Onboard Onward Live - Caribbean (30th November)

[woodards]

Quick background on us - we’re Azamara long termers and long time cruisers of other lines. We are just going to be honest based on our views on what we’re experiencing onboard here and now. This is our 3rd cruise since lockdown, but first back in the USA. We were on one of the last flights back to the UK in March 2020 as lockdown was happening. 
 

Questions are welcome and we will give our options based on what we see.

 

Embarkation - we arrived to Fort Lauderdale terminal at around 13:15 and a helpful porter sorted our luggage labels without drama. We usually print them off before and was concerned about how this was going to work as there was no option to print, but our porter was great and sorted them quickly and loaded them on the trolly. 
 

Check in was easy and there was no queue. We did hear a few people grumble about a ‘boarding pass’ that they didn’t know they needed. We printed ours, so not sure about the confusion. We waited in the terminal for about 20 minutes and then came onboard. All great and friendly. 
 

Rooms were going to be ready at 14:00, but we took a chance and dumped our carry ons earlier. Again no problem. 
 

We joined the queue to book speciality and this wasn’t a good experience. There were 3 desks set up by the pool side. This is much better to have three desks, but it was hot and the queue extended into the sun. Not great but efficient when we reached the end. This needs to be online. 

Lunch in Discoveries was frankly a zoo, with a bit of chimps tea party thrown in. Food was below average and service a little worse! Going to assume is was down to a combo of US inspections and first day mass catering, fingers crossed it will improve as we have never experienced and issue in Discoveries before. Tables were not cleared and people were hovering for a table not sure what to do. I wondered around looking for a clean plate and asked a few servers who ‘didn’t hear me’, but got a plate eventually. To be honest, they just couldn’t keep up with demand. 
More to come on the evening..,
 

[woodards]

Corrections to above as I can’t edit my post (sorry I typed it after a couple of gins)!  We had lunch in Windows Cafe not Discoveries. There were no seats available so took our lunch to the patio seating area, which again wasn’t being cleared promptly. I won’t correct my grammar and spelling… the gin was good and cut with fever tree! 🙂

 

Had dinner in Aqualina, which wasn’t as expected. The food was great and no complaints there. The sea bass was a little watery, but I won’t start the frozen fish debate.
 

The problem was the service. We were seated and then waited.  Ten minutes or so passed and we got a glass of water. Another 10 minutes and our order was taken. Our starters arrived and we still didn’t have wine. Eventually the wine came, but we were getting a bit frustrated. Dinner then was thrown at us. We literally had a three course meal in the space of 40 minutes, with no gaps. Yes we could have said something but we were tired. 

 

Anyway we had a good night, but our first day conclusion is that service is not up to its usual standards. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…

[woodards]

Other general stuff. 
 

Our butler was very efficient. Fridge was empty when arrived and magically full when we returned later. Plenty of aforementioned Fever Tree!

 

Internet appears to be good and consistent with speeds. Much better than previously experienced. 
 

Ship looks in good condition and room is perfect. 

[java spot]

I will look forward to reading your posts. A friend recently disembarked and had a disappointing report. Thanks for making the effort. 

[tgg]

Hi Woodards.  I hope your cruise experience improves. Nice to know Fevertree is aboard.

 

Could you answer a few questions for me?  We are sailing on the Dec. 12 cruise and are planning a Cruise Critic get together for 54 people.

 

Did you have a get together for your roll call?  If yes, where was it held and at what time? 

Who will be the Hotel Director and Cruise Director on the Dec. 12 cruise? 

 

Thanks. Toni

[QueenP]

How is the Christmas decor?

[gymfreak]

We just disembarked the cruise prior to yours.

we have sailed with Azamara over 20 times and this cruise in our opinion was by far the worse regarding standard of the food. 
The offerings at Windows were very repetitive and poor quality. Gone are the additions of a daily carving roast. Seafood overcooked and tasteless.

Service was good but didn’t make up for the poor offerings.

One silver lining was Fevertree was always available so I could drown my disappointment with a G&T! 
The resident band East pearl were excellent as well.

Hope your cruise overall is a better experience 

[WhitlocksEnd]

 

This certainly reflects our recent experience on Journey.

It would appear that sourcing and pricing are proving a challenge to Azamara to the detriment of some food offerings.

 

Obviously disappointing and hopefully just a short term hiccup.

Edited December 2, 2023 by WhitlocksEnd

[woodards]

Day Two - At sea

 

The journey from Fort Lauderdale skirting the Bahamas has been a little rocky. Mrs W took a good 12 hours to get her sea legs and felt queasy, but drugs and crystallised ginger was readily available at reception. 
 

We tried breakfast at Aqualina and service and food quality was excellent. Lunch choices were much the same as yesterday, and no carvery, but there was a chef’s special as a replacement. Today was Caribbean curry, which tasted great. Dinner was in main dining and we had a 20 minute or so wait to be seated, but that wasn’t a problem. Again service was great today, but food we gave a 7 out of 10.

 

The band East Pearl are very good. I have to admit that I started to fall asleep during the show ‘Grove Tonight’, so left before the end. It was a bit like a school production and I could hear Craig Revel Horwood in my head critiquing the dancing (I must watch less strictly!). 
 

The coffee at Mosiac is good quality and service is less grumpy when less busy. 
 

The pool deck was very busy as the top deck was too windy. We have noticed strange dirty looking marks on the loungers, but haven’t figured out what they are. It almost like they have reacted with something. Will find out tomorrow. 
 

 

[woodards]

15 hours ago, tgg said:

Hi Woodards.  I hope your cruise experience improves. Nice to know Fevertree is aboard.

 

Could you answer a few questions for me?  We are sailing on the Dec. 12 cruise and are planning a Cruise Critic get together for 54 people.

 

Did you have a get together for your roll call?  If yes, where was it held and at what time? 

Who will be the Hotel Director and Cruise Director on the Dec. 12 cruise? 

 

Thanks. Toni

Hi Toni

 

We didn’t join the get together. But will try and find out for you. 
If anyone is onboard reading this who attended, can you answer?

 

Currently the Hotel Director is Tatiana Morello and the Cruise Director is Eric DeGray.  I believe they are on the next cruise after ours. 

[woodards]

14 hours ago, QueenP said:

How is the Christmas decor?

There was nothing when we boarded, but at the strike of advent, they started appearing. 

When we went to dinner, there was one tree up in the Discoveries Bar, but by the time we came out of dinner, two more appeared like a Christmas miracle!

 

I will report on the status of Christmas cheer again tomorrow. 

[woodards]

Forgot to mention that all pre booking elements were correct when we boarded. OBC updated after first night, all trip reservations that we made online prior to boarding all spot on with tickets waiting for us in our room. 

[seatrial]

Thank you for the trip report. We will be on 12/12. You mentioned a boarding pass that you printed. Where did you get the boarding pass? I am confused about Azamara’s check-in procedure. Thank you for any information. 

[woodards]

2 hours ago, seatrial said:

Thank you for the trip report. We will be on 12/12. You mentioned a boarding pass that you printed. Where did you get the boarding pass? I am confused about Azamara’s check-in procedure. Thank you for any information. 

We received a pdf ticket booklet via our travel agent which included the boarding passes. We only printed this element of the booklet and gave it to the check in agent at Port Everglades. Very straight forward in terms of the process. Worth noting if you are travelling using an ESTA into the US they did ask for a copy of that too which surprised us. Thankfully we had printed them too as it would have been challenging to bring them up on my phone. 

[uktog]

5 minutes ago, woodards said:

We received a pdf ticket booklet via our travel agent which included the boarding passes. We only printed this element of the booklet and gave it to the check in agent at Port Everglades. Very straight forward in terms of the process. Worth noting if you are travelling using an ESTA into the US they did ask for a copy of that too which surprised us. Thankfully we had printed them too as it would have been challenging to bring them up on my phone. 

Why?  You’re already in the US so you will have a valid ESTA. 

[woodards]

4 minutes ago, uktog said:

Why?  You’re already in the US so you will have a valid ESTA. 

Yes agreed. But we were asked for them by the check in agent. We’ve not had to do this before, so just a heads up for people. This was just our experience, so may not be standard practice. 

[uktog]

2 hours ago, woodards said:

Yes agreed. But we were asked for them by the check in agent. We’ve not had to do this before, so just a heads up for people. This was just our experience, so may not be standard practice. 

I hope they didn’t deny anyone boarding if they couldn’t access the form !  That would be an expensive legal settlement!!’

[Catchum]

8 minutes ago, uktog said:

I hope they didn’t deny anyone boarding if they couldn’t access the form !  That would be an expensive legal settlement!!’

If the cruise is returning to, or visiting another US port it seems reasonable that you would need to prove your ESTA is still valid. Additionally there is the issue of staying in country for no more than 90 days in a single trip, a quick cruise around the ABC islands will probably not satisfy the authorities that you are not trying to overstay in the US. 

[ECCruise]

With these comments on the lack of a "carvery" we are on day 17 of our 37 on Pursuit and happy not to see the repetitive carvery options. Every day of the 17 a different local food offering where a boring roast used to sit.

 

Spanish specials, West African dishes and other creative uses of that space, all prepared largely on the spot.  Looking forward to Namibian and South African specials going forward. 

 

Also a local breakfast dish every morning. 

[tgg]

10 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

With these comments on the lack of a "carvery" we are on day 17 of our 37 on Pursuit and happy not to see the repetitive carvery options. Every day of the 17 a different local food offering where a boring roast used to sit.

 

Spanish specials, West African dishes and other creative uses of that space, all prepared largely on the spot.  Looking forward to Namibian and South African specials going forward. 

 

Also a local breakfast dish every morning. 

 

Sounds like Azamara is upping its game. My husband, an adventuresome eater, would be thrilled.

[woodards]

28 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

With these comments on the lack of a "carvery" we are on day 17 of our 37 on Pursuit and happy not to see the repetitive carvery options. Every day of the 17 a different local food offering where a boring roast used to sit.

 

Spanish specials, West African dishes and other creative uses of that space, all prepared largely on the spot.  Looking forward to Namibian and South African specials going forward. 

 

Also a local breakfast dish every morning. 

Totally agree and yesterday was Caribbean curry, but today’s local offering was fish and chips with mushy peas 😀! We’ve got a great chippy in our village which couldn’t be less Caribbean!

I know Azamara once brought a Greggs on in Scotland, but a chippy in the Caribbean is pushing it for ‘local tastes’ 😂

Edited December 2, 2023 by woodards

[uktog]

They never brought Greggs on in Scotland it was the stop before in Newcastle. The move upset several as the Greggs image wasn’t what Azamara wanted to portray to potential UK customers 

[takemewithyou]

1 hour ago, ECCruise said:

With these comments on the lack of a "carvery" we are on day 17 of our 37 on Pursuit and happy not to see the repetitive carvery options. Every day of the 17 a different local food offering where a boring roast used to sit.

 

Spanish specials, West African dishes and other creative uses of that space, all prepared largely on the spot.  Looking forward to Namibian and South African specials going forward. 

 

Also a local breakfast dish every morning. 

To my knowledge there is always a “destination food offering” i.e.  local food offering in windows and some kind of carvery on every sailing we have done.

Edited December 2, 2023 by takemewithyou

[takemewithyou]

I assume the Onward CC suites still has the same hard plastic balcony chairs on the balcony?  Can you confirm if this is still the case? 

[takemewithyou]

Interestingly we are just finishing a 13 day Transatlantic cruise on Oceania where the food quality has been excellent.  Much better than what we have experienced on Azamara as recently as June and  last Dec.  Chateaubriand in Main dining room tonight.  Last night was Beef Wellington.  Will say the lamb is better on Azamara.  Fish has been excellent.  Had the best halibut of my life the other night in main dining room! 

 

And the price of the TA was not more than comparable accommodations on Azamara…actually less.  
 

These reports of further reduction in food quality on Azamara have me a bit concerned! 

Edited December 2, 2023 by takemewithyou
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