Considering Journey in November this year

[Glammy Grammy]

Hi everyone, we've cruised with Princess and more recently Celebrity Constellation and Solstice. Had a superb time on all !! Just seen a cruise advertised in November and the itinerary appeals tremendously, but have no experience of Azamara, nor know anyone who has, so a few questions.

 

Does the ship have a covered pool area?, it will be needed in the med in November! How is the stability of the ship compared to larger vessels?, the waters can be a little choppy at that time of year. How badly in need of a refurb is it? Any adivce on best balcony cabins?, and lastly how 'informal' is 'informal'? I like to put on a smart dress and heels for dinner and hubby shirt and trousers and sometimes a jacket. Would we feel overdressed, or is there an unwritten dress code? Many thanks for your help, it's appreciated. ;)

 

To be honest from what I've seen it does seem our type of cruise - excellent food and service, good company from like minded travellers, and a choice of entertainment in the evening should we wish to join in, just like to hear from others with first hand experience.

[maryann ns]

Hi: I cruised the Mediterranean on Azamara Quest in November. The pool was not covered, but did seem to be heated. We went south and east from Rome and the weather was sunny and warm.

 

Dressed the way you describe, you will fit right in. Most women were very smartly dressed for dinner. Jackets for men are not required, but many wear them. My husband did in the specialty dining rooms.

 

Both ships will have a refit int he next year, but they are fine right now. I would describe the decor as understated but elegant.

 

Among many excellent things, the best thing about Azamara is the fantastic crew.

 

We were in rough waters last March in Asia and the ship did fine. I find it exhilerating so I guess I am not a good judge. In the Mediterranean we had mostly completely calm waters.

 

We stayed in balcony cabins aft of the elevators on deck six both times and found this a great location. The rooms are small, but functional.

[suec12]

We are big Azamara fans and others have covered the strong points of the ships. They are not glitzy but quite elegant. Cabins esp. the bathrooms are not the stong suit but a wonderful crew and general ambience. Very nice fellow passengers as well. The attire you mentioned will be just fine.

 

As to how the ship rides in rough weather, we were supposed to dock in Nice but it was super windy so we had to sail by, headed to Barcelona (this was last Oct.). I found it pretty bumpy that day - I did not get seasick but walking was a challenge. There were pills available at the front desk for any passenger that wanted one, dinner was not too well attended that night so if the water is rough, you will be aware. We had sailed the year before at the end of Oct. / beginning Nov. to Istanbul and had no problem.

[autumn lass]

Hi

 

We have been on 3 cruises on Azamara, 2 in the Med (Venice to Barcelona and Nice to Nice) & one in SE Asia and experienced rough seas on all but we did not find it a real issue, both ships handle these seas well and the captains adjust the speed to minimise the impact. On the Nice to Nice cruise the Captain rejigged the itinerary before we left Nice as he had been told our first 2 ports of call were closed because of bad weather, by doing this he ensured we visited every port just on different days to originally planned. My husband suffers from sea sickness but on each Azamara cruise has been fine. We took some ginger capsules with us and I think if I remember rightly they had crystallised ginger available in the restaurants on the rough sea days.

 

We like to dress as you do for dinner and on our 3 cruises we found most people on board did too.

 

The pool area is not covered but there is an area if you just want to lounge which is in the shade.

 

The on board experience is the best and the crew from the Captain down are wonderful.

[almostnewtocruise]

.......

Does the ship have a covered pool area?, it will be needed in the med in November! How is the stability of the ship compared to larger vessels?, the waters can be a little choppy at that time of year. How badly in need of a refurb is it? Any adivce on best balcony cabins?, and lastly how 'informal' is 'informal'? I like to put on a smart dress and heels for dinner and hubby shirt and trousers and sometimes a jacket. Would we feel overdressed, or is there an unwritten dress code? Many thanks for your help, it's appreciated. ;)

 

To be honest from what I've seen it does seem our type of cruise - excellent food and service, good company from like minded travellers, and a choice of entertainment in the evening should we wish to join in, just like to hear from others with first hand experience.

 

We were on the Quest in the Med last November and had gorgeous weather and very calm seas.. So I would say that it's mostly a question of luck.

 

Also our itinerary was so port intensive (not even one sea day!) that there was not much time for the pool. But I remember people taking advantage of the hot tubs..

 

If you are interested - here is a link to our set of photos from the Journey ( Iceland , summer 2010 - our first cruise on it.. I suppose we did like it.. so much so that since then we cruised on both ships 4 more times - and are booked to sail on the Journey again in July!! :) ).

I hope that they will give you a good idea of the ship - the public areas (including the pool), a regular verandah cabin.. and even a "sample" of the entertainment ..

 

 

Miriam