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In this video you will discover 7 things you really should know before cruising with Azamara Club Cruises on a cruising vacation. I discuss things like who they are, who they compete with, who they are best for, what they do different to other cruise lines, what their fares cover and do not, the sort of facilities and entertainment, range of accommodation and more. Azamara Cruises is a small cruise lines with three ships that hold just 700 people. They focus on destinations and immersing guests into the varied and more out of way paces they can all into due to their smaller ships. They are an up-market line.
I travelled as a guest of Titan Travel on their Italian Lakes and Greek islands cruise that included 10 days on Azamara Pursuit. To find out about similar trips with them: https://www.titantravel.co.uk/holiday-types/ocean-cruising/ocean-cruise-lines/azamara
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0:00
hi I'm Gary beverage and this is another
0:02
of my tips for travelers I'm currently
0:04
onboard Azamara pursuit and I'm going to
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talk about seven things that you need to
0:09
know about Azamara club cruises before
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you cruise with them so Azamara is part
0:14
of the Royal Caribbean group of cruise
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lines wrote Caribbean operate obviously
0:19
the Royal Caribbean line celebrity they
0:22
have Azamara and also a major stake in
0:25
silver sea the ultra luxury cruise an
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expedition line as Amara operates in the
0:31
upmarket mid to small ship cruise
0:34
categories so they compete with lines
0:36
like Oceania Viking cruise lines and
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lines like wind star one of their ships
0:41
are what is known as our class ships and
0:44
they are originally built for renascence
0:46
cruise lines they have three ships all
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holding around about 700 passengers so
0:51
they have the Azamara Journey the
0:53
Azamara quest and in 2018 they added
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Azamara pursuit
0:57
what does Azamara do that's different or
1:00
unique to other cruise lines now as
1:02
Amara would argue that their real focus
1:04
is around destinations there's a couple
1:07
of things that Azamara do around
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destinations that I think are unique and
1:11
different first of all what they call
1:13
stay longer experience more so they call
1:16
in smaller ports because they have
1:17
smaller ships and they tend to have much
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longer stays of example the cruise I'm
1:21
on which is a 10 night cruise around
1:23
Greece and the Greek islands in many of
1:25
the ports we were staying until 10
1:26
o'clock at night and in other ports
1:28
we're staying until 8 o'clock at night
1:29
which enables you to get out and see
1:31
much more births during the day and also
1:33
into the evening the second thing they
1:35
do is lots of country intensive cruises
1:38
you'll find a lot of their cruises are
1:39
called intensive so it'll be Greece
1:41
intensive or Spain intensive so they're
1:44
tentative structure their cruises around
1:47
a particular part of the world and call
1:49
on lots of places and again because they
1:51
have smaller ships they can call it lots
1:52
of different ports the third thing they
1:55
talk about is this real sense of
1:57
immersion
1:57
once you're there so they talk about
1:59
cruise global connect local so the idea
2:02
is they have lots of excursions which
2:04
ready try and get you to connect with
2:06
the people of cultures the food and they
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group these into a number of different
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types of excursions so for example taste
2:13
local bike local meet local and nice
2:18
local so the bike local obviously bike
2:21
tour so they have bikes on board the
2:22
ship which are around about 16 bikes so
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the tour Scott with about 16 people so
2:27
taste local is where you would get out
2:29
and have come Rito's or local restaurant
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visits meet local is cultural exchanges
2:34
with the families and residents and of
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course nice local will be where you can
2:39
get out and experience the nightlife the
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tour sizes are quite small the normal
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tools will be around about 25 people if
2:46
it's a walking tour or it's paid by tour
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they're often focused just on having 16
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people I noticed a lot when we were
2:54
traveling around at different sites on
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different tours you know we had a small
2:58
group or between 16 and 20 people and
3:01
other cruise lines were having 3040
3:03
people in their chores they use only
3:06
local tour guides which of course many
3:08
cruise lines do but local experts and
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the other thing which they have on board
3:12
is they normally have some speaker on
3:14
board who will talk about the region and
3:17
the places that you're visiting they
3:19
also provide port guides in every port
3:20
personally I felt the port guides were
3:23
okay I don't think they were amazing and
3:24
particularly considering that Azamara is
3:26
really focused on destinations I thought
3:28
that perhaps their destination guides
3:29
will be very different to other cruise
3:31
lines but I felt they were quite similar
3:32
what they do do though which is great is
3:35
in every single port of call they will
3:37
bring on board local tourist reps who
3:39
will be there for a couple of hours in
3:41
the morning when you arrive so they can
3:42
obviously give you much more specific
3:44
information Maps advice the other thing
3:47
that they do is if the local town or the
3:50
nearest town is not within easy walking
3:52
distance they always provide a
3:54
complimentary transfer to get into town
3:56
so that whole destination area is
3:58
something that they do really well now
4:00
the other thing that they do which is
4:01
unique they have a number of signature
4:03
events Azamara have probably four of
4:05
them that I think are worth talking
4:06
about first of all they have what is
4:09
known as their as amazing evenings so
4:11
normally on a cruise they'll have one
4:13
evening weather take the whole ship onto
4:16
land somewhere and they'll have some big
4:18
event so for example when were in Corfu
4:21
the whole ship was taken to a beautiful
4:24
park in the center of the town
4:27
and a concert was laid on of local Corfu
4:30
music and dancing so every cruise will
4:33
normally have some kind of as amazing
4:35
evening where they try and take you out
4:37
to experience again the local culture or
4:39
something that's unique the other big
4:41
signature event is the white night party
4:44
one of these is held on every cruise and
4:46
if it's great weather or in a warm
4:49
climate it's held on the pool deck and
4:51
there's the most amazing spread of food
4:54
and the other great twist is that
4:55
normally the officers are the ones
4:57
serving the food then there's dancing
4:59
and singing the other big highlight is
5:01
they have a crew parade where a big
5:03
chunk of the crew will march on to the
5:07
the deck
5:08
another big signature event is the
5:10
chocolate buffet which is held on Deck
5:12
five once during the cruise in the
5:14
evenings great spread of chocolate treat
5:17
the other big feature is it's normally
5:18
on a sea day is they have a brunch which
5:21
is held in the main dining room the
5:23
Discovery's restaurant so there's some
5:25
of the great signature events that I
5:27
think a little bit unique and different
5:28
who is as Amara best suited and best
5:31
targeted for well most of the passengers
5:33
onboard already the baby boomer
5:35
generation so you're gonna find mostly
5:37
people there 50 60s and 70s
5:40
people who are very interested in
5:41
destinations and really want to have the
5:43
chance to get to know a region and spend
5:46
time exploring it and are pretty active
5:48
in the way that they like to explore
5:50
things I would say it's not really
5:52
although it's not excluded but it's not
5:54
really a family kids kind of experienced
5:57
it's very American focus so most of the
5:59
travelers on board would be American
6:02
there will be a good amount of people
6:04
from the UK and from Australia but it is
6:06
a very English speaking experience and
6:09
again it's with a sort of an American
6:11
twist so the entertainment the quizzes
6:13
tend to have a slight American bias and
6:16
attention in the affairs are largely
6:18
all-inclusive so what does that mean
6:20
well the accommodation is obviously
6:21
covered all gratuities are covered with
6:23
the exception of the spa all of your
6:25
food in your main dining room the
6:27
Discovery's restaurant is included in
6:29
the buffet restaurant which known as the
6:31
windows cafe there's also very snacks
6:33
which are available during the day in
6:36
places like the living room and also at
6:38
the mosaic cafe room service added
6:40
the day is also included within your
6:42
fare there are two speciality dining
6:45
restaurants which unless you're in a
6:47
suite you pay to go to so you have
6:50
Aquilino which is a beautiful Italian
6:53
restaurant and you have prime C which is
6:55
the steak restaurant so they cost thirty
6:58
dollars per person to eat there
7:01
when it comes to drinks these are again
7:03
largely included so you have a selection
7:05
of wines at meals that you can choose
7:07
from you also have a wide range of
7:10
spirits bottled water is available and
7:13
included sodas are all included and
7:17
specialty teas and coffees are also
7:19
included now what's very important there
7:21
is a list of specialty drinks and
7:23
cocktails and beers that are actually
7:26
included also you have a minibar in your
7:29
room which will have some sodas and
7:31
water that is included now if you're not
7:33
sweet you do actually get spirits
7:35
included within your minibar
7:37
of course going to things like the white
7:40
party and there's amazing evenings
7:42
that's all included and the drinks there
7:43
are included they do have a self-service
7:46
laundry which is free to use so what's
7:49
not covered what I've already mentioned
7:51
specialty dining excursions are not
7:54
covered now the excursions because of
7:56
the smaller groups they are perhaps a
7:58
little bit higher than on some of the
8:00
bigger mass-market lines where they have
8:01
many more people so obviously they can
8:03
you know amortize the cost of things
8:05
that the guides and the bus is more so
8:07
the cost of excursions is a little bit
8:09
higher and excursions are not included
8:11
Wi-Fi is not included unless you're in a
8:15
suite where there are some minutes
8:17
included depending on the grade of suite
8:18
that you've got what are the range of
8:21
facilities and the kind of
8:22
entertainments you can expect on board
8:24
in terms of dining you've got the main
8:26
restaurant the Discovery's restaurant
8:28
the windows cafe the two speciality
8:29
restaurants aqua Lena and prime C you
8:32
also have the patio which is on the pool
8:34
deck in terms of bars and lounges you
8:35
have the den area which includes the
8:38
spirit bar now this on the persuit is
8:41
also partly where the casino used to be
8:44
the ship's other ships still have the
8:47
casino and although I believe they are
8:48
going to be removed and the den is going
8:50
to be introduced much more across the
8:52
rest of the fleet you have the living
8:54
room which are
8:54
is known as the Crowsnest returned as a
8:56
drawing-room which was where the library
8:58
is there's a bar outside the pool in
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fact all of the restaurants have their
9:02
own bars so the Cabaret lounge is the
9:04
main entertainment area and in here is
9:07
where they'll have the guest
9:09
entertainers and they'll also have the
9:10
four onboard singers will perform a
9:13
series of singing and dancing shows now
9:15
in terms of other entertainment there is
9:16
music across the ship so they have a
9:19
little trio that plays up in the living
9:21
room they have a pianist down in the
9:23
spirits bar and then they have a daily
9:25
program packed full of activities now
9:27
these activities tend to be fairly
9:28
traditional so there'll be lots of
9:30
quizzes and competitions and they'll be
9:32
various meet and greets solo travelers
9:34
meets and greets LGBTQ meet and greets
9:37
on Azamara club cruises it's pretty
9:39
casual it's pretty relaxed and a couple
9:41
of things that really illustrate that so
9:43
first of all the dress code there's not
9:45
a strict dress code at all so they do
9:47
talk about smart casual resort dress
9:49
code but it's fairly informal so in the
9:52
restaurant of the evening for example
9:53
there you could wear jeans if you want
9:55
you to wear polo shirts they ask you
9:56
just don't wear distressed jeans you
9:58
can't wear shorts in the evening people
10:00
tend to dress up a little bit smart so
10:01
the gents might we're sort of slacks or
10:04
something like that and long-sleeve
10:06
shirts a few people you will find with
10:07
jackets ladies will tend to you know
10:09
dress in you know fairly smart clothes
10:12
but it's not a very formal evening
10:14
there's no garlic evenings a lot of
10:16
people when they go to special ed to
10:17
restaurants because they might be doing
10:18
that for more special occasion you'll
10:19
find a few more gents in jackets ladies
10:21
with perhaps more cocktail style dresses
10:23
on also in terms of dining it's all open
10:26
seated dining you'll just if you're
10:28
going to the main dining room you'll go
10:30
and if you want to share with people you
10:31
can if you want to table for two you can
10:33
there's lots of tables for two the
10:35
service is good but it's not very
10:37
in-your-face it's not very formal if you
10:39
do like they're much more formal
10:40
dressing up kind of cruise then Azamara
10:43
cruise is probably not exactly right for
10:44
you if a great thing about Azamara is
10:46
they have a huge range of accommodation
10:48
so if you want to travel reds of it
10:50
inexpensively because it appeals to you
10:52
can there are inside cabins there are
10:54
oceanview cabins there are balcony
10:56
cabins and balcony or the main type of
10:59
cabin on board that's the one that I was
11:01
cruising in you then move into Suites
11:03
and of course you and they get
11:05
progressively bigger so there's a wide
11:07
range you can go
11:08
from inside right through to sweets as
11:10
mario club cruises is really focused on
11:13
immersing people into destinations so
11:15
their real focus is destination so they
11:17
have very country intensive cruises they
11:19
try to go to more unusual ports they try
11:21
to stay in those sports as long as they
11:23
possibly can and they try to give
11:25
excursions and tours which really let
11:27
you connect with the people and the
11:30
culture and the history of the place
11:32
that you travel to so you'll find a lot
11:34
of the tours are actually around
11:36
experiencing rather than just look out
11:38
so if you are interested in history and
11:40
sights they have those to us but they
11:41
have lots of Tours which around taste
11:43
local bike local and really get you out
11:46
and meeting people the they are sort of
11:50
a luxurious cruise line in terms of the
11:52
style the approach the decor the service
11:56
but it's not stuffy it's not for more as
11:59
my club cruises has lots of law people
12:01
on the cruises I've been on you know
12:03
people have been on that for five six
12:05
seven times and they've already booked
12:07
more cruises some people doing three a
12:09
year people are very passionate about
12:11
the whole tomorrow concept so if you're
12:13
interested very much in destinations in
12:15
a smaller ports staying there longer not
12:17
too stuffy not too formal it is a little
12:20
bit or more on the premium side than the
12:22
mass-market lines so it is gonna cost a
12:24
little bit more but obviously you then
12:26
have those pros of doing it that way
12:28
hopefully you found that helpful it's
12:29
giving you much more insight into
12:30
Azamara club cruises and help you decide
12:33
if this is the cruise line for you if
12:35
you enjoyed this video I'd love it if
12:36
you watch many more all my trips these
12:39
videos and hoping will help you make
12:41
even more precious travel time and money
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