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Azamara Club Cruises’ Introduces New Insider Access, Nights and Cool Places Programs, Adding to Immersive Experiences

February 14, 2014

Azamara Journey 2

In much the same way as it transformed cruising by offering up-market guests longer stays and more overnights on nearly all of its voyages, Azamara Club Cruises is once again evolving its Land Discoveries shore excursion program with two new offerings aimed at culture-seekers. Beginning with the 2014 Europe season, guests searching out a more in depth, personalized destination experience can choose from two exclusive programs that will immerse them in a destination through its people.

The first program, Insider Access, features exclusive invitation into the ancestral home, workshop or place of business of a local insider. It allows guests to actively engage with knowledgeable individuals who will share colorful stories and historic tales of their home destination on a personal level.

The second, Nights and Cool Places, makes the most of Azamara’s longer stays in port and overnights with an intimate night touring program. These custom after dinner experiences give guests exclusive opportunities to visit world-famous museums after hours, such as Malaga’s Picasso Museum; sip cocktails at a local hot spot, such as Rio de Janeiro’s Scenarium; or take a stroll on an intimate guided architectural walk – all with a local guide.

“Azamara Club Cruises offers our guests access to the nightlife of captivating places worldwide by creating voyages with the unique ability to stay at port well after other ships have departed, and often overnight,” said Larry Pimentel, president and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises. “This access allows travelers to engage, explore and discover a culture when it is at its most vibrant. The demand for immersive experience is such that we developed two new, intimate shore excursion programs to provide our guests with an insider’s perspective that, not only connects them to local environments, but that will stimulate their mind and senses.”

Azamara and its two intimate boutique ships are known for their hand-crafted voyages which discover the world through lesser-known and less traveled ports of call. Guests of the up-market cruise line are often port collectors looking for their next adventure to add to the collection.

Through these new Land Discoveries programs, Azamara is curating these sought-after collectible moments for its guests. For example, as part of the new Insider Access program, guests calling at Haifa, Israel, can step into the home of a Druze family for a hands-on cooking workshop. While the meal is being prepared guests will get insight to the secret religion, tradition and culture of the Druze people who have inhabited the holy for hundreds of years.

Both of these new programs continue to build on Azamara’s promise of destination immersion to its guests. The Insider Access program creates an intimate group of eight to 12 curious and adventurous guests and provides them with access to the people of a destination, while the Nights and Cool Places program will offer 15-20 guests exclusive access to some of the world’s best known sights.

For example guests sailing an Asia itinerary can sign up for a night tour to view Hong Kong’s famous Symphony of Lights from the Sky Terrace at the Peak following a tram ride offering incredible panoramic views.
The Insider Access and Nights and Cool Places programs will be available for booking beginning late March. For a full list of Land Discoveries shore excursions visit http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/landdiscoveries.

Intimate Ships

On board the intimate Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, guests receive exceptional and personal service and the cruise line’s authentic, exclusive and bespoke AzAmazing Evenings events that showcase the unexpected colors and flavors of a destination. Guests also enjoy fine cuisine and boutique wines from around the world, as well as more inclusive amenities, such as included gratuities; complimentary bottled water, sodas, specialty coffee, and teas, as well as complimentary boutique wines, international beers and select standard spirits in the ships’ bars, lounges and restaurants when open; complimentary self-service laundry; English Butler service for suite guests; and shuttle transportation to city centers in ports, where available.

For more information, call your travel professional, dial 1-877-999-9553, or visit http://www.AzamaraClubCruises.com. Connect with Azamara Club Cruises on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AzamaraClubCruises, on Twitter @AzamaraVoyages or follow President and CEO @LarryPimentel.

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Tags:Azamara Club Cruises, Azamara Cruises, cruising Europe, immersive cruise experiences, Royal Caribbean International
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Azamara Club Cruises Offer ‘Azamazing’ Cultural Evenings on 60 Destination-Immersive Voyages for 2014

February 6, 2014

Azamara Journey

Azamara Club Cruises believes that destinations are more than just geography, but rather the sights, sounds and tastes of a region. With its 2014 AzAmazing Evenings (http://tinyurl.com/mpqh675) program on more than 60 voyages, the cruise line is providing guests the opportunity to further their vacation by enjoying an exclusive, authentic and cultural evening event. Whether enjoying a private, three-tenors performance, set in a 19th century opera house in Livorno, Italy, or joining in a local Burmese festival, guests will find themselves immersed and living the culture rather than just seeing it during a brief visit.

Building upon its carefully crafted itineraries that coincide with major world events, the cruise line simultaneously crafts AzAmazing Evening events that reflect those moments. For example, during Azamara Journey’s “Past to Present: Normandy 70 Years Later,” (http://tinyurl.com/oh7x2bf) guests will be treated to an AzAmazing Evenings event of a D-Day Liberation Party at Cherbourg – exactly 70 years to the day that the landings took place. Later in the year, guests sailing Azamara Journey’s “A Southern Hemisphere Holiday,” (http://tinyurl.com/dxlsze9) will enjoy a Plataforma 1, one of Rio de Janeiro’s leading samba show houses to see samba’s 500-year history come to life in an eye-popping show, complete with caipirinhas, Brazil’s national cocktail.

These signature events are complimentary and held once a voyage, typically ashore during the evening. On select voyages, the sights and sounds of a region are transferred onboard, where the ship serves as a backdrop for an evening of cultural immersion. For example when calling at Safaga, Egypt, guests will experience an Egyptian Moulid. This festival is part carnival and part mystical celebration, and includes ritual dancing, chanting, whirling dervishes and circus performers.

AzAmazing Evening events cover a breadth of activities including night access to some of the world’s best-known sites such as Ephesus; St. Michael’s Cave at the Rock of Gibraltar, or the Chateau Giscours in Bordeaux. Travelers can narrow down their voyage by destinations or choose a voyage with an event that will add to their experiential portfolio.

“Since its launch, our AzAmazing Evenings program has been incredibly well-received and is providing discerning travelers unique, tailor-made experiences at intriguing destinations around the world,” said Larry Pimentel, president and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises. “Our guests look for experiential opportunities – they already come to us because we are providing longer stays and more overnights at fascinating destinations. But now after extensive research and collaboration we have created custom experiences that allow our guests to experience a destination in a way they may have otherwise never experienced – from interacting with locals at a street party or by offering them private access to world-renowned sites such as Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum.”

For a full list of Azamara Club Cruises’ 2014 AzAmazing Evening events visit, http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/AzAmazingEvenings.

Azamara Club Cruises offers distinct destination-immersive experiences for up-market travelers. The cruise line features voyages with longer stays and more overnights at ports to provide guests the opportunity to experience night touring at some of the most compelling destinations of Europe, Asia, South America, West Indies, as well as Central and North America. On board the intimate Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest, guests receive exceptional and personal service and the cruise line’s authentic, exclusive and bespoke AzAmazing Evenings events that showcase the unexpected colors and flavors of a destination. Guests also enjoy fine cuisine and boutique wines from around the world, as well as more inclusive amenities, such as included gratuities; complimentary bottled water, sodas, specialty coffee, and teas, as well as complimentary boutique wines, international beers and select standard spirits in the ships’ bars, lounges and restaurants when open; complimentary self-service laundry; English Butler service for suite guests; and shuttle transportation to city centers in ports, where available.

For more information, travelers can call their travel professional, dial 1-877-999-9553, or visit www.AzamaraClubCruises.com. Connect with Azamara Club Cruises on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AzamaraClubCruises, on Twitter @AzamaraVoyages or follow President and CEO @LarryPimentel.