This was our 7th cruise on R Class vessels. 3 with Renaissance, 1 with Oceania and our 3rd with Azamara. We never sailed to Asia before. The improvements that came with Azamara becoming Club cruises were wonderful. It was nice not to be worry about purchasing wine with lunch and dinner (although my wife is a wine snob and used part of our OBC to purchase 3 of her favorites), bottled water (although I purchased San Pelligrino twice), having expresso, cappucino and latte freely, and having tips prepaid as part of the fare.

The service was excellent from cabin steward to waiter to bus boy.You could not go anywhere with out a sincere welcome and conversation with every employee. The supervisors pitched in and worked alongside their employees. The food was so good in the dining room and themed poolside buffets, there was really no need to go to Prime C or Aqualina (We did Prime C twice, and Aqualina once and they were"a cut above").

But what really made the cruise spectacular was the ship's officers. They were totally accessible and solved any problem immediately. When you are greeted personally by the Captain, Hotel Director, Food and Beverage Manager, and Cruise Director every time you left the ship; it says a great deal about the cruise line's priorities. Fellow Critics told me, they put the fact that there were not enough outlets near the bed and reading was difficult in the light on a second day questionnaire, they returned to their cabin later that day to find a three plug extension and two goose neck lamps attached to their headboard. When we arrived back after a full day ship's tour of Hanoi at 11:30PM the Hotel Director and Food/Beverage manager were there to greet us with hot chocolate which they liberally poured rum into if you so desired. They also had a mini buffet set up for us, in the Mosaic Cafe. At our first cruise critic get together, we were told to bring any feedback, good or bad back to them, so they could do a better job. On the last sea day they listened to all our feedback, took notes and told us what they were already aware of and how it was going to be remedied,in the near future.(eg. Evaluating changing tour companies). They also spelled out what was coming in the near future. Read more