azamara.co.uk Reviews 11

Gone downhill since Private Equity takeover . House wines the same each evening and not great. No port shuttle anymore - was Azamara selling point .We have been on many Azamara cruises but not any more . Not in the top league which I find greatly disappointing . Good luck to Sycamore Partners - screw as much money as you can and then sell it !!!!

All the staff were very helpful and friendly. Food was excellent. However we did Cape Town and south Africa. Cape Town was very nice but not safe after 8pm at night. Port Elizabeth was nice. We do not feel it was justified to do 2 day in Richards Bay as if you did not do there trips there was nothing to do. The Trip in Durban was good but it was not safe to go anywhere on your own

What makes Azamara really special is the officers and crew on board the ships, and as a veteran of over 60 cruises I think I've found my very happy cruise place.
In the last three years I have been lucky enough to have taken three Transatlantic cruises, a trip around South America and the latest In October 24 which was a back to back including Canada and New England on various of their ships and have had a great time on them all. Staff even recognised me on a different ship nearly a year later, and the welcome was genuine.
Yes, the ships are older but I for one am grateful they don't have waterslides or skating rinks or childrens clubs. They are well maintained and kept spotless by an army of unseen staff and retain that element of cruising lost on so many of the big ships nowadays.
I was actually on one of their ships when the changeover happened and they left RCCL and having been on five cruises with them since can only say that there seems to have been a marked improvement. They even now have a UK office and appear to be getting the back office situation sorted.
I got off in October having made two more on board bookings and I can't wait until my next trip with them.

The worst customer service in all my life. Appalling company. We were warned by a friend who is a frequent sailor with them. She advised that since the sale of the company by RCCL things were bad. The trip suited us so we ignored her. Nothing could prepare us for this experience. Countless emails and phone calls. Ignored on all requests and issues prior to boarding. Promises made that were unfulfilled. I will never sail with them again. Please avoid at all costs.

What a terrible company it is now it has been taken over. I have never come across such terrible customer care. We will never travel with them again. Buyer beware.
1. I booked a cruise to South Africa visiting 6 ports. We wanted to see as much of South Africa as we could and chose them because their marketing. We know that cruises are subject to minor amendments, but just after paying the full amount, they dropped two ports as being “too dangerous” even though other cruise lines were visiting. This should have entitled us to a refund as a major change – but they put in one more overnight stop in one of the 4 remaining ports, and this allowed them to wriggle out of giving us a refund.

2. The ports we did visit were dangerous and therefore boring. Unless you took one of their very expensive excursions, all that you could do was take a shuttle bus to a shopping mall – as everywhere was too dangerous to explore. Most people were saying – why did they offer this as a cruise? It was not a good itinerary. It certainly did not fulfil their marketing strap line “giving you the time to appreciate the landscapes, culture, and people by day and night”. This cruise did not meet expectations in any way.

3. There was sickness and diarrhea and special measures on board from the start.
Although the captain tried to accuse someone of bringing it on board with them – it was obvious from the special steps they were taking that they were worried. After a few days the pool was closed. Then one of the passengers revealed that the sickness had actually been on board the ship before we had got on. The captain accepted that and said that they had done a deep clean and that our rooms had been fumigated. (However, measures taken were clearly insufficient). We saw people disembarking from the ship before we embarked about 3 hours later – so it leaves me wondering how committed they were to deep cleaning if they thought it could be done in a couple of hours. It appears from messages on Facebook that the ship had on-going problems with sickness on board on many back-to-back cruises before ours – something that others say they are seeking legal advice about. If that is the case, as a vulnerable person, I feel I should have been warned and given the opportunity not to board. The feeling of dread on board as people went down like flies and we were bombarded with messages from the captain about handwashing etc – made me not want to leave the cabin. It was inevitable though and I became ill and was quarantined for days - missing one of the 4 remaining ports. This is clearly a company that puts profit before its customers. If it cared about its customers surely after several back-to-back problems with Norovirus and/or food poisoning – it would have taken the ship out of service and given it a through clean and checked all hygiene points (I suspected the water) and warned customers. It was a miserable experience.

4. On board Azamara continued to feel like a greedy company – or one in trouble. For what was supposed to be a 5* cruise – they advertised events like a hair seminar (a sales pitch), a feedback session (a sales pitch) – it felt like everything was just an excuse for a sales pitch – so we gave up going. We were interested in a wine tasting however – not realising there was a big fee for this which was charged to our bill, even though it was using wines available to us anyway. (They did recredit this to us when we complained). Thought not our scene, even Bingo had to be paid for! On what was supposedly a 5* cruise! Also some drinks were included in our package, and some were not – but you were not usually told there was a charge until after you had ordered it. For example an after-dinner whisky was included in the package – but a brandy was not. A cocktail was included one night – but caught us out by being chargeable the next.

It doesn't seem an honourable company. Azamara still owes me money for a refund and despite emailing several times since returning, they refuse to answer my emails and have shut me down with no explanation and no refund.

5. Generally Azamara was difficult to deal with from the beginning – their administration was poor -and their customer care is the worst I have ever experienced. There were also things that our booking agent Imagine Cruising promised – that didn’t materialise. These two companies need to get their act together and stop passengers having to play piggy in the middle – or being dropped in the void between them.

On the positive side - restaurant staff were excellent and food good to very good. A great balance of friendliness, efficiency and professionalism. If the restaurant manager ran Azamara I think it would be a totally different experience.

Shocking customer service and non…
Shocking customer service and non response.
They cancelled our cruise without notice.
Promised full refund and all expenses
Nothing has happened.
Having to claim in the small claims court.
Appalling company
Absolutely terrible. Avoid at all costs

We booked a cruise through 6*cruises to go to South Africa , within 5 days Azamara had cancelled 2 of the ports .” Making the trip more enriching and immersive giving more captivating memories.” This was decided on feedback from the previous season,
I have discovered that 5 major cruise companies are going to Maputo. The foreign office has no issues and the critiques are good
It is stated as an advantage to us not advantage to them. I have tried repeatedly to get them£500 back without success
I have now written to Christine Cabeza Azamara President , I felt she would like to here this complaint which has been shuffled from person to person without any satisfactory results

We booked a 2-cruise back-to-back package to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary through Azamaras agent Sovereign Cruises - who I have to say were brilliant throughout.
The Cruise was sold as Athens > Athens via the Holy Land & Athens > Istanbul via a number of Greek islands.
Less than 48 hours before sailing Azamara cancelled the Holy Land cruise and re-routed the ship covering many of the destinations that were already scheduled for the 2nd week.
Upon our objection to this action we were offered the opportunity to cancel for full refund - which we accepted.
That's when the trouble started.
Trying to get communication - and money - from Azamara was akin to trying to wring blood from a stone. When responses were made every excuse/lie in the book was used to procrastinate.
Thank goodness for our credit card payment and the Section 75 protection.
The refund was eventually made, 121 days after the cancel & refund offer was made - but it took my wife 86 - yes we kept count - emails & countless 'phone calls.
The travel agent, Sovereign, were brilliant and we'd definately use on a future cruise, but as for Azamara, I'd rather row a dinghy than go within a 100 miles of one of their ships.

Terrible company to deal with - no customer service at all and they just ignore you. Everything they do is geared around “up-selling” and getting more money out of you! Wouldn’t use again.

Our experience has been exceptionally professional throughout. All the Officers and Staff fully engaged with the guests throughout our World Cup cruise. Logistically there could be improvements, especially embarkation and anything else that is not necessarily in the direct instruction/control from the ship. We have heard of the World Cup guests complaining (understandably) but if you wanted to see a live match you should maybe have gone direct and not cruised when Azamara announced the changes. All games are shown live onboard and food and drinks supplied at each location.
Still 3 days left on this cruise and looking forward to everyone of them.
Again, Captain, Hotel Director, all senior officers and Cruise Director at hand, visible and approachable, even serving us food at Brunch and BBQ evenings. Cruised 50+ times with all major cruise lines and have not seen this attention to detail for years.
Improving the shoreside experience would have given the 5 stars,,,,

Very very poor customer service, would not recommend this company at all. Show no empathy for situations. Some staff need to go on a customer care course!