This was our third cruise on the Azamara Journey, from total 39 cruises on 10 different cruise lines. We were looking forward how the refurbishment will change the view to the ship.
And they did a good job in dry dock in Freeport/Bahamas.
The Check-in was really fast, only 5 minutes and we had to wait for about 1 hour to get onboard at noon. And guess what, we´ve got an upgrade to a verandah stateroom at the aft of deck 8. Okay, sounds good, but this part of the ship is vibrating all the time, when the ship is sailing. If you like to read a book lying on your bed, this will vibrate all the time. If you are sensitive for seasickness, this is not the cabin type for you.
We´ve got an upgrade to a verandah stateroom at the aft of deck 8. Okay, sounds good, but this part of the ship is vibrating all the time, when the ship is sailing. If you like to read a book lying on your bed, this will vibrate all the time. If you are sensitive for seasickness, this is not the cabin type for you.
Cabin: The new beds are wonderful, the mattresses are really comfortable, and the bedding is very good.
Compared to the old beds, which caused us backache for the whole cruise, this is a quantum leap forward in comfort.
They mixed old parts in the cabin like the closets and the desk with the new refurbished parts, like the beds, new carpets, new love seat, new huge TV. Bathroom is as small as in an inside cabin and I hate this close contact to the shower curtain every day. But the bathroom is too small for another solution. We like the creamy soaps, shampoos, body lotions, but a lady asked me to write, that the smell is not acceptable for men. I spoke about it to other passengers and they were satisfied as we were, even the men. Towels were soft but some of the small towels had stains and wholes. That is not acceptable for a ship like the Journey and attendants have to sort them out. Hotel director agreed about this fact. Stateroom was cleaned twice a day, bottled water were placed close to the bed every evening.
The verandah was deeper than the usual verandahs, but… a lot of soot every day. You could not use the deckchairs without putting a towel on it. They cleaned it every day, but if you wanted to use the table in the afternoon (when ship was sailing) you first had to clean the table by yourself. There is enough space for the table with a comfortable size you can have your breakfast or other meals and two chairs.
We travelled by ourself with public busses to get from Downtown to South Beach and back and that was horrable compared to earlier years. Busses came not as often as the years before, were dirty and overcrowded and sometimes did not stop because were stuffed with people.
We stopped in one of the Safari busses which you can find at the pier. For $ 25 we had a 2 hour tour around the island with a lot of stops, to get an overview to the wonderful beaches and a beachstop, but for only 15 minutes. It was worth the money.
A totally overcrowded port in Gustavia, lot of traffic on the street, lot of people on the streets. Nice shops, some from exclusive brands, but really expensive. So we only walked around, watched this million dollar yachts in the harbor and tendered back to the ship.