federalexpress

Yep, depressing really. Flyer Talker's post isn't exactly uplifting either. I hope they get their act together for my cruise early next year.

I guess you pay a big premium for being at sea. Still, I'll have a $250 credit from my Indulgence package so I guess my better half can get herself an hour massage....

You raise an interesting question, who does Azamara compete with. I wouldn't have HAL or Fred Olsen as the most obvious and when I was looking for my current cruise, those two were not on my list. Celebrity were, in terms of pricing/positioning but not when I relaised the extent to which they have gravitated towards 'party on a boat'. In my case, it was a choice between Viking, Oceania and Azamara. Of the 3, Viking was the priciest, but not by much of you took their normal veranda cabin which isn't much smaller than a Club Continent suite. I just didn't like how they structured their airfares. Oceania would be the more direct competitor, but I found their pricing structure a bit confusing and their itineraries not quite as interesting. Not sure I've made the right choice, it's my first time with AZ(and only my second ever cruise), but I'll know by February...

As others have said, it's horses for course and no rights or wrongs, just personal preferences. I have very little cruise experience and none on Azamara, but I got alarmed reading about music being played at the pool and loudly in some of the bars. Not my bag at all and I'm glad they stopped that. I wouldn't go near Celebrity for example, I can see what they offer and it's not remotely for me. What you call boring is to me relaxing and peaceful, a chance to read a book, chat to fellow passengers or enjoy the scenery. It's probably partly an age thing, on your pic, you look rather younger than I am!. How Boxman describes it is quite apt. I also regard this as a floating hotel to take me to interesting places, with good food and service along the way. Hopefully that is what I get. Not really looking for entertainment much, other than maybe a pianist or maybe a violinist in some of the bars. On my only other cruise, a much bigger ship on HAL, I popped in to see a couple of fairly big production shows but didn't sit through one. I wasn't there for that. I think it is very much a positive that we have choice, moreover that the choice is clearly defined and not trying to appeal to everyone (that never works). To be fair to both Celebrity and Azamara, I think they both have very distinctive pitches. The question, as Boxman suggests, is whether there is a market in the niche. For sure I think Celebrity's is larger, cruise ship as a destination seems to be a big part of the market. I'd imagine there is business for Azamara, reasonably classy but informal and quiet/'boring with the emphasis on the destination. But it might not be too much bigger than 4 smallish ships...

Wow, quite aggressive prices! But then it may not look so bad in dollars to our American cousins, compared to our rather meagre exchange rate...

I'd be happy if they are reading along, that way they can better understand feedback. Mine is that the wines on the Ultimate package are sub standard for what you are asked to pay extra for. The reds are especially disappointing given what they still put up on their website. If they can find a decent Italian wine to go on the included list from a producer as respected as Cotarella, they can surely do better than Mondavi Woodbridge or a sub $10 Italian Merlot for the Ultimate list.

Well things seem to be looking up for the included wines. You won't go too far wrong drinking that one. What I find bizarre is that it is a better wine, and quite a bit more expensive, than the Merlot on the Ultimate list that was recently posted. They know not what they do....

Nice review, glad you enjoyed your trip.

Is that one of the included wines? I'd be OK with that on the Ultimate list, it's better than some showing on the most recent menu for those. It's the entry level wine of Cotarella, a very respected Italian winemaker.

Napoleon I am very familiar with, minor academic interest at school, but also did Napoleonic war gaming (don't laugh). I guess Elba just wasn't far enough.. As it happened, I did look up St Helena winery and there is one, small scale and very expensive reds not likely to be sighted any time soon on the Ultimate list.

It sounds like you are being ironic but I must admit I've never heard of that winery.

I'd be pleasantly surprised to see Eroica on the Ultimate list but I have a hunch that isn't going to happen anytime soon, looking at what they currently put on the list.

Mmmm. Tough to actually recommend anything on there. If you like Pinot, the Estancia is probably the best of a pretty 'meh' bunch. That new group sommelier can't arrive soon enough.

Mmmm. Tough to actually recommend anything on there. If you like Pinot, the Estancia is probably the best of a pretty 'meh' bunch. That new group sommelier can't arrive soon enough.

As others have said, it really is an individual choice depending on your budget, how you wish to deploy it and to some extent, how much time you spend in your cabin. For me, I like a larger cabin and definitely want a veranda. I chose a Club Continent suite for my first trip on Azamara, because I felt the veranda cabins were a bit smaller than usual, the bathroom especially. However if you are OK with a small bathroom, one suggestion would be to book a veranda cabin, then see if you can bid for an upgrade. From that I've seen, those can be very cost effective going from veranda to Club Continent. In contrast they are very expensive to go from Club Continent to Spa suite or higher, presumably because there are very few high grade suites. And given Onward has many more Club Continent suites than the other ships, I reckon your chances of a cost effective upgrade from veranda are probably quite good. You might want to look at the thread on Cabin upgrades, there's a handy spreadsheet on it that summarises all the bids and which were successful. Gives a fair idea of the likely costs and thus what you'd be likely to pay on top of a veranda. I suspect it would save a fair bit of money compared to buying a CC suite from the outset but of course it isn't guaranteed.

Ah I see what you mean.

True but I guess this whole thread is about the thrill of the chase, people wanting to know what others have paid for what. Fair point on the cabin choice and of course with AZ, that can be significant since the least popular CC's, thus the ones more likely to be available, seem to be the ones with a bath, no shower, and I much, much prefer the latter. Looking at it from CC upwards, I was not greatly attracted by my upgrade offers because the spa and Club Ocean suites are at the front of the ship and we are sailing in potentially rough waters but also the cost was eye wateringly high.

From a commercial perspective, the upgrade model is basic yield optimisation. Same that airlines use. The price is low if low demand, high if high demand and the pricing is dynamic. Some long haul airlines even do their own upgrade offers, from Economy to Business. The one drawback is that it can result in bad feeling, where someone is paying a lot less than you are, if for example you booked yourself in business class to begin with. Or in this case, someone getting the same CC suite as you but paying much less by a lowish upgrade bid from a Verandah. I can see therefore how some may not like it, but for better or worse, I think dynamic pricing and yield management are not going to go away. To the extent I need to console myself where someone gets and upgrade at a basically lower price than I've paid, I could argue that the fare I paid gave me a guarantee, not a possibility, and that carries a value in itself. Certainly when it comes to late cruise deals when they are long haul, the money you might save on the cruise will almost certainly be more than counterbalanced by the higher flight costs you'll face with a last minute booking. The only truly attractive late fare deals would be ones in my case that left from my home port, in the UK, or somewhere almost as cheap to get to. I suspect Azamara don't do many of those, in fact the few ex UK cruises they do seem prohibitively priced.

Yep that is true and if you do a mix of those, it should be a fun trip. Have a good time.

I gather there is a finesse you could try. You can cancel excursions without charge a set time in advance- I think 48 hours but you'd need to check. You could then in theory cancel any which are happening 2 plus days after you board, then immediately re-book those with the OBC you have. Your card should then be refunded. It is at the minimum worth asking once you get onboard. The only reason I did not do this is the excursion I most wanted to reserve was one of the few that are non cancellable, a private driver in one of the ports. The annoying thing is I would have re-booked it onboard straight after cancelling it, but no, that didn't work for them, rules are rules. It's a bit over complicated really, there ought to be an easier way.....

Although I've not yet cruised on Azamara (that comes in January) I've explored this topic extensively. I believe you are correct, that you can use OBC to buy a beverage package (or other packages/services) when you are onboard but not before. I looked into buying an Indulgence package ahead of the cruise which among other things, included a drinks package and an excursion allowance. I wanted to use the latter to book an excursion before it ran out. I wanted to pay with OBC plus cash. No go, I was told it could only be done onboard. From what I can see you can only use OBC pre cruise to book excursions. This made me question why. I concluded it is probably because by making you wait till you get onboard, they can change their pricing in the meantime to enhance their margins and/or deal with inflation pressures, especially given some people book a long way in advance. Hence the value of that OBC might decline over time. Excursions are accepted probably because they have already contracted these rates. Otherwise they insist you buy anything else pre cruise with cash. While that restricts the margin/inflation opportunity referred to above, I guess they trade that off against the fact they have more upfront money, so it's good for cashflow, whereas OBC is not cashflow positive.

Be aware those lists are very likely out of date, even though only from a few months ago. I'd be very content with the red wines shown on the Ultimate package on that pdf but I've discovered on a different thread more recently, they are not offered, which would be fine if the replacements were equally good, but they aren't. I think at least for that package, it's going to be a bit of a lucky dip, depending on which ship and when you go.

Interesting insight. It's encouraging to hear that Azamara have acknowledged shortfalls in this area and are starting to address them. Sadly it will probably not happen in time for my cruise in January. Just hope there is something decent on the Ultimate package or I can persuade the onboard sommelier to go 'off piste' and find something reasonable. The Chateau Ste Michelle link up makes sense. While they are not stellar in quality, I imagine they would be rather too costly for the included wines, but could provide a decent foundation for the Ultimate package.

Yep, I'm guessing she was on that early flight. Even if she didn't check in online- and she likes her apps and tech so presumably did- most if not all people would surely seek information on when they could board. Same as they do for hotel rooms. Personally I'd have been on the 12.30pm flight, after all there is still plenty of wiggle room before the ship goes, armed of course with appropriate travel insurance for delays.

I'd agree that Emma is a good cruise blogger, one of the better ones. However one does need to understand- as she makes clear herself- she is a mass/budget cruiser and was only on Azamara because she happened to access an amazing deal. So I think it is inevitable she would be impressed compared to what she is used to and I think that makes it a very useful insight for those looking to trade up from e.c NCL, MSC, P and O etc, to understand what's different on a premium line like Azamara, less so if people are trying to choose between Oceania, Azamara and other premium lines. Even so, I also enjoyed her video. I think the point about research re boarding is fair enough however. Presumably for budget reasons, she appears to have got one of the very early Easyjet flights. She said on the video that she had been up at 4am so presumably that flight got into Barcelona maybe around 9-10am. Go straight to the port after such an early flight and you are going to wait, on Azamara even more so because they don't board till c 2pm (rightly or wrongly). Actually it's feasible she knew this full well, but it adds a bit of 'con' into what might have otherwise been a maybe too effusive list of 'pros'.