Azamara Quest Cruise Review

Educational, 21st June 2008 - Ali McIntosh

I was given the fantastic opportunity to try an Azamara cruise with my friend, I have cruised on many occasions but this was my first 14 nt sailing which I would thoroughly recommend.

Once arrival we were greeted with a glass of champagne and made our way to our cabin. Kuswala our Butler introduced himself, all staterooms have a Butler onboard Azamara.

We then had time to settle in and unpack (although Kuswala would have done it if we had asked). The cabin was spacious with twin beds, dressing table, wardrobe, plasma tv, couch (bed settee) and of course the fabulous balcony with directors style chairs and glass topped table. We got used to the fresh fruit daily, the chocolate surprise every night and one night a rose each on our bed!

One of the first things we did was buy the Soda Fountain Package which cost $86 for the 14nts. This was one of Azamara’s well kept secrets as they do not openly advertise it and you have to ask at any of the bars. Another secret we found was the laundry room, which was not even on the ship deck plan onboard. Staff were happy to show us where it was, midship on deck 7 but we never did use it! On the first evening we dined in the main restaurant, Discoveries and ended up having 4 courses even although it was late. The food was fabulous as it was throughout the ship. Windows the buffet-style restaurant, the pool-grill and the speciality restaurants, Prime C and Aqualina all had there own individuality and all of superb quality. There is also complimentary 24hr room service which can be ordered via the TV. Breakfast can be formal in the Discoveries restaurant, informal in Windows or if you prefer delivered to your stateroom if ordered the night before. Like all American ships there are no tea and coffee facilities in the cabin, but it can be delivered anyway.

The first night’s sailing was a bit rocky as this is a smaller ship of 30,000 gross tonnes with 694 passengers at maximum capacity, you can feel movement, but I love it. The rest of the trip was like sailing on a mill-pond .

The first port was Kusadasi in Turkey with the ship staying in port overnight. This is a great feature on Azamara itineraries as it gives the passengers a chance to dine ashore and soak up local atmosphere.

Another feature of Azamara is the docking position in ports. Being smaller the ship is able to get closer to the towns and get the best positions.

The next port of Chios was a lovely little Greek fishing village. We docked in the centre of town .  Most of the American passengers onboard were taking a tour (as they did most days) to the Greek/Roman ruins but we had a walk along the prom and through the town. Back onboard the ship was almost empty, fabulous; Then Santorini and we took a tender to shore then a cable car up to the top of the mountain. Some took the traditional donkey. One of the little Azamara features started to appear here, a shady umbrella, ice-cold water and ice-cold towels on the quay-side whilst waiting on the tender. Even more noticeable as the other ships passengers were baking in the sun!

Nauplion, Gythion and Itea (Delphi) followed and were lovely Greek towns, very hot and very chilled. We treated ourselves to some Tzatziki and bread in a Greek café which had a lovely fine mist of water flowing through their outdoor fans.

We then had a day at sea. Like most ships there is a vast programme of entertainment provided if you want to participate or quiet areas to retire to such as The Drawing Room;

There is a much more ‘reserved’ atmosphere onboard ie, the harpist playing in the central atrium area most days and an ‘older’ style of music throughout the ship, but it is a more mature crowd onboard Azamara. They also have an ‘Enrichment Programme’ with lectures on the ports, the history etc.

Sicily next and we tendered to the port of Taormina. Fantastic Grecco ruins and views of Mount Etna the live volcano;

We then experienced one of the highlights of the trip – seeing Stromboli another live volcano erupt as we sailed passed. It took about 40 minutes in total from seeing it in the distance in dusk to sailing directly passed in the dark with the bright orange magma shooting up in the night sky – amazing! I didn’t take any photographs as they would not have done it justice and I was just able to enjoy it.

One of the hottest days followed in Sorrento. The ship anchored just off Sorrento Bay and we tendered ashore.

The ferry terminal for Capri was positioned at the tender docking position and lots of passengers visited both independently and on tours. The ship stayed in port until 1am and it was lovely to see the coast lit up at night. We were also treated to a wonderful fireworks display on shore (some unknown celebration) seeing fireworks which exploded in shapes i.e. hearts.

Next morning it was Monte Carlo and Monaco and as the shore excursion manager said, ‘It was a little confusing’ of where we were docked if you wanted to walk into Monaco.

It was relatively easy after you understood that you had to walk up some steps, along a prom, through a car park, up an escalator, then an elevator and finally another escalator, sounds confusing but it was actually quite straight forward and well worth it. I had visited the Palace etc. on a previous visit so we took the opportunity to visit the Musee Oceanographic which was designed by Jaques Cousteau. The building is perched on the edge of the ‘rock’ of Monaco and is quite beautiful as well as having a fabulous aquarium;

The port of Livorno was next and once again we had a great docking position which allowed us to walk into the town, about 10 mins. We had been told it was relatively easy to get to Florence from here so we left the ship about 7.30am to get the train. We doubled up with another couple and split the cost of a taxi to the station which was 10euro (in total). We then bought our tickets at the station, 13 euro roundtrip, and validated them in the wee yellow box. We had been told if you don’t do this you can be fined. The journey took 1hr 30mins, passed Pisa and the lovely Tuscan countryside. On arrival in Florence we just used the basic ship map so took the ‘indirect’ route passed the Duomo, squares etc. to get to the Uffizi Gallery. I named it our ‘Bareback and Blind Tour’. We found the statue of David in the square beside the Uffizi

(a copy of the real one which is in the Academy Museum). We both have an interest in Art so the hour long queue was worth the wait. You can book tickets online if you are organised, and wait in a quicker queue. We spent over an hour inside, the highlight was seeing Botticelli ‘Birth of Venus’.

We then walked to the Ponte Vecchio bridge, had a coffee in a café close by and wandered back to the station. The ship was going to be in port overnight again so there was no big rush to get back but we were pretty exhausted and found we had just missed a train so had to wait an hour for the next one. The train network in Italy does seem pretty good and there were some passengers going to stay in Venice overnight. That evening’s entertainment was quite exceptional with a local contemporary Ballet Troop of 4 boys and 4 girls who performed up on pool deck.

The next day was the last day onboard. We had a walk around Livorno then chilled although the cases had to be packed. Luckily we had started before the ship left because soon as we got out of the port it was really rocky, even more so than the first night. We put our cases out before we had something to eat, they were gone when we came back as we were one of the early ones to disembark as we were going on the Rome city tour and to the airport. This cost $140 each but was well worth it for having the cases on the coach, seeing a bit of Rome and getting dropped at the airport.

The disembarkation process was the smoothest I have every experienced on a ship. After our colour was called and we went down the steps, collected our cases, gave them to the bus driver and were on the coach within 10mins, fantastic! The transfer to Rome took about an hour and a half from Civitavecchia. On arrival we met our tour guide, Guido who was a wealth of information and truly passionate about the history of Rome. We found out he did this part-time and was a Professor of Archaeology. Our tour was of St. Peter’s Basilica and the Coliseum. It was incredibly hot but Guido was very considerate always making sure we stopped in the shade when he had something to tell us.

The tour lasted about four hours in total and then back on the coach and off to the airport. Our flight was at 18.25 and we arrived about 3pm which meant not too long a wait.

I have no hesitation in recommending amazing Azamara!

Check out our fantastic offers onboard Azamara Quest...

Call now for the best deals around onboard Azamara Quest...