Is Azamara on the way up again?

Well it is for us...........Sorry this is a long review, there is so much we want to say!!

Having had a far less positive experience on Quest than we were used to in December 2015/January 2016, it is true to say that to some extent Azamara was very much “on trial” on our transatlantic cruise. So too was the concept of a transatlantic cruising, we were as a fellow cruiser put it “TA Virgins” on this trip. I have to report back that first I would book a transatlantic trip again in a heartbeat and secondly and more importantly, my faith in Azamara has been completely restored as a result of this cruise on Journey.

We were joining a ship that had recently been in dry dock and it is true to say, some snagging is still going on. We had a minor issue with a flooding bathroom – water was coming back up a floor drain, the issue only came to light when we were cruising in heavy swell and prompt investigation by the onboard team revealed something down the line was sealed that should not have been. I think this highlighted some of the underlying causes of some of the minor snags folks have reported – the designers were not necessarily 100% attuned to the fact that these rooms all moved a lot unlike hotel rooms and it was only when some of the movement was experienced that all the issues came to light. BUT these were minor inconveniences – nothing like the snags our new built house threw at us when we moved in.

To address another reported issue, yes there is no laundry room on Journey as at 20th April, the issue may take a time to resolve, it was explained to us by the Chief Engineer, the issue relates both to the safety levels now required of electric appliances onboard and also to new rules about height clearance to the ceilings from fixed appliances. They are working on the solution, their interim solution works very well especially if you are a Le Club Voyage member, we had one LCV free voucher each still plus, as we were on a 15 night cruise, two other opportunities based on our cabin number for a free bag of laundry, washed, pressed and returned in excellent condition. So all you needed to do when you first arrived was work out based on your needs the optimum days to use your LCV vouchers vs the free day. Could not have been fairer or better for us.

The reimagined ship is beautiful. OK they have not done wholesale structural changes and therefore in some areas people may be finding items they wanted to see “gone” still there but it was clear a lot of thought had gone into how to lighten and modernise the look whilst maintaining the charm of the vessel. There were so many lovely changes that had been made.

The room

We stayed in a Club Continent suite with a shower and the big chair/small chair plus dressing table chair. The room is a delight. There is so much storage space and much better shelving space in the bathroom. We do not travel light (something DH has regularly given me feedback on) and we did not use all the storage shelves in the wardrobe. One hint – to get best use out of the deep drawers use packing pouches for your types of clothes . I had my footwear/underwear separated into six pouches and it worked so well as I could stack them end on and made finding things so easy during the cruise. I think if you just put clothes into the deep drawers without some bags to aid organisation you might get frustrated.

In the bathroom, we were in very heavy swell three nights and nothing on the shelves moved or fell – there is a 15mm ridge on the edge and the shelves are deep. I did find reaching the back of the top shelf a challenge (I am 5’5”) but that was DHs shelf and I had loads of room on the other two plus the area beside the sink is wide enough for toothbrushes. The shelf underneath stored our empty wash bags and medications. So I cannot add my support to the previous reports of lack of space in this room.

In addition, there is really well lit large mirror over the dressing table and therefore I kept makeup in the less deep drawer there, ok no makeup mirror there so I might bring a small hand one in the future as the lighting there was much better than in the bathroom where there was a magnifying mirror.

The three chairs in the room is not an issue at all, still plenty space and I found the metal armed chair very comfortable. As the weather on a couple of days was too breezy to sit outside, it was no issue sitting in the two chairs both facing straight out to sea, something we could not have done with a sofa.

I would have preferred a power socket by the bed and would have preferred the other sockets to be easier to access, they are on the end of the vanity unit so you are tangling with the heavy curtains, particularly if you have to use convertor plugs as we Brits are, but I loved the USB chargers under the lights. Our TV functioned fully, complete with all the MDR menus for the cruise being displayed by the evening of Day 1 a great enhancement, our only issue is every day the TV dropped 10 degrees to the left – it was secure, just kept moving and so had to have a daily realign, not a big deal just a silly grr.

Elsewhere on the ship

I cannot list all the changes, all positive. I cannot find a single change around the ship I did not like. Little things like new signage make a huge difference. Two areas though I really wanted to highlight, the Patio and the Living Room.

The Patio is a lovely addition to the dining options and we visited it twice. We were on a transatlantic, so weather was much cooler, but the patio heaters worked well. The food was extremely well cooked, on a par with the MDR all served beautifully hot and delicious. Across our meals we had fish, beef, chicken and lamb and all were outstanding. The desserts are a little more limited, I love the frozen yogurts and toppings and for variety you can also nip into the buffet for a dessert from there, so we had key lime pie one night as it was the US themed buffet.

The Living Room has to be the biggest change, from being a “dead space” to being “the place to be” between 5 and 8. Lovely comfortable chairs, tapas available and a real buzz. Many people now go here for their pre dinner drinks. They also duplicate the Mosaic sandwiches up there during the day so we had lunch up there twice. We might have been up there more but being a TA the room was inevitably used a lot for other events, and also we had three days of real pitching and rolling and so were less keen to be up high up front then. (I did wonder how anyone would like the Spa suites in choppy weather, certainly not keen on their location or their smaller balconies as the space for the tub in the bathroom is at the expense of outdoor space).

Service and life on board

This was where Azamara won us back!

The crew were far more engaged and seemed far more assured in what they were doing and willing to help you in a way that was appropriate to you rather than follow a script.

What a delight to step on board and not be jumped on by upsell, upsell, upsell which was what happened on our last three Quest cruises. No one tried to tell me I needed a liquor package etc, there was a table selling the packages but the promotion was much more appropriate – a simple “are you aware of our liquor packages?” and when you said “yes...... but no thanks” that was accepted without question. Likewise, all the waiters on embarkation day concentrated on serving and clearing tables, so we were also saved from the ”seven speeches about speciality restaurants”. Several cruisers who had also been on Quest commented positively on this different approach – not sure if it is Journey specific or a new Corporate line.

We were highly critical of the included wines on Quest – what a difference three months made. There are new wines on Journey and we really enjoyed all of the ones we tasted. And the most important thing to report DRINKABLE ROSE IS BACK 

Every meal was really enjoyable and service was great. I think the supervision by the Managers, particularly Alex, Laze and Milan was really working so the whole process just flowed seamlessly. On reflection, that was what was wrong on Quest and on Journey, these guys have really got it. So much must be down to Heike though – her way of working – having her regular walk arounds makes seems to be far more structured, visible but discreet management and the guest really benefits from this “tighter ship”. The crew also seemed to be much happier.

It was our first sailing with Magnus since he became Captain and he is developing his own lovely relaxed style as he interacts with guests and was much more visible than Carl and Jose were –maybe because on each Quest cruise families were onboard, whereas Magnus was just concentrating on the driving and guest interaction and it did seem to make a difference.

Entertainment and Activities

Entertainment was very good with the exception of the comedian who seemed to have very little material and was struggling. It was lovely to enjoy the talents of Brooks Aehron and Gary Arburthnott again and to discover a new talent in Craig Halliday.

There were a lot of onboard activities being a transatlantic and the trivia events featured highly. We are not “into” being organised into quiz teams so did not take part, but others were having a lot of fun.

I did enjoy two activities onboard, the jewellery making classes run by the dancer Sasha were great fun despite “experts” sometimes trying to upstage Sasha who handed this very professionally and with great charm.

I also loved the water colour classes run by Diane who was a real treat to learn from. She did not try and “show off” her own undoubted talents but concentrated on ensuring all in the class had a sense of personal achievement in all they painted. Her husband’s organisation skills were great so you arrived at the class and everything was laid out on the side ready for you to collect – other art teachers on cruise ships could learn a lot from this couple!

Our only disappointment was that the Enrichment lectures were what we had hoped for – in terms of both subject matter and quality of lecturer. We gave up attending at the published time and tried to “get into them” on the TV (a nice feature of the interactive TV you now have a schedule of when the talks will be reshown) but we found one lecturer in particular far too theoretical and difficult to understand and the other one it was probably more the topic did not work for us. We would have preferred someone talking about mainstream topics such as world affairs, geography or even history, subjects that might have worked better for us.

So in conclusion, Azamara was back to the experience we knew and loved – and that was before we considered the fantastic enhancements that reimagination brought to the party.

Thanks, Ann. A great review. We are two months from boarding the Journey and this was very reassuring. :)

Thanks from me too. Journey sounds wonderful, and I'm so looking forward to October.

I am so glad that your Journey TA restored your faith in Azamara Ann.

The Living Room sounds fabulous and I can't wait to enjoy tapas and drinks there.

Not sure whether you ate in the MDR as you were in a CC suite but if so, did you notice whether the menus had changed a lot or were just tweaked?

Btw, completely agree about Laze. He is incredibly guest focused and was so kind to us on our last Journey cruise.

Welcome home.

I am so glad that your Journey TA restored your faith in Azamara Ann.

 

The Living Room sounds fabulous and I can't wait to enjoy tapas and drinks there.

 

Not sure whether you ate in the MDR as you were in a CC suite but if so, did you notice whether the menus had changed a lot or were just tweaked?

 

Btw, completely agree about Laze. He is incredibly guest focused and was so kind to us on our last Journey cruise.

 

Welcome home.

Yes we were in the MDR a few times. The Menus are as Bonnie and Andy posted a while back (with all the choices listed every night). The World Cuisine item follows the theme of the buffet, so for example on the Spanish night we had the choice of Paella and on the Indonesian night we had an additional Thai curry.

Thank you so much for the excellent review.

We are trying Azamara for the first time in October after many wonderful cruises on Oceania. The many recent negative reviews had us somewhat worried but you certainly helped us in that department.

It was great reading your review. We have always been fans of the Journey and took a break from Azamara after two "less positive" experiences on the Quest. Even a very detailed letter to customer service elicited no response. We just booked an Azamara cruise and we were trying to book the Journey......but, it is the Quest on the itinerary we chose.

We hope to experience all of the positive changes you experienced on your recent cruise.

Thank you UKtog for the wonderful review. We have always experienced this type of atsmophere on the Journey and unfortunately like you found the Quest to be quite the opposite. I really hope that this review may alert Azamara Miami to perhaps take note and alert the Azamara Quest Hotel Directors to some of the differences between the two ships. In reality there should be the same level of service on both the Quest and Journey. Perhaps Reimagine on Quest will resolve these things ? Let's hope.

Sharon

Thanks for the excellent review. We are on Quest in 3 weeks. I hope that post re-fit it is now as good as Journey !

Thank you for the review.

Ann, thank you for your review. It was great to spend time with you and Charles on this cruise. I agree that it was an excellent trip with wonderful staff and crew onboard. Journey never lets me down with a happy and well organised ship. You are correct. There are still a number of items to attend to now the ship has had its first few cruises. These will be attended to in Europe as I understand and sooner rather than later.

Phil

Thanks for your review Ann and I'm so glad that you and Phil both had a fab time on Journey. The Living Room sounds and looks great and I can't wait to try tapas there.

Personally speaking, Quest has always been my favourite ship and I don't think either of Quest's marvellous HD's need any lessons at all from the equally wonderful Heike. In my opinion both ships have the same great levels of service but Quest was my first "Azamara love" and has my heart.

Of course I do love Journey too, my last two great Az cruises have been on her. Aren't we lucky to have two such special ships to cruise on?

Yes we were in the MDR a few times. The Menus are as Bonnie and Andy posted a while back (with all the choices listed every night). The World Cuisine item follows the theme of the buffet, so for example on the Spanish night we had the choice of Paella and on the Indonesian night we had an additional Thai curry.

Thanks Ann, all sounds good

Hello Anne,

What a lovely recap of a fabulous cruise. As always you manage to encapsulate two weeks into a number of paragraphs ... magically giving the reader a real sense of 'being there'. Thank you! We loved meeting you and Charles again, enjoyed our lively and lovely conversations and look forward to ROM-DBX later in the year together. The ship, the journey, the Journey, the crew and the service were all First Class. We had a WONDERFUL cruise as well.

Personally speaking, Quest has always been my favourite ship and I don't think either of Quest's marvellous HD's need any lessons at all from the equally wonderful Heike. In my opinion both ships have the same great levels of service but Quest was my first "Azamara love" and has my heart.

Agree, Lottie.

Based on our experiences on Quest last July and again in October and November I don't think Azamara was ever anything but "up." Philip and Ryszard were their usual wonderful selves and Captain Jose was everywhere on all three cruises.

Journey's February 2016 cruises were equally good, and the comprehensive upgrades to the ship made things even better.

Thanks for your review Ann and I'm so glad that you and Phil both had a fab time on Journey. The Living Room sounds and looks great and I can't wait to try tapas there.

 

Personally speaking, Quest has always been my favourite ship and I don't think either of Quest's marvellous HD's need any lessons at all from the equally wonderful Heike. In my opinion both ships have the same great levels of service but Quest was my first "Azamara love" and has my heart.

 

Of course I do love Journey too, my last two great Az cruises have been on her. Aren't we lucky to have two such special ships to cruise on?

My first two cruises ever were on the JR but I found maybe due to knowing more crew i had more fun on the Quest. found the JR crew more formal and iwas not as relaxed.

I agree that the level of service is equally as good on both ships - superb!

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Thanks for your review, Ann. Sorry we did not meet on board. I've got a review published today in the review section of CC...same crossing. Best to you!

Thank you very much for your review (and I'll be heading over to Member reviews to check for new ones there as well) We're very excited for our first Azamara cruise on Journey at the end of November!

Thank you for your lovely and very positive review. Looking forward to our next cruise on Journey in March. Love both ships but like you, prefer Journey! Vera

Thank you, uktog, for the very positive review...it means a lot to us given your loyalty to Azamara Club Cruises over the years and your most recent unhappiness.

I have shared it with Capt Magnus and Heike, as well as Mr Pimentel and Mr Twynan.

It was a lovely cruise despite some choppy seas.

We had the pleasure of sharing the Chief Engineers table with you & your Husband.

Journey has always been our favourite ship mainly because of the wonderful crew.

What a wonderful, positive review. Thank you for taking time to post it.

I saw the picture Phil posted of the Living Room on FB....looks absolutely fantastic.

We've not been on the Quest so can't compare, but Azamara is our first love.

I saw the picture Phil posted of the Living Room on FB....looks absolutely fantastic.

That wasn't actually me who posted the photo on FB. I just photobombed it;). Living Room is a really nice space now.

Phil

That wasn't actually me who posted the photo on FB. I just photobombed it;). Living Room is a really nice space now.

 

Phil

Oops....thought it was you...maybe you were tagged in the photo?????