Dynacruiser

Thanks for highlighting this problem. I am always concerned about how little things affect crew negatively. I believe there is a huge problem with income inequality in the world. I hope you can find the best wisest way to help affected. Res. They have limited resources. I think that @Roel94 is doing the right thing here. I thought I had read somewhere that you thought that posts like Roels were mostly self serving (I’m wrong, I can’t find it now), but I think any voices that highlight the needs of the crew members are appropriate.

I’m on @Grandma Cruising team on this, she won the argument. Sorry PhD @lahore

In Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, 4 days ago. The website said it opened at 2 pm. We arrived at 1 pm and there was already a long line. we waited under the sun for about 20 min. We were in a suite and there was NO priority line, it was first-come first-served. Everybody was processed the same. Took about 45 min. All the chefs tables were booked solid and prime-time specialty restaurants slots were gone. Only 830 pm specialty restaurant time. Suggestion: just show up at 12 noon regardless of priority or cabin type . They let anybody in. Good luck !

But how are port authorities going to know if Azamara denies there is a problem? Folks can call Azamara and ask about this and they would be surprised at the response they get. “There is no problem on board, a couple of people got sick early on but all is well now”. “It was related to people bringing it on board”

@CavershamCruiser, as Dr H stated, it may be an early boarding. But there are delays. Last year, we boarded in Athens and didn’t get onboard until 30 min before departure, after waiting for hours in a big tent without enough chairs and nothing to eat. They brought water later on. This was probably due to being a holiday in Greece and they had parades which likely complicated traffic (not for our cab though, the driver got us into the port on time). They have tried giving people boarding times according to their cabin level, but folks show up as soon as they open. On my upcoming cruise, they are simply stating that boarding starts at 2 pm for everybody. It will likely be long lines everybody showing up at 1 pm. if you are in a suite you may board early. If you are not you may have a wait depending on the location and the day you are boarding.

Better steaks in MDR than Prime C? I'll have to test that again. My experience was completely the opposite. This is sad, since Prime C is a specialty restaurant that specializes in steaks!

Since we are just expressing our own interpretations, I'll offer another hypothesis: Sycamore Partners knows how to make money, at least in the retail private equity business. Perhaps they told the food and beverage managers that they need to make more money, and they gave them some freedom on how to achieve those goals. Perhaps some managers ran their numbers and determined that they couldn't make a profit with the current prices, but other managers decided to cut costs in some other way. On Journey last year, I noticed they didn't bring a big basket of bread to the table anymore, but one piece of bread at a time (which works better for my unhealthy carbs addiction). They don't bring the big unsolicited desserts anymore (which was a bad practice because of course I would eat it), or the extra piece of lobster or shrimp "because I noticed you loved it the last time you were here", and some plates like the garlic shrimp at Aqualina had gotten smaller. I am OK with all those changes, just pointing out that there have been some efforts to reduce costs even if the price hasn't changed. I have a hard time keeping up in what ship each person is. I'll keep that in mind and post the name of the ship i'm referring to each time. There could be other reasons why specialty restaurants are more expensive: the spacing between tables, the lower number of tables per waiter, the relaxed experience and serving of the courses, etc. I personally enjoy the specialty restaurants, but usually when I am in a suite. Otherwise, I just eat there once or twice. The MDR is a good place, except for steaks, which tend to be tough.

@uktog, I don’t think we should expect that higher restaurant prices will bring better offerings. The lack of consistency is hard to explain, and just looks like they are not running their business well.

Thanks for the info and glad you and your companion are doing well. Of course, we went through that with COVID. Folks could go to the same place or do the same thing, and some people got sick while others didn't. It DOES make me feel better knowing that you have stayed healthy even though some folks have been sick.

The unfortunate part of this is that they haven't been able to identify the bug that is causing these stomach issues. I don't entirely blame Azamara for that, but I do blame them for not informing their upcoming passengers. I don't think anybody here has the solution, but I am willing to pursue all possible ways to avoid getting infected. While this may not be Norovirus, the US CDC recommendations here are worth following. I am also willing to follow other suggestions not explicitly stated in the CDC document, but some do make sense and I am willing to do anything to stay healthy, including avoiding the following: 1) ice 2) purified water from the ship 3) water bottles from the ship that may come from South Africa 4) using public bathrooms 5) raw foods 6) contact with travelers and crew members The key term here is "avoid". I get it, water may not be the culprit, but if we can avoid drinking the ship's water, maybe that's a good idea. As to why some folks didn't get sick but their partner did, I suppose it depends on what surfaces one person touch but the other didn't, what bathroom one person used but the other didn't, etc. Stay safe and good luck to everybody.

G Cruising, have you had any symptoms? I gather you are not too concerned about this situation, so from your personal observation, it's only affecting a few passengers, and perhaps can be avoided with proper care? Your posts are always reasonable and level-headed. Based on your experience, what recommendations do you have for folks boarding in the next few weeks? Thanks.

I read somewhere that they make boarding passengers sign a form acknowledging that there is a stomach bug in the ship. Is it like a legal release of liability, or just an informational sheet? I hope you are safe and don't catch a bug. They need to find the source (food? respiratory? water? ice? from the ship or from port), so they can properly eradicate this thing. I wish they kept upcoming passengers informed. I called their US customer service desk earlier this week and they said they had no information about any problems in Pursuit.

I''ll send a more detailed email on hotels and restaurants and things to do when I have more time.

I travel to Miami at least once a year. I usually book mid-level hotels, I am not a party animal, like to sit and read by the beach, and love good restaurants. Here are my personal views as a visitor, not as a local: Areas: Airport. No, this would be my last choice. Nothing to see or do there. Downtown. I stayed there a couple of times and would not be my first choice. Downtown is more business oriented, more office people traffic. Brickell (is it part of Downtown, or just next to it?) may be a good choice if you want a quieter area away from the famous Miami Beach, but I absolutely prefer Miami Beach. Miami Beach. This is the place I keep going back to and I am not a sun worshipper. It is a 9- ile long beach, so I will divide it in three areas: 1) The northernmost I would stay is around the Hotel Confidante. Decent beach, uncrowded, but not a lot of pedestrian traffic and a long walk or an uber to the more pedestrian areas. Stay in this area only if you want to be near the water but in a quieter place away from the crowds. Lots of residential buildings nearby. 2) The area around Lincoln and Collins. Use the Ritz Carlton as a marker (of course it’s not a budget hotel). This is my favorite area and the one I recommend to everybody. This part has a lot of pedestrian areas (Lincoln street is great for walkers. I would not recommend the restaurants on Lincoln for the food but to people watch). I believe this area is already considered South Beach. 3) Southernmost part: Use Lummus Park as a marker. This is probably the noisiest and perhaps most fun area in Miami. I have never stayed here, as it is a bit too crowded and noisy for me, but my friends tell me that there are plenty of budget hotels. I do like to walk this area, though, love the art deco architecture. Some famous restaurants and clubs in the area, some famous people late at night (when will I run into Messi?), but be careful, many affordable restaurants are just tourist traps with bad food. Warning: Miami is expensive. You get what you pay for. Don’t expect a nice room, ocean view, nice pool grounds, nice beach access, unless you are willing to pay for it. A budget hotel will be quite spartan, no luxury, may smell from countless large families bringing wet towels into the room, your view will be the wall of the building next door, etc etc. A while back, I went to pick up a friend at a budget hotel in South Beach near Lummus Park, and it was very budget, almost looked like a hotel by the hour; it only had two folding chairs at the lobby. Research your hotel very carefully. If the OP is still around, I will gather my list of hotels I’ve stayed and restaurants, and will continue this post later.

Just checking if I have understood the information correctly, as I am boarding in a couple of weeks: 1) Check in time for EVERYBODY starts at 2 pm. No more assigned time slots. I can see how some ports can get overwhelmed when everybody shows up early to reserve their specialty restaurants, but OK. 2) No need to check in online prior to the cruise, everything can be now done at the port. 3) There is some kind of personalized booklet that may be sent to you from Azamara or your TA. I booked through a TA, and have not received anything. But it sounds like 4) it is advisable to have printed proof that you are traveling with Azamara, as some port guards may not let you in unless you show this, depending on location. 5) Azamara has generic check in info here: https://www.azamara.com/booked-guests/before-you-board/online-checkin I hope I didn't miss anything. Perhaps my only disappointment is now having assigned time slots. Of course, often assigned times weren't respected. Last year in Athens, we waited for about 3 hours to board, as everybody showed up at the same time, it was a local holiday and they didn't have enough people to process guests.

Azamara cruises are the same or better since the new owners. We have done 4 or 5 since the new owners. I could complain about lower quality wines, but service, destinations, food and the fellow cruisers make it a great cruise line.

Some Azamazing events are fantastic, others are not so much. It usually comes down to a personal preference. I remember Azamara taking over the main townsquare in Dubrovnik providing us lovely live music, wine and snacks, unforgettable night! On the other hand, some other events were less-than-memorable. My view is that I like having the option of deciding whether to go or not. I hope Azamara doesn't get rid of them. This is one of the many things that IN MY PERSONAL VIEW makes Azamara so special.

Many thanks for the great information. I assume that CT is Capetown. When you were in Capetown, did you Board the Azamara Pursuit, or this was not a cruise ship vacation? I am curious why I have not found discussions about stomach bugs or norovirus in other cruise lines, since this appears to be a Capetown-wide problem rather than limited to the Pursuit. Perhaps I am not entering the right search terms.

Does anybody have an update on the stomach bug situation in Pursuit? I m monitoring different discussion boards, and unfortunately the threads are hard to follow, as many people post bad information ("I'm not an epidemiologist, but it's norovirus" "it must be COVID"), or just personal opinions ("they should cancel all the cruises and clean the ship" "people go to the bathroom and dont wash their hands" "take lots of vitamin D"). Here's a summary of what I read, based on current passenger posts (may or may not be correct): Pursuit is in South Africa. Azamara has test kits onboard, and it is not Norovirus. It may be related to eating in South African ports, or food brought in from South Africa. Some locations in South Africa are losing power for hours, so food may spoil (?). Not everybody on board is sick, may be just a few (?). This has been going on for a few weeks, but not clear when Pursuit arrived in South Africa. My questions: Is this happening in other cruises currently in South Africa? Is there a stomach bug problem currently in cities like Capetown? I searched with Google, and the only place I found something related is this thread, so should I conclude that it is mainly an Azamara pursuit problem?

Great idea, should have done it. I'll gather some ideas from folks here, and then will turn it into a poll once I have time to do it and a good grasp of the summary of the issues. I suspect this is not quite black and white yet. those yes and no questions, we already know the answers, everybody will agree that they dont want to pay more unless they get better service, everybody will agree that they will shop around, etc. One poster suggested that Azamara will increase prices because folks continue to buy their product. If somebody else wants to turn it into a poll, please do so, otherwise I'll do one later and allow folks to express their views here. I hope we have some private equity experts here who can chime in on how Sycamore Partners operates.

Azamara has to be careful not to alienate loyal customers like you. Part of my concern comes from folks like you who are reacting with concern to recent price increases and other noticeable changes. It takes so much time to build a customer base, but so easy to lose. Some folks here think Azamara is just testing the market to see how hard they can push customers. That is likely the case, but once they increase a price or lowered quality, I doubt they will revert to the previous conditions.

In the recent weeks, folks have been posting about: Diminished or eliminated Azamazing Evenings. Excessive excursion costs. Higher price of drink packages and also specialty restaurants. Lower quality wines in included or paid packages. While some of the posts are angry first-time sailings who compare to Azamara to their favorite line, it is clear that some prices are creeping up. What are your views? Is this a trend you observe in other cruise lines? Are their higher prices excessive? Do the higher prices make Azamara less competitive and folks will go somewhere else or at least shop more carefully? Where do you think Sycamore Partners want to take Azamara? Will they increase prices so they can sell Azamara at a profit quickly? Or are they the type that will hold on to Azamara for many years and allow slow growth? My personal views: Excursions probably reflect the higher costs of local operators. If so, I may just have to walk around a small town, enjoy a local restaurant or museum on my own, and skip the excursion. Food and drink price increases were inevitable, as higher costs are impacting all other hospitality and travel industries. However, Azamara should have implemented a slow stepwise price escalation, rather than a perceived jump. I can always skip the specialty restaurants, and skip the drinks packages. I only sail with Azamara, so can’t share experience with other lines. I would expect Sycamore to want to maximize their returns, they bought Azamara to make money. I just don’t know their practices, how they manage their companies. Perhaps they lack experience with cruise lines so they may want to cut costs as if it were one of their many retail stores? I do not see steep increases in the actual price of future cruises. The ability to rebook when prices drop is always helpful. I will stop booking far in advance if that benefit is taken away and will only book last minute. Most of us continue to praise Azamara onboard experience. But even loyalists are scratching their heads and considering other options. Before they pushed higher prices, Sycamore should have completely fixed their website and onshore support service. I am not hitting the panic button, but being more sensitive to what they do. After all, I have to spend my money responsibly.

I have read your posts for a while, uktog, and I have noticed the decline of your opinion on Azamara. It is disappointing 😪 Azamara also has been a significant part of my recent travel life, and I am still looking forward to our upcoming multiple booked trips with them. I hope Azamara doesn't lose loyalists like you and others, because unhappy customers will yield empty sailings, and this will bring about a lot more problems. I may (MAY) understand or tolerate some reasonable price increases and cost cuts, but unhelpful onshore staff and still deficient website could also diminish my satisfaction and make me look somewhere else. At this point, onboard experience is prompting me to stay faithful. We used to blame some problems on Mrs Cabezas, but she is gone now.

Hmmm. Azamazing evenings were the highlight of some cruises, I’d hate to see them scaled down or eliminated. I’m seeing a rather concerning trend of cost cuts and higher prices including drink packages, specialty restaurants, and excursions. I don’t want to downplay this, but I’m not completely surprised since prices of everything have increased everywhere, and I always thought Sycamore Partners would try to extract more and more money from their investment. This could also be the outcome of emptier boats since COVID, at least in the 5 or so I have sailed since 2022. In turn, recent low occupancy is likely related to the terrible online reputation of their booking system and onshore answering system since the split from Celebrity in early 2023. I am convinced that we will see more price increases and doubt that the owners will undo them in the future. I doubt that higher prices will bring higher quality. While he onboard experience is still very satisfying, I will monitor Sycamore future decisions closely. Also eager to hear what other cruise lines are doing. Price increases won’t be a coordinated effort but other lines should have cost cuts at some point, right? PS I have gotten price adjustments (reductions) on upcoming cruises, probably the result of unbooked cabins.

The price increase seems excessive, but if enough people pay the high price, then Azamara was right in increasing it. If the bars are empty or everybody is drinking the included drinks, then Azamara made a mistake. @java spot may have stated the way I feel: If I pay for a package, I end up drinking more than I should. I don't wake up with a headache when I don't buy a drink package (EDIT: OK, sometimes I buy too many bottles in port). I wouldn't be surprised if we will see price increases in everything that Azamara sells. If I was one of the Sycamore Partners private equity investors, I would demand higher profits each year. Personally, I would love to read a thread on Sycamore Partners and how private equity works. I am not a finance expert but love to learn.