With some trepidation we embarked on the new to Europe Azamara Journey. However our fears were not justified. However flights booked with Azamara were ridiculous, a less than two hour flight from Manchester to Venice took 7 hours going via Frankfurt. We would in future always book our flights ourselves. Embarkation was swift and efficient and the glass of champagne very welcome, just one of the many little touches which made the cruise special. The ship itself is very clean and luxurious and the staff very pleasant and helpful. The cabins, whilst small, are beautiful and well equipped. Little touches like flowers, fruit, umbrella and binoculars and especially the canapes at tea time were a lovely touch. The Butler however is nothing more than a cabin boy and the probably not has helpful as other ships we've been on. The pool area was wonderful and the beds plentiful and very luxurious, no loud music was an added bonus. Whilst we have no complaints about the food we don't think it was as good as the Carnival and Princess although the speciality restaurant 'Aqualiga' was excellent, we can't however say the same for the Prime C. We didn't enjoy our meal in there and the service was very slow but many people on the ship had enjoyed it so maybe we just chose a bad day. We can't comment much about the entertainment as we only went to two shows which were not up the standard of other ships. The daily entertainment programme lacked imagination and there was never anything we wished to partake in.
We enjoyed three tours but found them poor value for money sometimes the guides talked so long about a particular thing they left us no time to see a place. The ports of call were all lovely and interesting and where tenders had to be used very quick and efficient.
One down side of the cruise was the dress code for dinner which should be smartened up. To see shorts jogger bottoms tee shirts and trainers at night is not our idea of a luxury cruise. A couple of optional formals for people who prefer to dress for dinner would be a good idea. We spoke to many people who found the dress code difficult and would prefer something more formal. In fact we have many friends who cruise and would love the Azamara for it's luxury but we could not recommend as they would not like the informal dress.