First, let me describe who we are and what we were looking for in a cruise. We are two Americans in our early 40s, looking for a romantic/tropical vacation (without kiddos, of course). We enjoy food and wine, relaxing on the beach and a little bit of sight seeing. The 7-day Western Mediterranean cruise aboard the Azamara Quest was perfect for our needs. The ship’s small size allowed us to get into ports like Ibiza and Minorca that larger ships would either have to tender in, or dock at a more remote location and bus to the city center. In 7 days, there were only 2-3 times the boat ever felt even remotely crowded. We were always able to find loungers by the pool, and never waited for a two-top in any of the dining rooms. There were a few small children aboard (maybe a dozen under the age of 10), but generally they did not intrude our “escape” from our own kids. The ship is in good condition, and the crew does a great job of constantly cleaning and organizing behind the passengers. Each day felt like a new ship! The food and beverage was excellent. Not “fancy” by any means, but a large variety of high quality ingredients, prepared well. And many were locally sourced. Most of the included wines were from Italy, Spain, and France...the three countries of our cruise. As far as food, we dined on local cheeses and tomatoes from Italy, avocado from Spain, and seafood from France, just as an example. They served tapas (appropriate for a cruise departing from Barcelona) every evening in the Cabaret Lounge; perfect afternoon snack with a glass of wine to tide us over until dinner! The servers were very competent, but never pushy or intrusive...just what we were looking for in a romantic getaway. The fitness room was nice, modern and the perfect size. We did yoga and Pilates classes, and I utilized the locker room with steam and tropical showers. The entertainment was OK, but that’s not really what we were looking for. The entire entertainment crew was out for the White Night party, and they played/sang for 2+ hours without a break! The food for the White Night party was over the top with regard to quantity and quality...again, many locally sourced items on the menu. It was great seeing the ship’s officers out serving/cooking. The ports were great. We took a taxi to beaches in Ibiza, Minorca, and Corsica. The Azamazing Evening was on Majorca. We boarded buses to a 400+ year-old cathedral, enjoyed local dancing and music, and then were treated to a performance by a children’s choir in the cathedral. Overall, the event was well organized. Read Less

This was our first Cruise with Azamara. Unfortunately our expectations were not met. We knew that the “Quest” was an older ship but did expect that the service, food etc. would compensate for that. The cabin - as for the ship itself - really needs a refurbishment. Especially the bathrooms, carpets etc. The cabin size is on the small side, which we knew though. The bathroom is very small and the including shower very tiny.. The service on embarkation day was really bad. We found our cabin to be without bathrobes, slippers, fresh flowers and some of the ameneties in the bathroom were missing. Dirty mirrows in the cabin and messages regarding on board credits to former cruisers had not been removed from the desk. On top of that we received one of our suitcases broken during the embarkation process.. Not really an issue but when it is said that you are to expect a high service then these things are not good enough. The first night we went to the main dining room where we found the service and the food to be very poor. The staff did it’s utmost but being very few persons to serve many guests that meant that we had to ask for water, wine when we wanted a fill up. We had bought the Ultimate beverage package due to a wider selection of wines and sparkling waters. However we had to sit waiting a long time (more than 10-15 minutes) for i.e. a Perrier as the staff had to go a long way to get hold of it. Furthermore we were told in the main dining room (and later) in Angelina and Prime C that portwine (Fonseca) was not included even though we had it in writing. Not comfortable to have to discuss this. We have never experienced such a bad service on our prior 6 cruises(Celebrity and Norwegian). To summit itnup: GOOD: Very nicely decorated “Windows Cafe” - the most stylish we have seen on the ships we have been cruising on. The food in the windows cafe was delicious although the selection was quite limited. The service and the food from “In room dining” - the best we have ever experienced. Being on a small ship means the possibility to get to places that bigger ships cannot go to. The itinerary was really nice - Menorca, Corsico and Elba being our favorites BAD: The service (compared to what was to be expected on a ship that should be luxury). The need of the staterooms, bathrooms, carpets i.e. to be refurbishment. The team spirit between the staff did not seem to be the best. We had a waiter in one of the speciality restaurant that - in our opinion - did not match the job. We was really trying but he seemed to be placed wrong. I.e. his comment when we ordered lobster was a “wow” so to say he was too smart for the job and needed som training how to “behave towards guests”. The food in the Main Dining room was poor - cold and lacked in taste. On “White Night” there were no possibilities to dine outside or sit in a bar if you did not want to attend the “White Night”. The intertainment was so bad. Really missed the productions shows on prior Cruises. Value for money - not worth paying the double price compared to Celebrity. In the future we will choose Celebrity Aqua Class instead. It is important to mention that we are not the only ones who were dissapointed. We spoke to various people on board - first timers on Azamara Quest as well as people who have cruised on Quest before. There was in particular one person who had been on Quest earlier this Year in the Carribean and he could not believe that he was on the same ship this time - so different was it. We do believe that the staff did it’s utmost to give us the service that was to be expected BUT even if they do what is in their power they cannot compensate for CUTS in general made from the persons/managements in charge. We think that Azamara should be profiling themselves as a Cruise Company that can go to small places where big ships cannot go and don’t profile them as being a luxury Line. Read Less

We have just finished the cruise on the Azamara Quest which left Barcelona on 30 June 2018 and arrived Civitavecchia on 7 July 2018. It was a great cruise. The ports visited were interesting and there was enough to do for the time spent at each port. The whole of the staff were fantastic in all areas of the boat. We stayed in a balcony suite and give a very big thankyou to our butler (Eyup) and Room attendants (Mark and Revon) – their service and the way they spoilt us was faultless. The regular cleaning of the room was spotless. The quality and variety of food in all eating areas was also of the highest standard. On a number of evenings we ate at the outside area behind the buffet – it was great. The white night evening on deck 9 was a great night and lots of fun for us and everyone else who was there – congratulations to Russ and Meg (cruise director and assistant cruise director), the singers and musicians on making this such a memorable evening. One comment for all cruise companies (not just Azamara) – we have been on 8 cruises with different companies but this is the first time we did not take a cruise excursion. They are becoming too expensive, leave too early in the morning and in many cases go for too long with too much explanation/ commentary from the tour guides. This is not just me – it reflects the comments of just about everyone we spoke to. Putting aside my comments on tour excursions (which are directed at all cruise companies not just Azamara), thank you to all at Azamara for making this such a great trip. Read Less

Good itinerary in Mediterranean with great price-point to try Azamara for first time. We have cruised many other lines, and wanted to try something different: Azamara includes tips and standard alcoholic drinks, which took one further element of "surprise" out of the bottom line, since we don't do spa treatments or shop on board. We paid what we paid, and that was it, except for airfare. Being on a smaller ship with just 650 fellow passengers was wonderful, as we quickly got to know the layout and some of our fellow cruisers quite well. We traveled with our young adult children, who found a paucity of activities for their age group; there was no organized attempt to have others in the similar situation (young adults accompanying their middle-aged parents on a summer vacation) meet, thus we were very happy that the itinerary was port-intensive, with no sea days. Had there been sea days, they would have been more restless. Only one ping-pong table, one shuffleboard area, one pool and 2 hot tubs; the gym facility was quite extensive given the ship's size, and the locker rooms had steam bath and showers for those interested in such. The food was routinely exceptional in the main restaurant and very good at the buffet, with much to choose from, and the service was great: water glasses were kept filled (whereas you couldn't get water on Costa without paying for it!) and if one was drinking wine, those glasses were rarely empty as well! We did not visit the specialty restaurants, seeing no need. Our staterooms were on the bottom level, Level 4, right above the crew quarters, but we still had oceanviews out the window and were conveniently near the Level 3 gangway to leave the ship while in port. Our steward was efficient and quickly realized we are not by nature early risers; we rarely actually saw him, but our rooms were always righted and tidied and replenished in our absence. We requested bathrobes at the start of the cruise, and were tickled to find a pair of binoculars and a full size umbrella, both for use during the cruise (not to be taken home), in the cabins upon boarding. There was a minifridge filled with drinks, but no need for them as drinks were always available around ship. Fresh fruit was provided in the cabin daily, but again, we had scads of choices at the buffets. Ice buckets were filled 2x/day. The public rooms and lounges are all very nicely decorated, mostly in calm neutrals with touches of color from accessories and artwork, and seating was comfortable. Being short-statured, we did find that the chairs at the larger dining tables were higher and more comfortable than the chairs at the smaller tables, but most nights our family of four opted to be seated with other English-speakers and invariably had a great evening with stimulating conversations. Dress was resort casual most of the time, with no official formal nights; we saw one fellow being turned away when he arrived in dress shorts for dinner, but most folks were nicely dressed but not "fancy" most of the time. On the other hand, my daughter and son like to dress up and that was OK too--better to be overdressed than under-. Very convenient for us was the free laundromat on Deck 7, with free detergent and 2 ironing boards as well, since we had traveled for a week on land prior to the cruise. Imagine my surprise to find all but one washer already filled and both ironing boards in use when I came with my little load on the first day of the cruise, just hours after boarding! Half the ports on this itinerary were well-known to us (Barcelona, Ajaccio, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Santa Margarita/Portofino, but the others were new to us (Sete, Marseille, and MonteCarlo). Sete was delightful, with an easy walk from the ship to downtown; we climbed the local promontory to gain a bird's eye view of the surrounding sea and oyster farms, got our Fitbit steps in, and then happened upon the weekly (every Sunday) water jousting event which was very entertaining. Marseille was in some ways a much larger version of Sete. The ship provided free bus transport to the downtown area (the distance was not walkable) and then we meandered around the marina area with many waterside restaurants and shops, and made our way, as usual, to the highest point in town, the Notre Dame de la Garde Cathedral. Had to of course buy some lavender soap, as we wouldn't see any of Provence closer up, and reboarded the ship, looking forward to more exquisite seafood for dinner! Monte Carlo was our disembarkation point and we saw little except what could be spied from the bus windows as we left the ship at 9a on our way to Nice airport; French train and air strikes were wreaking havoc with everyone's travel plans, and we opted to pay for the coach transport ($20pp) rather than risk trying to find a taxi or train or to rent a car, given the serpentine corniche route and unknown roads. In summary, we would be happy to take another Azamara cruise if the price-point were acceptable and if we were traveling as a couple, as an extended family, or with a group of couples; [I would counsel fellow travelers to think twice about taking anyone younger than 16-18yo on this cruise, as there is no kids' club, few other young passengers, and few activities available.] Azamara, in comparison to many other lines, made an effort to have a local representative of the next port on hand near the front desk, giving out train and bus schedules, maps, and advice. There was little/no hard-selling of excursions, drink packages, specialty restaurants, or photographs, the feeling being that the majority of passengers were experienced cruisers who'd seen it and done it all before and couldn't be bothered.For older, more mature travelers, this is a great way to meet others, eat well, see the world, be waited on, and have much of the stress of travel be taken care of. Read Less

We chose this cruise ship on the advice of our travel agent. It was amazing! We chose to spend one day in port on the ship, we planned a couple of excursions on our own through Viator, a couple of transfers through Azamara and one on our own. Everything went perfectly! The one "excursion" that we planned on our own was the Great Italy Tour of the Bocelli Winery and restaurant. Here is the link: https://greatitalytour.com I cannot recommend this tour enough! It was the most incredible and personal day ever! From the first time I reached out to them, to the pickup at the port, touring the countryside, the food and wine and the best driver and tour guide EVER, this was the best excursion we have ever been on in all of our travels. This was the most expensive of the excursions that we planned and almost considered not booking it but, on the recommendation of a friend, we did and are so glad we made that decision. My advice: Spend the money and cut back somewhere else if need be. It's that good! Now, the cruise: The staff of this particular cruise went above and beyond at every turn, the ship is beautifully decorated and we loved that this cruise was all inclusive; beverages, food and gratuities. I honestly don't know how anything could have been better on this ship. It was a perfect holiday! Highly recommend! Read Less

We choose this cruise because of the intriguing itinerary and the opportunity to visit several Western Mediterranean islands for the first time. We flew in the day the cruise departed and took advantage of the Azamara provided shuttle service which worked very well. Embarkation went smoothly and we were on board, and lunching on the Sunset Deck a few hours after our touchdown. The itinerary was indeed a winner, and we used a variety of strategies to explore the ports including an excellent private guide at Amalfi, ships tours in Sicily, Corsica, Menorca and Mallorca and some exploring on our own. There were more tender ports on this voyage than we have seen before and so we also experienced the Azamara focus on passenger safety. We appreciated the Captain’s presence at the tender departure point and also his decisions to find an alternative port when he judged the seas to be too rough. The passenger profile was a mix of Europeans, Australians and fellow Americans with a slightly wider age span than we have seen on winter cruises but still with few children present. Food at all venues was excellent and we particularly enjoyed our chefs table experience. Azamazing evening, White Night and the tenor entertainment on the open deck were all great experiences. While we used and enjoyed the gym every day, we only went to two evening shows. This was probably reflective of a busy itinerary. All service was up to the usual high Azamara standards. Read Less

Chose the mini cruise to test out Azamara, and ideal for active elderly mother-in-law to see Balearics,Embarkation pretty good(except port assistant &computer said 93year old was not born yet) Windows self service very busy on arrival but staff quick to get drinks and food was tasty and plentiful. All staff on board brilliant,couldn't fault anyone. All facilities well maintained and ship clean.Didn't even notice them cleaning public areas. Spa staff all good and excellent equipment.Beauty treatments well carried out with attentive staff. Announcements minimal but helpful. Discoveries Cafe-coffees and treats great.Restaurant food -good choice,relaxed friendly service.PrimeC was worth extra with great views and a Lobster Thermidor to die for. Entertainment although minimalist was ideal for setting and all singers did not have a bum note between them.Some songs on Broadway night weren't ones I recognized White Night gave us a chance to thank staff, enjoy good food , music and dancing. Passengers-An interesting mix of ages and from many different countries -mainly English speaking. Cabin adequate for 3 of us and bed chair was very comfortable.Shore excursions were Ok but not too exciting(the ones we picked) And we have booked another longer Azamara Read Less

Grand Prix experience for a special birthday. Very friendly and helpful crew, with the exception of the Guest Relations desk and the Concierge, who could not or would not sort out a problem with thick black sooty particles all over our balcony for which we had paid an extra fare. This problem was not limited to us alone, the Owner's Suite which was next to ours also had a similar problem, which was admitted by the Cruise Director as being a difficulty experienced before in certain weather conditions. Interestingly, they were offered a substantial discount on their fare! Our only recompense was a possible move of accommodation, but not at the same standard, which we declined. So no breakfasts on the balcony. The food in the standard dining room was of a very high standard, though the standard wines offered were not too good, mostly they were not from France or Italy, the area in which we were sailing! Unfortunately we were not able to book reasonable times to eat in either of the speciality restaurants, either very early or very late. We also prefer to cruise with a line that includes all standard of drink. Having to pay a supplement, and prove it with a card for every drink, was somehow demeaning. Almost felt as though you were trying to cheat the system. Being a smaller ship, we didn't expect too much from the entertainment. They tried, but sadly not wonderfully well. However the pianist in the lounge before evening meal was good but sadly not on later after dinner. Staterooms are not really that big but with plenty of storage, especially good for cases under the bed. But the bathroom was tiny, not much bigger than in a motorhome. We didn't go on any excursions, they seemed to be very expensive. If You want excursions go with a line that includes them, ie Regent. In a nutshell, it's unlikely we would use Azamara again, better to pay extra and get the full treatment. Read Less

My husband and I (same sex couple) chose Azamara on the recommendation of close friends, and we were not disappointed! I have been on only one other cruise, being a Royal Caribbean about 10 years ago, and I swore to never cruise again. With 3,000+ passengers, many with unruly children, I could barely ever find a quiet spot or even a deck chair during the entire cruise. We were forced to eat at large tables at pre-appointed times with people that rarely talked to us. Not the case with Azamara. We boarded the Quest, and from the beginning, it was like an exotic vacation in a private resort. NO kids onboard! Deck chairs whenever you wanted one! Table for 2 in all restaurants! No one looked at us as anything but a loving couple enjoying their cruise. Heaven! And the cabin (a club veranda) was roomy and comfortable. Our cabin steward, Giri, was a real professional and was available for us any time and answered every question or request with a smile. The entire staff was fantastic and friendly and we enjoyed all of the public spaces and restaurants. Every time we returned to our cabin, it was spotless, towels replaced, impeccably clean at all times. Our favorite experience was breakfast on the veranda each morning, delivered exactly on time with a white table cloth and silver service. An amazing touch. We especially enjoyed the 2 specialty restaurants on board. On and off the ship in ports was a breeze and we were always provided with maps of port cities. We did all excursions on our own, so can’t comment on those provided through Azamara, but we did hear some complaints from fellow passengers about hiccups in their itineraries. Our only complaints, and they are few, was we asked for a second umbrella (one was provided in stateroom) during a drippy day in Monte Carlo, and you would have thought we asked for a kidney! We waited at the departure point on the ship for 15-20 minutes while staff phoned each other, etc., until finally they rather reluctantly gave us a second umbrella. 2 rather well built guys don’t fit well under one! Also, our Azamazing Night in Livorno was not so amazing. The 4 tenors that we were promised in the opera house became 4 sopranos that just “screeeeeeeched” for over an hour, and it was painful. One of the singers kept giving dirty looks and gestures to the sound man, I guess her mic wasn’t up loud enough. Anyway, a long wait to get on and off buses and a long walk through town to the opera for nothing. It was supposed to be in a historic opera house which we found out was completely destroyed in WW II and rebuilt in the 40’s. Nothing special. The final faux pas was that NO ONE bid us “farewell”, “thanks”, “come again”, “thanks for choosing Azamara”, NOTHING upon leaving the ship at the end of the cruise. That surprised us most, as everyone was so friendly and accommodating on the rest of the cruise. We felt as though we were thrown off at 7 AM and that was that. All of these things were inconsequential in hindsight as the rest of the cruise on Azamara Quest was above par in all respects. If we choose to cruise again in the future, it will be with Azamara! Read Less

We prior had cruises with the Quest, and had a desire to see a Grand Prix. But, Azamara is engaging in gouging their guests. The price of the Grand Prix excursion was $299.00 pp for two days admission. We had to walk to the event ourselves, and Azamara issued us tickets which showed a price of 66 euros ($66.00) This is ticket scalping. We complained onboard, and a month later(after research) customer relations said that they would refund $100 pp. I wanted $200.00 pp back because we could have bought the tickets that day for the 66 euros. Good hospitality relations would have informed us of the true price and availability during the cruise. Before the cruise we wanted to stay one night in Rome, and Azamara wanted $600.00 pp for a one night hotel stay and transfers from the airport and Civitavecchia, the embarkation port. We found our own accommodation. The ebrochure showed Taomina as a port, but Azamara changed it to Giardina Naxos, and blithely told us that we could get a taxi to Taormina for $30.00 The first time I was on the Quest in 2012, we were tendered then shuttled to Taormina. Azamazing night, the Tenor in Amalfi and the pianist were excellent entertainment. The rest of the nightly entertainment were mediocre singers doing the same thing each night. We ate in the Windows Cafe for breakfast and lunch which were excellent. Dinners were good in the dining room, and Italian Nite, the BBQ buffet and White nights were excellent. I would say that the food and service was still excellent as before,, but we cancelled our next cruise due to the gouging. Read Less