AJCM

Seabourn Ovation and Silversea Dawn. I made a mistake with Silversea - we were “port to port”

We just completed Silver Dawn Norway from 5 - 15 June and received the points upgrade laundry benefit. It was great - we sent it out daily and went home with mainly clean clothes.

We’ve just completed Seabourn 11n Dover to Hamburg and Silversea 10n Copenhagen to Oslo Both ships very gracious with a very uncrowded feel and friendly atmosphere. Much higher number of Europeans on Silversea - otherwise, the fairly typical predominance of US, UK, Canadian, Australian guests. Service very good in all areas in both ships although main restaurants a bit stressed at dinner times. . Food is very subjective. Meals came hot most of the time, which is a big plus for us. Surprisingly, the Seabourn buffet managed to have most cooked items hot - never experienced this before on ships or hotels.Silversea dinner menus were too fancy for my liking and would have preferred more “simple” dishes. Sabourn’s everyday dinner menu has more choices than Silversea. Scappolini, on deck 11 outdoor Silversea, makes fabulous hot pizzas - great for lunch. Included wines were good on both, after finding a couple that we liked. We just stuck to those. Sommeliers can be helpful early on. Silversea had twice the number of guests. As a result, there were larger well appointed public areas with plenty of seating. However, we found the furniture more comfortable on Seabourn. Size difference also means that Silversea had more sitting areas and bars and more dining areas. Guest lecturers on both cruises were very informative and interesting. Silversea main entertainment was too late for us, with one show at 9.45pm - too much waiting time after finishing dinner. They did put on 2 shows at 6.15pm, which were ok but we would have liked 8.30 shows. Azamara does 8.30 and 9.45 and this works well. Tender services good on both ships. Standard suites on both are very comfortable and good size, including bathroom and balcony, with plenty of power outlets. Silversea had more, well placed outlets and better storage. Outdoors, Silversea has very good roofing and heating over outdoor sitting areas; excellent wind breaks and cushioned sun lounges (sadly lacking with Seabourn). Heaters make outdoor areas at least usable in colder weather. We reckon both lines provide a wonderful experience and will happily cruise with either, based on the itinerary more than anything. Silversea is more expensive but includes free excursions in each port. We used “door to door” and if the excursion cost is factored in, there’s probably little price difference really.

We’ve had our 21 day Greece/Turkey cruise, for Apr 25, cancelled due to the Middle East/Red Sea situation. This cancellation is understandable - more so than this year’s Greece cruise having been cancelled a year out due to “operational reasons”. Two years running with Seabourn cancellations, as well as this year’s Indian Ocean crossing with Azamara. Following on from covid and Red Sea cancellations and the commensurate compensation to clients, cruise lines are gun-shy now and are more prepared to make changes very early rather than deal with consequences of later cancellations. However, it’s certainly making early bookings riskier than they used to be. Fortunately for us, they’ve cancelled before we’ve paid for expensive flights - we’ve been on the cusp; so the cancellation timing is favourable. We’ve already found and booked a Silversea cruise whose dates coincide with other 2025 arrangements. There was nothing suitable for us with Seabourn, as their offerings with suitable dates are virtually the same as our 2023 Seabourn Med. cruise.

The many options of what should be included/excluded at different price points was immediately irrelevant to me. We’re not going on a 7 night Med cruise from Australia- especially when the bare bones price is AUD7,500 per person. No way are we paying $15,000 a couple for a 7 night cruise on Azamara in a veranda cabin. This is luxury level pricing. At over $2,000 per night, we wouldn’t hesitate to go to Regent, Silversea or Seabourn and not have to worry about tips being included, access to laundries, which alcoholic or caffeine drink to consume and a clingy shower screen (because we’d be in a larger, more comfortable suite). Oh, and 2 of those 3 include gratis shore excursions. I’m afraid someone has lost the plot at Azamara.

We enjoyed the daily included laundry on Regent last year, around Japan; and now we get the same with Silversea from 5 June around Norway on Dawn; as well as a higher grade bottle of champagne. That’s it. Timing is perfect for us and we’re very happy. We’ll be more closely considering Silversea for 2025 and 26 with the additional loyalty booking discount.

correction - on Ovation. Don’t even know which ship we’re cruising on. Sojourn was last year.

On Sojourn now and have a HDMI cord attached to laptop and TV. Remote has an AV button

I’m Australian and did receive it.

My apologies to Cruise Critic, who clearly are not responsible. Thanks to Cruise Critic - the problem seems fixed. Safari CC site working as it should.

As Jazzbeau suggests look for a similar itinerary this year and check out its excursions - they’re likely to be pretty much the same, just more expensive next year. Either start or wait for a Roll Call in cruise critic. Azamara Roll Call is usually very active with fellow cruisers sharing info and looking for like minded people for private excursions.

OK - Chrome hasn’t been invaded yet; so goodbye Safari.

Thanks i’ll try that later. The footy’s just starting now. Priorities.

Imagine my dismay when today I’ve opened the Azamara board in Cruise Critic, only to find that an ad for NCL now takes up the bottom third of my Ipad screen. It doesn’t matter which thread I then open- the ad just reappears. So, thanks a lot Crusie Critic - you’re now ruining what has been a great source. To NCL - Azamara cruisers ain’t going anywhere near your ships, especially given your shabby treatment of very elderly passengers you’ve stranded recently with no apparent support; so stop wasting your money disrupting this Board.

I don't recall any debris Jenny but you were at the same Azamazing. This was the crossing where we met when you did a great reading at the dawn Anzac Day ceremony conducted onboard - very moving and memorable.

I assume any of your onboard expenses will be billed to the one person and that the people/cabins are on the single booking number. Even if they’re not, I can’t imagine you'll have any problem. Once aboard, speak to Guest Relations. If you don’t get what you want, escalate to the Hotel Director.

Brings back great memories of our Indian Ocean crossing a few years ago. Same Azamazing night. We had great palm readings - both of us are going to live healthily and happily into our nineties. Cheered us up no end.

We’ve needed to claim ANZ Platinum insurance twice over the years on international travel. They were fantastic. Other than a slightly higher excess they provided cover as good as any other travel insurance. You’re dealing with (at the moment) Allianz, so there’s really no difference once you lodge a claim. Interestingly, with the latest changes they are quite explicit that you should contact them before you spend any money. I assume some people may have spent considerably more, in anticipation of reimbursement, than the insurance will cover. So, they’ll only reimburse what they would have been prepared to spend if you had contacted them first. Seems fair enough to me. They’ve also increased the excess from $350 to $500. We’ll still use them because fundamentally the insurance is free and we know from experience that it’s effective.

Buyer beware. Many of us experienced the hassles and delays of getting our money back from flight, cruise and accommodation providers due to covid cancellations. Another serious pandemic is still an ever present threat in my view. The current world political environment is increasingly unstable and look at how some cruise lines, including (or especially) Azamara, are deferring cancelling as long as possible - see Roll Call on 3 May Indian Ocean cruise. It also seems there have been increasing cancellations by cruise companies, due to “operational reasons”. All of these factors necessitate finding new bookings, usually at a premium due to late booking; and paying penalties to change/cancel flights and accommodation. So, we’ll forego a 10% and, most certainly, a 5% discount for early full payment. We cancelled our Indian Ocean booking for May prior to final payment and we have avoided a lot of the stress that others have recently been experiencing. I doubt if that would have been so easy if we had prepaid 100%.

We were just on Journey and it is now impossible to attach a HDMI cord, unfortunately. At least they now provide around 15 movies in demand.

Who would know on the price until you ring. I don’t think you both have to be in the same package but don’t actually know. We booked a Feb 25 cruise while on board.Thanks to the inside info here I contacted Sydney and applied for the ultimate package, at the prevailing rate of USD26.95 and had on board credit applied (and received a follow up, updated booking confirmation). I assume it will be honoured, even though it’s obvious the price will be considerably higher by then. The phone rep couldn’t apply the loyalty discount; so we’ll try when we’re on board. After recent experience, I’m not confident that the new Azamara will honour that; given that we’ve paid at the old price. Still, we’ll have a crack.

It’s not really clear and I didn’t push.

Yes; they’ve scaled back our charges to 26.95 less loyalty. No; the cost profile has increased since moving away from the buying power of RC; so the cost will be increased across the fleet. This is just another instance where Azamara on land can be quite poor. You’d have thought they would be coordinated on an issue like this but maybe they’ve just been testing the response on one ship before committing to a 50% price rise. Who knows - maybe they’ve found it’s too much and the rise might be lower when implemented fleet wide.

I’ve had a win, so thanks again

Thanks uktog - it’s very helpful to have an Azamara document on side. I’ve been back to guest relations. The young woman checked with someone responsible who confirmed that the price change was effected on Journey from 21 Jan but hasn’t yet been implemented across the fleet. I’m now waiting for someone in authority to speak to me to explain why it’s fair that we’re charged USD13 per day more than other Azamara guests.