Wanted to try a short cruise and the destinations of Sicily and Malta were places that we had not been to before. The ship is classed in todays world as small ( 600 passengers) but this made it easy to find your way round and meet the same people.We spent 3 days in Rome before the start of the cruise which was well worth doing. Everything about the cruise was very good, dining, entertainment and service. We had a Veranda stateroom which was furnished very well although slightly small. The shore excursions were very well organised but slightly expensive. The wifi and internet were expensive on board ship so used the wifi at the ports we stopped at. The crew and staff were very attentive with nothing being too much trouble for them. The captain was very approachable and was often around when we were leaving the ship for excursions and during part of the evenings entertainment. He would often make suggestion about when was a good time to be on deck ie. when entering Valletta in Malta for the views from the ship. We would definitely travel with this company again. Read Less

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How disappointing to pay extra and book an ocean view cabin and have a totally orange lifeboat to look at for 7 days. Our first cruise we had an internal cabin and decided to upgrade on our second cruise to an ocean view, very misleading charging extra when it was smaller than our internal cabin and had absolutely no view at all - even if you stood on tip toe all you could see was an orange lifeboat! to top it all I have written twice to Azamara and received a computer generated response and now, three months alter, have still not had a reply. Internet also ridiculously overpriced - a a ship of this caliber should be offering free wi fi. service excellent, entertainment good, facilities great. still had a great trip but annoying to be mislead regarding our cabin choice. a cabin with total window blockage can only be classed as internal and not sold as ocean view. we heard a few complaints about this at our first safety meeting from other people as well. Read Less

This was our first cruise on Azamara and only our second cruise having done a Windstar cruise in the Caribbean a year ago on the Windsurf. My concerns about crowds, lines and impersonal treatment on the much larger Azamara Journey were quickly laid to rest by the friendly and efficient Azamara crew. Our stateroom attendant, Wayan, had our names down pat on the first day of the cruise. We never had any problem finding a seat in the restaurants or a place to stretch out and relax on deck. We were traveling in a group of 8. We arrived in Athens a couple of days before our embarkation date in order to have time to do some exploring in Athens. Our hotel, the O&B arranged for our transfers from the Athens Airport to the hotel and from the hotel to Piraeus. This is an excellent small hotel and I would highly recommend it. I have reviewed the hotel on Trip Advisor. The embarkation in Piraeus was handled smoothly and efficiently with only a short wait in line. We got on board early enough to spend some time exploring the ship. Our first stop was in Santorini. We chose to go on the shore excursion to Akrotiri. This was a fascinating site to visit which was made all the better by our well-informed professional tour guide. This was also supplemented by an excellent, on-board lecture given by Dr. Patrick Goodness the following day. We attended all of his lectures which tied in nicely with our shore excursions. It was great to know what the tour guides were talking about. Our next stop was Malta. We chose the Valletta City of the Knights shore excursion. This was primarily a walking tour that visited St. Pauls Co Cathedral and the military museum. Again our tour guide was an expert and well informed on the history of Malta. I personally found the military museum very interesting. The AzAmazing Evening in Malta was a bit of a letdown. The facility that the evening was held in was like a tunnel. It became very crowded and noisy. We ended up standing the entire time as there weren't enough seats to go around. The entertainment was good but it was next to impossible to move through the hall. We found out later from our friends that there had been a sword swallower but they missed seeing the balancing act that we managed to watch. The next stop was Taormina Sicily. We chose the Mt. Etna shore excursion. This was a long bus ride up the side of the mountain but our guide, also very knowledgeable, pointed out things along the way. We did get an opportunity to hike around once we got to the lodge on the side of the mountain. We also sampled some of the local food and drink. The unscheduled evening stop to watch Stromboli erupting was a lot of fun. It was great that the Captain had the flexibility that he could do things like this. Our next stop was Sorrento for two days. My wife and I set out on our own to visit Pompeii. With the help of some other Azamara passengers we were able to figure out the local train system and successfully make the round trip. Pompeii was amazing and too big to see in one day. We may have to come back. It also happened that this was our wedding anniversary. On returning to our stateroom, we found our bed decorated with flower petals and kissing swans done in folded towels. Nice touch Wayan! Our second day in Sorrento was spent wandering around and exploring this beautiful city. Our disembarkation in Rome was handled as smoothly as the Embarkation. We were told that hiring a taxi or a van to take us from the port to our hotel in the Barberini District in Rome would be very expensive and that the availability of taxis at Civitaveccia would be very limited. In fact, this was not the case. We founds many vans for hire and they competed with each other for your business. We hired a van that was able to accommodate our entire group of 8 plus luggage for a price of 20 euros per person. This was about what we were expecting to pay to take the train and right to the front door of our hotel. (Actually a monastery) Overall, my impression of the Azamara Journey was very good. Good food, fun on-board entertainment, and a beautiful ship. We are already working on planning our next cruise. Read Less

We did not know what to expect. We have been frustrated over the last few cruises with other cruise lines. We were SOOO happy with Azamara. The food was very good. Top quality and even when we tried things that we never ate before, they all tasted so good. Service was top notch. Given that tips were included in the price, the staff worked extremely hard as if every action was so important. The ship was always clean. Buffet items were always hot and tasty. The amazing evening was a real treat. First class all the way. Beds were soft and comfortable. Since the ship was small…..getting on and off was a breeze. We took mostly ship tours and they were ALL very nice. Not much need for independent travel. The ports were all good. This is the first for us and we will definitely cruise with Azamara again Read Less

This was our first Azamara Cruise, having heard good things from former passengers. This cruise did not disappoint! Previously, we've taken cruises on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Princess. We also really like river cruises and we've done Viking and AMA Waterways. The Azamara Quest is a great size! It has all the amenities of a larger ship (e.g. spa, specialty restaurants, and fitness center), but is cozy and easy to get around. And after a few days, passengers begin to recognize each other. This was our first trip to Croatia. What beautiful landscape! Our favorite excursion was the Hvar Off-Road Adventure. It is not to be missed! In a couple of places, we did self-guided tours. The Azamara-provided tour of Kotor was a disappointment. We were disappointed that we spent too little time at some of the ports (but too long at others, such as Kotor). We would have liked to have spent more time in Dubrovnik. Getting on and off the ship at each port was a breeze! Very similar to disembarking on a River Cruise. We were tendered at one of the ports, but that was painless too. We did not attend any of the shows or go to the casino; not "our thing." The food was abundant and very good. We did the Windows Café for each lunch and one dinner (we sat outside when we were docked in Venice; it was lovely!), and had dinners at both specialty restaurants. Service was impeccable at the specialty restaurants. The "Azamazing Evening" - an outdoor concert by a Croatian cellist - was a disappointment. The venue was pretty, but the concert went on for too long. The only negative that I can report is the miserable experience we had with Choice Air. Our reservations were screwed up both on the outbound and return flights, and Choice Air was not responsive to our travel agent, even when the error was theirs. Never again! We will definitely do another Azamara cruise. Read Less