Azamara Tour Offerings

[Hlitner]

We have posted thousands of cruise messages on the internet over the years and I would guess that 95% of what we post is very positive. But so far with Azamara our pre-cruise experience has been less than pleasing. We finally received the Azamara tour booklet for our 3/22 Journey cruise (this is an 18 day cruise from Brazil to Florida) and it looks like Azamara ran off this tour brochure on a cheap black & white copier. But let me offer one specific example of the lack of tour options. Our cruise stops for a full day at the island of Dominica (we have been there on prior cruises). Azamara offers only 4 tours on this island and they are all simple typical island tours. As a comparison, Princess currently offers 26 different tours for the same island. What is even more amazing is that Azamara does not offer a single tour that includes snorkeling or sailing on an island where both are good options (snorkeling at Champagne Reef is a standard option on most cruise lines). I would also add that the current Princess tour brochure is a slick multi-color brochure with pictures and information on each port. Azamara's brochure is amateurish (is this a word) and looks like it was printed as an afterthought rather than a marketing tool. If somebody has the Azamara European tour book you might want to see how it compares with the 15 different tours offered by Princess who also offers 8 additional private car/driver options in this port for a total of 23 tours. I only am giving a comparison to Princess because we just happen to have their current brochure.

 

I do understand that the Azamara cheerleaders will say "its a new cruise line," "they need time to get their act togeter," etc etc. But, from what we are seeing pre-cruise, this is far from a "Deluxe" company. We are hopeful that the cruises will all be wonderful, but that still would not excuse the amateur home-office operation.

 

 

Hank

[Cruise Junky]

There really is no excuse for this. Both for the crap brochure and the lack of excursions. Surely they could be leveraging from RCI and Celebrity? It's not like they're a start up from scratch with no affiliations.

[cruiseyguy]

I would be happy to help staff up their Excursion Division and do the necessary field work to make it a first class operation. Where do I apply?

[Susan-M]

I do understand that the Azamara cheerleaders will say "its a new cruise line," "they need time to get their act togeter," etc etc.

 

I don't think anyone will disagree that the brochure that you received (and perhaps the shore excursion offerings) are not what they should be from Azamara. But it was disappointing to see the negative label of "cheerleader" in your post.:(

[vi1234]

Was the Princess ship with 26 tours the same size as the Azamara ship? I think it would be very hard to fill 26 tours on ships the size of Azamara. We have found the Azamara Journey to be a tremendous value. If you want a lot more, you must pay a lot more. If you sail on Silversea or Regent, you will find everything almost perfect. That perfection will cost you two or three times as much as Azamara. I am able to get the same information on a black and white list as on a glossy color brochure. Everything can be provided at a price. We just need to decide how much we are willing to pay.

[John&Betty]

Six of us are going from Barcelona to Venice on the Journey in late April this year. Azamara finally published on line information on shore excursions a couple of days ago. We have not been to Split, Croatia or Koper, Slovenia and were anxious to see what they would offer. It turns out to be very little and I had the same feeling about things being cobbled together. For instance 3 out of 4 tours for Split start out with the exact same descriptive phrase.

 

One of our problems on this cruise is getting to Florence on a Sunday. Most car rental agencies are closed and we will have to pay a premium to get a van delivered to the pier in Livorno. We were hoping there would be a viable alternative available from Azamara to get us there and back. The cheapest they offer is a bus that goes straight to Florence and back with a 2 and a half hour walking tour and 3 hours of free time that would cost the 6 of us over $700. That's five and a half hours in Florence out of nine and a half hours and it doesn't even drive through Pisa.

 

We'll stick with the van rental thanks. For less than half the money we'll get total flexibility and we'll see twice as much. It's no wonder so many people are arranging their own private tours these days. You can get so much more for so much less money.

[vi1234]

I agree. Private tours are the way to go, and not just on Azamara.

[katiebeth]

Dear Hlitner,

 

I am a little hesitant to post because I have had a couple of issues on the boards over the last day or so. I posted about a bad experience with customer service and had a few concerns based on what others had posted about their experiences on the Quest. (most were positive but a couple weren't and it made me a little concerned). One poster in particular thought that I should not be concerned and was rather direct in his remarks.

 

Anyway, we just booked the Quest at the end of last week for six of us. My parents who are traveling with us are in their late seventies. The prefer the excursions offered thru the ship for the security and because in the past Celebrity has had a very nice variety to choose from. They generally need the excursions that are "mild."

 

Anyway, until your post, I hadn't even given the shore excursions a second thought. I assumed that there would be a nice variety just as we had experienced on Celebrity. Based on your post, I checked the excursions that were posted during the last day on the Azamara website and you are correct that they are extremely limited. (only 4 or 5 per port and a couple of those are exclusive and very very pricey),

 

I just booked non-refundable airfare for the six of us, so there is no changing things now. I am sure we will enjoy the ship, but I am very surprised by the extremely limited options.

 

Do you think that they will add more? I was thinking that this was just a few of the ones that have been confirmed thus far. However, based on your post, it sounds like this may be it.

 

Please post when you get home, and if you have any contact with Azamara about shore excursions prior to your trip.

 

Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

[vi1234]

Maybe one of the reasons we are all experiencing sticker shock on the excursion prices is the fact of the weak dollar against the euro. Some of us sailed to this area several years ago when the stronger currency was the dollar.

 

FYI, I just compared one excursion on Azamara to a comparible one on Oceania. I compared only one excursion ,the full 8 hour tour to Seville from Cadiz. Azamara $189, Oceania $199. I don't know if this is true across the board. This is the only one I checked.

[susiesan]

On our upcoming March 1 Panama Canal cruise on Quest we stop in 7 ports, 8 counting Acapulco at the end.I have booked 0 shore excursions through AZ. I have an independent excursion set up for each of the 7 stops, none required upfront payment, and all are half the price of the identical excursions purchased through AZ. In this day of the internet where every little tourism entrepreneur has a web site there is no need to ever take a ship excursion again anywhere in the world, including Europe and Asia. Unless you are self admittedly lazy.

 

Susie

[Hlitner]

Was the Princess ship with 26 tours the same size as the Azamara ship? I think it would be very hard to fill 26 tours on ships the size of Azamara. We have found the Azamara Journey to be a tremendous value. If you want a lot more, you must pay a lot more. If you sail on Silversea or Regent, you will find everything almost perfect. That perfection will cost you two or three times as much as Azamara. I am able to get the same information on a black and white list as on a glossy color brochure. Everything can be provided at a price. We just need to decide how much we are willing to pay.

 

I am sorry Vi (I do not want to start an on-line argument) but your response is exactly what I was referring to when I said "cheerleaders." Regarding the Princess tour offerings, they offer the same tour options for all of their ships whether they be the 2600 passenger Grand Class or the 700 passenger "R class" (which is identical to the Azamara ships). And here I thought that "size does not matter" or so us guys have that heard all our lives. The point is that if the tours do not sell the required minimum amount they are cancelled,,,,but at least the options are presented to the cruiser. Offering a lot of options costs a cruise line zero since the tours are provided by on-shore contractors (most of the lines use the same companies). I just noticed that on another thread someone posted that Azamara only offers 9 tour options from Livorno,,and 3 of those tours are overnighters that cost more than $1600 per person. That is the same port (Livorno) that I was referring to in my prior post where Princess offers 23 options (none of them cost anywhere near $1600). As to printing a quality brochure, Azamara claims to be a "Deluxe" product and their tour brochure is anything but deluxe and not even a decent budget document. As an aside, I happened to be cleaning a bookshelf today and stumbled on a 2002 Europe tour brochure issued by Orient Lines (they only had one small ship). Their brochure is bound like a small book and has 107 pages of tour information including a good description of each port. I would be happy to copy some of the port information in the Azamara brochure, but there is none other than the tour descriptions.

 

We have high hopes for this line and could very well cruise on Azamara for 30 - 50 days a year if they have good itineraries and a good product. Why? Because we simply love the old "R" ships and their intimate atmosphere. But Azamara needs to favorably compete with their competition. At this point they have already been forced to downgrade some of their future itineraries (they cancelled a season of ambitious South America cruises and substituted more typical Caribbean cruises). From where I sit the biggest problem with this new line has been their awful marketing (we could not even get their brochures when we were on a RCI and Celebrity cruises) which I suspect has led to poor bookings.

 

Hank

[Wirral]

Don't think the high prices are just due to the value of the dollar. I think the prices are particularly high and I am being quoted in pounds.

[gosport11]

the pound is now worth less against the euro approx 75p for a euro,a couple of years ago 70p graham

[Susan-M]

In this day of the internet where every little tourism entrepreneur has a web site there is no need to ever take a ship excursion again anywhere in the world, including Europe and Asia. Unless you are self admittedly lazy.

 

Susie

 

I thing that it's completely unreasonable to say that everyone who takes a ship excursion is lazy ... there are many reasons why people prefer to do shore excursions with the cruise line. Although we prefer and mostly do independent excursions, I've talked to many people on cruises who only do ship excursions, and have read enough posts here to realize that there are a variety of reasons why people choose them.

[bob278]

Hank,

 

I've seen many of your posts over time and enjoy your viewpoint. And I do agree with your initial observation on the excursion program (and it may be generous to call it a program as it does seem to be somewhat lacking). However, I take a bit of exception to your response to vi1234. You seem to be set on classifying anyone who tries to post a counter point as a cheerleader.

 

If 700 passengers had 23 options, I fear there is a real chance that a good number of the tours would fail to get a minimum number of people and most folks would find their tours canceled. Think of the outcry if the ship shows up in port and a majority of passengers had no tour (or had to scramble to get a place on one of the remaining ones).

 

Simply offering a logical possibility for something does not automatically imply an unwavering sense of cheer leading. Azamara is certainly having some start-up bumps but being willing to try to understand why is more likely being compassionate than blindly defending them.

[vi1234]

Hank,

 

Unlike you, I have actually sailed on the Azamara Journey and to say it was an excellent value does not make me a cheerleader. It makes me someone who is reporting on a positive experience. Was it the best ship I have been on? No. I have been on many luxury cruises that were better in every way.I paid two to three times as much as I paid for the Journey. It was, however, a very pleasant and enjoyable cruise, and in my opinion an excellent value. I am not one who would buy a Toyota (a fine car) and then complain because it doesn't have all the featurs of a Lexus (a great car, but much more expensive).

 

I prefer small ships, but know that they cannot offer all the options of a big ship. Not every ship meets the needs of every cruiser.

 

That being said, I think the Azamara home office is the weak link. Their phone people sometimes don't have a clue.

 

We were worried like many of you before we boarded the ship in January. But once on board we were quite happy. Most of the other passengers were very pleased. The only complaints I heard were about money issues; cost of the drinks, cost of bottled water (We were happy with tap), cost of shore excursions (we did all private). Illustrations of the Toyoto, Lexus thing.

 

Vivian

[NorthernLite]

In Livorno have your van meet you where the shuttle bus drops you off in town. No non-contracted vehicles are allowed in the Livorno pier area as it is also commercial. It's also the only port that Celebrity managed a lift equipped full size bus in 2004. Then again, things may have changed and you might want to check with your van rental company.

 

Overall, I believe RCCL's computer programmers and operators are a family run business--from the stone age. I do better desk top publishing and that's a pretty low standard. :-)

[greeneg]

I think that most of us would probably agree at this point that Azamara has some issues with shore excursions, especially with regard to selection and variety, timely and available information, and probably costs. I would tend to agree with Bob that at least part of the problem is the size of the ship and the smaller client base: this may, in fact, be less attractive to the people who actually operate the tours and the issue may well rest there as much as with the Cruise Line. Part of the problem may well be with the fact that because Azamara is trying to go "off of the beaten path" a bit, there is really less infrastructure and experience in some of these ports to support the usual and expected variety of excursions.

 

It is also conceivable that those managers responsible for Azamara's scheduling, itineraries, and excursions are in an " I can do it myself" mode and are not really using the experience of the Parent Companies ( Celebrity and RCCL).

 

The one area which, IMHO, probably offers the quickest and most useful fix is in the area of information. Personally, I don't care whether or not the brochure is a glitzy, work of art type production, or simply a downloadable PDF file, but, the quicker the information is in my hands, the easier it is for me to make appropriate decisions and plans.

 

We have already booked private tours for both Israel and Sorrento because essentially no information is available specifically for our 9/13/2008 sailing on the Journey. This does represent lost revenue for Azamara and I think is something that needs to be rectified rapidly. By not having any information available as to what the ship tours will cover and what they will cost really forces one into the private tour market without any sort of basis for comparison.

 

This really shouldn't be hard to solve; if I can search the Internet, so can the cruise line and it is in their interest to get their product out there if they are going to compete successfully.

 

I think that Azamara has responded promptly and effectively to most of the concerns which were expressed early on after their start-up. We had no ship issues at all on our recent cruise: but, I think it is time that this one got some attention.

[katiebeth]

I think that many good points have been made on this thread. I was disappointed as well when I discovered (thanks to these boards) that the Shore Excursions offered by Azamara are really lacking. I wrongly assumed there would be a nice variety based on my experience with Celebrity.

 

For Florence (Livorno) for example, there are currently 9 excursions available (3 of which are $1600.00 or more). They are offering a very pricey overnight to Venice. (which IMHO doesn't really make sense ....I would think that those who want to go to Venice would select an itinerary that included Venice rather than pay $1600.00 to $1800.00 per person to travel there from Florence). In addition, some of the Azamara itineraries do include Venice and Florence, so why would anyone pick that particular excursion when Venice is already on the itinerary?? Anyone it leaves us 6 excursions to choose from over a two day period (we overnight there). Greeneg is right, the lack of options and information will push those of us who almost always use the ship's excursion to book private tours.

 

ANYWAY, my suggestion is to e-mail Azamara at azamaracustomerservice@celebrity.com. I did this morning and will let you know what I hear. They seem to be have been very receptive to suggestions early on about making improvements. Hopefully, they will look at this issue seriously as well.

 

Happy Sailings,

Nancy

[vi1234]

Hank, I agree with you about the awful marketing. They should never have used the term deluxe. It gives unreasonable expectations for a ship in this price range and I think the butler thing is just silly.

 

Like Celebrity, they seem to have problems in the home office and you are right about the much nicer shore excursion web site on Princess. I don't sail Princess any more so I was not familiar with their website; but in fairness to you, I checked it. It is far superior. A good website and knowledgeable, courteous people on the phones is not too much to ask of any cruise line. Fortunately, the Azamara onboard experience is much better than the precruise areas.

 

Maybe you could rethink private tours. We have found them better and less expensive on every line. Good luck.

 

Vivian

[Hlitner]

Vivian (now I know your name), We are actually pretty much in agreement on most issues. To be honest, we hardly ever take any tour be it from a cruise line or private. We are very comfortable in Europe (have been traveling there more years than I care to mention) and always prefer to just do our own thing whether it be using trains, renting a car, taking local buses, etc. However, many of my more than 2000 posts have been on the Europe board where we routinely help folks who want to do things independently. Many cruisers (particularly Americans) prefer the peace-of-mind and ease that comes with booking a cruise line excursion. But, when the cruise lines do not offer a decent variety, they are essentially taking advantage of those who can not, or do not want to go on their own. When we saw the tour booklet for our upcoming Journey cruise, our thoughts were that somebody had spent 1 or 2 hours throwing this together and than printed it out on their office copier.

 

When Azamara was first marketed we had lots of hopes that we would see a company similar to the long (and sadly) gone Renaissance. Now it would seem that Azamara is just morphing into two more Celebrity ships with similar ports and itineraries (my goodness, they even go to Labadee). There is nothing wrong with Celebrity (we also cruise on this line) but we were hoping for something better and more interesting. At least Celebrity still does provide that on their "Xpedition" product. We can hope that the Xpedition doesn't soon find itself crusing between Miami and the Bahamas.

 

Hank

[Andy]

When Azamara was first marketed we had lots of hopes that we would see a company similar to the long (and sadly) gone Renaissance. Now it would seem that Azamara is just morphing into two more Celebrity ships with similar ports and itineraries (my goodness, they even go to Labadee). There is nothing wrong with Celebrity (we also cruise on this line) but we were hoping for something better and more interesting. At least Celebrity still does provide that on their "Xpedition" product. We can hope that the Xpedition doesn't soon find itself crusing between Miami and the Bahamas.

 

Hank

 

Hi Hank !

 

I certainly understand you have had some frustrations with your pre-Cruise planning..... but dont you think you should set foot on the ship before you totally give up on Azamara ? I'd be more receptive if the negativity was based on your post-Cruise experience. Why not at least give Azamara a chance ?

 

You claim to have sailed on Celebrity before. If you have, I am sure you are aware that Customer service (at times) leaves a lot to be desired, yet Celebrity offers a wonderful onboard experience. If I based my Celebrity pre-Cruise experience on whether I should sail with Celebrity or not, I probably wouldnt be sailing on Celebrity. Thankfully, I don't let it get to me.

 

We have found Azamara to be very professional both pre-Cruise, and post Cruise. We had some problems on our Quest sailing, but we expected it, as it was the first 2 sailings of Quest. While the Cruise wasn't perfect, most Cruises are not perfect. Overall, we were happy. We eagerly look forward to sailing on Journey next year.

 

While it's pretty clear I am a glass half full person, and everyone is different, I still feel that any day on a Cruise is better than a 18 hour workday, or watching my dear Mom & Dad suffer with various problems as they get older. Still, I take them on every vacation with us, as I value every moment together. I am sure you would agree, that we should always be thankful for the good things in life, and hope for the best.

 

I sincerely hope you will find a way to enjoy your Cruise. I hope you will be pleasantly surprised. Recent reports from the ships have been much improved, and I hope it will meet your standards.

 

And you dont have to worry... Xpedition wont be sailing the Bahamas anytime soon :)

[Napi's Mom]

We sailed on Renn twice, Once on Oceania, and now on Azamara, and the tours on Renn were better than either of the other two. "O" and also Azamara has it in their minds that anyone on their ships MUST be rich and therefor willing to pay anything for the tours. Private vans costing over 1000$ for a day when in the private sector you can get them for 500$ with more passengers allowed. The biggest complaint on Oceanias' forum is the tours, which is why we did mostly private, and were very pleased with what we got. Azamara is doing a very good job of catching up to "O", one problem they have is the oldtimers from Celebrity always expecting Celeb. cruises on the Azamara ships. I was going to go on a RCCL cruise and visited their forum for a while, and THEIR regulars think they are the best cruiseline around, and are very loyal. It is in perception of what you think is perfect in a cruise??? Renn. had their tour problems too (We ran aground on a sail tour in Bora Bora...2 hrs before the ship was to sail!!)

[cruiseyguy]

Unfortunately, for solo cruisers (as well as some couples), ship excursions are often the only cost-effective way to sightsee beyond the immediate port area. As someone with an upcoming Quest cruise I, too, am a little dismayed at the very limited European excursion offerings. My guess is that the Azamara excursion staff is very small (probably "detailed" over from Celebrity) and the necessary field work has not been done. However, as others have mentioned, I don't know why the Azamara staff can't rely on Celebrity's tour operator connections and contracts to fill in the gaps. The entire management side of the Azamara launch has been a text-book study of how NOT to do something.

[Napi's Mom]

Unfortunately, for solo cruisers (as well as some couples), ship excursions are often the only cost-effective way to sightsee beyond the immediate port area. As someone with an upcoming Quest cruise I, too, am a little dismayed at the very limited European excursion offerings. My guess is that the Azamara excursion staff is very small (probably "detailed" over from Celebrity) and the necessary field work has not been done. However, as others have mentioned, I don't know why the Azamara staff can't rely on Celebrity's tour operator connections and contracts to fill in the gaps. The entire management side of the Azamara launch has been a text-book study of how NOT to do something.

While on a med cruise with "O" in 06, we contracted with a private provider that got us a tour from Alexandria to Cairo, and OVERNIGHT as we were in port about 1 1/2 days...14 of us were in a private small bus, stayed in a very nice hotel, 2 meals included, tours of the Pyramids, the Cairo Museum, and were to have toured the Citadel but because so many choose to tour inside the Great Pyramid, or camel ride (Extra charge) we had to skip the that. The evening we were there we also did the Light & Sound show at the Sphinx (Xtra Chg also) But the base charge was LESS than the 13 hr rushed trip on the one day from Oceania, Everything was very wonderfully handled and we arrived back before the ships buses. The ships tours are NOT the most economical, if you can collect more passengers to tour with you...which is where the Cruise Critic Roll Calls come in. We planned or went on 5 tours set up via the roll calls, and saved MUCH money and had better tours that went where we wanted!