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I booked a cruise on this line that everyone told me is going downhill quickly since they have been sold to new owners. Here is what I discovered
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00:00 Start
00:20 The Changes
06:49 The Cutbacks
09:11 The Food
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0:00
royal caribbean sold azamara to sycamore
0:02
partners during the pandemic shutdown
0:04
and cruisers who tried it contacted me
0:07
saying the line was now nothing like it
0:09
had been and was rapidly going downhill
0:12
that intrigued me and so i booked myself
0:14
on i'm gary bembridge and this
0:16
is what i discovered
0:18
the biggest change i came across was the
0:21
fleet it's bigger because the new owners
0:23
bought pacific princess and revisited it
0:25
to become azamara onward so it ended
0:28
service in may 2022 joining journey
0:30
quest and pursuit but they're all still
0:32
690 passenger r-class ships built
0:34
between 1998 and 2001 they still have
0:37
the same layout same facilities and the
0:39
same cabin grades the discovery's main
0:41
dining room two speciality dining
0:43
restaurants prime sea steak house and
0:45
aquarium italian the windows cafe buffet
0:48
the den with future cruise and chore
0:50
excursion desk the mosaic cafe still
0:51
there the drawing room library is still
0:53
there the living room pool deck with the
0:55
patio and formal dining still there the
0:56
cabaret lounge fitness center spa and
0:59
there's still no casino they still have
1:02
inside ocean view balcony suites and
1:03
they still have no solo cabins one of
1:06
the change i did notice though was
1:08
around the crew
1:10
azamara regulars were definitely not
1:12
being recognized and greeted as
1:14
long-lost friends and family as much as
1:16
they definitely were used to azamara
1:19
were known for having loyal long-serving
1:22
crew that recognized returning
1:23
passengers this was a really big draw i
1:26
came across many new to azamara crew
1:28
even with the senior team the captain
1:31
and the head chef have been with azamara
1:32
just weeks some of the others only
1:35
joining since new ownership a new cruise
1:37
director darren linton by the way was
1:39
also on board to learn the azamara away
1:41
from our well-established one amanda
1:43
paulsen now this of course could be an
1:45
effect of re-staffing challenges that
1:46
many lines are facing post shutdown and
1:49
not entirely due to the ownership change
1:51
but there was a definite change in crew
1:53
it did show up in my view in service
1:55
with crew still probably learning the
1:56
ways and culture of the line or perhaps
1:58
it's a training issue azamara crew are
2:00
friendly they're eager to please but i
2:03
found less attention to detail than on
2:05
competing lines like oceania and
2:07
windstar
2:08
the examples i'm going to give you may
2:10
sound trivial but i think they are the
2:13
sort of things that make a difference
2:14
when rating service on a cruise line for
2:16
example in the cafe
2:18
unlike on other small ships i've been on
2:20
since the shutdown even though i went
2:21
there regularly they didn't learn my
2:23
regular drink or my name when eating
2:26
breakfast in the dining room every
2:28
morning i would order bacon sausage and
2:30
two poached eggs and every day but one
2:32
the order was wrong some days i'd get
2:35
two sausages and no bacon one day i got
2:38
neither and another i just got the bacon
2:41
i asked often for sprite zero for
2:43
example the bars but often would be
2:45
given a regular sprite a lamp in my
2:47
cabin didn't work and needed the bulb
2:50
changing but it wasn't until i
2:52
complained about it it got changed it
2:53
wasn't picked up i had to ask for it now
2:55
i know these are small things but these
2:57
sort of attention to detail do make the
2:59
difference between good service and the
3:02
excellent service that i found on other
3:04
smaller ship lines that i'm comparing
3:06
with azamara here however
3:09
i would say the real test of service is
3:10
how problems and issues get handled i
3:12
want to give you two examples
3:15
my cabin was on decade below the
3:17
restaurant i know i made a bad choice on
3:19
my first night i was disturbed at all
3:21
hours by scraping and noise from above
3:24
and they reset in the kitchen or
3:25
something i went to guest services
3:27
before breakfast to ask if there was
3:29
anything they could do i even offered to
3:31
take a lower grade of cabin they said
3:33
look go off to breakfast come back in
3:35
half an hour so on my return they'd
3:37
found an alternative cabin not below a
3:39
noisy area for me to move to and they
3:41
had arranged for help
3:43
in packing and moving so definitely had
3:46
sorted it well on day three the hotel
3:48
director sent out a part through cruise
3:51
survey asking for any issues problems or
3:54
concerns that people wanted addressed i
3:56
spoke to a couple a few days later who
3:59
had had an issue with some dining and
4:01
menu issues around dietary issues it was
4:03
resolved due to that i heard other
4:05
people talking about how the hotel
4:07
director had been helpful in addressing
4:09
concerns raised so that is a real
4:11
positive on this trip i don't recall the
4:14
survey in past azamara trips but
4:16
definitely how they dealt with queries a
4:18
big plus
4:19
i didn't notice changes to the
4:20
activities which is not necessarily a
4:23
positive they still had multiple trivia
4:25
quizzes every day enrichment talks live
4:28
pianist and song and dance shows in the
4:30
evening pretty much as i remember it
4:32
being no real changes now the shows
4:35
despite being
4:36
run by enthusiastic talented cast
4:38
without share of doubt they're still
4:40
underwhelming and they're still pretty
4:41
stale to me the shows haven't gone
4:43
downhill but they haven't gone uphill
4:45
the crews and assistant crew directors
4:47
still help pad out and fill the evening
4:49
program with one person shows which are
4:51
very entertaining but they used rather
4:54
than bringing on guest entertainers
4:56
regulars on the line before the changes
4:57
had said to me you don't go to azamara
5:00
for the entertainment and the shows and
5:01
i think that's still the case with new
5:03
owners
5:04
the enrichment talks on the past and on
5:07
this trips have not changed either it
5:09
seems to be the same pool of speakers
5:11
they're using the enrichment talks
5:13
they're fine but they're not as
5:15
comprehensive nor strong in my view as
5:16
on other small ship lines viking for
5:18
example has a resident historian and a
5:21
guest speaker on every cruise so they're
5:24
fine
5:25
has the change impacted itineraries and
5:28
the way they structure them
5:31
before azamara claimed to offer
5:33
three things
5:35
first a more intensive country
5:37
itineraries with cruises focusing on one
5:40
or two countries or a smaller region in
5:42
a really intensive way
5:44
second more late nights and overnights
5:47
than any other line
5:48
and thirdly calling on smaller ports or
5:52
docking in better locations as they do
5:54
have smaller ships and even some of the
5:55
smaller ship lines they compete with
5:57
like viking saga and in fact even three
6:00
of the oceania fleets are much bigger
6:03
and there is no change here in what they
6:05
promise for example on my western
6:07
mediterranean cruise in marseille we
6:09
docked right in marseille town while all
6:12
the other lines were miles out in a
6:14
commercial port
6:16
we docked right in the heart of monte
6:18
carlo yacht basement we didn't have to
6:20
tender in order nice that i have done on
6:22
other cruise lines we stayed late into
6:25
the night in monte carlo and in santa
6:27
pay so we can enjoy them we had an
6:29
overnight in navona which allowed us to
6:31
do tours of pizza florence and also
6:33
tuscany and the vineyards we didn't have
6:35
to choose just one of those
6:37
we visited even the very infrequently
6:40
but very beautiful calvin corsica
6:43
which
6:44
just wouldn't have curved with large
6:46
ship numbers there were a few things
6:48
missing on my cruise versus past azamara
6:51
cruises
6:52
the white night still took place the
6:55
same format on the pool deck with
6:57
well-stocked food stations served by
6:59
various offices the band playing and
7:01
dancing some people at the white knight
7:03
said to me that some popular items like
7:05
lobster and crab were missing from
7:07
before i went back and looked at the
7:08
various pictures and videos i'd taken of
7:10
the food on past azamara white knights
7:13
it looked pretty much the same to me to
7:14
be honest i didn't think it got any
7:17
worse
7:18
i thought it was still really good the
7:20
off-ship as amazing evening was gone
7:23
it was replaced by a destination
7:24
immersion which on our trip was an
7:26
italian classical quartet of singers and
7:29
a small gift of olive oil it wasn't
7:31
really that immersive to be honest but
7:33
was
7:34
popular
7:35
however
7:36
this is temporary as amazing evenings
7:38
are back from 2023 when organizing big
7:41
off-shop events is viable again so it
7:43
hasn't been cut or discovered the
7:45
fabulous chocolate buffet didn't happen
7:48
but crew told me that will be back too
7:50
so i didn't see any permanent
7:53
big cuts in any of the big azamara
7:55
features but what about fair inclusions
7:58
are there any cutbacks there face are
8:01
creeping up versus past trips that i've
8:03
done however
8:04
i checked and they remain consistent
8:06
with the increases across cruising and
8:08
they definitely are still comparable
8:10
with other small ship lines on a per
8:12
night basis one thing i don't know if
8:15
they did before but one thing they do
8:17
now is fair match i noticed the fare for
8:20
my crews had reduced significantly my
8:22
agent contacted them and they matched
8:24
the new lower fare i got back 1
8:28
500
8:29
that may or may not be a change in terms
8:30
of firm matching but it's something they
8:32
do and that's fantastic
8:34
there's no change to inclusions that i
8:37
could see they include gratuities most
8:40
drinks standard spirits beers and wines
8:42
bottled water soft drinks specialty
8:44
coffees and teas on-demand movies the
8:46
self-service laundry and shuttle service
8:49
to and from ports when it's not within
8:51
walking distance
8:52
especially dining and premium drinks are
8:55
extra wi-fi is two and that has
8:57
definitely not got better with the new
8:58
owners unfortunately suites still get
9:01
perks like in-room drinks some wi-fi and
9:04
free specialty dining
9:06
so i couldn't see any changes to the
9:07
inclusions
9:09
the biggest issue people told me about
9:11
before my trip was what they said was a
9:14
decline in food
9:15
in the main dining room
9:17
there is versus other smaller ship lines
9:19
like say oceania and windstar a smaller
9:22
main dining room menu but i personally
9:25
found ample choice
9:27
dinner had items unique to that day they
9:30
then had some specials usually themed
9:32
around a region of the world and then a
9:34
set of always available items like
9:36
salmon chicken breast and steak
9:39
i found the quality to be honest
9:41
it still matched that that i have on
9:43
premium lines like princess holo america
9:45
and celebrity main dining room but
9:47
probably it's probably not as good as
9:49
oceania which of course has cuisine as
9:51
their big point of difference so that
9:53
probably has an edge on that but i i
9:55
didn't think the food was worse and i
9:57
didn't think it was better than i
9:58
remember it being i think it's
10:00
the same especially dining was really
10:03
good in both prime seasons and equally
10:05
in italian and i do think they actually
10:07
matched my experience in oceania's
10:09
equivalence here
10:10
there may be some cutbacks or changes
10:13
that i missed because some regulars told
10:15
me that things like dover sole which was
10:17
on the specials the night i went to
10:19
aquilina used to be on the menu every
10:21
night i don't remember that being the
10:23
case but they probably know better than
10:25
i do the windows cafe buffet quality
10:28
choice was the same as i remembered they
10:30
still have which i like the special
10:32
focus tables at quite a few of the lunch
10:34
times like the fantastic sushi station
10:37
in the evening they still have the a la
10:38
carte themed table service menus and not
10:41
a buffet so i tried the french and
10:43
italian i found them a little bit hit
10:46
and miss with some strong courses and
10:48
some less so
10:50
but overall azamara was very much as i
10:52
remember it big ship premium line like
10:55
service and food quality
10:57
but delivered on a smaller ship
10:59
entertainment is still a weak point but
11:01
their itineraries
11:03
overnights late stay and smaller out of
11:05
the way ports is still very much a
11:07
strength and that's the reason
11:09
that i would choose them rather than
11:11
those other things if the itinerary
11:13
though was 100 the same
11:15
and i had a choice between oceania and
11:17
azamara
11:19
i choose oceania not because i didn't
11:22
like and don't like azamara but i think
11:24
they do have an edge when it comes to
11:26
personal attention attention to detail
11:28
and food however
11:30
the itineraries would be the thing that
11:32
would sway me towards azamara if you
11:34
want to know more about oceania and why
11:36
i say that look at this video where i
11:38
start by talking about the one thing
11:40
that i think oceania does incredibly
11:42
well
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