Azamara Cruises do some things brilliantly, a lot of things really well but sadly 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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40 Comments
What a shame Azamara has deteriorated so badly regarding customer service. We were on one of the virgin voyages on the Journey- there were glitches that you would expect on inaugural cruises. But the appalling service that you received with guest relations was non existent on our cruise. We only paid 1000 dollars each for our cruise, again because it was inaugural. But I would definitely not book again with Azamara after hearing your story. And yes, their boats do definitely rock more than the big ships. Such a shame to hear about your experience.
Great review….one thing has now put me completely off Azamara and doubtful I will continue looking to go on one of their cruises is that you say it’s very casual, I don’t know why but I thought I would be going on a beautiful traditional type cruise, I really hate casual dining/dress for the whole of a cruise….feel very disappointed to hear this. Back to Cunard for us then.
Along the door/wall there were clear damp marks which will have been there for a while so that’s an issue they have had ongoing .Can’t believe how bad the guest relations staff were . Think they need lessons in how to deal with the public.
Never been on a cruise, but from reading about them on YT I don’t think I am ever going to book one. Thank you so much. I suspect those on customer service were pissed because they were not in the position to receive gratuities.
Boy I’ve been on several of their cruises and never experience the things that you’re talking about. It must’ve been just the crew that they hired for that time. I have always found them super cooperative and helpful and friendly. In fact I enjoy that cruise ship more than all the other ones I’ve ever been on.
Even though I have not experienced that your patience was a lot better than mine would’ve been. I would’ve been calling corporate on them and reported him why I was on the ship and going straight to the captain to get it resolved. That is way too much money to spend for that much inconvenience. They should be giving you a free cruise.
I’ve been wanting to try this line. Given the difficulty I’ve been reading in the comments I’m no longer sure. I’m going to subscribe to your channel to hear what the line had to say. Thankfully I just found you
I must firstly apologize . I thought it couldn’t have been that bad as Guest Services in must ships and hotels are pretty average as someone who use to work in Reception.
But and it’s a big but….this experience takes the cake. I think you were very patient, I would have been ripping heads off.
I think they were hoping to wear you down and you just get sick of asking and go away.
Thanks so much for this review on Azamara. I really hope that front team get their act together as they are letting the rest of the crew down.😢
Omg how appalling,l know now which cruise ship I will not be cruising on ,their terrible .how disgusting.
We join AZAMARA Quest @ Cape Town on 20th Feb. I’m glad I’ve seen your vid.
I had a similar experience with Costa in 1999 and lead a 248 Guest Mutiny off at Naples because Guest Relations/Captain’s attitude (“Cruises From Hell”). Terrible this still happens. Very fair overview. Dare I say “appropriately BRITISH” – especially with your West Country accent.🥰
Have subscribed & will watch more. Safe travels.
Thank you for you video. I find your story sad. Imagine first cruisers like me… Can you tell me what you can do now to have them apologize or give you a FCC or something?
Wow, what a bollocks up. It is disappointing to hear you paid so much money and got such poor service.
Was the 14K for both cruises (7K each?)
Great pictures!
The immersion nights sound like great entertainment to me; full orchestra, guest stars and a six-person show team are plenty of entertainment for me. Size of the ship sounds perfect for me. But no stabalizers?
I didn’t feel that much movement with Oceania and Regent ships….sounds like stabalizers were broke.
Waiting three hour for a transfer??? Embarkation was bad too??? That’s awful! Doesn’t sound like luxury to me…
Customer relations staff should never treat ANYONE like you were treated—terrible!
I absolutely cannot believe that noise and water in your cabin! Of course you couldn’t sleep there! Guest Relations sounds like they had no training at all! The middle man? They should have been able to provide you with a manager who knew what she was doing. Did they have a GM on the ship? They don’t realize how much money they have probably lost by having this told by vloggers and word of mouth from everyone who watched this video. Stupid move on their part. Yes, aft DOES have more movement.
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.
Wow this is shocking. It takes years to build an excellent reputation but an hour to loose it obviously. I hope your huge following totally boycott this company for their disgusting attitudes towards you. Their reputation is definitely now in the gutter/toilet thanks to their own staff who represent them 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
So, i'm confused. Whether you got the transport at 8 or 11, you weren't gonna get into the cruise ship until after 1:00 p.m. So you have to wait somewhere…..not sure why that was a big thing.
As far as embarkation, i completely agree. I've been on Quest twice and both times communication was next to nothing and the wait was long.
Regarding the Guest Relations desk, we never had that issue on Quest. Sorry you did. it's never great to have a bad guest relation experience. Not giving a pen to a suite guest is like really really really bad. The small things are what make luxury cruises "luxe".
So sorry you had such poor customer service at guest relations. We were on Quest for the Croatia Intensive cruise in October. We had to go to Guest Relations because we were double charged for transportation from the airport to the ship. We explained what happened and they made it right straight away. Didn’t have to prove anything. They took us at our word and removed the charges and apologized for the mixup.
Gosh! Were we with the same cruise line?? Have to post this just to be fair. We sailed Azamara Onward in December, 22 for 10 days in the Caribbean. Couple in a balcony stateroom. In a word, it was EXCELLENT. And I have lived in France and traveled intensively for 50+ years. Your main 3 negatives never happened on our cruise. Embarkation in Miami was easy and well organized. They seated us in designated groups and moved everyone through quickly.
My companion even remarked how well the stabilizers were working to make our sailing smooth. We were met at the guest relations desk by smiles and prompt service. We had to go several times with questions about the wi-fi and they sorted it out plus gave me a full explanation right away. All staff at every level were more than courteous and helpful. I know something about wine and the wine selection was fine. The sommelier even sat with me when I was choosing our wine package and had good suggestions. She even stopped by our table at dinner to see if we were enjoying the wine. Many of the staff knew us on a first name basis by the end of the cruise. The new Azamara Atlas Bar on this ship was an absolute joy. Lastly, we booked this cruise through an agent, which, of course, led to extra perks with much information and many questions answered before we ever stepped foot on the ship. Yes, we loved a small ship and will sail with them again.
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
I’m so disappointed for you both. You shouldn’t have to pay so much money for appalling service. Especially when you book a luxury cruise. 😮😮😮
That's unbelievable you can't treat guests like that 😕
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.
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.
I’m so sorry to hear of this appalling experience. I’ve only been on Azamara once, on the Quest’s sister ship Journey. I was on the ship right after Azamara was started where it replaced the Celebrity Horizon to Bermuda. I found it to be a step downward from Horizon. I haven’t been back on Azamara since (over 30 cruises taken since then) and have no plans to return. I recall embarkation and disembarkation to be somewhat out of control and service to be spotty. I thought that was due to early teething problems, but the entire cruise was disappointing, though the Cruise Director was outstanding.
[Edited for spelling error.]
Find all our other Azamara Quest Australian Adventure Episodes from our vlog series here! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_6zC3nwhe736emmobrsIGtnWBMKDnPL5
OMG, I'd be horrified if I was treated this way and had paid that much- MSC I can understand lol cos they are cheap but not a supposed luxury brand (at that price!). Would you do Azamara again?
Just watched your review, very unfortunate customer service. We are sailing on the Quest this October. What cabin number had the noisy door with water coming in? Thank you.
I was on the Azamara Pursuit last month on a South America tour and I agree that our ship too we felt every wave we went over no matter was small or big the wave were. I did not enjoy sea days as I felt motion sickness most of the time and had to take Dramamine. But I do have to say that our experience with the staff was incredible. They were all so nice and helpful and the food was really good.
I am planning an anniversary trip and this cruise line is now crossed off my list. Thanks to the "BLOGGERS", you guys are lifesavers!!!!
Did you think about talking to the Hotel Director… or even the Captain? I feel just horrible for you. What a disappointment. So so sorry.
You seem to winge on any ship you go on , and I can see why they might have not done what you wanted . I think your approach is wrong and calling the staff putrid is offensive . I’ve travelled many times on Azamara , with few problems and you both come across as always grumbling . You always seem to have issues about every cruise you go on .
Experience last year on Onward was not great and it stank of cost cutting, giving them one more chance this year and hope they replicate our previous three cruises with them. Now owned by an investment company does not give me confidence. Great video guys and hope you have many more enjoyable cruises.
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!
OMG! Don't think I'll ever use Azamara. 😱