federalexpress

As I've posted elsewhere, I'm going to have to do that anyway. I was going to get the Ultimate package as part of the Indulgence package but although my TA said I could buy this (or part buy) in advance with my OBC, that turns out to not be the case. So I'll just have to wait to buy the Indulgence package onboard- on my 17 night trip, that is a no brainer on value for money versus buying the Ultimate package for 17 days. I guess I'm a bit of a trainspotter when it comes to (good) wine, it's a bit of a passion and before choosing Azamara over others, I researched wine offerings carefully. Hence being a little concerned if I see the quality on offer seemingly being downgraded somewhat. It actually raises an interesting moral question: once you have committed to your cruise, how reasonable is it for cruise lines to alter the prices and/or quality of what they provide onboard? You might argue that in these hard times, cutting the quality of wine in a package is fair game (I don't!). But what if they seriously hiked the price of the add ons, for example sticking another $500 on the Indulgence package. It's a grey area I think...

Just to conclude an earlier post on this topic (may have made it on another thread), my TA had indicated I could buy the Indulgence package with a combination of my OBC of $1000 and a card top up. But when I contacted Azamara, they said no, it has to be done onboard. They described it as a 'system limitation' and I take from this that they would sooner pre-sell these packages in advance if their IT allowed it. That leaves me with trying to book an excursion before it possibly sells out but unable to use the $700 I would get from the package. I'm minded to follow the suggestion on here, book it with my existing OBC, then cancel it onboard to restore my $1000 credit, then re-book it after I've acquired my Indulgence package. To be on the safe side, I've asked Azamara if this will work and I won't get double charged. Will update when I hear.

Indeed, especially as it appears to have replaced the Matanzas Creek Merlot which is a much more serious (and expensive) wine. Yellow Label is the standard of wine I'd expect to see on the included drinks package.

Ah, ok thanks, understood.

Ok well that is worth noting, maybe I need to get my reservations in fast and see if my butler has any leverage.

Forgive me, what is Windows?

This is new to me and I hadn't realised they did double sittings. Are you saying this has only happened post Covid? I'm assuming, maybe wrongly, that if you took Aqualina and Prime C together, you are unlikely to find them both completely full at any given point. Is that fair? In which case, it ought to be possible to get a table when you want it. I'd probably be OK moving from one to another if needed. In fact don't they serve each others menus anyway on request? Which would make it less of an issue anyway.

I hear you. I can see the restaurants perspective in terms of managing orders. Maybe one could try and spread stuff around between 7 and 8pm. But restaurants that do 2 sittings, both at hours well outside most people's preferences are, I suggest, doing more to optimise their profit (obviously less applicable on a cruise line) than meeting customer needs.

If they arranged your flights, then that is poor. Certainly if they didn't make you aware of the potential issues. I was also concerned to hear that you only get 6.30 or 8.30 bookings at the speciality restaurants. I personally don't like restaurants that do that and try and avoid them. I'm new to Azamara, but I'm certainly going to try and eat at my preferred 7.30pm time, at least for some nights, if necessary by doing what others have said and speak to the F and B manager.OK maybe if they are rammed that night but I think most people want to eat 7-8 so offering times that are only outside that pleases nobody.

Whoever booked you on a 1 hour connection is unprofessional, especially given the time sensitivity involved here. 60 mins is the absolute minimum connection time at CDG which means you are guaranteed a stressful time. And even that assumes it is a through ticket and the flights arrive and leave from the same terminal. If either or both do not apply, you really need to be looking at a couple of hours. As per the above post, if you fly from non EU to an EU destination, you do need to go through passport control at the connecting airport. That makes the 60 mins minimum likely unachievable. If Azamara recommended this and booked your flights, then I agree their travel advisors are inadequate.

Mmmm. The reds in particular a fair step back from what I last saw on the website. Wolf Blass Yellow Label????

I forgot to add that I also got $1000 OBC which I'm using against an Indulgence package which means I pay an extra $500. That gives me $700 for some shore excursions(most I'll arrange myself), free wifi (to the extent it works) $250 spa credit, free laundry, a chef's table event and, most importantly, an upgraded drinks package, so I'll get wines at least as good as Viking, if not better. And I'm still some way below the Viking veranda price. Tbh, I think Viking is a more premium line than AZ but there are things you can do with Az to somewhat mirror the experience.

Perhaps I shouldn't be commenting because I've not even cruised on Azamara- first time will be this January-but my choice happened to be between Viking and Azamara for my S America trip. The main reason for going with AZ was that Viking pre package their flights but were totally uncompetitive on Business class upgrades and if I wanted to book myself, the fare reduction was very meagre, only £500, and I can't believe they are paying as little as that for Economy class fares between London and Santiago/Buenos Aires. The Viking ships looked wonderful, I like the Scandi vibe. Azamara looks more to me like one of those ever so slightly faded country house hotels, but I like that vibe too. Like you, the smaller cabins didn't appeal, but the extra money for a CC suite still brought it in at roughly the same price as a Viking Veranda cabin so that swung it for me. Not that it's easy to tell from websites etc, but I also got the impression that AZ may be a little less formal, a bit more relaxed, which also suits me.

What a lovely, informative and well photographed review. Glad I found it. Might check out the itinerary, have always fancied Greece and its islands.

It depends on what is being compared. They look superior to Azamara's included wines but somewhat inferior to the Ultimate collection offering, especially the reds. On the latter, it is ironic that having rightly had our wine discussion taken off the Tips for Newbies thread, that a list of latest available Ultimate wines has just been posted on the Anyone Onboard? thread. I'd have lifted it out to here where I imagine it might be even more relevant but that's beyond my pay grade in terms of tech know how. Long and short of it, very many replacements to the website listing, mostly of equivalent quality.

Yes good call to seperate this out. I realised I was droning on about my favourite topic in the wrong thread for it.

OK useful to know. Maybe they had some short term issue on a forthcoming cruise to resolve. Or maybe business is flying.

Yep, that will certainly cause extra demand but I also wonder if their ability to do stuff arising from calls is compromised, in other words, it's more than just a website issue, but it's also affecting their internal systems and their capacity to actually operate.

Yep me too. I wonder if this is linked in any way to their current inability to answer calls or respond to emails.

Same here, they really should be able to offer the transaction online, especially if they don't answer the phone.

There is no doubt quality has indeed improved across the board. I used to buy wines for a UK brewery in the early to mid 80's including for a Spanish brand called Corrida. One of the buyers atThe Wine Society (who are my current main suppliers of wine) recalled them recently in a 'nostalgia' themed article: 'the red smelled of drains, the white smelled like sick'. Maybe so, but we generally picked one from around 50 plus samples sent in from producers so imagine how bad the stuff we didn't buy was!!!!!

I think I had the opposite journey. I started in the wine trade so drinking cru classe was, if not everyday, at least normal. Out of my price league nowadays. Today I have mainly what you might call 'jug wines' mostly from The Wine Society (UK wholesaler, not available in the US but very nice wines at fair prices). For treats, I have a bit of stuff at $20-$30, a very few more expensive. If Azamara gave me a buying budget of up to $30 for their Ultimate wines, I'd drink very well from what I buy from The Wine Society's offering at that price. Maybe better than they can do, in fact I'm pretty sure of that. About the only cru classe I now have stored in my very much smaller cellar than yours, is Batailley '10. Agree about double blind albeit when I bought wine 35 years ago for a living, we kept it in price brackets/wine types, but then we were commercially tasting, 30-60 wines at a time so you needed a centering. It's interesting how wines change over time in terms of quality and winemaking. When I bought wine, Clerc Milon was a minor cru classe and of minimal interest. Now I think it is one of the best of its class.Mind you, they have all improved, even the traditional laggards.

Nice tasting! It's certainly true I wouldn't be expecting this level as part of a wine package, that would swiftly put any cruise line out of business. How did you think the Italian 'Bordeaux' compared to the real thing? I guess it's hard to be absolute on comparative quality when few, if any of these wines are close to their peak, so one never knows for sure how they will evolve.

Yep I think they are back on. First time on Azamara but we apparently have some off ship show at a theatre in Montevideo.

Thanks for that feedback. You are clearly discerning enough for me to take on board your overall opinion, even if you don't recall the names of the wines. Interesting you should have so readily found the 'free' wines to be below par, at least according to the quality you were seeking, and found the package gave you what you were seeking. Agree that the package does take away having second thoughts about ordering something. I don't drink spirits at all but that is more out of habit and my greater lover for wine than not liking the taste. I might find myself needing the warmth of a decent single malt, like a Balvenie, when I'm sailing across to Cape Horn from the Falklands......