Adrian, we were on the cruise with you so I have really enjoyed reading your entertaining posts and thoughts about the voyage. It was my second and my friend’s first Azamara cruise and we had a fabulous time and agree with your observations.
You describe your evening dining at the Sunset Veranda and I think we were sat at the table next to you because I noticed the Chablis arriving and thinking that would go down well! However we were quite happy with the included wines so I didn’t feel too hard done by. As the weather was so fabulous we ate outside most of the time, venturing to the Discoveries restaurant only for the brunch and the British themed evening when the choices of food at the Windows Cafe were dismal.
Having had some frustrating and poor pre-cruise communications with Azamara I was feeling unsure of how our onboard experience would work out. Thankfully we found nearly everything to be very good indeed. We took advantage of the free transfer from Venice airport and found it well organised and comfortable. We also paid for an Azamara transfer at the end of the cruise to Athens airport, again well organised and easy.
What really stood out us was the consistently good service provided by all the crew we met, they worked relentlessly to make our time onboard happy and relaxed. The organisation and teamwork needed to put on the brunch, the Duo Violins entertainment and the White Night was impressive, especially as this was only their third full itinerary.
We liked Korcula where we wandered around the old town. In Kotor we did a shore excursion where we had an excellent guide. In Corfu we made the mistake of paying for the hop-on-hop-off bus through the shore excursion desk and found it cost 39USD rather than 21 Euros direct, purely for the convenience of a very short ride from the ship to the port gates! Fancying time on the beach in Argostoli and Gytheion we walked from the ship to the beach and enjoyed Greek salads and local beer along the way. In Santorini we took the cable car up to Fira and then took a three hour long walk to Oia along the coastal path. It was very hot and in places treacherous underfoot but the views were spectacular and we enjoyed the peace and quiet and the gentle breeze along the way.
So overall a most enjoyable and successful cruise, looking forward to the next one in September.