Azamara Onward - John and Nat, better together Travel

[@joyceknight2371]

Fabulous trip. Enjoyed watching.

[@Beemerider]

Thanks so much!!! I hope this video goes over well.

[@lisakelcher7889]

Fantastic ! Love the smaller ship experience. Thought I’d never take a cruise but this looks amazing !! Thanks for sharing ❤

[@Beemerider]

Thankyou Glad you enjoyed. be sure to share for us!

[@nburk4708]

Well done, John and better half! Really enjoyed watching.

[@LaniSchneider-v8l]

We were part of the World Voyage group cruising on the Azamara Onward. We left Fort Lauderdale 1/5/2024 and ended our trip in Barcelona 6/9/2024. It was a fabulous experience on a wonderful ship. Sure, there are always a few pre-trip bumps, but once you board the ship, you can relax and enjoy the experience. One of the strengths of Azamara are the crew members. Crew members are treated well and work hard to ensure you have a good travel experience. At the end of a long day off the ship, it is wonderful to be greeted with "welcome home" when you return. This was our first Azamara trip, and we have already booked another trip in 2025!

[@Beemerider]

That cruise sounds amazing. And you are right. there are always little things but as an overall. this cruise line really is a hidden gem. Thanks so much for watching. Safe Travels!

[@utmngulal]

I really love it!

[@Beemerider]

Yay, thank you!

[@stephjackson1982]

Really interesting video, thank you 😊

[@Beemerider]

So nice of you. Thanks for watching!

[@JoJoMarks-p9l]

What a great vid! Looks like such an amazing trip :D

[@Beemerider]

Fantastic thank you for watching and commenting! feel free to share as always ;)

[@Moroccanroller1]

Nice work overall with the balance of the itinerary destinations and ship coverage. When was this trip actually since at the 28:17 mark there is a subtitle about the line being in ownership transition which actually occurred in 2021 and the Onward was added after that around May 2022. We had an exceptional experience on the Quest in Nov 22 and found none of the adjustment issues also purported by others especially following Covid.and return to sailings. Looking forward to more of your cruise adventures!

[@Beemerider]

the actual tradition of ownership came into effect in 2023 and from what I understand, on the specific day that the transfer took effect, the Royal Caribbean original parent co. basically switched off the web site and all of the info about every booking following that date went into the ether. that's the basic understanding we have. anyway, the cruise was End of Sept into October 2023. Thank you for watching! and safe travels!

[@Moroccanroller1]

@@Beemerider the lost bookings sound like an absolute disaster. Did not know that. I trust everything is better and back to normal now.

[@msears101]

People considering Azamara, note that when you sign up for a tour through the ship ask if you will join other groups. Part of the advantage of small ship cruising is not be treated like cattle. It is a shame when you take the small bus to join the lager bus. You lose some of the magic of small ship cruising.

[@Beemerider]

I agree with what you are saying for sure. I had not actually considered that the larger bus might be multiple tour groups. I assumed we were all from the ship and in this case, I think it was all from the ship. I think it was the general busy nature of the attraction that we found was the situation at every attraction in Italy. Good point though it may be worth asking how many are on the excursion etc. Thanks so much for watching

[@msears101]

@@Beemerider I suspect that the new owners made the change. The new owners are a private equity firm. I have only once ever did a "cruiseline" tour, and it was because you could not get off the ship otherwise. But usually I hear from other passengers on small ship cruise lines that the group size is small and they complain when they are merged. I normally do my own thing in port. It is a well done video. I am considering an ocean crossing on the Azamara Onward and wanted an updated perspective. Thanks for the great video. I have not been on this boat since Azamara bought it. I have been on it, when it was the Pacific Princess. I took it from Los Angeles to Sydney. If like small ships, try some of the other brands. I think right now Azamara is the best value in this segment.

[@Beemerider]

@@msears101 Amazing. I'm glad it helped and you enjoyed. I think they really are trying, and the stafff is great. I think the issue is the customer service before and after if there are still issues. I hope they can get those last few things banged out because you are right. Best Bang for the buck in this sector for sure. All the best and please share thanks!

[@michaelgore115]

We prefer smaller ships so IF you are to compare Azamara and Celebrity is the price difference worth it and what is your preference - reason for asking is that service is rumoured to go down on Azamara after Covid - keep up the good work

[@Beemerider]

Our Celebrity cruise was in 2018 so not really a fair cost comparison. However I can say that our cruise for the 2 of us was under 6k CAD. (almost exactly the same we paid for the cruise on Reflection in 2018. this included $900 USD of OBC. That said, I don't believe you could book the same Azamara cruise or any cruise for the same rates as when we booked a year and a half ago. Overall, I feel that celebrity cruise was impressive for us since it was our first cruise and we felt the specialty dining was better at that time on celebrity. The Azamara food was all Good to very good with a reasonable selection. If you are vegetarian I would hands down suggest Azamara. Very different experiences though and we much prefer the Azamara feel with the lack of lines and waiting. Hope this helps

[@michaelgore115]

@@Beemerider Thank You so much for your informative reply - highly appreciated ! keep up the good work ;)

[@margaritapeloso1150]

Hi John. A friend from Munster just shared your link. Can I post and use - I work for Azamara.

[@Beemerider]

Amazing! My home town. And yes, I can't see a reason why you shouldn't share it. I hope you enjoyed it! share away! We are really hoping to grab new subscribers.

[@Beemerider]

I should add the music is only licensed for my channel so sharing the link would probably be the only method for the time being. thanks again

[@margaritapeloso3337]

@@Beemerider Are you no longer in Munster? I will share - curious what is your background - are you working in travel or just a hobby youtuber?

[@Beemerider]

@@margaritapeloso3337 Hi again, I was raised in Munster. and visit Family there often. In fact will be very soon if you are a Munsterite. I am in Audio Post production. So basically I do sound for TV shows like Master Chef Canada, all the Holmes Family construction shows etc. Basically, lifestyle programming for Canadian and US networks. So yes I have a background. I/we have done the KZbin thing as a way for our aging parents (and Friends, and now a couple subscribers) to have a way to experience our travels. And it is a fun Hobby. Ideally, we would like to grow our viewership so we can monetize to travel more and make more videos. This video has been doing well. fingers crossed we can keep it up. I'm cutting the next episode now which picks up in Venice. Nathalie was ill so I Basically spent a couple days walking around doing demos for Travel Photography so hopefully our viewers will learn something. ;) If you have a chance to dig into the channel, the Ireland 13 episodes was my first real story telling stuff and explains how it all started after recovering from a heart attack during the Pandemic. Anyway, I'm happy you are interested. I'd love to hear more about what you do for the Cruiseline. If you are able to, feel free to reach out to my email address on the channel to keep personal stuff to a min.

[@user-nr4df1eo4u]

I would NEVER travel on Azamara again. We went on an Azamara ship pre Covid and had already booked another when Covid hit so the cruise got cancelled and we got a refund an a future cruise credit. Azamara was then sold. We booked to go this year and received notification that we had the cruise credit and a promotion giving us $300 shore excursion credit, free Wi Fi and enhanced drinks package. When we tried to book a shore excursion through our travel agent we were told we only had the $300 dollar on board but nothing else even though we had it in writing. We cancelled the cruise and have written twice to Azamara to complain but have heard nothing.

[@Beemerider]

Yes that's totally unfortunate. The issues I talk about near the end were from the same time I think. And to this date, we still have not been recognized for our previous status on Royal Caribbean/ Celebrity. We were told that our status would move across to Azamara after the sale. however one that was done, they simply just never responded and calling would only connect with a person that has no control over that. Like I said, there were and could still be issues however. once we were on the ship. we did have a lovely time overall. Thanks for the comment and good luck wit future travels.

[@user-nr4df1eo4u]

Thank you for your reply.We still have heard nothing from Azamara. It is this arrogance and lack of customer care that made us so angry.. Hope your next travel experience is more positive. Loved the vlog.