Azamara or Celebrity- our September 2011 assessment

[meow!]

Interesting thread and interesting discussion. Celebrity is cheaper than Azamara, perhaps at 60% Azamara's fare.

[Redtravel]

Been on Maasdam. It's okay, but not as good as Celebrity/Azamara. Maasdam is worn out old and dull. It attracts lots of dull old people. It does have big staterooms, but it has tasteless food and so so service. It wasn't one of my favorite ships. It needs a complete revamp. Oceania is top notch.....a class above in most respects. And their new ship Marina is fantastic. This topic wasn't comparing HAL and Oceania. The only comparison was Celebrity and Azamara.

[California Native]

Been on Maasdam. It's okay, but not as good as Celebrity/Azamara. Maasdam is worn out old and dull. It attracts lots of dull old people. It does have big staterooms, but it has tasteless food and so so service. It wasn't one of my favorite ships. It needs a complete revamp. Oceania is top notch.....a class above in most respects. And their new ship Marina is fantastic. This topic wasn't comparing HAL and Oceania. The only comparison was Celebrity and Azamara.

 

Thanks for taking your time to share your comparison. I think this could prove VERY helpful to many people.

We were not happy with our last experience on the Mercury PNW cruise nor the Holland America cruise last February for Mexico in a suite.

For us AZ takes the lead, but with that said I've now booked a total of 43 days on Princess for the next year instead of Azamara.

 

Azamara had me hook, line and sinker...sadly, they haven't been able to retain me.

[Jade13]

Been on Maasdam. It's okay, but not as good as Celebrity/Azamara. Maasdam is worn out old and dull. It attracts lots of dull old people. It does have big staterooms, but it has tasteless food and so so service. It wasn't one of my favorite ships. It needs a complete revamp.

 

Not our experience at all! We were on Maasdam for the Voyage of the Vikings two months ago and she underwent her multi-million dollar Signature of Excellence refurbishment earlier this year, and overall is in much better shape than Quest. She is not worn out (Ok, they did not do anything to the gym which is poor compared to Quest and needs updated Equipment). Neither gym will compare to the ones on the new Solstice class ships.

 

Our food on Quest last year was just OK but Maasdam was great two months ago. On each ship it depends on the Chef and they did bring their Best of the Best on VOV which is one of HALs highest per diem cruises and sells out each year with a waiting list. The starting price for the half the voyage (17 or 18 days) next year in a Veranda is 7K per person. I am sure these are the prices that Azamara wishes to attain, another reason for my comparison. Both are in the Deluxe category (somewhere above mass market).

 

I brought HAL up because I don't understand the comparisons between Azamara and Celebrity (esp the close to 3,000 passenger Solstice class ships, which are beautiful) except they are both owned by RCCL (and we took two Celebrity cruises last year in addition to Azamara and HAL). HAL had an awful Chef on Maasdam last year (we were on her last year as well), so I know what you are talking about food wise (food tasted like frozen dinner food) and he is gone from that ship. They went all out on our trip (HAL still serves Lobster tail in the dinning room for no extra charge), outdoor buffets, theme nights, and free photography and computer classes., and they brought on local foods from various ports (such as fresh Cod from Greenland). It is just my opinion with two Celebrity cruises, two HAL cruises, and one Azamara cruise in the past year and a half that HAL (smaller/older/more traditional ships) are more similar to Azamara than to Celebrity. But, I have not been on Azamara since the 2010 changes, so we shall see. My DH is a Chef at a luxury establishment and maintains its all Banquet Food on all of the ships so does not have high expectations on any of them.

 

We only went to the MDR our first night on Azamara and never went back since the meal was not very good. We ate each night at the buffet or Prime C. Both lines have great itineraries and that is our interest.

 

We are not dull or old, but the passenger demographics were the same on both Quest and Maasdam. It does not matter who both try to attract, the majority of passengers are retired Seniors.

[Jade13]

Not our experience at all! We were on Maasdam for the Voyage of the Vikings two months ago and she underwent her multi-million dollar Signature of Excellence refurbishment earlier this year, and overall is in much better shape than Quest. She is not worn out (Ok, they did not do anything to the gym which is poor compared to Quest and needs updated Equipment). Neither gym will compare to the ones on the new Solstice class ships.

 

Our food on Quest last year was just OK but Maasdam was great two months ago. On each ship it depends on the Chef and they did bring their Best of the Best on VOV which is one of HALs highest per diem cruises and sells out each year with a waiting list. The starting price for the half the voyage (17 or 18 days) next year in a Veranda is 7K per person. I am sure these are the prices that Azamara wishes to attain, another reason for my comparison. Both are in the Deluxe category (somewhere above mass market).

 

I brought HAL up because I don't understand the comparisons between Azamara and Celebrity (esp the close to 3,000 passenger Solstice class ships, which are beautiful) except they are both owned by RCCL (and we took two Celebrity cruises last year in addition to Azamara and HAL). HAL had an awful Chef on Maasdam last year (we were on her last year as well), so I know what you are talking about food wise (food tasted like frozen dinner food) and he is gone from that ship. They went all out on our trip (HAL still serves Lobster tail in the dinning room for no extra charge), outdoor buffets, theme nights, and free photography and computer classes., and they brought on local foods from various ports (such as fresh Cod from Greenland). It is just my opinion with two Celebrity cruises, two HAL cruises, and one Azamara cruise in the past year and a half that HAL (smaller/older/more traditional ships) are more similar to Azamara than to Celebrity. But, I have not been on Azamara since the 2010 changes, so we shall see. My DH is a Chef at a luxury establishment and maintains its all Banquet Food on all of the ships so does not have high expectations on any of them.

 

We only went to the MDR our first night on Azamara and never went back since the meal was not very good. We ate each night at the buffet or Prime C. Both lines have great itineraries and that is our interest.

 

We are not dull or old, but the passenger demographics were the same on both Quest and Maasdam. It does not matter who both try to attract, the majority of passengers are retired Seniors.

 

And, I wanted to add, we had a fabulous cruise on Quest last year and are looking to board her again in less than two weeks!

[Spursgirl]

Good morning Joecors,

 

First, apologies for not responding to your message before - I have not been monitoring the board due to pressures of work.

 

I believe everything you say and am sorry that your experience of Eclipse was so disappointing.

 

We decided a while ago to junk departures from Southampton even though embarkation is so much easier and as I said our Equinox experience on the transatlantic could not be bettered.

 

We are cruising on Solstice with American friends On October 23rd out of Barcelona and am hoping that our trip will be as fantastic. And all being well we hope to return to Azamara in 2012 as that is also a wonderful product.

 

Happy cruising

 

Ciao

 

Hazel

[Redtravel]

Each cruise should reflect the best of each cruise line. My cruise on the Maasdam had so many flaws that I won't cruise on HAL. I get tons of mail from all the lines. When HAL mail comes, I notice that my spouse immediately throws it away. We'll stick to Azamara, Celebrity, Oceania as top choices. When I travel with the family we also like Royal.