First Time Azamara "Journey" for Celebrity Veteran

[123glenn]

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!

 

I highly recommend the Free Athens walking tour. We had Walter as our guide and I have such good memories. Look on trip advisor and find out how to sign up. Dottie

[123glenn]

Yes, I think that I would have liked that better, but the cost was out of my budget! The ship is very well maintained so you should have no concerns on that front. I really liked the cabin and the excellent service but that bathroom really was a bummer.

 

What a wonderful report- thank you!! We were on the same cruise, our first on Azamara, and loved every bit of it-onshore or in ports. Dreaded the shower curtain but didn't have a problem!! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!! Dottie

[Freckles49]

What a wonderful report- thank you!! We were on the same cruise, our first on Azamara, and loved every bit of it-onshore or in ports. Dreaded the shower curtain but didn't have a problem!! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!! Dottie

I am loving reading all of this. We have sailed Azamara Quest 4 times now and have a 5th booked for the end of July. We met Deidre and Rob on our last cruise, Christmas in the Caribbean and enjoyed their company very much.

 

I feel I am on the Quest with you, your report is so evocative. i am especially interested in comparisons with Celebrity as we have booked an Aquaclass cabin, deck 9 Millenium to Asia in November.

 

Thanks again Sandi, a lot of work but very much appreciated by so many of us!

Jen

[librarylady19]

After thoroughly documenting our cabin and meeting our steward, we decided to take advantage of the weather (sunny and mid 70's) and go hang out at the pool for a while.

 

 

 

We had no trouble finding a lounger at this time. The best feature of the pooll area was the very comfy lounge chairs covered with cushioned cloth covers. Each chair contained a thick, gray Azamara pool towel and more were available.

 

The pool itself was small with no water slides (I know, shocking right!) and was flanked by 2 hot tubs that were not really very hot. It generally was not difficult to find room in the hot tubs or a lounge chair. The pool bar service was good but the pool waiters were not too responsive. I always had to flag one down to get a drink when I was too lazy to get up and walk over to the pool bar (seems like they only had 2 pool waiters at a time).

 

 

There were the inevitable chair hogs, but not in abundance (we only had one sea day and the weather that day was not conducive to lounging at the pool. One glaring difference vs Celebrity was the absolute lack of ANY music whether it was live or recorded, which was disappointing. Dead silence can be rather boring after a while (although I know some will disagree). I certainly didn't miss the Zumba at the pool, but a steel drum, guitarist or band would have been nice once in a while.

 

There was no indoor pool at all (and yes, I did know this) and I really missed that. The Solarium was a great spot early in the morning, and at dinner time when it was never crowded. For much of this cruise it was not that warm and quite windy(60s and low 70s), making an outdoor pool area less appealing.

Edited June 18, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

After a couple of hours of luxurious lounging, we were reminded that it was time to get ready for the Muster drill at 5:00 p.m. We quickly changed and headed to our muster location, the Cabaret Lounge.

 

Hallway leading to Cabaret Lounge:

 

 

We had looked in on this venue earlier and thought is nicely appointed for its size. Nothing glitzy, but comfortable.

 

 

 

 

The Drill was well organized and brief. It was a live safety demonstration, rather than the video employed now on some Celebrity ships.

 

While we were sitting in the Cabaret for the muster drill, we had a chance to survey the other passengers on board. The demographics on this cruise were definitely older and very "country club." We only saw 3 children all week (one young teenager accompanied his grandmother and a few who I think were staff members children). There were a lot of British people on board, of varying ages.

Edited June 18, 2014 by librarylady19

[Grandma Gilly]

One glaring difference vs Celebrity was the absolute lack of ANY music whether it was live or recorded, which was disappointing. Dead silence can be rather boring after a while (although I know some will disagree). I certainly didn't miss the Zumba at the pool, but a steel drum, guitarist or band would have been nice once in

 

Isn't it funny how people like different things. I personally hate piped music round the pool and love the peace and quiet.

Really enjoying your review

Gill

Edited June 18, 2014 by Grandma Gilly

[starfruitvj]

Another option for getting a larger bathroom/shower is to book an accessible room if they have one available. We had 4035 - an inside accessible room (we booked a guaranteed room so were prepared for a small bathroom) & we found our bathroom nice and roomy.

[librarylady19]

As I mentioned, there is no indoor pool. A few other recreational options available onboard include the Gym on Deck 9 which I did not visit, despite my best intentions, but Scott did.

 

 

 

 

[librarylady19]

While the facilities were unguarded, we also took a look at the T-pool/spa area, which is free for suite guests. We didn't think it would be worth paying a fee to use it as we didn't think we would be onboard enough and the pool was pretty small!

 

 

It did have a nice lounge area:

 

Edited June 18, 2014 by librarylady19

[Iamthesea]

We just contacted our TA and upgraded our room to a Club Continent Suite after seeing these bathroom pics. Way too small and cramped-looking for us. Not that we spend all day in the bathroom, but we're two high-maintanence late 30s guys and need extra space to get ready for dinner lol The rest of the ship looks fantastic. Also, the rooms look really nice - not nearly as outdated as some reviews suggest. Although the decor of the ship is not our taste, it looks like they maintain the ship really well.

 

Michael

 

Hi Michael. Have you found some photos of the Club Continent Suite and the bathroom for comparison? Preferably photos from a passenger and not a stock photo? I'd love to have a little more room in the stateroom and bath, if affordable. Our AQ on the Celebrity Constellation almost did us in after 12 nights. :rolleyes: DH and I kept running into each other...especially in the hall/closet/bathroom area. The AQ's on the Millennium class are not nearly as nice as on the Solstice class. We need more room for a long cruise.

 

One glaring difference vs Celebrity was the absolute lack of ANY music whether it was live or recorded, which was disappointing. Dead silence can be rather boring after a while (although I know some will disagree). I certainly didn't miss the Zumba at the pool, but a steel drum, guitarist or band would have been nice once in a while.

 

I also prefer quiet over the blaring music. A Steel Drum band or quiet piped-in music would be nice, but I can use the earbuds with my Kindle or iPad and listen to music of my choice. :)

Edited June 18, 2014 by Iamthesea

[librarylady19]

We had received a note in our cabin informing us that the Cruise Critic gathering would be at 6:00 p.m. in the Looking Glass Lounge on Deck 10 forward. We joined Rob & Deirdre there. Azamara provided drinks (from the included drinks menu) and trays of hors oeuvres were passed), which was very nice.

The event was hosted by Cruise Director Eric De Gray, a very tall (6'6") amiable Canadian. The Captain, Hotel Director and other notables were introduced but they did not address the group or stick around for socializing (I'm sure they had work to do!)

We all introduced ourselves and our non CC partners (in many cases). We were very pleased to meet Phil "Excited of Harpenden" who many of you know- great guy who we had the pleasure of hanging out with on several occasions throughout the cruise.

There wasn't a lot of mingling among groups, we mostly chatted with our immediate neighbors but it was a pleasant event. I believe sail away happened right around that time, but there wasn't any big party on deck so I don't have any strong recollections of the sailaway!!

 

I honestly don't remember what we did between then and dinner but it must have occupied us for a while. On Celebrity cruises, we would always hang out in various bars and catch some entertainment pre-dinner, and of course the Molecular Bar is entertainment in itself! There really weren't a lot of options for that on Azamara, especially if you didn't care for the solo entertainers. We found the bars a bit sedate for our taste honestly and I now realize that 12 bars is definitely not too many on a cruise ship!!.

 

We headed to the main dining room aka Discoveries Restaurant around 8-ish, as is our usual habit onboard. We ate here 5 of 7 nights during the cruise and it was definitely one of the best things about the cruise in terms of food quality and service.

 

This is the Discoveries Lounge, designed to be a waiting area for dinner guests I presume. It was often crowded during dinner hours. There was some musical entertainment here on occasion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The dining room itself was a very pleasant space. It is all on one level, with a variety of size tables. There was never a problem getting a table for 2 and we only had to wait once, for 10 minutes. (There are no set dining times required).

 

It was not overly noisy, as most people kept their conversations fairly quiet, even with the tables being close together.

 

 

 

Each night, we were seated at a different table, with different waiters (there were very few female waiters, most all were male). The service was uniformly very good and well paced; we never felt we were waiting too long for any course.

 

 

 

I did not take any food photos on this cruise, even though the food would certainly have warranted documentation. I just felt a bit odd doing that here...the atmosphere reminded me of Murano where you feel you need to sit up straight and mind your manners...I thought it might be perceived as a little declasse to be snapping photos with my iPhone at every turn....

 

The food selection, presentation and quality were on par with the food we have enjoyed at Blu restaurants. The bread baskets featured a nice selection of breads and breadsticks, that I always enjoy (too much). We really didn't have anything that was not tasty, served at the proper temperature or poorly plated. The only area where improvement could be made was in desserts (which is also the case in Blu imo). Dessert options were rather uninspiring and not overly decadent. I did order the creme brulee one night, which I usually love, and it was not the best I've had.

 

There was no wait for wine here, as the included wines (a red or white choice) were offered promptly and refilled copiously. I still preferred the wine by the glass options in the Celebrity premium package though as there was more variety on offer (I'm not a fan of either chardonnay or merlot) and really missed the option of ordering prosecco.

 

All in all, it was hard to fault the dining experience in Discoveries however, even for the most discerning foodie.

Edited June 18, 2014 by librarylady19

[dln929]

Sandi, Philippa picked up on that right away--the dearth of female waiters. I can't say she really liked that for the same reasons that I didn't. In fact, it seemed to me like there were far less women crew members on the Journey than on the Quest. And call me sexist but their presence on the Quest led to a softer atmosphere than we felt on the Journey.

[TxnAquarian]

Hi Michael. Have you found some photos of the Club Continent Suite and the bathroom for comparison? Preferably photos from a passenger and not a stock photo? I'd love to have a little more room in the stateroom and bath, if affordable. Our AQ on the Celebrity Constellation almost did us in after 12 nights. :rolleyes: DH and I kept running into each other...especially in the hall/closet/bathroom area. The AQ's on the Millennium class are not nearly as nice as on the Solstice class. We need more room for a long cruise.

 

 

Yes, I did a Google search for Club Continent Suite bathrooms and several images from passengers popped up, as well as videos. While it's not huge, it is larger than the regular ones and has a shower / tub combo. But it still has that darned shower curtain. I also upgraded my mom's room, because I know she'll want the extra space. We love Celebrity and AQ, but those bathrooms drive us nuts, too.

 

 

 

Michael

[midwestchick]

Wow....what a difference in Discoveries and the bar area since 2012. I think I preferred the previous decor. Below is how it looked when we cruised before drydock. I'll miss those beautiful ceiling paintings. :(

I'm really enjoying your review, Sandi. Thank you for taking the time to post it along with all the pictures.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2014 by midwestchick

[need2cruisesoon]

Sandi, great review of your cruise and the Journey. We sailed her a couple years ago on a Amsterdam/London itinerary.

 

After reading much of your review it seems that this ship/cruise din't give the "wow" factor you were expecting, maybe I'm wrong but your tour doesn't show anything above the ordinary with a premium cruise line like AZ. My impression is that your experience was more mundane than exceptional.

 

So with that being said I have a couple questions for you:

- would you sail AZ again?

- in your opinion will the Journey and Quest need a complete overhaul to compete with other premium lines? Also what impact will the Celebrity "ship in a ship" program have on the AZ brand? Solstice class (Modern Luxury) new versus R Ships (Old Luxury), why would anybody sail again on AZ?

 

Thanks again for your review.

 

Ron

[pausulli]

Sandi thanks so much for all of the information it is great. We are cruising in Sept. Do you know if you can bring local wine back on-board to drink in your cabin? I always like to try to local vineyards when we are traveling.

[midwestchick]

Sandi thanks so much for all of the information it is great. We are cruising in Sept. Do you know if you can bring local wine back on-board to drink in your cabin? I always like to try to local vineyards when we are traveling.

 

Not Sandi but I can answer this...yes you can. DH will be packing his corkscrew. :D Which Sept. cruise are you doing?

[librarylady19]

Sandi, great review of your cruise and the Journey. We sailed her a couple years ago on a Amsterdam/London itinerary.

 

 

 

After reading much of your review it seems that this ship/cruise din't give the "wow" factor you were expecting, maybe I'm wrong but your tour doesn't show anything above the ordinary with a premium cruise line like AZ. My impression is that your experience was more mundane than exceptional.

 

 

 

So with that being said I have a couple questions for you:

 

- would you sail AZ again?

 

- in your opinion will the Journey and Quest need a complete overhaul to compete with other premium lines? Also what impact will the Celebrity "ship in a ship" program have on the AZ brand? Solstice class (Modern Luxury) new versus R Ships (Old Luxury), why would anybody sail again on AZ?

 

 

 

Thanks again for your review.

 

 

 

Ron

 

 

You are very perceptive Ron! You are correct, I was not wowed by the experience. I will explain more as I talk about our port experiences. I'm not just trying to tease people by not giving my assessment up fro t but want to explain why I reacted the way I did. As many have said, we have different experiences on board, different interests and different reactions. This is why I'm opposed to making a statement without explanation. (Not just trying to keep people reading but trying to explain my experience.)

 

I'm not sure if I would sail Azamara again. Right now I would say probably not as the price point is too high for the experience for me. I have not sailed on luxury lines so have no basis for comparison. I don't think that Azamara offered ME a more luxurious experience than celebrity, but it depends on what you value and what makes it a wow experience for you. Some people like the exclusivity of a small ship, for me that was negatively counterbalanced by the lack of recreation and entertainment options I enjoy. I do think they suite benefits that celebrity is introducing might draw some people - depends on the price point too. Ice been happy with the aqua experience

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited June 18, 2014 by librarylady19
added content

[midwestchick]

You are very perceptive Ron! You are correct, I was not wowed by the experience. I will explain more as I talk about our port experiences. I'm not just trying to tease people by not giving my assessment up fro t but want to explain why I reacted the way I did. As many have said, we have different experiences on board, different interests and different reactions. This is why I'm opposed to making a statement without explanation. (Not just trying to keep people reading but trying to explain my experience.)

 

I'm not sure if I would sail Azamara again. Right now I would say probably not as the price point is too high for the experience for me. I have not sailed on luxury lines so have no basis for comparison. I don't think that Azamara offered ME a more luxurious experience than celebrity, but it depends on what you value and what makes it a wow experience for you. Some people like the exclusivity of a small ship, for me that was negatively counterbalanced by the lack of recreation and entertainment options I enjoy. I do think they suite benefits that celebrity is introducing might draw some people - depends on the price point too. Ice been happy with the aqua experience

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Although I didn't say anything, there were some comments you wrote that made me think it didn't give you the experience you expected...but that's okay. We all have different things we like or dislike about cruise lines.

I would say if we were not on a port intensive Med cruise, maybe X would be more to our liking. We did not do any of the shows because the times interfered with when we returned from excursions, stopping at the bar for a drink or two afterward, and the times we ate dinner. The late shows were too late for us because many mornings we were up really early. We also did not really "experience the ship" due to the amount of time we were off the ship.

I am glad you got to experience ACC though.... at least you found out firsthand for yourself.

If we ever did a TA, would I sail with ACC....probably not. In a case like that, I think we would like having more options for ship activities.

I do a appreciate the candor in your review. :)

[Iamthesea]

Yes, I did a Google search for Club Continent Suite bathrooms and several images from passengers popped up, as well as videos. While it's not huge, it is larger than the regular ones and has a shower / tub combo. But it still has that darned shower curtain. I also upgraded my mom's room, because I know she'll want the extra space. We love Celebrity and AQ, but those bathrooms drive us nuts, too.

 

Michael

 

Thank you, Michael. Yes, both the stateroom and the bathroom look nice. I like the layout of the bathroom better than the bathroom in a Sky Suite on Celebrity. ;)

[librarylady19]

Ok, got to finish up the first day before bed....I will be posting the scans of the daily newsletter - Pursuits - tomorrow.

 

We opted not to attend the opening entertainment in the Cabaret Lounge - a cellist - as that isn't something we really enjoy. After dinner, we decided to go up to Looking Glass and see if there was a party going on, as promised in Pursuits. Well, not so much....it was pretty dead at 10:30 p.m. Just a few people nursing drinks and no dancing to speak of. We decided to head back to our cabin and call it a night - like everyone else apparently.

 

I had mentioned earlier that we were given Discoverer level benefits in the Club Voyage due to being Elite on Celebrity. The most useful (and cost-saving) of these was the 235 minutes of internet access each.

I will say, that the sign up process for accessing the wireless network was much easier than on Celebrity where it involves a trip to the iLounge and inevitably dealing with a cocky young IT person (like I don't know how to use an iPad - I teach classes myself!!) who condescendingly tries to explain the process to you.

 

We were given an access code on the benefits letter we received in our room and used this to log in. We were able to get WIFI anywhere on the ship and connectivity was good (mainly checking emails and the web, no photo uploading). My only issue was that I had to create a new account everytime I logged in. DH didn't have that issue and he was using a droid phone and iPad, so who knows....I never did get to the computer room when it was staffed, so just lived with it.

Neither one of us used up all our internet time in a week, and we never deprived ourselves of online time. I wish celebrity would increase their internet allowance but then again that might overwhelm their system (if its built anything like their website ;))

 

Here are a couple of photos of the computer room - no Apple products in sight here.....but it was functional if you needed to use a pc or print something.

 

 

Wish I had an office with a decor like this :)

 

 

The other Discoverer level benefit that was very useful was the coupon we each received for one free bag of laundry. You could stuff as much as you could fit into the provided canvas bag, leave it for your steward and voila - it returned all neatly folded or on hangers a day later! Wish I had that service at home!! Since we were under packing restrictions, it was nice to be able to "recycle" some of our clothes for later in the trip and for our stay in Florence.

 

Another Azamara difference that I really liked was the self-serve, complimentary laundry room, just down the hall from us on Deck 7. When reading about this in advance, I thought "big deal, I'm not doing laundry on vacation" but faced with hauling more luggage or doing laundry, Scott was happy to do laundry:) The laundry room had several washers and dryers (free detergent provided) as well as a couple of irons and ironing boards. Just like the college laundry room, you had to expect someone to dump your stuff out if you didn't return to move it right away but that was the worst of it.....Not sure this would be a deal breaker, but definitely a point in Azamara's plus column!!

 

Before we turned in, we filled out the room service breakfast card (will scan tomorrow and post) and left it on the door.....we didn't have an excursion until noon so it seemed like a good day for breakfast on the balcony.

Edited June 19, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

Day 2 - Tuesday, May 13 - Santorini

 

So much for sleeping in! I was wide awake at 6:00 a.m. and ready to see Santorini. Unfortunately, we weren't scheduled to get off the ship until noon! We had prebooked the Winery and Villages of Santorini Tour through Azamara. This was while they still offered the 25% discount for prebooking; total cost was $. The two options were 7:45 a.m (which would have been my choice) or 12:45 p.m. (which everyone else wanted) so we went with the afternoon tour.

 

Not wanting to wake Scott, I dressed and went up to the pool deck to see if Santorini was yet visible. It was very windy and overcast but I still was treated to great views of approaching Santorini as i walked around and around and around the promenade above the pool! I can only imagine how amazing it would look in bright sunlight.

 

It sure didn't look like anywhere I had ever seen before:

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2014 by librarylady19

[librarylady19]

After the miles I had walked around the deck, I needed some coffee. I must say, the coffee on Azamara was very good. Windows cafe featured coffee machines where you could select your type of coffee and it was made to order. If you were really not up to that challenge, one of the friendly waitstaff would bring your coffee of choice. i also liked the cappucinos (included) but didn't feel the need to drink them in lieu of the regular coffee which was very good.

 

We had ordered our room service breakfast for 8:00 a.m. so I returned to the cabin in time for the call right at 8:00 to inform us breakfast was on its way. The waiter brought it out to the balcony for us (no tablecloth, but somehow I survived without that!!)

 

 

I realized that we didn't have any tickets for the shore excursion and called guest relations. They told me just to show up in the meeting place - cabaret lounge - and the tickets would be there. We met up with Rob & Deirdre in the waiting area and proceeded with our group onto a tender to take us to Santorini.

 

One of the things we liked about this tour was that it provided transportation to an area where we were able to board a coach and tour the island. We only had to take the cable car back down to the tender upon our return.

 

Up next....lots of photos of beautiful Santorini....

Edited June 19, 2014 by librarylady19

[Andy]

Hi Sandi,

 

Thanks for your great photos, and I'm enjoying your insights. Nice to hear that you were on the same sailing with Deidre and Phil ! Looking forward to your next installment.

[Baynanno1]

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?

 

We are booked on the Journey on 8 August from Copenhagen to Southampton, calling in at Edinburgh, Kirkwall, Liverpool, Holyhead, Dublin, Iles of Scilly, Dartmouth and St Peter Port before arriving at Southampton on 20 August. We are then going on down the coast to Lisbon.