Review of Onward sailing Sept. 3-10, 2023

[terry&mike]

Below is a review of our sailing on the Onward, September 3-10, 2023, Rome to Venice.

 

Sorry this is a bit late, but we have just returned home; our sailing was part of a longer 5 week trip. We started in Milan for a few days, took the train up to Lake Como area, and then took the train to Rome 2 days before boarding, and met up with some friends. On the morning of the sailing we used the wonderful RomeCabs to head out to the ship. We dropped our luggage with the ship at 11:30am, and went for a walk and lunch in Civitavecchia. We returned at 1:30pm and boarded directly with no lines. 

 

Our ports were Rome, Sorrento, Amalfi, sea day, Kotor Montenegro, Dubrovnik Croatia, Sibenik Croatia, ending in Venice. I had previously visited all of these destinations with the exception of Sibenik, but liked them all enough for another visit. 

 

We were traveling with 2 other couples, and as an agent, I had handled their bookings. Before sailing, there were quite a few issues of errors on all our accounts that had to be fixed, resulting in many hours and lots of frustration on my part. My clients were mostly unaware of the issues, as I did not want them to doubt the product as they were all new to Azamara. I had brought along all the documentation, and after boarding we went directly to the service desk to ensure that all was straight on the accounts onboard. There were a couple of issues that needed some sorting, but it all worked out okay (not going to say perfect, but good enough). I do recommend having the documentation with you. A lady being assisted next to us at the counter did not have her documentation and she was in disagreement as to what OBC her booking should have, when asked for her documentation she did not have it and became very frustrated.

 

DH and I stopped by the first bar that had no guests, which happened to be Mosaic Cafe', to upgrade to the Ultimate drink package. It was upgraded on an iPad type device, and when given the device to sign the amount was for the full amount (no loyalty discount), I was told the loyalty discount would come off later, and it did. There were buttons across the bottom to add an optional gratuity in the amounts of 0, 15%, 18%, 20%. I clicked 0, and signed. Bartender then filled out another order for my husband's drink upgrade and presented it to him, and pointed out the tip buttons at the bottom and "explained" to my husband, "if you'd like to add gratuity", to which my husband clicked 0 and signed. No worries on this, and feel free to tip if you like, but I mention it as in the past I was not presented with an option to tip on upgrading a drink package. 

 

The Ultimate drink package covered us in everything we were interested in - nicer wines including Whispering Angel, Atlas Bar, hubby's Scotch. There was one inconsistency which made no sense, in regards to port. On night 1, we both ordered a port after dinner and were served it with no issues. On night 3, DH ordered a port (about $12) and was told it was not covered on the Ultimate drinks package, he then asked for the port that would be covered on the drinks package and was told there was no port that was covered on the package. I pointed out that there is an $8 port on the menu, and surely that should be covered on the Ultimate package, and was told no, it was not. I asked for the Sommelier, so that I could double check this info, and hubby was then served the port "as a gift". We never were able to check on if this info was correct or not, and never ordered the port again as there were plenty of options to keep us happy without a hassle. 

 

All of the food was good to very good, and the filet mignon that was on the menu one night in the main dining room was excellent. The crew were outstanding, being very friendly and helpful in every venue. We had Verandah cabin 7044, and it was serviced beautifully by Francisco. 

 

There were 567 passengers onboard for this sailing, with 323 being from the U.S. The captain was Captain Carl, and he was a good communicator and personable. 

 

We took 2 ship tours, to use up our OBC. One was called "Capri and Positano on Your Own", and was supposed to depart from our port of Sorrento, but we were ported in Amalfi instead due to high winds - this gave us 2 days in the port of Amalfi, which everyone enjoyed. Once we arrived on the dock for the tour, all of the ferries to Capri were cancelled (due to the high winds), and the tour morphed into a walking tour of Amalfi and Positano, with a 50% refund (or you had the option to fully cancel and get 100% refund). It was a nice tour, and we were glad we stayed with it. The second tour was in Sibenik, Croatia, as was "Primosten & Village Experience", which we thoroughly enjoyed, and found it very well done. We still had time after the tour to wander all over beautiful Sibenik.

 

Our Azamazing Evening was in Kotor, Montenegro, and was "Mystical Tales at Synchro Porto Montenegro". We were taken off the ship to the marina, given a glass of local sparkling wine, and presented with an evening of local musicians. It was delightful, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

 

Here is what we did in the other ports, separate from Azamara, in case someone is looking for ideas:

Rome - something I refer to as "dinner with Barbara", but is actually called "When in Rome, a glamorous occasion dinner party" bookable through Eatwith.com. I've done this before about 10 years ago, and wanted to bring my friends. Its a fun night of many courses of home cooking and drinks, in a local's apartment in Trastevere. 

Amalfi - "Classic Lemon Tour" visits a lemon farm in Amalfi town, walkable from the dock in about 20 minutes, bookable at amalfilemonexperience.it

Kotor, Montenegro - hiked the "Ladder of Kotor", great hike up the mountain behind Kotor town on a lot of switchback paths, stop for a refreshment at a home along the way. Easy to do on your own, path starts just near old town. 

Dubrovnik - we spent some time strolling the streets of old town with our friends, then they went to "walk the walls" which is the most popular thing to do here. We had done this in the past, so we took a long stroll out of old town, heading off into the newer resort areas, and along the sea. Interesting tidbit, when DH and I walked the walls of Dubrovnik several years ago, it cost about $5 per person -- it now costs $35 per person to do so. 

 

Upon debarking, we used the ship's transfer from Chioggia to the Venice Airport, for $29.85 per person, and were there in plenty of time to make a 11:15am flight from Venice to Bari, Italy.

 

After parting with Azamara, we spent a week touring the Puglia region of Italy, and then made our way back over to Naples where we were able to get to Capri this time. We next flew from Naples to Hamburg and had a couple of days in this enjoyable city, and then boarded the Queen Mary 2 and sailed 9 days Hamburg-Southampton-New York. After being so recently on Azamara, and then boarding QM2, it was very obvious to us that the service on QM2 was not nearly as attentive and pampering as Azamara. 

[crzrr]

Thanks for a great review.  I had followed all of your trials and tribulations post conversion and am very happy to hear that it all worked out.  One thing that we do when we purchase the Ultimate drink package is ask to see the included drinks list.  We then snap a picture of it so that we always have it available.  We were just on the Wine and Culture cruise on Journey and the subject of included port came up after dinner.  We were able to produce the list and the included port was provided.  It comes in very handy.

[aliaschief]

Thanks for sharing your Onward experience. Great review.

[terry&mike]

58 minutes ago, crzrr said:

Thanks for a great review.  I had followed all of your trials and tribulations post conversion and am very happy to hear that it all worked out.  One thing that we do when we purchase the Ultimate drink package is ask to see the included drinks list.  We then snap a picture of it so that we always have it available.  We were just on the Wine and Culture cruise on Journey and the subject of included port came up after dinner.  We were able to produce the list and the included port was provided.  It comes in very handy.

Good tip - thank you. We'll be on Quest in November for 22 days, so will do this. 

[uktog]

I can’t understand the position re port. Reads like poor staff training again. My understanding was the Ultimate package covered any drink up to $15 not just named drinks. So the $12 port should have been no issue - maybe a server mistake but don’t cover it up by making out they’re doing you a favour. Seen that too much in the last 18 months- so annoying

There are also two named ports on Azamara website. Sounds like you sadly need to have that website link accessible on Onward when ordering drinks if you’re a package holder. 
Feels very much like deja vu though for us that related to champagne. 
Wonder if the bar manager is new?

[cavaaller]

Thanks a lot for this great review!

[Belfastman]

5 hours ago, uktog said:

I can’t understand the position re port. Reads like poor staff training again. My understanding was the Ultimate package covered any drink up to $15 not just named drinks. So the $12 port should have been no issue - maybe a server mistake but don’t cover it up by making out they’re doing you a favour. Seen that too much in the last 18 months- so annoying

There are also two named ports on Azamara website. Sounds like you sadly need to have that website link accessible on Onward when ordering drinks if you’re a package holder. 
Feels very much like deja vu though for us that related to champagne. 
Wonder if the bar manager is new?

Never heard of drinks up to $15 being included in the ultimate package ( this was a Celebrity thing). Cocktails in Atlas Bar are over $17 and are included. I believe it is the listed drinks that are included.

[uktog]

12 minutes ago, Belfastman said:

Never heard of drinks up to $15 being included in the ultimate package ( this was a Celebrity thing). Cocktails in Atlas Bar are over $17 and are included. I believe it is the listed drinks that are included.

Never ever been restricted to drinks listed on the handout. Cocktails and ports have always been by price. I probably have the figure wrong. 

[manc]

Recently on our last night on Journey my husband was charged for the port. Guest relations phoned several.people to confirm that all port had to be paid for. We had been on b2b with ultimate packages but this was the first time he had ordered port.

[uktog]

20 minutes ago, manc said:

Recently on our last night on Journey my husband was charged for the port. Guest relations phoned several.people to confirm that all port had to be paid for. We had been on b2b with ultimate packages but this was the first time he had ordered port.

From Azamara website re the Ultimate Package 

[manc]

Thank you. Next time I will make sure we have the list with us at all times. 

[uktog]

2 minutes ago, manc said:

Thank you. Next time I will make sure we have the list with us at all times. 

You should not have to.  We had a battle about champagne on our last Azamara cruise, soured the whole experience onboard.  You are left to feel you are the one in the wrong.  Another training issue I hope they resolve quickly

[rizello]

Thanks for the review.  I am researching Azamara as it looks like it has great itineraries.

 

I was a bit turned off by the request for 'optional' tipping when signing a bill/check.  That has gotten out of hand everywhere, not just cruise ships.  If the drinks package includes gratuities, they should not be having staff mention the option for an optional tip, nor should the app make you choose '0'.  

[manc]

We ate in the speciality restaurants for 23 nights. Sometimes we were asked to sign after dinner but it always was a nil balance and no opportunity to add a tip. They said it was an accounting exercise and the new owners do seem to be keen accountants in their thinking.