With a couple of dozen cruises under our belts, seven of those on Azamara Journey, we had a fair knowledge of "good" and "not so good" staterooms and booked 4030 (low deck, midships in anticipation of the South China Sea) well in advance with a NO UPGRADE instruction to our TA.
STATEROOM(S)
4030 booked but "upgraded" to 6067 and subsequently to 7098
4030 booked but "upgraded" to 6067 and subsequently to 7098
The first night we had virtually no sleep due to a poorly adjusted air conditioner that regularly started up with a noise level similar to a large plane taking off!!! This was adjusted well by the wizard engineer, but we were still disturbed by some other mechanical noise.
So after a couple of days we were offered another move ... higher up ... to 7098 ... where the A/C again required adjusting. And the vibrations had to be experienced to be believed. Every night my bed vibrated and shuddered and I was lucky to get more than a few hours sleep each night for most of the cruise (overnights in port were a blessing).
When we reached cooler climates the stateroom temperature dropped dramatically due to lack of seal around the door to the balcony ... wind whistled in enough to push the closed heavy curtains away from the door and windows!!!
Several sea days were spent sitting in the Casino lounge area, as our stateroom was most uncomfortable due to vibrations making it impossible to rest.
Apart from temperature, noise & vibration, the stateroom was as expected from previous cruises on the Journey (which does not have the same vibration problem ... was it due to the propeller damage sustained in New Zealand?).
Very clean, as expected. Subway relatively easy to use, although "out of service" when I wanted to return to the ship from my trip to Osaka Castle, so had to use a taxi.