Stay Longer. Experience More
When Azamara Club Cruises brought its second ship, Azamara Journey, to New Zealand recently, the company announced an evolution of its position as the cruise line for discerning travellers. Known for its specialisation in Destination Immersion, Azamara unveiled its new, even stronger proposition: Stay Longer. Experience More.
“Within this evolved positioning, there are two powerful guest deliverables.” says Larry Pimentel, President and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises. “The first is we’re shifting from enabling our guests to immerse themselves in the destination, to delivering over one thousand new and existing destination experiences for guests to select from in over 70 countries,” he continued.
“These experiences provide the second powerful deliverable: one-to-one human connection. Our land product will be curated to ensure guests get to connect in a personalised and unique way with the people in the destinations they visit. This may occur through people to people interaction, cultural experiences, enjoying local food and beverages, music, events and so on,” Pimentel concluded.
With its two ships Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, the line’s enhanced brand position will continue to be grounded in Destination Immersion, including longer stays and more overnights, but will now go well beyond that. It is comprised of three pillars that collectively will provide an extraordinary experience on land and at sea: 1. Immersive Itineraries 2. Cruise Global, Connect Local
destination experiences 3. Boutique Hotels at Sea
1. Immersive Itineraries
Azamara Club Cruises pioneered Longer Stays and More Overnights so guests can make the most of a destination when it comes alive at night. The boutique brand continues to evolve and grow this standard of immersive itinerary, offering over 250 overnight and late night stays of 8pm or later per year – bringing the number of late night port calls to roughly 50% of all calls.
Curated itineraries bring the ships to exotic and marquee ports, and because of the line’s two ships’ intimate sizes, they are able to dock close to town centres.
Over 50% of the line’s ports are ports larger ships can’t visit.
Azamara will deliver experiences in over 200 ports worldwide in 2017 and 2018, 35 of which Azamara will be visiting for the first time.
Brand new for Azamara will be Country Intensive Voyages, which will allow guests to travel deeper and experience more of a given country, as the majority of the destinations are concentrated in one country such as Japan, Italy, Spain, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Croatia and more.
An expanded palette of World Events and Themed Voyages will be offered, including Monaco Grand Prix, the World Cup, British Open, the Venice Redentore Festival, as well as Wine and Yoga themed voyages with more to come.
2. Cruise Global, Connect Local
As part of the unveiling, the brand is also announcing Cruise Global, Connect Local - a series of land programmes designed to deliver personalised and authentic experiences, by day and night.
This umbrella programme includes land offerings ranging from a variety of shore excursion groupings such as Nights Local for nightlife experiences such as a guided visit to a theatre, local pub, or a cultural performance; and Meet Local, which offers immersive cultural experiences that connect guests to local people at their homes, farms and villas. Additionally there is Stay Local, which offers overland tours during the voyage and pre and post voyage experiences. And of course, Azamara’s popular complimentary AzAmazing Evenings Events will continue to bring the destinations’ local culture to life.
New Cruise Global, Connect Local experiences offered on Australia and New Zealand cruises include the following: A) Cruise Global, Meet Local: Akaroa Cooking School, Akaroa, New Zealand. Meet the incredible chefs at the Akaroa Cooking School who will introduce you to modern New Zealand cuisine. The culinary adventure begins at the School’s stunning location overlooking the ocean. Enjoy the chefs’ warm hospitality and sip a cup of coffee paired with freshly-baked pastries from the kitchen. Then, your team of chefs will take you step-by-step through your four-course menu. Sample the fresh ingredients of Banks Peninsula as you learn about the region’s unique flavours. Admire the catch of the day and other regional produce. Discover a selection of fruits and vegetables grown in the cooking school’s garden and learn new cooking techniques. Then, indulge in a four-course New Zealand meal paired with leading kiwi wines. Lonely Planet ranked the Akaroa Cooking School among the top 10 places in the world to learn how to cook local cuisine. B) Cruise Global, Taste Local: Local Flavours of Hobart, Hobart, Australia. Experience an immersive look at the culinary riches of Hobart on an exclusive tour limited to 12 guests and led by the ship’s Executive Chef. Join your Chef and a local guide at historic Salamanca Market in search of ingredients the day’s meals, where guests will learn how to pick the best local produce, before returning to the ship for lunch with your new friends (including the Chef). In the afternoon, regroup and join the ship’s Sommelier for a visit to the Shene Estate & Distillery. Enjoy an insightful look at the making of various spirits accompanied by a tasting of different varieties. Afterwards, it’s the main event – a private dinner on the ship prepared by your Executive Chef using ingredients from the morning’s market sojourn.