We just got back from a cruise on the Azamara Quest and I would like to share our thoughts of this fantastic experience. I travelled with my wife and parents. My mum had always wanted to visit Israel but I've always been too concerned with safety issues, etc. so I thought what better way to celebrate her 60th birthday than to get her on a cruise holiday to Israel. I can be there in case there are any problems and we can be back in the ship and sail off into the sunset in case of any escalated conflict.The vessel of choice was the Azamara Quest and the itinerary was the 16 day Holyland cruise. This started from Athens and ended in Rome, there were 3 main highlights of the trip; Turkey, Egypt and Israel.Azamara created a near perfect experience for us. There were a few irritating bits which I will talk about later but first, the good stuff.Food: The food was really really good - whether it is in the Prime C, Aqualina or the Discoveries restaurant. Our favourite waiter, Harry in Discoveries was fantastic. Together with Tulus (assistant waiter), they remembered all the odd requests we made (like my dad didn't want cold water, I wanted cold but no ice, my mum wanted less ice and my wife couldn't care less) and ensured that we were well taken care of. On one occasion, we wanted to eat really quickly so we could go catch Sue Denning's show, our meal was completed in less than 45 minutes. Harry brought out the food as fast as we could eat them. Aqualina was also a treat - lobster and foie gras were my favourites. Nothing was too troublesome or too difficult.Cabin: Elegant and well proportioned. The toilet was a bit small for my liking, and the shower curtain has the habit of getting too close for comfort but well, it didn't bother me much. The flower near the basin was kept annoyingly falling over but hmm.. somehow we never thought about getting rid of it. Our cabin stewards, Lyric and Wilson kept the room spotless and neat (our clothes that were strewn all over the cabin were always nicely folded into a small pile after turndown service!)Entertainment: Sue was a star - her show was not to miss, her sincerity was appreciated and the choice of entertainment was tasteful and well-thought. I'm not too sure about the activities manager and his corny jokes (especially at Bingo) but well...Folks onboard: Generally the guests on board are a nice and well-travelled lot. We made a number of friends. There were the few odd temperaments but we tried to stay clear of those. I remember trying to have a conversation with someone on deck when we had a chappy hovering around our deck chairs in between us but not saying anything, which I thought was odd. He just hovered for about half an hour but said nothing. Same chap who wanted my dad to stand up and move away (my dad was resting as he couldn't stand for long) so he can take a photograph of some random column in a Church. Strange fella I tell you. There were also one or two couples who pushed and shoved as if the ship or the bus would leave without them. And then there are those who moaned and groaned about those who pushed and shoved.. hahaha... By and large however, most people were sensible and polite and very warm and good natured and we had a very pleasant experience on board. Itinerary: This topped the chart for us. We used private excursions for most of the places and were very pleased with all of them (thanks by the way to everyone on cruise critic who contributed and made recommendations on these boards). Istanbul and Kusadasi We took a tour with Lale (wife of Kagan Kasenogan) - fantastic person, very patient and knowledgeable, and very proud of her Turkish heritage and country. I applaud her for her candour and really enjoyed exploring Istanbul with her. We went to the usual sights: the Tokapi palace, Haggia Sophia, Blue mosque, Spice bazaar (Turkish delights!), Grand bazaar, and suspension bridge. The highlight however, was our stop for a Turkish bath at one of the famous old baths. Everyone came back squeaky clean and ready for dinner. Azamara brought up a belly dancer and folk instrumentalists that night which we enjoyed thoroughly before retiring to bed.We toured with Sammylitours at Kusadasi. There we went to see the ruins of Ephesus (the marble loos there created quite a stir with the family) - my wife was amazed that people went to the loos in public (since there were no cubicles), while my dad was quite surprised that the toilet bowls were made of marble. It kinda became a talking point for the rest of the tour actually, how the cold marble toilet bowls were warmed up by slaves... Apart from that, we visited the virgin mary's supposed home in her last days, and St John's basilica. We stopped by a local place for a fantastic local meal of pancakes and yogurt drink. The pancake was made in a traditional oven and it tasted so yummy. Our guide, Ghenkis was really personable and did his best to explain what we wanted to know. Good thing the next day was going to be a seaday because we were starting to get a little bit tired by now.Alexandria/Port Said We toured with Nile Blue tours. I must say I was pretty disappointed that Hazem (whom I booked well in advance to be our tour guide) couldn't do the tour (and only informed me when we got on board a week before we were to arrive). His substitute guide, Hani - was ok but not really interested in answering any questions we may have. The other person with us, Islam (who took care of all our needs and also was a security personnel) was much better and but for his limited English, would have served as a better substitute guide. Islam brought us to eat local Egyptian food that evening (we had stuffed pigeon and fava) which was really great. Anyhow, we got to see the pyramids, the Egyptian museum, the catacombs at Alexandria (this is a must-see; the carvings are really well-preserved and I felt a little like Indiana Jones while there), the river nile, etc. We also bought our catouches, papyrus, pyramids paper weights, fridge magnets - those kinda things. Oh and we also did a camel ride at the pyramids which was I know a tad touristy but well, at least we can say "been there done that"... also, we were brought away from the hustle and bustle of the lookout to enjoy the pyramids all by ourselves, the little boy who walked with us took some nice shots of us as well which was a bonus. Islam arranged it for us and we had no trouble at all. Israel Now, this was the highlight of the trip. We had 2 days there, one in Ashdod and one in Haifa. In Ashdod, we followed Eva Yaron in her private car for a tour to Jerusalem. Eva was really quite something - from the moment we stepped into her car, she was telling us about this and that, about the history of Jerusalem, about the political scene in Israel, about anything and everything we wanted to know. She was genuinely interested in showing us as much of Jerusalem as possible and at times, seemed more excited than us. She brought us to the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gasamane, the Western Wall, the Jewish quarters, the Muslim quarters, the Via Dolorosa (tracing the footsteps Jesus took to Calvary), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where Jesus was crucified and his tomb). One of the really meaningful places that Eva bought us was the archaeological site around the temple, where we walked among the ruins that people 2000 years ago walked. That was really very stirring to think that we were walking along the pavements that Christ could've been walking on. After that, Eva dropped us off at the wall between Israel and the West Bank where our Palestinian guide brought us to Bethlehem and the Church where Jesus was born. Thereafter, we went to the Shepherd's fields (where the angels appeared to the Shepherds - the olden day CNN I was told... hahah). After that we went did the usual souvenir shopping and was escorted back to meet Eva. Eva then took us to another panoramic spot to view Jerusalem from the south, and then proceeded to take us back to Ashdod via a scenic route. Along the route, we passed by the place where David fought Goliath. What an amazing, hectic but definitely fantastic day....In Haifa, we took a tour with avitours and our guide, Nurit was amazing. There's something special about touring with Nurit - she wants us to "experience" the sights rather than just see them and understand the history behind them. To that end, she was very keen on us "touching the waters of Galilee" (and even got the driver to drive to the water's edge as she know my dad had walking difficulties and wouldn't make it to the water otherwise), or "tasting the fish that Peter used to fish and the food that people of Jesus' time used to eat". She resists rushing us as much as she can. She read the beatitudes to us when we were at the Mount of Beatitudes, she'd tell us why the sights are probably genuine or not, she'll want us to sit at the stones of the synagogue which was built around Jesus' time, she'd sing to us when we were wading in the River Jordan, she'd defer responding to some of our questions to appropriate times and sights of the tour so that it would create a stronger impact. In fact, one thing Nurit said which really surprised me was that when visiting a country, apart from the sights, its also the people whom makes the visit meaningful, the locals, their culture and thinking, and she's that link for us - she's the local person, and so we should ask her questions, personal or otherwise. If she didn't want to answer, she'd turn us down diplomatically. I told her likewise and in doing so we really developed a friendship on mutual understanding of each other's cultures that day. Apart from that, Nurit is also very meticulous, she had a file with everything she wanted to cover that day, a file filled with bible verses and photos of how the ruins looked or would have looked, what the "fish" sign meant in olden times, etc. What an absolutely wonderful day it was learning and seeing from Nurit - got us a bit tearful at the end of the day actually. "You will never read your Bible with more complete understanding than when you touch the waters of Galilee". How true.Cyprus We docked at Limassol. After the 4 solid days of touring behind us, we decided to take a ship excursion. It was okay. We went to a small church, a tomb (called tomb of the kings - but apparently there was no royalty buried there), and paphos (a seaside town) - we went to see more mosaics and then got back onto the ship. No lunch was provided (and as we had limited time in paphos we couldn't grab a meal since it was mostly sit down types) so we got back to the ship pretty hungry.Sorrento Nice place, we took another ship excursion (which we were assured to be mild for disabled passengers but entailed so much downhill walking that I really doubted this - it exacerbated my dad's condition so I was not particularly pleased). Anyway, the tour was good; we went to taste the cheese and wine produced in the region. The guide was professional and hardworking. My view is that there's really no need to do an excursion in Sorrento though, everything is walking distance and the small narrow roads are very interesting. The shopping was also quite nice and my wife bought herself a nice musical box from a factory, as well as murano glass ornaments. Most of the gifts for the trip were quickly bought in the town by the way.So that's it. A 9 out of 10 cruise for me - mostly because of the itinerary but also because the crew, food and folks on board were splendid. As I mentioned, it was near perfect.Cons: Now to balance the review I will talk about some small niggly bits about the cruise. Well, I was quite disappointed on the first day, after having travelled the whole day to get to the ship, not to have anyone welcome us onboard. No one at all, no steward, no waiter, no officer - nothing. As it was our first time on an Azamara ship, we had to go to guest relations with our hand luggage to ask for directions and even then, no offer was made to bring us to our cabins. The champagne that we were used to with our Celebrity cruises were non-existent or were not offered to us. We managed to find our way in the end but well, it would've been nice to come aboard to a smiling face. Security personnel on the ship also had a habit of ticking my dad off (he had walking difficulties but they would make him wait standing while they try to clear other passengers which (given his disability) I thought was quite insensitive. We didn't make a song and dance about it though but it could've been a bit better handled cos it occurred every single time we embarked. Also, security took my bottle of wine which I bought in Chios and declared when I came onboard but did not label it so it was a bit frantic trying to get hold of my beloved wine on the last night. When we were playing a game at the card tables in the Looking Glass, the crew would turn off the lights while we were in the midst of it (cos it was 7pm already and the disco or whatever was starting) - we weren't told beforehand nor were we given a chance to pack up. They refused to turn our little corner back on for us to pack so we had to do so in the dark. This happened twice, the second time at an earlier timing. At Cyprus, a shore excursion escort started venting her frustrations on me (cos another passenger was complaining about her insensitivity to disabled passengers) and when she got no sympathy from me she walked off in a huff - which I thought was really rude. I was also surprised since I only stopped her to ask for directions and had nothing to do with her argument with the other guest but I guess everyone has their bad days. So you can see - all in all, the cruise was really good. I wish I could have stayed longer but all good things come to an end. Would we return to Azamara - I guess so. Is it my idea of pure unadulterated luxury? Not really, but it does what its meant to do - to bring you to exciting new places with minimal fuss and maximum enjoyment. Feel free to email me at marktan78@gmail.com if you want the details of the guides I've spoken about.