Azamara Quest New Suites Debut After Oct 2026 Drydock

Published on Jan 15, 2026, 11:49 am CST

5 min read

Key points

Azamara is investing $80 million in a fleetwide refurbishment program called Azamara Forward
Azamara Quest enters drydock October 31, 2026, and returns to service in late November with a new Penthouse Deck and 12 new suites
Azamara says the first Azamara Forward sailing on Quest is scheduled for December 18, 2026
Chef's Table becomes a dedicated venue and Atlas Bar rolls out fleetwide alongside broader stateroom and public space refreshes
Azamara Onward is slated to be next for Azamara Forward work in 2027, with Journey and Pursuit timing to follow

Impact

Which Sailings Change Most: Azamara Quest departures after December 18, 2026 are the clearest cutoff for the new suites and refreshed venues
Suite Availability Pressure: Only 12 new suites are being added on Quest, so high demand dates will likely sell out first once pricing and inventory are live
Onboard Experience Shifts: Fleetwide Atlas Bar and a dedicated Chef's Table venue change dining and late evening flow versus the current layout
Planning Buffers: Drydock windows can move, so travelers with late 2026 and early 2027 sailings should watch for itinerary or ship assignment updates
Best Booking Strategy: If the new suites or redesigned spaces are the reason you are booking, choose post refresh sailings and lock in cabins early

Azamara Cruises has announced Azamara Forward, an $80 million program to refresh its four ship fleet, starting with Azamara Quest during a late 2026 drydock that includes adding an all new accommodation deck. Travelers booked on Quest in late 2026 and 2027, plus anyone shopping for suites on Azamara's small ships, are the most directly affected because the project adds new cabin inventory and reworks several signature public spaces. If you are deciding between sailings, confirm whether your departure is before or after the December 18, 2026 relaunch date, and book early if you want the newest suite categories because the added capacity is limited.

The headline change is a new Penthouse Deck on Azamara Quest with 12 new suites, two Panorama Suites, plus ten Grandview Suites, created by adding a new deck forward above the bridge area while keeping the existing open air Sun Deck above it. Azamara has positioned this as a demand driven move for more top end accommodations, and it is also signaling that the ship's refresh is timed to roll into the line's 2027 world cruise marketing cycle.

Across the wider fleet, Azamara Forward includes refreshed stateroom soft goods and furnishings, plus redesigned and reconfigured spaces intended to modernize the onboard flow without changing the line's destination immersion positioning. Azamara also says its Atlas Bar concept will be introduced fleetwide, and that Chef's Table will become a dedicated venue rather than being hosted inside an existing restaurant footprint.

Who Is Affected

Guests booked on Azamara Quest around the late 2026 yard period should pay close attention to any schedule, itinerary, or ship assignment adjustments tied to the ship being out of service for the work. Even when cruise lines publish firm drydock windows, yard schedules can shift for technical reasons, which is why late 2026 and early 2027 bookings on the ship merit extra monitoring.

Travelers choosing between Azamara's four ships, Azamara Journey, Azamara Quest, Azamara Pursuit, and Azamara Onward, should treat Azamara Forward as a rolling standardization project. Quest is first, Onward is expected next in 2027, and the remaining ships follow later, so the onboard experience may diverge by ship for a while even within the same brand. That matters if you are booking for a specific venue layout, late night bar rhythm, or suite category rather than simply for itinerary.

Travel advisors and independent planners should also note the second order effects that come with a major refit cycle. When a ship enters drydock, capacity temporarily disappears from the market, which can lift prices on comparable sailings and tighten availability on nearby dates, especially for popular cabin categories. Then, once the ship returns, the new suite inventory and redesigned premium experiences can pull demand toward post refresh sailings, changing which departures sell out first and which promotions are most likely to appear.

What Travelers Should Do

If you are already booked on Azamara Quest for late 2026 or early 2027, start by confirming the ship's published return to service and whether your cruise is marketed as pre refresh or post refresh. If your booking matters because of a specific cabin, ask your advisor or the line to confirm whether your stateroom category is unchanged, and whether any venue changes alter your dining or lounge preferences.

If you are deciding whether to rebook, use a simple threshold. Rebook when the new suite categories, the dedicated Chef's Table venue, or the refreshed spaces are core to your trip, and your sailing is not clearly after December 18, 2026. If the itinerary and port schedule are the main reason you are traveling, and your cabin type is not impacted, it can be reasonable to wait, but only if your reservation is protected by terms that make a later change affordable.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours, watch for the practical booking details that change decision making, including when the Panorama and Grandview Suites appear in live inventory, how they price relative to existing suites, and whether Azamara publishes more exact yard timing for the rest of the fleet. Also watch for any updated deck plans and venue location diagrams, because small layout changes can materially affect noise, foot traffic, and how quiet certain stateroom corridors feel at night.

Background

A drydock is essentially a scheduled period in a shipyard where a vessel is taken out of passenger service so crews can complete maintenance and major construction that cannot be done while sailing. That can range from routine hull and systems work to full interior rebuilds, and, in the case of Azamara Quest, structural work to add a new accommodation deck forward.

For travelers, the operational ripple is straightforward. First, the ship is removed from the schedule, which can force itinerary reshuffles, capacity reductions, or occasional ship swaps if the brand has alternatives. Second, once the ship returns, the new product changes onboard behavior, dining reservations and demand patterns shift when a new signature venue is added, and premium cabins can sell out earlier because the market treats the refreshed ship as the preferred option for a period.

Azamara is framing Azamara Forward as a modernization effort that preserves the brand's small ship ethos while updating the physical product, with Quest's new deck and suite categories as the marquee addition. If you are comparing Azamara against other upper premium small ship options, this is the kind of investment that can matter most in the cabins and lounges you actually use every day, not just in headline itinerary maps.