Where have all the 14 night itineraries gone?

[Jade13]

 

The cruise was not quite fully booked. There were two Penthouse Suites available as bingo prizes and may have been a few other cabins free.

Sue

 

They had two PH Bingo prizes? I assume they were played on differant cards/games?

[wripro]

The reason two seven day b2b cruises are not the same as a fourteen day cruise is that you will have an almost complete change of passengers in the middle and possibly a crew change as well. This changes the tenor of the atmosphere on board, limits the possibilities of developing relationships with those passengers. There is a flow to a longer cruise that simply does not exist on shorter ones where people are trying to fit everything in in their short time aboard.

 

And the reason A is now offering so many shorter itineraries is to attract the younger demographic who can't take off more time. Most of the luxury lines are doing this during the summer months as well.

[Project_gal]

What was the Waves ceremony?

 

The ceremony when the captain, officers and crew wave "goodbye" to all the passengers. I believe they have something similar on all cruises but, we have never felt the need to attend before. We would not have missed this one for anything.

 

They had two PH Bingo prizes? I assume they were played on differant cards/games?

 

Played on different days! Apparently, the room was packed out each time.

 

The reason two seven day b2b cruises are not the same as a fourteen day cruise is that you will have an almost complete change of passengers in the middle and possibly a crew change as well. This changes the tenor of the atmosphere on board, limits the possibilities of developing relationships with those passengers. There is a flow to a longer cruise that simply does not exist on shorter ones where people are trying to fit everything in in their short time aboard.

 

You put it so much better that I managed to!

 

Sue

[rodan]

I have sailed twice recently with Azamara. A 14 day Med from Rome and back with two overnights (Barcelona and Livorno) and a 12 day from Rome to Athens with stops in Egypt and Israel. Both those cruises were excellent but when I started looking at cruises for 2011 I could not find one decent offering for 12-14 days in the Med instead one seven day after another. Next I started looking further out for a winter cruise in Jan of 2012 to South America.I was interested in hitting the ports between Rio and Buenos Aires and doing it on a 12-14 day cruise that could could also hit Montevedio . The best I could find with Azamara was either a 7 day or 8 day cruise. Next I looked at Oceania and found just what I was looking for with a 12 day cruise hitting the ports that I wanted. Even better the cost was only slightly higher than the 8 day Azamara (without air-comparing apples with apples). I will not come back to Azamara until they offer more 12-14 day cruises at competitive prices. Too bad Azamara-After trying Oceania I may never come back-its up to you. Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

-Rodan

[vintagebabe]

Well, I guess I am in the minority! Although I have alot of vacation time, as a RN, we cannot take more than 2 weeks off at a time, especially in the summer! So a 7 day, with 1-2 on either end for travel time (from LA to Europe) and 1-2 in the beginning and end port, and that's 2 weeks for me!! A 14 day cruise would be literally impossible to do for me.

 

And my husband will agree to a 7 day cruise, but longer than that and he wants to walk the plank!

 

I am glad Azamara does offer these. But I agree, please NO children!! There are PLENTY of other cruise lines that are family friendly!

 

T

[Paulchili]

Well, I guess I am in the minority! Although I have alot of vacation time, as a RN, we cannot take more than 2 weeks off at a time, especially in the summer! So a 7 day, with 1-2 on either end for travel time (from LA to Europe) and 1-2 in the beginning and end port, and that's 2 weeks for me!! A 14 day cruise would be literally impossible to do for me.

 

And my husband will agree to a 7 day cruise, but longer than that and he wants to walk the plank!

 

I am glad Azamara does offer these. But I agree, please NO children!! There are PLENTY of other cruise lines that are family friendly!

 

T

 

There obviously is a place and a need for 7 day cruises, but not at the expense of 12/14 day cruises.

There should be enough of both for people to choose from.

[piscean]

There obviously is a place and a need for 7 day cruises, but not at the expense of 12/14 day cruises.

There should be enough of both for people to choose from.[/quot

 

I so agree. I am prepared to pay a little more than the 'old prices' for an intinary that appeals but 7 days, for me, is not worth the 1 day of travel through the airport and 1 day back, and I am travelling from the UK! I want to have longer, at least 10 days!

I also have looked for an interesting programme on AZ but can find nothing that I would pay the extra for.

Carol

Sadly, much as I liked the 'old Azamara' I too must look elsewhere.

[comcox]

AFAIK, currently there are 5 itineraries that are scheduled to visit Easter Islands:

P&O Aurora - leaving Southampton 1/9/11 and visiting EI on 2/12/11

Royal Princess - leaving Papeete on 4/6/11 and visiting EI on 4/15/11

Pacific Princess - leaving FLL on 1/9/11 and visiting EI on 2/3/11

HAL Amsterdam - Leaving FLL on 1/5/11 and visiting EI on 1/20/11 and again the following year on 2/10/11

All are part of a world cruise, as pointed out by K.

 

I agree that there are lots of good itineraries out there, but not for me. I have a severe allergy to smoke and all the above cruiselines permit smoking in the cabins areas. Smoke leaks out into hallways, into the air system in adjoining cabins, etc. Last time I was on HAL I spent the first 3 days sitting in the lobby because chain smoker across the hall smoked me out of my cabin. It took HAL 3 days to find me another cabin that had clean air.

[orchestrapal]

I agree that there are lots of good itineraries out there, but not for me. I have a severe allergy to smoke and all the above cruiselines permit smoking in the cabins areas. Smoke leaks out into hallways, into the air system in adjoining cabins, etc. Last time I was on HAL I spent the first 3 days sitting in the lobby because chain smoker across the hall smoked me out of my cabin. It took HAL 3 days to find me another cabin that had clean air.

 

Come over to Oceania and you'll never have a smoking problem. Just one of the reasons we love them!:D

[greeneg]

There obviously is a place and a need for 7 day cruises, but not at the expense of 12/14 day cruises.

There should be enough of both for people to choose from.[/quot

 

I so agree. I am prepared to pay a little more than the 'old prices' for an intinary that appeals but 7 days, for me, is not worth the 1 day of travel through the airport and 1 day back, and I am travelling from the UK! I want to have longer, at least 10 days!

I also have looked for an interesting programme on AZ but can find nothing that I would pay the extra for.

Carol

Sadly, much as I liked the 'old Azamara' I too must look elsewhere.

 

Hi Carol, as usual you've hit the crux of the matter very well. It simply isn't worth the trouble and expense to do a 7 day itinerary, and this is one instance where 2 x 7 does not equal 14 in terms of experience and enjoyment.

 

I am going to continue to monitor this thread in the hopes that either Mr. Pimentel or Mr Leiber might comment here as this would seem a good opportunity to share management's thinking on the issue.

[Paulchili]

Hi Carol, as usual you've hit the crux of the matter very well. It simply isn't worth the trouble and expense to do a 7 day itinerary, and this is one instance where 2 x 7 does not equal 14 in terms of experience and enjoyment.

 

I am going to continue to monitor this thread in the hopes that either Mr. Pimentel or Mr Leiber might comment here as this would seem a good opportunity to share management's thinking on the issue.

 

Ed,

Unfortunately, even IF management were to listen to us, it will be some time before any changes can be implemented.

As the schedule is out now till some time in 2012, I doubt very much that they would change the existing itineraries (cost, confusion, etc). At best, we may see these changes with the next batch of itineraries (or not).

[greeneg]

Paul, I suspect that you are probably right, but I do think that it could be useful for Azamara management to share some of their thinking. This would probably engender some feedback from those who are interested here and give some idea of where changes might be considered.

 

It would certainly be a very cost-effective sort of focus group, composed of probably mostly experienced cruisers and a number of former Azamara Clients, for just the price of the time involved to read and comment on the posts.

 

I would certainly regard Cruise Critic as that sort of opportunity if I were in Management.

[cpgrneyes]

We completed our first 14-day cruise and first on Azamara last month and loved it. We looked for a 10-12 day cruise to book next year in the Eastern Med, but all I could find were 7 days, so I thought I'd make the best of it and add a week on land in Italy at the end.

 

The problem is that all of Azamara's trips that fit our desired ports were Saturday to Saturday. Now that's obviously not a big deal for the lucky retirees, but for us working stiffs living on the West Coast, it means I need to take off on Thursday to give a day leeway in case of the inevitable delays, so a total of 12 precious vacation days.

 

I started looking around, and found almost the identical itinerary on a brand new Seabourn ship which was a Monday to Monday, allowing us to fly out on Saturday.

 

Factoring in the costs for the additional two days in Italy (no way I would come home on a Friday or Saturday to "rest", I'm taking every moment I can get) of hotels, food, car rental, it was only $500 more to travel on Seabourn AND save a couple days of vacation.

 

Seems to me like those 7 days aren't structured for working people in the US! As much as we loved Azamara, we're sailing on Seabourn next year. Like those who have made similar switches to Oceania, Azamara needs to hope we come back.

 

Had there been longer itineraries, I never would have thought to look elsewhere.

[Redtravel]

People who take shorter cruises spend more money. They are often younger and do have less vacation time. They will not book a 14 night cruise when they have only 2-3 weeks total vacation/year. They retired set love the longer cruises..book b2b and you have 14 days.

[Jade13]

We loved our 14 night Asia cruise this year on Quest and are going back on Quest next year. In order to find a longer itinerary we will be on the Dubai to Athens repositioning cruise. I hope we made the right decision as there is only one stop/day along the way, and this does not fit how we normally travel or even Azamara's plan of immersion travel. I guess I had secretly hoped that like Oceania (or even RCCL) they would have at least added one more port day (either in Oman, Alexandria - 2 days instead of one - or even Jordan) but that is not going to happen. The sailing has lots of availability and I know it would be selling better if they added at least one more port stop.

 

The 14 night itineraries are still there, but are mostly the same as the cruise that we already completed this year.

[tommui987]

I hope we made the right decision (longer cruise) as there is only one stop/day along the way, and this does not fit how we normally travel or even Azamara's plan of immersion travel.

 

The 14 night itineraries are still there, but are mostly the same as the cruise that we already completed this year.

 

Jade - see what happens when you and M. didn't sign up for the Shanghai-Hong Kong cruise!

[Jade13]

Jade - see what happens when you and M. didn't sign up for the Shanghai-Hong Kong cruise!

 

I know. We are missing you and L already. But, we already went to Bejing before Hong Kong last year....We were looking for some new places to visit, again as this thread is discussing, on at least a 12 night cruise. Maybe Captain Carl will get to Alexandria a day early...

[Project_gal]

The problem is that all of Azamara's trips that fit our desired ports were Saturday to Saturday. Now that's obviously not a big deal for the lucky retirees, but for us working stiffs living on the West Coast, it means I need to take off on Thursday to give a day leeway in case of the inevitable delays, so a total of 12 precious vacation days.

 

The logistics are the same for us from the UK! We live so far from any airport that we have to leave the day before any flight departing earlier than the evening.

 

I hope we made the right decision as there is only one stop/day along the way, and this does not fit how we normally travel or even Azamara's plan of immersion travel.

 

Honestly, this was the best portion of our Singapore to Athens cruise! It is the reason that we do not like the new Azamara strategy. We are only booked on our next Azamara cruise because I have always wanted to sail into Ha Long Bay but I am very concerned that the rest of the port intensive "immersed" cruise will be a huge disappointment. It is far too hectic for us and I find it hard to understand why Azamara's target demographic would want holidays that are so intensive. Surely they need the R&R that seadays provide.

 

Sue

[piscean]

Again I ask is there anyone who is entirely happy with the 7 days either from US or here in UK?

[comcox]

We cruised with Azamara in both 2008 and 2009 and loved them. We've looked for good, worthwhile itineraries for 2010 and 2011 and could not find anything worth our while--it was all seven day, few if any overnights, same-old, same-old ports--not what Azamara was suppose to be about. We couldn't even find a back-to-back to work. We are still cruising, just not with Azamara anymore.

[Susan-M]

... I find it hard to understand why Azamara's target demographic would want holidays that are so intensive. Surely they need the R&R that seadays provide.

 

Sue

 

Hi Sue,

We are in ACC's 'target demographic' but not cruising with them to Asia as we were concerned about too much time on board vs. time for exploring on land. Instead we are doing a land trip there (including an overnight on a junk in Halong Bay.) We have the energy and interest in doing port intensive cruises ... for us a 14 day cruise with 2 (3 max) sea days is ideal. I'm hoping that ACC's itineraries in 2012/2013 have a port intensive, 14 day itinerary that appeals to us because we felt they were a perfect fit for us on our Med cruise 2 years ago.

[Jade13]

Hi Sue,

We are in ACC's 'target demographic' but not cruising with them to Asia as we were concerned about too much time on board vs. time for exploring on land. Instead we are doing a land trip there (including an overnight on a junk in Halong Bay.) We have the energy and interest in doing port intensive cruises ... for us a 14 day cruise with 2 (3 max) sea days is ideal. I'm hoping that ACC's itineraries in 2012/2013 have a port intensive, 14 day itinerary that appeals to us because we felt they were a perfect fit for us on our Med cruise 2 years ago.

 

Susan-M, I remember you saying this and was concerned too that there were not enough different ports from Hong Kong to Singapore, but we were wrong. It was in fact a port intensive cruise. We had very full days and even left the ship in Cambodia to fly to Angkor Wat and met up the next evening in Thailand. The timing was perfect since we than I had two nights in Bangkok.

[Jade13]

The logistics are the same for us from the UK! We live so far from any airport that we have to leave the day before any flight departing earlier than the evening.

 

Honestly, this was the best portion of our Singapore to Athens cruise! It is the reason that we do not like the new Azamara strategy. We are only booked on our next Azamara cruise because I have always wanted to sail into Ha Long Bay but I am very concerned that the rest of the port intensive "immersed" cruise will be a huge disappointment. It is far too hectic for us and I find it hard to understand why Azamara's target demographic would want holidays that are so intensive. Surely they need the R&R that seadays provide.

 

Sue

 

Sue, I am really glad to hear that the Dubai to Athens portion of your trip was the best part! It also appears that Azamara is not going to Dubai in 2012 (but Mumbai to Oman, so another plus that we are doing the transit in 2011). We have never had so many sea days, but at least we will have time to meet everyone on the ship! We are just hoping they will have some good activities (maybe even a dance instructor) as we only want to spend so much time a day lounging/reading. I did read that we can not use our balcony's for two days (and understand why). I certainly hope there is some place we can sit and watch the Suez canal passage/take some photos because that is what this trip is about. And hope there is a good lecturer to tell us about the canal.

 

Btw, we did the Asia itinerary this year without Halong Bay as we made the choice to take the opposite itinerary that would allow us time to leave the ship and go to Angkor Wat. We could not do both on either itinerary (well actually there is a way to take a day trip by flying to Angkor Wat), but dependent on having a full day in Bangkok, and then of course you miss Bangkok.

 

As far as too much immersion, I put together very jam packed tours, but you really do not have to do that. In HCMC you can sleep in late and just take a taxi to town center, walk around, see the post office and church. It does not have to be hectic at all. Do not miss the water puppet show in HCMC ($4.00pp). It was really good.

[Susan-M]

Susan-M, I remember you saying this and was concerned too that there were not enough different ports from Hong Kong to Singapore, but we were wrong. It was in fact a port intensive cruise. We had very full days and even left the ship in Cambodia to fly to Angkor Wat and met up the next evening in Thailand. The timing was perfect since we than I had two nights in Bangkok.

 

Sounds like you had an interesting cruise! Where did your ship stop in Cambodia to fly to Siem Reap ...were you able to have more than a night in SR? For us, it wasn't a matter of not having enough different ports on the itinerary, but rather the amount of time on board. At first glance the 4 sea days don't look to be too much, but there were some mid day arrivals and early departures that cut other days short. I think the day will come when we can appreciate the extra time on board ... but for now, if we are going to travel that far, we really want to maximize our time on land. I'll let you know in December if 3 weeks on land in HK, Vietnam and Cambodia proves to be too much.:)

[Jade13]

Sounds like you had an interesting cruise! Where did your ship stop in Cambodia to fly to Siem Reap ...were you able to have more than a night in SR? For us, it wasn't a matter of not having enough different ports on the itinerary, but rather the amount of time on board. At first glance the 4 sea days don't look to be too much, but there were some mid day arrivals and early departures that cut other days short. I think the day will come when we can appreciate the extra time on board ... but for now, if we are going to travel that far, we really want to maximize our time on land. I'll let you know in December if 3 weeks on land in HK, Vietnam and Cambodia proves to be too much.:)

 

We arrived in Sihanoukville Cambodia at about 6:00am, and had a driver waiting who drive us to Phnom Penh where we caught a flight to Siem Reap. We stayed overnight. We were able to visit ruins in the afternoon, go to a dinner show and had pick-up for Sunrise over Angkor Wat. We went to a few other temples and flew to Bangkok later that day. Quest was not scheduled to arrive in Bangkok until 4:00pm for 2 nights. It worked out perfect. We had one sea day before arriving in Singapore.

 

We stayed at the FCC Cambodia which was lovely.