Thank you, Anne, for the interesting comparison.
As Australians our comparison is based on our pre-Covid experience, many cruises on Quest and a 17 night one on Viking from Bali to Sydney.
The beauty of the Viking ship was readily apparent: so light and airy compared with Azamara, and the bathrooms...heaven!!! Afternoon teas in the Wintergarden were also stunning. On the other hand, keeping the roof closed in hot, humid tropical weather because there was a chance of rain was dangerous to health. Perhaps a partial closure would be better, allowing heat out/air in and able to be quickly closed, if necessary.
We loved availability of an abundance of seafood but felt many of the other offerings were patchy and that the service varied greatly.
The itinerary meant that there were many Australians and Americans on board with only a smattering of other nationalities. We found though, that was little mingling and the opportunity to make new cruising friends was not what we have experienced on Azamara. The general atmosphere was very restrained, especially considering it was a Christmas cruise.
Apart from a Christmas service conducted by the cruise director, and tasteful decorations around the ship, the only acknowledgement of Christmas was publicised officers and crew leading Christmas Carols which translated as the entertainment group leading a selection of Yuletide songs about snow, not a traditional carol to be heard, and not an officer in sight!
Excursions were, as Anne said, well run and led, with, for example, much warning of the heat and difficult, unsealed terrain on the one on Komodo to see the dragons. Nevertheless, many passengers took no notice of the warnings and were stricken, and vociferous in their complaints about the experience for days. It seems many people do not understand that the tropics are hot and humid, and that summer in the southern hemisphere occurs from December through to March, and cannot be protected from themselves.
We are delighted that we'll be back on Quest when she sails from Sydney to, hopefully, Hong Kong in February next year. If you are sailing along with us, please note it will be summer, and will be in tropical areas for part of the time. And the Roaring 40s across the Great Australian Bight can stir things up!
We would also be happy to sail with Viking again, although cost, as always, can be a factor.