I have done 5 cruises only but went on Azamara Journey in 2016 for 12 days Athens to Rome. I totally agree with the comments in this video (apart from we never had the bike option available on that cruise.) Really enjoyed the whole experience and we have booked up for The Black Sea in 2020 on the same ship. I couldn't fault Azamara at all and found the staff really great. Made some great friends with other passengers & we were a bit younger than the average age! Much prefer the smaller ship 1 million %😁
Always a brilliant commentary and very informative. You have exceeded your homework expectations. Honestly, you've covered everything and I appreciate that. Darryl
I know many of these cities as an individuell traveller. The cities are crowded and noisy during the day with tousands of cruise ship tourists. In Venice it's extreme. And then, when they are back on their big ships the real life starts and the city evolves Info a beautiful and magic place. This is money and time extremely well spent!
This is one of your best, Gary. I've never cruised at all, and I'm determined that I should like Viking best when I retire & finally start taking cruises. But now I will look very closely at Azamara - their approach sounds right up my alley too!
Azamara sounds like the perfect Goldilocks option for us! Looking for casual elegance with luxury service and accommodations. Azamara seems to appeal to the intellect with the right amount of inclusive drink options.
This video just popped up on my youtube recommendation. I had been looking for a good review of this company since May 2019 when I spotted the Azamara Quest from my Princess ship across the Disenchantment Bay at the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. I had no idea what this ship or company was all about. I found their website but this video explains everything one needs to know in more detail and less clutter. From the website I found that the Alaska voyage is not their main thrust, since as of August 2019 there are no more Alaska cruises mentioned. Thank you Mr. Bembridge, thumbs up and new subscriber.
Great video you really captured the essence of Azamara. We have a lot of cruises under our belt and AZ is our new fav. The Azamazing Evenings are just spectacular events that you will never forget.
Thank for this very helpful comprehensive intro to Azamara. I've been cruising for a short while and have experienced seven lines to date without settling on a favorite. I've heard of Azamara and never really considered it. This review convinces me that Azamara is what I've been looking for and I'm off to browse their offerings. Thanks as always for an entertaining and valuable review!
Love small ships. The Marco Polo was for us. These ships seem to be like that. Your first class review as always. Will have to look them up on line. Thanks........
Excellent factual narrative on Azamara, Royal Caribbean and Silver Sea partnership. Great insight into the Azamara style of experience, upscale, but not uptight!! My kind of crowd to be in. Thanks, will be looking into booking asap.
NCL has a chocolate buffet too on many of its cruises or I should say they did PRE-COVID. I am here BTW because I was curious to read how RCL just divested itself of Azamara.
I've just finished a P&O cruise but Azamara sounds more like my kind of thing. 700 pax instead of 3,500, more time at destinations - like a river cruise but at sea?
Great video as usual, love Celbrity, but think I'm now ready to make the jump to a more shore intensive ship. Just gotta decided what line is better suited for me and the family......Azamara or Viking ... descions, descions. Leaning towards Azamara, however I thought 1 free shore excursion was included at each port.
I was told that too and was disappointed to find out otherwise. I saw their shore excursion prices which are significantly higher than others. It's a quandry.
Thanks very much for this. We loved our first Azamara cruise and have signed up for another next year. Doubt we'll be a 3x a year customer, but are very much satistied with this line!
Thanks Gary for another clip brimming with tips and interesting info. Have you done a clip for (60+) singles? I’m thinking about cost more than anything. How to avoid the double fare. Any thoughts?
Thanks Gary I knew you would have something about Azamara cruises. We have booked one on the Quest doing the French Rivera. Before we put rubber stamp on it we wanted to see what your options were. Thanks. You did this review in 2018 before the Quest was updated. Have you seen their new updates or refurbished ships?
We're headed to Hawaii on Celebrity Eclipse in April, and plan to book our first Azamara cruise while on board. We'll probably choose something of great value and near the US (at last in one port), to get our feet wet. Sounds very interesting.
I have always cruises Oceania; what are your thoughts about comparing the two lines. I’m thinking of booking on Azamara and I know I would enjoy it, but I am looking to your thoughts on which you prefer.
Wonderful video! Thank you so much! We were going to sail with Royal Caribbean but were considering Azamara. We very much wanted a balcony but on Azamara it's a bit cost prohibitive with the extra expense of shore excursisons. However, we are strongly considering an interior :( room on the Azamara Pursuit and after this video I think it's pretty much decided. Thanks Again!
Do you do any info for people cruising alone? The friend that I usually cruise with can no longer do it so I will probably have to do it alone now. Thanks.
I just did the Reykjavík to Dublin cruise on the Journey. I loved it. Only one problem: we ran into bad weather and missed two of our ports in Iceland. We were refunded for cancelled shore excursions and given a nominal amount for missing each port.
We are looking at Mediterranean cruises for May 2024. Azamara has a back to back we are interested in but cannot reach anyone at Azamara to discuss. We have cruised with them before. The other line, Princes has a 21 day same month we are considering. Do you have any insight as to why Azamara is not answering their phones?
I largely concur with your assessment. We did one cruise on Azamara Journey and I have to say it was not a favorite even though I like the more casual sensibilities (khakis and a button down shirt to dinner, etc.) We had a rather expensive suite and, while nicely furnished, it was EXTREMELY noisy. Originally the Journey and Quest were bought as replacements for the far superior Celebrity Horizon and Zenith (their weakness being lack of balconies) and both my cruises on Horizon had far better service than my one on Journey. Would I sail on Azamara again? Yes, as they do have some amazing itineraries and that's by far their strong suit. I don't particularly care for the R-Class ships (I've also been on Oceania Regatta) and find the traffic flow inside the ships and deck organization to be less than optimum, especially in a cold weather area where you don't want to traverse the open decks. I by no means hated Azamara but the cruise itself was a mixed bag of customer service and nothing special.
Thanks for the great information about Azamara. We’ve been thinking about taking their Japan-intensive cruise in the next year or so. Would you recommend them for an in-depth Japan itinerary? We usually cruise Celebrity and Norwegian (and have been in many of the same destinations you’ve travelled to). BTW, looking forward to more of your Egypt cruise (as were also looking to book Egypt/Jordan, maybe with Lindblad or Net Geo). Thanks again.
Hi, I just came back from my first Azamara cruise on Journey. There is a well equipped gym on board and I think there are some yoga and exercise classes. The swimming pool is small but I only used it once as we were in Iceland. I must admit I didn’t use the gym at all. But I walked around the top deck several times each morning.
As a Travel Cruise consultant, I'm impress with this video, my wife just did a 10 night Azamara cruise and it was funtastic as our company name Sherifuntastic Travels and Resort Ltd. Thumbs up to this video. Very Informative. Great job.
It’s easier to just assume they were so entranced by Gary’s presentation they hit the wrong button while trying to upvote. That’s what I choose to believe
In Oceania & Azamara, some small excursion groups are using bicycles. What if my wife cannot ride on bicycle? Can she also join the same excursion with me who however can ride on bicycle?
Great overview, I'm enjoying learning about various cruise lines. We had our first ever cruise, which was with Holland America, and we're looking for more in the next year or two. (-:
Excellent video Gary, concise and informative. We are considering Azamara for next year. We are Diamond with RCCL and Elite with Celebrity; do you know if this status will be respected by Azamara? Best Regards from Auckland.
Oceania is way better than Azamara. I discuss all the small ship lines and why I got for Oceania in this video (along with all the other category recommendations): ua-cam.com/video/i74uLg3Fehk/v-deo.html
Just got off the Azamara Pursuit (Rome to Barcelona) and have to say it was mediocre at best. Not in the same league as Oceania and staff are poorly trained. My first (and third) glass of wine had lipstick and greasy fingerprints on it. Yuck. Food was okay and some of the staff were really trying, but too many surly Russians who seem to hate their jobs.
It was dissapointing for us, too. Love your vids as they are very accurate and descriptive and perhaps the Pursuit will improve as their staff become more seasoned. @@tipsfortravellers
I was on this cruise also and enjoyed it. The staff were still settling in as their maiden voyage was only a few weeks earlier. Having previously sailed on the Azamara Quest, the Pursuit, as it’s name suggests, has a bit of catching up to do. Will be cruising on the Pursuit again later this year so it will be interesting to see if it has reached the high standards of its sister ships.
You need to update your outdated opinion of Azamara. My family just booked a cruise partially based on your reviews. The website has been down for over 1 month. They change two lslands, but we can not see info on excursions. The phone help is a complete joke. They are lazy, will not help. Even asked just to send us a pdf with description of excisions. Was told this is too much work, but complained how much time she spends on line with angry customers. I tried to explain doing this pdf would help people and needs only be done once, saved on computer then sent out. All she would do I’d: if I could tell her which excursion, she would read it out to us, and we would have to decide if we wanted it. Told her this is stupid and can not work, because it not possible to remember, and one can not do research & discuss with people cruising with us. Have been cruising 30 years and this is worse then cruising in the 80’s before internet. At least you had a brochure. If we had more time, I would cancel. Their helps are useless. I don’t care if cruise is good, you must do all parts great now a days. This will keep me from enjoying cruise since, I can never trust them while on ship. This company is pathetic. No excuse for a website being down for over a month.
I have done 5 cruises only but went on Azamara Journey in 2016 for 12 days Athens to Rome. I totally agree with the comments in this video (apart from we never had the bike option available on that cruise.) Really enjoyed the whole experience and we have booked up for The Black Sea in 2020 on the same ship. I couldn't fault Azamara at all and found the staff really great. Made some great friends with other passengers & we were a bit younger than the average age! Much prefer the smaller ship 1 million %😁
Always a brilliant commentary and very informative. You have exceeded your homework expectations. Honestly, you've covered everything and I appreciate that.
Darryl
We have been on 3 Azamara cruises and about 30 cruises in total. Azamara are the best for us. Looking forward to the next one.
Agree, they are great. Good to hear your experience and that they work for you
I know many of these cities as an individuell traveller. The cities are crowded and noisy during the day with tousands of cruise ship tourists. In Venice it's extreme. And then, when they are back on their big ships the real life starts and the city evolves Info a beautiful and magic place.
This is money and time extremely well spent!
This is one of your best, Gary. I've never cruised at all, and I'm determined that I should like Viking best when I retire & finally start taking cruises.
But now I will look very closely at Azamara - their approach sounds right up my alley too!
Azamara sounds like the perfect Goldilocks option for us! Looking for casual elegance with luxury service and accommodations. Azamara seems to appeal to the intellect with the right amount of inclusive drink options.
This video just popped up on my youtube recommendation. I had been looking for a good review of this company since May 2019 when I spotted the Azamara Quest from my Princess ship across the Disenchantment Bay at the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. I had no idea what this ship or company was all about. I found their website but this video explains everything one needs to know in more detail and less clutter. From the website I found that the Alaska voyage is not their main thrust, since as of August 2019 there are no more Alaska cruises mentioned. Thank you Mr. Bembridge, thumbs up and new subscriber.
Great to hear! Thanks for watching and leaving your comment and feedback 😀
As always, Gary knows what people want to hear and he is very informative regarding the cruise line and amenities on board.
I do like the focus on local stops, tours, and guides. A bit more authentic and helps the local economy more.
Great video you really captured the essence of Azamara. We have a lot of cruises under our belt and AZ is our new fav. The Azamazing Evenings are just spectacular events that you will never forget.
Hi Gary, due to Covid we have missed out on 2 booked Azamara cruises and I hope in the future we will have the opportunity again.
Another brilliant video Gary. I think you captured the ethos of Azamara perfectly. Thanks! :)
Thanks :-)
Thank for this very helpful comprehensive intro to Azamara. I've been cruising for a short while and have experienced seven lines to date without settling on a favorite. I've heard of Azamara and never really considered it. This review convinces me that Azamara is what I've been looking for and I'm off to browse their offerings. Thanks as always for an entertaining and valuable review!
Thanks for the info. We are going to look into them possibly for our next cruise.
I love your videos they are helping me so much picking the right cruise line for my group.
Love small ships. The Marco Polo was for us. These ships seem to be like that. Your first class review as always. Will have to look them up on line. Thanks........
outstanding. Very thorough and fact-based. I enjoyed it and it made me excited to get on board,
Excellent factual narrative on Azamara, Royal Caribbean and Silver Sea partnership. Great insight into the Azamara style of experience, upscale, but not uptight!! My kind of crowd to be in. Thanks, will be looking into booking asap.
Thank you. All your videos are very interesting, helpful and a good alternative to regular TV.
Gary:
As always, a great review!
Fabulous video. We are thinking of booking an Azamara cruise and this was very helpful. Thanks so much!
RCL has sold Azamara to Sycamore Investments for 201 million in 2021. Hopefully they will continue the good service.
Very nice review for Azamara. I used to work for them. Enjoy!
Great to hear! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment. You still working in the cruise business?
Not right now. Still recovering from some health issue. And i hope to be back. 🙂
Tips For Travellers love the smaller ships. Very interesting.
Thank you! You are giving so much material for my next year vacation! Love it!
Another fantastic review Gary.I hope u have a wonderful rest of the week.😊
Thanks for the info. I had heard of Azamara and they seem like a line worth trying out someday.
Thanks Gary! Great Info!
Very useful - yet another superb video.
Excellent information, very helpful videos!
Great comprehensive report as always Gary. So looking forward to cruising on Azamara Pursuit from Barcelona to Rome next year. D.H.
Thank you. We are looking at taking an Azamara in spring of 2025. This really helped.
Yes Gary your videos are good my dad frank o braynard was a maritime historian so I can tell a ship lover
NCL has a chocolate buffet too on many of its cruises or I should say they did PRE-COVID. I am here BTW because I was curious to read how RCL just divested itself of Azamara.
Great video as always! I was wondering if you think Azamara will change in any way now that they have been sold?
Very VERY informative. Thank you for this.
Thanx a lot, helps a lot! We'll be cruising the Caribbean with Azamara 🙂🙃
Hope you enjoy it!
My favorite cruise company.
I've just finished a P&O cruise but Azamara sounds more like my kind of thing. 700 pax instead of 3,500, more time at destinations - like a river cruise but at sea?
Great video as usual, love Celbrity, but think I'm now ready to make the jump to a more shore intensive ship. Just gotta decided what line is better suited for me and the family......Azamara or Viking ... descions, descions. Leaning towards Azamara, however I thought 1 free shore excursion was included at each port.
I was told that too and was disappointed to find out otherwise. I saw their shore excursion prices which are significantly higher than others. It's a quandry.
Very informative sounds like a good cruise line to try out one day 😀
Thanks very much for this. We loved our first Azamara cruise and have signed up for another next year. Doubt we'll be a 3x a year customer, but are very much satistied with this line!
So you recall if your cruise was fully booked. I'm trying to decide to wait or book sooner before it's fully booked.
Thanks you for a Great video very helpful.
Good info! Thank you :)
Thanks Gary for another clip brimming with tips and interesting info. Have you done a clip for (60+) singles? I’m thinking about cost more than anything. How to avoid the double fare. Any thoughts?
Thanks Gary I knew you would have something about Azamara cruises. We have booked one on the Quest doing the French Rivera. Before we put rubber stamp on it we wanted to see what your options were. Thanks.
You did this review in 2018 before the Quest was updated. Have you seen their new updates or refurbished ships?
We're headed to Hawaii on Celebrity Eclipse in April, and plan to book our first Azamara cruise while on board. We'll probably choose something of great value and near the US (at last in one port), to get our feet wet. Sounds very interesting.
I have always cruises Oceania; what are your thoughts about comparing the two lines. I’m thinking of booking on Azamara and I know I would enjoy it, but I am looking to your thoughts on which you prefer.
This looks like the best line !!
Excellent information. Thanks so much!
Great information. Thank you
you sold me at 9:40 when you said that dress code is casual!!!! :)
Wonderful video! Thank you so much! We were going to sail with Royal Caribbean but were considering Azamara. We very much wanted a balcony but on Azamara it's a bit cost prohibitive with the extra expense of shore excursisons. However, we are strongly considering an interior :( room on the Azamara Pursuit and after this video I think it's pretty much decided. Thanks Again!
Excellent review!
Great to hear thanks !
Do you do any info for people cruising alone? The friend that I usually cruise with can no longer do it so I will probably have to do it alone now. Thanks.
Thank you. Very informative.
Thanks Gary! We are going on the Greece intensive 10 day cruise in a few months and was wondering what excursions you recommend?
I'm thinking of doing the Dublin to Iceland Azamara Quest next year - still thinking though as it's quite expensive!!!
I've booked it!!
I just did the Reykjavík to Dublin cruise on the Journey. I loved it. Only one problem: we ran into bad weather and missed two of our ports in Iceland. We were refunded for cancelled shore excursions and given a nominal amount for missing each port.
Very helpful thank you
We are looking at Mediterranean cruises for May 2024. Azamara has a back to back we are interested in but cannot reach anyone at Azamara to discuss. We have cruised with them before. The other line, Princes has a 21 day same month we are considering.
Do you have any insight as to why Azamara is not answering their phones?
Not a lot of in
formation about the quality of FOOD on these ships
The information is detail. Thank you.
Great thanks!
Hi Gary - have you gone on a cruise since Azamara is now independently owned? Interested on changes if any?
I’m going next month (April) to see !
Does anyone know if these ships book up fast and are usually fairly full?
I largely concur with your assessment. We did one cruise on Azamara Journey and I have to say it was not a favorite even though I like the more casual sensibilities (khakis and a button down shirt to dinner, etc.) We had a rather expensive suite and, while nicely furnished, it was EXTREMELY noisy. Originally the Journey and Quest were bought as replacements for the far superior Celebrity Horizon and Zenith (their weakness being lack of balconies) and both my cruises on Horizon had far better service than my one on Journey.
Would I sail on Azamara again? Yes, as they do have some amazing itineraries and that's by far their strong suit. I don't particularly care for the R-Class ships (I've also been on Oceania Regatta) and find the traffic flow inside the ships and deck organization to be less than optimum, especially in a cold weather area where you don't want to traverse the open decks.
I by no means hated Azamara but the cruise itself was a mixed bag of customer service and nothing special.
Thanks. Good to hear your perspective and views. Think are a good summary of how things are.
This looks good. Is there another line like this that has a more diverse group instead of just Americans?
My wife and I just turned 30. Are we too young for this Azamara? Will they look at us?
Please compare the pros and cons between Azamara and Oceania
Thanks for the great information about Azamara. We’ve been thinking about taking their Japan-intensive cruise in the next year or so. Would you recommend them for an in-depth Japan itinerary? We usually cruise Celebrity and Norwegian (and have been in many of the same destinations you’ve travelled to). BTW, looking forward to more of your Egypt cruise (as were also looking to book Egypt/Jordan, maybe with Lindblad or Net Geo). Thanks again.
Great video! lots of very useful information. One question, how are the fitness facilities onboard the Azamara Journey? thanks
Hi, I just came back from my first Azamara cruise on Journey. There is a well equipped gym on board and I think there are some yoga and exercise classes. The swimming pool is small but I only used it once as we were in Iceland. I must admit I didn’t use the gym at all. But I walked around the top deck several times each morning.
What numbskulls gave this a thumbs down? I agree with others that this video was fantastic.
Thanks 😀😀 Great to hear !!
As a Travel Cruise consultant, I'm impress with this video, my wife just did a 10 night Azamara cruise and it was funtastic as our company name Sherifuntastic Travels and Resort Ltd. Thumbs up to this video. Very Informative. Great job.
Numbskulls who are lonely, angry with the world, and just plain evil, that's who.
It’s easier to just assume they were so entranced by Gary’s presentation they hit the wrong button while trying to upvote. That’s what I choose to believe
maybe carnival group and norwegian group haha.
In Oceania & Azamara, some small excursion groups are using bicycles. What if my wife cannot ride on bicycle? Can she also join the same excursion with me who however can ride on bicycle?
No unfortunately!
Great overview, I'm enjoying learning about various cruise lines. We had our first ever cruise, which was with Holland America, and we're looking for more in the next year or two. (-:
Thank you!
Great Thank u
Good to hear, thanks for watching !
Man.....all that food looked awesome.
Excellent video Gary, concise and informative. We are considering Azamara for next year. We are Diamond with RCCL and Elite with Celebrity; do you know if this status will be respected by Azamara? Best Regards from Auckland.
Del Boy yes they do
RCL sold Azamara during the pandemic so not any more.
দারুন
Hi Gary, how would you compare Azamara to Oceania? Did you cover this on previous vlog?
We are considering either one, for cruise. Thanks
Oceania is way better than Azamara. I discuss all the small ship lines and why I got for Oceania in this video (along with all the other category recommendations): ua-cam.com/video/i74uLg3Fehk/v-deo.html
@@tipsfortravellers thank you 😊 👍
Just got off the Azamara Pursuit (Rome to Barcelona) and have to say it was mediocre at best. Not in the same league as Oceania and staff are poorly trained. My first (and third) glass of wine had lipstick and greasy fingerprints on it. Yuck. Food was okay and some of the staff were really trying, but too many surly Russians who seem to hate their jobs.
Sorry to hear you had a poor experience. I had a great time and no issues on my two recent trips. Always disappointing to hear experience like yours .
It was dissapointing for us, too. Love your vids as they are very accurate and descriptive and perhaps the Pursuit will improve as their staff become more seasoned. @@tipsfortravellers
I was on this cruise also and enjoyed it. The staff were still settling in as their maiden voyage was only a few weeks earlier. Having previously sailed on the Azamara Quest, the Pursuit, as it’s name suggests, has a bit of catching up to do. Will be cruising on the Pursuit again later this year so it will be interesting to see if it has reached the high standards of its sister ships.
You need to update your outdated opinion of Azamara. My family just booked a cruise partially based on your reviews. The website has been down for over 1 month. They change two lslands, but we can not see info on excursions. The phone help is a complete joke. They are lazy, will not help. Even asked just to send us a pdf with description of excisions. Was told this is too much work, but complained how much time she spends on line with angry customers. I tried to explain doing this pdf would help people and needs only be done once, saved on computer then sent out. All she would do I’d: if I could tell her which excursion, she would read it out to us, and we would have to decide if we wanted it. Told her this is stupid and can not work, because it not possible to remember, and one can not do research & discuss with people cruising with us. Have been cruising 30 years and this is worse then cruising in the 80’s before internet. At least you had a brochure. If we had more time, I would cancel. Their helps are useless. I don’t care if cruise is good, you must do all parts great now a days. This will keep me from enjoying cruise since, I can never trust them while on ship. This company is pathetic. No excuse for a website being down for over a month.
I agree. They have been boasting about their new website, but it’s useless!
They have a vegan menu now too!
Dreaming
Not owned by Royal Caribbean anymore. Has private owner now.
Anymore recent videos since RCI sold Azamara ? I can't find any so I can see how it is now.
This one yes: I Try A Cruise Line People Say Is Going DOWNHILL Fast
ua-cam.com/video/R6yCXxHPle0/v-deo.html
Uhg. I hate tours. Pain in the behind moving around with people like a blob. Drives me nuts. Rather would stay free.
Sounds great, shame the decor is so horrendous.
Fashion design student 3 you here? 😂
Energy jetting chocolate fountains.
Way out of date. Azamara was sold by Royal Caribbean over a 1 1/2 years ago.
M
They don’t look luxury at all
Boomers😂😂😂
worse experience with azamara... better avoid!
Wonderful overview, thank you