Azamara Club Cruises

We went on Holly Lands cruise, Athens to Istanbul, with Israel, Turkey and Greece ports.
Sept. 29 to Oct. 11, 2015.
The good:
Tenders were well organized, but it was just 2 days out of 12.
The bad:
5 days out of 12 were not so good, not good at all.
Azamara managed to completely ruin 5 days out of 12-​day cruise. Those 5 ruined days were: 3 days in Israel, 1 day in Phahos Greece) and 1 day in Kas (Turkey).
5 days were ruined because 3 days in Israel were a holiday and Shabbat: Thursday through Saturday.
Why Azamara named this cruise Holly Lands (the main attraction of this cruise) just to schedule Israel on a holiday and Shabbat when most places are closed?
Azamara docked at Phaphos on Sunday, when the main attractions, a market and a church, where closed.
In Kas (Turkey) Azamara printed out instructions going Meis (Greek island) stating that all we needed were our passports. Azamara gave us absolutely wrong information. We brought our passports and bought the tickets for a ferry to Meis, waited for 1.5 hours to start boarding ferry and we were denied boarding this ferry to Meis because it was not allowed to cross the Turkish border to go to Greece (Island Meis) with papers that Azamara gave us. Since it was already 10am, we missed other options and had to just walk around in port.
The ferry personal apologized to us that they did not know right away that cruise passengers are not allowed to leave a port because, thanks to cluless Azamara, out of all cruise companies, Azamara was the only one to give the wrong information to it’s passengers.
The main office told us that it would be a shuttle to the Main market in Istanbul — wrong again, no shuttle was provided.
The shuttle service in Ashdod (Israel), from the port to the bus station, was so poorly organized, that it took a long time to find the stop coming back to the ship in the dark and on Shabbat. There were no one at the stop and no map was given by the ship with the stop being marked. A stand or umbrella with the Azamara name might help too.
If Azamara would start this cruise just one day earlier, we would not be in Israel on Shabbat and in a Greek port on Sunday.
Azamara planning office was absolutely clueless about their own itinerary which was inexcusable and we, the passengers, had a very inferior cruise.
The food was inconsistent in buffet: some days good, some bad and some average.
The captain scheduled the most inconvenient times for his Bridge tours (ex: 11:30 am on port days) which made it impossible to attend. Someone on a ship thought that it was done on purpose.
Azamara also increased a booking cancellation period with no penalty from under 90 days. Starting in 2015 the penalties start at 6 months. Then during those 6 penalty months Azamara started lowering prices.
The first time Azamara lowered the price,
I re-​booked to get a lower rate ($ 1,300 less per person) and had to pay a penalty.
I had a hard time receiving a refund of over $ 8000 from Azamara for the first booking cancellation.
When the second time the price was lowed again (another $ 1,400 per person), the penalty was already so high that it was not worth it to re-​book. If it would be a nice well-​planned cruise, it would be OK, but not for a very inferior cruise we ended up having.
It was my first and last cruise with Azamara.
BWY, I let Azamara know about all these issues and asked to be contacted about my suggestions and concerns.
You guessed it, Azamara did not contact me which means that Azamara is not interested to improve their planning and service.
I do not recommend Azamara.

November of last year, hubby pronounced that we needed to take a vacation, BUT that takes planning and the Xmas holidays were too close. So, in the spring we revisted vacation options. We have never been to Greece and its been on our list for years (even had tickets once, but a military conflict broke out and there was a change of plans).
But a cruise? We took one once to the Caribbean thru Carnival and vowed never again. BUT, when I began researching Azamara, it seemed to fit all our criteria. So in August, we took a 10 day cruise with our teens. So let me break it down.
Pros:
–Long days at Port: Ship would arrive 8:30am and depart 6−10pm.
–Lots of stops on smaller islands: We pulled into Gythion, Malta, Sicily, Fiskardo, Mykonos, Crete.
–Ship ran on time.
–Smaller ship: about 650 passengers
–Service: Fantastic. Staff was about 40% Filipino and I found everyone friendly & attentive. Further, they cleaned our room at least twice a day and surprised my husband by decorating it for his birthday
–Cleanliness: Ship was great about staffing every food area with people ensuring everyone cleaned their hands
–House food and wine was better than I expected.
–24 hour room service
–Upgrade options: You can purchase better wine packages or higher end alcohol (we upgraded for 6 good quality wines) or dinners (we upgraded to chef’s tasting)
–Amenities were better than expected: Pool was larger with 2 hot tubs; nice fitness center with 6 treadmills; track on upper deck; ping pong; movies in room;
–Rooms: what I expected, but the balcony was FANTASTIC.
–When returning to the ship after a HOT day in port, they had cold water and towels to hand you.
Cons:
–Median age was 50 – 70 (I thought it would be a little younger).
–Only about 15 kids onboard. (wasn’t a con for me, but for my teens)
–Entertainment. I only tried 3 shows, but left them early; didn’t enjoy any of them.
–Overcharging for certain items. For example, the ship photographer was always nearby to take a pic, but then the pic would cost $ 25 (you could get packages, but they were all pricey).
–Guest Relations could not correct their accounting error and they still owe me $ 1000. Still in the process of getting it back, we shall see…
Overall, much better than expected and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

One of the most horrible travel experiences of my life. AZAMARA JOURNEY March 9, 2015
Before we left port my husband checked the toilet. Not working. He told the attendant. We left port with over half the toilets on the ship inoperative. First they said there were a few, then the whole port side, then the port side and some starboard. They had one toilet in an unoccupied room that everyone on our floor had to use. There were lines, often the prior person inadvertently locked the door on the way out. They were supposed to post an attendant but did not. The toilets were out for 3 days, and then ours worked intermittently and we were instructed not to use much paper. Later when we complained and tried to get a refund from Azamara they told us the toilets were out for only one day, which was a lie, and that we were the only ones that complained, which was also a lie. Next, traveling through the Gulf of Mexico the waves were up to 25 foot. So they left port with inoperative toilets into bad weather and they knew it. Everyone was sick. The boat is small and old, and basically a bathtub. Every wave was felt. And, it could only travel about 17 knots, which is about 20 miles an hour. So we went through 10 – 25 foot waves through the Gulf at 20 mph with no toilet in our room. The pool, such as it was (another bathtub) was drained due to it being so rough the water was splashing everywhere and making the deck slippery.
By the time we got to Aruba I was really seasick. The captain had been announcing overhead that injections were available in the clinic for a fee. We were walking out to our shore excursions and walking by the clinic when I told my husband let me stop in and see about the seasickness. I am a PHYSICIAN myself. I went in and introduced myself and said I had been ill, and because I said I had some diarrhea the nurse said I couldn’t leave. I had to see the doctor. The doctor came out and said you may be the first case of norovirus, I have to quarantine you to your room. I said I am seasick, I’ve had my gallbladder out and this is normal for me under stress and this rich food. The CDC is very clear on this. He never examined me. He never took a history. He said if we got off the boat in Aruba they would not let us back on. I said what are my options here. He said you can disembark. We went back to our room where we were supposed to stay with intermittently working toilets and diarrhea and oh yea don’t use too much paper. Vomiting is also a sign of norovirus and they did not quarantine people for vomiting, they sold them injections. The whole thing was unbelievable. My husband is a retired Delta captain and I am a physician. An aircraft will not leave the ground with inoperative toilets, and that’s only for a few hours, not for a 12 day journey.
We went back to our room and considered our choices. We had no idea what was next from these unbelievably incompetent people. We packed up and got off the boat and went straight to the airport. I did not have norovirus. I was seasick. We called Azamara and got absolutely no where with them. They said we were the only ones who complained, even though when my husband went down to the client services desk to get our passports there was a woman at the desk screaming at them that she was sick of her toilet not working and demanded another room. They offered us no refund.
This is a shameful act of consumer fraud and I intend to continue to pursue this. You can not sell a cruise to people and not tell them the toilet doesn’t work before they get on the boat.

They have two identical ships with capacities for 680 passengers. Their ships are smaller than the cheap & discounted (cattle barge) cruise lines like Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian and Carnival.
They are the ONLY cruise line who will stay at excellent ports for more than one night which allows the passengers a more in-​depth look at a destination. In the last three months, we have been in Hanoi (2 days), Da Nang (2D), Saigon (2D), Bangkok (3D) and Panama City (2D). In many ports, they dock very close to the city center where you can walk off the ship instead of having to anchor in a harbor and use tenders to take you to shore. In ports like Bangkok and Saigon, only the ships of this size were allowed to dock in the city while larger ships were forced to dock 2 HOURS DRIVE, each way at container terminals. Big ships spend 6 – 8 hours at a port and if ½ the time is used getting off the ship and driving to points of interest, then why use them?
Azamara fares include complementary house wine, mixed drinks & beer, soft drinks, free shuttles from port to city center, free self-​serve laundry and all crew/​staff gratuities. Azamara doesn’t nickel and dime you for every single thing on board like, RCL, NCL, Cunard, HAL, Princess and Carnival do. Recently, we heard that one cruise line is charging each passenger $ 32 per day per person, mandatory tip for services on top of 18% for all their overpriced mixed drinks, beer and wine. The unpleasant surprise of having to pay an additional $ 700-​$ 1000 in fees for a 10 day voyage after you think you got a real good deal on a small, cheap, windowless cabin makes that pay-​for-​everything policy very profitable for cruise lines.
A passenger told us a story of how one cruise line regularly charges $ 4.50 for two seasick pills on board. Any cruise line who has to charge for seasick pills is in sufficient financial trouble to be avoided. The policy of providing ONE PRICE which includes all complementary items places Azamara in the same category of services as cruise lines which are much higher priced, i.e. Seabourn, Crystal, Silversea, Windstar, Regent and Paul Gauguin (all of which we have used).
Azamara, like the higher-​end cruise lines, doesn’t treat passengers like cattle. They do not require you to register for a dinner time and then rush you away from your table to seat the next wave of morbidly obese chowhounds.
Unlike the stuffy, pompous passengers on Seabourn, Crystal, Cunard, Holland America, Regent, Windstar and Silversea, Azamara has a reasonable dress code of «resort casual» which does not force passengers to wear tiaras and tuxedos just to have dinner in the dining room. Those other cruise lines AVERAGE passenger age exceeds 70. Those typical cruisers like to pack 2 – 3 giant roller board suitcases for all their shoes, formalwear, jewelry, evening glitterati and accessories so they can «peacock parade» around the decks of the ship at night faking financial resources that they don’t have.

Have been on 6 Celebrity Cruises and they are excellent in every way, service, food, cabins and the attention to passenger desires. Azamara could learn from their sister ships. Probably the worst cruise we’ve ever taken especially service wise. Speciality dining did not live up to Celebrity cruise line standards.

I have been waiting for almost a year for an apology from Azamara cruises for an oversight on their part. Azamara failed to let us know the exact location from which our ship would sail in the port of Venice, Italy. The port is huge. We went to the wrong location initially, and suffered a great ordeal in our attempt to locate our ship. I asked for an apology and was met with a stone wall. The cruise itself was fine, but if you encounter a problem caused by Azamara, don’t expect them to own-​up. The one star is for «customer relations.»

Simply The Best. This line used to be called Azamara. Then they hired former CEO of Seabourn and Sea Dream Yacht Club Larry Pimental and renamed Azamara Club. This line is very, very different from all others in one distinct way, Destination Immersion. This line is not exactly about the ship, but the destination. They have many many late night (10pm –12am) departures from ports and overnights stays. I went on the Azamara Journey. It was a 11 Night Rome to Athens cruise for our honeymoon. We booked a Club Continent Suite. I have cruised 11 times previous to this on Royal Caribbean ships and loved every one of them. This was hands down the best cruise I have ever been on. The food in particular was beyond belief. It was 5 star all the way. I can’t say enough about how high the quality of food was and unique and interesting dishes. Every night just seemed better then the last for our meals. The 2 specialty restaurants Aqualina and Prime C were great and free of charge to suite guests. What I loved about these 2 restaurants in particular was the chef had freedom to buy produce and such at each port therefore enabling fresh and new specials each night that were not on the menu! This ship is small, only about 6 or 700 feet long and holds a max of 694 passengers if it is fully booked. I just love the whole small ship experience because the quality and attention to detail is leaps and bounds better then the big cruise ships. We will be doing another Azamara for our 10 year anniversary. This cruise experience is just too special.

I was never a huge fan of cruising until I sailed with Azamara. The smaller ships, exotic destinations, overnight stays, and inclusive features (free house wine, free shuttles from port to city center, complementary self-​serve laundry, and gratuities) are a wonderful way of seeing the world and really treating the ship as your floating hotel.
Unlike other ships that are only in port for the day, Azamara’s overnight stays really allow for an in-​depth exploration of the destination. Also, the smaller ship size allows Azamara to get closer into port-​which means less time sitting in a bus and more time exploring the city.
The fellow passengers are a little bit older than on other lines we’ve sailed (Celebrity, Princess and NCL), but were very well traveled and friendly.
The dress code is resort casual, so no need to waste room in the suitcases with fancy pants stuff (which also leaves more room for souvenirs). There is also no set time for dining; you can eat when you want, where you want, and the food is tasty!
The warm, friendly, and attentive service was amazing! We were so impressed and had such a great experience, we’ve booked another while on board.
Keep your eye out for specials, which include air fare credits up to $ 2000, 50% off shore excursions if booked prior to sailing, and these are combinable with any other promotions being offered by your travel agent (like on board credits).