Azamara Quest Cruise Ship - Our first Luxury Cruise - we were shocked by how badly we were treated!
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- 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! ruclips.net/p/PL_6zC3nwhe736emmobrsIGtnWBMKDnPL5
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!
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?
@@PaulandCaroleLovetoTravel I did a Trans-Atlantic in room 7117....back of ship. The engine noise was horrendous. Avoid at all costs. Thank God they moved us to a balcony near the bow. But I do love the food. Only thing wrong was the coffee. Yuck.
@stevewarrick4402 The food is fabulous! Glad you got moved!
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!
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!
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!
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.
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.
Cross that line off the list! You guys have a lot more patience than I would have had.
It was hard!
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!
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! 😍
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!
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 .
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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
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!
OBSERVATION - ironically, I have watched Azamara RUclips vids from ppl, such as yourselves, and your video is the only critical video I have seen.
That was our experience and we always say how it is. It was interesting after posting this video the amount of people contact us to say they had the same experience and had also contacted Azamara saying exactly the same thing. We have been informed that the individuals that they had numerous complaints about no longer work for the company. So great to hear there are lots of positive reports out there too!
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
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! 😂😂
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.
@@alicedyment4219
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@@ivankaplan3238 8?
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
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 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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 😟
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!
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!
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!
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😀
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 ..
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
😢😢😢
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!
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. 😍
only experienced one azamara cruise to monaco in may 24 for the f1 race…. had the best time ever. ship and crew were great and the captain hilarious with his star trek quotes over the intercom system.
food was amazing and never waited for anything. embarcation was faultless and took 30 mins tops. only issue was an overbooking at the hotel in barcelona before boarding so we had to be transferred to a different hotel but ws more than acceptable.
all in all a great time and will book again
We are very pleased to here you had a great experience, we have since sailed on Azamara and had an amazing time 😀
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!
We only go on Fred Olsen no complaints as yet only done 10 cruises up to now. Thanks for your information very helpful xxx
No problem!
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.
Starting to catch up after returning from our world cruise; I am sorry you had this experience with Azamamra as it must have taken the shine off the whole holiday. I have to say Cunard made our cruise very special to the extent that we have now booked to do a 78 day trip around South America in 2025. Please don't apologise for the rant as it seemed entirley justified and I have always though that you both go on every trip with a positive outlook and ready to be pleased, which is far from the case with every cruise passenger.
Thanks Richard. Oh wow world cruise with Cunard bet that was a fabulous experience, no wonder you booked again! We always do try to look on the positive side but this cruise certainly tested that!
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!
Happy they stood up and took care of you. I wonder how much it has to do w your power as blogger/ vlogger/ you tubers
I plan on having a good time and certainly am hoping/ insisting on appropriate care
That definitely helped. Though it seems that we were not the only ones with issues and they had lots of complaints about this team. Good to see they acted on feedback and seems customer service is now excellent throughout the fleet.
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!
This is the first time I’ve seen you since you got back, and you are SO tanned! Welcome home!
Thank you!
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! 😍
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!
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!
So glad to see that6 you read and respond to your comments. Surprisingly few on RUclips do! Glad I found you!
No problem, if you have taken the time to comment it is only polite to acknowledge that!
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!
WOW! I was just about to book an Azamare Cruise. It would be my first time on Azamara. I’m sadly going to pass on Azamare😱😱😱
Thankfully this team we understand are no longer together. We have since been back on Azamara Onward and the guests relations were a friendly bunch!
You two are great! Love watching your videos. Thanks!
Thank you!
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!
Great review! We laughed and cried, superb summary of your experience.
Thanks Andrew!
Putrid service from guest relations is reflective of the overall quality of the management right up to the captain. I can't imagine anything more upsetting and frustrating. Irrespective of how good the food and general service staff are, I will not be considering an Azamara cruise. There are too many other cruise providers where you would not have to deal with this sort of emotional torture. Life is too short to tolerate this.
So frustrating Barry, and no response at all either! Agree life is too short!
Oh well my Italy cruise is not going to happen with Azamara
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!
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! 😍
So sorry you experienced this. Thank you for sharing this as we were considering Azamara but after your horrendous “lack of guest services” we will definitely not be looking at them any,ore. Actually, we are now avoiding them completely. Bless you both.
Thanks Rowenro!
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
Hi Paul and Carole……thank you for the review. Many things sounded wonderful however, customer service is so crucial and they horrifically failed you….so unfortunate! I hope you press in on them for this major fail. You deserved far better.
Thankfully shoreside have apologised and offered us a replacement cruise which we are taking end of November. Shame they didn't deal with it on the ship!
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! 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!
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 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!
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
Thanks indeed for your review. We were on the same ship departing Melbourne on 04/01/2023. As you said the seas were so rough my wife got really seasick on the first night. The ship is so small it was rocking most times and were in cabin 8063 towards aft. We had so much galley noise going to 1.00 am. We complained strongly quite a few times to the guest relations manager and also to F & B manager. My wife is a light sleeper so we did not enjoy much our sleep. The room attendant was courteous and helpful. The butler opened our closed where my wife had her private things and we reprimanded him and gave him no extra tip. The staff were fantastic. Towards the end of the cruise called to see the hotel manager about the inadequate future cruise credit we were given. He advised us he will ask the Sydney office to contact us on Tuesday 24/01/2023 to sort out any additional credit. To the time of writing, being 29/01 nobody contacted us. Poor service from a supposedly luxury cruise company. The food was great including the white night and as amazing.
It definitely does rock! Thats such a shame that you haven't been contacted does seem communication is their main problem!
I would never cruise on that line,thanks for letting everyone know about this problem
No problem!
Great video. Was like chatting with friends. Thanks for the great information. Love your positive attitude!
Thanks Vanessa!
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! 😍
We are going on the Azamara Onward world cruise in January 2024. We have never sailed with Azamara before, but have been on the Azamara Onward when it was the Pacific Princess. A lovely, darling small ship.
We were both very disturbed to hear about customer relations and I was especially appalled to hear about the hotel manager’s response to your situation. We have recently returned from a four month Viking world cruise, and the hotel manager, Ron, and the entire customer relations staff were excellent. This is quite disturbing for us to hear about, especially since our cruise is 155 days.
Terrific podcast and we thank you very much for this.
Thanks for watching. This was our experience on the Quest which was such a shame as we enjoyed the rest of the ship and the other staff were fabulous. The teams change so hoping your team will be a good one!
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!
Your patience is amazing …I would have been screaming by then 🇨🇦
Thanks, it was frustrating!
We have only cruised the once with Azamara, and that was on the Quest and we thoroughly enjoyed it...albeit with no contact with the Guest Relations desk !
That was appalling what you have gone through, you must have been so upset.
If you ever post on Cruise Critic I would put your video on there, make the Azamara family & big wigs aware of what happened.
I sometimes post on there and would love to air your grievances if you don't..... only with your permission of course.
It's enough to put people off booking with them, such a shame because as you say, the staff are Azamazing around the Ship. Regards.
Hi Paul, glad you had a great experience, that's why we booked as we had heard good things.
It was appalling and so disappointing our first retirement dream cruise was spoilt by poor service. We don't post on cruise critic but please do on our behalf, we would really appreciate that. We have had no response from Azamara and we first sent communications to them during the first cruise.
Thanks so much!
Video link ruclips.net/video/g1EjIuEgv7A/видео.html
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!
UPDATE - We have had a response from Azamara which we will be discussing in our Live Stream tomorrow - 26th January at 7pm UK time - ruclips.net/user/liveRQFxWmqfq38
That was disgusting treatment by guest relations. You should get a formal apology and at least a partial refund. It definitely makes me reluctant to sail with Azamara.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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!
That was a shocking experience indeed! While the majority of the staff sound lovely, guest relations is where a cruise line has the opportunity to demonstrate their core values. Sadly, they showed the dark under belly of who they really are and it's a shame you paid a king's randsom for a once-in-a-lifetime trip only to be treated that way. Being treated like a liar is simply uncalled for on their behalf. Shame on them for creating a gray cloud that lingered over you during your trip.
Thanks for your kind words Jennifer, it was a real shame as all the other staff members bent over backwards to please the guest only to have all their hard work undone by what should be the face of the company.
I am appalled at what you had to endure! Appreciate knowing. Thank you. So sorry for you. They owe you such an apology! Plus monetary credit!
Thanks Karen!