New Drinks Menu

[takemewithyou]

All of my DH’s favorite cocktails are gone! He doesn’t drink wine, so all the value of the complimentary alcoholic beverages are gone for him! He likes the fruity cocktails and doesn’t drink anything else.

 

This pretty much cinches any future bookings, as if all the other stuff like entertainment changes, increasing prices, the tiny bathrooms and verandas etc were not enough!

[NC&KY]

Sorry for the delay...I’m looking into this. Hope to have an answer for uktog by EOD.

Please don't rush too much. I am on the verge of booking the longest and most expensive cruise I've ever booked with Azamara. I'd rather the information be correct than rushed and have to be corrected later.

[village77]

This whole thread is so depressing although I am very very grateful to Riocca for the info. We only discovered cruising and Azamara two years ago and absolutely love it. We have had three great cruises and have two more booked. Our next one is less than a month away and it is upsetting to see that the cost of that cruise now is just about half of what we paid when we booked last year but that's life I suppose. We were very close to booking another cruise for December but the change to the included drinks has made us think again. We thought we had found our perfect holiday but now need to think again.

 

Lynn

[workingtocruise-59]

But if you have to pay $18pppd gratuities on a free beverage package then Azamara’s $15.95 (Premium) & $21.95 (Ultimate) pppd must be equally good value. Especially as LCV members get discounts on the Ultimate Package, we pay $17.56pppd so less than NCL’s gratuities.

 

 

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In the UK gratuities on the NCL beverage package are included if you choose that option when booking.

 

However, the cruise price is probably 30% to 40% higher than in the US.

[silkismom]

Oh dear, if DH can't have his 2 Manhattans every night, he's going to be ballistic.

[Mackdogmolly]

I too will be very unhappy if I can’t get a martini or manhattan with the included spirits.

[BBMacLaird]

Please don't rush too much. I am on the verge of booking the longest and most expensive cruise I've ever booked with Azamara. I'd rather the information be correct than rushed and have to be corrected later.

 

As it happens I was logging onto this thread to respond that it is going to be +/- a few days until I can answer uktog’s question. As soon as I know more I promise to back here.

[Mackdogmolly]

I hope it’s good news, Bonnie, because the website lists 31 included spirits and 30 included cocktails and the new menu is majorly downsized!!

[NC&KY]

As it happens I was logging onto this thread to respond that it is going to be +/- a few days until I can answer uktog’s question. As soon as I know more I promise to back here.

Thanks. I just don't understand how standard, classic cocktails [like a Manhattan, Old Fashioned (can you tell I live in Kentucky?), martini, gin & tonic, and Scotch & soda] are not covered when more elaborate (i.e., bizarre! :confused:) drinks are.

[jelayne]

For us, we booked with one list of included drinks and had checked the-prices for those that weren’t included. Booked thinking we knew what we would be getting/paying. So hit with included drinks being removed and prices raised on the non-included drinks:mad:

[Host Jazzbeau]

I've been checking on restaurant drinks menus lately, and I find that G&T is rarely mentioned – but they can all make you one. I think the menu writers use their precious real estate for exotic drinks, figuring everybody knows they can get the more traditional ones without needing to state it. [Hopefully :)]

[Riocca]

Thanks Riocca for the research.

 

Is the draught beer now available or do the pumps have to be installed?

 

 

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Pumps have been installed, we’ve seen the Newcastle Brown ones in every bar, will double check on the Heineken.

 

 

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[gosport11]

Have i missed something,do the prices included gratuties or are they added at what rate,Rearly drink sprits or cocktails so wont make a big difference for us

[Grandma Cruising]

As far as I know there are no gratuities of any kind on Azamara - advertised as gratuities included.

 

 

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[Riocca]

Have i missed something,do the prices included gratuties or are they added at what rate,Rearly drink sprits or cocktails so wont make a big difference for us

 

 

 

No the price you see is the price you pay no gratuities are added to drinks or packages.

We have Italian VAT to pay on this cruise, it was added to the internet package although Azamara did seem to absorb some of it. However nothing was added to the drinks package but I don’t know if that’s the same as pay as you go. Everything in the shops has 22% VAT added.

 

 

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[cinnamon]

Neither of us are big drinkers, for me perhaps one or two simple cocktails a day, a beer for DH then the included wines with dinner. However, I am dismayed that along with prices shooting up, Azamara bigwigs appear to be attempting to push passengers into paying extra. It smacks of the atmosphere on RCCL where upselling of everything became intolerable.

Please re-think!

 

 

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[uktog]

Neither of us are big drinkers, for me perhaps one or two simple cocktails a day, a beer for DH then the included wines with dinner. However, I am dismayed that along with prices shooting up, Azamara bigwigs appear to be attempting to push passengers into paying extra. It smacks of the atmosphere on RCCL where upselling of everything became intolerable.

Please re-think!

 

 

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Well said!

Add to that the pricing antics - I totally sympathise with Village77 who posted earlier we are in exactly the same position as her on an upcoming cruise, its now the hat trick, entertainment, prices thousands below what we paid and now having to pay for my preferred tipple each night. Someone tell the counters I am right out of beans sorry :)

 

Thank you Bonnie for working to get a response.

[kjbacon]

Thanks. I just don't understand how standard, classic cocktails [like a Manhattan, Old Fashioned (can you tell I live in Kentucky?), martini, gin & tonic, and Scotch & soda] are not covered when more elaborate (i.e., bizarre! :confused:) drinks are.

 

This way, they can say that there is a complimentary drink package when, in reality, now there is not.

 

Springing this on their customers like this, without notice, is unethical and tells me just about everything I need to know about this cruise line.

[kjbacon]

As it happens I was logging onto this thread to respond that it is going to be +/- a few days until I can answer uktog’s question. As soon as I know more I promise to back here.

 

In an earlier thread, you asked me to report back to you with my comparisons to Viking Cruise Line. So far, Azamara was not doing well on most counts, like their website and other inaccuracies.

 

This current stunt is pretty much a mic drop.

[nordski]

Pumps have been installed, we’ve seen the Newcastle Brown ones in every bar, will double check on the Heineken.

 

 

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Thanks for your reply.

 

Good to see more options for beer.

 

 

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[Blocks]

I have my first cruise with Azamara booked for October 2018 and final payment is due at the start of June, I am now having some second thoughts on whether this is the line for me.

[Wacktle]

I too will be very unhappy if I can’t get a martini or manhattan with the included spirits.

 

That would be our favourites gone too. I am so pleased that we don't have another Azamara booking.

 

I suggest that some forward planning is needed. If sweeping changes, of any type, are to be made to the cruise offering, then why not implement them from the launch of a new season? That way, anyone making a booking would know what they are paying for.

[Grandma Cruising]

That would be our favourites gone too. I am so pleased that we don't have another Azamara booking.

 

 

 

I suggest that some forward planning is needed. If sweeping changes, of any type, are to be made to the cruise offering, then why not implement them from the launch of a new season? That way, anyone making a booking would know what they are paying for.

 

 

 

I totally agree with this. They could have implemented these changes, along with the addition of Verandah Plus stateroom, for 2020. That way anyone booking knows exactly what they will get.

 

 

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[Spursgirl]

I have my first cruise with Azamara booked for October 2018 and final payment is due at the start of June, I am now having some second thoughts on whether this is the line for me.

 

As someone who has sailed 18 or 19 times with Azamara with a back to back cruise on Quest next month I share your misgivings.

 

While the on board experience of all of my cruises has been virtually faultless, I abhor the rather underhand way this quite major change has been introduced. If it were not for Riocca none of us would be any the wiser.

 

With prices now similar to many cruises on true luxury lines I will be seriously considering alternatives before I make another Azamara booking.

[Snow day]

Where do I find this “new” list of included drinks. The Azamara website list doesn’t appear to be different from the past.