We sailed on the Azamara Journey 18 months ago and really enjoyed it so we decided to book this cruise from Athens to Dubai. We arrived after 2:30 pm so embarkation was a breeze. The ship came out of dry dock just prior to our cruise 18 months ago and the refurb is showing it’s age especially in the staterooms. The bathroom shower is wallpapered and starting to peel and the floor of the bathroom is a vinyl tile. This is not what I would expect from an upper Premium cruise line.

The menus in the main dining room have meant less choices that our last cruise, especially the lunch menu. Very few choices and a buffet station every day. I find it difficult to understand why one would choose to go to the main dining room at lunch to stand in line for a stir fry or pasta.

Some evenings the food was excellent others very poor. We ordered salmon and seared scallops and they were both raw. Considering that we were under a code 3 for norovirus, I would have expected more care to be taken with food preparation. Read more