My first cruise on Azamara was on the Quest from October 7 to 17, 2009, and because I thought dinners at the table service restaurants were sub-par it will probably be my last Azamara cruise. I am a cruiser who selects port-intensive itineraries (only one sea day out of ten on the Quest), comes back to the ship tired each day, and wants only a good dinner and early bed time. Except for the last night, the only good main courses I had or sampled were one of venison and a beef tenderloin. Neither had a sauce, but the meat was good enough to carry them. The worst meal on the Quest, and the worst meal I had on this vacation, was a pasta Alfredo. The last night had good main courses but for the first time I was let down by dessert. It was a mini-baked Alaska, and others may like it but I did not. Dinners on my two cruises on Celebrity, Azamara's parent company, were consistently better than dinners on the Quest.

I found the hot soups were generally insipid and the creamed hot soups were the worst. On the other hand the cold soups were delicious and I can recommend the gazpacho and a chilled pear soup with cinnamon. Desserts, despite the one failing I noted, were otherwise good, as were the salads and other starters. Breakfasts and lunches were appetizing, and I particularly enjoyed breakfast in the Discoveries restaurant because the ever-accomodating staff brought fresh berries for me to have with the French toast and pancakes. (When available the berries in the 9th deck breakfast buffet were dethawed.)

When I was back aboard for lunch I enjoyed a salad (but not the soup) on the 9th deck buffet, but regretted that I never had lunch at the Discoveries restaurant because it was usually closed for the midday meal. The coffee at the 9th deck could use some help and I understand the machines are due to be replaced. Right now the cappuccino is acceptable if you put in two shots of espresso (a trick taught me by another passenger), but the espresso straight is weak. The espresso and cappuccino in the full-service restaurants was much better, and in the Discoveries Restaurant a lady who came from Eastern Europe made cappuccino that would match the best of what I had in Italy. Read more