JYDCruise

Thanks, this is very useful information! Our cruise is early June, so we're in pretty much the same boat (well, probably a different ship, but the same boat . . . ). The problem is that if I have to wait until I board to sign up for Azamara excursions . . . I won't sign up for Azamara excursions. Rather than spending hours of my first day on board doing so, hoping that the excursions I want are still available, I'll just sign up for 3rd party jaunts. This has the ripple effect that in addition we won't buy a couple of Experience More packages as the $700 excursion credit would be worthless, we won't spend as much on beverage packages, etc. It's going to cost Azamara some revenue, maybe $2-3k in our case; trivial if only a few people do the same, but could be significant if many do so.

You may have clicked on "Shore extortions" instead of "Shore excursions".

I have a (fully paid up despite what the website shows) cruise in 2 months. No email from Azamara; maybe they're trying to save postage by not sending it to everyone? I've submitted a query form, and will see what, if anything, that accomplishes.

I really do wonder if Azamara is monitoring this forum/thread.

Given the Keystone-Kops* nature of the website migration and rollout, I'm really quite surprised that after a few weeks there hasn't been some PR management effort on Azamara's part. Even just an email from the CEO to people with existing bookings would be nice, stating something to the effect of "We understand there are issues with the new Azamara website. While we're excited about sharing our new online presence with you, this complicated process hasn't proceeded to the standards we hold, and that you rightly expect from us. Please understand that we are working around the clock to resolve any and all concerns." Blah blah blah . . . or put a banner on the website itself. Is the Azamara PR team too busy trying to craft the next "BEST OFFER EVER!!" to slap something like this together? *Sorry for the US-centric reference. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Cops

Your confidence is admirable, but perhaps overly optimistic based on what we've seen so far. 😬

Agreed. This is, quite frankly, incompetent. They should have had it fully tested and trialed before they made it live - you don't have to be a Stanford MBA to figure that out. I'd like to give them some money by booking excursions, but they don't even show my early June cruise when I log in, it just says "You have no upcoming cruises". At least it's not claiming that we owe anything.

Did they specify which Monday? 😀

Our next trip is on the Quest in June, Greece/Turkey. As for the flights . . . I'm generally pretty good at digging up decent airfares, but have yet to find business class fares from the West Coast USA that aren't higher than the cost of the 12-night cruise. I'm holding off for a while yet, but my wife keeps asking if we're going to walk to Greece . . .

That's too bad - if any dish shouldn't be hit or miss in a professional kitchen, it's a steak.

We're in a similar boat (pun intended 😀). Our trip in June/July ends with an overnight in Istanbul, but most of the reasonably-priced (well, less usuriously-priced) flights leave IST between 8-9AM, which would, I assume, necessitate disembarking around ~4-5AM. For example, for the 4 of us it would cost us $2k more to take the Turkish Airways 1:15PM departure as opposed to the one at 8:25AM. The problem with "let customer relations know once you're onboard" is by that time it's far too late to change flights if customer relations tells you it won't work.

1600 days?!? I am in awe! Duolingo is, to me at least, a great way of learning a language. After completing the Italian tree, it was surprising how decently I could communicate there - mainly reading. My favorite phrase while there was (in Italian) "I can read like a teenager, speak like a young boy, and listen like an infant". 😀 You must have knocked off more than a few languages.

I've far less experience cruising than pretty much anyone else here, but agree with your basic sentiment. We were very happy with our Azamara cruise to Iceland - great crew, loved the "casual premium" feel, pretty good food and I thought the entertainment was quite well done - and we've already booked another for next summer. However, if the primary focus was on the cruising part per se (say, a transoceanic cruise) rather than the destination, we might well choose another line for the wider variety (and a pool in which you can actually swim).

Of course, there's no hard and fast equivalence between price and quality, but I can buy that Woodbridge Cab locally for $15. Oh, that price is for the 3L box. Retail. I'm not saying or even implying that the Woodbridge isn't a decent wine, but seriously - for Azamara to upcharge for it as part of an "Ultimate" package? The knowledgeable sommeliers on Azamara must cringe internally when they hand this list out as an inducement to upgrade. I buy the Ultimate package, but it's almost entirely for the higher-end spirits and "name brand" sparkling water; the champagne/Chandon is nice as well.

Fortunately, we were able to dodge bell peppers for the most part on Azamara cruise this past summer. I understand why chefs use them - bell peppers are colorful, cheap and take up a lot of room in a dish, and apparently most people like them. But their flavor permeates any dish in which they are used and I . . . dislike them. With apologies to Harlan Ellison: “Let me tell you how much I’ve come to hate bell peppers since I began to live. There are 86 billion neurons that fill my brain. If the work hate was engraved on each of those billions of neurons it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate I feel for bell peppers at this micro-instant. Hate. Hate.” 😄

I'm not expecting Krug or Petrus, but that should really be the list of complementary wines in the basic/included package, with the possible exception of the Moet and the Domaine Chandon. That list might make the accountants happy, but if I was Azamara's F&B manager/head sommelier, I'd be pretty embarrassed.

I spent a fair amount of time in that chair in the lower right corner of your picture. 🙂 After dinner/shows/etc., I'd head down and enjoy a cocktail while reading and listening to the pianist.

Same here (though only 1 cruise) - our fare has dropped by $500pp, and they've also added a $500 OBC which per the T&Cs can be combined with the double-upgrade (i.e. pay for inside, get veranda). Win/win/win! Even if our TA can't swing this, which he assures us he can, cancelling/rebooking would be a no-brainer.

I really don't get it when merchants make it difficult to give them money.

That hasn't seemed to stop the authors/publishers of roughly 742,196 other apps . . .

That middle one . . .

Hahahaha - it's funny because it's true. I'm an amateur musician, and for orchestra concerts the men have to wear tuxes, the women can wear black sweats if they want.

Fully agreed, and this is one of the few areas I'd knock Azamara - wines in the Ultimate package being swapped out for much lower quality substitutes. Yes, there are some exceptional deals for good-yet-inexpensive wines, but it doesn't seem as though Azamara is finding them. On our first trip, there weren't local wines to bring aboard (unless you like Icelandic blueberry wine); next trip is Greece so I'd hope that they are able to source some good "destination immersion" wines. All that said, we were able to upgrade to the Ultimate Package for just $7/day (to our surprise, we already had the Premium Package) and will do that again if possible, just for the upgraded Champagne, mid-shelf spirits, and San Pellegrino.

Your memory is correct - we were on just a few weeks ago, and it was $70.