Celebrity vs Azamara?

[jimbug]

Hi all, I asked a similar question on the Azamara board and got some great responses over there. I just need some more input because I am having SUCH a hard time making a decision! (My TA has a courtesy hold on an Azamara cabin, and I must decide by tomorrow...)

 

As you can see, I am booked on Millennium for November. It's an 11-night trip with 2 sea days, 8 ports, and we have fairly active shore excursions planned for each. We snagged one of those larger foward-facing oceanview cabins on Vista deck, which I'm pretty excited about. The room itself looks to be as big as my penthouse suite I had last year on Carnival!

 

On Azamara, it would be the same time period (a week later), but a 12-night trip with 4 sea days and 6 ports (St John, St Martin, St Kitts, Antigua, St Barts [overnight], Virgin Gorda). Because of the more expensive cruise fare, we would need to downgrade to an interior cabin, but the largest one on the ship is available (not huge, but larger than a standard inside). The food looks amazing, and the fact that wine/soda/gratuities are now included is also pretty nice.

 

If we would pretty much break even on the cost (flying to Miami a little cheaper than to San Juan, and the inclusive options, as well as fewer expensive short excursions, make it all pretty much a wash)....which would you pick and why?

 

I initially lean to just stay with Celebrity...I'm excited about the huge room, the excursions we have planned, and an overnight in Old San Juan (been there, loved it). Also, since the X trip sails over Thanksgiving, that's a day or two "free" off from work where I don't have to use precious vacation days. But then, I look at all the little nice extras on Azamara and realize that although I pay a premium for it, it may be worth it, just to not have to encounter any crowds or long lines, or avoid the more "touristy" ports?

[Longboysfan]

Depends on the activities you do on ship.

 

Azmara does not have a lot in that way.

More of an Adult almost only cruise expirence.

Very upscale.

[kimanjo]

Well, if you ask DD (who is 20) she will tell you Azamara. We did a 14 night Med cruise and she said it was her best trip in her life.

 

She's a quiet type, likes to read, lay in the sun, and tour. The lack of real night life/activities suited her and me just fine, since we only had 2 sea days out of 14 nights. We loved the food, the staff, the small ship size, the very limited smoking policy, and the other passengers. How do I describe them....well-travelled, active, well to do enough to afford Azamara, yet very down to earth. Even though they were an older crowd, very young at heart. This was in 2007 before it changed to Azamara Club, but I can only guess its the same.

 

We are headed on our 3 Celebrity (Summit) in March. We really like the smaller ships, but that Azamara was for us kind of a trip of a lifetime, so back to Celebrity we go with no hesitation. Love the crew, limited smoking, quietness, food.

 

There are my 2 cents...

[jimbug]

Well, if you ask DD (who is 20) she will tell you Azamara. We did a 14 night Med cruise and she said it was her best trip in her life.

 

She's a quiet type, likes to read, lay in the sun, and tour. The lack of real night life/activities suited her and me just fine, since we only had 2 sea days out of 14 nights. We loved the food, the staff, the small ship size, the very limited smoking policy, and the other passengers. How do I describe them....well-travelled, active, well to do enough to afford Azamara, yet very down to earth. Even though they were an older crowd, very young at heart. This was in 2007 before it changed to Azamara Club, but I can only guess its the same.

 

We are headed on our 3 Celebrity (Summit) in March. We really like the smaller ships, but that Azamara was for us kind of a trip of a lifetime, so back to Celebrity we go with no hesitation. Love the crew, limited smoking, quietness, food.

 

There are my 2 cents...

 

Well, I bit the bullet. I went ahead and deposited the Azamara sailing, so we could get the cabin we wanted. Now, yes, I do still have my Celebrity sailing also deposited, and I figure I have my entire credit card billing cycle to really figure this out, before I actually have to pay for that additional deposit...and seeing as how it just started today, I have approximately a month. Hmmm... :)

 

Thank you, kimanjo, for your perspective. We are in our late 20s, and think we would REALLY enjoy the Azamara experience. We don't mind the older pax and the lack of "stuff" onboard...it's never been our thing anyway. I must admit I am excited about the new Azamara Club experience. No gratuities, no charges for wine or soda, and a large OBC from our TA really swayed us over. I will gladly pay the $15/pp surcharge for the specialty restaurants. I only foresee us eating there on only two nights, and even with the two of us eating there twice, we still come out cheaper than the RMS Olympic ($35/pp) on Millennium. We may end up leaving the ship with no bill at all, for the first time ever!

 

On the other hand, I am anxious about losing Aruba, Curacao, and Grenada as ports. (The other ones on Millie I don't care quite as much about...) We have really fun plans in all of those, so we really have to sit down and examine if we want the more exciting port itinerary with the larger cabin (Millennium), or the nicer ship and just "okay" port itinerary (Azamara Journey).

[kimanjo]

The other thing we noticed, I dont know if its because of the size of the Azamara Quest, but whatever port we were in, we had the closest dock... Monte Carlo, Portofino etc.... Maybe the nice small ships get the best docking? Its a small thing, but we really liked that.

 

We had an inside cabin, the cheapest, kind of near the medical facility. We really liked it. It was quiet, well laid out, perfectly fine.

[jackdiamond]

The Azamara and the S class ships are 5.5 stars. The M class are 5 stars. I am not certain about the inner and OV cabins, but the CC cabins on the M class are considerably larger than the equivalent cabins on Azamara.

[Blue Lagoon]

I am led to believe that Azamara's price includes gratutities and wine for lunch and dinner. With those points considered, won't that play into how the final tally looks?

 

I'm curious to know for sure because I am toying with the idea of experiencing Azamara. So.. the prices we see posted now for future cruises, I am hoping do include gratuities and vino.

 

Anyone know for sure.

 

Thanks.

 

P.S. How much vino would that be? A glass or two or three or....?

[jimbug]

From what I understand, the fares from 4/1/10 and beyond include soda, bottled water, gratuities, wine (at lunch and dinner only--I don't know what the "per glass/per meal" limit would be), and self-service laundry. I might be missing something, but that's the gist of it. Plus, I used a popular "competing" website to get quotes on the Azamara cruise. Every TA who responded offered a HUGE (to me, at least) onboard credit for Azamara...at least 4x what I was offered on Celebrity. (And, the Azamara cruise fare was NOT 4x the Celebrity fare...more like 1.5-1.75x...but after I took into account all that we wouldn't be paying for on top of the fare, plus the OBC, plus the money saved with fewer shore excursions, I believe we will actually come out ahead with Azamara.)

 

Oh, and...although I like the idea of getting the free vacation days off with the Celebrity trip during Thanksgiving week, it will actually work out to my benefit at my place of employment not to be gone that week. (I can be the "volunteer" to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, so I won't feel so bad taking off around Christmas-time, as I always do to visit family.) So, one more perk to Azamara!

[jimbug]

The other thing we noticed, I dont know if its because of the size of the Azamara Quest, but whatever port we were in, we had the closest dock... Monte Carlo, Portofino etc.... Maybe the nice small ships get the best docking? Its a small thing, but we really liked that.

 

We had an inside cabin, the cheapest, kind of near the medical facility. We really liked it. It was quiet, well laid out, perfectly fine.

 

Kimanjo, the inside cabin we booked happens to also be on Deck 4 by the medical facility. You don't happen to have pictures of your Azamara cruise you wouldn't mind sharing, do you? If so, my email is jkennedy at alumni dot ou dot edu. (Hope that makes sense.) Thanks!!

[kimanjo]

Just sent you an email, with pics. I think I did it right, they are on photobucket, so I just sent the link...

 

Im not a FaceSpace or MyBook person, so that's where I put them... If you have any questions, I'll check back. I still have my old docs, so I will look to see my cabin number...... Yup, we were in 4038. They are not huge, but if my 18 year old daughter and I can survive 14 nights together, and we both came out alive, it must be O.K.?? She's a good kid, the trip was a high school graduation present, AP classes, and 3 part time jobs her senior year. A nice quiet ship suited her just fine!!

[Spursgirl]

Hi,

 

I travelled on Azamara for the third time in November and it was (like the first two trips) a wonderful experience - great fellow travellers, wonderful staff, nothing was too much trouble - they seem to be dedicated to ensuring that their guests have an unforgettable holiday. I am not retired and yet I love the small ship experience. However, if you want lots to do at night you probably would prefer Celebrity - I've also enjoyed my trips with them.

 

Ciao

 

Spursgirl

[kimanjo]

Jimbug, did you get the pic email link I sent?

[tom_uk]

I've never cruised with Azamara but I have read up on them in detail. My reason is that I'm attracted to cruising on an R ship, and the Azamara duo are two of them of course.

 

It seems to me, however, that the on-board experience differs considerably between Celebrity and Azamara. Celebrity has set sittings for dinner, formal nights, and (thanks to the size of the ships) a lot of entertainment options. Azamara offers open-seating in the restaurant, no formal nights - it's country-club casual all through the cruise - and as others have said, entertainment is limited. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that these elements don't make up an excellent cruise, the reputations of Azamara & (even more so) Oceania tell us that they certainly can, but surely a rather different type of cruise than what Celebrity typically provide. I would have thought that these difference would have as much impact on the overall cruise experience as the itinerary.

 

(As an aside, It'll be interesting to se what P&O do with Royal Princess - another R ship - when they get her in 2011.)

[jimbug]

Jimbug, did you get the pic email link I sent?

 

Hi Kimanjo, yes I did get it. I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner--we were out of town this weekend. Thanks so much for sharing!!