First Time Azamara "Journey" for Celebrity Veteran

[librarylady19]

Hi Sandi:)...looking forward to reading/seeing the rest of your

review:D

 

Hope you and Scott are doing well:)

Hi Lois!

Nice to hear from you!! I just finished up my library budget so finally have time to get this review done!!

Anything booked? As you can see, we are going to give RCCL a try - with 3 cruises booked I sure hope we like it!! Sailing out of Tampa in January, which is closer to DS and one of my favorite parts of Florida.

[librarylady19]

The Journey continues. This is actually the ship docked in Malta, but it's gives you a good idea of the size and design of the ship. It would definitely look small next to one of the S class ships or some of NCL and RCCL's behemoths (we didn't encounter any large ships on this cruise, even in Santorini).

 

We actually saw one of the Oceania "R" class ships that is a twin to the Journey and Quest (but painted white) in one of our ports...

 

 

Rather than heading right to the Windows Cafe for lunch (after all, you saw the breakfast I had in Athens!), we explored the ship and Scott (the photographer) was able to get a lot of photos without people in them!

 

One of the first things you notice on Azamara, is that everything is on a much smaller scale - not surprising since the ship holds less than 700 passengers. There is no 10 story atrium or living tree or other stunning vistas to admire. As you can see in this photo, there is the guest relations area on deck 4 and deck 5 features the Mosaics Cafe (that's the ceiling right above!) and one of the two stores.

 

 

 

Mosaics cafe -

 

 

This area no longer has any entertainment, which was too bad, as it was very quiet here (some might say that's a good thing but I found it rather sedate). The cappucinos, lattes, etc. - the standard coffee drinks were included which was nice. There was also a menu of special drinks that were available for a price. I stuck with the cappucinos that I'd already paid for:)There is also a small case to the right of the coffee bar that has self serve treats - pastries, sandwiches, or desserts, depending on the time of day - all free. The quality varied. No cakes.

Edited June 17, 2014 by librarylady19

[TERRIER1]

We leave for our first Azamara cruise this Thursday. We are also flying KLM from NYC connecting in AMsterdam and staying at the Athens Gate. I appreciate your pics and review. Did you connect in Amsterdam as well?

[BBMacLaird]

Lovely! I look forward to your next installment, Sandi.

Bonnie

[librarylady19]

We leave for our first Azamara cruise this Thursday. We are also flying KLM from NYC connecting in AMsterdam and staying at the Athens Gate. I appreciate your pics and review. Did you connect in Amsterdam as well?

 

Great! You should really enjoy the Athens Gate - so convenient and very nice staff too.

We did connect through Schipol which was a fantastic airport. I don't recall ever saying, "I wish I had more time to spend in this airport" before but it was so modern and clean with so many stores....we only had time to pop in to a couple and buy some gouda for a snack and some cookies but certainly could have spent more time and money there....

Our connection (while a bit of a walk through the terminal) was well organized and boarding was smooth.

Have a great trip!

[TxnAquarian]

Great review, so far! Can't wait to see the rest. We, too, are huge fans of the S-Class ships. We have never done Azamara, but have two on the books due to the great itineraries. My partner is a little afraid of AZ lol So your review will continue to be an interesting read as we prepare for our cruise in December.

 

 

 

Michael

[cruisemuse13]

I am really looking forward to your review, especially your photos of Florence.

 

And I am interested in your comparisons to Celebrity. We enjoy Celebrity for Caribbean cruises, when the ship is part of the "destination". For cruising in Europe, with a port intensive itinerary, we prefer Azamara because the smaller ship can access smaller ports so no need to tender; they stay later in port so no need to rush back to the ship: and fewer passengers mean no need to lineup: and we like the open seating for dinner and flexible schedule.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[librarylady19]

Great review, so far! Can't wait to see the rest. We, too, are huge fans of the S-Class ships. We have never done Azamara, but have two on the books due to the great itineraries. My partner is a little afraid of AZ lol So your review will continue to be an interesting read as we prepare for our cruise in December.

 

 

 

Michael

 

Hi Michael,

Well, I hope I will be able to give you some insight into the differences which may help your partner .... as they are definitely very different experiences (some better, some not so....)

[lightning bolt]

I'll be interested on your take as I was on both the Reflection and the Quest B2B last winter.:)

[hilary732]

Write faster! I leave on Thursday to get to Athens for my 7 day, and though I am on the quest, I see your review as being quite helpful..... So far so good anyway!

 

Thanks!

[starfruitvj]

Great review so far! I was on the same voyage as you, so it will be interesting to see how our experiences compare :)

[cruise47]

What an awesome review and your pictures are just amazing. We loved all your pictures taken at the hotel and all the ancient history just outside of your hotel window.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[dbushy]

Great! You should really enjoy the Athens Gate - so convenient and very nice staff too.

We did connect through Schipol which was a fantastic airport. I don't recall ever saying, "I wish I had more time to spend in this airport" before but it was so modern and clean with so many stores....we only had time to pop in to a couple and buy some gouda for a snack and some cookies but certainly could have spent more time and money there....

Our connection (while a bit of a walk through the terminal) was well organized and boarding was smooth.

Have a great trip!

Excellent, excellent post. Thoroughly enjoying the pictures and commentary. Like Terrier1, we are taking our first Azamara cruise on the Quest on the 28th out of Athens (after several Celebrity M-Class cruises and one R-class Oceania, not too fond of the bigger ships). In fact, I believe she will be on our cruise, if I remember our Roll-Call posts correctly, as I think they are doing a B2B ending with our cruise. Anyway, we are also staying at the Athens Gate (my wife and I, at least as our daughters are staying at the Hotel Grande Bretagne) and your posts are just like a preview. Tomorrow I'll look at your "more photos here" link if I can. Could not have asked for more pre-trip. Keep it up as I have a week before we leave and your posts are just like a teaser vid. Please post more soon!

[cinnamon]

Interesting reading. Looking forward to more.

 

We are Elite on Celebrity but have adored our two Azamara cruises. I was very interested in your early comment that you found this cruise at a comparable price to Celebrity. We have found that in the UK, taking everything into consideration, Azamara is substantially dearer, no matter the deal.

 

If Azamara was the same price as Celebrity, we would be on the smaller ships much more often.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[CintiPam]

Really enjoying your photos and comments. We never have been on the bigger ships, only Oceania and Riviera, so I really am looking forward to your comparisons.

 

Thanks for posting.

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone.....to continue.

 

Armed with drinks in hand - G&T for me and a beer for Scott - we went exploring. One of my favorite things to discover on the S Class ships is the variety of artwork in the stairwells (especially on Reflection). Obviously there are fewer stairwells on Journey, as it has less decks. The artwork while nice was not particularly memorable to me. The stairwells were well appointed and, like the rest of the ship, like new and sparkling clean.

 

 

Now, as librarians we were duty bound to visit the Library but I must admit this was our only visit there during the cruise. We both bring Kindles and iPads so had no need for those old-fashioned paper books ;)

[TravelBugM]

Thanks for this. We are on Journey in October and, while a different itinerary, I'm finding this very helpful as it will be our first Azamara cruise.

 

Really anxious to see cabin photos including the washroom.

[librarylady19]

Another stairwell....

 

 

and one more...

 

 

I rarely took the elevators on Journey as the stairs (both forward and aft) were easily managed .... it didn't take long to get from Deck 3 to Deck 10 even!

 

So, on to the library on Deck 10, formally known as "The Drawing Room" on Journey. Now, this in no way resembles my library, or any public library I've been in recently, but it is a lovely space to look at, certainly. I think the piano must have been "for show" as I never saw mention of any performances being held there....

 

 

 

It definitely had a lot more "real books" than I recall seeing on any of the Celebrity ships (yes, those books in the cabinets are real!).

 

 

Ceiling detail:

 

 

I wonder if this was ever a Cigar Lounge.....

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

Thanks for this. We are on Journey in October and, while a different itinerary, I'm finding this very helpful as it will be our first Azamara cruise.

 

Really anxious to see cabin photos including the washroom.

 

I promise I'll get those posted tonight.....

[librarylady19]

While we were on Deck 10, we popped into the specialty restaurants, located in the aft of the ship, to take some photos. The specialty restaurants are free to suite guests, and $25 pp for other guests. I will say now....spoiler alert....that the food in the main dining room, Discoveries, is very good and would certainly please all but the most fussy diners, so specialty dining may not be a necessity for most people.....

 

Aqualina:

 

 

 

Aqualina Bar area:

 

 

Very pretty table decor....

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

Prime C - as mentioned, we booked this for the sea day. While I preferred the decor of Aqualina, the menu seemed more appealing at this restaurant...

 

 

Unfortunately, we did not eat in this area, directly in the aft of the ship (the Captain was dining at one of these tables the night we were there):

 

 

We were in this rather narrow side area, which felt a bit like a hallway....

 

 

Here is the bar area for Prime C:

 

Edited June 17, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

By this time, we were getting a bit peckish, so decided to check out Windows Cafe (the buffet). Now, this is the only option available for lunch other than the Pool Grille. (I did miss going to Bistro on Five for crepes.)

 

We rarely eat at the buffet on Celebrity ships, just so many other options we like better, but there wasn't a lot of choice here. Fortunately, the food and service were a notch above what we have experienced on Celebrity, so it wasn't a terrible hardship to eat at the buffet!!

 

Windows has both indoor and outdoor seating. The aft bar area also has seating at tables for outside dining.

 

 

This was a major disappointment to us as we loved the Sunset Bars on Celebrity ships. We felt that the bar area was overshadowed by the dining functions here so that it was difficult to get a table to just have a drink. As Windows has a dinner buffet each evening, there were always people eating here.

 

I didn't take too many photos of the buffet area. It was pretty compact with 2 separate areas. On the first day, food was served to you, after that it was self-serve.

 

[midwestchick]

Very interesting post LL and look forward to reading more. Judging by your ship's photos it looks more like a Gentleman's Club and nowhere near as spectacular as the Solstice class . I look forward to the food and service comparisons.

 

 

I had to comment on this one...I did not think it looked like a gentleman's club...it is very elegant. She will be posting additional pictures. I actually prefer the decor over the Solstice class which were much too contemporary for my taste, but to each their own.

I was so happy to finally see a report from library lady...I've been wondering how she liked ACC.

Now, back to my reading....:D :D

[midwestchick]

The Journey continues. This is actually the ship docked in Malta, but it's gives you a good idea of the size and design of the ship. It would definitely look small next to one of the S class ships or some of NCL and RCCL's behemoths (we didn't encounter any large ships on this cruise, even in Santorini).

 

We actually saw one of the Oceania "R" class ships that is a twin to the Journey and Quest (but painted white) in one of our ports...

 

 

 

Sandi,

I hope you don't mind my input but here is the Silhouette and Journey in Santorini....you can definitely see the comparison of the size. She was there the same day we were last year on the Silhouette.

 

[Iamthesea]

Enjoying this review. We would be interested to find out if one of the ships goes to England, Ireland and Scotland on the same cruise. We are having difficulty finding a cruise for that type of itinerary.

 

Are there tables for two in the specialty restaurants?