Excellent ship and outstanding service and food.
Ship was excellent. Beautifully appointed with outstanding service and food.
We had a very enjoyable 16 day cruise from Miami to Lima via the Panama Canal. It was our first Azamara voyage and we were impressed by the relatively small ship with an excellent passenger (530) to crew (400) ratio. The crew were extremely friendly and could not do enough for us. We had a successful bid for a cabin upgrade to balcony at a very reasonable price. Food, cleanliness, service and entertainment onboard were superb and we cannot recommend Azamara Onward highly enough. The one disappointment was the shore excursions which were very overpriced. The onboard team, although pleasant enough, did not know enough about the trips to answer any of our questions. We did book three of the ship's excursions to have the security of not being left behind if there were delays. These were enjoyable although value for money was questionable. The ship did put on free shuttle buses to the centres of Guayaquil, Trujillo, and Miraflores(Lima) but these were not announced until the day before. Free cancellation for ship tours ended 48 hours before each visit. Had the free shuttle buses been announced earlier, many people could have got much better value by not booking or cancelling some ships tours and using the shuttles. On leaving the ship airport shuttles were offered for $61 per person for a 15 minute drive departing around 0800. We had a 2115 flight so opted to go to a hotel. Although the ship provided transport to the port gate (taxis were not allowed in because of the political situation) it was considered dangerous as official and unofficial taxis vied for our trade. We did get a safe ride to the hotel which was not far from the airport - the fare was only $10 each. If the ship could provide free shuttles on the penultimate day to Miraflores (2 1/2 hour round trip) - we did wonder why there was no free transport on the final day..
We had a grand time; nothing was to much trouble for staff. I think they where great to see us only half the passengers' on board waiters and bar staff very polite and after day knew what you wanted to drink. We had breakfast in the room and it was great to sit on the balcony. HAPPY DAYS.
