A few quick thoughts from the Onward

[boxman52]

The ship looks much smarter from our last cruise in August. Soft furnishings all upgraded

Service & food I think very good

The ship is coping well with the high numbers.

They aren't enforcing their stated policy on sunbed hogging which is annoying

Entertainment is not good at all. Nothing around the pool all you can hear is a couple of guests with loud voices booming across the deck. No piano player in the Den.

Shows are very Butlins

The daily activities, well bean bag tossing every day as a highlight sums it up. It must be a good number to be a CD on this cruise as it seems you don't have to bother. Others will think differently I'm sure 

 

 

[takemewithyou]

20 minutes ago, boxman52 said:

The ship looks much smarter from our last cruise in August. Soft furnishings all upgraded

Service & food I think very good

The ship is coping well with the high numbers.

They aren't enforcing their stated policy on sunbed hogging which is annoying

Entertainment is not good at all. Nothing around the pool all you can hear is a couple of guests with loud voices booming across the deck. No piano player in the Den.

Shows are very Butlins

The daily activities, well bean bag tossing every day as a highlight sums it up. It must be a good number to be a CD on this cruise as it seems you don't have to bother. Others will think differently I'm sure 

 

 

The lack of piano player is an interesting story.  There was a substitute one brought onboard our 12/12 cruise.  He was not to Azamara standards, I do not think.  We heard that from a number of guests and it was his first contact.  I don’t know if he was supposed to stay longer, but we noted he was on his way to the airport when we disembarked 12/22.

[boxman52]

2 minutes ago, takemewithyou said:

The lack of piano player is an interesting story.  There was a substitute one brought onboard our 12/12 cruise.  He was not to Azamara standards, I do not think.  We heard that from a number of guests and it was his first contact.  I don’t know if he was supposed to stay longer, but we noted he was on his way to the airport when we disembarked 12/22.

They have obviously decided not to bother at all

The hotel director did a show yesterday. Then there was the violin player doing a turn but the sound wasn't good. Anyway that's not really the same as a professional pianist 

[takemewithyou]

The band leader who is a pianist, forget her name, was doing sets in the den until this pianist on our cruise finally arrived……he missed his flight in Miami and didn’t embark until St Maarten, if I recall correctly.

 

But we enjoyed the singers and dancers shows.  We enjoyed CD Martin’s  show.   We had a guest entertainer who was a superb violinist.  The band with the lady singer was good, but she was too loud before dinner in the Living Room.  She and her band played several times by the pool at noontime……again, too loud for us!  We are just as happy to not have loud music.

[NCNina]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, @boxman52. DH and I will be on our first Azamara cruise in a few weeks on Onward, so we are glad to hear positive comments about the condition of the ship as well as the service and food.  

[tgg]

13 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

The lack of piano player is an interesting story.  There was a substitute one brought onboard our 12/12 cruise.  He was not to Azamara standards, I do not think.  We heard that from a number of guests and it was his first contact.  I don’t know if he was supposed to stay longer, but we noted he was on his way to the airport when we disembarked 12/22.

According to an Azamara source, this man will never play on an Azamara ship again. Yes, he was that bad.

[Mackdogmolly]

22 minutes ago, tgg said:

According to an Azamara source, this man will never play on an Azamara ship again. Yes, he was that bad.

I guess it begs the question - do they not audition their entertainers in some way?

[takemewithyou]

1 minute ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I guess it begs the question - do they not audition their entertainers in some way?

Probably not, in this case! 

[lisiamc]

16 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

The band leader who is a pianist, forget her name, was doing sets in the den until this pianist on our cruise finally arrived……he missed his flight in Miami and didn’t embark until St Maarten, if I recall correctly.

 

But we enjoyed the singers and dancers shows.  We enjoyed CD Martin’s  show.   We had a guest entertainer who was a superb violinist.  The band with the lady singer was good, but she was too loud before dinner in the Living Room.  She and her band played several times by the pool at noontime……again, too loud for us!  We are just as happy to not have loud music.

I’m sure it isn’t easy to magic up a piano player at short notice! There have been sterling efforts to provide nightly entertainment in The Den by Cruise Director Martin, Band Leader Tina, Guest Entertainer Doug Cameron and family, and Hotel Director Tony and his wife Christine. We have probably spent more time in The Den enjoying these performers than we have ever spent there on any other cruise.

[santrah]

They should re-contract  a lovely talented pianist called Vassi who was on the last two Mediterranean cruises in November.  She played the piano and sang to some of her pieces too. The Den was busy each evening when she was performing.  She interacted with the guests so well.   

[royallondon]

17 minutes ago, santrah said:

They should re-contract  a lovely talented pianist called Vassi who was on the last two Mediterranean cruises in November.  She played the piano and sang to some of her pieces too. The Den was busy each evening when she was performing.  She interacted with the guests so well.   

Totally agree, Vassi was excellent.  On our cruise in July she also did her own show in the theatre, really talented.

Sounds like this latest piano player didn’t strike the right note.

 

Regards

[uktog]

Vassi went on vacation from Onward on 12/12. She was well due her holiday but expected to be re contracted she packed the Den every night 

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Vassi went on vacation from Onward on 12/12. She was well due her holiday but expected to be re contracted she packed the Den every night 

I’m sure she will be back (I hope so!) but also sure she would have welcomed the chance to spend Christmas with her family. She had been on since Onward’s Inaugural cruise, as far as I know,

[Baynanno1]

I remember Vassi from pre-covid cruises - an excellent entertainer who packed the area both before and after the conversion to the Den.

[marinaro44]

A special treat at 5 in the Cabaret today when 16-year-old Alex Cameron played the complete Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with recorded orchestra.  Heifetz/Reiner?  No.  But never expected to hear it on a cruise ship.  Very nice, indeed.

[uktog]

Oh goodness I remember Alex with a tiny 1/8th size Violin - where has the time gone?

[Belfastman]

3 hours ago, lisiamc said:

I’m sure she will be back (I hope so!) but also sure she would have welcomed the chance to spend Christmas with her family. She had been on since Onward’s Inaugural cruise, as far as I know,

Vassi only came on board in mid October.

[norn iron]

57 minutes ago, Belfastman said:

Vassi only came on board in mid October.

She was on our cruise onboard Onward in June.

[annapolitan369]

That concerto is often said to "beat the violin black and blue".  Not an easy one to do well.

[lisiamc]

6 hours ago, Belfastman said:

Vassi only came on board in mid October.

I don’t know where she spent her summer, but we definitely saw/heard her on the Inagural in May.

[Edinburghgirl1]

On 12/28/2022 at 11:49 PM, boxman52 said:

The ship looks much smarter from our last cruise in August. Soft furnishings all upgraded

Service & food I think very good

The ship is coping well with the high numbers.

They aren't enforcing their stated policy on sunbed hogging which is annoying

Entertainment is not good at all. Nothing around the pool all you can hear is a couple of guests with loud voices booming across the deck. No piano player in the Den.

Shows are very Butlins

The daily activities, well bean bag tossing every day as a highlight sums it up. It must be a good number to be a CD on this cruise as it seems you don't have to bother. Others will think differently I'm sure 

 

 

Was the same on our first Azamara cruise on the Quest in November. Ship lacked any kind of atmosphere. Pool area was awful with the only sound being folks hacking coughs. Little going on during the day if you didn’t play bridge. I often thought the Den was closed in the evenings  when we approached due to the silence. Worst CD we’ve ever encountered. Actively avoided passengers. Enjoyed most other aspects of our cruise but the lack/poor entertainment has put  us off booking another Azamara cruise. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Edinburghgirl1

[lisiamc]

5 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

Was the same on our first Azamara cruise on the Quest in November. Ship lacked any kind of atmosphere. Pool area was awful with the only sound being folks hacking coughs. Little going on during the day if you didn’t play bridge. I often thought the Den was closed in the evenings  when we approached due to the silence. Worst CD we’ve ever encountered. Actively avoided passengers. Enjoyed most other aspects of our cruise but the lack/poor entertainment has put  us off booking another Azamara cruise. 

Different cruise, different atmosphere, I guess. We were unable to get any seats in the Den on a couple of evenings and had to stand to watch the impromptu entertainers, and there is now a new evening piano player. To imply that all Azamara cruises are totally boring and devoid of activities seems like an unfair characterisation.

[Edinburghgirl1]

1 hour ago, lisiamc said:

Different cruise, different atmosphere, I guess. We were unable to get any seats in the Den on a couple of evenings and had to stand to watch the impromptu entertainers, and there is now a new evening piano player. To imply that all Azamara cruises are totally boring and devoid of activities seems like an unfair characterisation.

I would be unable to state  it’s the same on all ships as I’ve only been on one Azamara cruise however the OP confirmed he had the same experience as me on the Onward. Our CD was useless on our cruise and seems like the one on the OPs cruise was in the same mould. . If the ship had a decent CD our experiences might have been totally different.  My point is they’re not cheap cruises and I would be unlikely to book another based on MY experience, 

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

I would be unable to state  it’s the same on all ships as I’ve only been on one Azamara cruise however the OP confirmed he had the same experience as me on the Onward. Our CD was useless on our cruise and seems like the one on the OPs cruise was in the same mould. . If the ship had a decent CD our experiences might have been totally different.  My point is they’re not cheap cruises and I would be unlikely to book another based on MY experience, 

The OP and I are on the same cruise. Proof that it really is very subjective, I’d say! 😁

[uktog]

14 minutes ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

I would be unable to state  it’s the same on all ships as I’ve only been on one Azamara cruise however the OP confirmed he had the same experience as me on the Onward. Our CD was useless on our cruise and seems like the one on the OPs cruise was in the same mould. . If the ship had a decent CD our experiences might have been totally different.  My point is they’re not cheap cruises and I would be unlikely to book another based on MY experience, 

Reports I am hearing from the OPs cruise is that there are no issues with the entertainment which is particularly good to hear as the full time CD is not onboard due to a family situation and the very able assistant has stepped into the role to the extent that many do not know he was originally due to be their assistant.  Folks need to bear in mind the style of an Azamara CD is not a hi-de-hi camp director