Just back from another wonderful cruise aboard Azamara Journey. The crew on this vessel are just incredible - the best crew of any cruise ship on the seven seas, and the ship looks immaculate, as always. The Journey will shortly be undergoing a two-week dry-dock refit and we look forward to experiencing the upgraded staterooms shortly after. We do however, have a few concerns.

The new color scheme is grey and silver and with very little color in the staterooms they appear cold overall, but we shall see. Of greater concern is what is planned for the public areas.

When last put into dry dock the Discoveries Dining Room and Cocktail Bar were repainted, and whereas before there were colorful paintings in the ceiling recesses and an overall peach-white atmosphere during the refit the ceilings were painted white, the colorful paintings covered over with a silver-grey block pattern, a bordello style skirt lighting scheme fitted to the center and unsuitable piles of twisted scrapmetal were mounted in the smaller ceiling recesses making the room colder in appearance and less atmospheric. Around that time they also reduced the entertainment team from a company of eight singers/dancers to six, and ceased to employ a great couple who sang Country & Western, the pianist Dan Dailey, as well as the harpist (whose harp still sits in the Mosiac Coffee Lounge). The Discoveries Cocktail Lounge is now so devoid of atmosphere that we now take our pre-dinner cocktails up in Looking Glass (where one cocktail frequently becomes two these days) before dinner (most evenings) in Windows Cafe. Read more