Reviews of Journey's 5/23-6/6 cruise from Barcelona to Copenhagen

[JennAngel9]

I've started to see postings from people who just returned from the Journey's BCN-CPH trip (sounds like you had some lovely CC parties). :)

 

I would really love if any of you would comment on your favorite parts of the trip, the culinary highlights, the weather, the best port activities-- really anything at all to give those of us taking the reverse cruise this fall something to look forward to/think about as we read. ;)

[First in Class]

I've started to see postings from people who just returned from the Journey's BCN-CPH trip (sounds like you had some lovely CC parties). :)

 

I would really love if any of you would comment on your favorite parts of the trip, the culinary highlights, the weather, the best port activities-- really anything at all to give those of us taking the reverse cruise this fall something to look forward to/think about as we read. ;)

 

IT WAS GREAT!

 

-Terrific onboard experience. Especially noteworthy are Hotel Director Philip Herbert and Cruise Director John Howell, who were both terrific. We were impressed by the high level of overall service and food quality. Service was as good as Crystal, and food was pretty close - at a price point offering far greater value than Crystal.

 

-Social and courteous fellow passengers, many of whom we had an opportunity to spend time with.

 

-Fantastic ports. We really like the blend of small ports (Gibraltar, St Malo, etc) with capital cities (London, Paris/Rouen, Copenhagen, etc).

 

-Great weather. We really had good luck with nice weather in almost every city.

 

-Regarding port activities, there were so many nice ones. We walked around on our own in St Malo, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen. Shore excursions were quite nice in Gibraltar, La Coruna for Santiago. To get to Paris from Rouen, we went by train - easy and convenient.

 

Have a great trip! We're ready to go back.

[JennAngel9]

Thanks First in Class! I see that you have cruised Celebrity Century and Constellation-- we LOVED Constellation and did not especially care for for the Century (and we went post-refurbishment). How would you compare Azamara to the two ships? Did the open seating dining work smoothly? We are especially interested in the availability of tables for 2.

[Literary Lynne]

Hi JennAngel9

 

Sorry to but in!

 

We were on Journey last October/November and found that getting a table for 2 in the main dining room or the two specialty dining rooms was never a problem at all, although we always ate around 8-8.30pm. The nice thing was that at a table for 2 you could choose to talk to the people at the tables either side or just have a tete a tete with your partner. Of course, you can always ask to be seated at a larger table if you want to meet others over dinner.

 

After sailing on Century (which we didn't like, also after its refurb), Constellation, Millennium and Mercury, we wondered if we would enjoy free-style dining on Journey, but we did.

 

Can't wait to get back on board.

 

Best wishes

Lynne:)

[JennAngel9]

Thanks Lynne! Not butting in at all. Every friendly (and ideally educated) opinion is helpful!

[AndyB1935]

Thanks First in Class! I see that you have cruised Celebrity Century and Constellation-- we LOVED Constellation and did not especially care for for the Century (and we went post-refurbishment). How would you compare Azamara to the two ships? Did the open seating dining work smoothly? We are especially interested in the availability of tables for 2.

 

 

We just got off the Journey on June 6th. It is a wonderful ship and has an extraordinary crew. We always asked for a table for 2 and were always accommodated.

We, too, love the Constellation. We have sailed her 11 times. But we also loved the Journey. It is hard to compare the two because they each provide a different sailing experience. We will cruise both again.

Sheila

[cruisedudes]

We will be on the August 30 Journey sailing and would appreciate any comparison or comments on the Azamara excursions "Upper Rock Walking Tour" and "Rock of Gibralter". Does the "Rock of Gibralter" visit the tunnels? How strenuous is the "Upper Rock" tour? Thanks.

[JennAngel9]

Sheila, thanks for taking the time to respond. I would imagine the R ships offer a totally different experience than Celebrity's M-class ships, but I was fearful that they might resemble the Century (which to be fair, we only took for a long weekend cruise, but still, seemed more like a RCL cruise than a Celebrity cruise). I hope one day we can say that we've cruised the Constellation 11 times! Have you ever been had Milen (or his twin brother) in the MDR? He was one of our all time favorite waiters!

 

On a separate note, on Azamara in general, or on the 5/23 cruise specifically, was the dining room closed every day in port? This is my biggest gripe w/ Celebrity's cruise set up. What is the best alternative dining option when it happens?

[JohnDoe44]

We never ate in the main dining room for lunch so I didn't notice, but looking over the daily Pursuits guides it appears the main dining room was closed on all the port days. The alternatives were the buffet or the pool grill or eating ashore. I assume room service is also available.

[JennAngel9]

Thanks Mr. Doe. I think decent room service would make up for a closed dining room.

[gillianrose]

Thanks Mr. Doe. I think decent room service would make up for a closed dining room.

 

 

Not for us! We enjoy dining in the main dining room at lunch time very much and look forward to it. If the main dining room is closed for lunch on Azamara as it seems to be more often on Celebrity now, that is a definite turn-off.

 

Does anyone know whether Oceania keeps the main dining room open for lunch on the days in port?

 

Both lines tend to have port-intensive cruises, and we know we'll skip a port or two for that reason, so the main dining room being open would be the thing which would likely sway us toward the line that keeps the dining room open at lunchtime.

[Jancruz]

Not for us! We enjoy dining in the main dining room at lunch time very much and look forward to it. If the main dining room is closed for lunch on Azamara as it seems to be more often on Celebrity now, that is a definite turn-off.

 

Does anyone know whether Oceania keeps the main dining room open for lunch on the days in port?

 

Both lines tend to have port-intensive cruises, and we know we'll skip a port or two for that reason, so the main dining room being open would be the thing which would likely sway us toward the line that keeps the dining room open at lunchtime.

 

On days in port Oceanias dining room is closed

Jancruz1

[First in Class]

Thanks First in Class! I see that you have cruised Celebrity Century and Constellation-- we LOVED Constellation and did not especially care for for the Century (and we went post-refurbishment). How would you compare Azamara to the two ships? Did the open seating dining work smoothly? We are especially interested in the availability of tables for 2.

 

Azamara is more intimate than the M-Class ships, although that also means there are fewer common areas. So I think Azamara is very nice for relatively port-intensive cruises without multiple consecutive sea days in which onboard entertainment is important.

 

As for dining, we never had a problem getting a table for 2. We thought that the buffet was exceptional on several nights. About 50% of the time we ate at the buffet for dinner, which we rarely did on past cruises.

 

I thought the overall experience was more similar to Crystal than Celebrity in quality of service, food quality, and size of ship - making for very good overall value. We were impressed and pleasantly surprised!

 

I would definitely sail Azamara again.

 

As for Century, we liked the ship and would sail her again, too.

[JennAngel9]

I thought the overall experience was more similar to Crystal than Celebrity in quality of service, food quality, and size of ship - making for very good overall value. We were impressed and pleasantly surprised!

 

I would definitely sail Azamara again.

 

That sounds wonderful! Thanks for the additional info.

[karolm]

I've started to see postings from people who just returned from the Journey's BCN-CPH trip

 

I would really love if any of you would comment on your favorite parts of the trip, the culinary highlights, the weather, the best port activities-- really anything at all to give those of us taking the reverse cruise this fall something to look forward to/think about as we read. ;)

 

The Azamara Journey is a wonderful ship. Crew was so friendly you really felt it was sincere. Our butler Mevin was always asking what he could do for us and wanted us to be satisfied. Food was great and the activities like trivia were fun. Ship's shore excursions were marginal but I don't think they had much to work with on the ports we went to. Most were walking

ports. It was if we had our own sun. Good weather followed us everywhere. Sunny and 70 in most ports. (the day before we got into a port it would be cold and rainy and we showed up andwe had beautiful weather)

Gibraltor

We had gotten some wrong information and took a ship excursion for a

panoramic view of the city. This is the one port where there are guides with cars waiting at the dock.

La Coruna, Spain

One of our favorite ports. Docked right in town we walked to Town Hall,

to old town and took a bus out to the lighthouse. Very easy to get around and the beer here was our favorite.

 

The Kiel Canal was really nice. Do not waste your money on the ship

excursion. I heard many complaints. On the bus most of the time.

 

It was a great cruise.