Azamara Journey Nordic-Iceland August 17-29

SYNOPSIS

We took the twelve day Azamara voyage from Copenhagen through Bergen, Geiranger, Shetland, Akureyri, Reykjavic, Faroe Island to Dublin, with our own pre-cruise in Copenhagen and post-cruise in Dublin. On the whole, this trip had been interesting, enjoyable, and other than the dis/embarkation ports, took us to places we had never been. We even crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time in our lives.

The Journey is an R ship just like the Oceania Regatta and Nautica which we had been on. In short, the Journey is like an Oceania R ship with a Celebrity flavour. The food, bedding and the service (which varied depending on whom you met) were good, though perhaps a shade less refined than on Oceania. The atmosphere was perhaps even more relaxed than Oceania, which was welcomed. Unlike Oceania in 2008 (which could have now changed), soft drinks, dinner wine and tips were included, and shuttles were provided at a number of ports. On the whole, Azamara is slightly more economical than Oceania while providing a well acceptable product.

The sea had been calm except for one day. The weather had been nice. The ports other than the dis/embarkation cities were relatively small. Folks at Shetland and Faroe Islands were folksy, with more sheep than people. Despite the economic tsunami which left Iceland tantamount to bankruptcy, the people still carry on with life as usual. You can see the result of the rather optimistic development plans for Reykjavic before the recession, which likely would not be continued for the foreseeable future. Our taxi driver took us to a water fall near Akureyri which was really impressive and reminded us of the Niagara Falls. The Norwegian fjords were truly beautiful. All in all, a great trip which we would like to take more often if not for our very limited resources.

INTRODUCTION

We had been looking forward to this journey for quite some time, hoping to see Copenhagen (again since our last four day visit in 1999), the Norwegian fjords (read about it so much), Iceland (isn’t that a real curiosity, and a destination few have been to) and Dublin (which was one of our ports in our British Isles voyage aboard the Celebrity Century). This voyage covered all our wishes in a “condensed sampler” form, the only form we could barely afford. We loved the R ships we had been on, and being Celebrity Select members, it was natural to try out Azamara (which would give us two more points each), and it would be 2x$1,500 cheaper than a similar (but fourteen days) Oceania voyage. So we were one of the first to book this voyage.

We worried about the volcanic eruptions some months back, and thought of cancelling, but finally we took our chances and stayed. We were also not amused by Azamara’s refusing to give us the $500 shipboard credit given to others who booked during a sale period after we booked. However, since there was no suitable alternative, we swallowed and paid full fare for a basic balconied cabin. Before we left home, we checked on line (an agency website which cannot be named), and found the ship to be around 90% occupied, and that “balcony for the price of window special sale” had never been offered for this particular voyage. This time, we did not use the cruise line's air promotion, and used our own frequent flier points for our air ticket instead.

As usual, we would write this report section by section over the next couple of weeks. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those on this board who helped us research this voyage and replied to our various enquiries through the past year. It is a voyage we can recommend to all those interested.

… to be continued

Hi Meow,

Thanks for posting. We look forward to the rest of your review. When it's complete, I hope you will post it at our Member's review section : http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreviewform.cfm?ShipID=410

meow,

looking forward to your report.

We recently completed a cruise on Ocean Princess (also an R ship) which made 3 stops in Iceland and also the Shetlands (among others).

While the itinerary was the main draw, the Princess is just a small step down from Azamara/Oceania (especially the food), though still quite enjoyable; especially considering the price differential from Oceania.

Thanks to Host Andy and Paulchil for their kind replies.

Continued from above …

THE SHIP

This had been covered in our previous report http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=16812 . The R ships are basically the same, but there are differences. For example, while the Oceania R ships have a deck 8 full of mini-suites (called PH mini-suites), only half of deck 8 are mini-suites on Azamara (called club continent), while the other half are regular balconied cabins.

The restaurants are at the same locations, but renamed. The main restaurant on deck 5 is called Discoveries. The buffet restaurant on deck 9 is called Windows. The seafood specialty restaurant on deck 10 is called Aqualina while the specialty grill next to it (for both meats and seafood) is called Prime C. Unlike Oceania, where the specialty restaurants are free but restricted in attendance (the number of times you are allowed to book depends on your cabin category), on Azamara, they is a $15 per person charge for regular passengers and free for suite passengers (but anyone can eat there more often with pay).

On Oceania R ships, while the cabins are plain functional, the public areas, especially the restaurants are somewhat ornate. On Azamara, everywhere on board, including the restaurants are plain functional. There is no hint or pretence of luxury anywhere, but everything works. We will discuss the various aspects further in the various sections below.

THE CABIN

Again please refer to the link above http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=16812 . But again, Azamara has made a number of changes. While the balconies on Oceania are “wood carpeted” (removable unlike the permanent teak flooring as on Silversea ships), on Azmara, they simply “coat” the balcony floors with a thick layer of some synthetic material. All cabins on Azamara have minibars (in the past, on Oceania only “concierge level” and above had these). The “hose type hair dryer” is still kept in every Azamara regular cabin, though they also provide you with the hand held, plug in (ordinary) type. The long haired female cat found them acceptable, while the short haired male cat hardly used them.

Now all television sets are LCD, with the ones in regular balconied cabins being Samsung 23” mounted on the wall (which frees up the space previously used for televisions on R ships for water bottles and glasses). We appreciate their automatically providing two large bottles of water per cabin every day for free (as you consume them). The one telephone set per cabin is now on the desk (not mounted on the wall as on Oceania). The toilet (unlike Oceania which used the very efficient “JETS” brand) is also of the suction design but not as efficient (often taking more than one flush to get what you leave behind flushed away).

Most other cabin data for the regular balconied cabin remains the same as described in the link above. The room temperature control for the individual cabin is good, and able to change from heat to air conditioning or vice versa on its own, once you set your preferred temperature (and quite accurate at that). Again, there is no marble or wood bordering anywhere. The furniture is as plain as can be. The bedding is alright, but a grade below that provided by Oceania. The comforters are a little thick and heavy, and the six pillows they provide are alright. While the four digit safe is of standard size, you barely can get a 13” MacBook Air through its door.

All the criticisms of the tiny washroom with miniscule shower stall and a plastic curtain hugging you still applies. We guess this is an R ship feature which cannot be changed easily, but it still works. Thinking back, we wished we had such private washroom facilities in our student dormitories quite a few decades ago. Overall, the cabin is good enough, it works, provides all the basics required and is reasonably comfortable, typical of regular cabins on modern cruise ships (comparable to a category 2 on the Celebrity Century for example). They also provide you with bathrobes and slippers, the Q tips and sewing kits are on the cheap side.

… to be continued

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THE FOOD

The buffet breakfast had similarities to Celebrity, but was of better quality. One thing that deserves special mention was the fresh (machine) squeezed orange juice. (The machine used to peel and squeeze fresh oranges was similar to the one used on the Silver Spirit). We read before on this board that for Oceania, only the top owners/vista suites got fresh squeezed orange juice while everybody else had bulk purchased orange juice. So in this aspect, Azamara was superior.

Other items for breakfast and the buffet lunch were fairly standard. If you didn’t go to this buffet restaurant on deck 9 at “rush hour”, you could easily get a table for two. But at peak hours, some fellow passengers would sit themselves (or be brought by staff) to share your table if you happened to be at a table with more seats than actually occupied. Buffet breakfast and lunch items remained practically the same every day, though the variety provided was good. At lunch, there were choices of hot food, and there were different flavours of ice cream and at times sorbet.

After lunch hours, In the afternoon, there was the poolside grill, in-between the buffet room and the pool, both on deck 9. Here, you could order hamburger, hot dog, pieces of fried fish, even grilled vegetable as you please. They would cook it right in front of you to your specification. The freedom to pick your own ingredients and “mix and match” to individual preferences was appreciated. Also, there were always few people at this venue, and you never had to sit close to anyone else, a perfect place for the solitary type.

As for dinner, there were a number of choices. There was the main restaurant on deck 5, where the food was good, but a bit less refined than Oceania, for example, though still finer than Celebrity. You could look at the menu at the door first, and decide whether you want to eat here or go the buffet dinner on deck 9. Here no reservations were necessary, you could just walk in, and there was usually no waiting time. If you had no reservations, the main restaurant and the buffet dinner would be your choices. At the buffet restaurant, we liked the “stir fry”, which should be less oily than “regular” dining, we would choose some meat, some chicken, some vegetables and told them to use a minimal amount of soy source. That should cut down on the fat and cholesterol – on a cruise, one should be careful not to over eat as food would be so plentiful and readily available.

The specialty restaurants were truly superior to the other restaurants on board, and likely a good match to those on Oceania. Even the olive oil and balsamic vinegar provided were better than at the other venues. At Aqualina, we had foie gras for appetizer, large sea scallops, large shrimps and half a lobster with extra lobster meat each. If you were using shipboard credit (of which some were refundable and some were not, we would discuss that later), it should be well worth your $15 each. For those in suites it would be “included”, so many suite folks nearly exclusively ate at the specialty restaurants for the maximum value of their fares’ worth. At Prime C, even the lobster appetizer consisted of half a lobster each. The seafood plate had three tiger prawns (actually scampis), and the “catch of the day” was tilapia fish. (The previous night, a boat actually delivered a load of “fresh caught” seafood to our ship as it was leaving harbour, it couldn’t be better than that).

It was reassuring to see hand sanitizer dispensers everywhere on board. Announcements at the beginning of the voyage told passengers to be careful and frequently wash their hands. It reminded everyone the dangers of the Norwalk virus. From what we knew, nobody got sick for the entire voyage and everybody was reasonably satisfied.

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I am so enjoying your postings! We are making the " trade up" from X to Azamara next summer, so the level of detail you are providing is very helpful and exciting.

Thank you kindly for your compliment.

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THE STAFF / SERVICE

The captain was a bald middle aged kindly man. He was everywhere, and interacted more with the passengers than any other officer. He was also humorous, joking in his announcements. The other officers often ate in the regular restaurants, but they mostly left the public relations to the captain.

There were usually many waiters around, so service was fast in the buffet restaurants. You could hardly leave a used plate on your table even for a few minutes, and it would be replaced. The staff sometimes looked over worked, and a bit tired towards the end of the meal. Most of them were cheerful and courteous, and among the buffet waiters, Brian White from Jamaica had been particularly helpful. One of the cooks at the poolside grill was also cheerful and friendly. Since it was “free seating” with no assigned tables, and tipping had become included, the staff had little motive to deliberately please any particular passenger. Still they did a good job as their responsibility, and this was appreciated.

The staff at the other restaurants were also nice, and we appreciated their service. Being a mid-sized ship, unlike the small Silversea ships, they would not remember individual passenger’s names, but that would not be necessary anyway. The generic Sir or Madam was just fine, and indeed less flattering. For all the meals we had at various restaurants (three nights at the two specialty restaurants, four nights at the buffet dinner and five nights at the main restaurant), service was reasonably prompt and efficient. Even with course by course dinners, we usually managed to finish within one and a half hours.

As for cabin staff, we were told that for regular cabins, each pair of attendants had to service twenty-two cabins. (For comparison, we knew that each pair on Silversea had to service fifteen cabins, or twelve “silver suites”; we did not know the number for Oceania, perhaps some readers can fill this in). As in any organization, some staff members were more congenial than others. Of the pair who serviced us, the junior was nice but worked mostly in the background, usually only the senior interacted with us.

We found their cleaning efficient (which was good, as our cabin usually got cleaned within an hour after we left for breakfast or lunch, and could return right away to a cleaned room and didn’t have to wander and wait). However, the senior attendant seemed to have an attitude problem, he would hardly replace our shower caps and toiletries despite empty bottles and needed repeated requests. He had this uncomfortable looking grin when he met people (not just us). The morning of disembarkation, since we would be staying in Dublin for a few days, we were assigned 8:45 a.m. for disembarkation. We were aware that passengers should leave their cabins at 8:30 a.m., but having packed everything and ready to go, we thought we might as well linger for another five or ten minutes, to get closer to our disembarkation time and not have to queue up too long at the gangway. You know what, at 8:30 a.m. sharp, this attendant knocked at our cabin door and bluntly told us “I need this cabin right now” with a firm voice. So we left immediately.

To preserve our anonymity, we would not give other details. Suffice it to say that there are always exceptions in any organization, and what one experiences depends a lot on which individuals one happens to come across. We understand that cabin staff are busy on disembarkation day, and we may have to leave on time, but a few minutes delay should be of little harm, and he could at least be gentler in conveying his message.

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THE SEA / WEATHER

Except for one day on the way back from Iceland, the sea had been quite reasonable. In fact, the first few days of the voyage, from Copenhagen up the Norwegian coast to Bergen and Geiranger, the sea was so calm that it looked like a mirror. The daily highs and lows hovered around 50 to 60*F, and the swell was from non-existent to 5 ft. We were counting our blessings.

Even from Geiranger to Lerwick, Shetland Islands (North Sea) and onward to Akureyri (North Atlantic), the weather remained the same, and while the sea might show some “white heads”, the swell was mostly not more than 5 ft to 7 ft. The ship had a smooth, steady ride, and indeed some sea gulls followed the ship this part of the voyage. (We did not know why would sea gulls take such a chance to cross the sea with a ship to a destination unknown to them. What would happen if the ship would go to some “undesirable” place and they might not be able to fly back?)

At the northern tip of Iceland, the captain deliberately veered slightly north to cross the 66*40’ N latitude, known as the Arctic Circle, conducted a ceremony on the ship (which a good number of people joined), and gave all passengers a “blue nose certificate”, certifying that we had all crossed the Arctic Circle. We were delighted since this was the first time in our lives to have done so, and it would be such a rare opportunity for us.

From Reykiavik back across the North Atlantic, while the temperature remained similar, the sea roughened, not only were there “whiteheads” (which were not particularly prominent), but the substantial rolling and pitching. The captain did forewarn us, so the female cat took meclizine hydrochloride (provided by the front desk) while the male cat took dimenhydrinate. The female cat was brave enough to venture out of the cabin a couple of times for short durations, while the male cat lay flat in bed. Miraculously, neither of us vomited this time. We would like to thank those posters on this board who recommended ginger, which we brought some with us, and we tried not to drink too much fluid. We ordered room service, and while variety was limited, we made it through the day.

That evening, the captain told us that it would be “payback time” for the luck we had in the past week, and the sea would climax around noon the next day, with swells of up to 18 ft (which we had never experienced). At noon the next day, the captain said it had not been as bad as predicted, and swells were only 12 ft. However, just an hour after he so spoke, the motion substantially worsened, and while there were no subsequent announcement on how bad it had become, we were quite sure that it climaxed above 15 ft swell. Fortunately, by night fall of this second day, the situation improved. We had been worrying about this for a good while before this voyage (our previous posts on this board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1451680 ), well, we survived!

So we arrived at Torshavn, Faroe Island, and the weather remained similar. The last leg of the journey, from Torshavn to Dublin, was relatively unremarkable. While there were lots of “whiteheads”, it was steady enough that we had no problem walking on the ship, and we had our meals in the restaurants as usual. We were quite surprised that lots of “whiteheads” did not translate into a bumpy ride. On our previous voyages on other ships, such a frothy looking sea would normally mean a difficult ride.

Finally we arrived at Dublin, the weather remained cool for another couple of days, turning hotter only by the time we were about to leave Dublin. There were some rain from time to time through this voyage, but not torrents and could be easily handled with an umbrella. Everything considered, given the geographic location, we had been reasonably lucky, and couldn’t really complain.

THE PASSENGERS

There was no published passenger manifesto as on Silversea. We could only guess based on our own observations. Most passengers spoke English, and a good fraction had been on Celebrity before. Many had been on or at least had heard of Oceania (presumably Azamara’s main competitor), but we were surprised that among those we talked to, none had been on (or even had any familiarity with) Silversea. It looked like Silversea marketing had to work harder in presenting themselves!

It looked (and appearances could be deceptive) that the average passenger age could be five years younger than Oceania or Silversea. The majority of Silversea passengers (except us cats) appeared well heeled, while Oceania passengers were more informal and “middle of the road”. Azamara passengers looked even more laissez faire, and hardly anyone appeared luxuriously dressed (and of course there were no formals). It was a carefree, easy going, comfortable type of atmosphere. It would appear that most passengers went for the itinerary, not for partying.

Normally, passengers would start conversing with strangers if they sat (or were put at) the same table (be it breakfast, lunch or dinner), or when they joined some function (such as the “engine room tour”, which turned out to be just an “engine control room tour”, as we couldn’t even see the ship engine, unfortunately). At elevators or in the corridors, a nod to one another would be normal. We gathered that the ship was about 90% occupied, and it was not crowded except at the buffet restaurant during rush hours.

… to be continued

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COPENHAGEN

Mindful of the effects of jet lag, we chose to stay four days in Copenhagen. We visited this city also for four days in 1999 and stayed at the Plaza Hotel. It was a small, local four star, air conditioned hotel, old but well kept, and its main attraction was its location, right across the street from Tivoli Garden and next to the main railway station. Because of this (convenience), we stayed there again this time. A dozen years ago, it was at about DKK1,600 per night, and was DKK1,500 per night this year, including taxes and breakfast in both cases, no inflation in DKK terms, and indeed slightly less because this time we booked it through a discount agency.

The taxi ride from the airport (not so far) cost DKK250, it was a Mercedes-Benz E class, as were most taxis in Copenhagen. Apparently cars were taxed 150% (?), but taxis were not, so an E-class taxi would cost in local terms similar to a Toyota Corolla private car, or something like that. The driver asked us whether we had been to Denmark before, we said once twelve years ago. That got him talking about the changes in the last dozen years, how the character of Copenhagen had changed because its people had, how the government’s lax policies led to streets becoming dirtier and social burdens heavier. We just listened. A few days later, we took another taxi with a different driver, we asked why prices were much higher than in America. It was all the taxes, he said, and despite having been in the country paying such heavy taxes for ten years, the government still would not let him bring his relatives in, how unfair, etc. Since we were tourists, we believe it was not our place to discuss local politics, which should be left for the Danes themselves to decide. Suffice it to say that changes appeared substantial, and not everybody was happy with the changes.

As for prices, Danish prices included all taxes and tourists could get some rebate for purchases. We felt that if the exchange rate were DKK8 = US$1, then prices would be similar, but at DKK5.5 = US$1, their prices were obviously higher. To save money, we ate both fast food and at street side restaurants, not fine dining, but it gave us a better feel of the local atmosphere. We spent much of our time along Stroget pedestrian (walking shopping) street, where most of the tourist shops (for locals as well) were. The McDonalds and Berger King still stood there from twelve years ago. There were the Magasin and Illum department stores, plus many other brand name stores, such as Georg Jensen (flagship store), Hermes, Gucci, LV, Max Mara and Boss. The female cat could enjoy herself looking around (which cost nothing).

If you got tired of walking, there were tricycles along that long street ready to pick you up (you had to walk to a side street to get a taxi), and the charge would be negotiated between the rider and the passengers. It would be around DKK70 from the middle of Stroget to the Plaza Hotel, for example. The farther (from our hotel) half of this street appeared cleaner and more up market than the closer half. There were lots of food shops/stalls along the way, and the weather (with showers around 5 p.m. daily) was good enough (a bit cool in the morning and late evening and warm in the afternoon).

We visited the railway station, which was nice and had many shops, with prices a bit even more expensive than outside. We then took a taxi (DKK130) to the Little Mermaid to take pictures. Towards the evening, we went into the Tivoli Garden, the daily entry ticket was 2 x DKK98 for the two of us. We had been there last time, but happy to revisit. We ate dinner at the (mid-priced) Graften Restaurant, Danish styled fried fish, chicken pasta and a bottle of water for a total of DKK490. That night was August 15, which happened to be “Tivoli’s Birthday”, and the fireworks at just before 11 p.m. (closing time) was particularly impressive.

To better see how the locals live, the last day we went to Fisketorvet Shopping Centre (DKK80 by taxi), and bought some food at Fetex Supermarket. At a bakery stand, we ate some muffins, an “open faced shrimp sandwich” packed with small Scandinavian shrimps and salad, pretty good at DKK35. The female cat bought a sterling silver bracelet as a souvenir (besides sending postcards home to ourselves). In Copenhagen, ATMs were everywhere, so you wouldn’t have to worry about the local currency at all.

So the days passed by, it was time to check out, we took a taxi (DKK109) to the pier, and lined up for the check-in. Strangely enough, every passenger was required to fill in “marital status” to board the ship (never happened before with any other cruise line). While it did not matter us cats who had been happily together for decades, but for the sake of other individual consumers, we felt that such intrusion of privacy (if not required by law, and if it were, we would like a confirmation of this) was totally unacceptable. For the public account, Azamara (or its parent Celebrity) should re-examine this policy, and they owe the public an explanation. Also, strangely enough, passports were not collected for this voyage, and we got to keep those ourselves throughout (and naturally, no port stamps either).

… to be continued

Hello Meow,

Thank you for your time and effort in creating this thorough review of every aspect of your vacation on the Azamara Journey and the objective manner in which you positioned your opinions.

I have sent to our hotel operations vice-president a link to your thread on Cruise Critic and will follow-up with a complete summary of your conclusions and will share it with our executive team. We’re grateful for this synopsis as it will guide us to meeting and exceeding our guests’ expectations.

I’m hopeful that we’ll have the opportunity to welcome you onboard for another Azamara vacation.

Regards,

Bill Leiber

________________________

Chief Blogging Officer*

Azamara Club Cruises

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

Thank you kindly for your reply and compliment. We appreciate the fact that Azamara Club Cruises has a blogging officer on Cruise Critic to monitor postings as well as to answer questions. Your frequent presence on this board already exemplifies Azamara's attention to customer input!

Continued from above

BERGEN

After a calm like mirror sea day, we arrived and docked at Bergen. At just under a quarter of a million population, it was the second largest city of Norway. The pier area was secured, and there was a war ship and soldiers/sailors training close to our ship. At the gate, there was this young, kindly police woman who used her mobile phone to call a taxi for us and even told us our taxi number. Ten minutes later, a taxi came, it was a Nissan with a middle aged driver who spoke workable English. He first drove through hilly paths and took us to a souvenir shop where we bought postcards and stamps and mailed one of them back to ourselves at the box just outside the shop. He even bought a cinnamon bun and treated us too, telling us that it was a local special. Then he took us to a small local museum honouring one of the local artists. Finally he took us back to the city centre area.

Here, there were some tall (10+ storeys) buildings, shops and even a Burger King (which seemed to be everywhere in Nordic countries, and a lot more popular than McDonalds there). The driver took us to a local coffee shop, and told us to try “Bergen fish cake”, which was a local delicacy, which tasted good and a bit like “fish balls”. It was close to three hours and he charged us NOK1,000, and gave us his company’s ball point pen for souvenir. It was an interesting though short excursion.

GEIRANGER

An overnight sailing took us to Geiranger, deep in the Norwegian fjords. The scenery was gorgeous as the ship sailed into Geiranger. Here we had to anchor (the only port we anchored on this voyage). There were some souvenir shops at the landing. We bought a woollen hat, a money pouch and a scarf all with the word Geiranger on them. We walked down a pedestrian shopping path (perhaps 300 yards) and got to a supermarket with an ATM machine (so don’t worry about local currency). Locals shop there for their daily needs, and it was a good place to watch how they live. It was a picturesque small port with a small population and walking short distances on our own would suffice.

The ship left at 2:30 p.m. and on the way out, we passed the Seven Sisters’ Gorge. It was beautiful, though could be more magnificent if not for the rather dry Summer this year. The captain deliberately slowed down the ship, giving us opportunities to take pictures on the way, and there were explanations through the public address system (the cabin television) telling us what to watch for. So finally, we had the chance to see the famous Norwegian fjords for ourselves.

… to be continued

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LERWICK

Another overnight sailing brought us to Lerwick on the Shetland Islands (an outlying island of Scotland). According to the original cruise documents, we were supposed to dock here, but somehow we only anchored and had to tender ashore. It had a population of only 7,500, there was a waterfront main street with a number of shops, but unfortunately, as this was a Sunday, many shops were closed. We did buy post cards and stamps at a multi-storied “department store” and gave one to the owner to mail for us. We also tried local (presumably authentic Scottish) fish and chips. Sitting by the street side, we met this couple from New Jersey, who was on a Princess R ship crossing the North Atlantic back home. The man was so amazed that he found a model replica of his father’s 1950s car, which he tried and couldn’t find in New Jersey. So small towns sometimes have exotic things!

We asked the owner of that store how could we get a taxi tour, and you guessed it, her husband was a taxi driver. He charged GBP 35 for an hour, enough time for such a small place. He brought us around to see ponies, sheep, a 1,600 years old castle and the areas around town. Being talkative, he told us everything from British politics to the local school system, presumably just to kill time. We returned to the ship, and this night, there was a special treat from the captain, one stone crab per couple, fresh from the island. It was delicious, with lots of meat in the claws, and we appreciated the captain’s thoughtfulness.

AKUREYRI

Another sea day, and we finally arrived at Iceland, our ultimate destination. As mentioned previously, the captain deliberately crossed the Arctic Circle before arriving and docking at Akureyri. There was a duty free shop close to the pier, we bought post cards and souvenirs and gave several cards (also to friends) to the shop to mail for us. This shop also had internet WiFi, and the speed was even faster than at home. (By the way, the ship’s internet connection was rather slow, and it cost money. However, we appreciated Azamara’s giving each of us $75 worth of internet time, which translated into 2 x 150 = 300 minutes of connection time despite its rather slow speed, since we could stay in our cabin and yet e-mail our friends and relatives.)

Akureyri had a population of only 17,000 and was the capital of Northern Iceland. While ashore, as usual, we took a taxi tour (with taxi readily available outside the duty free shop). The driver spoke little English, but his enthusiasm made up for his limited language skills. He first took us by “highway” to the famous Godafoss waterfall, which was magnificent, and reminded us of the Niagara Falls. This was a really worthwhile site, and a must see. Then he took us through those hilly paths zig-zag down hill on our way back to the pier. Through these hills, there were so many sheep of different colours roaming freely on their own and finding their own livelihood, besides a number of horses. It was such a lovely scenery.

We were told that by Autumn, the locals would go up the hills to round up and bring down the wild sheep for meat and skin. The soft-hearted female cat felt so sorry for the lovely and innocent sheep that she wouldn’t want to eat mutton. Fortunately we usually eat beef, pork, chicken, fish and various seafood, and rarely touch mutton in any case .. meow! (Perhaps we should paraphrase the Silversea menu and say “food from the sea and the field” .. not mice?!) The taxi tour took two and a half hours, and he charged us 120 euros. Back at the duty free shop, the male cat bought a small toy sheep to gift to the female cat to cuddle. That night, we went to the buffet restaurant on deck 9, and had stir-fried pork, chicken and vegetables, good and healthy meal.

… to be continued

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REYKJAVIC

We arrived at Reykjavic, the capital of Iceland late afternoon of the next day. Appropriately, that morning, the ship’s lectures (the only two we attended) were on Iceland Geology and European Union Economics. The first one was scientific, while the second one told us how the economic unification of Europe led to the big problems these last years: For example, allowing Greece to join the euro-zone was like giving a “spend before you earn” country unlimited credit, which was “wonderful” at the beginning, but unsustainable when payment time came. The same was true for several other European countries. [Now, with problems both in Europe and here at home, just this morning, with the news of the stock market crash, people are talking not only of “double dip recession” but structural (permanent) recession, and the probability that we may not see prosperity as at the turn of the millennium again in our lifetimes.]

It is appropriate to mention economics in this section, because as Icelanders voted not to pay back its billions in foreign debt, it was tantamount to bankruptcy, and where better to see what might be ahead of many popular cruising destinations than one that had already been there! We could see from the rather new construction projects that just a few years ago, Iceland was on a grandiose plan to become a financial centre, but with the economic tsunami, that plan had been stopped unfinished. We also saw that despite its supposedly dire situation, life still went on as if normal. Bankruptcy was not the end of the road, it could be a new beginning with more realistic frames of mind. We are not economists, and we fail to understand how this “spending out of a recession” idea can work. From Iceland’s example, one can feel that even if reality ends up as hitting the wall, from the ashes, there can be new life!

Azamara provided free shuttle buses which ran between the gift shop at the dock and downtown Reykjavic on a regular basis the whole day. We took that shuttle, and then a taxi tour at ISK6,000 (US$50) per hour. The driver took us to the five-storeyed geothermal building with a glass dome top, with quite a few restaurants and food stalls inside. We went up the elevator and took pictures, and bought some sandwiches. Then he took us around town, there were different types of housing, some single houses, some town houses, some apartment buildings from several storeys to highrises, both old and new. He told us that a 1,000 sq .ft. condominium would still cost roughly a quarter million U.S. dollars. Then he took us back to the ship. It was already late and shops (other than the duty free where we could use high speed Wi-Fi internet at $5 an hour) were closed. Our ship would stay overnight here and we would go ashore again the next morning.

The next day, we got a driver who spoke good English, having worked for American companies in Iceland for years. He brought us to Kringlan Mall, of reasonable size and double storeyed, probably the largest in Iceland. There was even a Sony store, where we bought a miniDV cassette (just happened to run out when we were there). At the Cintamani (a local clothing brand name) store, the male cat bought a local made jacket for ISK30,000 (US$250), his souvenir for this memorable Icelandic voyage. There was also a large supermarket, where the locals shop. There were lots of taxis at the door of this mall. So we took one back to downtown. There was this pedestrian street, where the female cat bought a pair of handmade gloves from a local woman for ISK1900 (US$16). We roamed the shops in this area for a while, and took the ship’s shuttle bus back to the ship, which would set sail at 6 p.m. So we waved good bye on our balcony to such a lovely island, one which we had wanted to visit for years.

TORSHAVN

After another sea day, we arrived at Torshavn, capital of the Faroe Islands, which was a Danish dependency. Azamara again provided a shuttle bus for the short ride to a small information centre (there were no shops at the dock). Outside, we saw a taxi and the driver spoke workable English. He first took us to a small church (called a cathedral) with a church yard cemetery outside of town (presumably a tourist site). Again there were lovely wild sheep on the hills, and the locals would “cull” one-third of them every year, (the female cat didn’t want to hear that). Then he brought us back into town, to the only shopping mall on the Faroe Islands, which looked like several enclosed “long houses” banded together.

The inside of this mall was surprisingly complete with three floors including a basement. This would be where most of the activities in town were held. There was some kind of a small fare inside, and the taxi driver/guide pointed to us a middle aged man among them whom he said was the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands. He was there with no guards, no security and no fanfare. (The Faroe Islands had a population of 50,000, similar to Bermuda, for example). It was a small place of quiet tranquility, and the mall provided the “better things in life” with more convenience to the islanders. There was an ATM at this mall which dispensed Faroe Island krone, which was at par with the Danish krone (somewhat like Scottish banks issuing its own pound notes at par with sterling). We deliberately took a small amount with our credit card for souvenir. Then the taxi (which had waited for us) took us back to the ship. On the way back, he told us that a house there would cost US$300,000, his little Toyota cost four times compared to the U.S. and petrol would be double the price. For the one and a half hours, he charged us FIK600 (US$110).

… to be continued

Most interesting following your review. Thanks for the great effort.

Thanks so muh Meow just loving your review.

I havent been on this itinerary so extra interested.

Keep it coming.

eh2zed and Emdee:

Thank you both for your kind compliments.

Continued from above …

DUBLIN

Another sea day brought us to our disembarkation city, Dublin. The night before disembarkation, we pushed our luggage out our cabin door at about 9 p.m. We also put our room service breakfast order form out on the door knob as usual. By about midnight, we checked, both the luggage and the breakfast form had been taken. So we went to sleep. The next morning, no room service breakfast came at the specified 7:30 a.m. We waited till 8 a.m. and called the cabin attendant. He told us that there would be no room service the last morning. We would like to ask, was that true (Azamara’s rule, which would be unusual compared to other cruise lines)? And if yes, why didn’t anybody (at least the one who took our order card away) notify us of that, so we could go to the buffet restaurant early in the morning ourselves? It appeared to us that somebody had been negligent (and not just on this count), though for our anonymity, we cannot tell the details.

The disembarkation process itself went well. However, after getting our luggage at a large, semi-enclosed cargo hold type of area, we had to line up for an hour before we could get a taxi. An Azamara officer was there to keep apologizing to everybody that due to a sports event the night before, most taxi drivers were sleeping in that morning and it would take longer than usual to get them back to work. It was a somewhat cold and very windy morning, and many passengers were not dressed warmly enough for the situation. Fortunately, our turn did come and we got a Mercedes-Benz S class taxi (by chance) to take us to the Westbury Hotel.

The driver told us that Westbury was among the best in the city and the best in location. We told him that it was at only 143 euros per day including taxes. He said just several years ago, before the recession, it would have been 350 euros. He told us how bad the economic situation had been, and if we wanted a taxi tour, instead of the 40 euros per hour we paid in May, 2008, he would gladly accept 30 euros per hour. We arrived at the Westbury at barely 10 a.m. to find that the hotel already had a beautiful, cleaned room waiting for us, so that we could check in and go to our room right away, how nice! This room was truly five star, with all the luxury trappings (marble, granite, wood bordering, high quality toiletry, bathrobes, slippers, sewing kits, three telephones, 3-ply special toilet paper, you name them; but still no walk-in closet and no separate tub and shower as in a Silver Shadow or Silver Spirit regular cabin which we had been).

To put things in comparative perspective, we measured this hotel room size at 267 sq. ft., an Azamara/Oceania R ship club continent mini-suite interior size would be practically the same at 266 sq. ft. (versus the Silver Shadow’s regular cabin interior of 287 sq. ft. and the Silver Spirit’s 311 sq. ft.) Its ceiling height was 8’10” (versus Azamara/Oceania R ships’ 6’11”, and Silversea ships’ 7’1”, all measured with tape). This hotel was right at the heart of Grafton Street, Dublin’s main walking-shopping street with everything, high end as well as regular stores, and flower stands at every street intersection during the day. At the present price, we recommend this Westbury Hotel unreservedly to those going to visit Dublin in the near future.

Among other things, we found the local people friendly and jovial, keeping up very well in the difficult economic situation. They were still cheerful and happy to chit chat with strangers. There were quite a few street musicians, playing melodious pieces, and some comedians performing some interesting acts/postures. Taxis were everywhere, more or less always lining up at major hotels. We stayed here for three days, and enjoyed what this area had to offer. The Trinity College and Guinness Brewery were close by, but since we had already visited those in 2008 (when we were on the Celebrity Century British Isles voyage), we did not go there again.

We visited the Thomas Brown Department store, with practically all the high end brand names. We walked around the hotel’s own shopping arcade, with a fair number of various boutiques. We walked through the street straight from the hotel front door, which was lined with various restaurants and pubs, and it led to Dawson Street, where there were a number of specialty shops including Monahan Cashmere. We ate at several local restaurants, usually at under 50 euros for the two of us. We also went to that St. Stephen’s Green mall at one end of Grafton Street, it was multi-storeyed, and there was a Pandora shop, which was somewhat like a Costco with low prices, quite popular in such economically difficult times.

We particularly liked the huge Marks and Spencer store. One cat bought two pairs of pants there for a total of 74 euros, the kind of price we liked. We also bought cold diced fruit packages to eat at our hotel room (mango, apple, honey dew, cantaloupe, and water melon) at two for 7 euros, good taste and good value. And their packaged soft sour cream onion chips were delicious. Of course, there was the Burger King, where we bought chicken burgers and salad. There were several convenience stores in the vicinity, where we bought bottled water and muffins. There were several ATM machines close by, and cash could be obtained from major credit cards at any time.

We even went to the local general post office to mail back a parcel, sending home some travel overload such that we would not have to pay for “extra luggage” on our flight home. This post office had standard paper boxes of various sizes to sell, felt pen for you to write your address on those boxes, tapes for strengthening the parcel, and of course stamps as required. There was this unhurried atmosphere, with all the conveniences. The days passed by quickly, and it came time for us to go home.

The taxi to the airport cost 22 euros. On the way the driver told us that while the population of Ireland was only 4.5 million, there were some 40 million Irish passport holders. Anyone with one grandparent with an Irish passport could claim Irish citizenship, which would give the right to live and work anywhere in the European Union. So there were times more Irish abroad than at home, and they were more open to people moving there, in a “you come, I go” kind of mentality towards the exchange of people. We don’t know how true this is, but an interesting while surprising piece of information. Before we forget, one more thing which might help many people -- our doctor taught us to take one baby aspirin the day before any long flight, and another one on the day of the flight. That should help prevent deep vein thrombosis, especially for poor cats cramped up in small economy seats! So after such an interesting, enjoyable and remarkable journey, it was time to go back to home sweet home.

… to be continued

We were on the Dublin to Lisbon sailing, and living near Dublin, I was very interested to read your accurate description of how things are here econonomically. The good news is things are steadily improving, but it will take time.

Just a couple of points. We were informed that Room Service would cease at 2am on the last night. I think there was a note to that effect with the Pursuits the previous day....

You were indeed unfortunate with the taxi situation. On the day you debarked, the locals (including the taxi drivers) were still celebrating the local teams win in the All ireland semi Final. All I can say, its lucky you were not waiting for a taxi last Monday morning, after Dublin actually won the All Ireland Title for the first time in 15 years. The party is showing no signs of slowing down..

The Westbury is a lovely hotel, as is the Westin which is a quarter of a mile away from it, beside Trinity College. The department store is 'Brown Thomas' by the way. Its owned by the Thomas Weston Corporation of Canada, who also own Selfridges in London. It has ven managed to thrive during the recession, proving there is still money in this country (somewhere).

Your review was most enjoyable and I hope you will return to Ireland soon

Thank you kindly both for your complements and compliments .. meow!

That was a great review. Doing the "Northern Transatlantic" crossing by cruise ship has been on my vacation short list; this review definitely helped....

Enjoyed every detail of your review and hope to do a similar itinerary someday. Thank you! Linda

Thank you outerspaceguy and ljk76 for your kind compliments.

By the way, after the following miscillaneous section, we will write the "Discussion" and the "Conclusion". Thank you all for your patience in following this thread.