TeaBag

We just booked our first HAL cruise last week.  No matter what I do I get a message saying we have no bookings.  What do they think I paid the $6500 for?  We sail in 35 days.  Don't even get me started on the log in process!  So far, I'm not loving HAL. 

Remedy for smaller croissants....take two!😄

We have usually booked AQ, but lately it is getting too expensive.  I have looked at cruises where it is twice the price of a balcony cabin.  What is going on?

Great thread.

Lawn Club

Lawn Club

Sushi on 5

We have tried Murano on 3 different ships and came away unimpressed each time.  Maybe we should try it a fourth time.

What makes Lawn Club great?  It is rare when going back to a restaurant a second time that it is as good as the first time.  LCG was even better the second time we ate there.  We dine there twice every time we sail Silhouette.   Haven't been on Reflection.  Wish they would put it on more of their ships.

Thank you for your great review SandJ.  I am so glad to see that someone else thinks the food is under seasoned.  Maitre'D told me that if they put much garlic in the food, people complain. Garlic is not the only seasoning!!  We found the food bland.

However, we love the size of the ship and the fact that they can get into places the big cruise ships can't.

Thank you for asking this.  However, I hope we are not on the same cruise because that is our cabin #!!  We are sailing Honolulu to Vancouver in May 2024.  If you sail before then, please come nack and tell us how you liked the cabin.

We have not sailed on Infinity but we have always gone to the Spa cafe when on other M and S class ships.  It is small but not many seem to know about it so it is a great place to go.  I hope it is still open on embarkation day.  Sushi on 5 is fee based.

18 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Have you tried clicking on the pencil & paper icon above the cabin choice once you have input your information, then click on choose cabin?

Thank you for this tip Grandma Cruising.  it does, indeed, work as I got 5 more choices.  Still not enough but better than one!

What is the reason for keeping the available cabins hidden?

Thank you everyone for your help.  I think the problem is solved in that the cruise is no longer showing on Azamara's web site.  Maybe it's already sold out? Or maybe the IT dept is screwing up again.  I do look at a US site that I used to book with and yesterday when I looked they were no longer showing all available cabins either.  There was a European site that I used countless times as it was great for showing available cabins but they are no longer doing it either.  Is this some new thing?  I will try again and see what they show.

I am not interested in contacting a TA till I see what cabins are available.  I have checked several times for a cruise that is 2 years away and all I can get is the one cabin offered in any of the categories I select.    If I wanted a guarantee cabin I would book in that category and save some money.  I am appalled at Azamara's indifference in making it easy to book one of their cruises.  Do they not understand this will drive people away?

We have booked AQ for years and have always enjoyed Blu.  However, we feel that the current prices are unreasonable so we will be looking elsewhere.

I'm with you, PirateWife.  no one asked for my opinion either but I'm giving it anyway!

If you need a break from Blu book the Lawn Club Grill (fee based).  Unless you have friends who cannot dine in Blu, I don't know why you would want to eat in the MDR when you are paying for AQ class.

Do yourself a favour and keep going till you get to Southampton. National Express comes into T3 and the journey is not more than 2 hrs 16 mins.  The buses are comfortable and you can book your seat. You might even have a short snooze.  You will pat yourself on the back when you wake up in Southampton with nothing to do but have breakfast and get to the ship.  Bon Voyage

Ours in Dec is full too.

Very interested in your comments M109.  Welcome to Cruise Critic.  We left Quest in Athens May 28, so I wonder if you boarded then. We have only sailed twice with Azamara both sailings on Quest with Captain Johannes who is very personable.

We were a bit disappointed in the food also.  I ordered a tenderloin steak medium rare for my very first dinner on the ship last July.  It came looking like it had been boiled for a week.  Waiter never came back to check on us, so I said nothing.  Next night more steak too well done again.  On that cruise we never again ate in the dining room, choosing Windows with their ethnic themed dinners after that.

Our last cruise we thought the food was under seasoned in the MDR.  Maitre'D told me that if they put garlic in the food, people complain!

We had the best waiter last time that we have ever had in all our cruises.  We loved our aft cabin deck 7 and it was wonderful to see both sides of the Suez as we sailed along.

I agree with you Grandma Cruising about Prime C.  We were thrilled to get 3 complimentary speciality dinners with our cabin type (P1).  We chose Aqualina for 2 and Prime C for the third.  After our dinner in Aqualina, we cancelled the second one and went back to Prime C which we think is much better.

ghstudio, glad you are enjoying your Azamara cruise.  Funny, we thought the onion soup on Quest was way better than Celebrity's.  I was happy to see that you found the food well seasoned.  We had the best waiter on Quest that we have ever had on any of our cruises.  They really do want you to enjoy yourself.

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Welcome to Cruise Critic KEG88!  You have chosen a great ship.  We do much the same as others here, but I would make lunch a priority as the tables get filled fast.  I don't know if you eat at speciality restaurants but I would highly recommend the Lawn Club grill if you do. Sometimes you can get a discount for asking if they're not busy.  I have heard they don't offer the 30% off on the first night any more.  Too bad.

The walls are metal so I would advise you to buy magnetic hooks.  You can get them on Ali Express cheaply.  We also pack flat magnets to attach schedules/notices etc to the wall.

Bon Voyage!

Ours is up too, $600 CDN.  Glad we booked when we did.

One of the two cruises we booked in January has dropped $700.  The other is listed on the sale but you can't book it as it is sold out!

It was KevintheIrishDJ, I was responding to.  But good for you too Betsey that you had success.

Since this email is a Captains Club email, maybe they are announcing a new tier between Elite Plus and Zenith?

Well done, Kevin!  Persistence pays off!

1 hour ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

Apart from the ear shattering decibel level!

 

But it is not the on board experience that people are mostly talking about - the problem is inaccuracy of documentation, the pre-cruise angst and the time spent once on board having those inaccuracies rectified, instead of enjoying a relaxing holiday.

Even then, in some cases, not all problems have been rectified on board.

Very well said.  I lost count of the number of times we went down to Guest Relations and waited in the queue to resolve our OBC which they had taken away.  I think the thing that saved us was the screen capture I had taken.

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Not seen any discontent with the cruises

We are talking abut the IT dept which is what is turning people off so much.