Have enjoyed some great cruises with Celebrity many times, including one to the Galapagos, and one not so good with Oceania, but happily discovered Azamara a couple of years ago and this was our third sailing with them. Pleased to say the cruise did not disappoint in any way. Azamara Officers and Staff are very personable and welcoming, the Master of the Vessel (Jose) is a real star/treasure and we enjoyed his input tremendously. The itinerary was great and, by utilising the ship’s own tours, we’ve now put more pins on our world map having been able to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Petra, Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, plus two ports in the country of Oman. The cruise ended in Dubai and we flew home the following day, and delighted to report that Dubai had the cleanest airport we’d ever seen. Well done, Dubai! Suffice to say Egypt itself was none too clean and, one tip, you need to pack some hand sanitising wipes should you decide to do a tour. After what we saw floating in a tributary, we’ll never book a river cruise on the Nile - Ever! Azamara’s AzAmazing evening was held in Israel (Ashdod) and was well worth going to despite having been on the very tiring trip to Jerusalem and Bethlehem that same day. Also had a great time at the White Night Party, which displayed a wonderful variety of food, with excellent entertainment provided by the ship’s band,’Smooth Sensations’. The secret is to get seated in advance of the start time, oh heck, have I now given it away??? And, as for the Chocolate Buffet? So very gorgeous- and artistic! What’s not to like? Message to the Quest: See you again next Feb! Read Less

I had been looking to do a cruise for the past 5 years and finally decided on Azamara Quest for the 18 day Greece-Dubai tour. I had compared and looked at many cruise lines and was intrigued by the ports of call as I had been in Athens 20 years earlier on a backpacking journey using Eurail. I did not want to do this again and really loved the idea of being able to unpack and be on a floating hotel seeing locations I had never been before. I am inexperienced in luxury travel. But to my standards, Azamara went above and beyond with their ability to make me feel like I was a welcome guest on board. Many staff learned my name and would always call me Miss Debbie. It was sweet as I had left my significant other at home for 3 weeks while I experienced the joys of traveling solo. The welcome at boarding was great and I began enjoying the service right away. I was supposed to be in an interior room. Somehow the tv had been broken the previous voyage, so they upgraded me to an exterior stateroom on the 4th level with a great big square window. I felt quite special and all was right in my universe. Due to the area we would be sailing through, there was to be a 4 day watch for pirates in the gulf of aden area. i requested to be moved back to an interior room as none of my newly found friends in the smoking section had one. I would therefore become Safe Haven if worse came to worse. The room was a wheelchair accessible up the hall from my upgraded room. It was spacious with a huge bathroom compared to the previous room. So once pirate watch was over I stayed in my lovely coccoon where I could sleep when I wanted:) This also meant I got to keep Raymon and Julius who were my stateroom attendants for the entire 18 days. The job they did was Fantastic! The restaurants were great with Discoveries being the best of them all. I did two nights of Prime C and two nights of Aqualina. One night was with two new friends I had met and we dined in Aqualina which was different because I was trying to be as solo as much as I could be. I would say that Prime C was more suited for my solo preferences just do to the layout and decor. Paulo was my waiter there both times and he was the best! Windows was really good for buffet style and The Patio made great burgers. My absolute favourite was The Living Room with their baby sandwiches for lunch and dessert selections too. I do believe that you could just serve those sandwiches to everyone on the ship and that could be your lunch menu. The entertainment on the ship was excellent. 54 Below rocked.The guest performers Big Red Meghan Murphy and Jimmy Morehead really did an amazing performances. Smooth Sensations were always a stand up band that would entertain always. The reason I liked this ship, there was something to always do if you so chose. The best entertainment was the ship's talent show. The memories will last a lifetime. Azamazing Evening was spectacular in Israel. It was so great to see such talent and showcasing of their food and culture and youth. I would say it would be a great reason to try this cruise even if it is only once. But I think it will be more when you find out how many guests are repeat customers. The shore excursions I did were the Dead Sea Experience in Jordan and Luxor Valley of the Kings in Egypt. There were many more that were available, but I was on more of a shoestring budget. I went and enjoyed the ports in Cyprus, Israel, Oman and Dubai. The tour guides were alright but were prone to repeating themselves too much. The road to Luxor was grueling with almost 2 hours of speed bumps. But they say that travel isn't always easy. The 5 star resort at the Dead Sea did not have enough loungers, but we made the most of our rocky beach. I loved the drive through the Jordanian countryside with the changing scenery. Captain Jose was fantastic and Thomas was very personable. Had a great Officers dinner with Christophe who was the 1st officer and gave me great insight on the job he has to do. Also did a tour of the ship which was very eye opening at the work that goes into everything that Azamara does. Overall the experience was exceptional. The only con I had was dealing with guest relations regarding a ship credit that was due to me because I had upgraded to the essentials. This gave me Wi-Fi, Premium Beverage upgrade and a $300 excursion credit which failed to be added to my account. The inability and unprofessional customer service of the person I dealt with was making me second guess dealing with this cruise line.(Literally took her business cards from off the counter as I was speaking lol) I would highly suggest that as an international cruise line should have 24/7 access to the accounting department in Miami to resolve issues that occur on weekend hours because I am a very forgiving person compared to many others out there who are not. Read Less

Our friends had cruised on Azamara previously and had already booked this cruise. We have cruised before on large ships and didn’t really like the experience. So we weren’t really interested in cruising again until we checked out the itinerary which included Petra, Jordan and Athens, and that our friends raved about the cruise line. The ship, cabin, facilities and crew: Ship was nice and had everything we needed. Pool area was very nice with chaise lounges (used “at sea” days). Restaurants were clean; staff attentive although some staff stood out, but no complaints except for shore excursion staff (discuss later). The cabin (deck 4) was dated and not as clean as I would have liked. The cabin is small but manageable. We brought extra hangers for our clothes which helped. Bed was very comfortable and sheets were luxurious. The cabin has a TV with limited number of channels including news (if interested). Cabin was quiet. We didn’t hear the neighbors very often only when leaving occasionally. The ship has complementary laundry facility including detergent but it’s often busy and at least one washer and dryer was not operational. Suggest using early or when in port if possible otherwise you’ll have to wait. The staff takes ship’s cleanliness seriously to prevent illness from spreading. As far as I know the ship didn’t have any gastrointestinal illnesses (thankfully!). We ate at all but the Italian restaurant. The food, presentation, and serving staff were excellent. We did eat at the Prime C (upgrade $30 pp),which was good but I don’t think it was any better than the Discoveries dining room which is included in cost. No better base wine selection either (disappointing). Which leads me to the beverages ... base alcohol choices included in cost was disappointing especially the wine selection. Some (and I am being nice) were literally undrinkable in my opinion but others in party seemed ok with the choices (I don’t think I’m a wine snob as we typically drink California wines about the $10- $20 price range). These wines were worse than some box wine I’ve had! Many came from So Africa (the worst), Portugal, Spain, Italy; occasionally New Zealand, S America and California. We considered buying the upgraded wine package but with no opportunity to taste and unfamiliar with the wineries it didn’t seem worth it. I drank the wine when I could but generally opting for Newcastle beer and lemon drop martini! Azamara needs a much better sommelier. Entertainment was better than I expected. I typically don’t like ship entertainment and definitely didn’t attend all but the ones I did attend were enjoyable and quality. Tim Seals pianist was exceptional. There was a magician too which I thought would be hokey but he was very good. The cruise ship’s band Smooth Sensations were also very good. They had another singer “Big Red” who was also good. Excursions: since we were traveling with seasoned Azamara travelers they generally don’t use the cruise line’s excursions instead opting to book private tours for just our group (7 to 10 people). But we did book four cruise excursions (extra cost). One was to the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. Several buses carrying about 20-25 people were used. While traveling to destination the tour guide spoke about the area and customs (and q&a) and discussed history of the site at destination. He was knowledgeable. The tour included a buffet lunch at a hotel which was good but I thought took too long because we felt rushed at the site. It was a long day about 14 hours. Other excursions (salalah, muscat, and Dubai) were enjoyable and local guides were knowledgeable. We are not fans of coach buses or touring with that many people - always seem to be waiting for someone. We had prebooked our ship excursions before boarding the ship, which I recommend. In conversation with other travelers, we were surprised how many travelers who did not. Some missed out on excursions because they were booked and Azamara wasn’t able to get more buses/guides. So book ship’s excursions ahead. Ship’s shore excursion staff: we noticed one of our booked tours that we paid more than the ship’s published price. Not much; $10 pp. we asked the ship’s staff and was told he would check with his manager and get back to us. A few days passed and we still hadn’t been contacted nor did we receive a refund. We contacted staff again but this time different person. He immediately refunded the difference. So the first guy forgot I guess? Suez Canal and Security: thought I would cover this because we hadn’t been to Middle East and wasn’t sure what to expect culturally and with safety. We never felt unsafe or threatened in any ports or cities. Our guides were local and were very patient with answering our group’s questions about culture, history, food, laws etc. I did some research on appropriate dress especially for women so I was prepared to dress more conservatively in Muslim countries (Jordan, Egypt, Oman) which was usually just covered shoulders and capris unless visiting a Mosque or religious site (head covered, pants/skirt full length, long sleeved tops). Jordan, Oman and Dubai are extremely safe. Guides insisted they have very little crime. they were clean and graffiti free. Egypt was dirty and very rural. If you have seen the movie Captain Phillips you know that Somalia has pirates. Don’t worry the ship is prepared for the unlikely incident. So during this section of the cruise near the gulf of Aden the Ship takes precautions (lookouts posted, fire hoses ready, dims lights at night). I also read that cruise ships aren’t usually targeted because the ship are faster and can create wakes that can sink a small boat). We didn’t see any pirates. AzAmazing and White Night: unfortunately because of a long private tour in Israel that returned late we were unable to attend the AzAmazing night. However other travelers told us it was great. We did attend the Ehite Night which was enjoyable and plenty of food. Cons: started to rain lightly and with some tables out in open that was an issue. Thankfully it didn’t last long! Tables are first come first grab. We had a group of 10. Even though we got there early we were still challenged to find a suitable table. I think seating should be assigned/reserved especially for larger groups. Also the food is buffet and was chaotic with everyone getting up at same time; some pushed/ shoved! They should number the tables and call just a few tables up at a time. A bit too unorganized in my opinion. Fitness and other activities: many travelers walk the upper deck above pool. There is a well equipped fitness center which we used a couple of times. They have spa services which we did not use. The ship holds discussions on locations, history, and art by professors in the field - not exciting but informative. Other activities are also available such as arts and crafts, casino, bingo but we didn’t do any of those. There’s a library and business center with internet and board games. We did not purchase internet so never used that service. We used our mobile phones service (T mobile international plan) in ports. Worked well for us and was much less expensive ($15 per month per device for text and data). Overall we had a great time. Most travelers were friendly and wanted to chat. Many were from Australia, Britain, NZ, and US. Most travelers were in their 70’s; we are about 10+ years younger. Only one or two kids under five. A couple of travelers in their late 20’s who appeared to be traveling with family. Mostly couples, single older women and some LBGTQ. They do offer mixers for singles and LBGTQ. Apparently if you book a cabin you can somehow place your name to be considered for upgrade at lower cost, but you need to do this in the website. Our travel agent didn’t tell us and our group forgot to mention it. About a month before embarking they were all notified of cabin upgrades for a discounted cost. We contacted our travel agent who said she would do what she could but we were never contacted. They all got veranda cabins on deck 7; we were stuck in steerage. Lol. They got better cabins for about the same price we paid. So be sure to sign up for the upgrade! We would travel again on Azamara. Read Less

This was our first cruise on Azamara since we mostly sail on Celebrity and Princess. We love the smaller ship and the fact that there weren't many children on board (I only saw one). We wanted to go more upscale and chose this cruise for the itinerary (Venice-Croatia-Montenegro-Slovenia-Venice). I'd say this cruise was very good but not amazing. Here are my pros and cons: Pros - Windows Buffet - loved the fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast and the full salad bar at lunch and dinners. My favorites were the carved roasted turkey which was so tender and delicious, lentils, salad bar, smoked salmon and mackerel for breakfast, and their Indian dishes (which unfortunately were too few). - Discoveries Restaurant was very nice with freshly prepared cuisine (we liked this better than their specialty restaurants which charged a fee). - Service at all restaurants was good though some servers were much better than others. - The ship was usually able to dock at ports or very close to it with a short tender. - Embarkation/disembarkation at ports ran very smoothly with little or no waiting time. - Love how they provide guests with bottled water 24/7. - Having an overnight in Venice was brilliant. - Azamazing evening in Slovenia was magical. - White Nights dinner was great despite the stormy weather. Cons - Most of the main entrees seemed to be dry and overcooked. - Asian cuisine wasn't very good. - Prime C was a letdown - the steak was meh and their onion soup was dismal. - The restaurant aft windows in Prime C were dirty. - Our shower was so small - a few turns and you'd bump into the wall. Plus the shower curtain would keep touching you all the time. The bottom walls of the shower looked like they've been peeled and fixed but it looks cheap and worn. Although we were expecting more, we enjoyed the smaller size of this ship and will cruise again if the itinerary is right for us. Read Less

Azamara Quest offers a great, small ship experience, with individual, unique events that add to the enrichment of the immersive experience. Great service, great food and wonderful ports of call, combined with a desire to correct any issues whilst onboard, make Azamara one of the best to cruise with. Venice, Kotor, Ravenna, Hvar, Dubrovnik and Koper, were all ports worthy of a visit, and with the Azamazing Evening in Koper, made the cruise memorable. PerpetuumJazille were a wonderful a Capella group and the highlight of the cruise entertainment. The stateroom we booked was an outside and was all we could have expected. Smallish but sufficient, the bathroom contains just enough space to meet its intended functions. Bars and restaurants provide quality offerings with speedy service and a great “can do” approach. Two tender ports posed no problems as the service was slick and uneventful. Being docked in Venice overnight offer a reprieve from the high cost associated with eating and drinking in the overpriced areas whilst still offering the chance to see all the sights that Venice is known for. A walking and gondola tour by Viator proved to be a “must do” event. However, our EasyJet flight was cancelled 21 hours before we were scheduled to return home and our travel agent managed to get us a flight to get us back to LHR instead of LGW but we had to spend 10 hours at the airport for this flight, with a promise of reimbursement of the taxi fare when we submitted a valid receipt to them. A sour note on which to end our best cruise so far... Read Less

We wanted to experience Azamara for the first time and we also liked the itinerary which coincided with our anniversary and an opportunity to visit Venice again. Sailing out and back into Venice was an absolutely wonderful experience, to be recommended. We enjoyed all of the stops and it was a great advantage to dock close to the ports in most cases. I gave an average rating for the excursions as we couldn't say "not applicable." We thought the excursions were rather expensive and found that we could happily do our own thing in port and there was a lot to see at each stop. We have sailed on Silversea and Viking so are surprised to see people who criticise the food. The ship's food is excellent and no complaints about this. The staff are also excellent and everyone greets you each morning and are polite and friendly. We did not bother with some of the entertainment on offer as it did not appeal but we thought that the Lectures on the ports were excellent, as well as the amazing Opera Singer. Very impressed with the Amazing Evening it was spectacular, couldn't fault it and it made us feel special. We would definitely take another Azamara cruise and can recommend it to other cruisers. Read Less

Cruising Croatia has always been a big wish on my part. This cruise plan was to go to new place every day, which meant no sea days! We started out from Venice. Can recommend to do that once in your lifetime..still not as beautiful as leaving Stockholm, but very moving in some way. Unfortunately, due to heavy winds, our itenerary was changed. I have deep respect for the captain for making a decision that make some cruisers very upset or sad. Communication from bridge was very fulfilling. Even though our cabin had the smallest bathroom of all the cabins we have had on other cruises....always balcony .....we managed! We found the food in the restaurant very delicious, but were disappointed by the choises of all included wine. Only 2 different white and reds and 1 rose to choose between Each Day. Actually the rose was the same all week....the white and red were the same again after four nights.....We had read that Azamara usually serve wine from the regions they visit, but in this case that was not correct, as we were offered Wine from Chile, South Africa and France. On other all inclusive cruises, we have been on Regent and Silversea, they had a better selection. Having said that, we still loved our cruise and do hope to come back. Read Less

Picked the cruise because of the itinerary. Best part of the voyage was the entertainment -- 4 young opera signers, Amazing night in Dubrovnik, and Captain Magnus. Our cabin, a suite 8043 was much smaller than what we are used to on other lines. Azamara advertises the suites include complimentary dining in Prime C and Aqualina. We were traveling with two other couples also in suites. It was next to impossible to get dining reservations. Our "butler" told us to speak to the manager of those dining rooms. He was very unhelpful. We did manage to eat in Prime C once and Aqualina twice. Service in Agualina was poor and food mediocre. There was nothing special about food or service in Prime C. The included spirits and wines on the ship ranged from drinkable to not. We were constantly "encouraged" to purchase upgrade packages. Had to pay extra to have a glass of Chianti in Aqualina the Italian restaurant. Ridiculous! Enrichment lectures were scheduled for 8:15 pm when everyone was dining. The ship seemed understaffed, especially in all the food venues. . Only really great service was from our cabin attendants. Overall value of cruise was poor. We sailed on the RSSC Explorer earlier in the year -- had a very large suite, absolutely everything was included. Cost was $95 per per/per day less than this cruise. And that was before we had to pay for the shore excursions, wine, etc. on Azamara. Shore excursions ranged from terrible in Rijeka (why does Azamara not use the microphone/ear buds other lines use) to excellent in some other ports. Will not sail with Azamara again. Read Less

Chose this cruise for the dates, the itinerary and for the nice reviews our friend gave. However, I found the cruise to be lacking in several key areas. First, the ship was old and dated and desperately in need of refurbishment. Second, the food was beyond awful. Other than breakfast, totally inedible, There was to nights that my wife could only eat soup and breadsticks. The specialty restaurants were fine, but they charged EXTRA (not so on Seabourne) and we literally had to beg to get in, as they would NOT allow reservations pre-boarding, and once we boarded, they claimed all booked up. Talk about a Catch-22. Third, the cabin was disgusting. there was an old and moldy shower curtain that, because the shower was so small, was constantly touchy our bodies. (photos on request). Talk about a dirty feeling! For the SAME price of a Seabourne cruise, this vacation was sorely lacking. Avoid this cruise line and spend your money elsewhere. Read Less

I took my husband and three adult children to Croatia on the Azamara Quest. The ship was lovely, (smaller than most - 600 passengers). The service was phenomenal, the food was outstanding, the cabins were very comfortable and well maintained. Although my family had a wonderful time, I would not highly recommend this cruise for twenty-somethings, unless you are with other families with similar aged kids. My kids kept themselves busy at the casino, and while there is music and some entertainment which is enough for us 50+ year olds, it’s not the kind of entertainment a 28 year old wants. I would however, recommend this cruise line and cruise ship for anyone 50+. The food in the main dining room was superb. We are a family of cooks and foodies and really found most meals to be very good to outstanding. Daniel in the dining room seemed to always be there when needed. The stateroom attendant, Giri, was perfect. He was there when we needed him and Took great care of us. The wait staff was plentiful and always smiling. I will return. Read Less