animal lover

[susan420]

Hi Animal Lover,

I got off Quest Dec 22nd. I was told by staff that the next group was to have 120 children. They were apprehensive about it. We had about 6 on ours & were heard crying in the dining room. We had a great time due to the people we met and our penthouse suite . There were about 3 nights I ordered steamed veggies due to quality of food. But I am a picky eater. We did have Norovirus and staff w/masks sprayed every inch of ship & gave out wipes everywhere. I hope your trip becomes more enjoyable.

[susan420]

The Gomexico member is right on the money about Acapulco cruise terminal. The airport is only one hour away but the taxi drivers are out of control. I had to strongly insist that our driver take us to airport only and not to cliff divers. There are no $$ posted and no meters.

[animal lover]

Hello, I wish I could tell you that things have improved. They have actually gone in the opposite direction. The new posts will start coming as people have been leaving the ship early. We have a "request" in to Azamara to do the same.

The number of children is a huge problem, but far from the main one. We too were unable to get a brochure on this line prior to sailing. The TA said that they would be sent out Oct. 31st. We left our home Dec. 19th.

What we have discovered is that the information given out from the main office is not in any shape manner or form what is the reality on this ship. The staff on board does all that they can do to rectify things after they have happened. They are very taken aback when they hear what pasengers were told. The kids have taken over this ship to an extent that I have never seen before. Passengers are reduced to taking pictures of the vandalism,garbage stuffed down drains, elevators jammed. Adult pasengers have been told by the kids to get out of the pool. The security guards will only deal with issues of underage drinking. That still goes on as the parents still buy the liquor for them. Why I don't know. I don't why these kids are allowed to roam in packs, run up and down the halls at night banging on doors.

That will stop eventually, however,this cruise line is a mess.People of all age groups feel there is nothing to do. When they finally schedule something, they will have a one time Bingo opposite a Trivia Game and in the middle of that another contest of some sorts. The library is off limits, kids.When I said the buffet was inedible, which SOME find hard to believe, let me say this. Food is subjective, I agree. I eat mainly fish and will eat some chicken but no meat.

There is no pasta prep station to get something made, it is all sitting in chafing dishes. When people help themselves to everything with their hands,except carving a roast, yes I feel the becomes inedible. In my opinion, even with French Service I would not eat the buffet food. In fairness, we don't go to buffets at home. We only go here when the dining room is closed. Again I will give the whole review as at 38cents a minute, and that is with buying Azamara's best package which is $100.00 for 260 minutes, I have given them enough money.In my opinion again, if you are looking for and Oceania style cruise---which is how this cruise was sold to us----it is not even close. Everything is a fight with apologies and sweets and booze afterward. We don't want the freebies. We just want what we were promised.

A few minor things taken care of promptly would be fine. This is a daily battle.Nothing is done graciously, nor is it done without a stink. If you let them know your displeasure in the dining room, you have a chance. The food in there is excellent. They claim F&B service is run the same on the ship. Can't be. If you let your guard down for a second, try to relax and go with the flow, you're finished. That defeats the entire purpose of a vacation.

I will post promptly on my return. You will start to see new letters coming up.

It is very sad really. We had high hopes for this trip. We were prepared for the fact that there would be glitches, but nothing like this.

I don't believe this ship has upper and lower berths. They may a rollaway or acrib, I don't know. I do know that at the show last night in the cabaret, it started at 9:45, there was a proud dad bouncing his child on the bar top to determine if his diaper needed to be changed. It did.

That was just precious!!!!!!

I hope your trip turns out better. I would never ever take try this line again

 

 

 

I love babies and kids, but not when they are misbehaving. Sadly, I find that it doesn't take much for a well behaving kid to turn into the other extreme, especially when the parents aren't appropriately controlling them. I don't know how many times I have seen a couple of kids playing with the elevators, within minutes a thousand more join in the fun.

 

Buffet and kids aren't the most compatible for sure... they tend to mess up each other. But I was expecting cruiselines like Azamara would have people to serve you most of the items while you just say/point what you like? Even lines like Celebrity and HAL do that...

 

I have a feeling that most kids are staying in 3rd and/or 4th berth, the passenger load would be higher than regular times? So service decreases and yelling increases?

 

As much as I love Azamara for offering their product to the market, and I have booked a cruise on them next year, I am not impressed by how and how much they advertise.

 

First of all, I have never seen a bouchure offered in any local travel agents. I had to call them up on a 1-800 number to obtain one directly from them. And I was routed to the Celebrity brouchure dept! That makes me wonder how much do those travel agents know about the distinction between Celebrity and Azamara? My TA insists that I need to place a dining time preference request, because Azamara doesn't have open seating... I just said early and forgot about it. Sometimes I think I am more knowledgable than some TAs...

 

It's not hard to imagine a lot of people, including TA's, would think that Azamara is just another Celebrity ship.

 

I really think that Azamara should put out some good advertisements, along with improving their product, quickly. Let the world know clearly what kind of customers they're shooting for.

 

I am not a businessman, nor do I have much life experieces... But I do know there's not much time for a newly founded company to establish its reputation. Once a bad reputation is set, it takes double the amount of effort to erase it. And they rather not letting their product known, than letting people confuse their product with something else. Time is running out for them... :(

[lovelyladi]

We had such a nice time on the journey dec 11 -23. (probably because there were so few children aboard) It is terrible that the situation is so out of control. As I said b4 we had a similar experience on the Tahitian Princess on the inaugural Chrismas sailing. (The no adults allowed in the pool rings clearly in my memory.)

 

Ships of this size and type need to limit the number of children to a managable size. I never go on a cruise during vacation peiods (and I love kids...I was a school teacheer).

[Guest superradiationboy]

Oh poor you sorry to hear that.

 

Good that the staff onboard are trying their best to rectify things. I guess given the proportion of kids and, especially, how bad they behave, any cruiseline that does not intent to cater kids would fail badly.

 

In fact, this is not unlike some Christmas or whatever party scenarios... I wanted to invite friends over, but when they came, their kids followed. It's hard to tell them to leave their kids behind. When they all arrived, oh my... as little as they are, they're demolishing my whole place. My single friends were annoyed by them. I tried to do what I could to keep everything in order and everyone happy. I couldn't yell at them, nor could I tell their parents to do so. When something foreign landed on the dinner table unexpectedly while we adults were eating, one of their parent said "Honey that's not nice. Don't do it next time okay?"... with a smiley tone and a wink. Ended up nobody really enjoyed the party, though food was good and, I believe, my "service" was great.

 

Again, it seems the cruiseline has some nicest things and staff onboard, but the marketing, and possibly some other people working in the headoffice are not doing their job well.

 

Totally agree that ships like this need to limit the number of kids.

 

It's really not fair for those hardworking people onboard to deal with situations like this, which they are not even equipped to handle. And of course, it's not fair for other passengers.

 

There is a "Guest Conduct Policy" on Azamara's webpage, under Before Your Cruise section. It clearly states that vandalism, abusive behaviour and underage drinking are not permitted. Any passenger who violates those terms can be removed from the ship. I heard once that a passenger on Holland America got kicked off after a violation...