We booked this cruise because of the small size of the ship and the itinerary and were so glad we did!! We fell in love with the small ship experience, no crowds and the familiarity with the crew. The ship is beautiful and classy. It is clean and in great shape. We had a balcony cabin. Although it was smaller than on other cruise lines,It was still adequate. The shower, however, was a bit small. They did furnish umbrellas, binoculars, fresh flowers, robes, slippers and fresh fruit in the rooms. The Butler, however, is nothing more than a room steward in a tux. The food in the dining room was very good. The specialty restaurants (2) are available with only a suggested 5.00PP gratuity, a real treat from the usual 30.00PP charges of most cruise lines. The activities included, amoung others, trivia, line dancing, arts and crafts, WII games, bingo, and name that tune. The activities staff was fun and energetic. The entertainment was okay. The onboard Cabaret Singers were just okay. Entertainers brought on the ship were good to excellent. Tony Markey, the Cruise Director, sang several times and was very good as both an entertainer and Cruise Director. However, if entertainment is your number 1 reason for cruising, I would not recommend this ship. The crew were probably the friendliest we have experienced. Always greeting you with smiles and many times by name. The small ship meant no lines, no crowds and personable service. It allowed us to actually dock right in the city of St. Petersburg, while the larger ships were docked in an industrial area outside the city center. From our balcony we could view the lights of the city at night. Just beautiful. Upon returning to the ship from ports we were always greeted with "Welcome Home" and that was the way we felt. They brought a representative from the tourist information center of most ports onboard to hand out info about the area. this was a great help, handing out maps, bus timetables and prices, literature, etc. We have never seen this done before. The Daily Pursuits also contained info about the port and sights to see. We booked all our tours for this cruise privately. Denrus in St. Petersburg, which was very good, but we would have preferred to have only had 2 days (instead of 3) and 1 additional day in one of the other ports. Warnemunde was one of the friendliest ports. We took the train to Wismar, had a private guided tour, then returned to the port. Tallinn Estonia was one of our favorite ports. Small, old and quaint. We just walked around the city. Helsinki was beautiful. We took the Hop On Hop Off bus around. Stockholm was our least favorite port, we took a city tour, then walked around the old town. We found it simply old, not quaint like Tallinn. Travemunde (another German port) was once again beautiful, friendly and fun to simply walk around. Many cruise lines constantly push photos, DVDs, "recommended shops", tours, etc. On this ship we were never pushed to buy anything and that was nice. This was our first experience with Azamara. We do intend to cruise with them again and have been recommending this cruise lines to our friends.