Especially Bruges, Guernsey, Bordeaux, Ferrol and Lisbon were very nice. Bruges is fabulous. Had a good lunch ashore with a special local beer 'Straffe Hendrik': delicious! In Ferrol I discovered a very good white wine: a Dao Passarella. We made two local excursions in Portugal which can be recommended. On board we had the best bridge TD couple in a long time: friendly and reallygood. What a difference with HAL where they are too rude, too incompetent and too old most of the time. No constant hammering here like on HAL ships, no awfull smells. Just a relaxing holiday. On a HAL shop, about 5.00 pm I get a bit hungry. Here I look forward to a very good dinner. Especially in Red Ginger and Toscane, but also in the main dining room. Coffee, orange juice and, last but not least the smoothies are very good. Sometimes Azamara has good dinners, but that's only sometimes. The cabins are about the same there, but the cruise prizes are too high. The Oceania crew is friendly and always ready to assist you when needed. Only the tendering and shuttle schedules should be improved. Read Less

Booked this cruise to celebrate a milestone birthday and because of the hype of the new Explorer. Reading the other reviews, I must say I found the same things lacking. By the fourth sail of the Explorer I thought many of the kinks would be fixed. The service levels were just not as crisp as previous experience with Regent. The entertainment was mediocre at best. The excursions were okay, but again, the tour guides not as good as previous experience with Regent. We found the food very good, however the service in trying to get wine was terrible compared to previously being greeted with the wine selections for the evening. The suite was lovely but on the last day at sea the service disappeared. The trash wasn't emptied. The fruit was removed from the bowl ( really, they couldn't wait 12 hours?) The bed was turned down for the evening by 11AM. room service the morning of departure was rushed and no 5 minute notice that morning. I also found service more attentive when my husband was with me than when I was by myself. Especially at the coffee lounge on 5). It became a comedy of errors one afternoon trying to get a grilled chicken sandwich at the pool grille that finally arrived after a 40 minute wait . the carpet is already showing wear, especially the beige stairs in the main staircase and the pink carpets. One of the large pictures on deck five had a substantial hole during the cruise. Also, the smells in certain hallways, I will also agree with previous reviews, could be nauseating. the dark wood is also showing numerous scuff marks and wear. The baseboards and corners are already gathering dust. I agree with a previous review hats off to Spyder, Giorgio, and I will add Elena and Agus. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we are Regent fans, wanted to try the new ship, and were interested in the itinerary. We loved the new design of our cabin. The closet was a more workable shape, the bathroom huge, the drawer space beyond adequate, and the bed facing the sea delightful. The redistribution of restaurant space between the venues was a welcome change as was the variety of venues offering lunch. Our disappointments, however, have made us question future cruising with Regent. In fact, this is the first time we have not reserved a future cruise (or option) while onboard. The staffing level seems greatly reduced. The bars were crowded before dinner yet there were only one or two servers available. As the waits exceeded twenty minutes before anyone appeared, people crowded the bar to place their own orders. This added stress to the already overburdened bartenders. The wait for waiters in Compass Rose, for tables to be cleared in La Veranda, and for a wine steward to appear in either venue, was equally long. Finally, the Internet access was the worst we have experienced anywhere in the world. The sign-in procedure is archaic and needlessly complex. The long lines waiting for the Internet helper were a good illustration of the problem. He was surly and claimed there should be "three of him" on board. Once on line, the connection is dropped frequently necessitating one to go through the entire procedure again. For several days of the ten day cruise there was no internet service or phone service available at all - and we were never far from land. We have often sailed with Regent for more than thirty days at a time, have advanced status with them, and are very worried that these problems are indicative of a lack of emphasis on customer service with the new management team. Read Less

Other than a snag with our wifi and TV, the trip was wonderful. The tech person was very nice and tried, but it took a few days to get it working. Our cabin stewards were so sweet they replaced a tattered paper i was using for a bookmark with a Viking bookmark. All of the staff was very friendly, helpful, and smiling. One staffer even stopped and showed me how to lighten my pictures on my phone camera. The ship was beautiful, the room and veranda were comfortable, clean, and pleasant. I enjoyed the views from our room, the bow camera and the restaurants. The World Cafe and The Restaurant were my favorite choices, but I enjoyed ALL the places to eat. The ports were amazing and interesting, plus the shopping was fun. The bus tours had a lot of information and went to a lot of places, but we did not have opportunities to take photographs, some of us look for those Kodak moments. Lastly, the wine was superb. Read Less

We've sailed on the Legend when she was part of the Seabourn Line, so we know what this ship offers, the plus and minuses. I'm not going to compare my service experience to Seabourn, as this is a totally different line. My review will be based on a line such as Celebrity or Princess Sailing. Positive The refurbished interior is done very good. I'm an Interior Designer and I like what they did with the staterooms and the main dining room looks great. Staff, very friendly and working hard to do what they could to help (For 98%) State room attendant did a fantastic job, we would go to breakfast and when we came back the room was serviced and clean. The ports of call, small ships get you into some of the best kept ports. They allow you two bottles of wine per person to bring on board. Yacht Club, great place for coffee in the morning. Access to the bridge, very cool. And I can't remember her name but there's a women on the bridge was very good at explaining instruments and sailing. The food, was very good. Cables dining at the rear of the ship is set up as a grill, the veal chop was really good. They ask you dine only once at candles as its limited in seating. We were lucky and had dinner here twice, one night the weather was cool and reservations cancelled, we antipcapted this happening and walked up hoping to get a table and scored. The deck party was great, great selection and good tasting. Overall the food, Better than the big lines, but not Seabourn. Negative This ship is sorely under staffed! You would think as this was the second week sailing, they would over staff to handle a new vessel. Dinner was a time consuming affair. Not enough service staff and everyone tends to come to dinner at the same time. Food was good, but surprised they didn't offer more regional offerings. Indian food was offered a couple of nights, interesting but not for Spain & Portugal. They did not have enough wine on board , the previous sailing had consumed most of the offerings and our first night the wine selection was limited. The bar staff would close the deck bar at 7:30 because he needed to go down to the restaurant, and there's 14 people drinking at the bar. As drinks are not included you would think they would have a well staffed bar. Forget about ordering food at the bar. You need to go to the stateroom and place a room service order? I know sounds weird but it's the only way to get a plate of cheese or appetizer at the bar. Midnight, bars close! So who cares if your hanging out with new friends and it's just taken you 2 1/2 hours to eat dinner and you sat down at 8:30. And, if you have a liquor you like and they don't have it, well too bad. Really, we are paying by the glass get some XO Patron Cafe. A couple of pours you've paid for the bottle. I think this is a Windstar issue, they should allow managers to handle simple issues as picking up a bottle. Internet- when we came on board they recommended we not sign on for the internet packages. The reception said it was slow. Well, it's not super fast but when you are at sea you should expect this kind of issue. We found if only one of us used the service at one time it worked pretty good. Another couple didn't sign up and half way through the trip they received a call from the cellular provider they had a $1200 cellular bill. Buy the intent packages and turn off the cellular data roaming so this won't happen to you. Laundry offer, this one I have to say REALLY! They put a laundry offer for $98 have your laundry done, all week! But they turn around and tell you it was a mistake offer, should be $125. I had to laugh at this one, why would you even tell guests you screwed up and ask them to pay the difference. Eat it! Don't even ask your guests this kind of thing! A crew member called us three times on our 8 day cruise between 3:00-5:30 AM looking for the boss. We were in room 125, and I expect "The Boss" had a similar stateroom number. When we called reception on the 3rd occasion, to see if the issue could be resolved you would have thought I was speaking in Latin. She was of no help, and if she didn't get the problem she should have had the Hotel manager contact us. Shore Excursion we landed in Gilbrator and had a limited amount if time. I had booked our shore excursion online prior to boarding the ship. Tickets were in our stateroom upon our arrival, so everyday we pulled them out and arrived at our designated area. We hoped on our bus and realized they put us and three other couple on the wrong tour. Very disappointing, as this will be a port we will never be in again. We didn't make it to the top of the rock! Check your tickets carefully. And, the other is due wax finding out you can get off the boat and do the same tour at 1/2 the price. Pool Redesign, not a fan. They have pulled out the pool and installed a once piece pool or over sized hot tub up on a large deck. Plus, they chose to clean the pool when we at sea. I feel this should be done when we are at port. The staff was using pool towels from the deck to clean the pool. Strange, latter I started wondering if a guest had an accident in the pool :( We docked in Palma, other cruise ships provided transpiration into the city. When we docked, we couldn't even find a cab to take. Nor could the other 20 guests standing around. Rooms, I love the rooms and the bathrooms. Our room the sound system wasn't working after the second day. We called reception but no one showed up to look at it. I thought this was dangerous, we couldn't hear any of the announcements. And we were lucky, some people lost hot water. I guess our timing for showers worked as we didn't have this problem. Pillows, they offered fiber pillows only. Entertainment- they had 2. Two piece bands this was Ok. A real band would have been nice. Flamingo dancers one late afternoon, but the timing was off. It was around the time everyone was returning from shore. Read Less

We were treated royally. The best example was when we returned from Rome. It was raining, so they met us at the bus with umbrellas. As we finished clearing security, staff handed us glasses of champaign. What more could we ask for? We never had an unsatisfactory meal. The bread always was crusty and fresh. I normally don't eat bread with dinner, but I couldn't resist the bread that was placed on the table each night. Educational lectures were very good. The included bus and walking tours were an exceptional value. We enjoyed dancing to the music of Krisztina and the Torshavn Trio each evening. We loved the size of the Viking Star. Everything was convenient, clean, and plush. We especially enjoyed relaxing in the thermal pool in the spa at the end of the day's tour. The staff in the restaurants were very attentive, always there to inquire if we wanted anything else. We were impressed with how friendly the office, or administrative staff, was and with the casual setting - no walls or waiting in line. Good idea! And thank you for the free WiFi. It was so nice to be able to e-mail family and friends. Read Less

Typically we book well ahead on our cruises, however a gap in the diary and a strong desire for some serious r and r brought us back onboard Azamara Journey, for the first time ever in an Oceanview room. We had read less positive reviews in the weeks previously and were also concerned about how we would cope sans balcony - however, within minutes we knew we had made the right decision because Azamara Journey is in great shape as ever and we had a brilliant seven nights. Embarkation This was one of the swiftest embarkations we have ever had and it was lovely that the ship was docked down town at the foot of Las Ramblas and not further out in the larger facility. From leaving our hotel (Crowne Plaza Fira very good) to sitting out the back with our first included glass of wine was 27 minutes, my mathematically precise other half tells me. Room We had never had anything other than a suite on Azamara before and so we had read all about the small bathrooms. We were actually pleasantly surprised how spacious the room and bathroom were, the storage was far better than on a Celebrity ship and the bathroom is larger than the ensuite off our guest bedroom. We had expected something like we had experienced on our first ever cruise (NCL) but this was much better. The location on Deck 4 was perfect, very quiet and our stateroom team were excellent and the room was always immaculate and clean and showed no obvious signs of wear and tear. Again we had read that you see a difference in team when you are in the cheaper rooms - most certainly not so. Dining This is where I have my biggest complaint, or maybe it is with the manufacturers of our washing powder because all my clothes are now too tight and I think the other half has a similar issue. Every meal, be it in Windows Café or the main Discoveries Dining Room was well cooked, extremely tasty and just right. The pastries from Mosaic café were a delight (ok I know why we do not want a room on Deck 4 again, it is far too near that Deck 5 den of cake sin and cookie temptation). Service was always attentive, perceptive and with a smile. It is lovely that although waiters have individual areas of responsibility they work as a team, helping each other out and thinking guest first. For us all the food came at the right temperature and generally wine glasses were promptly topped up. They were a little slower topping up the Club sodas but I think when that happened there were usually surrounding tables who had quite extensive and complex demands on the Assistant Waiter re cocktails. A Jazz Brunch was served on the At Sea day and as ever there was a great range of options to eat at that event with the eating accompanied by the Journey Orchestra playing some great Jazz sets. Entertainment We know Azamara will never compete with big ships and full production stages but we enjoyed what was offered most nights. We were a little less keen on the comedy hypnotist (but that is a personal preference) but this was offset by our delight at hearing Brookes Aehron again after a gap of several years. He has lost none of his sparkle!! There are no longer singing duos around, we liked that poolside as we prefer to read quietly there (or sleep) and it had no impact on us elsewhere. The DJ was less energetic than his predecessor but as he had just come on board, perhaps he was still settling into his style and rhythm. The Cruise Director (Eric) is extremely talented and yet also very modest (except when he is coaching Captain Johannes in navigation skills). Seriously though it is great to see staff working hard and yet having fun and being very comfortable as a team. Ports of call Minorca - a gem and a very easily walkable port but not one you will find lots of tourist shops. It is a genuine place, very welcoming and lots of lovely tiny streets to explore Alcudia Mallorca - we were only the second ship ever to call there. A lovely new terminal building a level 15 minute walk from the main beaches and bus to the old town. Unfortunately the local taxis have not yet worked out there is money to be made here, so the lovely large taxi area was empty all day, we are sure they will quickly learn. Some cruisers travelled to Palma for the day both independently and through organised excursions. Some independents found they had a stressful trip back to the ship as the local bus timetables seem to be "optional" but every one did make it back on time (just) Gibraltar - it was misty and a little windy so the Cable Car was not running for some of the day. We opted for a local taxi tour we picked up at the terminal which is at a standard set rate (£22 per person) and was very good and informative. In Gibraltar we also enjoyed our Azamazing evening which was a wonderful night despite the challenges of moving over 500 guests half way up the rock via narrow roads. The venue was wonderful, plenty seats, the music spine tingling and pleasant interval refreshments (the ship had laid on pre departure and welcome back buffets so no risk of going hungry) Cadiz - a lovely town to explore on its own but we opted to go further afield and took the cruiseline excursion to Seville, selecting the Seville on your own tour which is basically just transport to and from the beautiful Cathedral town. This was a great trip and we hope Azamara provide more of these "on your own" options in future as it gives us the security of reliable transport (and for 2 persons, less than the taxi fare) but combines this with the freedom to explore and see what you want at the other end. Being a Sunday we were very limited re the Cathedral but in a way were glad because we might not otherwise have explored Real Alcazar to the extent we did. Lisbon - we arrived lunchtime the day before disembarkation when we were going to spend some more time in Lisbon, so we opted for another trip, this time to Mediaeval Obidos an absolutely charming town 90 mins drive away. Although we were on a large bus (c35 of us) there were two guides and we used audio guide systems, half the bus on channel 1 and half on 2. We took slightly different routes round the village and it worked very well and did not feel like a large group event. Again a good trip we would recommend. Disembarkation This was very well arranged, we had hoped to opt for a late disembarkation but as the ship was on a tight turnaround, this was not offered so we changed our plans. Independent travellers were given a 2 hour window in which they could disembark when the chose, the luggage tags were only being used to help you find your cases. We like this and it all worked well. Summary This cruise reminded us why we like Azamara. It is everything from the relative compact size of the ship (and there are never elevator issues or lines to do anything) to the wonderful crew (not one person let the side down) to the fellow guests (hard to explain but it has the sorts of interesting people we like to cruise with, people who enjoy exploring places, socialising in the evening, but who do not need hip hop music and bling to make their holiday work for them). It was perfect r and r even if it is now requiring some effort on the exercise front to remove that one unwanted but self inflicted souvenir of a great holiday Read Less