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Azamara drops 'Club Cruises' in rebranding, expands land programs

Azamara logo
Azamara Club Cruises is becoming, simply, Azamara, dropping 'Club Cruises,' and debuting a revitalized logo. The company is also rolling out many more land programs and with that emphasis came a reason for removing 'cruises' from the name.

The new logo features an open world symbol signifying infinite opportunities for world travel, with two artistic strokes representing land and sea experiences. According to Azamara, the left stroke signifies the Earth and the brand's expanded land explorations, and the right stroke represents the sea. The star signifies Azamara's namesake 'Acamar,' which means the brightest star in the southern sky, along with brand's 'north star'-like compass.

'Explore Further'

Azamara now offers more than 1,700 pre- and post-cruise land programs.

'Our passion for land has allowed our destination immersion programming to evolve over the past 10-years, from "You'll Love Where We Take You" to "Stay Longer, Experience More" to now "Explore Further" destination immersion,' President and CEO Larry Pimentel said. '... This is just the beginning. We expect our land programming to grow even more as we continue to augment our services. That said, it was a natural next step to take these custom-designed destination itineraries one step further on land and adjust our overall name and expand our strategy.'

Now available on every voyage starting in October and available throughout future deployments, Azamara will provide a variety of curated products to emphasize its 'Explore Further' identity through benefits such as longer stays, more overnights and night touring.

Collaboration with top tour operators

To ensure travelers receive first-class service delivered by a specialized independent team, Azamara has collaborated with some of the world's most renowned luxury travel companies, including Cox & Kings, which will operate over 75% of the land programming. Other renowned partners include Micato, PerryGolf, Aloschi Bros, COLTUR Peru and Furlong Incoming, among others.

From behind the scenes to exploring with locals, Azamara said its new selection of land programming will offer an extensive collection of experiences designed to take travelers deeper into the heart of local life, offering exclusivity and insider access from local guides and experts around the world. Programs of three to six nights are offered.

New cities

New cities include Amsterdam, Auckland, Bordeaux, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Callao, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Monte Carlo, Mumbai, Nice, Oslo, Papeete, Fremantle, Rio de Janerio, San Antonio (Chile), San Juan, Southampton, Stockholm and Sydney.

For example, from Oslo, participants will journey by train across one of Europe's highest mountain plateaus to Bergen. Detouring in Myrdal, they will board the Flåm Railway and experience stunning views of the seven fjords and mountains. From Bergen, a ferry will take travelers to Stavanger, where they can choose to hike Preikestolen, known as the 'pulpit rock,' or spend time at the Maritime Museum and the Norwegian Fish Canning Museum.

In Brazil, participants in a Pantanal safari will have the chance to spot jaguars, howler monkeys and black vultures. On the water, nature enthusiasts guided by an expert will delve into the diverse wetland biosystem, with boat trips in search of stingrays and giant otters.

New Zealand's majestic landscape is explored by railway and helicopter. Travelers will experience panoramic views of the Southern Alps, Waimakariri River and native beech forests while on a 139-mile journey aboard the South Island train, which connects Christchurch and Greymouth. By helicopter, they will fly above Tasman Glacier, New Zealand's longest glacier, before touching down on the snow in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, home to the region's highest mountains.