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Azamara Quest Cruise Ship - Our first Luxury Cruise - we were shocked by how badly we were treated!
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- Опубліковано 19 січ 2023
- Since our experience on Azamara Quest we have been back on Azamara Onward and can happily report that the Guests Relations team were excellent. A sign of a good company is when things don't go to plan, they sort it out and Azamara have just done that!
Azamara Cruises do some things brilliantly, a lot of things really well but sadly on this cruise they do some things badly too. Here are our thoughts of our 25 nights on board the Azamara Quest cruise ship!
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Find all our other Azamara Quest Australian Adventure Episodes from our vlog series here! ua-cam.com/play/PL_6zC3nwhe736emmobrsIGtnWBMKDnPL5.html
Sounds absolutely disgusting! Don’t let this drop. The head office will be shocked when they see this on Social media! I really hope you have complained. Keep up the great work!
We won't! We have been complaining since day 5 and not heard anything yet, which is really poor!
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel I am still in shock watching this Vlog, can’t wait for the rest of the series! I look forward to hearing much more about this disgusting service!
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel Exactly the same as Princess Cruises. They ended up offering me £200 to sail with them again. Absolutely no way will I ever sail with that company again. Simply appalling.
Absolutely Disgusting service
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I am doing my due diligence in researching where to spend my hard earned money. I could easily imagine having what happened to you happen to me. I've never sailed on that cruise line but after hearing this I never will. At least you've saved others from wasting their money.
Azamara offer a great cruise experience, it is a shame this particular team let the whole side down! Hopefully with all the feedback changes will have been made!
Just got off the Quest last week. One of the best cruises we have taken and this was not our first Azamara cruise. Staff and crew were great, no complaints.
That's great to hear!
Wow. That has to be the worst guest relations we've ever heard of on land or sea. You did well to stay that calm dealing with such poor service.
Rest of Azamara sounds great; but that level of service is genuinley making us think twice about going on Azamara later this year which we've been talking about booking for the last few weeks.
As an aside you both look to have great tans 😀
Looking forward to the upcoming Azamara Vlogs.
Linzi and Mark
It was such a shame as they do so many things really well and the majority of staff are amazing! Certainly something we didn't expect!
I’m shocked that the Hotel Director took no ownership of the problem.
Absolutely gutted to hear this as we know how excited you were for this dream cruise. Carole is always so positive so to hear her angry and upset shows how bad it truly was. I hope someone from their PR team watches this Vlog. Look forward to seeing you in a few months 😊
Thanks guys! Really looking forward to catching up! 😍
We have sailed with AZAMARA for over 15 years and have never met a company where we felt so welcome when arriving on board
Sadly that wasn’t our experience, we can however confirm that the member of staff responsible for our extremely poor treatment and after multiple complaints from other passengers has been relieved of her duties.
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravelI wanted to ask if you ever heard from Azamara. I assume they did communicate if you know about the employee?
I really appreciate how honest you were in this review. I'm so sorry that you had to go through such a tough time with guest relations, but this is important for everyone to know before making their cruising decisions. Glad you are safe and sound (and dry!)
Thanks Kathlyn. It was frustrating. Home and dry now LOL!
Having watched a lot of your cruise vlogs Paul & Carole, must say you're always genuine and honest with the reviews down to the smallest detail. The level of customer service you endured was absolutely shocking and I hope you get compensated well, because news travels fast . I'm glad you could enjoy Australia 🇦🇺 after all that 👍
Thanks Peter. Hope so too. Australia was amazing, it was everything we imagined and more!
So sorry about your awful experience but chalk this one up as a great educational video for the rest of us and hopefully the folks at Azamara as well. Now, this video...your audio was PERFECT!! Paul, crystal clear and I appreciate the perfectly level audio. Well done and I'm looking forward to some wonderful 360 camera videos. Thank you for sharing with all of us!
Thanks for the great feedback, glad the audio was perfect! Yes so much to learn about the 360!
Cross that line off the list! You guys have a lot more patience than I would have had.
It was hard!
Thank you for posting this Paul and Carole. We are fairly new to cruising and went on our first cruise after seeing your excellent Iona video ( and 2 cruises since! ) We can see you do honest reviews and are generally so positive!
We were looking to do a luxury cruise later this year and had got prices for Azamara but are now definitely not going to book with them as the guest relations you experienced is beyond shocking ! Thanks for posting this as you have saved us from this level of frustration over poor customer service when it should be the exact opposite on a supposed luxury cruise.
So frustrating this small team of staff let the whole side down, as we had some fabulous service too!
We cruised for the first time five years ago on Azamara Quest and experienced almost exactly the same things you experienced. Since we had never cruised before, we had booked a suite with a butler and upgraded everything. Our pre cruise hotel they picked was awful! Our embarkation day was awful! We had lots of issues with stained towels and and stained robes repeatedly. There were other things as well. Every time we thought we were being kind in a response to them, we were glared at by guest relations. They just didn't care about our concerns or complaints and offered NOTHING.
We are finally taking a second cruise, and I thought they might have changed under new management, but you have confirmed that we made the right choice trying another line. Thank you for your honesty, but sorry for your experience.😵💫😵💫😵💫
Thanks for watching! Oh wow sorry you have had a bad experience too!
I really like the format of this video, with the two of you just chatting about the cruise amongst yourselves. It’s like listening to your friends or neighbours who have come back from a cruise telling you about it over a cuppa!
Oh thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for your honest review guys! Azamara had been a line that I’ve been wanting to try, but since they’ve been taken over I keep hearing stuff about how their standards have slipped. I hope they can find their feet again. I’m sorry you had to deal with such incompetence.
Exactly we hope so too. They do so much really well so such a shame!
I love Azamara and my experience in October was superb
That's good to hear, shame ours was spoilt by a small team. The rest of the staff were fab!
Incompetence? More like Ignorance and arrogance!.
@@vickiphillips4876 we were on in October for their Croatian Intensive cruise. We had a ball!! That is why we are sailing the Journey in June.
Hi Paul & Carole. Just saw this video you did of Azamara Quest 😱 You both relay the experience very well and yes I was sat here with my mouth open in disbelief regarding your experience with Azamara because we experienced the same. We booked Azamara Onward last year for my 60th. When we got off the plane there was no one to greet us just directions to the coaches (not clear). Once there a queue built up and there was no shelter from the blistering heat or drink available. No one giving up dates. We were there 2 hours then more people arrived off flights just as the coach arrived and they got on first ahead of those who had queued 2 hours 😡 Same happened to us when booking in to board the ship too! We asked someone to fix a loose handle in cabin and no one came, my Husband fixed it himself with nail scissors! I’m so sorry you had to go through that and I’m sure you wouldn’t sail with Azamara again! Fancy the guest relations manager saying what do you want me to do. They have no idea how to address customers or handle issues. I agree, you would expect to have been moved to any of the vacant cabins. Shame on them!
Azamara are so frustrating as there are so many things they do well, but get such simple things like communication wrong! We have been given a replacement cruise for all the issues we had, so we will see how that goes!
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel That’s good to hear and nothing less than you’d expect. We’ve just been discussing it again and not sure if we would do Azamara again and perhaps one of the Marella ships, adult only, instead next time. It’s a big decision, as you say, spending out money on a cruise or any holiday especially when money is so tight now you really have to be careful. If you’re on Azamara Onward next time the general staff were brilliant. At the Mosaic Cafe the two members of staff are so funny singing good morning to you and always happy and upbeat. In the main dining room there was a waiter who’s name I could never remember so he said just call me Alexa! Alexa, could I have another drink please, Alexa how are you today? 😂🤣 It worked because I never forgot that and he was so funny, full of character 🤭 One other thing that annoyed me on Azamara Onward was the captain. He would come over the tannoy now and again with a quick greeting to everyone then go on to criticise the staff for being late or not doing something he’d asked being sarcastic. Definitely not the etiquette a captain should use, and not how hard working staff should be treated! We found, and liked, that in the main dining room people would dress smart, not black tie standard but smart and we like to do that. Thank goodness people like yourselves help us find a cruise that suits us and it’s very much appreciated, thank you 🙏🏻❤️
@@cu4wur6023 It is a big decision on what to spend your money! Great to hear the staff were great on Onward, but why would a Captain do that, really unacceptable, belittling others to make themselves look good, we would hate that too. Lol call me Alexa, love that! 😂😂
Paul and Carole, thank you for posting such a well balanced, honest review.
I am so sorry to hear about your terrible experience of Azamara and Azamara Quest. I've cruised with Azamara about 13 times since 2010 and sailed on Quest about 5 or 6 times. Embarkation has always been very well organised and the airport transfers have always been within about 15 minutes to 25 minutes of reporting to the Azamara staff at the airport. I am shocked to hear they kept you waiting for so long and that embarkation was so disorganised.
Azamara's customer service had always been of a very high standard and very much proactive, rather than reactive. During my 1st cruise on Azamara Quest a friend of mine returned to her cabin , at the end of the night, to find a letter of apology and a complimentary bottle of wine. The note said "Please accept our apologies for the noise that happened in the corridor, earlier this evening". My friend wasn't even in her cabin when the noise happened, so was unaware of any problem, but was still included in the "blanket apology".
Whilst part of Royal Caribbean, you always experienced exceptional customer service throughout the ship, including from Guest Relations. How sad that under the new owners this has changed, Azamara's consistently high standard of customer service always made my cruises feel very special. .
I have only completed 1 cruise since Sycamore became the owners. This was in July 2022 on Azamara Onward . I guess I must have been lucky as embarkation was just as efficient as always and the Guest Relations were great.
There was a problem with a meal I had in Prime C and the staff could not have been more apologetic. To compensate me they arranged for a full refund of my 3 meal package even though I'd already had 2 fantastic meals earlier in the week. They went over and above!
I know there were little issues with individual staff. I am a solo traveller and about 40 solo cruisers had booked with the same Travel Agent (PFC). One lady was in a suite and the "Butler" did not make her aware of the bottle of spirits or other extras included with a suite. She only found out about the extras after talking to other people staying in suites. Several days into the cruise she asked about the missing things and her "Butler" said it was her travel agents fault that she did know what was on offer! He did not apologise, but went on to say that as her travel agent was onboard , she should take the matter up with the TA. He said she should complain to ****** in cabin ****** . She knew our TA were not onboard as the cruise was not "Hosted" and shockingly, the name and cabin he supplied was that of a friend who was on a B2B. She is not a travel agent , but has been on several B2B Azamara cruises!
Overall I had a fantastic cruise and hoped to cruise with Azamara again, but watching your video has made me think twice!
I already knew that the standard of their pre-cruise customer service had taken a nose dive , but this was being blamed on the fact they were still trying to separate processes from RCI and Celebrity. However there can be no acceptable explanation for the embarkation fiasco and tterrible customer service you received or the manner with which the cabin issues were handled.
In life, I believe that things always have the potential to wrong and judge all companies by how they go about putting things right! Sounds like everyone on Quest's Guest Relations team either need retraining or more worryingly that Sycamore possibly no longer care about customers, which is very sad given the amazing reputation Azamara had when they bought the company!
I hope your next cruise, is problem free and that Azamara compensate you properly.x
Thanks for watching Suzie. It's great to hear that you have always had great service with Azamara and with the exception of guest relations, the rest of the staff were fabulous and overall we had a great time.
That is worrying, butlers are supposed to be the best of the best!
We are hoping this is just a blip and hoping it gets sorted. Sadly seems post pandemic standards have dropped through out the cruising industry, however in time hopefully excellence will be resumed!
I am sitting on the Azamara Onward (day 3) sailing to South America and the embarkation out of the Port of Miami was flawless. Check in was simple. Luggage taken as soon as I got out of the car by a porter. Inside I went right to check in and through security (< 5 minutes). I was given my documents and a number and went inside and there were the Azamara desk where they had a sit in groups of 20 (by the number they gave you). Coffee, tea, water and pasteries were served while we waited. The initial groups were the disabled and people that needed a bit more care and suites (I believe). The ship was to sail at 6:00 p.m. I got there at 1:00 p.m. and by 2:00 p.m. they started to board. I was in group 8 and by 2:20 I was onboard and checking everything out on the ship. Champagne was offered and the staff were lovely. I would rate embarkation a 10 out of 10. Sooooo sorry to hear of your poor experience.
Thanks Karen, that’s great to hear and we hope your good experience continues. Do keep us informed.
I think it all boils down to people. We were on Onward crossing the Atlantic arriving last month in Miami. Excellent crew and captain. Sorry your experience wasn’t as good
Definitely, these people are not in the right jobs!
That sounds a little better. Wonder which version on Azamara happens more?
They are simply wingers , and nothing would be ok with them .
Thank you so very much for sharing your experience. I think it is appalling the way you were treated and whilst it was horrible the experience, I am grateful for the information because we have also considered an Azamara cruise. I feel like I can now make a more well informed decision thanks to your willingness to pass on this valuable information. I’m very sorry that it happened to you because after seeing your other blogs, I could sense this was a trip you both have really looked forward to.
Your welcome. It was our dream retirement trip, sadly tainted by a very rude team.
I am so happy that you do not sugar coat your cruise experience like many many other vloggers do. You have kept it real and for over 14,000 lb for the cruise it is absolutely horrible how you were treated. I have been treated awful by guest relations on a few cruises and even with all the patience and grace I have shown them, they have mostly been rude and not helpful at all and treated me as though a couple thousand dollars is just cents to them and I should not feel bad about my cruise not going well. There have been parts of my cruises I have enjoyed such as time at the ports and time with my family but NCL, a d some Royal guest service employees need more training and some compassion and empathy would go a long way. I expect there to be issues and for the most part can overlook most, but there are times when they(the cruise line) need to help make it right.
Thanks Michelle. Definitely training needed, agree niggles you cope with but persistent rudeness and such poor communication is not acceptable. Such a shame!
I just finished a brilliant cruise with Azamara Quest a week ago. I departed from Singapore as well, but I had a chat with the staff at the terminal. They are employees of the Singapore Port and served for all cruises not only Azamara. The way how did they handle the check-in process should not be related to Azamara. BTW, if you use Android devices, you don't need two WIFI packages, you can simply use the Hotspot function and save your money. The manager of Guest Relations on our ship is a gentleman. It seems they are all on 6 months contracts. Our guest relations team is good with some small hiccups.
Ok thanks. Paul has an iPhone, I have Android. Glad guest relations has improved!
Paul and Carole, I’m so sorry to hear about the appalling experience you had with Guest Relations on this cruise. How stressful that must have been for you. Thank goodness you have the resilience and sense of humour to have survived the experience, and I wish you the very best of luck in getting a positive response ( finally) from Azamara. I’m afraid your experience brought back really bad memories for me of a cruise I went on with Celebrity on Constellation in 2019. This included being put on the wrong excursion bus in Dubai, missing out on the experience I really wanted, then being forgotten by the tour guide despite standing exactly where he had told me to wait, and nearly being left behind in the Mall. I was only rescued because fellow passengers pointed out that I wasn’t on the bus just before it set off to return to the ship! The response from the Excursions team was unbelievably bad, and I had a really stressful time getting the excursion charge refunded. What was my problem they wondered, I had been on an excursion after all! Also , the Guest Relations team were offhand and uninterested in any problem. I will never go on a cruise with Celebrity ever again. Best wishes for happy cruising for you in the future.
Oh wow, how scary for you, and no need for such bad attitudes. Thanks for your comment!
Glad you enjoyed Australia and hope you come back again soon. That is terrible how you were treated at guest services. I don’t know how you managed to stay so calm. Hopefully you got a survey afterwards and we’re able to put everything in the survey. You paid for luxury and deserve to be treated properly.
We absolutely loved Australia! We have filled in 3 surveys and sent two emails, nothing yet!
Thank you for sharing such an honest account of what you experienced. It was awful to see Carole upset and I hope you get a sincere apology from Azamara soon, although I doubt it as it sounds like they treat their customers with contempt. They were a company on my wish list but they're not anymore.
Thanks, sadly no response yet!
Really sorry to hear about the mixed experience you had on the Quest. Sadly we had similar bad experiences on the Onward with both embarkation and guest relations' interactions. It was our first cruise with Azamara and will be our last.
Oh really and that is their new ship. You would of thought they would have the best staff on that one!!
Sad to hear of your bad experience with Azamara Quest as we had been on a Med cruise in 2016 with Azamara Journey. Wonderful small ship helpful staff. Every time that we returned to the ship following an excursion the captain Johannes Tysse would be at the gangway to welcome everyone back on board. Glad that your enjoyed your Aussie trip anyway.
We had the same too. The other staff around the ship were fabulous! Australia was amazing!
Oh lord...I was starting to consider Azamara, but no more. I feel for you guys, and I feel for the other staff on the ship who obviously work very hard, only to have it ruined by management.
Excellent so many fabulous staff on board, let down by the minority. Maintenance seems to be ignored too which is a concern!
Hi I have just commented you could do to read it too
Absolutely shocking ! Thank you for your honesty. There are more then enough cruise lines out there for me to cross off Azamara from my list. Sad to see lovely Carol upset, but you have saved your followers from more tears.
Thanks Paul appreciate that!
We had a perfect cruise on the Azamara Journey this past year. I hate to think that we would have avoided it if we saw your description of how you were treated on the Quest prior to our trip. Sorry to hear what you went through after we had absolutely no problems.
Thanks Micheal, great to hear you had a good experience, guess it just depends which staff are on at that time!
I would have been livid! They treated guests with contempt and were totally unprofessional. I admire how you were still positive about other aspects of your cruise, you tell it as is. Azura should offer a full apology . X
We were! Thanks it was such a shame as Azamara do so many things well, this just let the side down completely!
Great to see Vloggers tell it like it is ! Thank you … Horrendous customer service that becomes all consuming and blemish on what should be an amazing holiday. Looking forward to watching your adventures ashore and away from the grumpy four !
Thanks so much! Sadly it was. However, our time in Australia was amazing!
OMG! that's now of my wish list , your video is appreciated and i have always found your revue's fare and honest .
Thanks Alan!
Thanks for a very honest and informative insight into Axamara. Really sorry to hear about your bad experience. Must have spoilt your adventure to some extent but as always you 2 managed to make the most of it! Look forward to seeing more vlogs from this cruise.
Thanks Anne! Vlogs starting next Friday!
This is such a shame, absolutely disgraceful treatment - so sorry to hear this as I know you were both so excited about this cruise. Azamara need to take rapid action re these issues and surely make comprehensive changes to this particular guest service team if not their guest services practices and policies. Hopefully you'll receive compensation and more importantly an apology from Azamara too.
Obviously there was much you enjoyed too so in time I hope those experiences become the main memories of this adventure.
Looking forward to the blogs as always 👍❤️
Thanks Jolly Rob, it was such a shame, change definitely needs to happen. No apology yet not even a chocolate strawberry! There was so much we enjoyed and Australia was absolutely amazing!
I am planning an anniversary trip and this cruise line is now crossed off my list. Thanks to the "BLOGGERS", you guys are lifesavers!!!!
Shame as Azamara do lots of things really well, unfortunately guests relations on our cruise was not one of them!
I love your reviews because they are so much fun while being very fair and balanced. I'm so sorry for your Azemara guest relations experience. I hated seeing Carol so obviously upset. Hopefully, Azemara will take your review to heart. Sending a hug to Carol.
Thank you so much, appreciate that!
Great review! We laughed and cried, superb summary of your experience.
Thanks Andrew!
Omg, I'm truly shocked by what you have told us! Absolutely despicable treatment of you and some other guests. I would certainly think twice about booking with them now. Hope this vlog finds its way to the hierarchy of Azamara. Heads should roll and some sent for re training.
Thanks Janice we have been in contact numerous times, sadly no response.
Missed you guys. Sorry to hear about the problems but grateful you tell us the truth so we can make better choices. ❤
Thanks appreciate that!
So glad to see that6 you read and respond to your comments. Surprisingly few on UA-cam do! Glad I found you!
No problem, if you have taken the time to comment it is only polite to acknowledge that!
Wow! Your experience was chalk and cheese to mine and my partners’. We’re from Australia and did an Azamara cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore. Admittedly this was well before Covid but we literally walked straight on board. Customs clearance was done by agents on board the ship who left with the pilot who was guiding us out of the harbour.
Glad your experience was good!
Thanks for your in depth report. I was going to book Azamara for next year, but will not bother now.
No problem! So frustrating as there was so many positive too!
Thank you for your video. We were on the same two back to back cruises on the Azamara Quest from Dec 10 to Jan4. This was our first cruise with Azamara. We agree and share all of your positive comments about the staff in particular the Butler / Room Stewards and the dining room staff. We too experienced a number of negative experiences with the guest relations staff. In general we found them poorly, if not totally uniformed that resulted in both misinformation or conflicting information. While our experiences were not as bad as you described we were surprised by the lack of care shown by the guest relations staff. We were meeting our son in Singapore and inquired about getting a taxi to the downtown area and were told by guest relations that they had no idea since they had never been there before. We also inquired what the process was for re-boarding the ship again given the same response. Totally unhelpful. When disembarking we asked about hotel transfers since we were planning to spend a few days in Melbourne. The folks at guest relations told us that it was unlikely that there would not be any taxis available and that the only solution was to hire a private transfer at $380USD. After a little more research we learned that Azamara offered a city tour with hotel drop off to our hotel for $160USD. Also when we disembarked there were numerous taxis available! We were also disappointed with the shore excursions. A number had been cancel. While in certain cases this was not Azamara’s fault, there was scant information provided on other options. For example, when we asked a a trip to Rotness Island (while in Perth) we were told by shore excursion staff that the nearest ferry was a 40 minute taxi ride from the ship. After a little digging on our own we discovered that there were two options available a 10 minute walk from the ship. Very poor performance for a premium priced ship that promotes Intensive Destinations. Finally, on the Kangaroo Island tour we were to visit a winery on a scenic cliff that was the first winery on the island. We ended up getting four glasses of wine in a wine bar. Not exactly what was promised. We brought this to the attention of the shore excursion desk and they said they would follow up, but never heard back. It is unfortunate that these relatively minor issues would taint what was otherwise a great trip. However Azamara charges top price so yes our expectations were commensurate.
We didn't have the need to ask them about port information, but we heard that their responses were inaccurate and knowledge poor, this obviously confirms it! OMG we paid 20 Australian dollars in Melbourne to transfer to our hotel Crowne Plaza, there were loads of taxis at the port. We walked to the ferry terminal from the ship for Rottnest Island and it was indeed only 10 mins away. It is a shame this happens as it does taint an otherwise great trip!
Well that was an eye opener.
Really sorry to hear your experience on what should have been the cruise of a lifetime.
Perhaps we'll stay with P&O after all 🙂
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
Take care.
John & Carole
Thanks John episode 1 out next week! Thankfully there were a lot of positives too and we have some amazing memories, Australia was amazing!
Sorry that happened to you guys. When we were on Quest everything was great. Easy quick embarkation. ALL staff were great as it also was on Azamara Journey.
Thanks, glad you had a great time!
Wow…. Thank you both for a fabulous and informative video. As an Emerald Crown and Anchor member of Royal Caribbean, you have just put the nail in the coffin with our interest in cruising with this line - awful! Thank you! You have just simplified our options moving forward.
Customer Services and Guest Relations will always be one of the main areas which either make or break an experience.
Thank you!
James
Thanks James. Sadly for us the experience at Guest Relations was poor but around the ship was excellent!
Azamara is no longer part of the Royal Caribbean group.
@@karireinikainen2876 indeed! Azamara is no longer part of RCCL - which is why we believe the service standard has dropped so far.
We have been looking at the line for something different to try; however, based on quite a few similar reports, we will pass on Azamara for now. Thanks, James
New subscriber here guys. Love your videos and balanced no nonsense approach to assessing the pros and cons. We board Quest in May for a 3 week cruise so this is very timely for us. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for subscribing! Have fun it is a lovely ship......let us know if guest relations have improved!
Thanks for your honest review of your experience. I am truly shocked by the level of customer service. Well done for keeping your composure whilst dealing with them, I don't think I could've. I hope you are compensated for your appalling treatment. I love watching your vlogs so will look forward to the new series.
Thanks Julia, hope so! Episode 1 out Friday!
Absolutely appalling! I`m so sorry you had to deal with that, I know this was a bucket list cruise for you. I`m glad you came away with a lot of good memories too though. I really hope the company addresses your issues. Love from Vancouver Island Canada.
Thanks Marje! It was really shocking and disappointing but thankfully lots of great memories too. 😍
Wow! That was a bit of a nightmare - I hope that surly Guest Relations team will be job hunting by now! What appalling treatment, bad enough that you had the problem with the cabin, but the attitude of the team, and other senior staff, who should have been sorting all this out and (I think) upgrading you as a gesture of goodwill, they were unbelievably rude. Your blogs are like a free advert for these companies, but the Azamara Guest Relations have blown that. I'm glad that the rest of the staff were great and that you enjoyed that trip of a lifetime despite everything. Thank you Carole and Paul for taking us along with you.
You are welcome. Thankfully there were lots of positive moments too!
You two are great! Love watching your videos. Thanks!
Thank you!
The good bits sound great and you've been very fair. Your comments truly represent our thoughts on our first and only Azamara cruise - Croatia Intensive. We were fortunate to have a great embarkation and lovely customer service on Pursuit. Our only negative was the included drinks package was quite restrictive and lacked choice but was perfectly adequate for 7 nights. As always you've been so positive but the appalling behaviour you've experienced should never have happened and Azamara should be having serious words with the Customer service team which should include compulsory training to address their huge errors. Whilst I'd still happily go on a 7-10 night cruise your experience would actually prevent me from booking any longer cruise. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.
There were lots of good bits, staff were awesome with this exception. Yes definitely training needed, no apology not even a chocolate strawberry! 🙄
We had the exact same embarkation experience on Pursuit. (Almost like you were telling our story). We had a worse debacle with the transfer than you did. We had the same issues with unhelpful, short-term memory and “disappearing ink” at guest relations. Totally agree about the very high quality of the rest of the staff… except in the Spa. We had a very bad experience there as well. The deceptive, high-pressure sales were ridiculous. They convinced my daughter the overpriced product was mandatory as part of the service. She was so flustered she left it behind and they just put it in a drawer. When she told me the next day, I assumed the spa would send it to the room. They did not. When I went to pick it up they said they didn’t know who it belonged to… but somehow they knew what room to charge.
Sorry to hear your bad experience too, that is awful with the spa!
😢😢😢
I have always wanted to cruise Azamara, but I will never now after hearing about this experience. How awful. I am glad you are home safely and so sorry for what you experienced.
Thanks Bobbie, it was so frustrating!
I love reading and learning about different cruises but I dare say when you go public you need to look at the audience and the good and bad your comments might do. An issue like you experienced should have been dealt with at head office and not in a public form. We have had very frustrating and disappointing issues on other cruise lines and have dealt with them in a different form. I watched your review on Celebrity Beyond and was so excited about our cruise but I can say it was a nightmare. I did not slam Celebrity on a public form as I believe there is a lot of good and positive within the fleet. Bottom line..you need to know your product ..
We also were considering Azamara for an upcoming cruise. We have cruised mostly with Viking and Oceania in the past. We do like the smaller ships. Took a cruise around part of Norway last summer and I felt that the food had slipped a bit, but everything was really nice. The food was very good, don’t get me wrong, just a little under what we had before. The nightmare with that trip was with Air Canada. Delays here in Charlotte caused us to not get on our flight from Toronto to Copenhagen causing us ultimately to arrive to our ship 3 days late. We had thankfully booked through a travel agency and they ultimately got us to where the ship was docked. Oceania were wonderful and were tracking us the whole way. When we finally got on board, they were so wonderful and welcoming. I cried just from therelief. Thankfully😂. We had to stay all night in a hotel in Toronto, and Air Canada has never reimbursed us. They were terrible to many people that night and never even offered to book us into a hotel. I could go on--. Glad you are home safe and sound. I can only say that I will be watching to hear if you’re ever contacted by Azamara.
Oh wow what a nightmare for you! We do think post pandemic standards have slipped with many cruise lines, lots of experienced crew were lost and we know the cruise companies have had a nightmare with recruitment. Hoping it all improves in time, and they get the right people in the right jobs!
You both look so well. I am so sorry you have been treated like this by customer services. Look forward to seeing your blogs x x x
Thanks Clare! It was such a shame, however we have still come back with some fabulous memories!
Also I was in Australia on a large ship and it was the first time in 40 cruises that I had to get acupuncture for sea sickness. So I think the size really didn't matter totally. Love watching you.
Thanks Corinne!
Pleased to see you got back from your Cruise safely. I am so shocked at how you were treated by the customer relations team. I could see how upset you both were. I know you said you had a wonderful time in Australia and you have lovely memories,but the bad parts you are not going to forget. I hope Azamara do get back to you re your complaints,have a feeling they won't. They should have responded by now anyway. Your vlogs are watched my many and your subscribers know you are honest and fair with your reviews. I for one go by what reviews say and I will not use Azamara at the moment,I will wait to see if and what they have to say to you. If you get a reply. Look forward to the vlogs.
Thanks Tricia. Agree our gut is that they won't, but we will see! Your right we will never forget, but we are thankful for all the good memories too!
Wow! We are truly shocked and speechless! We have only ever heard good things about Azamara! Faulty Towers at sea it seems, can not believe how bad you were both treated! Absolutely devastated for you both, such a disappointment!
It was certainly a trip full of highs and lows!
This is the first time I’ve seen you since you got back, and you are SO tanned! Welcome home!
Thank you!
Brilliantly informative review. Guest relations have to have staff with the good training, personality and people skills. Seems they had none of these. Looking forward to the upcoming Azamara Vlogs.
Thank you! Exactly that, their communication skills were appalling!
We loved our Azamara cruise, we have cruised for many years (over 30 cruises), and can honestly say the Azamara cruise was the best, from the moment we boarded the ship till we disembarked it was wonderful, can obviously only speak from our experience but would sail with them again in a heart beat 😊
That's good you had a great cruise. We heard great things which is why we booked!
Yes we have cruised twice with Azamara and everything was faultless. Sounds like things have changed since Covid which is really disappointing.
@@lindasymons8361 yes, perhaps that is the reason, we sailed on two Princess cruises last year (2022) which had both been postponed from 2020 due to Covid, and although we enjoyed them, we did notice that they had definitely cut back on certain things, perhaps to recoup the money they had lost during the pandemic. Obviously if you had been a first time cruiser you would not have been any the wiser, but having sailed with them many times we did 😟
Hello. I have just found you and have so enjoyed so many of your blogs. The reason I did find you is because my sister and I will be cruising on the Quest next April for the Croatia Intensive cruise. You are really scaring me about our choice. The reason we did choose Azamara is because of the itinerary. What’s horrendous is the size of the bathroom and shower. Oh my goodness. And this is supposed to be a luxury cruise. Customer relations sounds like a nightmare. I’m really scared after all the money we are spending. I want to keep an open mind but I’m second guessing myself.
Thanks for finding us! The bathrooms are not very big though the cabins are comfortable. Regarding customer relations, that team are no longer together apparently and we have since cruised on Azamara Onward and had a fantastic time. Don't be worried, Azamara are a quality product and in our experience have the best food at sea!
Thanks for your review - I can understand why you were so frustrated. I hope Azamara replaces not only the Guest Services manager, but also the hotel manager. In contrast, my wife and I just returned from an Azamara Cruise to South Africa on the Journey and one of the HIGHLIGHTS of that cruise was the Guest Services department!! Always smiling, very helpful and never a line. This shows that the responsibility of the manager, I think, is to blame. We like the smaller ships and agree with you that the AzAmazing Evenings are fantastic! We also sailed to Cuba on Azamara and enjoyed the AzAmazing Evening there, also. We've had a few flooding problems on a Celebrity cruise and without even asking, we were given a 50% refund and 50% future cruise voucher, chocolate covered strawberries, and a personal invite to the bridge for an apology from the Captain. The flood effected about 20 rooms but we didn't even have to move out of our cabin. You would think that Azamara would match and even go beyond that. Please let us know if Azamara reaches out to you with an apology and support which will tell me whether they will put up with this kind of treatment or not.
Celebrity Cruises did the right thing, that is all we wanted Azamara to do but nothing as yet! Azamara do so many things really well such a shame!
I was on the Azamara cruise from Singapore to Fremantle. For the most part, I loved the entire cruise. I do have to agree that there were issues with guest relations. Bruno was good, the lady I spoke to was very rude. As for embarkation, outside of a visa problem, it was pretty fast but I arrived at 2:30pm. I was unaware of the storm until the next day when I heard from other passengers they were moved to another cabin.
We had a lot of people message us say they had rude experiences too, such a shame! Like you we had a lot of positive experiences too thankfully!
Interesting video. 1970s style guest relations with hints of Fawlty towers, are you sure it was Perth and not Torquay? Was the ship maintained by O'Reilleys by chance? You've done the right thing explaining the issues and problems. I hope someone at Azamara reacts and rectifies. My gut feeling is.... They won't, the new owners will milk the brand dry and loyalty will eventually fall away. On the plus side, so chuffed to see you back and you best start looking forward to your next adventure. Superb honest informative video, tough one to do, so well done. Big hugs to you both, Vik 👍💕
Thanks Vik! Yes our gut feeling is they won't, definitely an ostrich mentality! Such a shame, thankfully we have some positive memories too, Australia was amazing! 😍
Can’t believe you had to go through that. It’s very bad. It’s out us off even considering an Azamara cruise. Looking forward to the vlogs!
First vlog out Friday!
I'm shocked at how they handled the situation! I've worked with the company before and they are typically very good about these type of things. I highly suggest asking around with the regulars you've met to get emails for shoreside, some are even in contact with the CEO (mind you it is a small company), and let them know your experience.
We have since had contact with shoreside who were very responsive and also been back on Azamara Onward where we were treated very well.
I am so glad to see you guys back home safe and sound, and excited for new vlogs. I am livid that you were treated so disgustingly by Azamara, I actually was turning red with indignation 😡 reading about it. Well, they will rue the day because you can influence so many people by letting all of your community know about their shocking customer service. I hope you have made official complaints to Azamara because they need to make amends to you both!!
Thanks Audrey! We have fed back our issues during the cruise and again since being home...no response so far which is very disappointing! 🙄 Vlogs start next Friday! 😍
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel No response? Wow. You'd think they would be doing some damage control. 🤔
Azamara has been my favourite line, but this is appalling! It sounds like the new owners are really cheaping out on management, and maintenance. I might rethink my next cruise, there are so many other lines out there to choose from.
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Hope the Azamara Journey is better, booked to go in a few weeks to South Africa. If our balcony door leaks I will be livid, especially as we have an inside!!!
LOL you should be safe! 😂😂
South Africa does have know rough water, but normally no water incoming! And yes, there were sea sick bags readily available!
We enjoy our trip over the holidays.
Looking forward to your new vlogs and welcome home.
Certainly not a cruise line we will be going on - seeing your ‘probably’ out of date Kwells Carol sent shivers down my spine - I probably would have had to get off ship at first opportunity as suffer with motion sickness at the best of times. 🤢
Pleased you came home with some good memories. 😊
We came home with lots of great memories thankfully! Yes sea sickness is not fun!
Wow, I think my eyes were just about popping out of my head when you spoke about the shoddy service from Guest Relations. I'm normally pretty patient, but I think I'd have been breathing fire over the cabin situation and my husband would have had blood in his eye right from the start. Absolutely shocking and definitely not what you expect from a "luxury" cruise line. What a shame this happened when this was a bucket list cruise that you were so looking forward to. I appreciate your honest review, it's one of the many reasons I love your vlogs. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Rose, I really don’t know how we kept it together, but we didn’t let it spoil the whole cruise and Azamara did the decent thing in the end😀
The whole guest relations experience you repeatedly had was appalling!
Waiting at the airport for hours Singapore for others to arrive is crazy.
Will be looking forward to watching all your adventures ,good and bad,in upcoming vlogs!
Cheers Paul! The people we met in Australia was definitely the highlight! 😍
Our Azamara cruise had the worst embarkation ever- we were dropped at the terminal an hour before it even opened, then two hours hanging about. Emma had a problem with a noisy door, which they fixed - but our cruise only cost £820! Hopefully we can catch up with you in February and you can tell us all about it!
Yes does seem embarkation is an issue, lots of comments on our social media about it too! Looking forward to seeing you in Feb! 😍
You two got super tanned on your time away. Good times.
We love Oz.
Australia is awesome!
It’s quite some time from when I last watched one of your wonderful vlogs. I have to say Azamara was on my bucket list but I assure you I will now be giving them a wide berth, a very wide berth.
Thanks for watching! It's a shame as they do so much really well, so frustrating!
So sad to hear about your guest services experience, I had to talk to guest services on the Azamara Onward to fix my air conditioning and they were very helpful ❤
That's good to hear, obviously the team on there have had some customer service training, unlike the team on Quest!
Wow! As we say in Yankland..."you can't make this stuff up!" Gary Bembridge did a vlog some time ago just on this same situation with Azamara. It seems the customer relations have really gone down since RCCL sold the line. BTW, the rais for the door and window were filthy!
LOL true!
Thank you for such an honest review. I really hope you enjoyed Australia and will come back again. A shame you didn't get to try some of our beautiful wines.
Yes that was very disappointing was looking forward to the wine! We loved Australia and will definitely be back!
Great video. Was like chatting with friends. Thanks for the great information. Love your positive attitude!
Thanks Vanessa!
Thank you for your honesty, we always value your opinion because it’s always fair and justified.
We were going to book Azamara as a treat (but in the lowest cabin grade) around South Africa but now we would rather go with NCL (and have a higher cabin grade) - nothing worse than poorly handled guest relations.
Exactly they should be the consummate professionals! Sadly that wasn't the case!
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel sorry that you had to experience it and even more sorry to see how it upset Carol. You both deserve better, only glad that you loved Australia as a destination.
We had issues on our recent Princess Cruise with guest services. We were booked on excursions we never paid for, dinner reservations that we paid for never materialized, as well as other billing problems. Whenever we went to guest services for help we were met with indifference. This was our first, and probably last Princess cruise.
Oh sorry to hear that!
Glen from Ant & Glen here - always love watching your content, folks! Am so very sorry to hear about the crazy incompetence of the guest relations staff. Who the heck trains these people?? Really appreciate the way you share your experience with total honesty, very much looking forward to the vlogs!
Hi Glen thanks appreciate that! Not sure they have had any training! By the way great to see you in front of the camera with Ant, really enjoying the banter!
Someone has to keep him in check!
@@Blank8uin7h7hjh LOL! 😂
We were on the Bali to Perth leg of your cruise and it was our 1st sailing with Azamara to. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with your cabin. We slept through the storm and didn't even hear about it until the following afternoon. Your comments regarding seasickness made me think of the time we sailed on Ovation of the Seas from Perth to Adelaide and I suffered terrible seasickness. I thought the guests staying on Azamara from Perth were very brave in such a small ship.
Loved your honest account and will look forward to hearing more about your travels.
Hi Karen, apparently the captain didn’t wake up either. No one can legislate for freak weather but it was quite clear that our balcony doors seal was in affective yet they still didn’t fix it,even though they said they had, maintaining a ship should be a priority as should customer service. But glad you had a good cruise 😀
Hi guys
On reflection we had a couple of less than satisfactory dealings with guest services as well. 1st to get a replacement door key card for my husband when he misplaced his and the response from the desk was efficient but no smiles or welcoming greetings. The 2nd time was on the second day in Perth when we decided to finish the cruise early and packed up intending to get off around 4pm and go home. But when we went to Guest Services to advise of our intentions we were told like two naughty children that we couldn't as it was too late for Customs checks. Which we were ok with but both felt very confronted by her manner. Especially as no correspondence had been given out explaining this in the exit information.
So we hope you have some success if you decide to follow up on your issues.
Regards
Karen and John
🙂
I had a terrible experience on Azamara too! I did an 8 night cruise from Rio to Buenos Aires in 2019. We did the pre-cruise trip to Iguazu Falls that was arranged by Azamara. They knew that we would be arriving late at the port due to the flight times they arranged. The trip to Iguazu Falls was amazing, but when we arrived at the port, everything was closed down. There wasn’t anyone from the ship or port security to get us on the ship. We stood outside for almost 2 hours getting eaten by mosquitoes while the tour guide called everyone he could think of and asked every crew member coming back on board to get someone to help. A lady in our party ended up calling the Azamara line that’s open 24 hours . Finally someone came to get us but no one apologized or welcomed us on board. They actually seemed to be annoyed at US!! We had to check in at guest relations and leave our passports with them and we all received the same attitude and glares that you did. We asked about getting something to eat, and they curtly told us everything is closed now, you have to get room service (which was an hour wait). A few days later, someone left a bottle of champagne in my room, without any note or anything to open it with. I’m actually a pretty easy going traveler, but I was expecting someone to acknowledge what happened and apologize, or at the very least greet us with some kind of hospitality. I couldn’t believe how rude they were! It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I will never sail with them again.
Can totally relate. It wasn’t the fact the issue happened, it was the dismissive way it was handled, and no apology or attempt at any good customer service, that was really upsetting. Which Azamara ship was this?
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel Exactly! It was the Pursuit.
Oh thought it might be unique to the Quest but sadly not!
Welcome home and so sad for you both that your cruise was dampened by the incompetence of the guest relations. I had a tear in my eye seeing how upset you got just speaking about it. Looking forward to seeing if they get back to you regarding your complaints xx
Thanks Mary! Sadly no response as yet! 🙄
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel looking forward to the vlogs xx
Loved this vlog! Best one ever! Thanks for the honest opinions!
Thanks for watching! 😃
We booked an Azamara cruise to the Caribbean for this month back in September with a refundable deposit. Then, I started reading reviews and got nervous so we canceled. We ended up booking a 14-night Caribbean on Holland America for December instead, and it was amazing! It was $4k for the two of us for a balcony including the “Have it All” package and unlimited laundry package, which allowed us to send out laundry every day that was returned the next morning clean, pressed, and on hangers. We went home with all clean clothes packed in our bags. Great experience on Holland America, and we now have three more cruises booked on them.
Oh wow that does sound fabulous! Going home with all clean clothes, love that!
I would never cruise on that line,thanks for letting everyone know about this problem
No problem!
HI guys glad to see you back sorry about your issues but glad you had lots of good experiences as well. I am pleased to see that you are not being slagged off by people in your comments for reporting the truth. We had an issue on QM2 recently and apparently made the whole thing up according to some! Looking forward to your vlogs. We won't be able to make next Thursday as we are on stage but catch up with you soon.
It was definitely a holiday of highs and lows! Yes sadly sometimes passengers that are passionately loyal to a particular cruise line will not believe you if you say anything negative. Not a problem just ignore, if particularly rude block and move on to the next comment! No problem have fun on stage!
That whole guest relations experience is shocking, including the derelict reply from hotel general manager. I'm so sorry this happened to you. On a Crown Princess cruise a few years ago I had a similar situation with guest relations & hotel general manager. Would love to see you vlog a Viking Ocean cruise! LOL with never thinking you'd have a similar experience with MSC & Azamara!
Lol no never did we ever think we would compare Azamara with MSC! Such a shame!
Thanks for the review. Absolutely horrendous customer service, glad you didn`t let it mar your happy holiday memories. We are aiming to "do" Oz next year as a bucket lister. Azamara were one of the cruise lines we were considering. Dodged a potential bullet there. Keep up the good work, and keep telling it like it is.
No problem! It was horrendous customer service, but Australia was amazing, our vlogs of the whole trip start on Friday it been great editing and remembering the good times!
So sad to hear you had such a horrible situation dealing with your room and guest services! I hope they watch your video and know how upset you were because they need to be made aware how rude they are.
Thanks Joanne it wasn't good!
I am so impressed that you managed to contain yourself and stay calm. I honestly don’t think I would’ve been able to. Utterly disgusting. As you say whether you pay £500 or £14,000 for your cruise, the very least you expect is to be treated with dignity and respect. A$$holes! 💚💚
It was a challenge! Basic customer service and communication totally lacking!
Hi, my wife and I did our first Azamara cruise last year and I am afraid we came away with the same impression of Azamara as you. There was other long time Azamara cruises who also said that they felt standards had slipped. There are some lovely features on board , however we both came away with a felling of great disappointment. We contacted Azamara post cruise to give them our ( hopefully) balanced feedback. After chasing up a response ( several times) there answer can only be described as tough !!! Carry on cruising cheers Neil
Oh wow, sorry to hear you had issues too! Well you only see how good a company on how they respond to feedback and problems and sadly they seem to be showing their true colours! What a shame!
OMG - what an account of awful customer service. Glad that you had some good experiences but this must taint those memories.
We had a bucket list cruise through the Panama Canal booked with Azamara leaving in the next few days which we had to cancel - whilst researching I had read about issues with customer service prior to boarding, up to & including embarkation, that were ringing alarm bells but was being reassured by comments that once on board, things were greatly improved. However, your experience shows that this may not be the case. It sounds like Azamara is good as long as nothing goes wrong. I will be rebooking a Panama cruise but had already decided to go with a different line & your experience has confirmed that this is the right decision. Thanks for your honest feedback. Good luck with getting a response - I think it may take some persistence😊
Looking forward to watching the series & hearing more about your travels.
Thanks Tina, interesting you have read that too. We are so glad we booked via a travel agent as Dan has been a fabulous support. No response yet but will let you know if we do. We hope to do the Panama Canal at some point too!
WOW ...wow ...wow. I saw the trouble with the cabin & guest services on face book posts, and I had hopes that they would have sorted the problem quickly and efficiently. It is very sad. They idea that they would challenge you and speak to you the way they did goes against every customer service protocol. I think I would be writing to the CEO. Don't let it go.
Yes sadly not resolved. All communications have been sent numerous times! We are not going to let it go!
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel Good. You are not inexperienced cruisers, and you both know the standards that should have been held to. I hope you get results soon. Maybe they will offer you a free cruise, but would you go on it?
With the exception of guest relations we had a really good experience!
I was considering an asian cruise on Azamara and was already concerned after previously hearing about their tiny bathrooms but, because I don’t tolerate bad customer service, I will have to reconsider.
The bathrooms are tiny. Paul couldn't fit in so the whole bathroom was used as a wet room!
Princess showers smaller
I was interested to listen to this as we had a similar experience on Oceania Marina in October when we had to visit the excursion desk every day of our 21 day cruise as they couldnt sort an issue we had. As you will know Oceania are also a high priced cruise. While we were in a balcony we were travelling with friends that were in the Owners suite so had paid a ton of money but they ended up having to see the hotel manager to sort out a table together in speciality restaurants. When we complained about the service we received at the guest relation desk and excursion desk we were told that Oceania expected a lot of trained staff to return after lockdown and this hasnt happened so they are having to train staff on the job and this seems to have led to a drop in quality. We are prepared to give them another chance as we have a cruise to the South Pacific booked with them in April and hope to see improvement if not we will be booking elsewhere. Looking forward to the rest of your videos which are always enjoyable.
Oh really, yes heard of Oceania. Understand there have been difficulties with recruitment following the pandemic. However as a human polite behaviour when dealing with paying customers whatever job should come as standard! Thats great to hear you enjoy our videos so thanks for watching!
Welcome home, you both look really well xx
Thanks Scruff!