Photo Review- 1st Timer on Journey: Questions Were Asked, Answers Were Learned!

[triona]

Thank you for sharing. We are looking forward to your post's and pictures. Its so nice that we get to read and see all that is going on and we can't wait for our journey to begin on the 6th January 2017.. Well it will begin on the 4th, what with flights and an overnight pre cruise. Again thanks. Triona

[Familygoboston]

Great reviews so far, particularly the photo/lens info as I have taken up photography in the last half of the first decade of my second half century😄.

Can't wait to see more.

Excellent! He uses lots of equipment because he loves photography and the equipment...you certainly dont' NEED to take a lot of fancy stuff to get great photos, but for our later pics of wildlife you DO need a longer lens, or if you don't care about pics and just want to see the wildlife like it looks in my pics, you DO need binoculars. There is an inexpensive pair in each cabin on Azamara, but they would not have been enough to really enjoy the wildlife in CR! I'll be doing a blog post about binoculars soon!

Love your review style - it's very engaging! I'm laughing out loud (yes, literally :p) and reading tidbits to my husband. The parts about photography & engineering seem particularly relevant to our relationship :-)

 

Like you - we will probably be among the younger on board our first Azamara cruise in the fall - but age is just a number and that's never bothered us at all.

 

(I do sometimes worry that Azamara is too friendly for an introvert like me - is it possible to be solo in public or will someone always invite you over to sit with them?? Or is that just a bias I'm reading into the reviews here on CC because so many people cruise with others they know?)

Thank you!

Yeah,Im so glad..thats my goal- LOL! no, that's my actual goal to get people Laughing Out Loud!! It's nice to know SOMEBODY is!

Don't worry about the introvert part. We had one lady on our tour who never said an actual word, it was fine! ( I hope she liked the tour since I organized it!) Not to worry! There's usually plenty of time at the pool or on the balcony to "recharge" and you can certainly dine alone if you prefer! (I live with introverts, I understand!)

[Familygoboston]

Great review! Like Hoyaheel I was reading parts of it to my DH. We have less than 3 weeks so I'm exited to read about the Journey.

Thank you! Hope you have a great cruise!

 

Thank you for sharing. We are looking forward to your post's and pictures. Its so nice that we get to read and see all that is going on and we can't wait for our journey to begin on the 6th January 2017.. Well it will begin on the 4th, what with flights and an overnight pre cruise. Again thanks. Triona

Thank YOU!

Is it this itinerary again? Have fun! I'm trying to post the ships tour now...but I spent the whole morning volunteering at the "Princess Boutique" A service club I belong to collects prom dresses, shoes and jewelry all year long and we set up a "store" for girls referred by their schools and outfit them tip to toe for the prom. It's an awesome day but after a whole day strapping tiny shoe buckles (I was in the shoe dept) Im EXHAUSTED! But girls who would otherwise have to sit out had a great day and to see that smile when the "right dress and shoes came together... Precious!

[tv24]

Family: Here's my plea to include some pictures of the ship. Want to see more of what it looks like after dry dock. Thanks! Happy sailing!

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

I know I posted some of these on the website, but I do have a few more...also, many readers of these reviews are reading to "see" what the ship looks like. Plus there are all of you who have experienced Journey BEFORE her "reimagination" ...so without further ado...a tour!

Exterior Shots

 

In Cartegena

 

 

 

In Fuerte Amador

 

 

 

 

In Golfito

 

 

 

 

 

Deck 4: Guest Relations, Concierge, Loyalty/Sales and Land Discoveries

 

The decoration in the stairwell, Land Discoveries and Concierge is to the right

 

 

 

 

The interactive destination guide near the Loyalty Sales Office

 

[Familygoboston]

Whoopsie!! Guess I'll be having that nap first!! Looking through the photos I realize I'm missing the shops and the mosiac cafe and a whole bunch of the Windows Cafe...DH goes to his raw files and there they are ...not ready:(

 

I'll be back with the rest of the tour as soon as he processes them!

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 5

 

Discoveries Restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dicoveries Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mosiac Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 5

 

Journey Shop

 

 

 

 

 

Casino Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Casino Lux

 

 

 

 

 

Cabaret lounge

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 6 & 7 Passenger Cabins

 

Our cabin (Standard Veradah V2) 7036

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bar and safe

 

 

 

 

 

Desk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bath

 

 

 

 

 

Balcony

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 8 Passenger Cabins & Bridge

 

We were fortunate to be invited to tour the Bridge. With the "re imagination" the bridge was outfitted with new navigational aids that will allow Journey to transition to a completely paperless navigation. Of course we were reassured that should the power go out, there are multiple backups and paper charts will always be available!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 9 (starting in the stern)

 

Sunset Verandah/Windows Cafe Outdoors

This space slated to be an Asian Specialty restaurant was retained as the Sunset bar and outdoor dining, we were told this was decided based on passenger input, and to a person, everyone we spoke to agreed it is one of their favorite spaces! It was always populated and we dined out there several times during our voyage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and our favorite...the gelato station! (a "bad" picture)

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 9

 

Pool Grill seating area

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pool

 

 

 

 

 

New towels

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pool stage and the band

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gym

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spa

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 10 (starting in the stern)

 

Aquilina (Prime C is the mirror image also in the aft of the ship)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing room

 

 

 

 

 

Jogging Track

 

Edited March 5, 2016 by Familygoboston

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 10

 

The Living Room (conference table)

 

 

 

 

 

View to the bar area from sitting areas facing the side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually "cameo" in a ships tour, but wanted to show you the "bird cage" chair. Cd Eric made much of it, usually mentioning the folks sitting there during shows. It's also a great place to sit if you are feeling the motion, since if you lift your feet, the chair sways with the ship and counteracts the motion you feel!

 

 

 

 

Another cameo, this time showing off the new interactive cocktail and coffee tables in the Living Room

 

[Familygoboston]

Azamara Journey Ship Tour

 

Deck 11 Sun deck

 

A pano of the Sun Dec forward, the best place to see the Panama Canal Transit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that folks, is the ships tour from bottom to top!

[Hoyaheel]

Love love love!!!

 

How comfortable did you find your balcony seats? We're in the same type cabin, and we're used to the size (we've sailed on Pacific Princess in that cabin - there's only so much you can do with the size ;-) But the furnishings are different. We've had discussion about the loveseat, but haven't heard anything about the balconies. Thanks!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Excellent! He uses lots of equipment because he loves photography and the equipment...

 

He's a guy, and it's a guy toy! "My telephoto is bigger than yours!"

 

That said, the quality of his pictures is so good that Azamara should buy them for their brochures!

Edited March 6, 2016 by Host Jazzbeau

[reilly1]

First Azamara cruise in June. Can't wait!

[Familygoboston]

Love love love!!!

 

How comfortable did you find your balcony seats? We're in the same type cabin, and we're used to the size (we've sailed on Pacific Princess in that cabin - there's only so much you can do with the size ;-) But the furnishings are different. We've had discussion about the loveseat, but haven't heard anything about the balconies. Thanks!

We found them to be ok for sitting to dine, but not great for lounging. But then we never had trouble finding a nice one at the pool and because they don't play music constantly, and there are no screaming kids, it's an entirely pleasant place to enjoy the outside. We also enjoyed the chairs in the shade of deck 5- it's not a complete promenade, but there are chairs in both sides.

 

He's a guy, and it's a guy toy! "My telephoto is bigger than yours!"

 

That said, the quality of his pictures is so good that Azamara should buy them for their brochures!

LOL, actually, he'd be the first to tell you it's not the size of the camera it's the photographer! :D

[Familygoboston]

First Azamara cruise in June. Can't wait!

 

Yeah! Where to? Enjoy!

[Cruzin-K]

 

LOL, actually, he'd be the first to tell you it's not the size of the camera it's the photographer! :D

 

This is very true. Still, the pictures are SO sharp, I'm wondering which camera/lens combo he was using.

[koconnor214]

Great photos--thanks so much for posting! Especially loved the ones of the deck areas!

 

Really looking forward to my first Azamara cruise in May on the Quest--Athens to Nice!

[Familygoboston]

This is very true. Still, the pictures are SO sharp, I'm wondering which camera/lens combo he was using.

Karen, I posted it before the ship tour- see below. He had some long lenses for the wildlife, and a water camera too. But really, it's about the composition and working with the light, which is usually hard to do on cruises when you arrive in port and leave all when the harshest light is available!

 

 

Also if you are interested here is what he uses to shoot the photos:

 

Cruise photos Nikon D750 with 24-120 f/4 and 16-35 f/4 lenses.

In the Panama Canal and wildlife shots- he used that set up plus, Nikon D4s with 80-400 vr lens

 

Underwater he used an Olympus tg-4. My bad photos and funny little time lapse videos were done with the iPhone 5S. (Oh my, those time lapse videos are so fun!) There will be more in future reviews, we used our OBC to buy a GoPro, just cause it's cool and DH likes to support the photography dept and we didn't need an obituary picture (we hope!) :eek:

[Familygoboston]

Great photos--thanks so much for posting! Especially loved the ones of the deck areas!

 

Really looking forward to my first Azamara cruise in May on the Quest--Athens to Nice!

 

Thank you! More newbies, I was hoping that's the folks who would find this helpful! Your trip sounds great, enjoy, how nice, I mean Nice, no, I mean, nice, no, Nice! :p

[Cruzin-K]

Karen, I posted it before the ship tour- see below. He had some long lenses for the wildlife, and a water camera too. But really, it's about the composition and working with the light, which is usually hard to do on cruises when you arrive in port and leave all when the harshest light is available!

 

oops. I guess I missed that post. I did a search for the word "camera" lol. I wasn't thinking outside the box :o He has a couple of nice cameras. Mine isn't quite at those levels, but I'm hoping to get a better lens than what I currently have before my next cruise. I tend to believe that good glass is more important than the camera itself. I just can't afford what I really really want :(