MichaelCharlie

Most of our cruises in the past have been on Windstar (both sailing ships and yachts). We're not real fond of big ships, so we're considering a Mediterranean cruise on Azamara for this fall.

Has anyone sailed this line recently? I don't have specific questions, yet.

Hoyaheel

We sailed SIN-HKG a few years back, so I don't have anything recent. We LOVE the R ships so that part was fine - great size, esp in Asia where we could sail up river and get close to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh city and not have to drive as far. The Azamazing night was in Vietnam and was quite lovely. Unfortunately, under new management, their fares drastically increased and I don't think they're worth it - for a tiny bit more, I can get a larger ship with better food (Oceania) or luxury & more things included (drinks, tips etc on Seabourn). If the price was right for an itinerary I wanted, we'd do it again, absolutely. I haven't checked recently to see where their fares are these days, but that's how I'd rank based on the ships we prefer to cruise on (I don't want to sail with more than 1000 passengers - our last cruise was Oceania Dec 2019, and while it was lovely, 1200 passengers meant it was a little too big for me, disembarking was such a PITA.

Kevin L

We've been on three cruises with them in the last thirteen months and have two booked this year, and more in 2025. We cruise quite a bit but have tired of the large ships. Azamara is a good size, allowing it to have two specialty restaurants (included with suites) and small-scale entertainment, yet it's not crowded (600-700) passengers. Never have a problem getting a chair around the pool, though if you want one in the shade, you need to get up there by about 9am. On the big ships, you need to be up before 7am for a good chair. We sailed on the Onward to the Caribbean, Italy, and Croatia. We're sailing them to Greece in June and 17-nights in Norway in July. Staff is friendly, food is good. Veranda staterooms are a decent size, but the bathrooms are small, especially the shower. We go for the Club Continent suite, the lowest suite category, that's very nice, with a big bathroom. Comes with a butler, but we rarely use them.

All Azamara ships are R-Class ships (web search will explain) and match the size of Oceania's R-Class ships.

Enjoy!

Hoyaheel

(FYI, I wouldn't sail Oceania prices on a R ship either - we loved Pacific Princess though, ship/size we love, Princess cheaper fares ;-)

YVR Cockroach

I looked into Azamara just before COVID. Knew that the R ships (8 of them now split evenly between Azamara and Oceania) came from Renaissance cruises (which I admittedly used to confuse with RSSC). Basic cabins (staterooms) seem a tad small compared to other luxury lines, and some are even insides.

Suspect current owners (PE outfit) want to extract as much out of it before flogging it off (after buying it from Royal Caribbean).

gretchendz

I plan to sail with them as I really like the concept of the longer and often overnight port visits. I find the rushing in and out for 5-8 hours a bit wearying, honestly. In May, they will have a new CEO (once her noncompete clause with Celebrity ends) who has an excellent reputation in the cruise industry. It will be interesting to see what changes she makes.
https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-...in-Azamara-CEO

mahasamatman

That was also our favourite Princess ship. We mourn the loss.

Hoyaheel

It is just a fantastic size ship to get into smaller ports (we sailed Pacific Princess in Alaska and the Black Sea, as well as the Azamara in Asia). And I agree with Gretchen that the "itinerary focus" (something like that was their marketing material) of overnights can be really lovely. I just hate they jacked the fares to "luxury" level, but with an old(er) small(er) ship, you can't really compete against the luxury new builds. Well, I guess they can try, but they're not going to earn my business doing it.

I guess my only complaint against Azamara is the cost

gretchendz

Ha! At the rate most of the cruise companies are raising prices, Azamara will look more reasonable to you soon

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/09/crui...el-demand.html

Hoyaheel

COVID isn't the only reason we haven't cruised since 2019 ;-) I'm not willing to go on a big ship, and with demand, the small ships (which aren't cheap to start with) have prices I'm unwilling to pay. But we are looking at Norwegian fjords for our 25th anniversary (2025), hopefully on Seabourn....

MichaelCharlie

It sounds like there's enough good to be said about Azamara to keep me from being scared off. Thanks for everyone's help!

HPN-HRL

I sailed on Azamara twice in 2010-2011, and twice on Trans-Atlantics post-Covid. I would be happy to sail with them again; prices are higher than I want to pay right now but the Trans-Atlantics can be a good deal.