Azamara Versus ?? for Small Ship Greek Isles

I have done a bit of reserach and am centering in on Azamara as my preferred option for a 7ish day Greek Isles intensive cruise for my family. We are 6 in total, with three mid-late teen (well behaved and relatively quiet/mature) kids, my wife, my active Mother-in-Law and myself. Wife and I will be mid 40's. We did only one cruise a long time ago...a low fare mega-ship when the kids were younger. We really didn't enjoy it too much (too crowded, bad food, etc.). But we are intrigued with trying this again on a higher end line now that the kids are older.

We are looking for a smaller ship, with great food and smaller ports, and we don't need a lot of shipboard entertainment. We like a more 'country club casual' feel, prefer flexible dinner seating, and we aren't big drinkers. We do like great food and I'd call us 'foodies', but do not require 'high end gourmet' for all of our meals. We would tend to strike out on our own more in the ports and would probalby limit our ship time to breakfast, dinner and sleeping...with some occassional sun-worshipping by the pool (for the girls).

Azamara seems to meet all of these desires, and is at a price point which is at about the upper spec limit for what we would want to pay.

I noticed that Windstar is starting to get into the game of powered yachts, and the price point seems to be similar.

Other than Windstar, should I be looking at any other options for this sort of feel? I have pretty much ruled out Oceania, Seabourne, Sea Dream, Crystal as too expensive, fancy, or not the right itineraries. Looks like Princess is getting out of the game on small ships with the sale or planned sale of their small ships. We want to stay with a ship that has fewer than 1,000 people on them.

Any recommendations on other lines we should look into before making our decision? Many thanks in advance!

Just noticed my typo on "Azamara" in the title. Not sure how that happened, and I tried to correct, but seems to still show the mis-type. Sorry about that!:confused:

Just noticed my typo on "Azamara" in the title. Not sure how that happened, and I tried to correct, but seems to still show the mis-type. Sorry about that!:confused:

I corrected the thread title for you.

We have taken our teenage boys on Azamara cruises twice - each for a week and one was around the Greek Islands. There is nothing organised for teenagers but they didn't mind at all and just loved the experience! ( Teenage boys with open access to delicious food all day.... What's not to like?!) From what you write, I would say that Azamara would suit your specification exactly. We love it and our boys are very envious that we are booked again- without them now that they are away at Uni!

I have done a bit of reserach and am centering in on Azamara as my preferred option for a 7ish day Greek Isles intensive cruise for my family. We are 6 in total, with three mid-late teen (well behaved and relatively quiet/mature) kids, my wife, my active Mother-in-Law and myself. Wife and I will be mid 40's. We did only one cruise a long time ago...a low fare mega-ship when the kids were younger. We really didn't enjoy it too much (too crowded, bad food, etc.). But we are intrigued with trying this again on a higher end line now that the kids are older.

 

We are looking for a smaller ship, with great food and smaller ports, and we don't need a lot of shipboard entertainment. We like a more 'country club casual' feel, prefer flexible dinner seating, and we aren't big drinkers. We do like great food and I'd call us 'foodies', but do not require 'high end gourmet' for all of our meals. We would tend to strike out on our own more in the ports and would probalby limit our ship time to breakfast, dinner and sleeping...with some occassional sun-worshipping by the pool (for the girls).

Azamara seems to meet all of these desires, and is at a price point which is at about the upper spec limit for what we would want to pay.

 

I noticed that Windstar is starting to get into the game of powered yachts, and the price point seems to be similar.

 

Other than Windstar, should I be looking at any other options for this sort of feel? I have pretty much ruled out Oceania, Seabourne, Sea Dream, Crystal as too expensive, fancy, or not the right itineraries. Looks like Princess is getting out of the game on small ships with the sale or planned sale of their small ships. We want to stay with a ship that has fewer than 1,000 people on them.

 

Any recommendations on other lines we should look into before making our decision? Many thanks in advance!

It goes without saying that I'm biased, but I definitely think you'll be happy on Azamara! If you're looking at Greece sailings this year, I believe there is still space. Check out our specials on our website. Some promotions expire tonight though.

Me again...here's a link to special offers on our voyages to Greece.

https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/int/great-values/competitive-cruise-offers

We certainly very much enjoyed our honeymoon last year to the Greek Islands - we had a great deal which certainly helped but we loved all the ports of call and staying longer in ports was fabulous!

It meant that we could really relax but still see all we wanted to see!

I have done a bit of reserach and am centering in on Azamara as my preferred option for a 7ish day Greek Isles intensive cruise for my family. We are 6 in total, with three mid-late teen (well behaved and relatively quiet/mature) kids, my wife, my active Mother-in-Law and myself. Wife and I will be mid 40's. We did only one cruise a long time ago...a low fare mega-ship when the kids were younger. We really didn't enjoy it too much (too crowded, bad food, etc.). But we are intrigued with trying this again on a higher end line now that the kids are older.

 

We are looking for a smaller ship, with great food and smaller ports, and we don't need a lot of shipboard entertainment. We like a more 'country club casual' feel, prefer flexible dinner seating, and we aren't big drinkers. We do like great food and I'd call us 'foodies', but do not require 'high end gourmet' for all of our meals. We would tend to strike out on our own more in the ports and would probalby limit our ship time to breakfast, dinner and sleeping...with some occassional sun-worshipping by the pool (for the girls).

Azamara seems to meet all of these desires, and is at a price point which is at about the upper spec limit for what we would want to pay.

 

I noticed that Windstar is starting to get into the game of powered yachts, and the price point seems to be similar.

 

Other than Windstar, should I be looking at any other options for this sort of feel? I have pretty much ruled out Oceania, Seabourne, Sea Dream, Crystal as too expensive, fancy, or not the right itineraries. Looks like Princess is getting out of the game on small ships with the sale or planned sale of their small ships. We want to stay with a ship that has fewer than 1,000 people on them.

 

Any recommendations on other lines we should look into before making our decision? Many thanks in advance!

Great question Grilljockey as we were questioning the same itinerary/ships. We just returned from a 10-night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Regent Navigator and are now planning for a cruise around the Greek Islands in 2016. I have contacted Azamara for a quote as their web site is somewhat difficult to navigate and I cannot find their full pricing menus for suites. From my investigative work thus far, Azamara has the best itinerary for the Greek islands. From what I have read in the reviews, Azamara service and food quality is comparable to Regent. We will see.