Ten Days of Seafaring Bliss in the Mediterranean - Journey Sept. 3rd cruise review

[Jay19]

So there you go. I said it in post #1 and I'll say it again. It was a good cruise. A very, very, good cruise: the kind that brings one of the those goofy smiles to your face when you think about it after, the kind upon which you measure all others against. Would we book another? Yes of course. I'm not any happier than most with the new and dubious LCV benefits--though the optimist in me says I will be mollified with the announcement of tweaks to the program. And even if I'm not (and I feel like a complete turncoat for saying this!) not to book a stellar cruise experience as only Azamara can offer, and that Rob and I thoroughly enjoy, just because I'm miffed at the loyalty benefits, is dumb. Like cutting off my nose to spite my face. And that we won't do. See you soon, wonderful Journey! Til we meet again.

 

Thank you Deirdre for your wonderful review. You have a great style of writing and sense of humour and I thoroughly enjoyed reading every bit of your adventures. We have visited most of the places on your itinerary but you have certainly made me want to go back again (although not to climb up all those stairs! :) ) We are really looking forward to our next cruise on Journey and to catching up with all the wonderful officers and crew. I do hope we get chance to meet on a future cruise and thank you again for taking the time and effort to do all these posts.

[librarylady19]

Wonderful report - only wish our cruise in Journey was half as good as this. So glad it was a magical,experience for you.

[TravelBugM]

Excellent report. Love the new furniture! Thank you.

[Spursgirl]

Deirdre,

 

Your review was superb and has really made me go on to countdown mode for our November sailing on Journey. Thank you.

 

But can you tell me the essence of what made your September idyll different from our May experience? Like you, I enjoyed our Athens to Rome voyage but just felt that Azamara sparkle was missing.

 

Maybe your glorious itinerary helped alongside the warmer weather. Whatever it was I am glad your love affair with Azamara continues.

 

Hazel

[wangeling gal]

Totally fabulous review Deidre, thank you for taking the time to share your holiday with us all.

Can't wait to sail on Journey again, one day.

[excitedofharpenden]

Deirdre, echoing what many here have said, what a wonderful pictorial review. Thanks for sharing. Looking at the early photo of the seating on the other side of the pool grill reminded me of where I first sat with you, Rob and Philippa for lunch on the first day of our cruise. Now those chairs and tables have gone and I like the look of the replacements. It's good to see some updates.

 

I'm over the initial disappointment in the LCV changes and I too have said to myself I won't cut off my nose to spite my face. Will just see how it goes. I leave next Wednesday for Journey once more and can't wait.

 

Phil

[Lottie A]

Deirdre, I can only echo the other posters and say Thank You for writing such a wonderful and comprehensive review. I have always been a Quest girl but after reading your review I am now really looking forward to our Journey cruise in November.

 

Hazel....as to why the "sparkle" was missing in May....could it possibly have been because of the company? :D:D:D Not meaning Phil of course!

 

Phil, I hope you have a lovely cruise on Journey....wish you could be on the Nov 6th cruise with us. There will be lots of laughing, alcohol and cake! :)

[nuneham]

Really enjoyed this, Deidre. I'm now looking forward to being on Journey in November with more enthusiasm. Lottie & Hazel, I have been very interested in your comments. We were on Quest at the same time as you last October and you followed our August Black Sea sailing. On that cruise we had the best of all our White Nights, Jazz Brunch and Officers' BBQ but we still thought there was 'sparkle' missing. I am now wondering if the fault was not with AZ but with ourselves. Perhaps familiarity is making us more picky. We have had a terrible year, perhaps it was too much to ask of a holiday in those circumstances. All this acknowledged, I do think the staff around the pool and in Windows are pressed. You never see them standing about but there seem fewer of them. And I really miss the roast gammon which appeared at breakfast every few days. If you never eat eggs, go light on the carbs and can't always fancy frozen fruit, breakfast can be problematic. Let's compare notes after November - we're on the 16th. We have also booked Regent for 2015, the first time we've left Azamara since we found it.

[dln929]

Thank you everyone for your very kind words! I'm glad you liked following me around the Med for ten days. :D

 

I've been thinking a lot over why I found the love for this cruise that I didn't in May. I think one thing in particular came into play that adversely affected our May cruise on the Journey and this was the weather. I had no idea how much of a role weather plays in the enjoyment of a cruise but I found out in May that it does!

 

For example: Santorini. That's a port where you dream of blue skies and balmy weather, right? We got to Santorini in May and the skies were overcast, the temperature was brisk, and the wind was blowing. We went on the ship's tour that day. Our first stop was a winery up on a hilltop. I was freezing! What fun is it to sip wine thinking "when can I get back on the bus..." We didn't get many photos that day of Santorini's brilliant blue skies and I left the island feeling like I'd been cheated of my postcard pretty day. Azamara's fault? No, of course not. Who can control the weather.

 

Then there was Malta. It was a lovely day all around, topped by a well-executed and thoroughly enjoyable AzAmazing Evening. However, by the time we got back on board at the conclusion of the evening, the temperature had dropped. There was supposed to be an after party on the deck. The waiters were there with trays filled with flutes of sparkling wine and hors d'oeuvres. So who was on the deck to enjoy this? Rob and I and Scott and Sandi and only a handful of other hardy souls. And we all had cool weather plaid blankets clutched around our shoulders. Did we last long? No we didn't. Who likes being outside in the cold? It was a disappointing end to the day. Azamara's fault? No, of course not.

 

Now contrast this to the AzAmazing Evening Rob and I were treated to in Gibraltar. The weather was balmy. People were lingering, chatting, sipping their cocktails, and in general having a fantastic evening. There were sandwiches, salad, and soup waiting for us upstairs in Windows Cafe and it was warm enough that people were taking their plates outside. Is there anything better than dining al fresco under a beautiful summer night sky? I think of our Gibraltar evening and I have a great big sloppy smile on my face.

 

And how can I not mention the White Night Party! Ours in September was outside on the pool deck and it was incredible! May? Cold weather moved it to the Cabaret Lounge. Sorry. Me no felt the dancing vibe. White Night belongs outside.

 

I am of the opinion that May's weather made the staff grouchy. Especially the bartenders. We did not get the same easy-going vibe at either the Sunset Bar or the Pool Bar in May that we did in September. In fact the bartender at the Sunset Bar in May was positively off-hand. He did not engage with us and more often than not he took his own sweet time before he bothered to serve us (and other passengers). It wasn't as much fun to go to the Sunset Bar. The bartender at the Pool Bar barked at me when he thought I was trying to sneak a free drink with my husband's sea pass. Rob and I had both gotten the upgrade package and I wasn't using his card; I was using mine, and the bartender was out of line. Who knows. Maybe there were liquor cheats on the ship that week and he was annoyed at them, not me, but I got the brunt of it. My theory is this. When the weather is good, the bartender is happy. People come to the bar, shoot the breeze, time goes by quickly and enjoyably. When the weather is brisk, people tend not to linger and it must be very boring for them and this makes them into Less-Than-Happy Bartenders. I guess I could say the same of passengers. I know that the higher the temps on a cruise, the happier I am.

 

So I do think the weather played a huge part in what made our September cruise sparkle in a way our May cruise did not. If I were to rate the two, I'd give May a solid B grade and September an A+.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2014 by dln929

[themoon]

Thanks Dierdre for the great review. It made me wish we had been on your sailing and not the one just previous.

 

I agree that White Night's are something Azamara does beautifully.

 

The new furniture looks great, too bad we didn't get to see that on our sailing.

Edited September 24, 2014 by themoon

[Spursgirl]

Really enjoyed this, Deidre. I'm now looking forward to being on Journey in November with more enthusiasm. Lottie & Hazel, I have been very interested in your comments. We were on Quest at the same time as you last October and you followed our August Black Sea sailing. On that cruise we had the best of all our White Nights, Jazz Brunch and Officers' BBQ but we still thought there was 'sparkle' missing. I am now wondering if the fault was not with AZ but with ourselves. Perhaps familiarity is making us more picky. We have had a terrible year, perhaps it was too much to ask of a holiday in those circumstances. All this acknowledged, I do think the staff around the pool and in Windows are pressed. You never see them standing about but there seem fewer of them. And I really miss the roast gammon which appeared at breakfast every few days. If you never eat eggs, go light on the carbs and can't always fancy frozen fruit, breakfast can be problematic. Let's compare notes after November - we're on the 16th. We have also booked Regent for 2015, the first time we've left Azamara since we found it.

 

I hope we were well behaved on last October's Quest cruise!:D

As always we had a great time

[dln929]

Thanks Dierdre for the great review. It made me wish we had been on your sailing and not the one just previous.

 

I agree that White Night's are something Azamara does beautifully.

 

The new furniture looks great, too bad we didn't get to see that on our sailing.

 

The only cure for that is to book another cruise! I can sympathize with your disappointment with your most recent experience on the Journey as we too were less than wow'ed by our May cruise. You'd think that all other things being equal, every single Azamara cruise would deliver the same level of satisfaction but I don't think it works like that. It's just my opinion, of course, but to me it's sort of like when you have a favorite restaurant/night club. You can go in one evening and have a fantastic meal and the crowd is great and the entertainment is fabulous. And then you can go back another night and the chef is having an off-night, the crowd is boring, and the entertainment isn't your favorite. That's when you have stand back and look at the big picture and ask yourself if, on the whole, you're getting an experience that you enjoy and that the less-than-enjoyable time was more of an aberration than anything else. If it's not, you walk. If it is, you give the experience another chance. We've had three Azamara cruises in the last year and while all of them have been good, two of the three have been outstanding. That's enough for me to overlook the ordinary experience we had in May. It was merely a hiccup in the scheme of things.

[dln929]

Two photos I left off earlier. The first, the menu from the Jazz Brunch. This to me is a "no miss" dining event. Everything is set up so prettily and the orchestra (on both Journey and Quest) provides such great music to enjoy your meal by. The menu's not too shabby either. ;)

 

 

And here's the internet pricing. Just in case Azamara doesn't relent and makes us pay. :(

 

[zennor]

Deirdre,

 

thank you so much for this wonderful review and encouraging me to try another Mediterranean cruise. Having already been on two and knowing France and Spain quite well (haven't visited Lisbon since a school cruise in 1969!), I didn't think that there would be many ports to interest us but you proved me wrong. I loved your review and have been checking in each day to read the updates. Thank you!

[nuneham]

I hope we were well behaved on last October's Quest cruise!:D

As always we had a great time

 

I'm sure you were better behaved than I was! Have you seen Lorna & Maurice this year? We were with them for almost 4 weeks last year as we were on 3 cruises together. I do hope they both remain well.

[Spursgirl]

I'm sure you were better behaved than I was! Have you seen Lorna & Maurice this year? We were with them for almost 4 weeks last year as we were on 3 cruises together. I do hope they both remain well.

 

Lorna and Maurice are very well. They were with us on our cruise three weeks ago and we spent a lot of time together.

 

I met Lorna on my first Quest cruise in May 2008 and we have been friends ever since. She is a darling and totally hilarious.

 

If you are happy to let me know your real name I can pass on your best wishes to her. We speak at least once a week.:D

 

Hazel

[dln929]

Hazel and nuneham, I love that you're having a conversation here! It's a perfect illustration of why small ships like Journey are so much fun to be on. You get to meet people fairly quickly and before long you've made friends of the kind that you'll know for a very long time. and that you want to sail with again. Sure that happens on big ships, too, but there's still something special about Azamara ships.

[JVNYC]

Next day, Palamos in Spain. The port is not exactly very exciting but nearby Girona is. Once more we took the easy route with the ship's tour (remember that long-since-departed 25% discount :o). Girona was memorable. The tour we took was memorable too, and for all the wrong reasons. We've taken well over a dozen Azamara shore excursions and have been happy with all of them. All were good, some very good, and others outstanding. This one? The pits. I was livid to the point that as soon as the tour was over I marched downstairs to Land Discoveries to say my piece. No one was there. The desk wasn't scheduled to open until 6 pm. I left a message at Guest Relations for them to call me to discuss and indeed the manager did call but we were at dinner and she left no return number. After dinner I trouped back downstairs only to have missed opening times (their fault not mine as I was given incorrect hours). What to do but go back again the next morning. Which I did. I laid everything out to the ladies at the desk only to be told that they were in no position to resolve anything; only the manager could do that. It took another try to get hold of the manager who listened and offered us a half refund for the tour, which I thought was entirely fair and satisfactory. It takes a lot of time and effort to complain and I can understand why most people do not bother. To me it was more the principle of the matter and I wasn't willing to let it go until it was resolved.

 

Of course now you're probably wondering what got me in a tizz. It would take too much time to tell but suffice it to say that I was not the only one on the tour bus displeased with the way the tour was conducted (meaning of course that the disaster was not my imagination). We had, in effect, a tour guide who could not manage the crowd she had with her in addition to including things on the tour that were not part of the description and consequently of no interest whatsoever to a good portion of the tour group. And then some. No matter. It was not the kind of tour I ever thought Azamara would offer and given our complete satisfaction with every other Azamara tour we've been on I felt obligated to complain, if only to prevent them from using this rogue tour guide again.

 

That said, Girona was wonderful! Even our tour guide could not damper our enthusiasm for it. What a city. It was a very special holiday the day we were there and we were treated to many festivities such as the traditional Catalan dancing. As I said before, the benchmark is "Do we want to come back here again?" and to Girona I say yes yes yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Deidre. Thanks so much for all your wonderful posts and beautiful photos. I'm wondering if you walked around Palamos at all? I know you mentioned you weren't crazy about the port, what was it about it? There are a few cruise lines that are stopping in Palamos in 2015 so I'm curious if this would definitely a place to do an excursion. Wondering if it's not worth getting off the ship and just walking around Palamos. Thanks!

Joe

[Lottie A]

Hi Deidre. Thanks so much for all your wonderful posts and beautiful photos. I'm wondering if you walked around Palamos at all? I know you mentioned you weren't crazy about the port, what was it about it? There are a few cruise lines that are stopping in Palamos in 2015 so I'm curious if this would definitely a place to do an excursion. Wondering if it's not worth getting off the ship and just walking around Palamos. Thanks!

Joe

 

We were in Palamos on a Quest cruise in 2014. We found it to be rather a sad place and obviously suffering badly from the Spanish economic recession. We had a coffee and a little wander and got back on the ship. I would certainly look at doing an excursion from this port if ever I went there again.

[CintiPam]

Thanks so much, Deirdre, for posting your thoughts and wonderful photos. You are an excellent representative for the unique experiences Azamara cruisers receive onboard, and you have been a ray of sunshine on the very rainy Azamara threads recently.

 

I too like the looks of the new deck furniture and cabin table. What kind of top is on that table?

Edited September 24, 2014 by CintiPam

[dln929]

Hi Deidre. Thanks so much for all your wonderful posts and beautiful photos. I'm wondering if you walked around Palamos at all? I know you mentioned you weren't crazy about the port, what was it about it? There are a few cruise lines that are stopping in Palamos in 2015 so I'm curious if this would definitely a place to do an excursion. Wondering if it's not worth getting off the ship and just walking around Palamos. Thanks!

Joe

 

Joe, I will second what Lottie says. We drove through it on our way to Girona and it did not look very exciting. Go to nearby Girona instead! Girona oozes charm and there are churches, museums, cafes, little shops and more. This is what TripAdvisor has to say about it (to whet your appetite more) http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g187499-Girona_Province_of_Girona_Catalonia-Vacations.html

[dln929]

Thanks so much, Deirdre, for posting your thoughts and wonderful photos. You are an excellent representative for the unique experiences Azamara cruisers receive onboard, and you have been a ray of sunshine on the very rainy Azamara threads recently.

 

I too like the looks of the new deck furniture and cabin table. What kind of top is on that table?

 

Thanks Pam for saying such nice things. We really did have a happy time on the Journey and I'm glad I have this forum to voice my experience. Now about the coffee table in the cabin--that's just the protective covering which they hadn't taken off yet. The tables were replaced on the last full day of the cruise while most of us were off sightseeing. When we had our nightly turn-down our cabin steward peeled it off. The finish is mahogany. The pool furniture was delivered that afternoon, too, which accounts for the relative disarray. The boxes were still being opened and the furniture assembled. I like the new furniture a lot. It reminds me of what the Celebrity S class ships have on board. It's a sleek look, very streamlined. The furniture is of high quality, too, so it should last for a while.

 

I didn't take a photo of it but the tables at the Sunset Bar got new umbrellas. I asked the dining room manager if the tables and chairs were going to be replaced as well and he told me no. Whew. I like them. New umbrellas are enough of a change in the Sunset Bar!

Edited September 24, 2014 by dln929

[ellbon]

they have been wonderful as always... Loed your top as i also wear that wonderful man.. It meant a lot to see the new furniture as i was sitting on some samples this winter and we were asked to say what we thought. think the new tables on deck 11 are way better than the other tables.. they were small and many had crack..

 

I do enjoy the written word too.. you tell great stories and make me realize i need to walk more uphilll before i redo that area of europe again one day..

 

Thank you

 

Robin

[gkm]

Deirdre, I have really enjoyed your review and pictures and have looked forward to it every day with great anticipation. My DH Bob and I sailed on the Quest when she was new to the fleet back in 2008. We did her first transatlantic and participated in her first Cruise Critic party. We have not sailed on her since and are so looking forward to being on her next spring when we do a B2B from Singapore to Istanbul. You have made your cruise come alive for all that have read it and must admit, I'm sad to see your journey come to an end. Thank you for taking the time to share your fun adventure with all of us. You are a very talented writer.

 

 

Garry

[tango9]

Thanks, Deirdre, for this wonderful review. You had a wonderful time on the Journey again! Are you booked for any more sailings?

And Hazel, I will see you soon on the Journey embarking on November 6th!! Pretty soon, but not soon enough.

Cheryl