Once you try Az, you ever go back to Celebrity?

[ilikewhatisgood]

Once you try Azamara, Crystal, Oceania, do you ever go back to Celebrity? Or should I expect the luxury cruise to make me never want to cruise Celebrity again?

[uktog]

I think that is a very difficult question to answer.

We have gone back to Celebrity after an Azamara cruise, it was because we wanted an itinerary at a certain time and that was the way to get it.  Would we go back to Celebrity now, less likely because from what we have heard there have been changes that we do not think we would like.  We have got very used to the smaller ships and we feel more sure of consistent food and service than on Celebrity.  We also like the much more limited upsetting onboard.

What would make us change now and go back to Celebrity?

Well for us its Azamaras to lose rather than Celebrity to win but triggers could be

*prices rising to a point we feel the extra cost per day outweighs the advantages in our mind

*standards slipping particularly in food or entertainment

*itineraries doing nothing for us

 

It all depends what really matters for you on a cruise, many people flip between the two lines, some come to Azamara and never go back and some come and never return

[tgg]

Only a unique itinerary would get us back to Celebrity.  The food quality on Oceania and Azamara makes either of them a winner over Celebrity every time. We like the smaller ship atmosphere and service levels. I'm guessing that we won't be back on Celebrity any time soon. 

[RoddyGateau]

I feel that it’s a matter of horses for courses. We enjoy Azamara for port intensive itineraries with few, if any, sea days and Celebrity for itineraries for with several back-to-back sea days for the variety of activities that the larger vessels can offer. We have always found the food to be pretty good on both lines so that would not be a determining factor for us. We usually have Club Continent Suites on Azamara and Sky Suites on Celebrity. I thing that the Azamara suites have a slight edge but they are both very comfortable. 

[agathasmum]

Yes. I like both Celebrity and Azamara, but can't always afford to sail Azamara, even though the fares are more "all-inclusive" than Celebrity.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Definitely.  From our signature you can see we sail both lines.  It all depends on iteniery  Neither line has ever disappointed us

 

[Tom47]

I had been on 8 Celebrity cruises, before going on 2 Azamara cruises, because of the itineraries.  I have 2 more Azamara cruises booked.  I would consider going back to Celebrity if the itinerary was right.  Oceania is also under consideration.

[LuAnn]

Please see my answer to your question where you posted it on the O board. LuAnn

[jelayne]

We just returned from our 1st Azamara Cruise.  We boarded with the intention of booking another AZ cruise, had the itinerary, dates, all set.  We didn’t book it.  

 

We leave in the a.m. off for another cruise but will write a short review when we return of what we preferred vs Celebrity and where, for us, AZ fell short.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Some people find Azamara boring and prefer Celebrity's greater energy levels.  We don't.  Also Celebrity has decimated the Cruise Director's staff, so there are actually fewer activities than people remember – but they are consciously changing the ships' atmosphere to appeal to a younger crowd.  Azamara has the vibe we like.

 

Also, to get a similar experience in going back to Celebrity you would have to book a suite – at which point there is little or no price incentive not to book Azamara.

 

And finally, if you have any number of cruises under your belt the Celebrity itineraries will start to feel old.  Azamara has the best itineraries of any cruise line [and I regularly check all of them].

[crazyman3]

7 hours ago, uktog said:

I think that is a very difficult question to answer.

We have gone back to Celebrity after an Azamara cruise, it was because we wanted an itinerary at a certain time and that was the way to get it.  Would we go back to Celebrity now, less likely because from what we have heard there have been changes that we do not think we would like.  We have got very used to the smaller ships and we feel more sure of consistent food and service than on Celebrity.  We also like the much more limited upsetting onboard.

What would make us change now and go back to Celebrity?

Well for us its Azamaras to lose rather than Celebrity to win but triggers could be

*prices rising to a point we feel the extra cost per day outweighs the advantages in our mind

*standards slipping particularly in food or entertainment

*itineraries doing nothing for us

 

It all depends what really matters for you on a cruise, many people flip between the two lines, some come to Azamara and never go back and some come and never return

 

Please explain this phrase to me: 'We also like the much more limited upsetting onboard.' Are you suggesting that people are happier on AZ? Thanks.

[davwen81]

Think Uktog means upselling which drives you nutty on Celebrity for drinks/dining/spa packages! 

We have tried both and much prefer Azamara but we are itinerary driven so it’s whats available at the time to meet our needs. 

Edited January 11, 2019 by davwen81

[uktog]

Sorry Yes I did mean upselling (darned spellcheck) but also yes, we find people are more positive on Azamara. The smaller ships mean you meet others much more regularly and conversations are easier due to much less canned music. Yes you meet the odd moaner but they are in our experience usually less prevalent on Azamara than Celebrity 

[hubofhockey]

Of course, we'll do Celebrity and we also have Silversea Silver Galapagos booked.  Our Celebrity is Boston (our hometown) 12 day reposition via Caribbean and Key West to Fort Lauderdale.  It's in Aqua class AFT cabin at a great price.  We look forward to all of our cruises and embrace the differences.  We'd get bored for sure only doing one line.

[caripoo]

Not for us......We now like the smaller, all inclusive ships......I say that now...until we take the whole family and we need more things to do for all ages.....The ships are getting too big, don't like being nickeled and dimed......Plus these smaller ships do more country intensive, and spend more time in port.

[lovecruzin]

Absolutely. Celebrity has a lot more options for us in California. I prefer to cruise more often which we can do on X, due to both cost and travel time. Given similar itineraries I would choose Azamara if the pricing was not significantly more. We are going on Quest to Alaska which actually was a better ppd than Eclipse.

[Covepointcruiser]

We will take our first Aramark cruise in March.    We will compare it to the Suite class on Celebrity.    We have also sailed on Seabourn.    It seems the cabins, and bathrooms are much smaller on Aramark compared to Seabourn.   There is no question that the basic suite on Celebrity is much larger than Azamara.    We will judge the rest of the experience on the Journey in March.    I have noted quite a few complaints about the Azamara experience in Cuba and I hope our experience is better.   

[ilikewhatisgood]

2 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

We will take our first Aramark cruise in March.    We will compare it to the Suite class on Celebrity.    We have also sailed on Seabourn.    It seems the cabins, and bathrooms are much smaller on Aramark compared to Seabourn.   There is no question that the basic suite on Celebrity is much larger than Azamara.    We will judge the rest of the experience on the Journey in March.    I have noted quite a few complaints about the Azamara experience in Cuba and I hope our experience is better.   

 

We too. We have been on Celebrity suites (RS this coming weekend) and will be on our first Azamara on March 21 to Cuba for 4 nights. Got a super tiny cabin 146 sq ft - smallest ever - but that was they had left. Expecting a great cruise.

[Tom47]

55 minutes ago, ilikewhatisgood said:

 

We too. We have been on Celebrity suites (RS this coming weekend) and will be on our first Azamara on March 21 to Cuba for 4 nights. Got a super tiny cabin 146 sq ft - smallest ever - but that was they had left. Expecting a great cruise.

Be prepared for a very small shower.

[ilikewhatisgood]

Btw, how much is a lunch in Havana? Trying to figure out how much money to take as we always use credit card but already heard we need cash in Cuba.

[ellbon]

Lunch in Cuba is around 10 to 20 CUC,s depending on where you go and how much rum you drink. I had a great lunch with two glasses of rum for like 22 and the next day my lunch with beer was about 12.

 

I had no problems in Cuba so not sure what guests had what problems.

[cruisefam38]

ilikewhatisgood:

Last winter, we took a very enjoyable and memorable 14 night cruise along the Pacific coast of Central America on the Azamara Quest.  Having never been to any of those ports, we chose it for the itinerary and the price.  This last fall we did a 14 night cruise on Celebrity Silhouette out of South Hampton, UK to the Canaries and Azores, which allowed us to explore ports on a completely unfamiliar itinerary.  We had a fine cruise with food, entertainment and onshore experiences we thoroughly enjoyed. 

We took advantage of opportunities by doing pre and post stays for each of those cruises.

This year we are cruising on the Celebrity Reflection in the Caribbean and taking the Azamara Pursuit in the Mediterranean.

As RoddyGateau wrote "Horses for Courses".

As uktog and Jazzbeau observed, there is an atmosphere or a vibe on Azamara that sets it apart.

 

One of the first pieces of advise I read after joining Cruise Critic more than 15 years ago was "The first thing to pack is a good attitude".  That struck a chord deeply within me.  I can say we've never had a bad cruise, with some having more challenges than others, some that shine more brightly even now.  We've had fun and relaxation on every one of them, and made good memories on all of them.

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by cruisefam38

[dabear]

We've been on 20+ cruises and about 1/3 of them were on smaller ships. For us it depends upon the itinerary and price first. We do prefer the smaller ships for better food, service & ability to meet others more than once, but larger ships in general have better sized cabins, entertainment and more activities. Please note all smaller ships are not the same as r class ships such as Azamara have small bathrooms for balcony cabins. On some luxury small ships the balcony cabins are as big as some suites on other ships.Smaller sized ships often have the ability to dock closer to the center of town for some ports.  IMHO, it all depends upon what's important to you.

Edited January 17, 2019 by dabear

[Grandma Cruising]

1 hour ago, cruisefam38 said:

One of the first pieces of advise I read after joining Cruise Critic more than 15 years ago was "The first thing to pack is a good attitude".  That struck a chord deeply within me.  I can say we've never had a bad cruise, with some having more challenges than others, some that shine more brightly even now.  We've had fun and relaxation on every one of them, and made good memories on all of them.

Thank you for this - great piece of advice and it really chimes with me too!

[ikelmay]

We happily flip backwards and forwards between the two lines.  We enjoy the smaller scale on Azamara and being able to connect with other travellers so quickly, but we also like the Solstice Class on Celebrity with the livelier atmosphere and roomier cabins.