First timer - impressions - on Journey now

[oceanpark]

Having cruised many times on Holland America, Celebrity and last year Viking river, and reading lots of negative things about Azamara lately, I wanted to give my thoughts as someone new to Azamara.  I was very concerned after all the problems I had getting confirmation of our SBC, but think it was due to poorly trained staff.  Embarkment was easy and we have all our SBC and we were able to easily book specialty restaurants immediately after we boarded.  The ship does look a little worn, but that does not concern us.  The staff have been amazing and the food very good, especially brunch today.  Our veranda cabin on deck seven is like most other veranda cabins, but the balcony has openings on both sides that make it less private than other balconies we have had.  Bed and bedding are lovely, small shower is fine for us, but toilet paper is like we have had in third world countries.  The positives very much outweigh the few negatives and with only 550 people onboard, we are loving our first time on a small ship.  Looking forward to Azamazing evening tonight!

 

 

 

 

[Wacktle]

What do you mean by the "balcony has openings on both sides"?

 

[ECCruise]

30 minutes ago, Wacktle said:

What do you mean by the "balcony has openings on both sides"?

 

My guess would be where the balcony dividers do not extend all the way to the rail or the cabin wall, but have small openings on each side. 

[marinaro44]

2 hours ago, ECCruise said:

My guess would be where the balcony dividers do not extend all the way to the rail or the cabin wall, but have small openings on each side. 

Might also be a veranda on the stern where the dividers are sloped and it's easy to see into the veranda next door.

[Vineyard View]

Are all the balcony dividers as these appear to be…more glass frosted than metal or completely opaque? 

[mchell810]

19 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Are all the balcony dividers as these appear to be…more glass frosted than metal or completely opaque? 

 

Yes, the picture above shows the standard divider.  Some cabins have a solid metal divider where there are bulkheads -- the white spaces on the deck plans (as you can see in the image below.) ofc, that metal is one side only.

 

 

[Vineyard View]

Thank you for responding. I have not experienced these before on a ship. My first thought is that the privacy would be much less. The second thought is it may feel less closed in. Not sure how I would it would feel in person. 

[mchell810]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you for responding. I have not experienced these before on a ship. My first thought is that the privacy would be much less. The second thought is it may feel less closed in. Not sure how I would it would feel in person. 

 

I had the same feelings before sailing on Azamara; I got lucky in that my neighbors didn't spend much time on their balconies. 

 

[mtnesterz]

What is SBC? Wording suggests some sort of onboard credit?

[marinaro44]

55 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

What is SBC? Wording suggests some sort of onboard credit?

Shipboard credit?

[SEA DOGY]

On 9/23/2023 at 2:29 PM, mchell810 said:

 

Yes, the picture above shows the standard divider.  Some cabins have a solid metal divider where there are bulkheads -- the white spaces on the deck plans (as you can see in the image below.) ofc, that metal is one side only.

 

 

Can you please tell us the difference between cabins.  V1 AND V2 ?

We appreciate your input 

Thanks 

[excitedofharpenden]

5 minutes ago, SEA DOGY said:

Can you please tell us the difference between cabins.  V1 AND V2 ?

We appreciate your input 

Thanks 

It's purely location.  V1s are midship on deck 7.  V2s are either more forward or aft.  The cabins are identical.

 

Phil

[SEA DOGY]

13 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

It's purely location.  V1s are midship on deck 7.  V2s are either more forward or aft.  The cabins are identical.

 

Phil

Thank you Mr.Phil

[mchell810]

8 hours ago, SEA DOGY said:

Can you please tell us the difference between cabins.  V1 AND V2 ?

We appreciate your input 

Thanks 

 
As Phil said the only difference is location.  

[excitedofharpenden]

8 hours ago, SEA DOGY said:

Thank you Mr.Phil

Your post made me laugh because that's what they call me on the ship 🙂

 

Phil 

[Rosroz]

Hi, my husband and I have just returned home from this cruise, the ship is like all Azamara vessels , old , with that dreaded bathroom ,but it was clean and well maintained for it’s age, 

We enjoyed ourselves immensely, the food was much better than we had on Onward in January , the brunch, the BBQ were both great and the White night was one of the best we’ve experienced , the Azamazing eve was pretty good, the staff were as usual great, the itinerary was decent. 
I do not consider Azamara luxury but it represents excellent value for money , and for us it has a really good atmosphere which in my experience other lines just can’t meet, and at the end of the day it’s what you and the crew make it !!

[luv2travel90266]

Well said. We are looking forward to our Sept 2024 cruise, the 4th with Azamara. The product isn’t perfect but the on- board experience on the prior cruises caused us to sign up again. My only negatives are the wine offered even on the Ultimate Package is poor. Note as you review there are others who consider the basic included wines great. Perhaps I’m a wine snob. The reasonable corkage makes it easy to buy more palatable wines in port. I continue to have concerns of their back office and hope they solve soon and not cause additional damage to the brand. We don’t see ourself back on the big ships and like the benefits of the “R” class ships. 

[oceanpark]

I started this post when I had been on the Journey just a few days and I have just completed 18 days on the ship.  The food and staff impressed us the entire time and the White Night parties (we had two as BTB cruises) were fabulous.  We had two very impressive meals with officers and really enjoyed the specialty restaurants.   

[Sailing12Away]

Can you share more info about the Azamazing evenings you had? Looking into Azamara now and one of the key things that drew us to them were these type of things, where the focus is on the ports you visit and not the bells & whistles of the ship itself. Where did they take you and what did you see/do/eat/drink?

[Grandma Cruising]

Best we went to was Bangkok. We were taken to a park called the Ancient City, which has one third size models of the beautiful buildings in Bangkok, such as the Grand Palace etc. We went on a little land train around the park, ending up at a central area where we had cocktails & snacks, then sat down to watch a show which included traditional Thai dancing and a kick boxing display done by youngsters from a local high school. The show finished with a firework display. We were given traditional floating candles that we lit and floated down a stream. We went back to where the buses were parked on the land train in the dark through all the model buildings that were beautifully lit.it was absolutely magical.

[oceanpark]

Our evening was in Valencia where we were bused about 20 minutes to a beautiful events building where we sat in an area that was outside, but covered and watched an amazing acrobatic/dance performance.  Our Azamazing evening on our second cruise was cancelled for some reason.  It was supposed to be a performance in Tito Square in Koper, but instead some performers came onboard.