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Azamara Quest

Azamara Journey

Ilulissat

We chose this cruise for the Panama Canal experience and the size of the ship. Embarkation was quicker than anticipated as we hit a lull in the arrival of passengers. 

The disembarkation did not go as well due to an unavoidable delay in tying up. 

Also, there seemed to be no urgency in getting the luggage off the ship by the longshoremen; there was a lack of signage directing us to the airport transport and once we were loaded onto the coaches, there seemed to be no concern in getting us to the airport quickly although we were running +/- 1 1/2 hour late, with the result that we almost missed our departure.

We have completed 10 cruises to date. This is the first cruise that I felt we should book another trip on this ship due to the friendliness and personalities of the crew we encountered.

We felt that the night-time entertainment was only a 5/10. Pianist Sasha and Russ were the exceptions. Give them top marks.

We have never encountered a ship's master like Captain Jose. Very personable and likeable. We'd gladly cruise with him again.

We felt that the ports of call were too close together. It would have been nicer to have a sea day between a few of them.

Great Azamara Quest Staff

This 17 day trip was a great experience that was made special with our first time going through the Panama Canal.

We took our first cruise with Azamara in June 2016 on the Journey out of Athens and enjoyed every moment of it and booked this one while onboard.

We have done 9 cruises and are not as experienced as others but we have a daughter who worked on a cruise for a year when she finished college and we gained a lot of information on how hard these people work when we joined her on a back to cruise in 2009 and got to go behind the scenes.

We are 56 ( me) and 54 years old and consider ourselves young at heart and very athletic but the relaxed atmosphere is what we love about Azamara along with the sea days followed by longer port stays.

We enjoy the mature clientele and look forward to quiet days on the pool deck ( some light music being sung.....actually really good) along with the some wine and cheese on our balcony around 5:00 then on to drinks at the Discovery's Bar and then to supper followed by dancing or a show.

The staff from Captain Jose down to those that fold the towels would always have a smile and were more than accommodating when necessary.

Cruise Director Russ is a machine and I always thought that I had a lot of energy but I was amazed at how he made every event top notch.

Hotel Director  Philip Herbert along with all the Management were always visible and any concern that arose was handled promptly and professionally. 

The folks who looked after our room along with the service we received at Prime C to Windows Café was 5 star.

Getting on and off the boat at every port was smooth and well organized along with the tours that were well run.

The first drink on this cruise was served by the same gentleman who served us our  FIRST drink on our first cruise......and he remembered that.....thank you for remembering us.

If you are looking for an intimate setting / great service / 5 star food / top notch entertainment and plenty of things to do / hands on Captain and Officers and friendly staff then give Azamara a shot, you won't be disappointed.

We have always had the attitude that we never let minor things get in the way of a good vacation and that is why we are never concerned about a bit of rust on the side of the boat or if there is too much mayonnaise in the salad.

We are looking forward to our next trip on the Pursuit in March 2019 out of Rio.

February 2018 Panama Canal

Great experiences with Azamara. Azamazing evening in Cabo was truly fantastic. The whole idea of no extra charges multiplies the value. An all inclusive at sea. When the captain knows your name by the 5th day, you KNOW you’re on a small ship journey. Our 5th voyage in a row out of 20+ total. Before we found Azamara, HAL had been line of choice. Now, we have done a transAtlantic, SE Asia, South America, and some random Caribbean Cruises with Azamara and are satisfied. There are leaks and tweaks on any cruise line and this is no different—just minimized because of the small ship and great service. The entertainment is not as strong as a big ship, but you don’t have to fight the crowds or sit in the third balcony. The time in port puts these cruises in a world of their own. Last year we did a week long cruise with another line and spent 18 hours total in ports. Our Azamara cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore spent 2 to 3 days in different ports allowing side trips to Angor Watt, Mekong Delta, Hanoi, etc.

San Diego to Miami through the canal. 17 days

We cruised on Azamara Journey almost 9 years ago and so when we were looking for a Panama Canal cruise to celebrate my husbands 50th birthday, we looked at Azamara and Oceania (who we have sailed with more recently). The Quest cruise matched our dates and what we wanted to do and see best.

The crew are the absolute best. Captain Jose was the most friendly and down to earth Captain that we have ever experienced on a cruise and with leadership like that you are only ever going to find happy and proffesional crew. 

The food in the Windows buffet was generally very good. The breakfasts were far better than in the main dining room and the choices were vast. The only negative we have is the live cooking station, was not usually live. Food was still being pre cooked and placed into the covered servers. If it says live people don't mind waiting..... why not cook it to order.

Discoveries, the main dining room, for us was generally underwhelming. Service was either very fast or a bit slow, the tables were quite close together and sometimes the food was not very hot . Where they did shine was the two buffet brunches that were put on a couple of mornings. Everything that you could think of, it was fabulous.

We ate twice in Prime C and once in Aqualina and although all of the meals were very nice they certainly were not outstanding, which was what we remembered when we sailed on Journey. Out of the two, we would say that Aqualina slightly had the edge on service and food. I had the most fabulous Dover Sole that was taken off the bone at the table. The most disappointing thing was that on a 17 night cruise, the menus in both never changed once. In Prime C we shared a Chateaubriand, which was very nice, but it came wheeled to the table on the most enormous white plastic kitchen board....not very classy. How about a nice wooden block or serving platter, garnished with a handful of watercress?? There were some mini doughnuts on the dessert menu that were not too special, but the soufflés were excellent. In all of the restaurants many of the dishes had too much salt. All of the breads were varied, plentiful and high quality. There was a nice afternoon tea served one day in Aqualina, a repeat would have been good. Oh and where has the cheese trolley gone??

The place where we ate most in the evening was the Patio. There was always a fish special and steaks, they were without doubt the best cooked on the ship.

There were two poolside buffets, White Night and Latino Night, plus an officers BBQ one lunch time, these were all first class. There was a huge amount of work setting up for these nights but they were fantastic, everything that you could think of and more. We didn't buy any drinks package but I think that generally the alcohol on the complimentary list was ok, the wines were a bit disappointing, a lot of the same most nights.

The cabin, a balcony on deck 7 was a bit smaller than we had expected but everything was well thought out and there was plenty of storage. It was kept very clean and tidy by the excellent attendants. The bathroom was exceptionally small, with a shower curtain. Maybe for a week, but not 17 nights again......and we are both small. 

Entertainment is not something that is high on our wish list, but I think that generally it was very good for a small ship. The best by far was Jakub Trusak, an amazing violinist (with a twist!)

The ports were pretty good. The only one for us which was not great was Puerto Chiapas. The stops in Puerto Quetzal (Guatamala) and Puntarenas (Costa Rica) could have been given more time and miss Chiapas out. We also would have liked longer in Cartegena and a stop in Cuba to break the last two sea days up. Panama Canal was the highlight day, and it ran like clockwork. The gentleman in the bridge that provided the commentary for the transit was excellent, informative and very knowledgeable. We took some ship excursions which were all very well organised and enjoyable. Whale Watching in Cabo San Lucas, Snorkelling in Huatulco, Pacaya Volcano hike in Guatemala.....plus the Azamazing Evening from Cabo San Lucas, a fantastic night. Extremely well organised and high quality, don't miss it!

Unfortunately on the disembarkation day, the ship was late to dock (not their fault) and we had to wait an extra 3hrs. Once off it turned into a bit of a free for all, as transfers really didn't work with the timings skew whiff. An Azamara representative really should have been off ship sorting this out. We cut our losses and jumped in a taxi, but we had prepaid all our transfers.

In summary we had a great holiday, met some great people, did a couple of memorable shore excursions arranged through roll call, as always! We would sail with Azamara again if the itinerary was right and I think with that bathroom it would be 7 nights max. I don't know whether there would be a difference between ships or just that its been such a long time since our last one, but 9 years ago the food blew us away.....sadly not anymore.

CBO - Azamara Club Cruises

Panama Canal for 50th Birthday

We love Azamara.  Travel is what you make it.  We enjoyed bridge lessons tremendously and the individual entertainers were phenomenal.  Personnel on board are VERY accommodating and trained well to take care of every possible need we could imagine.  Wasn't crazy about some of the ports, but that always happens.  Was surprised to see negative ratings about this voyage as everyone we talked to and met were very happy with this cruise.  Came down with a bad cold on board and the doctor couldn't have been better.  Some accompanying symptoms necessitated us being confined to quarters for a day, but we received free TV movies and any food we wanted from the room service menu or Discoveries Restaurant, only served on paper plates, not real dishes.  We understood the necessity of this.  Imagine our surprise several days later when we received a letter from the staff saying we would be comped one day on our next cruise to make up for the missed day we spent in quarantine.  WOW!  That's service!  Best of all were the people we met on board and that's really one of the main reasons why we travel, to meet people from around the world and share conversations with them.  Places are wonderful but people are even better!

Great cruise and met some outstanding people!

Wanted to visit the Panama Canal and Cartagena. Cabo was also on our bucket list. Didn’t know much about the other ports but were pleasantly surprised especially by Huatulco and Antigua. San Diego was a fun place to visit before embarking. Enjoyed visiting the USS Midway and the zoo. As usual the cruise was very nice. The crew was amazingly helpful and courteous. Always cheerful (I don’t  know how). Our cabin was comfortable and spotless. Plenty of room for the two of us. The entertainment was ok but we don’t go on Azamara for that. If we want better shows we cruise Celebrity Solstice class ships. Specialty restaurants were very good. We mostly ate at the Windows buffet which was fine for us because we’re usually tired after exploring ports and want to eat casually and at our own pace. Ate one night in main dining room and wasn’t that impressed and had to eat at the wait staff’s pace. The excursions we took through the ship were adequate and not badly priced. Since it was our first visit to these ports they were a good introduction. Overall it was one of our better cruises mainly because of the crew and the fun people we met.

Fun ports. Great crew. New friends.

We’re experienced cruisers, an older couple, one of us has a mobility problem. This was the second of two cruises we took this winter, the first was a Princess cruise to Hawaii that was very successful. By contrast the Azamara cruise was less exciting though still very good.

We had done two cruises on the Quest last year covering much of the same territory, tho with the addition of the Sea of Cortez.  We repeated because we wanted to stay close to North America – and Azamara offers a gourmet experience, important to us.

Unfortunately we came down with vicious colds and coughs.  No fault of the cruise.  Since the temperature was so hot we avoided visiting nearly all the possible ports, barring the Azamara evening in Cabo San Lucas and a short trip in Huatulco.  Which meant we stayed on the ship, in itself a pleasant fate.

We had an accessible oceanview cabin. It was large, comfortable, and very quiet, indeed a congenial place to spend much of the day.  The cabin, on the fourth floor, was especially convenient, with easy access to the elevators and from there to the front and rear of the ship.

The Quest is a small ship, so you rarely have a sense of being crowded, unlike on the Star Princess where battling for elevator space was a daily occurrence. Exceptions: when a special event like the white night party or a folkloric show which pulled in so many people, and the pool side bar-b-ques where there were long lines of hungry passengers.

We’d expected the food on the Quest to be very good: it had been on five previous trips.  And, yes, much of it was tasty.  But somehow not as pleasing as before, certainly not at the level of the Crystal (a line we have always enjoyed).  The dining room offered a variety of dishes, including the standard salmon and steak, every night.  Yet nothing was memorable this time. The nightly wines, included in the fare, were ok but not as good as on the Star Princess (where of course you had to pay). On sea days it also offered lunches, including once a tasty Spanish burger that pleased and, even more, a dim sum feast.  (We didn’t try the brunch.)  The Patio had excellent burgers and in the evening good steak, though its ribs ho-hum.  Prime C, the specialty restaurant, as before, had very good steak (and some really fine desserts) but we found it noisy: try to get a table in the back away from the front where there is a large table that attracts people enjoying themselves with gusto, and thus much noise of course.  The various pool side bar-b-ques were abundant and tasty – but, again, the ribs this time were not spectacular. The signature crepes, however, were as good as ever. The Windows Café, the buffet, in the evening served a themed dinner, seafood, Greek, American, etc.  The paella prepared individually by a chef for the Spanish evening, was simply superb, one of the best I’ve had anywhere.  But the pad thai similarly prepared was mediocre. And the Turkish night offered nothing of interest to us – or most others, it seemed, given the paucity of passengers. Room service breakfast was excellent, the many restricted but still varied, with much to choose from  and delivered on time and as requested.  We did go to the Windows Café for many lunches: what appealed were the various salads and salad makings as well as the sandwiches and sandwich makings, as well as the soups.  The cheeses on the cruise were limited but decent – one difference with the Crystal where the cheeses superb.

The Quest looks good, despite its twenty years.  It has a classic look yes, especially notable in the Discoveries dining room, the baroque staircase on the 4th-5th floor, and the drawing room.  It has an excellent viewing space at the front, the Living Room where in addition you can enjoy drinks and at meal times various tapas.  Recently the ship has added replicas of Dalí sculptures, a marvellous touch, and these enhance the overall look of the public areas. Likewise dropping Park West Gallery and replacing them with an individual artist was a wise move: he did an excellent rendition to the night of the dead, the theme of the Azamazing evening, producing it on site. The upgraded stateroom was great, despite the curious bump around the bathroom, presumably to ensure that the water ran off into the drain, not the room.

One of the outstanding features of the Azamara Quest is the staff.  Captain José, Hotel Director Philip, the entertainment master Russ, the security chief Silvano, all these officers are fine people, friendly, congenial, helpful.  And that applies to the rest of the staff.  All of the people were ready to help, to offer assistance, to ensure that our needs were met, our concerns satisfied.  The Quest is a very friendly ship where the staff goes out of its way to look after passengers.

We didn’t do much of the enrichment (tho the lectures we attended were decent) and almost none of the entertainment (excepting Russ’ singular performance, really an enjoyable show).  We did go to the Azamazing evening in Cabo (the third time!) and it is certainly singular, full of colour, music, and charm – plus excellent margaritas. I should add that the logistics of this evening, moving all the passengers back and forward without mishap, the professional skill demonstrated, is itself amazing. The folkloric show when in Cartagena was also superb, again full of harmony and dance, a mix of Caribbean and Spanish and Hispanic styles.

In the end, then, a fine cruise. Pity our health didn’t allow us to enjoy more. But, in the end, the fact the cruise offered us such great service, some fine spaces, and so much peace made it all worthwhile.

A Peaceful Journey

Just recently sailed on the Azamara Quest from San Diego to Miami through the Panama Canal. We have previously cruised on Oceania and Princess several times, Viking once and we are elite level on Celebrity. The pros for Azamara Quest were the White Night and Azamazing Evening in Cabo San Lucas. The wait staff in the restaurants and bars were excellent. The crew was very friendly and approachable. The food in the specialty restaurants was very good. The buffet had various ethic food nights. I thought that for a ship this size that the entertainment was very good. 

The cons, we had a verandah cabin on deck 8 and in the middle of the ship, lots of vibration especially at night. My wife got seasick one day and this was the first time this happened after 18 cruises. The bathroom. Is very small and the shower is too small for most humans. Disembarkation was at least 2 hours late getting off the ship due to congestion in the Miami harbor according to the captain.

Our First Azamara Cruise

This is our 20th cruise, first (last) on Azamara. While the line definitely has its fans (groopies?) its just not for us.  Many seem thrilled with the "personal attention" they perceive, it's available on most ships if you seek it out. The ship's appearance was good. Some failed decorative embellishments coming off the closet doors, and what has to be the smallest shower i've come across.  What others considered "special" events  (White Night, Azamazing Evening) we saw as just another way to foist a buffet on guests, instead of providing dinner in the main dining room. I'm not a fan of standing on lines each time I want to get something to eat. Again, I will emphasize that many passengers (a large % being repeaters) felt they were happy with the evenings.

The biggest failure centered around the attempt at entertainment. First, since this is a small ship, there was just one entertainment venue at a time. Unlike other ships where there was a choice of piano bar, soloist, combo, etc., here is was just one. AND often it was a failure. The first evening, our Cruise Director (who was great) let us know how we were in for some special entertainment nights, all NEW. (That should have been the first alert.) One of the great, new shows was in conjunction with 54 BELOW, a cabaret located below Studio 54 in Manhattan. Great write-ups and fabulous performers appeared in the past. That's great but what we go was a singer who was promoted as singing in over 1000 performances of "Jersey Boys"  He appeared two nights. We, along with everyone in the venue, was expecting songs that must be from ... "Jersey Boys"...right? Wrong, Although a very good singer, he chose to relate his life story, and sang a collection of music from the 40's. I will tell you I love this music and play it often, but like others we were confused. On his next performance night all were waiting for the "Jersey Boys" experience. Again...disappointment. He sang some of HIS favorite songs from the era. The final song was from Jersey Boys (and there might have been one buried in the middle) but none of the songs seemed to be the "show stoppers/top of the charts" songs we expected.

BUT, this was not the biggest disappointment in the entertainment. We were also treated to another completely new experience...SHORTS AT SEA"  This was an evening of three 10 minute plays (A rage in Miami since the mid 90's)  I'm guessing the target audience does not have the ability to focus for more than 10 minutes at a time, hence the idea. Overall, the performances were mediocre to bad. How do I (not a theater critic) know? Well on the first night of performances (yes, there were more to come) I noticed some empty seats after the first act, and many more after the second. The next morning I hear one couple asking if another saw the show, and what did she think. I'm close to exact here, so I will use quotes..."I've never seen anything so terrible."  We tried the second performance (again, nothing else to do on the ship) and the venue started out about 3/4 full. After the first play, 1/2 full, and we left with others after the second act. Thankfully, the ship did provide an excellent alternative for the third night's performance, having a very talented piano/arranger, Sasha, and keyboardist George try to put together some impromptu entertainment. Unfortunately, an alternative was not planned for the fourth (yes, FOURTH) night of this fodder on a 12 night cruise. However, apparently a higher authority was displease and the seas got rough enough that our actors from Miami could not perform! I say no more.

The house band of five very talented musicians excelled when they were given the main stage, and even small grouped at the pool. On one night the Cruise Director did a great performance (he was on stage in Mama Mia) and brought that excitement with him. 

Oh, back to that last night....small ship equals rocking ship on rough seas and many cruisers   had a rough evening that would have been much less upsetting on a larger ship. 

I know that the Azamarites who read this may not agree since they seem to feel everything Azamara is superior, but trust me, it ain't so.

Not much to do on the ship

We just returned from our 12-day trip on the Azamara Quest to Baja California and wanted to write you a letter – thanking you for a wonderful vacation and calling out the high points and the low points.  Hopeful the low points will be taken as constructive criticism rather than negativity and you can put some easy fixes in place.

First, the high points.

The Captain, Staff and Crew – what a lovely team to travel with!  There was an overriding feeling of team spirit and even when overtaxed as everyone was in the first few days of “lockdown” because of the previous outbreak of noro, the team worked together.  Kudos, Capitan for being ever present and we loved the send-off by the ship’s officers at each port.  Kudos also for the entertainment team.

The cabins are what they are . . . you can’t change the “bones” but our cabin crew kept our little home spotless, the linens were top notch and bottled water appeared daily in the quantities that I drink – kudos! 

The ship was impeccable – I never saw a napkin on the ground, a puddle from the rain or was concerned about the cleanliness of the restrooms, the pool or the hot tubs.

Loved the captain’s daily reports, the White Night, the Officer’s Buffet and especially the Azamazing Evening.   Having been a marketing director and event planner myself, I truly have an appreciation for how complex (AND expensive) these events are to execute.  Many more Kudos!

The main dining room was superb.  The service was impeccable and the food very very good.  Especially the breakfast!  Don’t change that wonderful and quirky menu!

The buffet at dinner was a wonderful alternative venue and the Patio an option that was good to have.  

Here are the low(er) points with my wish list attached:

•	Our cabin bathroom smelled bad for the whole cruise – our wonderful cabin stewards cleaned, called in the engineers, put down fresheners, cleaned out drains – no resolution.  Our cabin steward “let slip” that this wasn’t the first time there had been complaints and that the smell was coming up through the shower and floor drains from the overall sewer system.  Maybe a serious problem to be addressed in the next dry dock?????

•	The specialty restaurants simply were not special – we had better food in the main dining room.  Specifically, in Prime C we had entrees much smaller than advertised and less well prepared than the main dining room. It was not like a high end steak house at all.  I expect much higher quality for the extra dollars that I paid, and also larger portions.  I expect that if the lamb chops are advertised at 10 ounces will actually be 10 ounces, and if the filet is advertised as 8 ounces, it will be 8 ounces.  

•	In the Italian restaurant, we were served Sauvignon Blanc that had gone bad -- not from one but TWO bottles of wine.    I switched to red after receiving a push back from the waiter and maître’ d, but . . . still . . . the only wine that should be deep amber colored is sherry!!!  Perhaps the serving staff should receive some training in the daily wines and how to detect what is off.  Apparently, you boarded at least a case, maybe more of Vat 90 Sauvignon Blanc that was really really bad.  I was poured a glass at the pool deck bar as well – ugh!

•	AND my biggest beef with the specialty restaurants – I was so looking forward to the Dover Sole – sautéed and served tableside off the bone.  But it was served with a PUTTANESCA sauce.  Really????  No buerre blanc, no lemon butter?  Back to the main dining room for me.

•	We also had some issues with the tours - specifically in Guaymas and in Cabo.  Azamara literature keeps repeating NO MORE THAN 25 people per tour – and it is part of the marketing effort to attract higher end customers not wishing a larger cruise ship experience.  In Guaymas, we were 43, quite crammed into a sightseeing boat out into the harbor.  The experience was awesome, but please set my expectations BEFORE the trip!  “You will be riding on a city bus for approximately 45 minutes to an hour each way before boarding your tour boat – a seat will be available for all, but because of the port and availability, we are unable to meet our commitment of 25 or less.”  Also, this tour time and meeting place was changed 4 TIMES – really???  By the third time, the shore excursion desk should actually have called me personally, not just left another (undated) flyer on my bed.  The Cabo Whale Watching Catamaran excursion was worse -  our tour left at 9:30 and unbeknownst to us, we were combined into at least 4 other tour times for the same excursion, leaving us in the baking sun on an unshaded catamaran for more than an hour while the other 100+ tendered passengers arrived.  We left 90 minutes after scheduled tour time and no amount of free tequila shots made any difference to our 70+ something crowd!  PLEASE set our expectations properly and if there are changes and/or combinations, PLEASE do something like “meet on the dock at 10:30” instead of leaving us in the dark – actually in the blistering Mexican sunshine.

•	The short plays from the new entertainment Studio 54 were not a hit.  Here is why (at least on this trip!) – your average cruise passenger was over 70. (I, at 64, was actually the youngest on all of our shore excursions where we had to sign waivers and write down our age so I am pretty sure my age estimate is right.)   60% OF ALL PEOPLE OVER 60 have hearing loss.  The short plays featured quick banter (bad!), accents (worse!) and no captions (of course impossible, but those 60% rely on them.)  If this is your demographic on your cruises, you may really want to rethink this new entertainment venue.  

In Summary:

We really enjoyed our trip with Azamara and hope that on our upcoming Oct 2018 trip on the Journey, we will find the puttanesca sauce gone from the dover sole, the bad Vat 90  Sauvignon Blanc poured overboard and the shore excursions department more communicative.  Azamara is really AZamazing for the most part and just needs some tweaks!!!

Mostly Pluses but some Negatives

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