Azamara Quest Youtube Review, Good but some pretty awful!!

[johnnyswitzerland]

Surprised to hear this.  My first Azamara trip was aboard Quest this past September/October and it was wonderful.  During the ten days I was aboard, I had to deal with an unfortunate family situation which required the help of guest relations.  They were gracious and compassionate.  I felt they went out of their way to help me at a difficult time.  I'll never forget it.

 

I noticed the blogger mentioned Bruno by name (in a positive light) and I remember Bruno well.  "Bruno from Brazil" as he introduced himself to me.  He was fantastic, but so were the other folks I met at guest relations.

 

I'm sorry the bloggers had a negative experience with guest relations aboard Quest.  That team made me an Azamara guest for life.

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, laurieb said:

Azamara is not the only cruise line that had to cancel stops in NZ; Celebrity canceled several on an upcoming cruise and I have no doubt other lines have also had to.  

Add Viking.  And if you think that Azamara doesn't measure up to the true luxury lines, note that Silversea and Regent have also had to cancel NZ for the same biofouling issue.  IMHO it doesn't reflect on the cruise lines, but on NZ's sudden and very strict enforcement of this law – with no attempt to assist the cruise industry by setting up a procedure to correct the problem.

[Grandma Cruising]

I was also surprised about the comments about the Quest not coping with rough seas. We were onboard one of the Azamara ships in a typhoon in the South China Seas and it was really not too bad. We didn’t feel sick at all. 

[Hammer61]

54 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

but on NZ's sudden and very strict enforcement of this law – with no attempt to assist the cruise industry by setting up a procedure to correct the problem.

Apparently, these environmental restrictions were introduced in 2018 and applies to ALL shipping, not just cruise ships.

 

HAL, Princess, RCI etc all seem to have observed the requirements and been cruising NZ as nornal, on the whole its the high end brands being caught out and having to change routes and ports AND get the hull cleaned. 

 

Azamara on the current cruise have changed the cruise to having an extra day in port in Auckland, the departure port! And added Hobart into the schedule, but when Milford Sound is maybe the highlight of any NZ cruise i dont blame those on this cruise for being a bit fed up or disappointed especially when this could have been avoided, Just read through the roll calls for the 2 NZ cruises affected.........

 

[Hammer61]

9 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

I'll never understand how someone can hear of one person's unfortunate incident and based on that decide they'll never choose that cruise line or hotel or resort or whatever.

We will take our upcoming cruise with an open mind; the review has many positives as well!

 

Can see because they had an issue with one area of the ship and really just the 1 person that doesn’t reflect on the whole crew or the standards on board and they repeatedly say that. Also from watching a few of these bloggers reviews they are generally quite positive, honest and well balanced and not going out of the way to find fault or criticise so I believe they have good reason to be not happy with how they were treated.

 

Of more concern to me was they just seemed to dry out the room without addressing the issue of the water coming in or the noise? Maybe reason for that, getting a new door seal etc but it did surprise me.

[helby]

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I was also surprised about the comments about the Quest not coping with rough seas. We were onboard one of the Azamara ships in a typhoon in the South China Seas and it was really not too bad. We didn’t feel sick at all. 

I had the same experience in a big storm in the South China Sea and thought Journey handled it well.

[baytraller]

We will be on the Quest for the cruise starting 6th February Sydney to Perth

 

We have done Singapore to Sydney on the Journey and the seas down the west coast of Australia were very very rough - were on the Celebrity Eclipse in December and seas were close to 4M the day before reaching Sydney . Sea conditions around Australia and New Zealand can be extremely rough.

 

Have cruised 30 times with Azamara felt the review was well balanced, it seems some people only what to know the good.

 

Maybe you should watch the review of what Celebrity has introduced from the 1st of January - link below

 

Cheers Peter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Melissaghoti]

Over ten Azamara cruises, I’ve seen the ‘sick’ bags and ginger out only once. The ‘R’ ships are generally, very stable in most of the seas they encounter.

 

[Benthayer Gonbak]

49 minutes ago, Melissaghoti said:

Over ten Azamara cruises, I’ve seen the ‘sick’ bags and ginger out only once. The ‘R’ ships are generally, very stable in most of the seas they encounter.

 

I think I’ve seen the on three cruises, maybe 4.  All but one seemed not to be really severe.  The other was in the North Atlantic from the Shetland islands to Iceland.  We had 8-9 metre seas.  25% at least of the crew were sick, including the cruise director!  We were on deck4 and the waves were going above the window! The table in the room had fruit and a bottle on it and even the table turned over.  Phillip announce they were closing Windows as the soup had white caps in it!  They ve that service to the MDR.  Fortunately the tough water was primarily in a 4 hour window.  

[Edinburghgirl1]

6 hours ago, baytraller said:

We will be on the Quest for the cruise starting 6th February Sydney to Perth

 

We have done Singapore to Sydney on the Journey and the seas down the west coast of Australia were very very rough - were on the Celebrity Eclipse in December and seas were close to 4M the day before reaching Sydney . Sea conditions around Australia and New Zealand can be extremely rough.

 

Have cruised 30 times with Azamara felt the review was well balanced, it seems some people only what to know the good.

 

Maybe you should watch the review of what Celebrity has introduced from the 1st of January - link below

 

Cheers Peter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally I think what they are doing with the Ocean View cafe is a great idea. In 12 Celebrity cruises we used it for the first time in the evening on the Beyond in June. It was empty! Such a waste of food and staff. Makes sense to cut back in the evenings if it’s not being used but fail to see what this has got to do with the poor customer service two Azamara cruiser’s experienced on the Quest! 

[norn iron]

I watched the whole video and it was interesting, well balanced and culminated in a ten minute whinge.

We were on the previous cruise to Carole and Paul and to be fair the Guest Relations team where the least engaged of Az GR team I have ever encountered, the smiling faces were definitely missing.

 

I did put it down the whole team being punch drunk from the number of passengers complaining and blaming Az about the never ending visa sagas for India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
(For clarity purposes, Indian visa were the responsibility of the passengers and their travel agents, the Sri Lanka and Indonesia visa situations changed almost daily throughout the cruise to the despair of most passengers and the GR team)

 

The GR manager when we were onboard was Adrian Silverman, who on the two times I spoke to him was competent and polite. Adrian was disembarking in Singapore to connect with Pursuit in Rio, and  he was being replaced by the main GR manager for Quest, Nada, who we have cruised with a few times and I have always found her to be excellent and extremely accommodating.

By coincidence I even bumped into her in Belfast in August last year (when Quest was berthed for an overnight) and she invited me to come down and visit the ship, which I had to decline.

 

The point in the video which did frustrate me was when Carole and Paul met Naga with their complaint and she asked them how did they want the issue resolved? 

In negotiation, always let the aggrieved side suggest the solution and negotiate back to a position which works for both sides. 

As bloggers go, I felt they were milking this to fair degree.

Just my thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[norn iron]

I didn’t get back in time to edit my spelling mistake in the last paragraph Naga should read Nada.

[JM0115]

On 1/20/2023 at 8:15 PM, Hammer61 said:

 

Wow, we have an aft cabin booked! I hope we don't have the vibrations they were talking about!

[excitedofharpenden]

On 1/21/2023 at 3:01 PM, alfredo1 said:

We also viewed this and having been on board Quest some months ago we were taken aback by the content, especially if Ryszard was the Hotel Manager. He is one of the best and very adept at handling guest complaints correctly.

I'll add that I know Ryszard and after reference to him he totally dealt with the problem to a very satisfactory conclusion. If he hadn't got involved I don't know where my issue would have ended up. Luckily I am familiar with the conduits to help. Not every one is that fortunate. It shouldn't be that way. Every guest deserves to be treated with respect. This particular employee lied to my face twice. This did not help her case!

 

Phil 

[Shinydiamond]

Azamara has been on my short list of lines to try but this video has made me rethink it. I’ve watched a lot of these vloggers videos and believe me when I say that they’re not entitled whiners at all. If anything, they’re sometimes too nice. Frankly, this is not a good look for Azamara. Things happen but it’s how you handle these things says a lot about the ship. It wasn’t just one person’s unpleasantness, it seemed that the whole GR group were having issues. For those who are experienced Azamara cruisers, what makes you loyal to the line. 

[travelberlin]

9 minutes ago, Shinydiamond said:

Azamara has been on my short list of lines to try but this video has made me rethink it. I’ve watched a lot of these vloggers videos and believe me when I say that they’re not entitled whiners at all. If anything, they’re sometimes too nice. Frankly, this is not a good look for Azamara. Things happen but it’s how you handle these things says a lot about the ship. It wasn’t just one person’s unpleasantness, it seemed that the whole GR group were having issues. For those who are experienced Azamara cruisers, what makes you loyal to the line. 

I suggest you read the whole reviews from Azamara to get a good idea. One opinion is not enough.

Ivi

[excitedofharpenden]

24 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

I suggest you read the whole reviews from Azamara to get a good idea. One opinion is not enough.

Ivi

I also think you need to look at this review in its entirety and not focus on the one negative. Chances are you'd never need to interact with an employee like this. In all my time on Azamara I never have. Opposite in fact. Whilst I have commented here, it's because I have had a similar experience with probably this ONE employee. @Shinydiamond, I think you are blowing it out of all proportion. Go and enjoy!

 

Phil 

[voyager1964]

Did anybody figure out their original cabin number?

[JM0115]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

I also think you need to look at this review in its entirety and not focus on the one negative. Chances are you'd never need to interact with an employee like this. In all my time on Azamara I never have. Opposite in fact. Whilst I have commented here, it's because I have had a similar experience with probably this ONE employee. @Shinydiamond, I think you are blowing it out of all proportion. Go and enjoy!

 

Phil 

I agree. Also unfortunately guest service people are often not empowered nor have the authority to fix things - and not just on cruise ships - true for customer service in general.

[lahore]

On 1/22/2023 at 2:01 AM, alfredo1 said:

We also viewed this and having been on board Quest some months ago we were taken aback by the content, especially if Ryszard was the Hotel Manager. He is one of the best and very adept at handling guest complaints correctly.

I agree, I was shocked to hear it if Ryszard was the HM.  He worked to solve a major problem for us once and did so with grace and efficiency.  Always remembered.  I am surprised if this person’s attitude has not been noticed by those higher up, like Ryszard.  Clearly a word or several needs to be had with her. 

Edited January 23, 2023 by lahore

[Hammer61]

1 hour ago, voyager1964 said:

Did anybody figure out their original cabin number?

8015 apparently, which i think is a Veranda plus, from the look of the video footage the rubber seal around the door needed replacing, i can only guess it wasn't done and they just let the carpet dry out as they needed to get the part once they arrived in port.

[SuziQ1]

On 1/21/2023 at 6:05 AM, lisiamc said:

I know! When I read reviews, I read most of the bad ones and evaluate. If they all complain about the same thing, then I believe there’s some merit in the complaints. If each bad review is a one-off, then I take them with a grain of salt. 

In this case, at least anecdotally, it sounds like a problem with one particular person on one particular ship, rather than a company-wide policy of supplying terrible customer service. (Certainly we have nearly always had excellent customer service.) Maybe a case of the person being a bad fit for the job?

I agree about reading poor ones first.  Certainly hope this was just one bad apple!

 

[laurieb]

20 hours ago, JM0115 said:

Wow, we have an aft cabin booked! I hope we don't have the vibrations they were talking about!

We’ve stayed in a far aft cabin, and it’s the only place now that our friends stay. We’ve not encountered strong vibrations.  Certainly nothing that affected our comfort.

[Mackdogmolly]

29 minutes ago, laurieb said:

We’ve stayed in a far aft cabin, and it’s the only place now that our friends stay. We’ve not encountered strong vibrations.  Certainly nothing that affected our comfort.

Agree. I love those cabins 

[uktog]

Whilst we enjoyed the view from our aft cabin we did experience a lot of vibration on Pursuit especially when it was running at higher speeds through the night against a strong current. I guess there’s lots of factors come into play - speed current wind direction wave height so no two cruises are necessarily the same. 
We won’t do aft verandah again, so that frees it up for others!

Edited January 23, 2023 by uktog