Review Journey Caribbean march 16th

[wuppis]

Before it will be published on CC here my review about our Caribbean cruise on the Journey. If you do find some mistakes, "keep them" and don´t forget english is not my first language.

 

 

This was our third cruise on the Azamara Journey, from total 39 cruises on 10 different cruise lines. We were looking forward how the refurbishment will change the view to the ship.

And they did a good job in dry dock in Freeport/Bahamas.

 

 

The Check-in was really fast, only 5 minutes and we had to wait for about 1 hour to get onboard at noon. And guess what, we´ve got an upgrade to a verandah stateroom at the aft of deck 8. Okay, sounds good, but this part of the ship is vibrating all the time, when the ship is sailing. If you like to read a book lying on your bed, this will vibrate all the time. If you are sensitive for seasickness, this is not the cabin type for you.

 

 

Cabin: The new beds are wonderful, the mattresses are really comfortable, and the bedding is very good.

Compared to the old beds, which caused us backache for the whole cruise, this is a quantum leap forward in comfort.

They mixed old parts in the cabin like the closets and the desk with the new refurbished parts, like the beds, new carpets, new love seat, new huge TV. Bathroom is as small as in an inside cabin and I hate this close contact to the shower curtain every day. But the bathroom is too small for another solution. We like the creamy soaps, shampoos, body lotions, but a lady asked me to write, that the smell is not acceptable for men. I spoke about it to other passengers and they were satisfied as we were, even the men. Towels were soft but some of the small towels had stains and wholes. That is not acceptable for a ship like the Journey and attendants have to sort them out. Hotel director agreed about this fact. Stateroom was cleaned twice a day, bottled water were placed close to the bed every evening.

 

 

 

The verandah was deeper than the usual verandahs, but… a lot of soot every day. You could not use the deckchairs without putting a towel on it. They cleaned it every day, but if you wanted to use the table in the afternoon (when ship was sailing) you first had to clean the table by yourself. There is enough space for the table with a comfortable size you can have your breakfast or other meals and two chairs.

Journey has two staircases, both with 2 elevators, which came really fast.

I liked the refurbished Mosaic Café on deck 5, the new Living Room on deck 10 and we spent a lot of time sitting in both, one for coffee time and writing my German review and the Living Room to meet new friends and have some drinks together and some snacks from the new tapas bar which I can highly recommend.

 

 

The restaurants: there are several restaurants on the Journey. First of all the main dining room – Discoveries, we preferred for dinner except for two evenings, when we dined with friends in the Patio and we did not like the menus. Good to very good menus, but no highlights. Good to very good service, but not better than on other Cruiselines, sorry. We preferred the Windows Café with the self service for breakfast, ordering eggs we liked, like delicious Eggs Benedict, served to our table after ordering and prepared behind the scenes. I like the Smoothies every morning, different styles and the fresh squeezed orange juice. Coffee and other things could be ordered by friendly waiters and were served at your table. We like it sitting outside in the Sunset Bar and enjoying breakfast with a fresh breeze. We prefer standing up early and have an early breakfast; so we never had problems finding an available table. But later in the morning Windows Café was a bit crowded.

 

 

For lunch we loved eating outside close to the pool in the sheltered area from the now called Patio with all the fresh prepared dishes from the grill. Many people loved this place for having lunch, so it was a lot of noise and busy all the time. In the past the opposite side was also open for lunch; that was much better, to lunch with some ease and comfort. But they closed the passage to the other side and nobody served there. Getting bar service in this area was also difficult. The waiters were not attentive enough.

 

 

We had dinner two times in The Patio with some friends and it was also really good. And you had the chance to combine the offers from Patio with the offers from Windows Café. It was empty in the evening, so you had really good and fast service and we all liked it.

Every time during the day you could ask for the wine of the day. White and red wine changed daily but the rose was the same for the whole cruise. A Portuguese rose, not the best quality, but drinkable.

I know some people did not like the wines and purchased a wine package. Or they bought the Ultimate Beverage package, having a better quality for the drinks and cocktails.

We were satisfied with the included drinks, but my husband only drinks a beer and not every day.

 

 

Entertaining: The cast was not as good as on the other cruises with AZ and shows on other Cruiselines were better.I missed “Voices”, one of the best shows I´ve ever seen on the high seas. We only listened to one guest entertainer, a young violinist and that show was quiet good. Tony Markey´s show was also good; he has an excellent voice and it´s always fun to see him performing. Also in the show they performed during White Night. The Big Band was really good, but the guitarist and pianist were playing the same songs over and over and not really well.

 

 

The White Night on Deck, with all things decorated in white, even white chairs and tables, many passengers dressed in white, a really good buffet served by the senior officers, a good show and a lot of dancing passengers, including me, was wonderful.

 

 

The AzAmazingEvening in St. Maarten was nice, with a steel band by young Caribbean musicians and an electrical string quartet and dancers performing at the side of the passengers, sitting close to the stage. A 5 minute firework at the end was a surprise but the evening was not as good as our AzAmazingEvening we had in Liverpool. But typical Caribbean and we liked it. The evening ended in the Living Room with Cherries Jubilees and a show from Marcus, one of the singers from the cast.

 

 

The ports of call: We started with two days at sea, our first port of call was St. John, the little sister of St. Thomas and we had a nice private tour to explore the island with wonderful beaches.

 

 

 

The next day we docked in Antigua and because it was Palm Sunday and there was only one other small cruise ship in port, the island was almost empty and we could enjoy all the beautiful views and English Harbor, as well as a nice beach stop. This was also a private tour; we booked together in advance with a group of 19 CC people.

 

 

Following port was Nevis, little sister from St. Kitts, but we had an appointment on St. Kitts and had an exhausting time on the ferries to and back from St. Kitts. After arriving back on Nevis we only wanted to tender back to our Journey.

 

 

 

Next stop was St. Barts, also a tender port, with a lot of traffic in Gustavia, but we enjoyed walking around, watching all the million dollar yachts in the harbor for a while and avoiding these really expensive shops in the center.

 

 

Our last port was Virgin Gorda and we had again a pre booked tour with CC members. For about 1,5 hours we enjoyed the views from different sightseeing points of the island and ended with a stop at Spring Beach. A CC friend had done some research about the beaches and we decided not to visit the maybe overcrowded The Bath and all of us loved Spring Beach. We were about 20 people at this beach, with an easier access and a lot of space for everybody. We enjoyed the crystal clear water, and the soft waves, the rock formations, Virgin Gorda is famous for. And everybody said afterwards, that was the best day we had on the cruise. Okay the sunburn was not so nice, but visiting Spring Beach was worth it.

 

 

Reaching Miami after two more relaxing days at sea, with unfortunately a lot of reserved deckchairs, we were due to technical problems a bit late. But no problem for us, we could stay longer onboard, because we had an afternoon flight. Not so good for passengers with an early flight. Disembarkation and Immigration were really fast. In about 10 minutes we were outside the building but the organization for the airport transfers was not really good.

 

 

Upshot: it was a wonderful cruise, on a really good refurbished ship with nice crew, wonderful and often visible officers, a good service, food from good to very good, but no highlights except the Seniors Officers Table, mediocre entertainment and nice contacts to other passengers from many different countries. The itinerary was perfect because we know almost every other Caribbean island from 9 other Caribbean cruises and we visited now these small other islands, big cruise ships cannot go.

 

 

This is my personal opinion about the ship and the cruise, with experiences from being on 10 different cruise lines allover the last 15 years.

My german review is much more detailled, but I do not have the time and the knowledge to translate it completely to your language.

 

 

Marita

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[excitedofharpenden]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I'm really looking forward to trying the Patio for dinner one evening or maybe more. It looks a nice space along with the Living Room.

 

Oh and your English is MUCH better than my German!:)

 

Phil

[tgg]

Thanks for posting your review here.

 

It's interesting that there is still a vibration problem aft. We board the Journey on Tuesday and turned down an upgrade to an owner's suite because we remembered the vibration problem from a previous cruise. I wonder if it's just inherent in the ship's design and can't be fixed.

[tv24]

Thanks for your review, Marita. This is good preparation for our April 5 crossing.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[Ebeth63]

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write a review in English - very interesting.

[Clarea]

Thank-you for the review.

[norn iron]

I wish I could speak and write German as well as you manage with English.

[ellbon]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I'm really looking forward to trying the Patio for dinner one evening or maybe more. It looks a nice space along with the Living Room.

 

Oh and your English is MUCH better than my German!:)

 

Phil

 

funny i ate there twice- fish was good the 1st time but not enough flavors. second 3 of us were not happy with the fish. .and the potato was cold and undercooked.

 

but i would try it once. .never thought to run by the buffet for fruit or other snacks

 

Thanks for posting your review here.

 

It's interesting that there is still a vibration problem aft. We board the Journey on Tuesday and turned down an upgrade to an owner's suite because we remembered the vibration problem from a previous cruise. I wonder if it's just inherent in the ship's design and can't be fixed.

 

thought you gave up on this cruise line.. I am still happy there

[excitedofharpenden]

funny i ate there twice- fish was good the 1st time but not enough flavors. second 3 of us were not happy with the fish. .and the potato was cold and undercooked.

 

but i would try it once. .never thought to run by the buffet for fruit or other snacks

That's ok, coz luckily I don't eat fish!

 

Phil

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report, very helpful to AZ rookies.

[ellbon]

That's ok, coz luckily I don't eat fish!

 

Phil

 

did not know that. just know they serve very fast and i found it very warm there both nights in a sundress. soups change daily-choice of 2 each day. i like the idea of add from buffet. something i should of done

[excitedofharpenden]

i like the idea of add from buffet. something i should of done

 

Yes, that's a good tip.

 

Phil

[MrMojoRisin]

Thanks for posting your review here.

 

It's interesting that there is still a vibration problem aft. We board the Journey on Tuesday and turned down an upgrade to an owner's suite because we remembered the vibration problem from a previous cruise. I wonder if it's just inherent in the ship's design and can't be fixed.

 

I can't say I have ever noticed any vibration problem and, until this thread, had never heard any mention of one.

[excitedofharpenden]

I can't say I have ever noticed any vibration problem and, until this thread, had never heard any mention of one.

 

I've stayed aft a few times and the vibration has been very much dependent upon the ship speed and how many engines they use. The only time I've noticed it for a prolonged period was when we sailed through the pirate waters of the Gulf of Aden. I was on deck 6 and it was pretty loud for a few days, but didn't bother me. It gets quieter on decks 7 and 8. It wouldn't stop me from booking the aft. At slower speeds using two engines instead of three there was no noticeable vibration.

 

Phil

Edited April 1, 2016 by excitedofharpenden

[northengirl]

Thanks for posting your review Marita. We sat next to you at the Staff Captains dinner. I agree that was the best meal we had!

 

Your review reflected more or less the same thoughts we had of the cruise. We had a great cruise but a couple of things would have made it better.

 

We are back on the Journey in July from Venice down to Croatia. It will be interesting to see if any things having improved

 

Sandra

[marinaro44]

I can't say I have ever noticed any vibration problem and, until this thread, had never heard any mention of one.

Once again, we agree. Have spent many nights in CC suites near Journey's stern and VX verandas on the stern without issue. No matter where I am on the ship I can feel it when the engines start up for a departure, but never felt anything like a vibration problem.

[beachseeker]

I can't say I have ever noticed any vibration problem and, until this thread, had never heard any mention of one.

 

Interesting to hear different opinions. We had sailed Quest twice and after the first day at sea on the Journey DH and I both thought the Journey sailed differently from the Quest. I described it as shuttering. Not sure that is a word but seems to best described the feeling. We were midship on deck 8. Not bad, just different but definitely more vibration than Quest, in our opinion. If you want serious vibration, sail on the Crown Princess!

[marinaro44]

If you want serious vibration, sail on the Crown Princess!

Or Regent's Navigator.

[excitedofharpenden]

I have a (sort of) funny story from my transatlantic last year on Journey in an aft cabin. Coming back late one night I had this sudden urge for room service quesadillas and fries. I ate, left the plates and remnants on the table and went to bed. About three in the morning I'm woken up by a huge crash and the plates, covers, left over fries, guacamole and tomato salsa are all over the floor and chair. The vibration just shook them off during the night. I apologised profusely to the cabin steward, explained and he told me not to worry. It would be cleared up by the time I got back from breakfast. When I got back the food was indeed cleared up, but the orchid, vase and soil were now on the floor having been shaken off too. I went to my room steward again and said sorry, there was now another mess in the cabin to clear up. He must have thought I was a loon.:o

 

Phil

[wuppis]

Thanks for writing this story Phil,

 

some people seemed to think on this thread, I was writing something totally incorrect about the vibrations in the aft cabin. Why???

 

Heike told me, on deck 8 it is less than the vibrations in the aft cabins on deck 6.

 

How closer you get to the engine, how more vibrations you can feel.

 

We got used to it but we had no other chance, because all cabins were fully booked.

[tv24]

We've sailed in the aft twice, once on deck 6 and once on deck 7. Based on comments on CC and elsewhere, we were very conscious of any possible vibration. I'm happy to report that our experience was that it was minimal, not too bad. We noticed it at times, but it did not disturb our sleep, nor did it cause and messy items to slide off surfaces, such as Phil's experience. We are sailing aft again next week, so I'll monitor the vibrations once again. Hopefully they will all be Good Vibrations!

[wuppis]

The regular review has now been published and I just added a few pictures.

 

Here´s the link http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=529985&et_cid=2633025&et_rid=17203672&et_referrer=Party%20-%20Celebrity

 

Best regards from rainy Germany