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Azamara Cruises

MV Azamara Journey

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Reviewed by: Clive Bassant
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: May 5, 2008
Itinerary: South Mediterranean

Ten months ago my travel agent offered me this cruise at a very good price, my friend, my parents and I decided to place a deposit. I left it to the very last minute before I committed our money, I was concerned at the initial negative reviews and well publicized start-up problems. After re-assurances from my TA that things had indeed improved and some very good recent reviews we went for it.

I'm so pleased we did, for my friend and myself this was cruise number fifteen, six of which were with Celebrity so we were eager to see how the cruise experience differed, if at all.

Embarkation was quick and efficient with wheelchair accessible transport waiting for us at the airport (I am a wheelchair user) after a short transfer we were onto the ship within a few minutes of arriving at the Port.

This was our first time on a R class ship so we were not quite shore what to expect, especially as she was quite a bit smaller than any other ship we had sailed on up till now. In the end we found her elegant, roomy and very comfortable. If you have sailed Celebrity you would probably describe the ship as a big floating Michaels Club. All public rooms were attractive, stylish while not being over fussy. Looking at some photos of her in her earlier days she seemed a little over the top and quite chintzy, I think they must have addressed this in the refurbishment as now their seemed to be more of a contemporary edge to her styling.

There is no real atrium as such, but you do get a two level reception area, the lower level comprises of Guest Relations, Captains Cub, Shore Excursions and a display area for jewellery and up scale gifts. From here there is a grand staircase to the second level where you will find the Cova Cafi, a few shops and a small entertainment area for the harpist and where the singing pianist performs of an evening. We had many a break here after getting back on the ship after our jaunt ashore. The coffee served at the Cova was good but as with Celebrity they carry a cover charge. On the plus side there was always savouries and pastries available at no charge, these were always delicious.

The main dining room was called Discoveries, a well lit elegant room with excellent sea views, when the blinds were open. The chairs were well padded and comfortable while tables were well set. I did feel some significant vibration at the rear of the room on one occasion, as well as feeling a bit claustrophobic when seated on one of the flanks where the tables were placed very close together. It also felt busy when full, with significant noise levels. Azamara operate freestyle dinning; we all know the concept by now, did I like it?

Well to be honest the jury is still out on that. I love the flexibility and the fact that we had a table reserved for us in Discoveries most nights, so we didn't have to wait like some others did. Some nights there was a bottleneck when for whatever reason passengers wanted to eat at the same time. On these occasions the service felt a bit rushed and a little disorganized.

The self service dining venue was the Windows Cafi, again at the stern on one of the upper decks. It also had great views. At the rear it had an alfresco dining area, one of my favorite areas on the ship.

The main entertainment venue was the Celebrity Cabaret Lounge, not large but room enough for the type of act normally seen on this type of ship. In fact the evening performance was usually repeated twice, which resulted in the second show lacking atmosphere due there not being enough people in the audience to fill the room. There were also occasions where the air conditioning was over-zealous making the room cold and quite chilly.

Overall the ship felt comfortable enough to look forward to returning to, after a hectic day ashore. I loved the sheer amount of glass used in its design as well as the general height of the public rooms giving a spacious airy feel. This is best exemplified sitting in the Looking Glass lounge, excellent views from floor to ceiling windows, sitting on comfortable club style seating or chesterfield style benches. This room also doubles as the location for the disco of an evening and a common haunt for receptions and more general meetings.

Of our cruises so far this has to be the best food yet and by some margin.

The food in the main dining room on some occasions compared quite favorably to other ships speciality restaurants. Not all meals were a raging success, on one occasion the lamb shank was more mutton, and on another occasion for some reason the sirloin was tough which was odd because for the rest of the time the steaks were of good quality. The menus were varied and well thought out. Soups and deserts were superb, which was a relief as some of the early criticisms were that deserts were unimaginative and tasteless, that certainly wasn't my experience.

Again the trend followed through to the Windows Cafi, food was varied and always tasty, and for the most part was nice and hot. I understand that the buffet area food is about to be put under review, although we were very satisfied with it as it was.

Of the two speciality restaurants onboard, Aqualina had the best ambiance, excellent service and food which easily warranted the slight cover charge. On the other hand we could not be quite so positive about the steak house PrimeC. A more contemporary feel to this venue where we had a late reservation for our meal. Due to slow service, buy the time we got to the entree we had lost our appetite and interest to be honest, having said that the food was ok.

The Service - Again truly excellent, all members of the crew, whatever their role they were polite, courteous and eager to help, with a cheery smile night and day. This I feel has lot to do with the hotel director Philip Herbert, hot foot from Crystal he knows his stuff, and if things carry on the way they are, service on this line will be hard to beat. There were a few issues though, my toilet blocked everyday for the first few days, and although we were very patient in terms of waiting for the problem to be permanently resolved, when I pushed the young man at guest relations and asked that it be fixed once and for all, I was met with a considerable degree of attitude. This was pointed out to the GR manager, after which the young man was politeness itself. In fact we were given another cabin which happened to be a considerable upgrade, so alls well that ends well.

I did hear a few moans from other passengers about the way their cabins were attended to, e.g. fruit not being replaced often enough etc, but we had no complaints and were very pleased with the unobtrusive service from the butler and assistant. Now to the much discussed question was the butler really a butler or a cabin steward, well he did everything we wanted, when we wanted, so to be honest we didn't care what he was called.

Cabins were comfortable being fairly standard in size with a decent amount of storage space, although the bathrooms did feel small. The beds were very comfy with hotel style furnishings and classy linen

Cruise Director Paul Grant was charming without being obsequious, obviously making an effort to get to know all the passengers talking to most on a one to one basis.

On the whole I felt the entertainment was very good, no big production shows, but then we are getting to the stage of seen one seen them all, so we were happy with what we were given.

In fact singer Paul Emmanuel and comedian/magician Chris Blackmore were great, managing to get a very hard to please audience whooping and cheering, no mean feat I can tell you. The Azamara singers were five very talented young people who performed three shows over the eleven night cruise. Although I felt they were as capable if not more so than others that we have seen, their material let them down a bit, not really engaging the mixed nationality audience as they might have done. All other entertainers were worth seeing, some more memorable than others.

Excursions- The usual issues of no provision of wheelchair accessible tours I'm afraid, but then this is an issue for RCCL excursions, not specifically Azamara. The excursions manager did make an effort to provide something, but this turned out to be a standard tour on a standard tour bus, having to be lifted bodily up the stairs by the tour escort and my friend. At least they tried to organize something. I have no real feedback for the quality and range of tours other than that.

THE GOOD

- Service
- Food
Itinerary- loved Slovenia ie Koper as well as Croatia.
- Local Tourist Information guides on board the ship to help the more independent traveller. A really nice touch.
- Good range of tv in the cabin, accessed by on demand type service.
- The upscale atmosphere of the ship-no kids.
- No queues.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

- No wrap around deck, also the sun deck was only accessed by stairs.
- The dress code was not adhered to in the main restaurant, it was meant to be resort or country club casual, a lot of passengers took that to mean DISNEY resort I think.
- Certain passengers giving off an air of sophistication by treating some of the wait staff like dirt. Again not exclusive to this ship.
- As the ship is older it is not ideal for people with mobility impairments, the doors leading to the outside decks are very heavy and the ramps have lips, which make them difficult to negotiate. With the assistance of my friend and the use of a lightweight wheelchair it wasn't a huge issue for me.
- The Azamara trio giving it large at sail away at the same time we were given the honour of a local youth brass band playing for us on the quay side at Koper.