Tips for Azamara Newbies

[BBMacLaird]

2 hours ago, doubled said:

 

Was just in Veranda last month and this wasn't what was supplied.  Is this discontinued or for suites?

 

Our hotel department informs me that Eco-Boutique is on all three ships.

[Grandma Cruising]

11 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

Our hotel department informs me that Eco-Boutique is on all three ships.

Thanks, Bonnie

[doubled]

21 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

 

Our hotel department informs me that Eco-Boutique is on all three ships.

Must be me, could have sworn they were black but regardless they worked fine.  I asked my wife and she can't remember but thought they were white.  Guess I used the Ultimate Drink Package too much.

Art

[boss61]

Grandma, Bonnie, everyone: 

We are veteran cruisers sailing on AZ for the first time in late January 2019. We had found Cruise Critic but did not mine it for the plethora of wonderful information so many of you have shared and compiled.  Many thanks for tending to so very much of the detail!  Makes one wonder how we ever did this before the internet, but we're old(ish) and do recall!  

Thanks again.  We'll share detail here when we get back. 

[Grandma Cruising]

11 hours ago, boss61 said:

Grandma, Bonnie, everyone: 

We are veteran cruisers sailing on AZ for the first time in late January 2019. We had found Cruise Critic but did not mine it for the plethora of wonderful information so many of you have shared and compiled.  Many thanks for tending to so very much of the detail!  Makes one wonder how we ever did this before the internet, but we're old(ish) and do recall!  

Thanks again.  We'll share detail here when we get back. 

You’re welcome - I’m glad you found it useful 😊

[Mupsych50]

hi- we are first time AZ cruisers on a Feb cruise to Cuba.   Question is about dining onboard-  I know there are packages available for specialty dining rooms, but I'm wondering what "veterans" experiences have been with food quality in all of the dinner options-  how valuable or terrific are the specialty dining rooms?  how about the dinner option at the Captains Table?  how good is the food in the main dining room?     If this has been addressed elsewhere,  I'm sorry to re-load an old question- please point me to the best answers! 

thanks 

Marty

[Mackdogmolly]

27 minutes ago, Mupsych50 said:

hi- we are first time AZ cruisers on a Feb cruise to Cuba.   Question is about dining onboard-  I know there are packages available for specialty dining rooms, but I'm wondering what "veterans" experiences have been with food quality in all of the dinner options-  how valuable or terrific are the specialty dining rooms?  how about the dinner option at the Captains Table?  how good is the food in the main dining room?     If this has been addressed elsewhere,  I'm sorry to re-load an old question- please point me to the best answers! 

thanks 

Marty

 

[Mackdogmolly]

I’ve only been on one cruise, but found the food in the MDR and other included venues to be excellent. The specialty restaurants are good, but not necessarily worth the extra money, in my opinion. If you are in a cabin category that includes them, then go for it! One exception is the Chef’s Table, which is an incredible dining experience and well worth the money!

[Tom47]

1 hour ago, Mupsych50 said:

hi- we are first time AZ cruisers on a Feb cruise to Cuba.   Question is about dining onboard-  I know there are packages available for specialty dining rooms, but I'm wondering what "veterans" experiences have been with food quality in all of the dinner options-  how valuable or terrific are the specialty dining rooms?  how about the dinner option at the Captains Table?  how good is the food in the main dining room?     If this has been addressed elsewhere,  I'm sorry to re-load an old question- please point me to the best answers! 

thanks 

Marty

We think the food in the MDR and buffet is excellent.  We have never used specialty restaurants.  Two Azamara cruises and 2 more booked.

[PirateWife]

Ate once at Chef's Table and it was not a good experience because the crew member taking care of the meal and wine did not want to accept I was not drinking a lot of wine. We frequently have dinner at The Patio because we like the out of doors experience, it is more informal than the MDR,the service is always excellent, the food is often prepared right there, and one can go into buffet for more selections. The MDR is always good but more formal. And, sometimes the service is very slow. Have not eaten at any of the specialty restaurants because enjoy variety available at other restaurants.

[Sandy Crest]

How soon before the cruise occurs can you book excursions? Are they generally of good value? What do you think of the opportunity to book private excursions? 

[Whistlerski]

I cannot answer your first question. And we just finished our first Azamara cruise. I will say that the consensus among passengers was that the tours were very pricey. But , incredible experiences!

register for your roll call and you will hopefully find what we did ( pursuit around South America),  many folks organizing their own excursions and looking for folks to join to reduce price.  We went on two, very good value and great tours, and would have gone on a third but for Falkland island stop being cancelled due to extrem weather

 

that said the ship tour combo buenos Aires tour/drop off at airport was great and cheap., ( only $59). 

[PirateWife]

We have done both private and Azamara cruise tours. Although the ship cruises are more expensive than private tours, they have, with a few exceptions, been very good. After 5 Azamara cruises we have done a lot of ship sponsored tours. We also start every cruise with a lot of OBC. Now that I can use my OBC to book tours before cruising, I will book as far ahead as possible. I can always change my mind and cancel a tour and book another.

[Grandma Cruising]

We tend to eat breakfast in Windows (buffet), lunch at the Patio and dinner in Discoveries (MDR) and find the food to be very good. We usually buy a 3 dinner package for the speciality restaurants which is good value at $70, instead of $30 a meal. We especially enjoy Prime C which serves amazing steaks and lamb - the chateaubriand is terrific. We have never tried the Chefs Table but have heard very good things about it.

 

You can book excursions as soon as they are available in your Voyage Planner and can use OBC to do so. If you decide to cancel an excursion you have booked you will get a refund (but beware that because of exchange rates you may lose in the process)

[Grandma Cruising]

I’ve just updated the ‘Tips’ spreadsheet, here’s the link again https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Deg-GaeZYLml8NN3PVwoh_jUkQ8QmYUe1wxnVAlODE

[boss61]

6 hours ago, Sandy Crest said:

How soon before the cruise occurs can you book excursions? Are they generally of good value? What do you think of the opportunity to book private excursions? 

 

If you are booking through AZ on their web site, you will find that you already can book shore excursions there unless your inquiry is just months and months in advance.  We're sailing AZ for the first time in about 4 weeks now, but being the Type-A planning nut-jobs that we are, we sought to book our shore excursions just as soon as we booked the cruise itself - some 9 months ago. We could not, as AZ didn't have the full gamut of options even posted.  They were revealed sequentially, but by about 90 to 100 days before departure, they all were up.  So, go book... (if you can navigate their very balky web site).

As for third party tours (we did not have the guts for this in Cuba, where we are heading), we have no idea.  Hope this helps. 

[NJ Gal]

Some great tips for new AZ cruisers like us. We have lots of cruise experience mostly on Celebrity, but this will our first AZ cruise in March.  Keep these tips coming.

 

Happy New Year to all.  May we have calm seas and smooth sailing in 2019.

[Grandma Cruising]

Happy new year to everyone. I hope you all have great cruises in 2019.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[boss61]

Thanks Grandma - you too!

[cruiseryder]

Thanks for the great info, invaluable to us newbies. We are on Quest shortly and wondered if there are ‘British’ sockets in the staterooms. I heard Pursuit had some put in during refit but wondered if Quest and Journey had also, or do I need to include more adaptors in luggage.

[marinaro44]

4 hours ago, cruiseryder said:

Thanks for the great info, invaluable to us newbies. We are on Quest shortly and wondered if there are ‘British’ sockets in the staterooms. I heard Pursuit had some put in during refit but wondered if Quest and Journey had also, or do I need to include more adaptors in luggage.

Take adapters.

[Grandma Cruising]

4 hours ago, cruiseryder said:

Thanks for the great info, invaluable to us newbies. We are on Quest shortly and wondered if there are ‘British’ sockets in the staterooms. I heard Pursuit had some put in during refit but wondered if Quest and Journey had also, or do I need to include more adaptors in luggage.

Pretty sure that Quest & Journey only have US and European (2pin) plugs so, as Marinaro44 says, take adapters.

 

Edited January 3, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Pretty sure that Quest & Journey only have US and European (2pin) plugs so, as Marinaro44 says, take adapters.

 

Can't speak to other Pursuit stateroom types, but our Owner's suite has only US, European, and USB plugs.

[excitedofharpenden]

Yes, standard cabins have a British socket too on Pursuit, but not on Journey or Quest.  Just one euro and two US.  There are also two US style on all ships in the open cabinet above the safe.

 

Phil

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

5 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Yes, standard cabins have a British socket too on Pursuit, but not on Journey or Quest.  Just one euro and two US.  There are also two US style on all ships in the open cabinet above the safe.

 

Phil

 

 

Thanks for that Phil. Do you know if CC Suites on Pursuit have British sockets too?

Edited January 4, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising