Review of Quest 14 July 2013 Cruise to British Isles

[NC&KY]

I have now published my first Cruise Critic review on the main review page. Here is the link: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=224877

 

I did want to add a few notes here that I did not think would be as appropriate for an audience less educated than those who have been regularly participating in this forum. In the lessons learned category, I did not put my tiny Swiss army knife in my checked luggage for the British Air flight from London to Dublin. While the US continues to think these are potential weapons of mass destruction (so I did have it in my checked bag when we flew from Lexington to London), the rest of the world does not. When we went through security to get on Quest, however, they took it away from me! I got a receipt for it and had it returned when we walked off the ship in Hamburg, but I was missing my scissors, toothpick, etc. for the whole cruise. Lesson learned: next Azamara cruise, hide the knife in the checked bag. A second lesson learned. We were excited about going to the Mix and Mingle to meet those of you on the cruise and to talk to the officers in a small setting. But the first enrichment lecture was scheduled directly in conflict with it. We finally decided to go with education over recreation and attend the lecture. Major mistake. First, as my review says, the enrichment lectures were the weakest part of the cruise by far. But in addition, all the lectures are taped and repeated over the TV, so we could have done both. Lesson learned: go to the Mix and Mingle. On that note, however, I have heard that there was some confusion regarding its scheduling/timing. Did people go and was it well attended?

 

On a point that has been debated hotly here, I can tell you that the Quest crew has gotten the message about up-selling the drinks. When we checked in, there were lots of flyers offering the enhanced drinks packages, but no one actually said a word to me--absolutely no pressure. Once we ignored the offers, we regularly ordered drinks with no suggestion that we might want a better spirit. In fact, the only time the issue even remotely came up was when I asked for a Beefeaters martini and the bartender hesitated ever so slightly. I said, "I think Beefeaters is on the included list, isn't it?" and he checked his bottle arrangement and replied, "Yes, it is." With regard to wine selection, we never had an issue. We were both satisfied with the offerings the first day, so I did not broach the issue of asking for something that had not previously been offered. But when we were offered wines later in the cruise that we did not like, there was never a problem with pulling a previously-offered one. Once, in the casino bar, the wine my wife wanted was not there so he called to another bar and had a bottle delivered. Nice.

 

By the end of the cruise I was asking that the bartender shake the martinis longer than usual--the first couple I had were a bit on the cool, as opposed to cold, side for me. Also, of the "long drinks," of course you can't very well screw up a G&T, but the mojitos were also especially good. Fresh ingredients (no mixes) and plenty of mint.

 

 

Another subject much discussed here has been the quality of the specialty restaurants. As I discussed in the review, my wife was somewhat more critical of the Discoveries food that was I. The night of the White Party was cold; all the pool lounge chairs had blankets as well as towels. My wife does not do cold. So she asked about seeing if we could get in Aqualina. My impressions from our discussions here was that the atmosphere, china, etc. was much better in the specialty restaurants but that the food quality alone was not worth the extra charge. We are now firmly with the minority view. The food there was much better than in the regular dining areas. I had the veal loin with the sweetbreads (I asked about the availability of sweetbreads several months ago and I found them here!) and my wife had the escargots for starters, both first rate. We both then had very good salads. She then followed up with the seafood platter (how nice to find one that is not a mess of fried foods) and I had the Dover sole, exquisitely deboned by our waiter. We both closed with the Grand Marnier soufflé. Incidentally, I hope that evening was not indicative of how busy they were throughout the voyage; we got an 8:30 reservation and we only saw two other tables occupied during our whole stay there.

 

Special kudos to our stateroom attendants, Mark and Wendy. They knew our names from day one, and they kept things immaculate. We've never had better cabin service on any cruise we have ever taken. Although we did not go to any of the later shows, we also enjoyed Jen who went with us on our excursion in Belfast and then sang at the casino bar (prior to the weekend when the entertainment there was suspended).

 

Now more on the Azamazing Evening. The Titanic museum is spectacular. We wished we had had more time, but with a buffet dinner on the schedule, we had to go through the museum more quickly than we would have liked. The preview materials in our stateroom advertised "Manhattans, martinis, and champagne" like the original passengers would have been drinking, but none of those materialized, and nothing whatsoever to drink until well into the dinner (after I had already finished eating). After all the food had been served, including dessert, the waiters came around and took orders for Guinness, Bailey's, or Bushmills, but many tables then never got actually served. Our table had to reorder, and the drinks only came after several people had already left. The buffet food, like the wine, was nowhere close to Azamara quality. In earlier communications with Azamara, I understood we would have "finger food" that would suffice for dinner. In retrospect, that would have been a much better plan, which would have allowed more time in the museum and a much higher quality meal. And if the space taken up with the buffet table had instead been available for waiters to have trays of drinks, that situation would have gone smoother. Finally, the entertainment offerings were, as Dickens would have said, "the best of times [and] the worst of times." It was nice to hear Captain Stig talk about his interest in the Titanic, but the local people's remarks were not as welcome. When the local political leader was invited to speak, I started looking for a sofa or some earplugs, but she was thankfully brief. I understand you probably have to have some local participation, but perhaps that was a little too much in this case. The band was absolutely great. They had composed a song that included the line that the Titanic "was fine when she left here," and it said the Belfast shipbuilders had done fine but the British crew had wrecked it. I guess you had to be there, but people were laughing so hard they were crying. Then the dancers came on, and that went very badly. As has been noted in another thread, most of the passengers could see nothing but heads bobbing up and down. It was frustrating for the crowd but also for the dancers. The band came back on after the dancers, and they had expected the dancers to then join them, but they refused. I talked to the band leader afterwards (hoping to be able to buy a CD with the funny Titanic song on it), and he said they were too upset with the lack of audience enthusiasm to want to go back on. I am sure the design of the room in the museum cannot be altered, but if the lighting had been adequate to allow those of us not in the balcony or on the front row to see the dancers' feet on the video, it would have been much better. Another possible solution, as someone else suggested, would be to have the dancers come back to the ship and dance in the theatre (although my wife and I would never be able to stay awake for that). All in all, a mixed bag with regard to the Azamazing Evening, although it would be outstanding with a fair amount of tweaking.

 

Well, I think I've said enough now, twice. Thanks to those few of you who might actually have made it to the end of this epistle.:eek:

[oddjob16]

Thank you for a very nice and imformative review. :)

[Bill Leiber]

Hello NC&KY -

 

Thank you for both of your meaningful reviews about your experience on the Azamara Quest's July 14, 2013 British Isles voyage. We appreciate your time and effort.

 

As I mentioned elsewhere, our tour operations team is reviewing our pending 2014 AzAmazing Evenings and your feedback along with that from our onboard team will be important as that list is tweaked or revised, of course, based on the 2014 itinerary schedule.

 

Wishing you good health in the days ahead as you anticipate your forthcoming Azamara vacation experience.

 

Best regards,

 

Bill Leiber

__________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

(*CBO is an authorized and compensated representative of ACC)

[carpecruising]

@ NC&KY

As you mention the good mojitos - are they really included drinks? We would like them also, but they appear not on the internet list of included drinks.

 

Can´t wait now for our first Azamara cruise experience on Journey August 4th, 2013.

:cool:

[English Tim]

@ NC&KY

As you mention the good mojitos - are they really included drinks? We would like them also, but they appear not on the internet list of included drinks.

 

Can´t wait now for our first Azamara cruise experience on Journey August 4th, 2013.

:cool:

 

They should be, as white rum is on the included list. It is one of many cocktails that are described at the front of the menu, as extras, but can also be made with included beverages.

 

On my first cruise, I didn't consider asking for these, until someone said on here that the premium spirits can be substituted with the included variety.

[NC&KY]

@ NC&KY

As you mention the good mojitos - are they really included drinks? We would like them also, but they appear not on the internet list of included drinks.

 

Can´t wait now for our first Azamara cruise experience on Journey August 4th, 2013.

:cool:

Absolutely. We did not buy any enhanced drink package. Just make sure they make it with the included white rum.

[Texed]

NC or KY,

Thanks for posting. :)

[fraj1]

That's interesting as I recently asked for a Mojito on Journey and the bartender at the pool bar said 'I will have to charge you for that'. I decided to go ahead anyway, paid 7e and have to say it wasn't particularly good!

 

Included cocktails were much better!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[English Tim]

That's interesting as I recently asked for a Mojito on Journey and the bartender at the pool bar said 'I will have to charge you for that'. I decided to go ahead anyway, paid 7e and have to say it wasn't particularly good!

 

Included cocktails were much better!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I think some of us 'experts' on here, might have a better idea of what is and isn't included, than some of the staff.

 

Anyway, thanks for an excellent, comprehensive review.

[Spursgirl]

That's interesting as I recently asked for a Mojito on Journey and the bartender at the pool bar said 'I will have to charge you for that'. I decided to go ahead anyway, paid 7e and have to say it wasn't particularly good!

 

Included cocktails were much better!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

We were fortunate to meet the Bar Manager at our CC Meet and Mingle. He told us that most cocktails could be made with included liquor, we only had to ask.

 

He did us a huge favour - my bar bill was zero

[kathy9]

Did people go and was it well attended?

 

Hi NC&KY, Sorry we never got to meet on the cruise. I would say we had about 25 at the meet and mingle. Several Officers and of course Russ.

Thanks for writing your review......I can't believe they confiscated your pen knife.

Several years ago on a shore excursion on a Celebrity cruise my DH purchased a letter opener, that too was confiscated on return to the ship...LOL!

Hope to meet up on another cruise.

Kathy

[dln929]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review. I like that you framed all your criticisms in a constructive way and in the spirit of wanting to make things run smoother for future cruisers (like me :D).