Azamara Journey Review 17th September 2011 - France and Italy for 7 nights

[excitedofharpenden]

I’ve just returned from a 7 night Azamara cruise on Journey and wanted to write a review based upon my experience on the ship and compare it in part to Celebrity with whom I’ve cruised with a number of times. For this reason I am posting on the Azamara and Celebrity boards as it may be of interest to both. Just a word of warning. If you are reading for port/excursion ideas or views on the entertainment then skip over as this was more walking off the ship in the morning and having a stroll r & r time. I haven’t been to a show in years! Apologies if I have waffled on the rest of it.

 

I booked the cruise that included flights and hotel accommodation in Nice the day before and the overall experience including transfers was very good. Good hotel and seamless transfers to the ship. I’ve done Celebrity transfers before, but because of fewer passengers this was better.

 

Azamara Journey doesn’t perhaps have the “wow” factor of the Celebrity ships, especially the S-Class. Rather they are very smart smaller boutique hotel in style as compared to a larger resort. This was immediately evident when boarding. No atriums. No large deck spaces. No Lawn Club. You could look down the stateroom corridor and see from one end of the ship to the other. What a novelty! I really liked the feel.

 

I had a balcony cabin, 7096. Toward the aft of the ship it was in a very handy spot for the aft staircase and being middle deck it was two flights down to the dining room and two flights up for the Windows Cafe. If you are planning on getting exercise walking off the food (which I’ll talk about later) you won’t get much on Journey! Everything is very accessible and I liked that very much.

 

The cabin itself was nicely appointed and whilst smaller than an equivalent balcony room on the S-Class or CC cabin on the M-Class it was fine. The shower is smaller because in fitting it in the space it tapers a little, rather than being oblong as it is on Celebrity. It was all very well set out though. Friend Helen's parents had a Sky Suite Cat N1 and that was spacious with a good sized tub.

 

Public areas are nicely furnished. The loungers are more comfortable than they are on Celebrity and are nicely padded with a towel cover fitted over each one. I fell asleep for two hours on the Promenade Deck one afternoon and I have never done that on a Celebrity lounger. There are also some very comfy seats under cover on the pool deck and the wicker chairs outside at the aft cafe area work well too.

 

I did miss the Lawn Club. It is so nice to sit up there overlooking the grass, having a putt or a game of bocce. I also missed the larger Sunset Bar from the M-Class, but more especially the S-Class where there is more cover and sofa seating. On Journey you had to keep your eyes peeled more readily for a seat outside, but we always seemed to manage it going to lunch at 1pm.

 

OK, the food. I wasn’t sure what to expect here and went with an open mind. I have to say that I found it quite a step up from Celebrity. The buffet wasn’t as extensive in its offerings, but then with the space it couldn’t be. It was however none the worse for it and there was always a good variety of delicious food there. The main dining room food was on par with the Specialty Restaurants on Celebrity, but of course with a daily change in menu there was more variety. The waiters had much more time to converse and it wasn't as frenetic as it is on the larger ships. There were some really delicious menu items in the MDR. I went to Aqualina twice and Prime C once. They are the Specialty Restaurants on Azamara and didn’t disappoint. We had memorable meals in all of them, particularly Prime C and Aqualina on the second visit. Not a lot better than the Specialty Restaurants on Celebrity, but they had the edge.

 

Service everywhere was excellent and the staff seemed very happy. There are just too many to mention all here, but our waiter Carmo and assistant Gomer who served us a couple of times in the main dining room were outstanding. Monico in Aqualina is a character and very good at his job. Mehmet in the aft bar looked after us very well. Farieda who boasts the longest title on the ship that I can’t remember, but includes helping book future cruises and Le Club Voyage Hostess was ever present, friendly and helpful.

 

The officers were also visible, including Scott Daniels, the Hotel Director for this cruise and of course Captain Johannes although I didn’t get a chance to speak to him. Tony Markey was the CD. I was fortunate to be invited to dine at the Staff Captain Thomas Roth’s table one evening along with Guest Relations Manager Nikki Denyer and six other guests and we were treated very well all had a very enjoyable evening with good conversation.

 

I am going to put down a few bullet points and comparisons whilst I remember them:

 

• I was concerned the ship not being of the more modern “pod” design would be noisy and vibrate a bit. It was very smooth, even in the cabin I was in which was toward the aft. The ship has bow thrusters, but no stern thrusters. It just uses rudder and propeller at the aft. I didn’t feel a thing when we docked.

• We hit some rough weather between Nice and Corsica that had us on a changed itinerary and even though the seas were up to 15 feet Journey handled things very well I thought. We pitched, rolled and yawed which felt a bit like a washing machine for a bit, but was never uncomfortable.

• I preferred the Looking Glass room to the equivalent observation lounges on Celebrity. They are smaller of course, but more intimate with a single deck ceiling and comfy club style chairs. I always find those spaces on Celebrity are a bit barn like and don’t go there much. We went to Looking Glass a few times.

• The included wine with lunch and dinner was poured generously. I learned my lesson the hard way one afternoon and took better notice after two paracetamol were required at 5 in the afternoon.

• I liked the fact we tendered or docked so close to everything and Portofino, Calvi and Sanary sur Mer are all beautiful places and not spoiled by lots of visitors. I was really quite happy just strolling around off the dock or tender and soaking in the atmosphere.

• The music was much mellower on Azamara and quieter too. The harpist in the Martini Bar was a nice touch and harked back to the Specialties on Celebrity when I first started cruising.

 

I loved this cruise much more than I thought I would. The ship is beautiful and the staff and food first class. It can’t compete on the variety of activities that there are on the larger ships, but if you are looking for something where you can comfortably sit and read or rest up and entertainment and shows aren’t your number one priority then perhaps you should take a look. Then of course it does go to some less accessible places that are interesting to visit and there are only 700 other passengers onboard. As I said this was an r & r trip for me and was perfect. I missed some of the venues from the larger ships and the cabin and balcony weren’t as big as I’m used to, but that was really about it.

 

In summary and this might be controversial, but in an attempt to put my finger on it I felt Azamara was trying less hard in achieving more than Celebrity, both in terms of service and food. They have a really good product. It sounds like I am on a downer about Celebrity and I’m not. They are just different. Celebrity offer many things I like. I’ll continue to do both, but will look at Azamara in a different light from now on. Onboard I booked Quest for 7 weeks time from Venice down the Adriatic to Athens. That’s a pretty good endorsement. I told you Farieda was good at her job.

 

If anyone has any questions I’d be happy to try and answer them.

 

Phil

[portofrome]

Thanks very much for your review and comparisons.

[Andy]

Hi Phil,

 

Thanks for your excellent review. Definitely agree with you, that while Celebrity & Azamara are owned by the same parent company (Royal Caribbean), it's 2 very different products, and there are many reasons to consider sailing with either line. They are both outstanding - in their own ways. It all depends on what you are looking for in your Cruise vacation.

 

Nice to see you booked another Azamara cruise. We hope to book this week, when 2013 is available - just waiting to take a look at the specific itineraries.

 

Thanks again, and welcome home !

[dfishner]

Thank you for your in depth review and comparsion between Azamara and X. We will be doing Journey for our first time in November and your review really made me look forward to this cruise even more so now.

[Lottie A]

Great review excitedofharpenden.....it is interesting to compare Azamara to Celebrity.

 

I must say I agree with you and I like both Azamara and Celebrity......but for me Az just shades it. I think it's the smaller ship friendliness and visibility of the crew and officers that just gives Azamara the edge for me. But I like Celebrity too! :)

[uktog]

Great review Phil - you are so right, they are two brands very different but Azamara has the edge if you are looking for great food and great service

[autumn lass]

Excellent review Phil. I agree with everything you said. I thought the Captain & staff worked miracles to rejig our itinerary so we would be able to visit all the ports promised. 7 days just wasn't long enough. We love Quest the best but we did enjoy Journey. We did the shore exc as we were lucky enough to benefit from the 50% offer and on the whole they were good but there were not many guests taking the ship's exc, on one trip there were just 10 of us. Pricing seemed to be the major issue when talking to other guests.

 

A lovely cruise I just have to book another one soon.

 

Hilary

[WELSH WIZARDS]

I enjoyed very much reading your review Phil, and surprise, surprise.. [ a CC first ! ]... Mike read it too. ! I hope you feel suitably honoured. ;)

I agree with the majority of your observations, especially about the great loungers, but disagree on one or two, none of which I an going to bring up on the Azamara site. :D

We can discuss them when we meet, but as they were minor things, I will probably totally forgot by then. !

I am however, really glad you had a good trip. :)

[little britain]

Great review Phil - you are so right, they are two brands very different but Azamara has the edge if you are looking for great food and great service

 

Fabulous review Phil - looking forward to your opinions of Quest!

[world~citizen]

Terrific review.

 

Smooth sailing...

[vallan]

It was really good to read your review Phil, almost like being back there again.

 

Val

[excitedofharpenden]

Val, it was good to meet you and Lars. I hope we get the opportunity again in the future and to sample the Azamara "care".

 

Phil

[meow!]

• We hit some rough weather between Nice and Corsica that had us on a changed itinerary and even though the seas were up to 15 feet Journey handled things very well I thought.

 

Thank you kindly for your interesting report. The Mediterranean can be as rough as the North Atlantic!

 

You are invited to read our report just a month before yours also on the Journey

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1482473

[excitedofharpenden]

meow! it is remiss of me, but I read your review and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I should have posted a comment on your thread as such, but will say thanks here. You are a detail person. I'm afraid I tend to take a more helicopter approach and wish I could write as well as you:o

 

Phil

[meow!]

meow! it is remiss of me, but I read your review and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I should have posted a comment on your thread as such, but will say thanks here. You are a detail person. I'm afraid I tend to take a more helicopter approach and wish I could write as well as you:o

 

Phil

Thank you kindly for your compliment.

[eh2zed]

Great review. Welcome home

[Sleep7]

Hi Phil!

It's Claudia and Sam.. what a wonderful detailed review you wrote about our cruise.. boohoo.. it's already going on a week that we have been back in "real life" and your review brought all the smiles and nice memories back..

Thanks!! :)

[njhh]

Really enjoyed your review and thought especially about the noise factor that has been brought up again and again on the Celebrity forums. We will cruise Azamara in April and look forward to a quieter cruise than our Celebrity experience. We also look forward to the cuisine which promises to meet and exceed the Celebrity experience!

[excitedofharpenden]

Hi Phil!

It's Claudia and Sam.. what a wonderful detailed review you wrote about our cruise.. boohoo.. it's already going on a week that we have been back in "real life" and your review brought all the smiles and nice memories back..

Thanks!! :)

Hi Claudia and Sam. It was a great week and very nice to meet you both. Cooking and cleaning for oneself sucks! Hope to see you on another Azamara trip.

 

Phil