Eloise4Ever

We are currently on Quest and have been told there is no Schweppes on board. As others have said, Royal Club tonic is indeed truly unpleasant :(.

Eloise

We have used Roma Shuttle http://www.romashuttle.com for this transfer and found them to be efficient and well-priced.

Thanks for your response Bonnie, it is indeed good to be heard. And I too look forward to the complimentary bottle of champagne in our cabin on boarding :).

Hi Bonnie, as Azamara are not prepared to offer prosecco or champagne in the inclusive program, could you please ask the powers that be to consider adding them to the list of beverages included in the pay-for packages? For example, prosecco by the glass could be included in the Premium package and champagne in the Top Shelf package.

I have no idea how many guests purchase beverage packages but I suspect that more would do so if champagne and possibly higher grade wines by the glass were included. Result: more profits for Azamara! As things stand I will not be purchasing a package on my first Azamara cruise as I am ok with the spirits and wines on the included program. I don't intend to purchase champagne by the glass on this trip either but plan to bring some onboard for pre-dinner drinks in our cabin.However, I would always purchase the premium beverage package on Celebrity and would also do so on Azamara if champagne were included.

Hi Shemansl ~ At this time there are no plans to change the beverages offered on the Inclusive Beverages program served on-board.

The beverages and brands offered in the Inclusive program are based on relationships we have with various suppliers.

The list of complimentary beverages was created with the goal of pleasing the vast majority of our customers. Those who want something different, or a higher grade beverage, have the option to purchase one of our beverage packages that offer very good value for the price. This also applies to the purchase of wine packages that include something 'bubbly'!

 

Hi Bonnie, as Azamara are not prepared to offer prosecco or champagne in the inclusive program, could you please ask the powers that be to consider adding them to the list of beverages included in the pay-for packages? For example, prosecco by the glass could be included in the Premium package and champagne in the Top Shelf package.

I have no idea how many guests purchase beverage packages but I suspect that more would do so if champagne and possibly higher grade wines by the glass were included. Result: more profits for Azamara! As things stand I will not be purchasing a package on my first Azamara cruise as I am ok with the spirits and wines on the included program. I don't intend to purchase champagne by the glass on this trip either but plan to bring some onboard for pre-dinner drinks in our cabin.However, I would always purchase the premium beverage package on Celebrity and would also do so on Azamara if champagne were included.

 

About the hair dryers. I have short hair and therefore no need of a hairdryer but I think I saw one in the top drawer of the desk? Also, I don't believe there's an outlet in the bathroom so you'd have to dry your hair in the cabin itself.

 

If you'd like to see some more photos/review of Azamara, you may want to look at the Preisman's blog. It's a few years old now but a lot of the things remain the same. Their photos are very sharp! http://www.thepreismans.com/seasia_quest.htm

Thanks again Deirdre, both for the hairdryer info and the link to the Preismans review - you are so helpful :). I have enjoyed previous reviews by the Preismans but hadn't seen this one. The Quest looks amazing in their photos. I did notice a dreaded (by me!) hose-type hairdryer in the bathroom but Azamara have obviously replaced them since 2010.

Eloise

Deirdre, thank you for this wonderful review which was a deciding factor in my decision to try Azamara for the first time. Would you be kind enough to tell me whether the hair dryer is in the bathroom or bedroom and whether it is powerful or not?

Many thanks,

First Azamara cruise on Quest coming up in April. Would be grateful for any details anyone can provide on the Azamazing evening in Monaco - Night at the Museum. Have read conflicting reports of how enjoyable these evenings are and hoping this is one of the good ones.

http://eclipse2011ta.webs.com/blumenus.htm

 

Here is a link to 10 days of Blu menus from a transatlantic cruise. A recent poster looked them over and said this was pretty much what they had on their cruise, so it doesn't seem there have been too many changes. We were in AQ on Eclipse and have booked it for our May Reflection cruise, we loved the ambiance and the service, and frankly found that most of the menu items tasted better than they sounded, and were prepared more to order than in the MDR.

We were on the 13 night Eclipse TA in Nov 13 and the Blu menu was very similar to this one. It was our second time to cruise in AQ and dine in Blu and unfortunately the experience did match up to the first time round. After our first AQ cruise we were convinced we would only ever book AQ from then on, purely so we could eat in Blu. Now, our next Celebrity cruise will probably be in a regular balcony cabin and we will book a specialty restaurant package.

The reason we enjoyed Blu so much the first time round proved to be its downfall on our most recent cruise. That is, we really enjoyed the smaller venue, the intimate atmosphere and more personal service first time round. Unfortunately that doesn't work so well when there are difficult customers nearby on a nightly basis and a Maitre D'/Hostess that don't care how that is affecting your experience. In a larger venue such as the MDR these things are more easily overlooked but in Blu it is impossible to do so. I really don't want to be more specific about these issues as it was a somewhat sensitive situation and while everyone I met on the ship was aware of it, as far as I am aware nobody else has mentioned the specifics on Cruise Critic and I would also rather not do so.

Leaving that aside, the issues we encountered in Blu this time that could happen anytime are: queues for entry, even after 8pm, and honestly, the food is not that special. The hostess told me that they had a lot of suite guests eating in Blu and that was the cause of the waiting time. When I said I thought that suite guests could only eat in Blu on a space available basis (and on the basis of my experience there didn’t appear to be any space available), she said that was the "policy" but in reality they could not turn suite guests away.

To my surprise and disappointment, there were some nights when I struggled to find anything I wanted to eat on the Blu menu. Another issue was with the menu descriptions, on occasion the food did not match the description. For instance, the chocolate fondant dessert which would commonly be understood to be a hot cake with a melting centre was served as a cold mousse. This was one of several similar misfires but I can't recall the details of others right now. We mentioned it to the Maitre D’ but he said that the recipes come from Miami and individual ships had no input into the presentation of a dish.

In summary, Blu, for better or worse, does have an intimate atmosphere. The wait staff, without exception, are extremely pleasant and capable and we had good fun with some of them. In fact, I feel these wonderful people were let down by the average food and lacklustre Blu management. As I said earlier, I will certainly cruise with Celebrity again but maybe not in AQ unless the cost differential vs a regular balcony is not very great. Obviously this is very much a personal opinion and I am actually sad that my previous extremely high opinion of Blu has been soured by my most recent experiences, as it was the highlight of my previous AQ cruise.

We found the lobster in Blu to be very tough and rubbery on our recent Eclipse TA. Very disappointing.

Answer...craft cocktail menus are only in one bar and I forget which one...sorry...I drink martinis and it wasn't the martini bar.

No problem GH, I will track those cocktails down!

Thanks for listing the craft cocktails GH, several of them are right up my street :) Are they available at all bars?

Thanks so much Abbafan, that's good to know. Interesting also that you were able to upgrade for only a portion of the cruise as the new policy states that you must now purchase a drinks package for the entire cruise rather than a few days into it as was previously possible. I assumed the same would apply to upgrades but obviously not. Thanks again.

Eloise

Really enjoyed your first report GH, thanks. If possible, could you try to find out how much they are charging to upgrade to the premium package from the "free" classic drinks package that many passengers received when booking? I am waiting to upgrade onboard after Celebrity confirmed on these boards that one would not have to pay the new higher upgrade price when upgrading onboard. I would be very grateful if you could confirm that this is definitely the case.

Thanks,

Eloise

Looking forward to reading your reports - we will be on the Eclipse TA on November 3rd, also in AQ. Have a great cruise :)

We will be sailing for the first time on Seabourn on 31st March and would be very grateful if someone has a referral coupon to spare. I can be contacted at eloiseonthehighseas @ gmail dot com

Eloise