We arrived in Athens the day before departure and were taken to the Athens Gate Hotel by Welcomepickups. We would recommend both the hotel and the car service. Welcomepickups also brought us to the port the next day - timely, clean car, polite driver, easy to reserve on-line. Athens Gate Hotel is in a wonderful location for exploring the Acropolis and the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We dined in the rooftop restaurant of the hotel which has a fabulous view of the lighted Acropolis. Our room rate (205euros) also included a nice breakfast. Embarkation was a breeze. Journey is a lovely ship. Everything was clean and efficient. Our cabin (balcony, midship) was fine with the exception of the tiniest shower I have ever used. It serves the purpose and had great water pressure but you won't linger. Robes and slippers were in the closet and tons of hangers. Our cabin was beautifully kept the whole trip. We would put out the little sign indicating that we wanted the cabin cleaned when we went to breakfast and it was always completed upon our return. The food was really very good and the included wines and drink selections were fine. We sat with the same waiter every night who was fun and efficient. There was a very nice jazz brunch, officers barbecue, White Nights celebration on deck. We dined in both specialty restaurants and did not find them to be worth the extra charge. This may be because the food in the regular dining room was so good. Entertainment was okay but this is a small ship so don't have big expectations. Cruise director did a great job. The Captain was everywhere! He made you feel like you were in his home. We only did 2 excursions from the ship - Delos and Burano/Murano - both were well worth the money. That said, we did arrange for private tours in 4 other ports. We enjoy the intimacy of a small group and the cost is much more reasonable. We have only been on two other cruises(Alaska and Panama Canal)both on Princess so our experience is limited but we really enjoyed this ship. We liked the longer days in ports, the all inclusiveness (almost) of the fare pricing, the friendliness of the crew, the presence of the Captain, the quality of the food, and the general quietness of the atmosphere. There is no constant loud music or loud DJ around the pool. We liked it so much that we booked another for next year while on board. Read Less

This was our first Azamara cruise. Wanted to see if we liked the small ship experience as we tend to favour Celebrity's Solstice class ships. There are pluses and minuses. Loved the fact that you never had to fight for a sunbed and no loud music by the pool. Also thought the nightly entertainment in the show lounge was surprisingly good. I so didn't want to like the cruise director Eric de Gray because he was so cheesy, but I couldn't help myself. He's a gem multi talented and funny. I was told that the food was superior to Celebrity, but honestly it was on a par and many times there was less choice. Also liked the fact that a smaller ship can pull into smaller ports. Nice. Captain also very visible and approachable. What I think Azamara need to do is decide where it wants to be in the pecking order of cruise lines. It advertises itself as a premium six star line and charges accordingly but in reality it is only on a par with Celebrity or Holland America. I would only be tempted to re visit at if a bargain came up. I think it's too expensive as it stands. Read Less

Had a fantastic time with Ernie sailing aboard the Azamara Journey’s Turquoise Coast voyage through islands of Greece and Turkey. Impeccable service aboard the Journey was a delightful experience. Chatting with several staff members and learning about their back ground and where they are from was a great international feeling. The 700 passenger ship size was a perfect balance for personal service. We never felt crowded. One of our most memorable experiences was Chefs table a nine course elevated dining experience which included a wine pairing and lovely conversation with a table of international travelers mainly from Great Britain. The land scape of each island was a completely different experience in Alayna on the Turkish Rivera we chose to experience exotic water falls in Kursunlu and then traveled on a Manavgat wooden river boat to the sea. We wondered through the cobble stone streets in Chania and tasted island favorites including cheese, olives and wine. We discovered many Turkish flavors on Kas, Turkey. Rhodes was a picturesque coastline of gorgeous beaches, vineyards and Hamlets. Stopping at the Acropolis and ancient monastery was a memorable experience. We enjoyed exquisite views as we drove around the island by taxi. We completely enjoyed our Azamara experience for its wonderful atmosphere, personal service and exceptional choice of islands. We were the only cruise ship in every port we visited and we took advantage of the ports in the evening. Overall, we loved the cruise and would definitely sail again on this traditional ship setting. Read Less

This was our first cruise with Azamara. We wanted the smaller ship experience and have to admit we liked it. We chose this cruise for the itinerary and a special price - double upgrade to a verandah cabin. The ship was nice, clean and fortunately well functioning. (We had heard stories of plumbing problems.) The staff was generally friendly and the food was good. The food and service were excellent in the specialty dining restaurants but you pay extra for that. The promo on this line is that the fare includes gratuities and complimentary alcoholic beverages. There is a catch. You are still overwhelmed with opportunites to tip more and the complimentary drinks includes only 3 selections of beer and they limit the wine to just one white and one red each day. You know they have the larger selection available - so why can't you get a Chardonnay when I don't like Reisling? With a smaller ship you have to expect less choices in some things but you know the wine is there - they are just going to limit you, so they can sell you another glass for $10 each. The upcharges and extra fees are obnoxious. I'll go to a real all inclusive resort next time. We do have to say the Azamara rep at the airport was fantastic. He handled a late luggage issue and sent us on to the ship, while he waited for our luggage on the next flight from Paris. Within 4 hours we had our bags in our stateroom - and that was a HUGE relief. Read Less

The itinerary was Greek Islands, Corfu, Dubrovnik and overnight in Venice. I should say upfront that for us this was a large ship as we have gone on nothing but small ships for many years. So, we're used to checking in and walking through security and onboard with no delays. Embarkation was delayed 90 minutes in order to replace deck furniture. Check -in was very quick but then we had to wait 75 minutes to board in groups - perhaps it is just the way Piraeus does it. However as we were waiting to go through security, the woman behind us said that if we were in a suite we could have just gone onboard directly after check -in. This was never communicated to us at the check-in desk, however. The cabins were ready when we arrived onboard and all but one bag were there waiting for us. We chose a Club suite which isn't very large but was the best designed cabin we've ever had. There were 2 large closets and a nice bathroom with a tub/shower combo. The bed, though not a king, looked a lot larger than the standard queen. Our main reason for getting the suite was the closets, bathroom and unlimited reservations in the specialty restaurants. The advertised benefits of the butler packing/unpacking and making reservations didn't happen and I probably wouldn't have taken advantage of those services anyway. Cabin services were quite good but I found them to be pretty chintzy with the towels. We only had 2 bath towels at any given time and the replacement was hit or miss. New towels every day for the first few days and not replaced at all the rest of the cruise. There was champagne waiting for us in the cabin and bottles of hard liquor- rum, vodka, gin and scotch. We never drank any of it but took it home with us. Main dining room food was mostly good and a good variety. It took about 2 hours to get through dinner but we never felt that was excessive since the courses kept coming at a leisurely pace and they were very generous with the wine. We ate at Aqualina once which they have now changed to an Italian restaurant and Prime C twice which is mostly a steak house. Both are excellent as is the service. There is no comparison to the steak you get at the main dining room. Even if you have to pay the surcharge, both restaurants are worth it. I wasn't impressed with the buffet food in Windows at breakfast or lunch so we ate breakfast most days in the main dining room and we never had dinner there except when they did the White Night deck BBQ buffet, which was excellent. I must say our butler was excellent and anticipated most our needs. When my Significant Other ordered a snack in the room after midnight from room service, the butler noticed and we started getting a lavish spread of fruit and cheese/crackers when we got back to our cabin every night, plus appetizers before dinner and a pastry cart rolled up and down the hallway for tea every afternoon. The population was 50's to 70's for the most part with a few younger and a few older. There was only one child. Slightly fewer than half were American with the balance from other English-speaking countries: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and England. Entertainment in the cabaret was good though that it isn't that important to us. It was nice having choices of lounges, bars, coffee shop and the casino. That is something you don't get in the smaller ships. I found the spa services to be excellent and I even tried the acupuncture. We were very impressed with the Captain who ushered us through a very bad storm one night that had gusts up to 84 Knots with very little tossing and turning inside the cabin followed by dense fog going into Kotor harbor. When we had a similar experience on Sea Dream, it was like being in a washing machine. All in all it was a great cruise and I'd probably go again. I really prefer a few sea days as Azamara is a little more port intensive than I like. I need them to kick-back and relax after tour days.   Read Less

We sailed on the Quest out of Piraeus on Sept. 15 on a cruise that visited Ephesus, Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Corfu, Katakolon, Montenegro, Croatia, and finished in Venice. Number 1 - - the service was awesome. The staff was incredibly helpful and hardworking. The officers were very visible and Captain Carl is quite personable while being very professional. I would say that Russ is the best cruise director we've met in over 20 cruises. 2. Room - spotless and neat. They swapped out coffee tables on day 8 for new ones that were higher so that you could more easily eat in your room. 3. Food - we never ate in our room. The food in the dining room was very good and the buffet was definitely above average. The wait staff was very well trained. 4. Entertainment - WOW - - a very pleasant surprise. The house band in incredible and the guest musicians were all top notch. It was always easy to get a good seat and we thoroughly enjoyed the shows. 5. Itinerary - really nice that they spent so much time in the various ports. The Quest always seemed to get a great spot to dock or anchor. We had a blast. One day, Captain Carl led a hike to the fortress on top of a hill in Kotor. It was fun and free. 6. Cruisers - definitely an older crowd. I think I only saw 4 people under the age of 21. I only mention this in case you were in your 30's and going on a cruise to whoop it up at night. Typically by 11pm there were only 6-10 people left in the lounges. 7. Price/Value - this trip was much more expensive than our typical cruise, but the advantages of the itinerary, extended port times, awesome customer service and other amenities made it worth it.   Read Less

We were on the Azamara Quest sailing from Istanbul on Sept. 8th. Prior to that, we spent 5 enjoyable days in Istanbul staying at the White House Hotel in Sultanamet, which we highly recommend. It was easy walking distance to the major viewing sites and the tram. We booked our cruise in February and were traveling with two other couples. Booking with Azamara was somewhat disconcerting in that we never received anything in hard copy by mail. It was all by telephone or internet even having to print the 40 page booklet with excursion trip descriptions. Further, we found the Azamara website to be awkward particularly after we booked as it was too sales oriented. We booked our air travel independently as we found the Azamara site not user friendly. In fact we never received notification as to which dock in Istanbul that the ship was sailing. Fortunately, the hotel desk clerk saw the ship on her way to work and told our taxi driver where it was. This was our first cruise and we chose Azamara due to the smaller ship size and its informal, casual nature of the cruise. We had always joked about the cruise crowd on their excursions with 25 people following a loud guide with an umbrella. We were pleased that we did not encounter long waits to go ashore or for dinner. The food was good, we thought the breakfasts were great and when we returned to the ship in the afternoon had a burger by the pool and then ate a light dinner after cocktails. We usually stopped for a snack and a drink on shore and to take advantage of free internet (ship wi-fi was pricey). We only ate in the formal dining room once and not at all in the exclusive rooms. The ship staff was very friendly, helpful whenever we asked and the service was excellent. The staff at the bar on the pool deck was the only exception. The ship was very good about offering hand cleaner, cold towels at boarding and before entering the dining areas. We like to travel independently and set up our own personal tours—Ephesus, Rhoades, Athens. We did participate in two ship sponsored excursions—the evening concert at Ephesus, which was a highlight of the trip; and the winery trip to Aia on Santorini. The Aia trip was a bit of a bust as the winery turned out to be wine tasting, fortunately there was not a hard sell as we did not care for the wine. The view was wonderful. The “whisper” device the guide was using did not work so most of the explanation was on the bus. Santorini was crowded with tourists, shops, etc. This is a pretty place but not one to go to relax and get away from it all. With all the unemployment in Greece you would think they could employ some people to pick up the trash. On Mykonos we hired a taxi who took us to a less crowded, protected beach where we spent a good part of the day. Mykonos was a very pretty place even with all the tourists. The departure in Athens was well organized, except for a long wait for taxis for those of us not taking the Azamara tours. We did spend two more days in Athens on our own which we enjoyed. All in all, we had a good time on our first cruise and will repeat, but only on smaller ships.   Read Less

Our recent cruise actually started with a flight from Heathrow to Athens via British Airways. We were offered a couple of flights which were not direct but this was not an option we wanted to take. Fortunately there was an option to go from London Heathrow direct, and at very reasonable times. Although this means that we had to drive down to stay overnight at the Comfort Hotel, (where they offer cruise-parking and have a regular shuttle bus service to the airport) this is preferable to flying to Paris or elsewhere to catch a connection. The hotel also offer to print Boarding Cards for anyone checking in online, but if you take advantage of that you perhaps need to check that the whole of the barcode is printed (ours wasn't, but the very nice Bag Drop man just printed us a new ones, with no charge). It had been a while since we flew with BA, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised. We had a surprising good complementary meal, with wine to go with it and other drinks were also available. The seats we had were very comfortable, although we did pay the extra cost to select our seats early. Our flight was delayed by almost an hour, but we seemed to make up most of this and we arrived in Athens only a little later than we expected. We were met very efficiently by the Azamara staff, who accompanied us to our waiting coaches and we were soon on our way. We stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Athens and had dinner on the rooftop garden terrace Galaxy Restaurant, which we booked online before we left home. Even though we felt that the food and drinks were expensive, it did set the holiday mood as we ate our meal looking out over Athens and the Acropolis. Our cruise package included the option of a free Athens tour, including a visit to the Acropolis, ending at the ship, but we didn't take advantage of this as it would have been too much of a rush for us. We were scheduled to leave the hotel at 12.00 noon, and the transfers to Piraeus, which took about 35 minutes were very efficient and punctual with plenty of room on the coach. Our luggage had been collected after breakfast and the next time we saw our cases was when they arrived at the cabin. We were notified that they would probably be delivered early evening but they were delivered within an hour of us boarding. We were welcomed on board with champagne and plenty of smiles and informed that lunch was being served in the Windows Cafe. The cabins/staterooms were due to be ready for everyone at 13.30 and just before this time it was announced that they were indeed available. The cabin was plenty big enough with a king-sized bed, a double and single wardrobe, dressing table, corner cupboard containing the safe and fridge as well as shelf space for the ice bucket and glasses, double settee and coffee table. The cases fitted very easily under the bed, and the storage space was perfectly fine. We also had a balcony with a square dining table and two chairs. As has already been mentioned in many other posts, the shower cubicle is quite small, but it is possible to have a shower without being attacked by the dreaded shower curtain. The Emergency Lifeboat drill was carried out at 17.00, but it did not necessitate carrying or wearing our life jackets, although the correct procedure for putting these on was covered. At 18.00 we joined our fellow Cruise Critic 'Meet and Greet' guests, which was hosted by Eric, the Cruise Director and attended also by the Captain, Johannesburg Tysse, and some of his crew. There were drinks and nibbles provided and it was very well attended. At Eric's suggestion, we identified ourselves with our 'handles' and introduced ourselves. This was a very good ice-breaker and after this had been done people mingled much more than we had experienced on other Meet and Greets. What became very noticeable at this time was that there were quite a number of returning guests who had established a great rapport with Eric and this friendly atmosphere continued throughout the week, encompassing new guests along the way. As this is a small ship, there was usually only one show in the evening, but the Entertainment team were very professional, each one an excellent dancer and singer. The first evening was actually a surprise to me, as the entertainment was an evening with the extremely talented Cellist, Andrew Skrimshire, from England. He played music from Bach to the Beatles, but punctuated his fabulous playing with typical British humour -an excellent start to the cruise. Other guest appearances included Soprana, Italia Fiorentino and Tenor, Mario Todisco (another magical evening) and Siobhan Phillips from England, who gave us 'an evening of song, comedy and general frivolity'. The dining alternatives were the Discoveries Main Dining Room, the Windows Cafe which provided the buffet option, the Mosaics Cafe which served speciality coffees and the most delicious Danish Pasties and cakes and the two speciality restaurants, which I can't comment on as we didn't visit either of them. We enjoyed the food in Discoveries in the evening and Windows during the day, including the Pool deck offering of Beefburgers, Hotdogs, Chicken Wings etc, which were delicious. Breakfast in Discoveries was also very special, and I would personally recommend the omelettes cooked with your favourites, as ordered. The Looking Glass Bar, on deck 10, offered a quiet place to chat and look out over the Bow during the day and early evening. However, at about 10.30 on most evenings it became the hub of the ship, with great music and dancing, and a full dance floor and fantastic atmosphere. I don't know if this is usually the case, but on this cruise the passengers certainly seemed ready to enjoy themselves to the full. We took advantage of the basic Inclusive drinks offer and didn't ever feel the necessity to partake from the Premium brands also available, but this is obviously our personal choice. So far I have spoken mostly about the ship itself, so I should perhaps give a summary of the Itinerary. The cruise covered the journey between Athens and Rome, calling in at some of the most beautiful places. The first call after Piraeus was at Santorini, which was a tendered port and the town was accessed mostly via the cable-car, although there are other options as well. Our next call was Malta, one of my favourite ports as it is accessed by entering the beautiful Grand Harbour. While we were here, we took the Hop On, Hop Off bus, which was a journey of about 2 hours 20 minutes. This trip took in Valletta Waterfront, the Blue Grotto, the auberge de Castille, the War Museum and Fort St Elmo in Valletta, as well as the Knights Hospital before returning to the Port of Valetta and the ship. Also included in the ticket price of €15 was a second trip which we didn't do, but this also visited Mdina, Rabat and Ta Qali, where the bus stops at the Aviation Museum, the Crafts Village and Mdina Glass. Sicily was our next destination, tendering at Giardini Naxos for Taomini. As we left this port, the Captain decided to give us an extra treat. He took the ship around the Island to the east coast to give us an opportunity to see Mount Etna silhouetted against the night sky and to see how active the volcano was. As we watched, we were treated to some intermittent activity as small eruptions could be seen very clearly - another first for me! And so we carried on, along the beautiful Amalfi coast to Sorrento, where we anchored overnight, giving us two days to spend time in this lovely city. Our final leg was to Civitiveccia, where we left the Journey for our flight home from Rome Airport. This review would not be complete without telling you a little about the Azamazing Evening, which took place in the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Malta. This building, constructed in the late 16th Century was for over two centuries the 'Holy Infirmary of the Order of St. John, but had taken on different guises as circumstances dictated at the time. Just over 600 passengers were coached from the ship to the venue, a journey of about 10-15 minutes only. Each coach arrived at spaced intervals so at the time of arrival there was no crowds outside which meant that everyone had the same experience of being met with trumpets and drummers as they walked indoors on the red carpet. Without going into any more detail about this evening, I can only say that the evening fully lived up to expectations and in some ways exceeded them. Overall, this cruise was probably one of our best - the service we had from all the staff was exceptional, the cabin was extremely comfortable, the food was delicious, the evenings were always entertaining and we would take another cruise with Azamara without hesitation.   Read Less

This was our first cruise with Azamara, and just our second overall. We don't consider ourselves to be "cruise people" since we enjoy peace and quiet when we step away from busy lives. And that's what we got. There were a bunch of things to do, but if you chose not to, the ship was never crowded or had a hurried feel. Every interaction with the staff reflected a very high standard of service, just so relaxing. We never saw the deck chairs full, never had a problem getting a table at meals, and never felt like we were with 600 other passengers. Lots of nice touches, too; fresh flowers in our room each day as well as a fruit bowl and small treats each night. We came to refer to the cabin attendants as our elves, it seemed every time we left our cabin, even for a short time, they knew and came in to straighten up. Just a feeling of being pampered all the time. We also enjoyed the inclusion of drinks and tips in the fare, another relaxing aspect. Bar brands and wine offered were not bottom of the list either. Food was also superior to our expectation. This was a Greek Isles cruise and for whatever reason, you should be aware that the demographic is pretty senior. That was fine for us, but if you're under 40 you may find yourself with few companions in your age group. That said, there were plenty of party hardy folks aboard, not a boring crowd at all. Azamara does a complimentary event for all passengers on each cruise and ours was a trip to Ephesus where we were serenaded by a string classical concert followed by a fun show of singers and dancers dressed as ancient greeks with a mock fight to the death. The idea of sitting in the Odean, almost 2500 years old, with beautiful music surrounding us was truly awesome. We were all loaded onto buses with no waiting, left at the entrace to ancient Ephasus where we were greated with champagne and mezes served by staff if period costume. As with everything we saw, this event was so beautifully coordinated. I've had some experience with event planning and I'm saying hats off to the group that put this event together, it was a near perfect as it could have been. Read Less

This was my fourth cruise and first on Azamara. After reading reviews for months, finally adding my own. Was a really good trip overall but in many ways I just don't understand the hype that surrounds this brand. Not a complaint just my thoughts. Saved my gripes for the end. Cruise was round trip departing out of Athens from Oct 19 thru Oct 26th: Pre cruise Hilton Athens: Gorgeous wide open bright lobby, lots of glass and marble. Quick check in and I got a room with an Acropolis view. Very cool! Room was large and spotlessly clean. I'd like to have the shower and bathtub in my home! Rooftop bar/restaurant had stunning nighttime views of the Acropolis. Hotel bars and restaurant good but not great food and very pricey. 55 euros for two glasses of wine and a skewer of chicken souvalaki for dinner. Included breakfast was adequate, standard stuff. Transfer to Pier: Letter at check-in at Hilton indicated what time to meet the bus in lobby. Pretty large group of about 75 people went in two buses at 12:00 and 12:30. Azamara rep was on site at the hotel in the morning for questions and directing people to the bus. Call me a privacy freak but I was not really cool with the bulletin board by the Azamara table with everybody's name on it. Saw no need for that at all. Aprox. 30 mins to pier, lot of Azamara people directing where to go inside. Check in was pretty quick, aprox. 15-20 mins in line and I had my cabin card and was on the ship at about 1:30. Greeted with champagne/juice. Able to get in cabins at about 2:00. Luggage showed up within about an hour which was nice (well it was in the hall being lined up ready to be delivered and I took it in my self), poor guy working there was mortified! Ship: Interiors were spotless everywhere. Looks pretty much just like the pictures in the brochure/online. Very elegant, lots of marble/granite, metal scrollwork, lots of cream, green and gold colors with an old world vibe. Good signage everywhere. Bars and pool grill and buffet restaurant were open at time of boarding. Modest effort made to upsell people on the drinks package but nothing annoying on first day. Cabin: Small but fairly standard size with balcony compared to prior cruises. Spotless, nice touches with fresh flowers and a fruit plate and included drinks section in minibar which was replenished throughout the week. Complimentary tote bag in room at check in (pretty nice bag actually). Bathroom, spotless and small. Standard stuff. Cabin attendant very efficient all week. Food/Beverages: Breakfast buffet was pretty average overall. The omelet station was disappointing both times I tried it. Sit down restaurant was "closing" 20 mins before posted hours both times I went so I never got to try that for breakfast. With early starts for most of the excursions I needed to be in and out quickly. Never went hungry but never impressed. Pool Grill/lunch buffet was a bit mixed. Some of the offerings in the buffet were quite good such as the made to order sandwiches and salads. (Nice that only staff vs a couple hundred people with likely grubby hands touching the serving utensils). Buffet is not my favorite to say the least. The bright spot at lunch was really the Pool Grill. They had a menu, it was all cooked to order and they would find you where ever you were seating. Wings, burgers, grilled sausages, 4 or 5 different kinds of kebobs, club sandwiches, ribs, tacos etc. Dinners. Discoveries and Prime C Restaurant Ate in main restaurant Discoveries all but one night when I went the "specialty" restaurant Prime C. Overall my thoughts on dinners were again, mixed. The main dining room was gorgeous in its interior, although stiflingly hot every evening. Discoveries menu had the "always available" section and then the "daily specials". Many nights the two were not that different. Can't complain about the quality but portions were small and in some cases really tiny. Some of their food descriptions left a lot to be desired, for example "cheese and onion soup" was really French onion soup and "rack of lamb" was a tiny lamb chop. Many of the meat portion size descriptors on the meat cuts were way way off in terms of what the menu stated vs what showed up on the plate. Frankly the menu was pretty basic, was hoping for something a bit more. Again, never went hungry but was never wowed either. Prime C was also gorgeous in its interior and looked out over the bow of the ship with floor to ceiling windows. Menu a bit more mixed but in my opinion still pretty basic. I ordered the filet rare and it came to the table medium. I sent it back and the re-fire was perfect like it should have been the first time. Was actually the best dinner I had all week. Overall service in both restaurants Have mixed thoughts on the service. While the service received was always good, it was frequently slow and drawn out. Dinner easily took two+ hours most nights. While tables for 2-6 were frequently empty in the dining room, they definitely pushed you to sit with other people at the large tables which I truly resented. (Luckily I met some really cool people to share with but if I had not I would have had a real issue with that) Bar staff were uniformly great everywhere throughout the ship the entire cruise. All the included alcohol and wines worked well for me. Good to very good quality on the wines. Excursions: With the exception of the ungodly early start times (8:30AM) for most of them, all of the excursions I booked thru the ship were great. Shuttle buses right by the pier, extremely knowledgeable guides and nicely paced. Ultimate Ephesus and Rhodes walking tour in particular were superb. Ports: With the exception of Kos they were all very enjoyable. Not sure what the draw was on Kos. Santorini, Rhodes and Ephesus were all outstanding in very different ways each of them. Mykonos and Marmaris both very pretty and enjoyable as well. My gripes: My poor thoughts on ChoiceAir have been further amplified. Finding a suitable flight home on Sat was made impossible due to the direction of "absolutely no flights before 1:00PM" causing me to have to stay over another night in Athens. Imagine my surprise when the captain announces that "due the volume of early flight departures they will be anchoring at 4:30AM with initial disembarking beginning at 5:30AM". Could have easily made a 12:30 flight that I had found that ChoiceAir refused to book and saved myself a couple hundred bucks! Transfer to post cruise Hilton from ship This falls into the it's never too late to make a bad impression category. There were two buses at the 8:30 disembarkation one for the Hilton and one for the Bretagne Hotel and Hilton hotels. I am sitting on the first Hilton bus when a man and a woman approaches and says "we'll need you to come with us". I asked what was wrong and they just herded me off the bus. They then hustle a couple onto the bus to sit where I was sitting. When I asked what was going on they said as I was alone they wanted to get the couple onto the other bus first. Excuse me but that was a huge WTF moment for me. It was seriously more important for a couple to get on a bus that was going to the same place arriving maybe 15 mins apart?? And the driver had attitude when I insisted they take my luggage off the first bus and put it on the second. He made a snotty comment about "keeping people waiting". What were they going to do with my luggage leave it at the curb?? I really had to restrain myself from saying something. I made it almost a whole trip without experiencing solo discrimination but as I pointed out earlier it is never to late to leave a really bad impression. Post cruise Hilton From prior travel I had a vague memory of Europe ending daylight savings time a week earlier than the USA. (This did not occur to me prior to leaving to check out myself, go figure!) When I asked two different people at the desk they knew nothing about it. Bought a newspaper and didn't see anything either and thought I was mistaken. Next morning sure enough there was a flyer at the desk alerting people to change clocks back, would have been nice to know the day before when you are getting up at 3:30AM the next morning! And no "included breakfast " that early either. Random thoughts: Did I have a great time, absolutely! Did it live up to some of the hype I have read, some ways yes and others sadly no. Loved the size of the ship and the service was really good albeit slow overall. I was impressed by the number of repeat cruisers and the fact that in many cases the crew recognized people. Saw many instances of smiles/handshakes and hugs all around. That transfer experience really left me on a very flat note though. Will I cruise Azamara again, for a great itinerary and pricing absolutely would.   Read Less

My husband, twins sons and I took a cruise from India, through the Souez Canal and on to Greece. India has long been a bucket list destination for me and when I saw this itinerary I told my husband "I am going on this. You can come too if you want" haha. I had also been very much wanting to try out Azamara -- their casual luxury, personal service schtick was extremely appealing for me. We usually cruise on Celebrity, Princess, or RC but I had long been petitioning to upgrade the budget to a smaller, more intimate environment with less crowding. It was a dreadful experience, one that I will never, ever repeat, and I have spent since then telling everyone what a disappointing, dismal experience Azamara is. Hopefully I can save others from the same terrible experience. I won't detail all the disappointments -- just a few that still stick in my mind, 22 months later. First, embarkation was dreadful -- basically a metal shed (hey, at least not in the sun) and extremely disorganized. After the chaotic checkin we were shuttled by rickety bus to the ship side. I don't mind that the ship is older -- I much enjoy Grand Dame hotels, actually -- but this ship is extremely shabby. The furnishings, the bath fixtures, the dining room, the carpets, the tableware --- everything is faded, chipped, well worn (worn out) and the carpeting smells dirty throughout the ship. The entire ship smells dirty, actually. The public bathrooms smell particularly bad, although this may have just been our trip. Hopefully they aren't usually so "sewer-y" smelling and prone to overflowing. The cabin was very depressing. Our beds were metal cots, literally; they had no bedskirts so it looked like we were sleeping on Army cots. The seating was stained and icky -- I lay towels on top of any surface before sitting on it. When we checked into our suite we found a cache of cigarette butts and ashes next to the bed, which made me wonder if the room had even been at all vacuumed between the lasts guests and us. Both my teenage sons and my husband (and numerous other passengers) got Norovirus the first two days on the cruise. To me that speaks of a dirty ship improperly cleaned between sailings. The dining buffet was, for all intents and purposes, shut down for several days due to Norovirus. In other illness news, a week into the cruise my son and I were served rotten milk in the main dining room. By rotten I mean clotted and thick, chunky, like lumpy yogurt. How the kitchen/wait staff managed to pour not only one glass but two with the milk in that state is beyond me. My son took a huge drink of it without checking first (as only a teenage boy can glug liquids) and immediately began to gag. The wait staff was shooting HIM dirty looks for making a scene when they were the ones who gave him (us) rotten milk. When the clotted milk was shown to the dining room manager he did not apologise, rather just rolled his eyes and walked away. This would be unacceptable in a dive truck stop, much less a dining room in a so-called luxury ship. Turns out that the milk was past-date. I would think they would have checked the inventory more frequently and discard before serving old food, but obviously not. The staff, while mainly trying hard to do their jobs, were clearly unhappy. I had one wait staff tell me he hated his job so much that he was considering suicide (very jolly holiday conversation, that) and I spent the rest of the trip checking in on him and worried for him (In fact I still think of him and hope he lasted through his contract and got to go home with out feeling so trapped he did himself harm). Another server regaled me with a story about how she was so desperate that she tried to cause herself to abort her baby by throwing herself down the stairs while pregnant. Other staff showed the strain by being thoughtless and rude to the passengers. One of my sons visited a particular bar each night for a cup of hot cocoa before bed, mainly because he thought the bartender was interesting. Not so nice--- the bar tender caught me one afternoon and proceeded to tell me that my son ought not drink any more hot cocoa because he is already too fat and doesn't need the sugar, (the boy is 5'10", 165lbs and an athlete-- hardly obese.) Aside from the rotten milk, the food was uniformly pretty bad except the homemade ice cream, which was very good. The specialty restaurants were noting special -- more or less the same quality of food, just had an up charge. I lost 8 lbs on the cruise because I would often skip eating. The dancers were laughably terrible and the guest comic was a very foul mouthed middle-aged woman from NYC who told very crass stories which did not seem to amuse the mainly elderly British crowd (or me, either, and I am far from a prude). The main comedic entertainment was seeing the ridiculous suits the Cruise Director wore each night -- they were so awful and tacky (shiny, gray and greenish snakeskin-patterned high-water, stove pipe legged suit, anyone?) that I feel like he had to be deliberately dressing like that to amuse the guests. One nice thing was the mini-bar drinks being included. Our room steward kept that stocked and it was much appreciated. We did enjoy the ship excursion we took into Abu Dabi that included lunch in a hotel. The food at the hotel was outstanding, and while my family said it was only fantastic compared to the slop on board the ship, I disagree. A couple months later I retuned to Abu Dabi with my husband for an unrelated trip, ate at the same hotel and the food was equally as good. The other nice thing was the one and only nice conversation we had with any ship officers -- they weren't really officers, actually --they were contractors hired to defend us in case we were attacked by pirates. One night we had a cook-out outside on the deck and two of these 20-something young men came over and sat with us and talked to our sons about their jobs, working on the cruise ships, and generally were a delight. Other than seeing the engineering marvel that is the Suez Canal, they were quite the highlight of the trip for my boys. Far, far, FAR more personable than ANY of the ships officers, none of who could be bothered to interact with the passengers. All in all the cruise itself was a total bust and I never, but never will step foot on another Azamara Cruise. Ick. I have repeatedly asked the company to remove me from their mailing list but so far they insist on continuing to send me marketing materials, so I don't think their head office has it together very well, either. Read Less