Favorite Azamazing Evenings

[mole.man]

9 minutes ago, marinaro44 said:

Yes!  How could I forget?  Wonderful French wines, cheeses, breads, pastries, and an intoxicating spirit of joie de vivre.  A true celebration.

I wish that they had warned us not to eat so much dinner before.

[norn iron]

On 8/8/2020 at 8:23 AM, Grandma Cruising said:

Others I remember were - 

- in Cyprus, our first Azamara cruise. They bussed us up to one of the villages in the Troodos mountains on a glorious day in October. The village was beautiful, all pedestrian, and we were greeted with wine and lovely snacks, then all sat down in the village square for a display of Greek dancing and singing. Unfortunately when they planned it nobody took account of the fact that once the sun goes down it gets very cold in the mountains and nobody had coats! It had to be cut short so all of us shivering passengers could get on the busses and back to the ship to warm up

- Aqaba, where we were taken out to Wadi Rum to a sort of modern amphitheatre. The surrounding scenery was lovely. They cooked flat bread - 2 at a time, so it was very slow getting round. The display was a group of men and a boy doing traditional dances - interesting for the first couple of dances, after that pretty boring as the dances were all very similar. 

 

Denise, I remember it well. The logistics of organising such an event were exceptional. Every bar, taverna, and restaurant in the village was engaged with the Azamazing evening. They all had a food and drink offering and a friendly welcome.

The weather did get nippy, although having stayed in the Troodos mountains before we came well prepared with jackets.

Being from Northern climes I thought it was positively balmy, and it was only when I noticed a stampede for the coaches did I realise something was wrong. I think we were amongst the last to rejoin the coaches.

If I remember it correctly Johannes apologised from the stage and announced an early departure.

 

Our favourite Azamazing evening was in 2003 when we visited Bilbao. There were around 400 passengers onboard Quest and only around 200 came on the Azamazing evening. There was the usual song and dance show which paled into insignificance to the start of the evening. The location was a three star Michelin restaurant in rolling hills surrounding Bilbao called Azurmendi. It is currently ranked the fourteenth best restaurant in the world.

Whilst the numbers were obviously too large for a sit down meal ( and the budget would have been apart) the food in the form of canapés and Pintxos were beyond azamazing.

The food had the story of the evolution of Basque cuisine, when we arrived it was old style Spanish peasant food with pretty basic wines. We moved upstairs to the veranda of the restaurant and the story of the food continued to evolve to the haute cuisine of the Basque region today. To this day this was the best finger food we have ever eaten.

The wines served on the veranda were all produced by the Azurmendi's own vineyards and were every bit as good as the food.

 

 

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

You’re right David, Johannes did proffer an apology. Yes, it was a shame because otherwise it was lovely.

 

The Bilboa event sounds wonderful.

[workingtocruise-59]

35 minutes ago, norn iron said:

 

Denise, I remember it well. The logistics of organising such an event were exceptional. Every bar, taverna, and restaurant in the village was engaged with the Azamazing evening. They all had a food and drink offering and a friendly welcome.

The weather did get nippy, although having stayed in the Troodos mountains before we came well prepared with jackets.

Being from Northern climes I thought it was positively balmy, and it was only when I noticed a stampede for the coaches did I realise something was wrong. I think we were amongst the last to rejoin the coaches.

If I remember it correctly Johannes apologised from the stage and announced an early departure.

 

Our favourite Azamazing evening was in 2003 when we visited Bilbao. There were around 400 passengers onboard Quest and only around 200 came on the Azamazing evening. There was the usual song and dance show which paled into insignificance to the start of the evening. The location was a three star Michelin restaurant in rolling hills surrounding Bilbao called Azurmendi. It is currently ranked the fourteenth best restaurant in the world.

Whilst the numbers were obviously too large for a sit down meal ( and the budget would have been apart) the food in the form of canapés and Pintxos were beyond azamazing.

The food had the story of the evolution of Basque cuisine, when we arrived it was old style Spanish peasant food with pretty basic wines. We moved upstairs to the veranda of the restaurant and the story of the food continued to evolve to the haute cuisine of the Basque region today. To this day this was the best finger food we have ever eaten.

The wines served on the veranda were all produced by the Azurmendi's own vineyards and were every bit as good as the food.

 

 

 

 

Well, we are so disappointed to have missed this one!

 

[norn iron]

2 hours ago, norn iron said:

 

Denise, I remember it well. The logistics of organising such an event were exceptional. Every bar, taverna, and restaurant in the village was engaged with the Azamazing evening. They all had a food and drink offering and a friendly welcome.

The weather did get nippy, although having stayed in the Troodos mountains before we came well prepared with jackets.

Being from Northern climes I thought it was positively balmy, and it was only when I noticed a stampede for the coaches did I realise something was wrong. I think we were amongst the last to rejoin the coaches.

If I remember it correctly Johannes apologised from the stage and announced an early departure.

 

Our favourite Azamazing evening was in 2003 when we visited Bilbao. There were around 400 passengers onboard Quest and only around 200 came on the Azamazing evening. There was the usual song and dance show which paled into insignificance to the start of the evening. The location was a three star Michelin restaurant in rolling hills surrounding Bilbao called Azurmendi. It is currently ranked the fourteenth best restaurant in the world.

Whilst the numbers were obviously too large for a sit down meal ( and the budget would have been apart) the food in the form of canapés and Pintxos were beyond azamazing.

The food had the story of the evolution of Basque cuisine, when we arrived it was old style Spanish peasant food with pretty basic wines. We moved upstairs to the veranda of the restaurant and the story of the food continued to evolve to the haute cuisine of the Basque region today. To this day this was the best finger food we have ever eaten.

The wines served on the veranda were all produced by the Azurmendi's own vineyards and were every bit as good as the food.

 

 

 

 

 Quick post script to this post, as the editing time has elapsed. The Azamazing evening in Bilbao was 2013 not 2003. I think it was the first year of Azamazing evenings.

It should also read "the budget would have been blown apart"

Edited August 9, 2020 by norn iron
Add on

[laurieb]

Looks like there have been a lot of wonderful events!  I’m looking forward to what future offerings will be!  Thank you for sharing your experiences and photos.

[AJCM]

On 8/7/2020 at 8:25 PM, Mrs Miggins said:

 

 

The weirdest was in Cannes, in a Theatre under one of the great hotels, some music and dancing, some scantily clad young ladies (audible gasp from the audience)  greatly enjoyed by one half of the audience. Enthusiastic Can Can.  Sadly the excellent male dancers remained fully clothed.

Haven’t done this Azamazing but it gets my vote.

[AJCM]

Riverdance for me. Wonderful performance and theatre. 
 

in Gibraltar, we had the local Pipe band. What a great setting for any musical performance and the stepped seating is exceptional- not a bad seat in the house. The standing ovation at the end was testimony to just how much people enjoyed it. The mini bus trip home, zig-zagging down the Rock was an absolute hoot.

 

Bangkok’s Ancient City was excellent - all the performances were varied and the setting was exceptional. We had plenty of opportunity to wander around and take in the large scale Reproductions of Thailand’s significant buildings.

 

In Manila, they made the call to move it to the ship, due to weather. Really good call - the cultural performances in the theatre were very good and the pop band set up in the Living Room - best night ever up there. The band was cooking and we had a great crowd dancing the night away. The sort of night you’re sorry has to end.
 

Azamara always does a fantastic job with the logistics and the nights are a definite bonus for cruising with them. Whether they’re great or just ok, they offer us the opportunity to take in elements of a city’s culture, history and pride. This is also true when we’re treated to local performers on the pool deck or in the theatre.

[Mackdogmolly]

On 8/6/2020 at 8:01 PM, Lynnewob said:

We were there too and the performance was excellent. Very lucky to sit on the second row with two empty seats in front of us for some reason, which worked nicely in our favour. 

I agree with your comment about the birds, I have never seen so many in one place.  It was a wonderful evening.

We were there in 2018. It was great fun

Betsey

[Mackdogmolly]

A really memorable one for us was an evening in the Chilhuly Gardens, in the shadow of the Space Needle, last July in Seattle. The weather was spectacular, they rented the entire space, as well as part of the museum, Drinks, wonderful nibbles, music, and the gorgeous sculptures of Dale Chilhuly. 

[helby]

3 hours ago, Mackdogmolly said:

A really memorable one for us was an evening in the Chilhuly Gardens, in the shadow of the Space Needle, last July in Seattle. The weather was spectacular, they rented the entire space, as well as part of the museum, Drinks, wonderful nibbles, music, and the gorgeous sculptures of Dale Chilhuly. 

I fully agree that it was a magical evening in a wonderful setting. We were so fortunate to be there on that beautiful warm evening. 

[Mackdogmolly]

1 hour ago, helby said:

I fully agree that it was a magical evening in a wonderful setting. We were so fortunate to be there on that beautiful warm evening. 

Thanks for posting pictures, @helby! I tried to without success. It was a great night!

[Baynanno1]

Yes, his works are quite amazing, but take care where you post pictures of his work!

The person who threatened me (as documented below) would probably be o.k. with photos on CC, a social media site.

 

Some years back I first saw some of his works and wanted to share views of the amazing creations.

I first obtained permission to photograph them from management of where they were displayed.

 

Then I went through the right channels and got written permission from his (?) website manager to post photos of some of his works on Redbubble. (Artistic creations are naturally copyrighted by the creator.)

 

A few years after, there was a change of (?) website manager and I was threatened with legal action unless i removed the photos!

Although the photos had been posted for viewing only (as requested by me) and never made available for sale, the views of the new person in charge were not the same as those of the one who had given me permission to post.

 

*As this has deviated somewhat from the actual topic, I expect it to be removed.

*My purpose in posting is simply to help others avoid a similar situation.

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

*As this has deviated somewhat from the actual topic, I expect it to be removed.

*My purpose in posting is simply to help others avoid a similar situation.

 

No problem.  I'm pretty loosey-goosey (especially on this much-needed positive thread!)

[excitedofharpenden]

5 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 

 

*As this has deviated somewhat from the actual topic, I expect it to be removed.

*My purpose in posting is simply to help others avoid a similar situation.

 

 

Just to continue the off topic, there's a Dale Chilhuly on the forward ceiling of deck 11 on Celebrity Constellation just before you go into the forward observation lounge. I've got photos of it somewhere, but won't share them!  Celebrity ships of the past have some very interesting artwork. 

 

Phil 

[helby]

Thanks Baynanno1 for the info about posting pictures of works of art.  When we were at the event there was no mention of restrictions re photos  and there were many staff members circulating and speaking with us. . My concern was to only post pictures without people in them as I don't have their consent.

 

[Mackdogmolly]

21 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

Yes, his works are quite amazing, but take care where you post pictures of his work!

The person who threatened me (as documented below) would probably be o.k. with photos on CC, a social media site.

 

Some years back I first saw some of his works and wanted to share views of the amazing creations.

I first obtained permission to photograph them from management of where they were displayed.

 

Then I went through the right channels and got written permission from his (?) website manager to post photos of some of his works on Redbubble. (Artistic creations are naturally copyrighted by the creator.)

 

A few years after, there was a change of (?) website manager and I was threatened with legal action unless i removed the photos!

Although the photos had been posted for viewing only (as requested by me) and never made available for sale, the views of the new person in charge were not the same as those of the one who had given me permission to post.

 

*As this has deviated somewhat from the actual topic, I expect it to be removed.

*My purpose in posting is simply to help others avoid a similar situation.

 

 

Uh oh! Thanks for the warning!

[nanazsun]

Our favorite to this day was on our very first Azamara cruise.  We were in Edinburgh and went to an estate where the Laird greeted us all.  We viewed the home and different rooms had different experiences--there were cigars in the one wing, jazz and drinks in another, staff circulating with nibbles.  At the end of the evening we all gathered outside in a semi-circle and met Larry Pimenthal (I hope I got the spelling right).  Then, out of the mist, came a parade of bagpipers. First you could barely hear them or see them and then as they got closer they became louder and more vibrant.  It sent chills up my spine and I have to admit I cried.  Afterwards there were fireworks.  My husband and I told ourselves that if this was Azamara, we would never cruise on another line.  And, we haven't.  Thanks to all of you for helping us go through travel withdrawal by providing such vivid descriptions and letting us live vicariously.   It's so fun to imagine all these venues and place ourselves there.  I can't wait for my next Azamara cruise in June 2021. 

[uktog]

7 hours ago, nanazsun said:

Our favorite to this day was on our very first Azamara cruise.  We were in Edinburgh and went to an estate where the Laird greeted us all.  We viewed the home and different rooms had different experiences--there were cigars in the one wing, jazz and drinks in another, staff circulating with nibbles.  At the end of the evening we all gathered outside in a semi-circle and met Larry Pimenthal (I hope I got the spelling right).  Then, out of the mist, came a parade of bagpipers. First you could barely hear them or see them and then as they got closer they became louder and more vibrant.  It sent chills up my spine and I have to admit I cried.  Afterwards there were fireworks.  My husband and I told ourselves that if this was Azamara, we would never cruise on another line.  And, we haven't.  Thanks to all of you for helping us go through travel withdrawal by providing such vivid descriptions and letting us live vicariously.   It's so fun to imagine all these venues and place ourselves there.  I can't wait for my next Azamara cruise in June 2021. 

That was Hopetoun House.  
Because we live near their Azamara invited us to come and see the evening.

In a former work life, I have used Hopetoun House for evening events where we had international guests for big conferences and summer schools.  It a brilliant venue with Adam fireplaces and a beautiful setting even if the weather goes against you.

What I noted, there are several “packages” offered if you wish to use the venue.  Azamara had selected the top package.  Prior to that I had read comments about the evenings being like mass shore excursions/ school trips.  It was very clear that night they were not and that convinced us to attend on our next cruise.  We’ve never been disappointed. 

Edited August 21, 2020 by uktog

[mj_holiday]

So far we had only had one Azamara cruise, to Cuba 2019.  The Azamazing evening we had during this cruise was extremely nice.  We were taken to the Tropicana in Havana for a performance, of dancers and music.  The evening went by very fast because the performance was extremely interesting.

[laurieb]

I love reading about all the different types of events!  It really shows the thought and planning that goes into the Evenings!

 

[Grandma Cruising]

9 hours ago, laurieb said:

I love reading about all the different types of events!  It really shows the thought and planning that goes into the Evenings!

 

Me too. Thanks for starting the topic.

[hamrag]

11 hours ago, laurieb said:

I love reading about all the different types of events!  It really shows the thought and planning that goes into the Evenings!

 

Indeed, and a most illuminative and interesting thread. Unfortunately for us, on our only two (B2B) Az cruises there was no such evenings and we were very disappointed! That said, these cruises arose out of the POTUS decision to ban Cuba cruises and Az had to scramble together some Caribbean alternatives towards the end of last year.

 

What we did thoroughly enjoy were the white night events, way way way much better than similarly named  variants on any other of the 15 or so cruiselines we have sailed!

 

Hopefully there are Azamazing evenings in our future, but who knows what future cruising will be like?

Edited August 23, 2020 by hamrag

[travelberlin]

I have liked very much the Azamazing evening in San Petersburg. The San Peterburg philharmonic orquesta gave us a nice evening. 
 

I did not like the one in Wadi  because we were not alone. There were lots of tourist there who made the ambiance not so nice. 
 

I have also enjoyed one in Cyprus with a wonderful setting. Unfortunately it rained a lot and it was very stressful for Azamara.

 

There are others which I do not remember that well....

 

Ivi

[marinaro44]

10 hours ago, travelberlin said:

I have liked very much the Azamazing evening in San Petersburg. The San Peterburg philharmonic orquesta gave us a nice evening. 
 

I did not like the one in Wadi  because we were not alone. There were lots of tourist there who made the ambiance not so nice. 
 

I have also enjoyed one in Cyprus with a wonderful setting. Unfortunately it rained a lot and it was very stressful for Azamara.

 

There are others which I do not remember that well....

 

Ivi

If this was the evening where a small orchestra and vocal soloists performed a dramatic piece by a local composer while an appropriately violent thunderstorm raged, memorable it was.  Captain Jose had the buses pulled right up to the tent to keep us dry for the ride home.