara to pay for the excursions.  I had to pay the original cost of all the excursions (which I paid with OBC and personal credit card).  Once on the WC in January....I will be refunded 10%.

I hope that helps answer your question and I hope it works out for you. 

13 hours ago, Riocca said:

Currently on Onward these are the senior officers:

 

Master - Captain Gianmario Sanguineti

Staff Captain - James Peter Brennan

Chief Engineer - Stanko Rajic

Hotel Director - Tatiana Morello

F&B Manager - Dejan Silavski

Cruise Director - Eric De Gray

Asst. CD - Roy Ryan

Executive Chef - Srinath Gokulanathan

Chief Housekeeper - Clifford Dcosta

Guest Relations Manager - Maribel Kury

 

Most of the hotel staff only joined at the end of last week and are currently due to stay until the 5th January 2024, Captain Carl Smith will take over sometime in November, not sure of the exact date.

 

 

 

If you have time can you post F&B Manager Dejan Silavski background.  Thank you

4 hours ago, desertgrl74 said:

Absolutely!  I just returned from a Scotland cruise on Journey and a Greece cruise on Quest.  Used OBC for corkage.  However, we had alot more OBC than we expected.  If you don't use them, they are left on the table.  So we did buy wine on the cruises.  (we bought in port or brought onboard 7 bottles, btw.)  The problem on both cruises is that, while there are some drinkable wines on the (for pay) list, they are out of 75% of them.  I tried to order a Matanzas Creek Merlot and they were out.  Also an Oregon Pinot I am familiar with and they were out.  Ditto their rose from Provence.  Also out of several "by the glass" options.  Because of that, the packages seem like a bad deal to me, not that I intended to buy one.  If you think the wines they list on the packages are available you will be disappointed.  Our favorite purchase onboard was RIdge Zinfandel blend at $79. We also had a nice Bordeaux in the steakhouse.   I should also mention that each ship had 3 "Somms".   I know more about wine than all 6 of them combined.  It is a ceremonial term, they are not somms in the true sense.  Nice people all, but not knowledgeable. And their subordinates could use some training as well.   Having said all that, I usually had the house sparkling wine (either a prosecco or a no-name champagne that was quite good) before dinner each night.  We were told they were "re-doing" their wine lists.  Fair enough, but they should not keep circulating out-of-stock lists to their guests.  I did observe that the vast majority of guests seemed perfectly happy with the complimentary wine choices - even in the specialty restaurants.  To each his own, right?

We could not agree with you more.  You are 100% right.  We were on the Onward for 33 days this summer. We were so disappointed in the included generic Azamara label wines.  We were going to upgrade to the Ultimate package and realized that the wine options were so limited and not worth upgrading.   We spoke to the FBM, that we have known for years, because we are on the Onward for the 155 days world cruise.   We were told the wines were going to be changed very soon.   Might sound weird but we really enjoy our wine and our biggest concern is bad red wine for 155 days on the World Cruise.  IOHO we really don't think additional cost for wine and corkage fees should have to be paid on our 155 days of a World Cruise.   We are very loyal to Azamara and are seasoned cruisers but bad red wine on the World Cruise will be the red line wether we return back to Azamara.  

On 9/11/2023 at 5:56 AM, FFMilesJunkie said:

On the Onward now and there is no Cabernet available on the ultimate package. The Decoy which I believe used to be available in the package  is now only by the bottle. 
 

These are the only 4 available right now (beaujolais, Aussie Merlot and Shiraz and a Chianti) Disappointed to say the least.  

If you have a chance and you are still onboard the Onward....can you tell us about the Red wines that are included and not upgraded to the ultimate package.

Are they still using the generic Azamara label for the wines?

Thank you for your time and any information.  It is greatly appreciated. 

2 hours ago, norn iron said:

I’m not onboard Onwards yet, I will be in a few weeks time.

 

Maybe as FFMilesJunkie who is the original poster of the wine photograph can help.

Oh ok. Sorry.   Ill ask FFMilesJunkie.  Thank you

41 minutes ago, norn iron said:

I'm of the exact same opinion. The Wolf Blass horrified me. 

 

If you have a chance....can you tell us about the Red wines that are included and not upgraded to the ultimate package.

Are they still using the generic Azamara label for the wines?

Thank you for your time and any information.  It is greatly appreciated. 

On 3 back to backs June and July 2023 (Onward)....yes for all three segments.  I would ask the cabin stewart if you dont get one. 

5 hours ago, auntieS said:

Whoops!  Excuse me Heidi13, I missed your post further up, with Canadian link which would be more directly helpful for Wendylet!

Thanks Katlew, yes to clarify my first post, the Australian ETA is good for 12 mo (multiple entries), but you can only stay in Australia for 3 mo at a time.

Trevelingwithstyle, entry requirements to other countries for US citizens can be found through  travel.state.gov as I detailed above.  For NZ you are directed to Information about NZeTA: New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority | Immigration New Zealand  .  US is visa waiver country so you don't need a visa but you do need a NZeTA.  They push you towards the $17 NZD phone app but you can do the $23 online application if you really want.  Buried in the online application is info about additional $35 International Visitor Levy (for conservation and tourism infrastructure) which is paid with your NZeTA, so at least $52 NZD total?

Thank you very much.  I really appreciate the assistance.  

Thank you for the assistance with the Australian Visa.

For travel to New Zealand does anyone know if cruise ship passengers should obtain the $17NZD Visa or the more expensive visa? Does anyone have that webpage or app info so I can obtain the New Zealand Visa. 

I think in early 2020 I made a mistake and paid for the expensive one.  Any help with the New Zealand Visa for cruise ship passengers would greatly be appreciated. 

12 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

On our Paris to the Swiss Alps river cruise, there were toilet instructions in Switzerland.

We went to visit the "luxurious" Casino de Monte-Carlo in July.  

They really could have used this sign in the fancy woman's bathroom.   A Chinese lady had squatted on the toilet bowl to use it.  She left her shoeprints on the seat.  You can't make these things up.  An attendant was called to clean the stall. 

Thank you for starting this post. I got a chuckle from the many photos posted.....and a good education . 

We were on Azamara June/July this year (3 b2bs) but because we had to move rooms we had to go twice to the muster drill.  We moved room because there was an issue with ours that they could not fix in two days.  They eventually fixed it.  Anyhow in June on the Onward the muster drill was done with everyone attending at one time in the dining room or theater.  On the Onward in July a few passenger sat a time in each designated muster station (dining room or theater).  I have no idea why it changed but we prefer a few passengers at a time. 

Just now, beatnix said:

Thank you, @Travelingwithstyle! I filled out the form and nothing happened. After a month or so I asked my TA to require OBC and he was told by Azamara that because of 2 booking numbers no OBC!

As I and also TA had never heard about that I asked to insist and finally we got a written receipt that our bookings are qualified for OBC. Azamara said that in the new IT-system you have to have all your following cruises within o e booking number. 

It is not mentioned in my account.

Thank you...good to know.