We just completed a 16 day crossing on the Quest from Miami to Nice with stops in Ponta Delgada, Azores; Gibraltar; Cartagena, Spain; Mahon, Menorca & Cannes, France. Also on the cruise were Mark Akin & Susanne Case and Jan & Harry Hufford. We all had a wonderful time, good weather and fairly smooth sailing. We all agreed that Azamara is like the old Radisson where the officers & staff are friendly and around all the time and the food is better than we've had on Regent the past couple of years. They are "all inclusive" for house beer, wine & spirits and the up-charge for premium is minimal. We also met previous (non-LCT) cruisers who have switched from Regent to Azamara. The Azamara pdr diems are much less than Regent, their ships can get into smaller ports (ie, right in Nice Old Town rather than Monaco) and they have many late night departures. It was a great cruise.
Jim & Pat

Thanks for the information, Jim & Pat. We will have to give Azamara a try sometime. I'm glad you had a great time!

Sounds like a fun cruise. When's the next one?

If Azamara would get a new ship they would be a real contender. The line has good itineraries with many overnights that most of us like.

The Azamara ships are the old Rennaisance ships. Same as the older Oceania ships, Nautica, Regatta, and Insignia. Personally I simply do not like those ships, small cabins, and low ceilings. That is not a problem for many and we do sell quite a lot of Azamara.

I will never forget seeing all those ships parked in Gibraltar when Renaissance went under. Quite a sight!

Glad you had a good time, how could you not with three such fun couples travelling together.

Ngaire,
You should visit an Azamara ship. Even though they are old Renaissance ships, they’re outfitted much differently than Oceania. O’s deck 5 has the cruise consultant taking up space where A has a coffee bar (Mezzanine Lounge) that’s better than Mariner’s coffee bar. They have a selection of small pastries & sandwiches much like a French Patisserie. We 3 couples discussed your opinion of low ceilings and aren’t sure what you mean. I can reach up to touch the cabin ceilings in both Mariner & Quest and I doubt if there’s more than 2” difference. The dining room ceiling may be a bit lower, but it’s not noisy when full and you don’t have to shout to be heard. We didn’t feel closed in at all. Both the main dining room & buffet restaurant have rear and side windows so you can see outside when dining. A’s version of La Veranda, Windows Café, has a full bar on the rear outside deck along with dining tables. They also have a different nationality themed buffet every night. You can special order meals in the restaurants. They have 2 specialty restaurants, Aqualina which concentrates in seafood and Prime C, similar to Prime 7. Both offer both seafood & meat.
Azamara does a dry dock every 2 ½ years and they completely replace carpeting & upholstery so everything looks neat & clean. The cabins aren’t small – just smaller than Regent, however we still had empty hangers, drawers & shelves. The hotel rooms we use in Europe are smaller than our Azamara cabin. The bathroom & shower are small. For trivia freaks, there are trivia games about 4 or .5 times per day. The ships have traditional propellers & rudders, but the captain can spin it in place and move sideways like Mariner & Voyager (the captain says that Azipods are for those that can’t drive ships.) The differences between Regent & Azamara aren’t worth the double per diem on Regent ($174.00 pp per day for the crossing and $316.00 pp per day for 12 days Costa Rica thru Panama Canal to Miami in 2015.) A new ship would really add to their itineraries.

I have been on an Azamara Ship Jim, not sailed on one just site inspected. Azamara is a good line it is the old Rennaisance ships I do not like. If they got a new ship I would be on checking it out right away.

The public room areas ceilings are low on those ships nothing they can do about that. To me the cabins and bathrooms are just too small. That is my biggest issue. I do river boats and explorer ships with small cabins and I do not like those cabins either but there is no alternative.

Maybe that pretty pink tee shirt you gave me that said "it is not easy being a princess" rings true on this issue.

I am sure the ship does a good job on all the other aspects of a cruise. Some clients like you absolutely love Azamara.

As always, different strokes for different folks. It is a good thing to have many options to make everyone happy. We do sell a lot of Azamara so many people do like the ships you are not alone in that opinion.
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Ngaire, Like you said, "different strokes", but it's nice to know more of your clients also like Azamara. Let's hope they get a new ship so we can have an escorted cruise on it.

Our Azamara Quest cruise last October was probably one of the best cruises we have been on traveling alone.. The shower was a bit of a problem for me, but other than that I liked the layout and the staff was truly amazing.. Its such a deal, and I love the fact that Waiters can actually Pour Wine!!! Never Ever waiting...

I also enjoyed Azamara. We cruised Venice to Athens a couple of years ago on the Quest and are booked for Istanbul to Athens on the journey next July. So add us to the list of happy azamarians.
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Helen

If you own at least 100 shares of RCCL stock, you can get up to $250.00 SBC on Azamara, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, depending upon the length of the cruise. It's a nice add on to the AMEX Platinum $300.00 SBC. Fortunately, the stock I bought a year ago has doubled, so it has worked out well for me. There is a similar deal with Carnival for some of their ships. Jim

Glad you were able to get some benefits from your RCCL stock Jim, no matter how hard we tried, they always had some lame excuse for why it couldn't be used, and one of them at that time at least, was that it was not combinable with AMEX, or any onboard credit from a TA or promotion.

Sold my 100 shares and took a Princess cruise, where we never have an issue getting our stock holder benefits on any of the CCL lines, in fact they bend over backwards to make them work, haven't found them to come up with a reason yet why you can't use them.

Enjoyed your input on Azamara, we were on the Regatta years ago and enjoyed it very much, and have been thinking about an Azamara possibility, as well as another Oceania, but just haven't found the right fit yet. But hopefully we will soon, as we love trying new lines and ships.

My sister and brother-in-law love Azamara. I do like the idea of the overnights they do, reminiscent of some of our port stops on the 2005 & 2007 World Cruises. Tough to not have Regent perks (sigh)...but Regent prices just keep going up and up. .

I just hope we can go on Regent maiden voyage on Explorer.

Marcie - I thought I was the only one who was finding Regent a bit expensive. I just love Mariner and Voyager and don't want to think I may never sail on them again.

I love the overnights that Azamara offers as well.

With AZ being basically AI, and with Onboard Credits, after ordering a couple bottles of wine, buying an internet package and purchasing a few things the last night we got off the ship in Sorrento to head to Positano Reception gave me back Cash from my Amex credit! was only like $40 but never ever have I had a cruise line do that for me..

Echoing Jim...

This was a great cruise! Cannot think of one negative other than losing six hours during the crossing (which forced me to book the fall Silversea TA to regain those hours ;-)).

This was our second Azamara, last year the Journey this year the Quest. Staff and service on both excellent. The food on the cruise rivaled that of our Silver Cloud sailing two years ago, far far better and more consistent than my last few Regent sailings. We were each given 89 free minutes of internet which we managed to milk out over the 16 days with neither going over.

Many thanks to the Bittles for organizing their "trademarked" beef tartare luncheon (and including us!) It was great fun to sit down with 7 pax and the Captain, Hotel Director (both former RSSC officers) and F&B Manager and have a fun tete a tete! Captain Carl is hilarious and obviously loves his job.

We did an onboard booking last year taking advantageous of the two category upgrade (pay for an inside cabin get a veranda cabin) knowing the bathroom is not designed for two adults, but the cabin provided plenty of room and more than ample storage for us. We did another onboard booking this year as the two category upgrade special was running, so will be back for the Spring TA next year.

For you traveling singles, as I understand Azamara only has a 25% upcharge for their single supplement.

No, Azamara is NOT Regent, Silversea or Seaborn, but it is a GREAT alternative. What's not to like about having more choices? Our per diem was around $170 about $100 less than our upcoming fall TA on Silversea. More $$ in hand means more travel for us!

You've got us interested, Suzanne. On our last Regent cruise the food was mostly good. Never great. Never memorable. P7 was a huge disappointment. We are motivated to try other options. We're booked on Seabourn this year and on Crystal next year. Hate Regent's included excursions!!!

Suzanne, so good to hear you had a wonderful time! I always read your reports with so much interest for future plans, especially when I if I am traveling with some of my family and need multiple cabins.

Suzanne - your input on top of Jim's definitely has us interested in checking Azamara out more.

I meant to mention this in my earlier post...

On our first Azamara cruise last year I only ran into one other person who had been on a "6 star" line (Silversea) most were Azamara devotees or had moved up from Celebrity. This year I'm guessing that well over 30% of the people that I met regularly cruise Seabourn, Silversea, and Crystal in addition to Azamara. As frequent cruisers Azamara is just part of their "mix". I also met a number of "former" Regent cruisers disgruntled with the included excursions.