Disappointed

[Marmaduke]

Getting back to the OP original questions - the differences between Azamara and Oceania.  We love the friendly relaxed atmosphere on board Azamara and agree that the crew will go the extra mile to help whatever the problem.  The quality of the food on Oceania is better  but I think there is more variety on Azamara.  On Oceania everyone gets to eat in each of the specialty restaurants at least once and there is no charge.  If you have the basic drinks package on Oceania (wine with lunch and dinner) you can have any of the wines on the list that they sell by the glass, and they are far better quality than the wine of the day on Azamara. Champagne is also included.  Oceania is in the process of refreshing their R Class ships and they are doing an excellent job.  They have taken all the dark wood units (desk, wardrobes etc.)  out of the cabins and replaced them with light grey units and it looks very smart.  They are unable to change the size of the bathrooms but have refitted them and the showers (small as they are) now have glass doors.    To sum up, I am happy to go on either cruise line, it comes down to price and itinerery.

[Riocca]

Not sure what itinerary the op is looking for and as we’ve never cruised on Oceania we can’t comment, however there is a third option in Viking. We have only done one Viking Oceans cruise the ship was lovely obviously very new and all balcony but they have combined many elements from other cruise lines. Food overall was good many of the f&b staff had come from Oceania, the Chef’s Table speciality restaurant was an excellent concept and some  of the best food we have had on a ship. Yes they do appear to be suffering growing pains but introducing 6 ships in 3 years is bound to create problems. 
Pricing is in line with the market sector but they don’t seem to have false sales and incomprehensible promotions which in itself makes them an attractive proposition.

[Bloodaxe]

Reading the previous posts has certainly given me food for thought, we have been very loyal to Azamara but are now starting to look elsewhere.

Edited November 22, 2019 by Bloodaxe

[Riocca]

4 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

Reading the previous posts has certainly given me food for thought, we have been very loyal to Azamara but are now starting to look elsewhere.

Unfortunately for Azamara you are not alone.

[Lottie A]

1 minute ago, Riocca said:

Unfortunately for Azamara you are not alone.

No you aren’t and recently I have tried several other cruise lines and been very pleased with the product. Can only agree with John’s Viking opinions....they are a fantastic cruise line! 
In fact I am getting on another cruise ship today! 

[DRJVH]

38 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

Reading the previous posts has certainly given me food for thought, we have been very loyal to Azamara but are now starting to look elsewhere.

I agree. We too have been loyal to Azamara but are now looking at Viking and Oceania. 

[Trend]

Thanks to everyone’s input we were on a round the horn SA cruise not offered by Viking as I looked and Oceana uses their 1200 passenger ship and with the add on or O life it is more than we wanted.

We love the smaller ships after years of the larger ones, the last several AZ fit us well.

Time to move on to other ideas.

[hubofhockey]

4 hours ago, Marmaduke said:

  The quality of the food on Oceania is better  but I think there is more variety on Azamara. 

 On Oceania's website, they claim to have 24 choices for dinner, while Azamara has 11.  

 

Oceania's pricing and what's included and even how air works is pretty complicated.  For some, they like the O-Life, but those are the types that go for ship's excursions.  I'm not crazy about the pricing structure of their drinks packages either.  $30 per day per person and only at lunch and dinner.  On a port intensive cruise, that's basically just dinners.  Not for us.    We have one booked with them, but are going all a la carte and taking their "air credit" (which really isn't a credit) and booking air on own, bringing on our own wine, and paying as we go along.  I'm not crazy about having to track an onboard account and Azamara is much simpler and also easier for most to get a lot of OBC to pay for things like spa, WIFI, chef's table (not even available on Oceania R class ships).  It's just a different system.  Maybe we'll enjoy it.  Many I talked to on our Quest cruise are agnostic in choosing A or O and look for itineraries and comparative pricing.  I suppose that's what we did.  

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, Trend said:

Thanks to everyone’s input we were on a round the horn SA cruise not offered by Viking as I looked and Oceana uses their 1200 passenger ship and with the add on or O life it is more than we wanted.

We love the smaller ships after years of the larger ones, the last several AZ fit us well.

Time to move on to other ideas.

That's a shame. I spent 7 weeks on Pursuit, starting in Lima and ending in BA end of last year and beginning of this. It was a great trip. Very varied, but South America had some challenges for Azamara, not least that they couldn't fill the ship. Big issue for them. However as I've said before here, the pricing was all over the place and this really can't help. 

 

Phil 

[Trend]

Thanks Phil, yes we did BA to BA last Christmas/New Years so we wanted to do the Lima to BA. The change they made was too close to what we did.

[BBMacLaird]

6 hours ago, john1970 said:

Hi Bonnie,

 

Will the UK website get the same link to the new voyages as I hate mucking about with VPN to look at the .com version.

 

Cheers

 

John

Hi John, the UK website certainly should. Not sure why it hasn’t been uploaded. I will ask around re. timing.

[BBMacLaird]

13 hours ago, cruisingaussies said:

We are now booked on Oceania for a Christmas cruise, although that was mainly the itinerary.  We have also booked three cruises in Europe next year with Oceania, with all O Life perks included. 

I’m so sorry to lose you guys for 2020 😢

I enjoyed sailing with you around Japan this year and hope you’ll come back to Azamara soon!

 

[BBMacLaird]

14 hours ago, roaming_kiwi58 said:

Our travelling companion (who lives in Australia - we live in NZ) has had notification of a minor timing change to the 2nd cruise of the 3, but still nothing about the major changes to the last cruise of the three. We have had nothing about either. 

As I found out from Cruise Critic about changes to the 2021 cruises about 2 weeks ago I am getting frustrated with the lack of info. When asked the Australia/NZ Azamara office said they know nothing about changes for any of these cruises.

Hi roamingkiwi58,

I apologize for your agent not receiving the notification. They all went out on 11/18. Please email our LCV ambassador Sandra at lcvambassador@leclubvoyage.com.

Include your name, sailing date and booking number. She will investigate to see why you were never informed of the changes.

 

Note, this is for any of you who have yet to hear from your TA about the changes.

[ellbon]

3 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

That's a shame. I spent 7 weeks on Pursuit, starting in Lima and ending in BA end of last year and beginning of this. It was a great trip. Very varied, but South America had some challenges for Azamara, not least that they couldn't fill the ship. Big issue for them. However as I've said before here, the pricing was all over the place and this really can't help. 

 

Phil 

finding some  cruise fill up vs others. i had one cruise not sailing full in Sept but others were.

 

I wonder why they keep selling S America if not full. My idea was the long cruise plus others like you did.

[ellbon]

9 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

If you have time in Quito then you should visit La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. I'm churched out too, but it's spectacular and worth a visit. You must climb to the roof. Some great views of the city and inside the high parts of the church. 

 

As regards altitude you will obviously do well to take advice from your doctor, but I didn't take anything for Quito. It's at 9,300 feet and my doctor said the side effects of the medication is not worth the trouble. Cusco is 2,000 feet higher remember. Aside from a little breathlessness at the start I had no ill effects.

 

I stayed at Le Parc Beyond Stars hotel. Lovely. Heike and Eric stayed there too and enjoyed it. 

 

Apologies to the op for taking this off topic. 

 

Phil 

Thank you for the name of the church. Always want to see a church.  Or an art museum.

 Also thank  you for name of hotel.  Celebrity uses one I am not sure of. i tend to not like ship hotels. 

Robinn

[veggieonboard]

On 11/19/2019 at 8:41 PM, Trend said:

Booked a cruise we wanted in 2021 and were just advised it will not go. Private booking has taken over the Journey so the Quest now has to move things and shorten cruises.

So disappointing and are now looking to other cruise lines for the same trip.

We are concerned booking with Oceania for a long cruise as the last few we have done have been with AZ and we love the relaxed atmosphere, but sadly no cruise we have not taken in the time frame we have available.

Anyone with experience on both lines if you could give us feedback it would be appreciated. 

I have travelled with Azamara but not for a while, our first time was not good, but we are giving them a second chance next year, we travelled with oceania last year and we could not fault it, only reason we are going to A next year it was going to more ports of call. Oceania was fun during the day with lots going on if you wanted to join in, fantastic food, the best we have ever had on a cruise and all the staff were amazing. Hope this helps.  

[dabear]

We've been on both A & O and you can't go wrong with either of them. I would compare itineraries & prices however as they can vary quite a bit. O with O life is not always the best deal, especially if you like to select your own air and prefer not to tour with 30+ pax. O has better food but A's also is good. Neither have great entertainment. While alcohol is extra on O, the basic included drinks on A  are pretty poor. Both lines have better service & food over the mass market lines.

[baytraller]

When onboard Pursuit in October, spoke with several UK guests and all are looking or have booked with SAGA.

Will have 2 new all balcony ships of 1,000 passengers by mid next year and drinks will be included.

This could be the main competitor for Azamara in the UK.

 

Peter

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by baytraller

[excitedofharpenden]

49 minutes ago, baytraller said:

When onboard Pursuit in October, spoke with several UK guests and all are looking or have booked with SAGA.

Will have 2 new all balcony ships of 1,000 passengers by mid next year and drinks will be included.

This could be the main competitor for Azamara in the UK.

 

Peter

 

Speaking for me personally and whist I do my annual travel insurance through Saga because I'm old enough, I wouldn't be seen dead on a Saga ship at the present time. A VERY different demographic from the international nature of a line such as Azamara. Way too many Brits! 

 

Phil 

[ellbon]

51 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Speaking for me personally and whist I do my annual travel insurance through Saga because I'm old enough, I wouldn't be seen dead on a Saga ship at the present time. A VERY different demographic from the international nature of a line such as Azamara. Way too many Brits! 

 

Phil 

I think we know someone who tried it. Not sure how that person felt compared to some other lines that get more people from the UK.

[Bloodaxe]

I have been considering Saga but have similar reservations to Phil.

They have mostly British customers because they are usually round trip from UK ports and include home transfer to and from the Ship and also insurance.

[ellbon]

Maybe I missed the point of Phil and ..but there are several  UK  friendly  cruiselines that I know sell well..do you prefer a good mix of several,countries or prefer something like P and O.

[uktog]

My reservation is not the origin of any line it’s do they attract a diverse customer base. Currently Saga has a way to go on that. We like to be with passengers from all around the world and not almost exclusively from one area 

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, ellbon said:

Maybe I missed the point of Phil and ..but there are several  UK  friendly  cruiselines that I know sell well..do you prefer a good mix of several,countries or prefer something like P and O.

I prefer a mix and an international flavour. I wouldn't go on P & O either. When I'm away I like to feel like I'm away, not on a British-centric ship trying to make me feel like I'm back in the UK. 

 

Phil 

[cruisingaussies]

13 hours ago, BBMacLaird said:

I’m so sorry to lose you guys for 2020 😢

I enjoyed sailing with you around Japan this year and hope you’ll come back to Azamara soon!

 

Thank you so much, Bonnie.  As I said, I'm sure we'll be back.

We enjoyed sailing with you too.  This reminded me of our art work we brought back from the Japan cruise, they are in a cupboard just waiting for the final touches to transform them into masterpieces. 😁 who am I kidding?