Azamara Cruises: Destination Immersion makes all the difference

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Azamara Club Cruises likes to market itself as the “uncruise cruise line”: unlike other cruise brands that focus primarily on the ship in their marketing and sales messaging, Azamara focuses on the destination. The company dubs this Destination Immersion, with longer stays, more overnights and night touring options. One hundred per cent of its voyages offer an overnight or late-night stay. Azamara pioneered the concept of offering guests the opportunity to stay longer in port and define late departures as 8pm or later and during overnight stays ships remain in port until at least 6am. In many ports, Azamara has extended stays of perhaps three days and two nights, for example, in St Petersburg, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Dubai, Bordeaux and more. Azamara’s longer stays give guests more time to travel deeper into the destination so they can make authentic connections with the people, places and things in the destination. Azamara recognises that a destination comes alive at night and lives by the idea that if a guest doesn’t experience a destination by night they really haven’t truly experienced the destination. AzAmazing Evenings This is one of the reasons why Azamara offers a complimentary AzAmazing Evenings event on all voyages of seven nights or longer. These bespoke cultural events can only be enjoyed on Azamara. To quote Larry Pimentel, President & CEO, “You can’t google these events” and the same can be said for its Nights and Cool Places and Insider Access tours. One example of an AzAmazing Evenings event is a sophisticated evening in operatic grandeur at the 18th-century Teatro Galdoni in Livorno with performances of Verdi, Puccini and other classical masterpieces. Another could be listening to the enchanting music of the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra during an exceptional evening of Russian culture. Or perhaps listening to a 12-piece string orchestra play classical music from the Odeon in Ephesus, a second-century outdoor concert hall. Insider Access Insider Access offers guests the opportunity to go inside the homes, farms, villas and businesses of local people. Guests may visit a monastery and have conversations with the monks who live there or enjoy a visit to the Lucca family villa in Tuscany or visit a New Zealand sheep farm to name a few. Nights and Cool Places Nights and Cool Places may find guests strolling through the sweeping vineyards of Santorini’s Sigalas Winery beneath a moonlit sky. Or they may be attending the 42nd Deauville American film festival in Honfleur, France or enjoying an evening walking through Amsterdam’s red light district. Overnight Adventurers For guests who wish to travel even deeper into the destination, Azamara offers Overnight Adventurers which occur during the voyage, but guests stay overnight on land. These tours allow guests to travel to landmark destinations like the Taj Mahal from Indian port cities. Another adventure may find guests traversing the dunes and wadis of Oman during a two-day excursion with overnight accommodations in a luxurious tent while being hosted by the local Bedouins. World Journey In 2018, Azamara will offer its first World Journey, bridge to bridge Sydney to London. The cruise is 102 days in duration, visits 60 ports in 29 countries, includes 18 late-night and 12 overnight stays and offers eight AzAmazing Evening events.

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