COVER STORY
Join The Club -
The Azamara Club T
A “baby boutique”
spin-off of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd,
Azamara Club Cruises has
rebranded itself as a five-star experience by
offering inclusive, value-added amenities, reports
Lauren Price
he re-launch was certainly impressive, with the company’s new message coming through loud and clear last April by way of some stem-to-stern inclusive services on
both the Journey and Quest. For instance, top-quality boutique red and white wines generously poured at lunch and dinner; bottled water, soft drinks and distinctive coffee drinks through- out the day; and gratuities for the housekeeping, dining and bar staff. Speciality coffees, perfect pastries and mini-sandwiches are now complimentary at the Mosaic Café (replacing the non-complimentary Cova Café), as are self-service washers and dryers and shuttle buses to centralised locations at most ports of call. To further compete with the “luxury big boys,”
Azamara upped the ante by no longer repeating itin- eraries on back-to-back sailings to encourage longer bookings, and added more overnights so passengers could get a truer sense of a destination in cities like Istanbul, St Petersburg, Bangkok, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong. Late night port depar- tures were also increased. For all intents and purposes, the transformation comes courtesy of president and CEO Larry Pimen- tel paying for an Azamara cruise out of his own
72 WORLD OF CRUISING I Autumn 2010
pocket before accepting the newly-created job, so as to get an up-close-and-personal experience. Finding fault and disappointment throughout, this cruise industry veteran accepted the job so he could create a brand based on what he calls four pillars: Destination immersion; extraordinary ser- vice; cuisine and wine; and wellness and vigour — all intended to give customers a lasting impression and create impressive word-of-mouth. At the helm since July 2009, Pimentel previously served as presi- dent, CEO and co-owner of SeaDream Yacht Club and president and CEO of Cunard and Seabourn. To find out if Azamara did walk the walk, I booked a cruise on the Quest and choose the July 2 itinerary, a 10-day sail from Athens to Istanbul, with stopovers in Nauplion, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Bodrum and Kusadasi. Blessed with perfect days of breezy sunshine and mostly comfortable temperatures, I joined my fellow convivial passengers (mostly 40 to 70-something, well-travelled Americans, Europeans and Austra- lians) and a fair amount of off-for-the-summer kids of all ages, who were all amazingly well behaved. Identical in size and shape to Oceania Cruises’ ships because they were all once part of the now-
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