Azamara reveals Alaska debut

Azamara Club Cruises has released its itineraries for 2019, including an entire programme dedicated to Alaska for the first time in the company’s history.

Operating 11 voyages in Alaska between 25 May and 4 September 2019, the company’s director of strategic itinerary & destination planning, Mike Pawlus, said Alaska had been added to the itineraries on the back of public demand.

The company will be running two 10-night Alaskan itineraries and one eight night cruise. Overall there will be 43 potential land and sea combinations as well as a partnership with Rocky Mountaineer available as a post-cruise option only.

“Alaska is the most requested destination that we don’t go to among our past guests,” Pawlus told Cruise Adviser. “With the trouble in the Black Sea and Turkey being more suspect in recent years, we decided to make the call for 2019.

“When you look at the big lines that have been going to Alaska for a number of years they do a seven-day itinerary that calls at Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway and that’s pretty much it. We’ll be going to the key ports but we’ll be calling at the secondary ports too, like Victoria and Haines, so it’s more in-depth, in keeping with our brand promise. We’ll be staying late in ports like Juneau, where we won’t leave until 11pm.”

Azamara also announced that it will be running nine country intensive cruises in 2019. Including four – Spain, France, Italy and Croatia – back-to-back.

“Our 2019 itineraries span the world with new ports and destinations such as Alaska and go deeper than ever before into local cultures with one-of-a-kind experiences that you can’t find through local tour services. We are confident that our growing number of first-time, millennial and baby boomer cruisers along with repeat customers, will find the new itineraries to offer the type of personalised and unique experiences they seek,” said Larry Pimentel, president & CEO of Azamara Club Cruises.

“With the new itineraries, we are continuing to build upon our Stay Longer, Experience More brand positioning, with more onshore opportunities that allow guests to connect with locals for enriching travel moments, on both land and at sea.”

Check back later in the week for a full interview with Mike Pawlus and Richard Twynam, Azamara’s managing director.