This was to be our first cruise with Azamara, we were looking forward to a completely different direction and experience, and boy we got that. Initially, our embarkation was changed from Venice to Ravenna, not a problem until we realized that Azamara had no intention of answering one single email. I emailed every department for boarding instructions and where to meet etc. I had to call the US from Spain to wait for 40 minutes to be given the wrong info. Not until my second call did I get the right details. So far not impressed. On onboarding, we noticed a few things that were not quite as they should be but just ignored them as we just wanted to get on with our Cruise. On entering our stateroom we noticed that there was no furniture aside from a small table, when this was pointed out to our cabin steward ( who had been cleaning earlier) he proceeded to deliver one white plastic chair instead of the small settee that should have been there. Starting to wonder what was going on. We headed up to the Discoveries restaurant, our waiter was very friendly although the three choices of red wine by the glass were very poor. The fact that you couldn't see the sunset through the dirty windows just added to an already disappointing start. Basically Onward was NOT ready to sail, very dirty areas by the Patio Grill and at the rear deck from the Buffet. The decorative plasterwork by the Mosaic Cafe and Guest Services was thick with the builder's dust and not cleaned the whole trip. The internet service was not worth having. Every male public toilet only had urinals working, all cubicles were out of order. One really big no, no was the bathrooms in the cabin. The shower cubical and its seventies-style shower curtain are pathetic. I'm about average height and build and I had to stand sideways as my shoulders touched the wall and the amazing curtain. You could actually sit on the toilet, clean your teeth and wash your hair at the same time. We also had to call maintenance a few times as we had no hot water. This took so long to rectify and deliver another room key on a deck below, that we arrived at the White Night party two hours late. On our last night, we had no A/C so we didn't sleep.

Aside from great service and some very nice (not spectacular) food, this cruise did not deliver. The only people we met who seemed oblivious to the problems were the Top Trump Crowd (the regular boring Azamara regulars who cant wait to tell you how many cruises they have done and drop the captain's name into every conversation)who by the way were the only people the Captain and his officers acknowledged the whole cruise. Entertainment-wise, im not even going to review it because it was embarrassing. On our return, I have once again sent many emails that, apart from a call by guest relations offering $127 credit for the change of embarcation that is just about useless, they have completely ignored my complaint mails. I was expecting a five-star experience and in some cases, they were not even three-star. Will stick to NCL where the quality, price, and experience meet your expectations. Azamara needs to start valuing the customer, otherwise, they will defect to the real quality lines like Oceania and Seabourn (that's if the top trump brigade could afford it)