This was our first time on Azamara. Friends of ours who went with us on this cruise, had sailed with them before and they spoke very highly of the line. Our itinerary was from Lisbon to Barcelona and was 9 nights in length. We tacked on a couple of extra days on each end of the trip and made it a full two weeks. It was such a different experience from the mega ships, several of which we have cruised on in the past. The passenger capacity is just short of 700 and they have about 400 crew. On our sailing however there was only something like 650 passengers, if I recall correctly. With that passenger to crew ratio, there was always someone nearby to answer a question or fulfill a request.

Since we had done all of our paperwork in advance, the embarkation process was a breeze. We zipped through the lines and we were on board in no time. Our bags quickly made it to the stateroom and we were able to unpack before the evacuation drill.

The food was overall very good and some dishes were exceptional. Typically we ate dinner in the main dining room (which had open seating), breakfast in the Windows Cafe, and if we were on board at lunch, we ate at the Patio. The lamb burger there was really good. We did not make it to either Aqualina or Prime C, their specialty restaurants. The only reason I didn't give the food five stars in my rating was because of the coffee. The coffee bar, called Mosaic, had really good coffee prepared to order by a barista. The coffee elsewhere on the ship came from the automated machines where you select on the screen what type of coffee you wanted; cappuccino, latte, americano or whatever. The coffee always tasted burnt/over roasted. Bars were everywhere and while we did not opt for the premium bar package, the drinks flowed freely. Wine, beer and cocktails were included with the basic fare. So was tipping. Read more