14 Night Black Sea Cruise on board Azamara Quest My husband and I started out on our journey on the 12th July from Heathrow airport very early in the morning. We reached the airport in Rome and were met in baggage claim by several Azamara representatives. It was reassuring and all the help meant we passed through the airport quickly. Check-in to board the ship was quick and in no time we were sipping Champagne on the ship and were able to access our cabin almost immediately. The Cabin, 6069, was an outside one with a balcony. The cabin was nice, dEcor was a bit tired. The carpet was a bit faded and the net curtains were dirty and damaged at the bottom, where the lead weights were hanging out. The room was serviceable and plenty of storage space. The stateroom attendants were attentive and as soon as I asked they put a foam topper on my bed, they did it immediately. The TV was probably the worst experience we had. The color balance was all over the place, too dark on some channels too red on nearly all of them, typical for NTSC, Never Twice the Same Colour. The sound was extremely high on some channels and far too low on others. We tried to listen to the announcements on the ships channel, 14, absolutely nothing! So for the first few days we had to open our cabin door to hear the captain's announcements, then eventually the ships channel seemed to work. We had a few flowers in our cabin as well as a beautiful orchid in the bathroom and for the first week both were very pretty. After the first week they started to die so I was expecting them to be renewed. By the Wednesday of the second week the cabin flowers were taken away not to be replaced and the bathroom orchid was removed on the Friday before our return on the Sunday, this was disappointing. The balcony was washed at regular intervals abut the table was always dirty as if it was never wiped down.   The ship in general. There were some areas that were a bit tired but in general the dEcor was just right. I liked the size of the ship because I have walking difficulties, so it was nice to have everything close together. The pool and two hot tubs were emptied and cleaned very well every night so they were always fresh. It was lovely to have all wooden loungers around the deck. Even on sea days there was always a lounger to be had so no need to "book" one with personal items before you needed it. One of the eateries in the deck area exuded the smell of cooking chips and beef burgers on deck every lunch time, which wasn't very welcome. That took the edge off the 5 star claims for the ship somewhat. Also I think it is time to put a stop to smoking on board ship, because it really limited where a non smoker could sit on deck, as if the wind was in the wrong direction you could smell the smoke all over the deck. The cabaret lounge was "COLD" I should have taken my winter thermals to sit in there, luckily all the acts were great so it did take your mind off the cold a bit. Azamara, if you read this please turn the heating up a degree to a more acceptable temperature. Entertainment. There were quite a few entertainers around the ship. Apologies now, because I can't remember everyone's names. There was a guitarist in Breezes, he was great and he did background music then onto requests later in the evening, a harpist, a pianist/comedian, a trio and the bigger acts in the Cabaret Lounge. Sue Denning was the best entertainer I have seen in a while. She was funny and had a great voice. We will not forgive her for making us remember all those songs from the 60's we don't feel all that old....! Dining. The food was 5 star standard. The food was great every time we ate and where ever we decide to eat. Both the food and the service were wonderful. The bread basket was a joy, as we both love the bread and we had the basket refilled several times on the many visits to any of the dining rooms. All the places to eat were great but I liked Aqualina best as there was a better choice for fish but all restaurants were good with fish. I am a vegetarian and I must say that I did struggle sometimes to find a vegetarian meal. I had to resort to fish to ring the changes each night. But I did ask for something that was not on the menu one night and it was cooked for me without any problems. Shore excursions. We did four ship excursions and each one was well organized and had very informative guides. Someone from Azamara always accompanied us to make sure we were all OK. The only downside was that the radios we were given to listen to the guide's commentary, didn't always work, one died after 15 minutes use, so meant nothing was heard unless you were next to the guide. Highlights. The captain's explanation of how we were going to either enter or leave the port that day/night, I thought, was very entertaining. The Russian Navy giving us a great send off from Varna. Well that is what we thought they were doing the captain did explain to us that they were practicing for a Russian Naval day later in July, but I still think they were giving us a special send off. Meeting some great people both staff and other cruisers. Nikolajev from Bulgaria the sommelier was a great joy to meet and really knew his wines well. Sue Denning night, she sang a variety of 60's hits, very well! After a day out on shore being met with a big smile and a welcome home from the crew at the dock side while they hand you a cold flannels and a cold drinks to cool you down, and boy did we need cooling down....! Seeing Pompeii and Ephesus, for the fist time. Evening chocolates. Downsides. Cabin could have been cleaner, not all the fault of the stateroom attendants. Flowers could have been replaced not just discarded. Some parts of the ship too cold We missed the Cruise Critic get together because it was organized for a port day and we were on a trip, so never got to meet the people who we had been in touch with via the internet. The same for the Captains Club meetings, which although a member, we were unable to attend as the timings clashed with our trips again! Final comments. I think that what the Azamara Quest did, they did well. I am sorry but I do not think it is a 5 star ship. I think it is wrong to call the stateroom attendants butlers unless they are taught how to offer their services to the customers. But I feel that for them to be considered a butler there would have to be a higher staff to customer ratio for it to work. Great little ship, well worth trying out and we would recommend it. We met the same people on numerous occasions and found nearly everyone very friendly. By comparison with a previous ship, three times the size, still excellent, the Connie, we saw people we recognized more rarely and were a little disappointed, whereas we felt the Quest was a much more cosy and friendly group of passengers.