My two cents on Sep 8

[CrabbyHarper]

Overall: a very pleasant experience

 

Positive:

1)Attitude of crew - very friendly and helpful

2)Food in Windows café was wonderful, although pasta bar was disappointing - no additions such as crushed garlic, only pasta and sauces. Sushi was great. We ate there three nights.

3)Food in Aqualina and Prime C: beyond excellent and portions not too large.

4) No lines anywhere - size of ship is terrific!

5) No formal nights, although most people did seem to "change for dinner" - we certainly did.

6) Cabin on deck 7 was very quiet. Bedding was very comfortable. The cabin IS small, but there is plenty of storage space, and the size of the amenities was so generous that one did not really need to have them replaced every day.

7) Very few loud-speaker annoucements.

8) Breeza a nice alternative to Discoveries - although one does have to make a reservation, these were easy to get and I think had someone just waltzed in looking for a table, especially in the earlier hours, there were plenty of tables available.

9) Priest from Adelaide Australia was excellent and his daily Masses inspiring.

10) Cruise Director Andrea was the best and most personable I’ve had and this was my 15th cruise.

11) No problem getting a table in Discoveries at 6:20. Don’t know why folks start lining up at 5:30. There were still tables available when we left at 8:00.

12) T-Pool is great, larger than hot tubs

13) Nice teak loungers on the promenade deck

 

Negative: the small details that make a cruise experience special:

1) No bar snacks. OK this is nit-picky but we enjoy a munch and crunch with our drinks.

2) Very little help in Windows - including carrying plates or bringing drinks such as iced tea

3) Hot tubs not hot.

4) Alcoholic drinks were expensive.

5) Too many puffy pillows in the small stateroom. Where to put them?

6) "Butler" is a bad idea. Our guy was always cheerful but he seemed overworked and it was silly to have him in a monkey suit with tails.

7) Just like Jan Cruz said, tables needed to be wiped up more frequently. The servers in Windows were anxious to take your plate away, often before you finished eating, but wiping up the tables after you left was not done. Often the tables in Looking Glass were not wiped up from the night before when we had Daily Mass at 9:00 am. Jan was right also about the art work. It looked to me like flea market quality. The ship itself is so beautiful that she deserves something better.

 

Did we have a good time? Absolutely!

 

Would we cruise Azamara again? Yes, but I am not sure we would pay premium prices for an experience that is not premium. To be honest, I rate this cruise slightly below other Celebrity and HAL cruises, although the potential is there for a superior experience.

[crzfanatic]

Thanks for the review, I agree with most everything. It is interesting that you rate it a little below other Celebrity cruises, I did too except for the food. Also, what did you mean by having the toiletries replaced every day? Ours were not replaced once during the whole week. It wasn't a problem since they lasted the whole week but were yours really replaced every day?

We did have a problem with the cabin steward taking our towels every day. They have those signs that say if you leave them hanging up they won't replace them but we had to put a note up on the rack telling her not to replace them. No big deal but we try to be green when we can and I certainly don't replace my towels at home every day!

 

Glad you had a nice cruise, we did to.

 

Andy

[Jancruz]

Thanks Crabby for agreeing with me on a couple of things..I do think the negatives will be positive in a short time..the cruise line seems to be working very hard to improve..

Jan

*****

[CrabbyHarper]

The toiletries comment was in partial response to a post on another thread. We did not have our toiletries replaced, nor did we need to.

 

What we had was adequate.

[CrabbyHarper]

I just remembered a few more things I LIKED about the Journey. The photographers were not at all pushy or "in your face" The photographs were expensive and we did not purchase any. And the shops were very small and I did not have to run the gauntlet of "inch of gold" and other bogus sales that bedevil some other ships.

 

Hindsight is always better. I think in future I will wait to book a cruise well beyond the ship launch -- or refurbishment -- date, when most of the bugs will be ironed out.

 

I had thought about the maiden voyage of Solstice, but will hold off for now.

 

Our next cruise is on Infinity in November, and it will be interesting to compare that with the recent Journey trip.

 

As the Captain said "Bye for Now"

[Spender Nui]

The toiletries comment was in partial response to a post on another thread. We did not have our toiletries replaced, nor did we need to.

 

What we had was adequate.

 

 

I agree. We did ask, about the 5th day, for more soap ... we got 4 new bars when 2 would have been fine.

 

Size of toiletries was very generous.

[digby]

"4) Alcoholic drinks were expensive."

 

How expensive? I have usually found they are cheaper on ships than in fine restaurants in major US cities.

[WCAB]

Most ships have limited magazines and paper backs for sale but Azamara has none. We did use the library when we ran out of reading material but a magazine would have been nice for the last day or so.

[Charles4515]

Most ships have limited magazines and paper backs for sale but Azamara has none. We did use the library when we ran out of reading material but a magazine would have been nice for the last day or so.

 

This was the first ships library I have seen where the books were not alphabetised.

[Playful Mermaid]

Overall: a very pleasant experience

 

Positive:

1)Attitude of crew - very friendly and helpful

2)Food in Windows café was wonderful, although pasta bar was disappointing - no additions such as crushed garlic, only pasta and sauces. Sushi was great. We ate there three nights.

3)Food in Aqualina and Prime C: beyond excellent and portions not too large.

4) No lines anywhere - size of ship is terrific!

5) No formal nights, although most people did seem to "change for dinner" - we certainly did.

6) Cabin on deck 7 was very quiet. Bedding was very comfortable. The cabin IS small, but there is plenty of storage space, and the size of the amenities was so generous that one did not really need to have them replaced every day.

7) Very few loud-speaker annoucements.

8) Breeza a nice alternative to Discoveries - although one does have to make a reservation, these were easy to get and I think had someone just waltzed in looking for a table, especially in the earlier hours, there were plenty of tables available.

9) Priest from Adelaide Australia was excellent and his daily Masses inspiring.

10) Cruise Director Andrea was the best and most personable I’ve had and this was my 15th cruise.

11) No problem getting a table in Discoveries at 6:20. Don’t know why folks start lining up at 5:30. There were still tables available when we left at 8:00.

12) T-Pool is great, larger than hot tubs

13) Nice teak loungers on the promenade deck

 

Negative: the small details that make a cruise experience special:

1) No bar snacks. OK this is nit-picky but we enjoy a munch and crunch with our drinks.

2) Very little help in Windows - including carrying plates or bringing drinks such as iced tea

3) Hot tubs not hot.

4) Alcoholic drinks were expensive.

5) Too many puffy pillows in the small stateroom. Where to put them?

6) "Butler" is a bad idea. Our guy was always cheerful but he seemed overworked and it was silly to have him in a monkey suit with tails.

7) Just like Jan Cruz said, tables needed to be wiped up more frequently. The servers in Windows were anxious to take your plate away, often before you finished eating, but wiping up the tables after you left was not done. Often the tables in Looking Glass were not wiped up from the night before when we had Daily Mass at 9:00 am. Jan was right also about the art work. It looked to me like flea market quality. The ship itself is so beautiful that she deserves something better.

 

Did we have a good time? Absolutely!

 

Would we cruise Azamara again? Yes, but I am not sure we would pay premium prices for an experience that is not premium. To be honest, I rate this cruise slightly below other Celebrity and HAL cruises, although the potential is there for a superior experience.

 

Thanks for your fair and balanced report. This is the kind of information that is truly useful to all, who are seeking information. Thanks again.