Azamara pricing

[Bloodaxe]

I feel very privileged to have sailed Azamara Quest on a T.A ( Repositioning ) Southampton to Montreal on 09/09/16.

We choose the cruise for the ports, as we had only been to Cork beforehand.

 

Honfleur (France)

St Peterport ( Guernsey)

Cherburg (France)

Cork (Ireland)

 

3 sea days

 

St John’s Newfoundland

Saguenay

Quebec City

Montreal.

 

The ship was being transferred across ‘The Pond.’ as it had been chartered by an Australian T.A for a cruise from Montreal to Miami. In June 2016 cabins for the Charter were sold to the general public via a large UK TA. I know this, as we met a couple on board who had booked with them.

I booked a balcony cabin 6069, in October ‘14 for £2449, which included a return flight from Montreal. The flight was priced at £750. So my 15 night cruise cost me £100 p.p.p.n.

 

Since then I continue to search for similar pricing, but so far no luck.

 

I am afraid those prices are long gone.

I have always booked at least a balcony but OV are now much more than we used to pay for a Balcony.

Has others have said Cruises prices have risen across the board but Azamara do seem have have gone over the top.

I am pleased that we found Azamara very early in 2008 and have enjoyed many wonderful cruises over the years at prices you can only dream of now,

May still be some late bargains on cruises that are not selling very well if you are not looking for a particular cruise, that's what I do now.

Edited March 5, 2018 by Bloodaxe

[MrMojoRisin]

"As for the OP's comment on the Japan cruise, I looked at the itinerary, and while the price is better, I feel the itinerary is not comparable. Yes, both are 13 nights, but Silversea has more sea days, so a very different cruise. That being said, undecided if we will keep the booking."

I agree that there are more sea days on the Silversea Japan cruise that we have booked. However, the difference is 1. There are 3 sea days on Silversea and 2 on Azamara, so the difference is hardly great. Also, with Silversea there is more time in Tokyo as the ship does not leave Tokyo until 7pm on the day after embarkation. It is true that the ports of call are largely different and one itinerary may be better than the other - but I don't know which.

The debate has prompted me to look more closely into the comparative costs per day. As I originally said, I am comparing costs from the same agent I have booked the Silversea cruise. I am also comparing the cost of a veranda on Azamara (16.3 sq m plus 3.8 sy m balcony) to a Vista on Silversea (no balcony but 31 sq m)

To make a like for like comparison I have to make some assumptions. As the Silversea cruise includes excursions and a pre-cruise and post-cruise I need to add a sensible amount to the Azamara price. Typically, Azamara charge around £300 for hotels, so allow £600 for pre and post cruise. If you also assume £80 per person for excursions (a conservative estimate based on previous experience) that would be 10 excursions x 2 people x £80 = £1600. So I think it is reasonable to assume I need to add £2200 to the Azamara to make a reasonable comparison.

Excluding flight times, we are therefore comparing a 15 day (2 days hotel + 13 days cruise) trip for each line. For Silversea this comes out at £826 per day; for Azamara £1009 per day.

Just for balance, I should also add that we were also on the Southampton to Monteal cruise mentioned by Upwarduk. It was a fantastic cruise and extremely good value.

[Glenndale]

I feel very privileged to have sailed Azamara Quest on a T.A ( Repositioning ) Southampton to Montreal on 09/09/16.

We choose the cruise for the ports, as we had only been to Cork beforehand.

 

Honfleur (France)

St Peterport ( Guernsey)

Cherburg (France)

Cork (Ireland)

 

3 sea days

 

St John’s Newfoundland

Saguenay

Quebec City

Montreal.

 

The ship was being transferred across ‘The Pond.’ as it had been chartered by an Australian T.A for a cruise from Montreal to Miami. In June 2016 cabins for the Charter were sold to the general public via a large UK TA. I know this, as we met a couple on board who had booked with them.

I booked a balcony cabin 6069, in October ‘14 for £2449, which included a return flight from Montreal. The flight was priced at £750. So my 15 night cruise cost me £100 p.p.p.n.

 

Since then I continue to search for similar pricing, but so far no luck.

We tried to book this particular cruise whilst on board a TA in the previous November, but we were told it was sold out and already heavily wait listed.

So instead we booked a different cruise with O. It was very annoying to find that lots of discounted cabins opened up nearer to sailing.

We will be doing a similar cruise, from Montreal to Southampton on Marina this May.

[Cruise Junky]

The last 3 cruises we've been interested in on A (all med) were over $1,000 Cdn a day for the cabin in a basic balcony. Admittedly, the Canadian Dollar is not helping here but there's no way I'd be paying $1,000 a day for the Med. I could be staying in some amazing hotels that have rooms bigger than a shoe box.

[jo-b]

For our 15 night New Year cruise on Quest the best cabin we could get was an Ocean View cabin for £6779 pp (or a suite at £12k per person has just come available!)

 

On Oceania Regatta a 19 night cruise over New Year also in Australasia is £4119 for 19 nights in the best window cabin.

Adding £46pd drinks package and £12 pd tips gets a per diem price on O of £275 against £451 on Azamara. Not taking into account paying for speciality restaurants on Az that are included on O.

 

Or that Az wanted £5k pp for business class flights about twice the price of booking them ourselves.

 

The USP for Az on this cruise is that it is in Sydney for NYE although some people are cancelling because it is in White Bay not Overseas Passenger Terminal. :-)

[teamflames]

Btw , how do people know a cruise is selling slowly as others here have mentioned?

 

 

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[the mice]

Btw , how do people know a cruise is selling slowly as others here have mentioned?

 

I start a dummy booking on Azamara and go through each category and see how many staterooms are still available.

[the mice]

I agree that there are more sea days on the Silversea Japan cruise that we have booked. However, the difference is 1. There are 3 sea days on Silversea and 2 on Azamara, so the difference is hardly great. Also, with Silversea there is more time in Tokyo as the ship does not leave Tokyo until 7pm on the day after embarkation. It is true that the ports of call are largely different and one itinerary may be better than the other - but I don't know which.

The debate has prompted me to look more closely into the comparative costs per day. As I originally said, I am comparing costs from the same agent I have booked the Silversea cruise. I am also comparing the cost of a veranda on Azamara (16.3 sq m plus 3.8 sy m balcony) to a Vista on Silversea (no balcony but 31 sq m)

To make a like for like comparison I have to make some assumptions. As the Silversea cruise includes excursions and a pre-cruise and post-cruise I need to add a sensible amount to the Azamara price. Typically, Azamara charge around £300 for hotels, so allow £600 for pre and post cruise. If you also assume £80 per person for excursions (a conservative estimate based on previous experience) that would be 10 excursions x 2 people x £80 = £1600. So I think it is reasonable to assume I need to add £2200 to the Azamara to make a reasonable comparison.

Excluding flight times, we are therefore comparing a 15 day (2 days hotel + 13 days cruise) trip for each line. For Silversea this comes out at £826 per day; for Azamara £1009 per day.

 

Yes, the price you got is very favorable compared to Azamara. However, I looked at the Silversea cruises for April 16 and April 29 - I assume you are referring to one of these. I count 4 sea days where the Az cruise has only 1 (the inland sea cruising is only the early part of a port day).

Both ships overnight in a port about equidistant from Kyoto, but Silversea departs later on day 2, so that is a plus for you. These cruises sold out so fast on Az. We originally booked the 15 night Circle Japan 2 days after bookings opened end of March 2017, but once I realized, sadly too late in the game, that it would be during Golden Week, switched this January to the 13 night earlier cruise, which had been added later last spring on based on demand. So, we are paying $265 pp more for 2 less nights in a balcony instead of my preferred OV. I assume if I had booked this when it became available, the price would have been less.

Based on the total cost of this one, I am not sure we will do it, since there will be significant additional expenses to consider. Your post gave me something to think about. There may be future opportunities to get a better deal to visit Japan, even if we do a land tour. We travel a lot using miles and points so that can give us some options, too. TBD.

[hubofhockey]

It makes sense to shop around and compare prices, itineraries, and experiences. If you're not doing that because of some sense of loyalty to a cruise line, then you are selling yourself short.

[teamflames]

Why is it every time there is talk of emailing each other privately about TAs (shock horror we all use them) the posts are deleted? We are not mentioning names in the public. Is this because certain TAs advertise on this website?

 

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Asking to be emailed TA information is against CCs Community Guidelines. Here is the relevant quote.

“This means you should not ask about someone's travel agent, nor should you respond in kind. Offering to email someone your travel agent's name or info is also not allowed, nor is asking members to email you for the information.”

 

 

 

 

 

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[Riocca]

We are currently monitoring a cruise for August 2019 on Azamara Pursuit, this week prices have increased by 6% for the category we are looking at even though not one cabin has been sold. Double checked the exchange rate and there’s been insignificant movement in the £-$ rate. This particular cruise is not part of any current or previous offer so I have to question the logic of such a large price increase.

 

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

We are currently monitoring a cruise for August 2019 on Azamara Pursuit, this week prices have increased by 6% for the category we are looking at even though not one cabin has been sold. Double checked the exchange rate and there’s been insignificant movement in the £-$ rate. This particular cruise is not part of any current or previous offer so I have to question the logic of such a large price increase.

 

 

 

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I think the one I was watching has gone up too even though like you, there is no sign of many cabins gone. They now want over $1,100 Cdn a day for a 7 day Lisbon to Barcelona cruise. Or I could book an inside shoebox for $835 a day. That's kind of laughable.

[Bloodaxe]

I have been checking on May 2019, no chance I will pay current prices.

Have now started seriously looking elsewhere.

[Riocca]

Whilst agreeing Azamara prices have risen considerably I’m struggling to find cruises cheaper or better value elsewhere whilst maintaining the criteria we have for choosing accommodation onboard.

We are looking at an Azamara Pursuit Greece intensive cruise for August 2019 and have compared it with an Oceania Sirena cruise for the same time and cruise area in exactly the same deck 8 suite.

I used prices from a U.K. travel agent including flights to give a realistic equivalent and of course did not include any LCV discount we would get from Azamara. As the Oceania cruise is one day shorter I calculated a daily rate per person, Oceania worked out at £514 pppn whilst Azamara was £518 pppn. However we feel the Azamara package offers more with the included drinks and gratuities whilst Oceania offer a drinks package or $800 OBC gratuities or excursions, gratuities on Oceania would also add $23 (£17) pppn.

 

 

 

 

 

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Since posting this just 2 days ago Azamara in their infinite wisdom have increased the price by 6% so the with the same TA it now comes to £547pppn despite having not sold any cabins in this grade!

 

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

Since posting this just 2 days ago Azamara in their infinite wisdom have increased the price by 6% so the with the same TA it now comes to £547pppn despite having not sold any cabins in this grade!

 

 

 

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Windstar's itineraries came out recently and they have some nice Greek Itineraries.

[excitedofharpenden]

Windstar's itineraries came out recently and they have some nice Greek Itineraries.

I tried Windstar last August and thought I might have found a good alternative. I just didn't didn't get on with them and wouldn't go again. The food and service in the main dining room was outstanding, but for me there was no shine on the product otherwise. I was on Star Breeze. Nice little ship with some issues for me.

 

Phil

[travelberlin]

Windstar's itineraries came out recently and they have some nice Greek Itineraries.

Thanks for posting. We had a wonderful cruise with Windstar Star Legend in October last year from Venice to Athens and in Athens I continued with Azamara Journey to Dubai.

We have enjoyed both cruiselines. I am also looking to see if I find nice itineraries on Windstar. I like the sail away song in those ships. It is "Conquer of the Paradise". By a coincidence this is also the sail away song onboard Royal Clipper.

Ivi

[Flatbush Flyer]

We have never cruised Azamara, we have put a deposit on a repositioning cruise from South America to Europe next year. An inside cabin is around $425 a day including taxes and port charges. We are not sure if we will keep this booking or not, we really want to try A, we like that gratuities and drinks are included unlike on Oceania.

We have sailed celebrity, Hal and ncl many times and regent once (good deal). We are finding celebrity is just too expensive this year, Hal depends on if we can find a good deal and so it is looking like a lot of ncl deals this year (also much higher in price than last year but at least with the perks involved it is bearable.

2 years ago we did 3 celebrity sailings at under 200usd a day for a balcony cabin including drinks. Now they are averaging over 400.

What were average prices for Azamara before recent rises?

 

 

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But, on Oceania you get air fare or air credit and you can select alcohol or OBC (to pay gratuities) as your "O Life" perk. Add to this the superior quality of food on O and it's no wonder that so many Azamara cruisers have been moving to Oceania.

BTW, most of O's top selling TAs will always add, at least, coverage of the gratuities.

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

On the bright side, maybe they raised the prices so they could have a "Sale" :rolleyes:

[takemewithyou]

But, on Oceania you get air fare or air credit and you can select alcohol or OBC (to pay gratuities) as your "O Life" perk. Add to this the superior quality of food on O and it's no wonder that so many Azamara cruisers have been moving to Oceania.

BTW, most of O's top selling TAs will always add, at least, coverage of the gratuities.

 

 

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With Regent, everything is included, including business class air on transatlantic flights. Looking mighty attractive. Big suites, too, even at most basic of staterooms.

[Flatbush Flyer]

With Regent, everything is included, including business class air on transatlantic flights. Looking mighty attractive. Big suites, too, even at most basic of staterooms.

 

 

 

Do the math. Add in premium booze package and excursions "passport" package on Oceania and you're fairly close to the Regent experience for hundreds/thousands less.

 

 

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[teamflames]

With Regent, everything is included, including business class air on transatlantic flights. Looking mighty attractive. Big suites, too, even at most basic of staterooms.

 

 

 

We did one regent cruise but we got it for the price of the taxes so anything at that price is going to be appreciated. It was very good but personally we don’t think having shore excursions included is the way for us. The suite was huge and amazing, service was good but not great. However whenever we look at them for pricing now we rarely see anything below 700usd pppn!

 

 

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[teamflames]

But, on Oceania you get air fare or air credit and you can select alcohol or OBC (to pay gratuities) as your "O Life" perk. Add to this the superior quality of food on O and it's no wonder that so many Azamara cruisers have been moving to Oceania.

BTW, most of O's top selling TAs will always add, at least, coverage of the gratuities.

 

 

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We had a look at a few cruises, being Australian we don’t get the air (nothing substituted for it either). Gratuities are included if you book in Australia however the drinks in olife is apparently only at meals. Also we like to have a good time onboard (why we like Celebrity and the sound of Azamara) whereas feedback about O is that it can be very quiet and reserved.

 

 

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[Host Jazzbeau]

With Regent, everything is included, including business class air on transatlantic flights. Looking mighty attractive. Big suites, too, even at most basic of staterooms.

 

Would you actually go on the Regent included shore excursions? The only way to compare prices on different cruise lines is to give each included amenity the value you derive from it, not the price charged – since if you won't use it, the value to you is zero.