Oslo Dutch

We did registered for an upgrade for the April 1rst LIS-BCN from Oceanview to Veranda and Veranda Plus but never ever heard back from them. The ship was not fully booked and upon embarkation there was a sign at guest services upgrades were available. 

However by that time we already had unpacked and couldn't be bothered anymore. And it turned out we were very happy with our deck 4 outside cabin anyway.

I checked before on the Azamara website about an upgrade and got a message our reservation wasn't eligible for an upgrade. So was  surprised we got an upgrade email anyway. However I think the Office is very sloppy by just sending it out to everybody even if you are not eligible. Same procedure of these endless emails ordering you to register you passport details while you have already  done it.

By the way be disembarked this morning in Barcelona and it was once again a fantastic cruise!

What is the situation right now? (Spring-summer 24)  Is the main dining room still closed for breakfast and lunch? Considering a cruise with Seabourn but just don't like these buffet venues, and whenever on a cruise try to avoid them  if possible.

Cabin Number: 8001

Ship: Pursuit

Month/Year sailed: November 2023

Would you choose this room again: Yes

Is noise an issue: No

Balcony size: Normal

Any other comments: Veranda Plus No noise issues, closely located to the forward stairs. We did not hear the noise from the crew door to the bridge, nor from the gym.

15 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

No offense taken here, but I think your assumptions are off to some extent.  

 

Our first Azamara cruise was in an Inside cabin, and we didn't do a single specialty restaurant – not because of the cost but because the MDR food was so much better than we were used to on mass-market cruise lines that we saw no reason to 'upgrade.'  Also we like the daily menu changes and didn't want to miss out on good choices in the MDR.  Our more recent Azamara cruises have been in the CW suite with specialties and in-suite dining included – so we did visit the specialties twice per cruise (each), but we didn't dine in them more because the fixed menus (with one special each night) got old.  We also checked the MDR menu before committing to a specialty – because we still don't want to miss out on the better MDR choices.  And we never do in-suite dining even with the nice dining area, because we like our food to be served hot.

 

 

This is exactly my opinion. On our first cruise, we were in a CC suite and booked quite a lot of speciality restaurant nights, however, I enjoyed the MDR. This year we only went once to Prime C which was the least enjoyable dinner due to the long wait for food and a rather noisy big table next to us, which took over the whole room in the back of Prime C. For the rest of the cruise, we enjoyed excellent dinners, breakfast (and one lunch) in the Main Dining Room. 

We will leave on the Pursuit 14 November from Barcelona to Las Palmas and are booked in a P3 Veranda. From what I see nearly all categories are sold out except Veranda P3/P2 on Deck 8 which is wide open, only a few booked.

I wonder if they will fill them up with upgrade bidding on board, otherwise it'll be rather quiet in our section

2 hours ago, beatnix said:

I found it on https://www.portdebarcelona.cat/en/web/port-dels-negocis/47 on the bottom of the page is the forcast for November.

Could it be that we met last year on Onward Barcelona to Monte Carlo?

Thank you so much, we are also embarking on the Pursuit on November 14th and have been looking for the info. It doesn't really matter as we are just embarking. Would have loved to embark at Dock S as  it's so close to town and in 1989 we docked there several times with Royal Princess during her very first European season

Last year we were in a CC suite and did not have access to the Spa deck. However, one night when the steam room was not functioning we were immediately given access as compensation (really nice Spa staff). I believe the access for CC suites has been reinstated because of lifted Covid restrictions. 

Please note the Butler is there for room service, so don't call room service as we did, it will get a bit confusing. 

20 hours ago, MNgardens said:

A lot of it is going to depend on the region specific platinum card that you have. The various travel benefits available to you can vary widely. I became aware of that over on the Amex specific sub forum on FlyerTalk.
 

I have a US platinum card. I just booked two cruises with Windstar. I used a travel agent and she does not work for Amex travel services. There is a mechanism where she can register with Amex and provide the trip details to prove I have paid the deposit and final payment on my card. I don’t remember the details of how she set that up but it is possible. I received $300 per cruise and it is reflected on the cruise documents supplied by Windstar. I am also receiving chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne from Amex. 
 

I haven’t recently checked the list of cruise lines to know if Azamara is still on it.  I am assuming so. BUT this may not be the case with the international platinum card. If this https://www.americanexpress.com/icc/cards/benefits/travel/cruise-privileges-and-discounts.html

is your card, then Azamara is not on it. You should log into your Amex account and see what is available to you. My link could be old and I am not an expert googler 
 

I hope this was helpful. Basically everything is going to depend on which region card you have. 

 Thank you for your feedback, yep it seems to be a bit of a grey area. What made me wonder why you can tick American Express CPP in the system under add-ons? We have US memberships however cruise bookings are made with a Norwegian TA. So we leave it as it is a bit too complicated and Azamara is creating enough IT problems

I have been scrolling through our reservations online for our next cruise and you can add American Express CPP through add-ons. Is this only for Amex Platinum members who book and pay through the Amex platform or are the benefits also for Amex Platinum holders who did not book and pay through Amex? I do come across conflicting info and can't make up my mind. We did register for it online on the Azamara website.

Just to let you know they are using extremely dense seating on their planes. Airbus 330/340 normally has a 2/4/2 configuration. This airline has squeezed in another seat with a 3/3/3 configuration. So also very tight for the shoulders. Good luck to those in the middle seats.

One major difference Onward has with her three sisters is that she has more CC Suites on deck no 8. This might explain why she is used for the world cruise because of increased revenue. I heard stories that Princess handed her over in a very bad dilapidated state, which explains why the refurb during lockdown did go according to plan.

Thank you for a great review and for making us aware, we can also sign up for the ultimate package during the last days of the cruise in order to spend OBC.  

We are usually happy with the wines offered in the cruise fare.  However, are the wines offered on the ultimate package really worth the upgrade?

Yep, it was the beginning of this week.  Maybe the European rules are different

15 hours ago, blag said:

I thought the transfer had to be made withing a specified period after the original booking date.

Not to my knowledge we did book online at the Azamara website May 27th and just handed it over to our TA in Norway.

8 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

I booked both the B2B cruises in January directly with Azamara.  Can I transfer the booking to a TA , or should I just cancel my reservations and rebook with a TA?

 You can transfer your booking to your TA, we have just done it last week. Inform your TA and authorise it with an email.

10 hours ago, FengShui@Sea said:

We will be embarking on the Quest in a few months and (since there is still one suite available) I am wondering if it is better to be on deck 6 with close access to the dining room.  Do they serve lunch in the dining room every day, or just on sea days?  We are currently on deck 8 for a 20-night sailing, but taking the stairs would be preferable if most meals are served in the dining room.  Since my husband can only manage one flight of stairs our current location will have us taking the elevator down from deck 8 for every meal.

 

Unfortunately, as nowadays with all other cruise lines the main dining room is closed for lunch once in port.  However, we found apart from the usual breakfast frenzy before excursions the buffet was perfectly acceptable. Weather permitting the open deck grill is also very nice and super service. Otherwise, there is a somehow limited room service menu which your suite butler can serve in your suite or balcony. 

If you are a suite residence you can also have every day a quiet breakfast at Aqualina with a high level of service. (Deck 10 Aft.)

 

Azamara ships are very small compared to the regular mass-market cruise lines so everything is at a relatively short distance. Taking an elevator is very easy as the Azamara ships do not have a high-density passenger ratio.
 

 

As unfortunately customary in Egypt, a lot of precious tour time is wasted in papyrus/alabaster factories and tacky horrible tourist stores. Many years ago we did a tour down to Luxor and were dropped off in the Valley of the Kings for a very short time in order to be bussed off to one of these ghastly tourist traps for double the time.

How much time was wasted like this on the Azamara Tours? 

There is a steam room in the gym changing rooms you can use free of charge. We used it several times. You can use the large jacuzzi at the Spa deck for an extra charge in case you are not booked in a Suite.

Prime C has got excellent steaks etc. It's a lot of food so pace yourself with the starters. Personally, we enjoyed the MDR Discoveries the most, excellent service and very good food. 

The Buffet can be a bit of a zoo for breakfast, like any other cruise ship as everybody has to get ready for tours. However, if you like to take it a bit easier enjoy breakfast in the MDR, it's lovely.

7 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Unfortunately nothing has changed for me. No excursions list, loyalty points not appearing at seatrade, different account at seaware, etc.

 

Oh well…Have a good weekend 

 

Ivi

Same here, mind you our cruise isn't until November so I imagine they are first sorting out the more urgent cases.

2 hours ago, Riocca said:

The up to $500 OBC promotion depends on the length of the cruise, this is the information from the website:

 

3. Up to $500 Onboard Credit Offer is tiered as follows:

• Voyages up to 7-nights | $250 Onboard Credit per stateroom
• Voyages 8 to 12-nights | $400 Onboard Credit per stateroom
• Voyages 13-nights or more | $500 Onboard Credit per stateroom

 Thank you all for your advice. I managed to call an Azamara number in Denmark and a very kind and professional lady confirmed there was USD300 on our account. As our circle numbers were also wrong she did correct that as well. As it's in November we will wait until the website will have sorted it self out.

We booked the November Barcelona to Las Palmas on the website, which was quite easy to do.

Points are still on the old number however I imagine it'll be sorted out in due course. (Still, a long time to go). However, the booking stated OBC Promo, and we have no idea how much OBC we have been given.

Last April on the Pursuit we discovered we had OBC which was applied halfway down the cruise.

How can we find out how much OBC we have been given?

9 hours ago, KTV said:

What about Siracusa, Messina, Dubrovnik, or Sorrento?
Thank you in advance!

Syracuse we were docked right into town a short walk away from the city centre. Sorrento is a tender port where you are also dropped off right in the centre of town.

We watched you sailing out from our living room. Thanks for your great blogs, I have been reading it for years now.  

Azamara usually docks at the Piraeus Cruise Terminal A. We disembarked there on April 8th and it's a fairly easy terminal. A taxi from the Terminal to our hotel Downtown near the Plaka and Syntagma Square was about 20 Euro incl. a large tip. You can also take the Metro, Piraeus Metro Station is close by.

Tusen Takk!

This is a great voyage report. We disembarked the Pursuit last Saturday in Athens and seem to have the same opinions about Azamara. The 7 days from Italy to Greece were fantastic!

We are looking into a similar itinerary next year for Easter, once again on the lovely Pursuit.