First timer on Pursuit, UBP so disappointing

[uktog]

8 minutes ago, teamflames said:

Can confirm no Nespresso, no Highland Pk, no Balvenie, no MacAllan (so half the scotches available). No boddington, no Pilsner Urquell, no Moretti in beers (might be more). In wine almost impossible to get Wairu River sac Blanc (replaced with a horrible California wine). The Chianti has been replaced (I like it but not sure if better than original). One night was refused baileys as told the bar was closing and the bottle belonged to a different bar!?

Today at lunch, wrong wine brought 3 times. Dining room on last  2 occasions 20 and 40 minute waits for a glass of ultimate wine. Only 3 sommelier on whole ship

What was the hotel director's reaction to your feedback? 

I am not doubting your experience, it is very similar to some of the challenges we had with the package on Pursuit but you do need to escalate it - we did (although I accept there was not a lot of change after)

[teamflames]

Requested a meeting but then had another with bar manager so have delayed. No question there is supply problems. Spoke to a sommelier and a couple of the restaurant managers and there has been improvements on getting the right wines but you must request to speak to certain people. If you rely on waiters mistakes continue.

still enjoying the cruise and really like Azamara, just discussing the drink package specifically

[lovecruzin]

Why is there no Nespresso on Pursuit? When we were on the TA I thought perhaps it would be coming but apparently not.

[Cyber Kat]

1 hour ago, teamflames said:

Requested a meeting but then had another with bar manager so have delayed. No question there is supply problems. Spoke to a sommelier and a couple of the restaurant managers and there has been improvements on getting the right wines but you must request to speak to certain people. If you rely on waiters mistakes continue.

still enjoying the cruise and really like Azamara, just discussing the drink package specifically

 

This is very disturbing. We are 19 days away from our cruise on Azamara Journey and we were planning on upgrading our beverage package. My husband wants the UBP so he can get his Courvoisier. He is not going to be happy If it’s not available. 

 

I was going to get the Premium Package, so I can get Bombay Sapphire gin, my preferred after dinner drinks (Amaretto, Sambuca or Port wine) and dry sherry. 

 

We have cruised on Viking with the Silver Spirits Package and were very happy with it. We were able to get all the drinks we asked for with no problems and no waiting. 

 

By the way we also loved the Viking onboard experience very much. We recently did a second river cruise and we our 2nd and 3rd Viking Ocean cruises booked. 

 

We booked this Azamara cruise for the itinerary, but this whole drink issue has me concerned. 

[kjbacon]

We are also becoming hesitant about our next Azamara cruise that like the above poster, we selected based on itinerary. We went last year after they changed the included beverage policy and it is confusing and inconsistent at best. Depending on how you order and where you order, you may or may not get a bill? To this day, I’m not sure anyone truly can make any rational sense of it but that’s been hashed and rehashed already. To avoid this utter nonsense, we planned to get the upgrade this time and now I’m reading that they’re playing all kinds of games with the upgrade too?

 

They make changes to policies without notice and I see a recurring theme that they themselves do not know what’s going on. It’s pretty bad that the original poster has to chase down these reps (who look to be giving him the dodge) to find out what’s going on.

[excitedofharpenden]

8 hours ago, teamflames said:

Requested a meeting but then had another with bar manager so have delayed. No question there is supply problems. Spoke to a sommelier and a couple of the restaurant managers and there has been improvements on getting the right wines but you must request to speak to certain people. If you rely on waiters mistakes continue.

still enjoying the cruise and really like Azamara, just discussing the drink package specifically

Anecdotally, there was a delay in sailing on time this current cruise as three containers hadn't arrived. Eventually they did at 5.30pm (we were due to sail at 5) and they unloaded them in double quick time. I was chatting to Ryszard. It is always happening in South America. They had five containers on one cruise that never arrived at all. And it is always the ones that contain booze and cigarettes. Welcome to South America!

 

Phil 

[Riocca]

1 hour ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Anecdotally, there was a delay in sailing on time this current cruise as three containers hadn't arrived. Eventually they did at 5.30pm (we were due to sail at 5) and they unloaded them in double quick time. I was chatting to Ryszard. It is always happening in South America. They had five containers on one cruise that never arrived at all. And it is always the ones that contain booze and cigarettes. Welcome to South America!

 

Phil 

That explains a lot, although wasn’t it one of the reasons they pulled out of cruising South America a few years ago?

 

Phil hope your having a great cruise, please say hi to the team onboard we’re not back on Pursuit until next year.

[beachseeker]

On 3/20/2019 at 11:39 AM, Lottie A said:

 

I know if bartenders Mariano or Aldin makes me a Mango Vodka then it will be just perfect....but other times I'm not quite so sure. 

Which ship is Mariano now?  Hoping he will be on the Journey this summer!

[uktog]

Phil Yes indeed the challenge of SA . Though Pursuit was missing these drinks  from Barcelona in November. Hopefully if customs allows in the future they try and stock up before SA with the tricky items. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by uktog

[hubofhockey]

Hmmm, I wasn't planning on upgrading on our cruise, but now, I might consider picking up some bottles of wine in Hong Kong before our cruise.  Don't mind $10 corkage if I can drink what I want. 

[teamflames]

14 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

 

This is very disturbing. We are 19 days away from our cruise on Azamara Journey and we were planning on upgrading our beverage package. My husband wants the UBP so he can get his Courvoisier. He is not going to be happy If it’s not available. 

 

I was going to get the Premium Package, so I can get Bombay Sapphire gin, my preferred after dinner drinks (Amaretto, Sambuca or Port wine) and dry sherry. 

 

We have cruised on Viking with the Silver Spirits Package and were very happy with it. We were able to get all the drinks we asked for with no problems and no waiting. 

 

By the way we also loved the Viking onboard experience very much. We recently did a second river cruise and we our 2nd and 3rd Viking Ocean cruises booked. 

 

We booked this Azamara cruise for the itinerary, but this whole drink issue has me concerned. 

All those drinks are available on this cruise.

scotch and certain wines the problems.

I highly recommend others get to know the head waiters and the sommeliers. It was recommended I ask for a sommelier as soon as I am seated and this definitely works better. Some of the head waiters also were happy for us to request them. They are now opening some bottles that are normally only sold by the bottle. Not sure why this wasn’t done earlier and unfortunately you have to get to this stage.

Also recommend telling guest services who does a great job as the feedback definitely gets back to those people. 

Dont presume that waiters and bar servers will get you what they want because those working behind the bars won’t know who requested the drinks and this is when they try and get away with alternatives, ask for people you know and the service is so much better.

I think if you like Viking you will like Azamara. Based on one cruise on each we find Azamara more lively and fellow passengers more friendly and interactive. Ship is not as modern, specialty restaurants not included but service is very good.

[Cyber Kat]

26 minutes ago, teamflames said:

All those drinks are available on this cruise.

scotch and certain wines the problems.

I highly recommend others get to know the head waiters and the sommeliers. It was recommended I ask for a sommelier as soon as I am seated and this definitely works better. Some of the head waiters also were happy for us to request them. They are now opening some bottles that are normally only sold by the bottle. Not sure why this wasn’t done earlier and unfortunately you have to get to this stage.

Also recommend telling guest services who does a great job as the feedback definitely gets back to those people. 

Dont presume that waiters and bar servers will get you what they want because those working behind the bars won’t know who requested the drinks and this is when they try and get away with alternatives, ask for people you know and the service is so much better.

I think if you like Viking you will like Azamara. Based on one cruise on each we find Azamara more lively and fellow passengers more friendly and interactive. Ship is not as modern, specialty restaurants not included but service is very good.

We have sailed on Carnival and got better drink service!  Sorry - passengers shouldn't have to make sure the staff knows what they are doing and keep on top of them like this.  We found our fellow passengers on Viking, quite friendly and interactive - and the staff as well.  They made sure to find out what you wanted and delivered.  You didn't have to chase it down.  Not what I expect of a premium line.

[teamflames]

9 minutes ago, Cyber Kat said:

We have sailed on Carnival and got better drink service!  Sorry - passengers shouldn't have to make sure the staff knows what they are doing and keep on top of them like this.  We found our fellow passengers on Viking, quite friendly and interactive - and the staff as well.  They made sure to find out what you wanted and delivered.  You didn't have to chase it down.  Not what I expect of a premium line.

We did have some problems on Viking (more to do with we kept being ignored we guessed it was due to us being quite a bit younger than the average age but once addressed with management no further problems). Some of the best drinks service I have ever had has been on NCL, I think when the drinks packages are simple the service is better (both carnival and ncl really only have one package). Our recent experience on Celebrity was poor and again the different packages caused problems. Also here only myself has upgraded as my wife is not a big drinker so I think that adds some confusion. Having said all that our experience on Seabourn was dreadful and there was no packages at all. Crystal was phenomenal.

i agree one should not have to find their own solutions but I would rather do that and have a good time than continually banging my head up against a wall. As I said dealing with sommeliers (not enough of them) as opposed to food waiters (particularly junior ones) has lead to vast improvements.

[Grandma Cruising]

Just to check - are you saying there are service problems only in relation to the UBP? 

We’ve never had a beverage package and have never had any problems with drinks service either - it’s always been excellent.

[dabear]

6 hours ago, teamflames said:

We did have some problems on Viking (more to do with we kept being ignored we guessed it was due to us being quite a bit younger than the average age but once addressed with management no further problems). Some of the best drinks service I have ever had has been on NCL, I think when the drinks packages are simple the service is better (both carnival and ncl really only have one package). Our recent experience on Celebrity was poor and again the different packages caused problems. Also here only myself has upgraded as my wife is not a big drinker so I think that adds some confusion. Having said all that our experience on Seabourn was dreadful and there was no packages at all. Crystal was phenomenal.

i agree one should not have to find their own solutions but I would rather do that and have a good time than continually banging my head up against a wall. As I said dealing with sommeliers (not enough of them) as opposed to food waiters (particularly junior ones) has lead to vast improvements.

 

[dabear]

We have been on many Celebrity cruises (MOST RECeNTLY ON THE ECLIPSE LAST SUMMER) and we had no problem with our beverage package. BEST BEVERAGE SERVICE AND AVAILABILITY WAS  on the Regent Voyager, but a a price quite higher than A or X.

Edited March 24, 2019 by dabear

[MomC]

I too have sailed on Seabourn, Silversea, and Crystal.  They, indeed, are luxury lines. I am sailing on Azamara Journey next month.  I do not expect the cruise experience to be comparable.  I knew this when I booked.  I also did not have to pay the luxury line price.  I will still enjoy the cruise experience; it will undoubtedly surpass the experience of RCI, Princess, Holland America and NCL which I sailed when I was younger and couldn’t afford a better experience—I enjoyed all of them at that point in my life.  If, however, you paid for the premium liquor package, then I can understand why you are upset when what was advertised was not available.  Just remember that we usually get what we pay for—I don’t plan to purchase the premium package.  While I prefer Grey Goose and my husband Jack Daniels, we can live with Smirnoff and Seagrams Seven.  Perhaps Azamara should refund your purchase price for the premium package.

[excitedofharpenden]

11 hours ago, dabear said:

We have been on many Celebrity cruises (MOST RECeNTLY ON THE ECLIPSE LAST SUMMER) and we had no problem with our beverage package. BEST BEVERAGE SERVICE AND AVAILABILITY WAS  on the Regent Voyager, but a a price quite higher than A or X.

The Celebrity beverage packages are a lot better than Azamara. No question that they focus on it much more and of course have their Martini Bar to raise the profile. 

 

Phil