Maybe my expectations were too high. Having cruised Oceania and Regent as well as many other lines, I was under the impression Azamara was 6 star. Embarkation and disembarkation were efficient and painless The staff were lovely, and very helpful , trying to sort out problems they didnt have the resources to. The entertainment was very limited, a guitarist, a pianist, the evening shows. What there was was good to excellent, though some evenings there was only one show and the theater could not hold everyone who wanted to be there. The food had very limited choice and was unimaginative (although the menu suggested otherwise!) my Gin Fizz Prawn Cocktail was 3 big prawns on lettuce with the usual sauce. when I asked what was gin fizz about it I was told its very light so you cannot taste it!!!! Just one example. Our room -7008- was so noisy with vibration noise and an unidentifiable banging. often in the middle of the night- 3am i was at reception to complain as i couldnt get through on the phone as reception was busy, i wonder why? They eventually said they couldnt solve the problem and we had the time consuming job of changing cabins. 8030 was quiet.The lighting was so poor in both cabins reading was difficult ,you had to angle your book/device to catch the light. Maybe i need a backlit kindle! We will go back to Oceania for good value and excellent food. Read Less

First timers on Azamara, have earlier cruised with Celebrity and RCCL and this is the smallest cruise ship we have been on. Embarkation: We arrived at 13:45 to the port. The embarkation was very smooth, no lines and it took just 10 minutes until we got on board. The state room was ready at 14:00 and the bags arrived soon after that. Ship and cabin: Over all very good maintained, of course there where showing some signs of wear and tear but much better than expected. She is very clean and tidy! The stateroom is of normal standard and showed almost no wear. The table on the veranda was a nice surprise! Much larger than what we have had on other ships. It seems that Journy are having some problems with their plumbing system, two times the toilets didn’t work but it was fixed quite promptly. The size of ship is the smallest we have experienced and on this cruise we had no problems with that. The weather was lovely and with so many port days we could either spend our days on pool deck or exploring the ports. We would not choose this size if it would be fewer port days and/or risk of cold weather. In these circumstances we would go for a larger ship with more to do ”inside”. The tranquil atmosphere on pool deck was really nice! On sea days the guitarist played one hour, very nice and with a sound level that was enjoyable. The sun beds and towels where also of high standard. Sadly to say there where a number of chair hoggers on board, marking the chairs early in the mornings and then returned a couple of hours later. I overheard one of the pool attendants once trying to explain the rules but was met on a very unpleasant manner. I wish someone with higher ranks should be addressing this kind of things, maybe it would be easier to enforce the rules. Personnel: Nice and friendly; no more no less than on other ships we have been on. The state room was kept nice and clean by Rayner and Ismael. I did feel that the guest relations personal was a bit tired of their work, no extra there… I was asking a question and found it quite annoying when the person didn’t bother to listening to the end and instead started to look in the computer for an answer I hadn’t asked. I tried to point out that but instead I had to wait until she had found an answer to a question I hadn’t asked… Cruise director Eric is really talented with a voice much better than the rest of the entertainers. Just loved his Grand Pa stories!! Dining: We did like free seating not having to be in the dining room on a certain time. We always chose to sit together with others and we really enjoyed all the people we met. But - After so many good revives over the food we have to admit that we had higher expectations than on Celebrity and RCCL. Unfortunately, we experienced that the food was quite mediocre without coming up to the standard we have experienced on X and RCCL… No seasoning and the result vas mostly tasteless. I fully understand that it’s difficult to satisfy everybody’s tastes but it is possible to make tasty food without making it (to) hot. A good Chief would have been able to do that. There were of course exceptions to that, some courses was very good but quite rare. One evening, the mint sauce to the lamb was served out of a jar with the label still on. Not really what we had expected on an Azamara dining experience. As we are Elite on X we were invited to a special breakfast in Prime C the same day we arrived to Madeira. Very nice with many officers attending. I’m not a Mimosa lover but the Mimosas they served where the best I ever had! Complimentary drinks: This was good and we didn’t feel any need to buy anything extra. We loved that we didn’t have to show cards and sign slips to get anything to drink! I’m a Campari and orange juice lover but as it isn’t included I just turned over to GT’s instead. The entertainment: Of normal cruise standard. We are not very fond of the Broadway shows, but to see Erik as a very tall drag queen was very entertaining! I - on the other hand is not tall and due to the layout of the Cabaret it was quite difficult to find a seat where I could see anything but heads. Maybe I should have a pillow to sit on. The ”White Night” was one of the two outside buffet nights and took place the second evening in Madeira. A very nice evening with lots to choose from the grill. In La Palma, the second buffet night with a Spanish theme, took place. Also very nice with a local song and dance group that preformed for us. It’s really nice to see the pool deck transform to an outside restaurant. Do admire the work that’s done to do that, removing all sun beds and replacing them with tables and chairs. ”Azamazing evening”. Took place in Malaga and was a horse and bull performance in the bull ring. It was the first time it was arranged and worked quite well. I’m no ”horse person” so this is not what I would have chosen - but I find the idea of arranging a evening like this very ”azamazing”! The arena are made to take thousands of people and with only 600 people, it felt quite empty. Don’t know what they had done if it had been raining…. I wouldn’t like to sit there in pouring rain. When we came back on board we were welcomed with hot chocolate and rum, which was appreciated as the evening was quite cold, just 12 C. Itenerys and tours: We didn’t do any of the Azamara tours, as we felt that they are much overpriced. Instead we strolled around in the ports by ourselves. In Madeira we did a tuk-tuk tour that was very good, with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable driver. Going by tuk-tuk it was possible to access places that wasn’t possible by bus. We also went to the Botanical garden by two cable cars and took the toboggan ride down. Of all itenarys we liked Madeira and Gomera the best. Embarkation: Very easy! In conclusion: It was a lovely cruise with things we really have appreciated and enjoyed, but also with a few things that can be improved. Will we cruise Azamara again? Yes - if we find a good offer and a good itenery. Read Less

My husband and I have travelled a lot. Approximately 30 cruises. 20 on Princess then decieded to give the other cruise lines a chance. This was our second Azamara cruise and we thouroughly enjoyed it. We ate at the speciality restaurants and signed up for the new Asian dinner as well as the Chef"s Table. Food was delicious. Highly recommend it. We had a great time in the Disco most evenings getting to know the staff and fellow cruisers. We enjoyed the white night the most. Eric and the other performers were fantastic. Loved the music. Never did so much dancing. Relaxing by the pool during the day without many announcments was nice. Very relaxing. We have booked our 3,4 and 5 cruise with Azamara. I quess we are converted. Great staff, I cannot say enough on how the made you feel like family. See you in April 2016. Read Less

This was a relatively late booked cruise due to Azamara cancelling a full 3 week dry-docking and adding this cruise. We had an owners suite again at a very good price. It was also complicated by Azamara later further changing cruise by shortening by 2 days. We were able to change flights etc so no major problems for us and Azamara had guaranteed to pay peoples 2 day expenses in Malaga because of delays. We had our 2 days in Malaga and boarded on 17 November in lashing rain and thunder. In view of what happened later little did we recognise the omen. Embarkation. As ship had arrived empty from dry dock we had hoped for no hassle but because of Azamara/port authorities bureaucracy it took ages with no less than 3 sets of queues. On board eventually but unable to access cabins straight away (Why as ship had had 24 hours with no passengers). Went to CC meeting on first night which was interesting as Captain was practically accused of lying when he said there were no extra contractors on board. Was berated for stopping at Gibraltar on Sunday (shops closed) and for deciding to dock at Cadiz which added fuel to conspiracy theory. Also took flack for Madeira on Sunday for same reason although wherever we stopped on a Sunday would be closed. Captain still did not explain how a 24 hour strike delays the ship by 2 days but Hey Ho Ship had only 560 passengers of whom more than 500 were Brits with only 20 Americans. Refit. Ship looks nice with new hull colour although the Azamara blue is about as blue as Newcastle United colours. (Black and white for non UK readers) New carpeting and old chairs newly reupholstered but not all. Prime C bar stools saggy. New curtains in suite but still old carpeting. Sun decks still had old wooden chairs which had been sandblasted but I thought they were to be replaced on refit. We began to feel like the Queen as all we could smell was fresh paint. At one time there were 12 painters on various parts of deck but as these were a special squad from RCI they were not "contractors" No new Astroturf on deck 11 which had also lost the old plastic emergency sea day chairs. This led to bed rage on sea days with other passengers lying on mattresses on bare decks like refugees from Darfur. I pray they get some more before their full 700 passenger trip to Rio on 3 Dec with 6 sea days on the trot!!! We booked our speciality restaurants for alternate night at our normal 8.30 times and was great to see Adell, Mr Harry, Santos and other previously met staff. Passengers This is where I will be flamed and accused of being a snob but the passengers on this cruise were not Normal Azamara passengers. We heard of people complaining that because somebody else had an upgrade they were ENTITLED to one. If you book, accept and pay for a deck 3 inside then that is your contract but the Entitlement culture won out. As this cruise was a late arrangement the curse of Azamara struck again. The 50% off deal flogged out via Sky TV and discount agents attracted customers but if any of them rebook it will be a wonder. If Azamara marketing had done their job properly then this cancellation /reinstatement disaster could have been turned into a positive. We only found out about this cruise via a blog. When we rang Azamara to check the pricing we had to tell the telesales operator about the deal. If I had been involved it would have been first item on any telesales script even for customers who were ringing about another cruise. If I was involved in marketing (as I was for 30 years) I would have announced a 5 day sale via email to all Club voyage members but of course that was too easy and they do not have an accurate list anyway (still waiting for email offers after 3 weeks of sign up with different email address). I would then have contacted the top 400 UK independent travel agents and offered them a deal and can you imagine the word of mouth this would have generated.. The mix of passengers were the allegedly stereotypical Fred Olsen (old) Saga (older) and some RCI (boorish) The atmosphere in the venues was reminiscent of a mortuary waiting room with the warmth of an ice cube factory. The total winning on slot machines after 10 days was £1800 which is about 1/10th of normal. We never saw more than 5 of 40 machines in use and blackjack tables were almost never in use. Thank God for the crews sake tips were included or there would have been a queue of 450 miserable Brits at reception to get them removed. There were about 30 couples that were good fun. After 3 days it became apparent that the 500 Great British Public were absolute creatures of habit and were descending for breakfast at 9.00am in MDR with 200 friends in tow and dinner was even worse with one day 300 turning up in half an hour. Even McDonalds at the Olympic village would struggle with this!! Instead of putting a separate flyer with daily bulletin explaining that if everybody turns up at same time the some will be disappointed they tried to rearrange double shows etc and move breakfast to buffet option in MDR as well as normal Windows cafe. It was obvious that this was a completely different passenger set. What they should have done was offer free drink to all customers who had left the restaurant by 8.30 as what was happening was that people were table hogging to get the free wine and then staggering out with yet another glass. The waiters were reduced to removing table cloths to try to get early sitters to move out. Equally they could have offered a glass if you were waiting but as it was they all sat in MDR waiting area looking miserable. We have dined at 8.30 pm in MDR on many occasions before and never had to wait but the massive Brit numbers overwhelmed staffs ability to cope Azamara makes great play of pricing @$27.50 for speciality dining and would not allow it for free and indeed the perk of suites is the free dining although of course you have paid from £1000 to £3500 for the privilege so imagine our surprise when it was offered at half price to try and relive pressure on the MDR. The whole point of the speciality dining is that it can be taken at your pace and the waiters are not rushed but have time to talk with you. Normally you do not have to book days ahead but can be fitted in without too much trouble as they are never full After this announcement suite guests were being offered 6.00 or 9.00pm appointments only. Once again this could have been sorted out with a 24 hour delay by advising suite guests of this unannounced change to get their bookings in. I am sure suite members were impressed. NOT. I did not bother to try to get any refund for the 8* $27.50 loss of benefit as Azamara would say "times change suck it up" We were unfortunate to be in Prime C on the night of the $70 special dinner. A difficult night for any chef with having to produce 20 identical meals at the same time but was the start of the disaster. It was obvious that the place was overstretched as this was first night of deal and the waiters were practically running. We were in the "corridor " tables between kitchen and serving station so were in terror of a tray full of food descending about our ears but no other tables available. My wife's first course crab cakes were cold but no comment made. We then waited 35 minutes for second course which came completely wrong. 2 sets of lamb chops when I had ordered fillet steak. Taken away and waited another 20 mins for steak to appear. It was obvious that this had been sitting under a hot lamp for an hour as it was completely overdone but lets get it eaten. We then ordered a frozen dessert which had not arrived and after a further 20 minutes. Maitre D was seen talking to waiter and he then approached us to say that he had asked the chef to hurry this up. My wife who owns a catering company asked what the delay was told it needs plating up!!! 5 cold items to be arranged on a plate took them 40 minutes in total. It was OBVIOUS that they were MASSIVELY overbooked on a special night and I do NOT blame the wait staff or kitchen staff as they had to suffer the consequences of a stupid decision taken apparently by Miami in response to GBPs desire to eat as a herd. Equally we had a table booked in Aqualina for 8.30 and on arrival Nicolii advised us that it was not quite ready. "No problem" we said "we will just wait". "No" he says "they came at 6.00pm and have not had their main course as they said they did not wish to be hurried" We were seated elsewhere but they eventually left after 4 hours. NO wonder the MDR could not cope with people like that. Additionally 2 tables in Aqualina were having a drinking competition with the free wine and the ladies had to be practically carried out at the end of meal. I like to have a coffee on aft deck at Windows cafe whilst my wife gets ready and on all other cruise tables would be full by 8.00am but on this cruise you could practically get a table at any time. The staff and meals were as usual Azamara standard but I did feel sorry for staff as I have never been on such a dour cruise. The cruise director should be prosecuted under trades description act as he was never seen around the ship and to compare him with Tony Markey or Eric De Gray was fanciful. It was obvious that the Captain knew there were a lot of unhappy people when he was reduced to practically begging us to rate the ship as excellent. Finally I had $200 shareholder credit which was applied automatically on previous Sept cruise on Journey but some Jobsworth in Quest Back office refused to add this despite having an email with confirmation reference and even producing copy of share certificate . After 9 days of badgering and 2 meetings with the Hotel Director he agreed to authorise this himself. On leaving ship he was at gangway and confirmed that he had still not received confirmation from Miami that I was entitled to this. . In summary 1: Those who have cruised Azamara before were short changed. 2: Those who wanted to try Azamara with a view to another Azamara cruise would almost certainly not book again if they thought this passenger set was normal. 3: The other passengers will have no intention of ever using Azamara and goodbye. Would I sail Azamara Quest to Canaries again NEVER Would I sail Quest again UNLIKELY Would I sail Azamara Journey again. YES in a heartbeat and signed up for open certificate deal whilst on board. Read Less

I had intended to write an extensive review of our Azamara Quest cruise to the Canaries, but I would strongly recommend any future cruiser to read "Procters" recent excellent review of the same cruise. We can only add that Azamara were unable to provide waiter service for breakfast and lunch in the main restaurant. We know that Azamara are only "luxury lite" but Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, and even MSC, can provide this service. We did not expect to have to adjust our eating times to beat the queues and accommodate Azamara's inability to cater for a largely British customer base. This definitely was not open seating. The evening entertainment was very disappointing and it was difficult to see what market they were aiming at. We exclude the American comedian from this criticism, although he was largely wasted on the aged, docile audience. We would also prefer that the senior ships management concentrated on rectifying the consequences of the rushed refit, and meeting their customers expectations, than serving burgers and ice cream to their guests. We know that some cruisers, especially Americans like this, but more acceptance and focus on the ongoing problems would have been appreciated. We also sensed that this was not a happy ship. This was not the cruise we were eagerly anticipating and Azamara fell well below our expectations. Read Less