Azamara v. Oceania--Itineraries

[Reggiefan]

I preface my comments as follows: I have never crusied, but nearly booked a European cruise on Azamara and Oceania for earlier this year (we went the traditional way with my playing tour guide) and intend to book a Med cruise on one of those two cruise lines for 2010 or 2011.

 

Let's assume that the two lines in service and quality are fairly comparable. What's left are pricing and itineraries. Azamara's pricing is lower. However, it seems that two major differences exist between the lines with regard to European itineraries.

 

First, destinations. It seems that Azamara offers an unusual number of Black Sea and Holy Land cruises (which frankly do not appeal to me, but I suspect may hold appeal to those who cruise frequently and are looking for new destinations).

 

Second--and this is the real reason for this thread--sea days. It seems that Azamara offers an unusually high number of days at sea whereas the Oceania itineraries feature few sea days. For example, on the typical 12 or even 14 day cruise, Oceania might offer one sea day whereas Azamara will offer three sea days.

 

My questions:

 

1. Do you know why Azamara offers more sea days?

 

2. How do sea days affect pricing? Which is usually greater--the fuel costs, or the port or docking costs?

 

3. For those who cruise often in areas where there is much to see and are physically active, are three days at sea too much?

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[MiddleEarth]

My questions:

 

1. Do you know why Azamara offers more sea days?

 

2. How do sea days affect pricing? Which is usually greater--the fuel costs, or the port or docking costs?

 

3. For those who cruise often in areas where there is much to see and are physically active, are three days at sea too much?

 

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

Each cruise line does try to differentiate themselves from the competition. Docking and other charges in ports of call certainly can have an effect on the total cost of a cruise. I recently read that some cruise lines are pulling out larger ships from Alaskan itineraries due to increased port charges and moving some smaller ships onto those routes. Seems the cost increases are expected to reduce the demand for cabins on those routes so larger ships may well not be able to be filled.

 

I suspect that fuel costs are generally lower than the port fees and if the distances involved are rather short, traveling a lower speed will also lower consumption (inverse square of speed stuff.)

 

I have done 2 transatlantic cruises (Celebrity and Azamara) with 5 and 7 consecutive days of sea and I have found those cruises to be very relaxing and enjoyable. Our most recent cruise (Baltic) on NCL Jewel was 12 days with 3 full sea days and one overnight stop in St Petersburg Russia.

 

I loved Azamara Journey and the Celebrity ships. I would never again choose Carnival and doubt I would make NCL my first choice given a similar itinerary on another, higher end line such as Celebrity or Princess.

 

Personally, I think that size of ship and number of passengers is more important than number of sea days. Originally, my wife and I had booked Oceania Regatta for this month but cancelled this because of the cost (and some trepidation about the economy.) I think it would have been interesting to try Oceania (and probably will in the future) to compare to Azamara given that they are originally sister ships in the Renaissance fleet.

 

Most of my comments are of course my opinion... your milage may vary...

 

Either way.. I hope you enjoy yourself.

[Cheesi]

Sorry Reggiefan, I really can't answer questions Nos. 1 and 2 for you, and I suspect you're going to get a variety of answers to No. 3. Selecting a cruise itinerary and cruise line seem to be a very personal choice and there really isn't any "right" answer.

 

We have sailed Carnival, NCL, Celebrity and Oceania. We are leaving this week on our first Azamara (Baltic) cruise. We have gotten to the point where we select our itineary first and as a result then look to the cruise line. Our most recent cruise was on Oceania and and after being on the smaller size ship, we have made the decision that we wouldn't want to sail the very large ships ever again.

 

Sea days - we had two on our Oceania cruise, one at each end. Weather was great and we enjoyed those days because we could relax on deck. We had five consecutive sea days on one of our Celebrity sailings. We were bored stiff after a few board games! Weather was not deck weather. It taught us that we are not "several days at sea" people and we would never pick a transatlantic sailing.

 

We enjoy the port intensive itineraries; a couple of sea days fine if thrown in there and we have good weather.

[Susan-M]

3. For those who cruise often in areas where there is much to see and are physically active, are three days at sea too much?

 

 

Our Azamara cruise (Ancient Empires) was 14 days, with 2 sea days, which was ideal for us. We feel that 3 or more sea days are too many for us, since we enjoy exploring on land more than trying to keep ourselves entertained on the ship.

 

The other thing that I check is how long the ship is in each port, which gives a better indication of port time vs. sea time. If there are a number of ports that only have a short stay of less than 7 or 8 hours, that will add to your sea time, so although the itinerary shows 3 sea days, if you have a few partial sea days as well, in effect, it will add up to more than 3 sea days.

 

We enjoy cruising and the ones that we've taken have been great choices, but often we find that a land vacation suits us better...at least at this point in our lives.:)

[Marie-Claude]

To piggy back on Susan-M's comments, studying the itinerary is important. Those early departure or late arrival may also mean that you'll enjoy some scenic cruising - you may not have your feet on the ground, but that is also an important part of cruising! Crusing through the strait of Dardanelles is an important part of a trip to Istanbul for example!!

 

I prefer itineraries with more port days, but on those port intensive cruises, a day at sea here and there is welcome to rest, catch up on my writing, sort out the pictures on my laptop, and rest my feet!!!

 

I have done 2 transatlantic cruises which were the most relaxing vacation I have ever done! But these are totally different vacations... it's really a matter of what you are seeking: relaxing time or cultural enlightment!

 

Have fun choosing your itinerary!

 

MC

[lisiamc]

We tend to choose by cruiseline first, then by itinerary ("We like Azamara - where are they going that we haven't been yet and want to go?") And we like sea days because we hope to take many more cruises and land trips and don't feel the need to stop at every possible port in a given area.

 

I wouldn't mind trying Oceania, but so far the price hasn't been competitive with Azamara.

 

Lisa