kozycz

Thank so much for your live review! I have really enjoyed reading this. We sailed on the Vista last November and are booked for the Riviera this October. We really liked so much about O; we have sailed several lines with Azamara being our favorite! We found the food on O to have a slight edge on Azamara, with mostly hits but some misses. But those misses were pretty bad. But on the whole we enjoyed the food, enough to book another O cruise. Your description of the service in Waves, reminds me of some moments on our Vista cruise. What we found odd, and almost annoying, was at just about every venue, GDR or specialities, the waiter would want to take our food order but we expected and wanted to order drinks or wine first. My experience in dining out has been that that is the usual format. I mentioned this in the mid cruise survey and was surprised to receive a call from the Food & Beverage Manager. After that some nights service flowed that way, other nights it didn’t. Our work around was to just ask to order wine and drinks first. Not a big deal, not a deal breaker, just a head scratcher! But despite that we found the service to be pretty good, but with Azamara having a slight edge in that department. We are looking forward to our October cruise on O and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time on O. Keep your reviews coming, they are awesome! Thank you!

We cruised on Vista last November and yes the Founder’s Bar drinks were included on the Prestige package! And those cocktails were so interesting, fun and delicious! It’s a small space, and we were a group of six, but we always found seating and found the space to be inviting, even though it feels a bit like a hallway pass through! The bartenders were excellent and very sociable. Loved the Founder’s Bar!

We have done 6 Azamara cruises and just did an Oceania in November on their new ship Vista. We’ve never done Seabourn. We’ve got very few complaints with Azamara. The itineraries can’t be beat, we have for the most part found the food to be very good, the staff and service has always been excellent. Yes the ships are a bit older, probably in need of some updating and yes the veranda cabin bathrooms are small! But definitely not a deal breaker for us. The public spaces on the ships are warm, inviting and comfortable. The passengers we have met on Azamara over the years are very friendly! As soon as we stepped onto the Oceania Vista we were wowed! It’s a new, beautiful ship! Our veranda cabin was beautifully decorated and the bathroom was phenomenal. We thought the food was on par with Azamara, with more included specialty restaurants to choose from! They were all excellent! We didn’t find the service to be as good as Azamara, excepting possibly the speciality restaurants, which equaled Az. The public spaces on Oceania, although gorgeous, didn’t feel as inviting as Azamara. I would say, based only on our one Oceania, the demographic skews a bit older than Azamara. We spoke with quite a few lovely passengers but overall many PAX seemed grumpy and unfriendly! Just our observation. I, like some other posters, enjoy cruising to be able unpack once, see different locales and get a taste of those, and then spend my evenings onboard, having a nice dinner and enjoying some entertainment. I love the Living Room on Azamara in the evening. I think it depends what’s most important to you, but we tend to lean towards Azamara. We are a young 69 and 71 year old couple. For us Azamara feels like home away from home!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Explora vs Oceania! Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

Thank you so much! I will take your thoughts into consideration as we look to book our next cruise!

We cruised Az last August/September. We had a wonderful trip! We went with another couple who has done other Az cruises with us and another couple for their first time. They absolutely loved it. We all thought the food was very good (high praise from the newbies as she works for a high end steak house in the Boston area), the service was excellent, we had no issues with dropped or shortened port stays. It was a great relaxing vacation! We did Oceania Vista this past November for a Panama Canal cruise with 2 other couples. In short, the ship is absolutely beautiful! We had a Conciege level veranda. Plenty spacious with a phenomenal bathroom! The food was excellent, maybe just a few misses between the 6 of us. Service was okay, I’d say! At dinner placing a drink order before our food order was hit or miss. We developed our own work around on that! We just asked for the sommelier first. Drink service poolside was not as spot on as Azamara. We felt there were ample choices for all meals, and we were able to get 5 additional speciality restaurant reservations on board. This was in addition to the four we booked before sailing. We did lose two ports due to circumstances outside of Oceania’s control. One was replaced with a different port, the other became a sea day! The entertainment was similar to Azamara which we enjoyed several nights. Just a side note, we found the other PAX to be a bit grumpy (maybe they were hot, it was extremely hot, but as expected) and not as friendly as the many people we’ve met on Az. We’ve met many lovely folks on Az. All that said, we are considering another Oceania. Overall I think we’d choose Az over Oceania, especially if Az gets a new ship but keeping our options open. Hope this helps!

@uktog if I’m not mistaken you have done many Azamara cruises. We too have done Az and have always enjoyed. At this point, we’re looking for a small ship line with newer ships! I’d love to know how you think EJ compares to Az. We also just did a 16 night Panama Canal on Oceania Vista. If you have Oceania experience, would also be interested in your thoughts on that comparison. TIA!

When is your sailing? You prompted me to look at my calendar for our Jan 19th Beyond sailing. Same situation, nothing shows, same message. Anyone else experiencing this?

We too have our first Oceania cruise on the Vista in November. We have cruised on Azamara for years and I have always dressed up a bit for dinner! I agree, it’s part of the fun of cruising. I plan to dress the same way on Oceania. There may be a few less dressy nights but still a bit dressier than I wear out to dinner at home. Dress up and enjoy every minute of it!

Thanks so much KBrote!

I am wondering about this as well! We will be traveling with another couple, so I have the same question about sharing. Thanks for any advice on how best to do this.

Thank you so much for your awesome review! I know it took time to write this review and it is much appreciated. For those of us cruising in the next few months, it was reassuring to know that despite all the website issues, your trip was phenomenal. Our last cruise was November 2022 and we cannot wait to be back onboard. Reading your review gave me all the feels of actually living the experiences. Awesome writing! And it was a read that I didn’t want to end! I’m so glad you had a wonderful vacation; Azamara has never disappointed!

My TA was able to make final payment on our cruise at the end of August. But in the process of doing so, she noticed two reservations in my name. I have made no future bookings besides our August cruise. I am unable to see these “reservations” anywhere, but based on what my TA said they were, I believe these were voyages I had looked at as far as “attempting” to see cabin selection. My loyalty is incorrect, and it affects my loyalty level from Explorer to Discoverer. It appears that our November 2022 cruise points are missing. Both my DH and I have submitted “the form” numerous times with no response and no resolution. My biggest gripe at this point is the issue with OBC. Some people see it, in what I think is a strange place; Add-Ons. Others, myself included, see nothing. I should have over $1000 in OBC. I really don’t want to wait to use it until we’re onboard. I would like to book some shore excursions with it, which I know we can’t currently do! I’m not an IT person, but as a registered nurse whose hospital made several transitions with electronic documentation, this unmitigated mess would never have been tolerated. We have loved all our Azamara cruises, I look forward to the next, albeit, with guarded optimism. I hope everyone can get their issues rectified and enjoy their cruises!

We have stayed in Cabins 7079 and 7085, so in the vicinity. We heard no noise at all. Very quiet at night, smooth sailing and still close to the self service laundry. Enjoy your cruise!

We last cruised in late October, 2021on the Journey. We love Azamara and we were so happy to be back onboard! There were still some Covid restraints, such as excursion bubbles in Italy. So that was not related to new management or even Azamara for that matter. That was the Italian government. We did a B2B with the first leg with somewhere around 235-250 passengers and around 400 on the second leg. Prime C was the only speciality restaurant open for dinner service but the menu was both Aqualina and Prime C. Again, I believe that was Covid related. I really couldn’t say what was new ownership related versus being one of the early post Covid sailings. That said, I think Azamara did a great job. I believe Azamara will be able to shine as a cruise line under Sycamore Partners. We love their philosophy around cruising and destination immersion and I think they will be able to expand on that outside the shadow of RCCL. We are currently booked on the Journey this November 8th for Ancient Civilizations and we cannot wait!