federalexpress

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

3 hours ago, Cruiser6270 said:

Well, finally got through this morning, after hours of wasted time, holding on previous days. Said I'd completed the online form 5 days earlier but had heard nothing. Rep explained they're inundated with calls at the mo, and emails are having to take a back seat. Looks like perseverance is the answer.

 

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

35 minutes ago, Riocca said:

That section of the website being down is no doubt generating a lot more phone calls, especially if it affects the booking system.

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.

6 hours ago, Cruiser6270 said:

Have tried calling Azamara a few times but no one answering their phones. So, we completed the online form to buy the Experience More package for our cruise. States someone will call back within 24 hrs for payment. That was 3 days ago, not heard a thing. 

 

Business must be great at Azamara if they cannot be bothered calling folk for payments.

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

12 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

When I started drinking wine, in the 1960s, cheap wine was really, really bad.  When I was studying in France in 1967 the supermarket wine was from Algeria and the labels only showed the alcohol content, which was in direct proportion to the price – "quality"? hah!!!  And cheap California/NY wine was always terribly flawed.  Now, winemaking technology has improved to the point that the worst wine in the US is merely innocuous.

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!!!!!

7 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

I have some 20 year old collectable super Tuscans in my cellar but the French left bank Bordeaux's still are the preference. Doing tastings double blind are the only fair way to rate wines.  Quite often a $30 wine will beat a $100 wine in our tasting group. We also decant the  wines that need more age to reach their prime but still are tasting them early upon release. The purpose of a cellar is to age the wine and allow them to reach their potential. 

 

Back to the subject the taster (cruiser) needs to decide for themselves what they like and don't like and if the included package is acceptable for them.  When I started drinking wines they were "jug wines". My palate changed as I learned more and appreciated better made wines. I still have wines I buy in the $20-$30/bottle  range too which offer good value.  

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.

8 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

If they were wines that I wanted to add to my cellar I would have taken notes. They were quaffable but not remarkable which you would expect. I have a cellar with over 1000 bottles and this was Monday's night blind tasting with a group I am in. Hope to share a glass or two with you on a future cruise. 

sept 19 2022 blind tasting.pdf 811.95 kB · 11 downloads

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.

19 hours ago, luv2travel90266 said:

I wish now that I would have photo'd the bottles. Didn't bother keeping track. Was primarily drinking cab sauv and viognier and both were good. As a comment for the chefs table the wines served there were exceptional. That was my first trip on Azamara. My next one , a back to back I will definitely buy the ultimate package again. It wasn't a "deal" but a reasonable value so I was satisfied. Definitely nice that I didn't give a second thought to ordering a before or after dinner drink, Perrier, or premium beer at lunch. Virtually none of the wines shown on the sample were available as you heard before from others. Hopefully that might be better on my next cruise. 

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......

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

You can buy any of the Essentials packages before the cruise and they can be very good value if you want/need all the elements. If you add the individual prices up you can save a lot.

Yes, I think the unresolved issue is whether I can use my OBC for that. People have said you can't, my TA said I can, and will find out imminently who is right. I have $1000 of OBC and if I had the Indulgence package, I can't see me getting through $1000 onboard, if it can't be used for the Indulgence package in advance. I'm mostly organising my own tours. Anyway, soon find out, otherwise I'll just buy it onboard with a mix of cash and the $1000 OBC.

29 minutes ago, luv2travel90266 said:

I just completed the August cruise on the Pursuit. Tried the included wines Azamara branded wines and found them not acceptable. I thought they were similar to a $10/bottle retail wine. I upgraded to the ultimate package at that dinner  

 

The wines I were served on  Ultimate Package were $20-$30/bottle retail which means in a restaurant $50-$90. Being able to have a scotch, cognac, or mixed drink made the Ultimate package a decent value. As my wife doesn't drink  Azamara not requiring both parties in the cabin to upgrade was a generous plus. Had that not been the case I would have bought bottles off the menu and had the crew store the remainder of the bottle for the next evening's dinner.

 

 

 Interesting insight. That sounds encouraging on the Ultimate package, that is a fair budget per bottle, if anything maybe slightly more generous than I'd have expected/hoped for. Can you recall any of the reds you were offered?

23 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I'm glad they won't let you buy the Ultimate package until you board.  I plan to look at the wine list (and try to verify actual availability) before I sign up for it.  Otherwise it may be cheaper to buy wine by the bottle (or bring some onboard and pay corkage), and the occasional Hendricks G&T.

Ah, I see. I had planned to get it as part of the Indulgence package. My TA said that I can buy that ahead of the cruise and also use my OBC towards it. But she may be proved wrong. I've just emailed her to ask her to include the extra money required to buy the Indulgence package in with my final cruise payment. Maybe she'll find out she can't do that.

If so, your way makes sense. I'm in S America and I have a winery visit on the second day so if the wines look rough, I could always stock up from there, it should be decent stuff. That said, I'd have thought they could offer a bit more info on what you are likely to get, guide prices etc so you have some idea of the quality level. I know some people don't plan much but this is one area I like to.

17 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Wine lists on most cruise lines are in a state of flux, as they continue to work off their pre-Covid stocks and have supply-chain issues on replenishment.  Sadly almost all cruise lines' business plans require purchasing alcohol at wholesale prices, so they do not empower the ship staff to buy wine/liquor in the port.  This is where the boutique cruise lines excel – and maybe as Azamara stabilizes under its independent ownership it will join that happy few, but not yet...

What intrigues me is that the Ultimate package is far from cheap, yet there seems to be little guidance on the quality standard that is provided, even allowing for the individual wines to change/rotate.

I'm planning on buying the Ultimate package on the basis of what I've heard reported as being offered. For example I've seen they offer (or offered) a Matanzas Creek Merlot which is a decent quality wine. I've seen that at $60 plus a bottle on their main list. I'm fine with that not being available but if I'm then offered a $30 a bottle Chilean Merlot from a mass producer instead, that doesn't work with me. The Ultimate package is quite a big extra cost, roughly $25 a day I believe. I think you have a right to know what you're getting for this in advance, at least on the guide price point. They must have plenty of wines available at a given price point range, which I assume (but don't know) is $40-60 or so per bottle (restaurant price, obviously their buy cost will be way lower, probably a third of that).

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Because I book direct at the moment there have been occasions when I've needed to call direct to Azamara.Today I waited for an hour and forty minutes on hold waiting to get through to request luggage tags for my cruise (there is an error on the Journey 24th September sailing and they have messed up the documents). 

 

To me this as a self booker is not acceptable.  And it's got worse over time. I'd be interested to hear from others, particularly if your are a travel agent. Do you have a specially resourced conduit? I don't want to start a discussion on the benefits of using a travel agent.or not, just what others have experienced. 

 

Phil 

My own experience is several months old, dating back to when I first booked in early June. There was a wait but not of the proportions you quoted. I called mid morning and got through to someone who I believe was US based.She was helpful but to my surprise, suggested I also speak to TA's in the UK, and named a specific one to contact. Generally I'm used to booking direct for some of the reasons others mention, including an assumption that I'm getting the best price. As it happened, the TA got the business, not least because they were able to offer a small, but meaningful discount on the direct quote. That left me with the impression that while some brands may chase direct business (I sense Viking Ocean does this) others, like Azamara, push loyalty to the TA sector. Maybe that is because it is easier to allow the latter the handle incoming queries?

1 hour ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

I have not cruised around Cape Horn, but have cruised the South China Sea.

I would recommend choosing a stateroom midships on a lower deck and going prepared with your choice of remedy should there be "some motion in the ocean" as one of the Captains says.

Enjoy your cruise!

I'm afraid the die is cast on that. I wanted a CC suite, they are only on deck 8 and the ones in the very centre had gone. I'm about 3/4 back towards aft, I'm told the latter is a little better than being forward in rough seas, but as the decks get less long as you go up, it's probably 2/3 back in terms of the total ship length so not too bad. I comfort myself that although this is pretty much the highest stateroom deck, these are not especially tall ships and people I know have been on mega ship 4 or 5 decks higher. I suspect you feel it rolling more with that height.

Anyway it is what it is. Part of the appeal of this cruise is seeing some wild places so the possibility of some serious weather goes with the territory and anyway, maybe I get nice weather....

46 minutes ago, combine said:

The most recent review was June 2022, 3 months ago. Several thousand have cruised on Onward since then (myself included ) and no new reviews. I am as guilty as anyone else in not doing a review, but a lot of discussion does take place on this forum and any concerns are answered  fairly swiftly. Up to date information is key. 
There is no doubt that the early cruises after refit had more than acceptable problems . We had a wonderful cruise in August but others may not have. Hope you enjoy Pursuit.

Thanks you, am very much looking forward to it, especially as it goes to a continent- S America- I've never been to before. It would actually take something pretty poor to spoil the trip given the places are so interesting, I guess only the one thing cruise lines can't fix, the weather. I've only been on one other cruise previously so I don't know what my sea legs will be like on a smallish ship in a storm around Cape Horn!!

Like you, more often that not, my intention to do a review is often not followed through. Actually, for better or worse, I tend to do them when things are either wonderful or awful and thus I can get my teeth into it. It's a bit less motivating to post 'yeh, it was ok, decent enough' even though that might represent most of the experiences we have in our travels.

51 minutes ago, harrodsfan said:

Well I was the vaccinated person who had Covid three weeks before the cruise. A very mild case. Kept testing positive for 16 days even though I had no symptoms and felt fine. Almost didn’t get to go on the cruise. I was in constant communication with Azamara. My “ case” and the situation gave them a real life example of the vicissitudes of testing. Three days after we got on the boat Azamara emailed me to tell me,just before it was announced,  that they were dropping the testing for vaccinated and boosted individuals. As you said… someone who had recently had Covid would probably be the safest passenger to have. 

Yes you are probably correct in being just about the safest person onboard!

I've had some friends who have tested positive for close to that long, albeit not quite 16 days. In my own case, it was positive for 10 days, although the last day or so was a line so faint you could barely see it. My symptoms were in any case mild and had pretty much ceased after 5 days.

Just had a glance through the reviews, given I have my first Azamara cruise booked. Seems to me they have had a big QC problem with the refurb on this ship, looks like it is sub standard. I imagine- hope- they are aware of it and will find ways to fix it as they go. Luckily I'm on Pursuit so it won't impact me but I can see why others might be concerned. Other shortcomings sound more like picking the wrong cruise. One person said they wanted to go back to NCL. Personally that line, while suiting others, is not not one I'd even think of going on. Equally if you want lots of glitzy theatre shows and loud music, I assume Azamara is not for you. Because it doesn't do that is precisely why I'm booking it. You can interpret reviews- when I see a tripadvisor review giving a low rating, complaining there is nothing to do and it's boring, that makes me give it a positive mark. Relaxation and tranquility in nice surroundings is my aim. Horses for courses.  Some negative comments about excursions which should worry Azamara given their positioning as a brand, but I've noted they are eye wateringly expensive for these and am mostly arranging my own, as I did on my only other cruise.

I suspect the reviews will perk up as they fix the snagging..

Can't say I'm feeling sombre like another poster. She was 96 and thus was due to die any day, albeit there was much less warning on the precise timing than is usual with very old people. I would personally take her death for myself; doing the things she wanted until the very, very end, clearly still with good mental faculty, a very quick death at a very ripe age and in the place she loved with her closest children with her. That's about the best anyone could hope for.

I hope we don't get too maudlin in the UK. We are prone to over emoting (Diana for example) and I feel it should be possible for those who want to grieve to be allowed to do so without curtailing those who don't. Life should go on as normal. The queen was an admirable lady and also a stoic. So should we be.

34 minutes ago, boxman52 said:

 It is difficult to reconcile this statement with allowing people onboard with no vaccine and no test result.

Carol Cabezas. “Azamara continues to implement the highest safety measures in accordance with the local health authorities and the current positive direction of the travel industry"

Its just logical to say the highest standard would be all tested and all vaccinated.

Wouldn't it be more honest to say we have carried out a risk assessment and taken advice and believe the current risk level allows us to do this.

They are doing it to gain more passengers not because its safer. It cannot be the highest levels.

We are on the Miami cruise over the holiday and whilst this will not stop us and it might make no difference just some honesty would be appreciated. 

I suppose if one was being pedantic, one might argue that these are indeed the highest standards, where they are decided upon 'in accordance with' local Health authorities (who are downgrading standards) and the positive direction of the travel industry, that 'direction' being to drop safeguards as part of returning to normal.

Obviously different people will have differing views on the soundness of such an approach. Personally I am broadly in favour of normalisation as part of sensible risk management but maybe could argue that the unique qualities of a cruise could justify higher safeguards than in normal life.

Of course, if you dig deep enough, logic can be shredded at every turn. Personally I'd much sooner have next to me an unvaccinated person who had Covid in the past 4 weeks than someone who was vaccinated 9 months ago. And, one step further, the best person might be someone testing positive at boarding but symptom free, in other words, they might have had a very recent vax or more likely infection and still have enough traces to test positive but they are, I think, the least likely to get infected from that point and thus infect me. It's a complicated we we weave...

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I would like to comment that some of us often stay in the deck 4 outside cabins that have also been used for quarantine. I've spent more than 40 days in one on a series of back to backs and have sometimes been confined. It's never nice to have to do this, no matter what cabin you are in, but the deck 4 OVs aren't "tiny".  Admittedly if you are in a suite then it's a bit of a come down, but for me it would be doable. 

 

Phil 

Hi Phil,

That may have been referring to me, point taken, but I'm one of those who is not by instinct a cruiser and I can get a bit claustrophobic, hence booking a bigger cabin, and my concern over not then having access to the outside, if confined. Actually the issue was only brought into focus by another poster, saying they had been taken out of their balcony cabin and away from her husband, isolated for 12 days on her own with an angry person next door also isolated, banging on the walls. Sounded very traumatic.

I've read a fair few posts on cabin options. People who book inside/outside have said they spend most of the time outside on the ship or in the port and mostly just sleep there, so that makes sense, especially if you want to go on cruises more often than I do ( couldn't financially run to multiple CC bookings per year even if I wanted to). On the only other cruise I've been on, I spent a fair bit of time in my cabin, enjoyed the privacy. I guess as you suggest, it's horses for courses...

13 hours ago, hangover said:

We are regular cruisers however our last Azamara cruise was in 2017.We were planning on cruising with them in 2021 but with COVID they were testing while on board and if you tested positive you would be assigned to a stateroom on deck 5 which were outside cabins. So we opted with Seabourn all balcony staterooms for 28 days followed by 14 days on another line 

Azamara was our first move up in cruising from main stream to more a bit upscale. We have some great memories of our first cruises with Azamara, our bartender from Jamaica and the staff overall were so wonderful we wanted to keep coming back!

 

We are returning to Azamara on the  Onward starting in Jan 2023  for 42 days . When I read some of the comments we are optimistic then others comments are less than favorable. We like getting out of the Canadian winters for Feb and March. . Hoping our memories meet current realities. If not it could be a long 42 days...  

The isolation in another cabin Covid issue is one that concerns me too, especially as I have a small suite booked. Bad enough to have your holiday spoiled, another thing to be kept in what probably feels like a cell, given you can't get out.

Happily quite a few posters on here have said that they tend to now just confine you to the cabin you are in. Not great, but better than before and at least you can sit on your balcony and admire the views and enjoy some fresh air. Having had Covid, I'm not that bothered about it from a health point of view, but I am from a 'spoil holiday' point of view, so will actively seek to minimise infection risk. All one can do, ideally, is get another vax or infection as close as possible to departure, which should give a modicum of protection against infection. Obviously that might be hard to plan for (especially the latter!) so if it's a while since your last jab or infection, it might be a case of being more careful that you might otherwise be re distancing, masks etc.

18 minutes ago, blag said:

The bottles indicate the complimentary French reds are from Cébazan.

The plot thickens! Doesn't look like it is the Pourcain co-op then. Seems to be in the Herault sub region and you can get pretty much any grape from there, it's a vast production centre for inexpensive varietals. I know there is a co-operative there in Cebazan because it produces a wine I buy from The Wine Society, a Sauvignon/Viognier blend called which is pleasant and inexpensive. I've not had any of their reds but I don't doubt they produce a very wide range of wines, so maybe they are bottling stuff for AZ. There's actually some seriously good wine made in Herault, Mas de Daumas Gassac for one, but much of the generic wine is bottled under Vin de Pays D'Oc (which is the larger region that includes Herault) as these AS offerings seem to be

3 hours ago, Dylandude said:

I Googled Le Union de Vignerons and got a link to Yapp.co.uk who are well recognised UK wine merchant. They are selling three of Le Union de Vignerons wines for £12.75 ($15) per bottle.

This is what Yapp wines said “The Union des Vignerons Cave Co-opérative of Saint Pourçain is a benchmark example of a pioneering modern operation producing well-made inexpensive and reliable wines.”

Having tried all the Az house wines (not all are made by Le Union de Vignerons) I think the description above nails it, they are well made and reliable, who cares if they are not expensive.

 I'd be surprised if they are the producers. While they might buy in grapes outside the area to make wine to specification, Saint Pourcain itself is pretty much exclusively Gamay and Pinot Noir, not Cab Sauv and Syrah. 

The term Unions des Vignerons is a very generic term, there are dozens of these in France, all consisting of producers in a given region. I suspect these wines come from a different union than the one in Pourcain, however the image of the wine labels isn't clear enough to see whether there is a named region or failing that, in very small print, there should be a geographic locator as to where it was bottled which would give us a better clue.

The Merlot and Pinotage are easier, Zonin is a mass producer in the Veneto region (though it also owns a vast number of producers elsewhere in Italy). Its a reasonable quality producer, the Merlot from NW Italy maybe retailing for £6-7 in the UK. Personally I find these Merlots thin and shrill but the other Zonin wines from the area are OK if no more than that. Swartland Winery is also respectable and I imagine the Pinotage, although most likely their basic entry point, would be perfectly drinkable if you enjoy that grape. I would have thought the Italian Merlot up against the Matanzas Creek Merlot on the ultimate package would not be much of a contest.