Are the other ships getting the Atlas Bar?

[AllisonJames]

I was getting excited to try the Atlas Bar but then I realized my next cruise in August is not on Onward and the other ships don’t have it…yet???? Are there plans to add it? Even though some guests don’t like that the drawing room was turned into a Bar, it seems from most reports that overall it is popular.

[crzrr]

We just got off of the Onward on Sunday.  We thoroughly enjoyed the Atlas Bar.  From what we were told the other ships will get Atlas Bars when they next go into dry dock.

[WoolworthAdventures]

1 hour ago, AllisonJames said:

I was getting excited to try the Atlas Bar but then I realized my next cruise in August is not on Onward and the other ships don’t have it…yet???? Are there plans to add it? Even though some guests don’t like that the drawing room was turned into a Bar, it seems from most reports that overall it is popular.

 

I believe you still can get the drinks on the other ship If I’m not mistaken 

[uktog]

3 hours ago, WoolworthAdventures said:

 

I believe you still can get the drinks on the other ship If I’m not mistaken 

Yes you can. On Journey they were on offer in The Den. 

[excitedofharpenden]

8 hours ago, AllisonJames said:

I was getting excited to try the Atlas Bar but then I realized my next cruise in August is not on Onward and the other ships don’t have it…yet???? Are there plans to add it? Even though some guests don’t like that the drawing room was turned into a Bar, it seems from most reports that overall it is popular.

No, they won't put them on the other ships. They will rely on the Atlas Bar drinks being sold in The Den as mentioned above. 

 

Phil 

Edited February 15, 2023 by excitedofharpenden

[lisiamc]

27 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

No, they won't put them on the other ships. They will rely on the Atlas Bar drinks being sold in The Den as mentioned above. 

 

Phil 

That would be a shame, since The Den can’t provide what I love best about the The Atlas Bar - a venue where I don’t have to shout at my drinking companions, since there is no loud, live music or noisy disco.

[marinaro44]

55 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

No, they won't put them on the other ships. They will rely on the Atlas Bar drinks being sold in The Den as mentioned above. 

 

Phil 

We were told this, as well, and were pleased to hear it.

[Rabo]

On the same B2B as crzrr, we were also told that the Library on the other Azamara ships would be replaced by an Atlas Bar during their next dry docks. In the meantime, most of the Atlas Bar drinks would be available in the Den on those ships. This information came from senior staff members.

[excitedofharpenden]

4 hours ago, lisiamc said:

That would be a shame, since The Den can’t provide what I love best about the The Atlas Bar - a venue where I don’t have to shout at my drinking companions, since there is no loud, live music or noisy disco.

It's a huge expense to retrofit them. Just not worth it. Same reason they didn't retrofit the Sunset Bar area on the later acquired ships. 

 

Phil 

Edited February 15, 2023 by excitedofharpenden

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, Rabo said:

On the same B2B as crzrr, we were also told that the Library on the other Azamara ships would be replaced by an Atlas Bar during their next dry docks. In the meantime, most of the Atlas Bar drinks would be available in the Den on those ships. This information came from senior staff members.

Unfortunately the senior staff on the ships aren't the ones making the hard financial decisions.  Probably a new build would have one, but not ships that are 22 or so years old.  Cost vs benefit doesn't add up. 

 

Phil 

[DCPIV]

15 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Unfortunately the senior staff on the ships aren't the ones making the hard financial decisions.  Probably a new build would have one, but not ships that are 22 or so years old.  Cost vs benefit doesn't add up. 

 

Phil 

 

Onward will celebrate her 24th birthday this year.  She's the oldest ship in the fleet.  Your reasoning is based on a false premise.

[excitedofharpenden]

4 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 

Onward will celebrate her 24th birthday this year.  She's the oldest ship in the fleet.  Your reasoning is based on a false premise.

No it isn't because the Atlas Bar on Onward wasn't retrofitted. It was part of the overall plan when the ship was acquired and refitted. Big difference. The space they used (ie the library) wasn't in a good state of repair either so they also felt that it was better to rip it out and start again. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

We too were told by senior financial folks there would probably be no retrofit the revenue generated vs cost and impact of loss of space didn’t stack up.
Now that might change but I doubt it. I also heard one specialty group who book cruise with private events and seminars would not come back if the lost the library- not sure how big an impact that would have on the overall decision 

[takemewithyou]

I was excited to try the Atlas bar.  I wasn’t against the idea of it and was open to try it.  Once onboard Onward in Dec, we checked out the bar.  It was disappointing to us.  The menu just didn’t interest my spouse at all.  So, we never went in for a drink.    The overall decor didn’t wow us.  The seating didn’t look all that comfortable to us.

 

There are some drinks that I would like to try but now, I don’t favor taking out the library from other ships.  I just don’t see the value in doing that and it doesn’t seem to make sense financially to me, either.  

[crzrr]

I guess that time will tell.  The bar was very busy when we on for a month.  All senior managers that we spoke with said that the other ships will be getting them.  Given the average percentage of passengers that upgrade to the ultimate drink package, there is a customer base that will use it.

[Host Jazzbeau]

7 hours ago, crzrr said:

I guess that time will tell.  The bar was very busy when we on for a month.  All senior managers that we spoke with said that the other ships will be getting them.  Given the average percentage of passengers that upgrade to the ultimate drink package, there is a customer base that will use it.

But that doesn't provide any revenue, since they have already paid for the ultimate package.  How do you recover the cost of the (otherwise unnecessary) renovation?

[Edinburghgirl1]

18 hours ago, lisiamc said:

That would be a shame, since The Den can’t provide what I love best about the The Atlas Bar - a venue where I don’t have to shout at my drinking companions, since there is no loud, live music or noisy disco.

That certainly wasn’t my experience of the Den on the Quest in fact quite the opposite. It was totally lacking any music except when the piano player appeared! 

[Grandma Cruising]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

But that doesn't provide any revenue, since they have already paid for the ultimate package.  How do you recover the cost of the (otherwise unnecessary) renovation?

I think that having the Atlas bar will encourage people to buy the Ultimate package, so will increase drinks revenue.

[lisiamc]

3 hours ago, Edinburghgirl1 said:

That certainly wasn’t my experience of the Den on the Quest in fact quite the opposite. It was totally lacking any music except when the piano player appeared! 

And when the piano player appears for his/her several sets per evening, that’s the end of conversation. I like The Den, but piano players are not really my thing. If I want music, I’ll go hear the band in The Living Room, where conversation is also impossible.

[uktog]

2 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I think that having the Atlas bar will encourage people to buy the Ultimate package, so will increase drinks revenue.

Most people on our cruises in the autumn upgraded to escape the included wine. The number using the Atlas Bar was a fraction of the number who had wine packages.  Not surprising given the service in the Den was way more professional and friendly 

[Belfastman]

We found that people on our Oct cruise upgraded to experience the Atlas Bar. It was also a vastly better service in the Atlas bar than in the Den or the Living room (in fact in the living room we had to go to the bar ourselves as no-one came near where we were sitting.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Belfastman said:

We found that people on our Oct cruise upgraded to experience the Atlas Bar. It was also a vastly better service in the Atlas bar than in the Den or the Living room (in fact in the living room we had to go to the bar ourselves as no-one came near where we were sitting.

Lucky you. Atlas Bar had v poor service and was serving cheap nasty sparkling white wine whilst there were superior products on offer even in the pool bar. It was shocking staff claimed they weren’t allowed to serve us the champagne but could send us a bottle to our room so we could drink it there - clumsy and rather crass attempt to recover service. We went for another approach DH walked to the pool bar and carried two glasses back. 

[lisiamc]

26 minutes ago, uktog said:

Lucky you. Atlas Bar had v poor service and was serving cheap nasty sparkling white wine whilst there were superior products on offer even in the pool bar. It was shocking staff claimed they weren’t allowed to serve us the champagne but could send us a bottle to our room so we could drink it there - clumsy and rather crass attempt to recover service. We went for another approach DH walked to the pool bar and carried two glasses back. 

That’s interesting. We were always offered Champagne in the Atlas Bar. Nicholas Feuillatte and Moët & Chandon. 

[Belfastman]

Yes it was always Moet & Chandon when we were there also.

[Laganlady02]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

Lucky you. Atlas Bar had v poor service and was serving cheap nasty sparkling white wine whilst there were superior products on offer even in the pool bar. It was shocking staff claimed they weren’t allowed to serve us the champagne but could send us a bottle to our room so we could drink it there - clumsy and rather crass attempt to recover service. We went for another approach DH walked to the pool bar and carried two glasses back. 

I had a cocktail created especially for me, it was such a special touch. The Atlas Bar is definitely my favourite.