First Impressions of a First Time Azamara Cruiser

[Tom47]

I’m tempted to book a Journey cruise in mid July. Still mulling it over.

I have neglected to mention Chuck Richardson’s Destination Enrichment talks. He is a pretty good presenter and knows his stuff. He’s not selling anything either. Just giving you tips and history of where we’re headed.

 

Today’s lunch in Discoveries was Dim Sum. Now I don’t need to tell the regulars how good it is. But it is excellent. I had several types of dumplings, duck crepes with some additional duck, sushi and stir fry. I passed on the desserts, fruits and several other dishes. I’d do it again in a heart beat.

I enjoyed the bridge tour. The Master Captain came on the bridge as it was ending. I think we had taken longer than he expected and we were still there when he arrived.

The galley was smaller than I expected but then again it is a smaller ship than many. It’s very efficient but not much was happening because it was a break between lunch an dinner.

Speaking of dinner, we had our first specialty restaurant experience on AZ in Aqualina. Tonight was lobster, lobster and LOBSTER. But first, my DW had the Dover sole. She loved it and as expected it was deboned at the table. Tonight they had a special seafood appetizer that included lobster, baby scallops, large shrimp and calamari.

I also ordered the lobster ravioli appetizer with orange olive oil. The main dish was the lobster and freshly made pasta that was al dente. All too good. Today was the best food lunch & dinner.

The entertainer was Rikki Jay. He’s funny and corny but he’s hard to following running back and forth continually. The poor spot follower had his workout too. Lol I hope he gets some new material soon though.

Unfortunately at the end of the set, there was an emergency in the audience. The PA announced Alpha, Alpha, Alpha Cabaret port side. The crew jumped into action.

I saw them giving a man CPR and was pulling out the defibrillator. I can’t give you any more information since the audience was asked to file out the other exit. We respected that. The crew blocked off the area with chairs to give the passenger some privacy while they assisted him.

The seas picked up a little today to 3 meters but calmed down in the evening. It’s a bout 10pm and there’s a beautiful sunset off our starboard side. Fortunately, that’s my side. I’ll post a picture later. It’s warmed up.

Tomorrow is Tallinn. We dock about 7:30am and sail 4pm. Then three days in St Petersburg.

Great review. We have been on one Azamara cruise and have one more booked.:)

[BBMacLaird]

After just completing my end of cruise survey after leaving Quest yesterday, I am wondering what value our responses are to Azamara. We had a great cruise as usual but there were one or two things I wanted to feed back and there didn't seem to be a facility for me to do this on the form.

 

Bonnie would you be able to mention this to the Miami office in th hope that the survey can be tweaked a little.

 

Steve, apologies for hijacking your thread. I am glad you are continuing to enjoy your cruise.

 

The end-of-voyage surveys are very important, and read by many.

I've passed your suggestion along for more room for comments (I'm assuming that's what you meant by 'facility for me to do this on the form'??)

[ChucktownSteve]

I’ve been having trouble with the internet connection eating up my minutes and taking forever to load. The paragraph spacing in the previous post was truncated by CC. Sorry about not being able to fix it. I believe it was the ship’s location that may have had some part of the reason.

Bonnie, I was joking about the JW Blue. There’s no way they could ever include it in the package because one drink is priced at 1.5 times the daily cost of the Ultimate package.

It’s slightly after 4:30am here. We’ve forwarded one hour twice since leaving Edinburgh crossing time zines The brewed coffee is not out yet but the espresso machine is working. So I can still get a caffeine fix. While getting my coffee a crew member was preparing four cups to walk for the bridge staff. Then another officer came in for his coffee.

I was able to find out the most unfortunate news that the gentleman passed away last night. My sincere sympathies go out to his family and friends.

We’re just about 10 NM from Tallinn. So I’m going up to the bow to watch us pull into port.

[ellbon]

This is the reason the. Few has drills every seven days..to save lives. At least we know he was in good hands ejoying a good time to the end.

 

Riki fun and I have enjoyed getting to knuow him and his wife a few years ago.

[Spursgirl]

The end-of-voyage surveys are very important, and read by many.

I've passed your suggestion along for more room for comments (I'm assuming that's what you meant by 'facility for me to do this on the form'??)

 

Thanks Bonnie,

 

There was nothing negative I wanted to add, just one or two things which I hope would be considered constructive observations

[Spursgirl]

I’ve been having trouble with the internet connection eating up my minutes and taking forever to load. The paragraph spacing in the previous post was truncated by CC. Sorry about not being able to fix it. I believe it was the ship’s location that may have had some part of the reason.

Bonnie, I was joking about the JW Blue. There’s no way they could ever include it in the package because one drink is priced at 1.5 times the daily cost of the Ultimate package.

It’s slightly after 4:30am here. We’ve forwarded one hour twice since leaving Edinburgh crossing time zines The brewed coffee is not out yet but the espresso machine is working. So I can still get a caffeine fix. While getting my coffee a crew member was preparing four cups to walk for the bridge staff. Then another officer came in for his coffee.

I was able to find out the most unfortunate news that the gentleman passed away last night. My sincere sympathies go out to his family and friends.

We’re just about 10 NM from Tallinn. So I’m going up to the bow to watch us pull into port.

 

That is very sad news and I echo condolences to the Gentleman's friends and family.

 

It is reassuring to know that if he were travelling with friends and/or companions they will be very well taken care of by the wonderful Journey crew.

[ChucktownSteve]

Before I tell you about our most excellent day I feel I should tell you we’re sailing out a tad late. It seems that one of the passengers has had a better day because they’ve been delayed getting back to the ship. But the Captain has announced as soon as the tardy one gets here (he’s on the way) they’ll pull up the gangway. So far we’re only 20 minutes past last onboard. :D

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Even though it rained on the way into port and we began the day under overcast skies, it turned out to be a fabulous day. That’s because we all brought our umbrellas ashore which meant we were guaranteed not to need them.

My DW and I had pre-purchased the red HOHO bus. They picked us up directly in front of the ship. We took it to the high old town and walked the various streets. The architecture is wonderful. Then we hopped on a different color HOHO line and got another tour. This city’s HOHO has a much better historic description. I would skip Copenhagen all together next time and I would recommend Tallinn’s HOHO for inexpensive information. However it cannot compete with a real tour excursion. Also the ship offered a free shuttle downtown. So you can get a great experience just walking the various streets and shops. We didn’t get off at the HOHO cruise terminal stop because wouldn’t have heard the other narration until stop 1 downtown which was very close to the Free AZ shuttle. So we got off the HOHO and hopped on AZ’s HOHO with one stop directly at the pier.

I want to say something about the service of the crew. When we returned, the Windows Café was supposed to be closed but they still had some food available as well. The Patio was packed. However my DW took her carved roast beef from Windows to the Sunset bar. I was just having a drink since I was still full from breakfast and I don’t feel like eating for the sake of eating. Besides, if you looked at me, you’d know I won’t starve. Hahahaha.

However what really impressed me is that when they were really closing down the buffet someone came and alerted us to the fact so we could make another last minute trip if we wanted to. We didn’t but thanked them. Then a little later we had another crewmember come by and tell us they were closing the Windows dessert area. OMG all the other lines just close it and say sorry if you wanted more.

BTW we just sailed away and it was on time despite the tardy passenger. Boy was he lucky.

Tomorrow is Russia and they are very strict about immigration. We have a 32 person CC roll call independent excursion. Despite the fact that it didn’t go through AZ, the concierge was most helpful and delivered a preprinted information card to our participants stating we gather at 7:30a and leave for the gangway at 7:45 to go through the tedious disembarking procedure.

The next three days will be extremely strenuous. Three full day tours from 8:30am till 5pm. Then tomorrow night is the Azamzing evening and the second night is White Night. The third night as we sail from St. Petersburg we’ve been invited to dinner with Ryszard with our newfound friends from MA and probably several others. I’m not used to dining with officers but I did bring my proper dress.

To be candid, I usually find things that aren’t exactly to snuff. And I’ll admit had I been a regular Azamara cruiser, I might be able to find things to complain about. However on this cruise I really can’t see anything worth mentioning.

This has been one of the best crew services we’ve experienced. This has been one of the best food service/quality we’ve experienced. So to nitpick it at this point would not do our vacation justice. I’m not really trying to be a cheerleader and I do reserve the right to change my opinion at any time.

But if you’ve never cruised Azamara and have one booked, you have “nothing to fear but fear itself.”

OK now that I’ve written this whole post, We actually did sail out on time.

Tonight in Windows is Asian. I’ll take a look and perouse the Discoveries menu and we’ll decide later. You’ll just have to sit on the edge of your seat to hear about what we decided. Hahahaha.

[TravelBugM]

Absolutely fabulous ongoing review. Thank you.

 

While we've sailed Azamara twice before, you are making us even more excited about our upcoming October cruise.

[KazLoudspeaker]

Thanks for the review, Steve, am thoroughly enjoying it. We have this itinerary booked on Az in 2019, so am particularly interested in your ports of call. Have noted the Copenhagen HOHO bus.

Thanks again,

Karyn

 

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[uktog]

Thanks for the review, Steve, am thoroughly enjoying it. We have this itinerary booked on Az in 2019, so am particularly interested in your ports of call. Have noted the Copenhagen HOHO bus.

Thanks again,

Karyn

 

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I totally agree about the Copenhagen HOHO having been on it in July the day after disembarkation. Our issues were different having boarded in town but I would not recommend it at all.

[QueenP]

I also am really enjoying your posts Steve!

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

Well for those people that like to zing AZ, you’ll be happy with this post. I encountered my first disappoint. Nothing to ruin my cruise but just something as a lesson learned. When we got back to the ship, coupled with the fact that I awakened slightly after 4am or so, I zonked out for a nap. I was so soundly sleeping that I never heard when Hilda came by twice to make up the room. Good thing my SU handled it. But I awoke at about 8:45 and the restaurants stopped serving at

 

I high tailed it up to Windows but half the food had already been taken up 15 minutes early. I went to the Patio and ordered the Bone in ribeye. I didn’t realize that it was at most 1/2” thick. Maybe even ¼”. I ordered it medium rare but you can’t cook such a “thick” piece of meat to temperature. So it was overcooked and tough. The mixed vegetables were cold and wouldn’t melt butter. But they were cooked properly to firmness, just not kept hot.

Had I been smart enough to stop at Discoveries first I would have seen they had roast duck. I really enjoy duck. So lesson learned. Check Discoveries first.

Tomorrow is a full day and night so back to the cabin to relax and recharge for Russia.

[Lottie A]

Well for those people that like to zing AZ, you’ll be happy with this post. I encountered my first disappoint. Nothing to ruin my cruise but just something as a lesson learned. When we got back to the ship, coupled with the fact that I awakened slightly after 4am or so, I zonked out for a nap. I was so soundly sleeping that I never heard when Hilda came by twice to make up the room. Good thing my SU handled it. But I awoke at about 8:45 and the restaurants stopped serving at :D

 

 

I high tailed it up to Windows but half the food had already been taken up 15 minutes early. I went to the Patio and ordered the Bone in ribeye. I didn’t realize that it was at most 1/2” thick. Maybe even ¼”. I ordered it medium rare but you can’t cook such a “thick” piece of meat to temperature. So it was overcooked and tough. The mixed vegetables were cold and wouldn’t melt butter. But they were cooked properly to firmness, just not kept hot.

Had I been smart enough to stop at Discoveries first I would have seen they had roast duck. I really enjoy duck. So lesson learned. Check Discoveries first.

Tomorrow is a full day and night so back to the cabin to relax and recharge for Russia.

 

Room service is really good if you are still hungry Steve. :D

[ChucktownSteve]

This posting is a day late because yesterday was sooo long. I awoke at 4:30am. I even beat the crew awake. I was able to get the first cup of coffee from the machine in Windows however when I went for a refill, the machine wouldn’t work until someone emptied the coffee grounds holder. So out of luck until they awoke.

The day officially started with our tour group gathering at 7:30am in the Casino lounge before heading out for our tours. We had two Mercedes vans with SPB from our roll call.

Passport control was very efficient and it only took about 15 minutes because they opened up all the lanes. The ship’s tours went through one line and the independent tour people went through another.

Our guide, Svetlana, is excellent. She is a wealth of history and knowledge. She said she began giving tours while a teenager. So that was a long time. She makes things interesting and did an excellent job of herding us around.

Our first stop was Peter and Paul Fortress. We waited an hour on the organized tours line inching forward until we got inside. It was Magnificent. You may hear me use that word a lot. The architecture inside and out is absolutely that and incredible.

We did take a subway ride and after lunch and a couple of other attractions, ended the day at the Church of the Spilled Blood. Back at the ship there was enough time to get ready freshened up for the AzAmazing evening. It was too. We were on bus 1. I believe it’s because we’re Discoverer and above. We had a private event at the D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic hall. The hall was Magnificent with beautiful chandeliers. The musicians were absolutely wonderful. I have never heard such a rich tone from the strings sections. The selections were lively and there were a couple of familiar movements. Obviously there were two Tchaikovsky selections. That was truly an AZAMAZING evening.

As a side note to the ladies, my DW suggested you bring extra tissues because the WCs are always out as you’re out and about.

Azamara has been so incredible that even my DW has said we’re now spoiled that it will be hard to go back to other cruise lines. She normally doesn’t like a lot of sea days but this morning at breakfast she said she wished today was one of them. lol

Today is day 2 in St. Petersburg of an extensive schedule. First on the itinerary is an hour long canal boat ride. Tonight is White Night. I suspect I’ll be out like a light again tonight. However this is well worth it.

Well I went to log on and apparently I’ve used up my 90 minutes. The other day I had trouble with CC getting on. As I watched the bottom of my browser bar, the extra load ins that CC uses like Google analytics, click ads, ad tracking and other junk in the background stalled loading and ate up over seven minutes.

So now I’m about to steal my DW’s 60 LCV minutes to continue posting. Once we get on the tour van, they have free Wi-Fi for checking emails etc.

[tiggertom]

Hope you both have another fabulous day in St. Petersburg and dance the night away at the white night tonight. Loving your blog :D

[nordski]

Well I went to log on and apparently I’ve used up my 90 minutes. The other day I had trouble with CC getting on. As I watched the bottom of my browser bar, the extra load ins that CC uses like Google analytics, click ads, ad tracking and other junk in the background stalled loading and ate up over seven minutes.

So now I’m about to steal my DW’s 60 LCV minutes to continue posting. Once we get on the tour van, they have free Wi-Fi for checking emails etc.

 

Great blog and love the details. You and your wife are clearly enjoying every minute, and I appreciate the time you are devoting to keeping us informed. Your enthusiasm is contagious.

 

We were on Journey the prior cruise and did think the Internet speed had slowed compared to our previous cruise.

 

In retrospect, I wish I had stopped the automatic downloading of updates to apps on my iPhone, since that backlog caused me a minor issue when I returned home.

[Montreal Marc]

I'm Elite Plus on Celebrity, but have not yet tried AZ (although I've been considering it for years, but I most often travel solo).

 

In any case, I now have a courtesy hold for a few days on what would be my first AZ cruise (a transat on Quest), and am really enjoying your comments.

 

Many thanks!

 

Marc (now living back home again in Toronto)

[ChucktownSteve]

Oh I forgot to mention we used room service our first St. Petersburg day. We ordered at 6am. It arrived at 7am. Make sure you take that into account if a lot of people are ordering and had put out their breakfast cards the night before.

Something else I need to correct. The first day we stood in line t Peterhof not Peter and Paul which we visited today. All I kept thinking of was a Peter Paul Mounds bar.

Well it looks like my CC post this morning made us the last couple on the van.

Today was another beautiful day here. They don’t have many good, sunny days and we’ve already made more than our share. The Captain last night told the people at the symphony who gave him credit for bringing the good weather that he was taking it with him. Hahaha.

We did the canal boat, shopping. General Hermitage Headquarters. Peter and Paul’s fortress and cathedral, lunch and the regular Hermitage Museum. I have never in my life seen so many tourists in one place and I’ve been in NYC, Rome, LA, SFO, Prague and lots of other places. I don’t even think Disney World and Epcot match this number of people on a daily basis.

Our guide was absolutely incredible. She gave great background on all the artists we looked at in the Hermitage with lots of additional information you wouldn’t expect. It was a non-stop tour.

Two days down. I told people that if I make it through tomorrow, I’m going to make up a T-shirt that says, I survived THREE full days in St. Petersburg. :D

 

The lunches so far that were included in our tour price were much better quality than I expected.

We got back to the ship in time to get freshened up for White Night. OMG. If you haven’t attended one, you must. It is soooo much fun. And the food is excellent. So is the entertainment. We had an authentic Russian troupe that must have been at least a dozen performers plus the musicians. They were spectacular. High energy with lots of colorful costume changes.

After that the house band played high energy music with Tony too. He impresses me. He can take the lead, but he’s not too egotistical to take background too. And do an excellent job at both. I have to say he is the best CD I’ve ever experienced.

Actually, AZ has even won over my DW. She’s said how can we go on any other cruise line after Azamara. Then later she jokingly kidded about cancelling our three O cruises so we could afford more AZ cruises because the AZ experience is so great.

I know all you regulars already know all of this however if you’ve booked but haven’t cruised AZ yet, you must do the AzAmazing evening and the White Night.

Here’s another random thought. It hasn’t mattered where we were eating, if you plate is empty in Discoveries, Windows or the other eateries, you plate will be cleared almost immediately. I’ve been used to waiting until I’ve almost left on other cruise line.

[ellbon]

Wel,, you could cancel Oceania and enjoy more on Azamara. I tried O twice somerhing is just missing.

[ChucktownSteve]

Wel,, you could cancel Oceania and enjoy more on Azamara. I tried O twice somerhing is just missing.

 

 

 

My DW mentioned the same thing. I don't know if my last post actually posted. I'll have to check but if not more wasted minutes.

 

 

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[J.E.C]

I am really enjoying your posts and re living my memories of St Peterburg.Hope you got through the 3rd day okay :)

 

Looking forward to the rest of your posts

[Teknodude]

This posting is a day late because yesterday was sooo long.

 

Your blog is getting me excited for my trip August 23rd as a lot of the tours, Azamazing evening, etc are similar to what we will get on our trip, I assume.

Couple of small questions, if you get the chance - we are using SPB for a 2 day St P tour - how are the lines at various places you went to? I notice you mention a 1 hour line at the first stop. My other half can't stand about for long - just wondering how we will deal with that. We have a private guide for the 2 of us.

 

You mention a bus number 1 for the Azamazing evening. Is this a thing for elite members? We aren't elite, but in a suite. Is there a benefit for bus 1 passengers? We like the odd little perk ;) Any drinks or refreshments served? How does it fit in with dinner?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to blog - very interesting, and informative!

[ChucktownSteve]

Your blog is getting me excited for my trip August 23rd as a lot of the tours, Azamazing evening, etc are similar to what we will get on our trip, I assume.

 

Couple of small questions, if you get the chance - we are using SPB for a 2 day St P tour - how are the lines at various places you went to? I notice you mention a 1 hour line at the first stop. My other half can't stand about for long - just wondering how we will deal with that. We have a private guide for the 2 of us.

 

 

 

You mention a bus number 1 for the Azamazing evening. Is this a thing for elite members? We aren't elite, but in a suite. Is there a benefit for bus 1 passengers? We like the odd little perk ;) Any drinks or refreshments served? How does it fit in with dinner?

 

 

 

Thanks again for taking the time to blog - very interesting, and informative!

 

 

 

Thank you for following. I don't know if they have the same entrainment planned for your cruise, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

SPB got us in a lot of places with virtually very little waiting. The one exception was at PeterHof. But there are some places to sit. Sometimes if you have a private tour, they may get you in earlier because the larger groups are courteous to small private tours and let them move ahead.

 

Im presuming we were on bus one because we are Discover. We were invited to a brief cocktail time while waiting but they serve the freebie stuff unless you have a liquor package. However I'm not positive on the reason. But all of the buses transported very quickly and efficiently.

 

 

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[uktog]

It all depends on the venue and the bus sizes. Sometimes bus 1 is top suites only sometimes top suites plus Top loyalty only. Not seen it ever being right down to discoverer - there were 45 Discoverer plus and above and over 200 Discoverers onboard. So Steve must have got priority for another reason.

But as Steve says it moves quickly and they manage the bus arrivals at the destination to ensure it's comfortable for everyone

[excitedofharpenden]

 

You mention a bus number 1 for the Azamazing evening. Is this a thing for elite members? We aren't elite, but in a suite. Is there a benefit for bus 1 passengers? We like the odd little perk ;) Any drinks or refreshments served? How does it fit in with dinner?

As Ann says it does depend on the cruise, but if you are in one of the big suites and/or a top tier LCV member then you'll definitely be on the first bus/tender. It has advantages and disadvantages. Pluses are you are off first and get a good seat at the venue and back on the ship first for food from the buffet. Downside is you are first there and wait for everyone else to arrive before the show starts. The ship is vacated by deck. First deck 8, then seven and so on (if you are in one of the deck six accessible suites you leave with deck 8 unless you need assistance and you'll then be first off). It's worth saying that if you have friends on a different deck that you want to go with you can all leave the ship together.

 

Phil