Live! Azamara Quest May 16-31, 2009

Greetings from Sorrento! We boarded the Quest in Civitavecchia on Saturday (thanks for keeping her in such good shape for us, Jan) and have been having far too good a time for me to post. We are departing in a little over an hour and I'm going to be working on my pre-cruise and cruise-so-far diary. If you have any questions that Jan didn't answer, I'll try to get to them, or perhaps one of the other 30+ Cruise Critics onboard can jump in - we have a terrific group onboard.

Ciao for now!

Jean,

Since I was supposed to be on the ship with you and now am booked fro the August sailing. I'm looking forward to hearing your reports as your cruise progresses.

I miss reading the roll call posts for this cruise. You guy's were very active and I gained an awful lot of information by eavesdropping on your posts.

If you find time to give a gelatto review that would be great. ( Just Joking - Although I could live vicariously through that until August :) )

Enjoy the Cruise and All the Ports.

Ian

Buonasera Jean and welcome back in ITALY !!!

I wish you a wonderful cruise!:)

Ciao

ItalianGuest

Greetings from Sorrento! We boarded the Quest in Civitavecchia on Saturday (thanks for keeping her in such good shape for us, Jan) and have been having far too good a time for me to post. We are departing in a little over an hour and I'm going to be working on my pre-cruise and cruise-so-far diary. If you have any questions that Jan didn't answer, I'll try to get to them, or perhaps one of the other 30+ Cruise Critics onboard can jump in - we have a terrific group onboard.

Hi Jean. I would very much like to know all about your impressions of Sorrento as a port of call, what you did there, and the same for other members. For those who did ship-sponsored tours, I would enjoy reading which ones people felt worthwhile and relatively cost-comparable to small group-private tours, which we tend NOT to do. (I really hate small vans.) We have no interest in the Amalfi coast drive, except as it pertains to getting to Positano, for example. If there is a better way to get there, i.e. train, that would be of interest, too. Did you or anyone you spoke to dine ashore, and have either recommendations or warnings?

We are considering an itinerary with Sorrento, and there seems to be just way too much to do!

I traveled on the April 25th sailing of the Journey. Sorrento was our first port and actually one of our very favorites. There is alot to do there-Capri Island, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, and of course Sorrento itself. We chose to take the hydrofoil to Capri, ride the funicular up to Anacapri, and then the chair lift to the top. It was a beautiful day and we loved every minute of it. Doing it on our own was easy and also more relaxing than with a larger group. As well as cheaper! The shops on Capri are nice as well as the restaurants. Lemon groves were everywhere! We got back to Sorrento early enough to get gelato and people watch there before returning to the ship.

hi do they still have draught beer on board,many thanks :):):)

I traveled on the April 25th sailing of the Journey. Sorrento was our first port and actually one of our very favorites. There is alot to do there-Capri Island, Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, and of course Sorrento itself. We chose to take the hydrofoil to Capri, ride the funicular up to Anacapri, and then the chair lift to the top. It was a beautiful day and we loved every minute of it. Doing it on our own was easy and also more relaxing than with a larger group. As well as cheaper! The shops on Capri are nice as well as the restaurants. Lemon groves were everywhere! We got back to Sorrento early enough to get gelato and people watch there before returning to the ship.

We like to sightsee on our own most of the time, too. Thanks for your reply. I'm saving all notes. Sorrento sounds wonderful.

Hi Jean!

Wishing you and Don a wonderful trip! Take lots of pictures!:D

Has anyone had experience with Azamara's air arrangements? We are booked on the August 9th Quest sailing, and are concerned that we will be given decent flight arrangements. As of now, Azamara is not commiting as to which airlines and which timings - any input or past experiences would be appreciated.

HI!

We too just got back from the AZ Quest May 1-16 Holyland cruise. We chose air arrangements thru AZ and found the details were good. We actually flew out of Miami on Luftansa to Frankfrut Germany to Athens to catch the ship and the return from Rome on United to Dulles to Miami. The connections were great, the only complaint we had was the leg room on Luftansa....not AZ fault. All in all everything went well. I have chosen air thru other cruise lines and not been so lucky.

Good Luck!

Gypsylady

HI!

 

We too just got back from the AZ Quest May 1-16 Holyland cruise. We chose air arrangements thru AZ and found the details were good. We actually flew out of Miami on Luftansa to Frankfrut Germany to Athens to catch the ship and the return from Rome on United to Dulles to Miami. The connections were great, the only complaint we had was the leg room on Luftansa....not AZ fault. All in all everything went well. I have chosen air thru other cruise lines and not been so lucky.

 

Good Luck!

 

Gypsylady

thanks for the info. Interestingly enough, as Floridians we would ordinarly have flown out of Miami, but we'll be visiting in the Cincinnati area prior to the cruise. Glad to know things went so well for you.....I'll check on Lufthansa/United (guessing they are partners).....as of today, Azamara's not giving us any flight info - and we're concerned about connection times, etc. Do you recall how much in advance of your trip did they devulge the flight info? Regards and thanks again.

Hi Jean !

I wanted to wish you a wonderful time onboard Quest. I look forward to your updates, if time permits. Enjoy your Cruise !

as of today, Azamara's not giving us any flight info - and we're concerned about connection times, etc. Do you recall how much in advance of your trip did they devulge the flight info? Regards and thanks again.

Crimsonbird:

There is one option to solve your worries... custom air! If you have sailed Celebrity or Az before, this is part of your Captain's Club perk and won't cost you a dime - if you never sailed, this option should cost about 75$ per person.

With this, you get to choose the airline, times and flights and you lock it in.

I always do this to secure either direct flights or as direct as possible, and to also make sure I can collect my points!!

Hope this helps!

MC

HI Crimsonbird!

Our info was given to our TA about 30 days out.....needless to say I was more than a little concerned. Yes Luftansa and United are partners...What acutally happend was this-- there were apparently 6 of AZ people flying out of MIA my husband and I did not know the other 4, when I rec'd our flight info, I called both airlines to check on seat assignments. Luftansa gave me the info, while I was online looking at the planes and their configurations, we were not seated together at all. We were in the center section of 4 dead center....BAD right? they would not move us at all due to AZ had us grouped together as 6. I then called AZ to challenge this and was told that they had no control over this, I would have to go back to Luftansa. That being said, I called them again, the resv lady told us to get to the airport at least 4 hrs ahead as they hold 30% of the seats and would be able to change things once we got there. That is exactly what we did. In the end, we were seated on a 3 side and my husband and I were in the window and middle. This had to be the most uncomfortable flight I have ever taken in all my years of traveling. I am a very petite person and could barely climb out of the seats to get up to stretch my legs and walk a little.

Now about United... They too had us booked in a group of 6 due to AZ. But they pulled us out and gave us a new record locator # and I was actually able to go online and upgrade us from economy to United Economy Plus....by paying extra....I believe it was about $109 per person from Rome to Dulles...WHAT A WONDERFUL DIFFERENCE! this made....more leg room, on a 2 seat side and tv's in the seat in front of us.

Don't wait to do the above with United, you won't regret this I promise.

I read what Marie-Claude wrote and I agree....I am Cpt Club Select and should of done the custom air.....hind sight....I have learned my lesson!

Good Luck! Any other ?'s please feel free to email me at dmfloc@msn.com

gypsylady

Sorry I haven't gotten back - we've been really busy and I haven't spent much time in front of the computer. Everything about this ship is brilliant except for the coffee, which in the buffet is weak swill. And they don't have half & half in the dining room except upon request, it seems.

So I guess you could say that we're having an amazing time if that's my only complaint!

Sorrento is a wonderful port. On the first day we booked a private tour through La Dolce Vita tours, and shared it with 6 other Cruise Critics. I loathe the large busses with 30-50 people on them, and am a complete convert to the van concept. Vito picked us up at the pier, took us to Positano and Amalfi, then to lunch, where we were treated to a feast. We paid 560 Euros for the van, so 70 each, and another 50 Euros per person for lunch (which included 3 bottles of wine and all we could drink out of 3 bottles of limoncello, mandarino and a fennel-based liqueur). We went back to the ship about 5:00 and then, since we were there overnight, Don and I went back into town, walked the steps and wandered around Sorrento.

On Tuesday, Don and I explored Capri on our own. We ended up taking a pretty strenuous nature hike because we found Capri Town to be too crowded and too shopping-oriented. We ended the hike by climbing 700 stairs back to town - ow! We then took the bus to Anacapri, the other town, had lunch (and wine) at a place we picked at random, and headed back to the ship about 3:30.

Ravenna is a puzzle for an overnight stop - we went into Bologna with a CC group and had a walking tour of the city. Most who went to Ravenna were unimpressed, but we'll make our own decision tomorrow.

The really good news is that, following our request for more time in Venice at the wonderful CC party that the ship threw for us (the Captain and all senior staff were in attendance), the Captain called Miami and they figured out that we could have an extra two hours there. So now if it all works out we'll be leaving at 2:00 instead of noon, which is wonderful news. Talk about responsive!

I'm afraid I won't be posting here all that much - we're having too good of a time. But I will post a full review when we get home, not for another week yet!

There is beer on tap in the Windows Cafe bar. On Journey it was at the Pool Bar.

Oh, and the gelato has been great - pineapple, stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate), coffee, strawberry...:D

Well, if you really want to know what's going on, here's my unedited diary. It's a little disjointed, but I've caught up to today. Enjoy!:)

May 11-12: flying to Rome

We were determined to travel with carryon luggage only. Even though our need to pack and unpack was limited, we just hate wondering whether our bags will actually make it to our international destination, not to mention the often long waits at baggage claim. We did it – I will post my packing list some other time, but we basically are travelling with about 5 days’ worth of clothing, lots of mix & match. We dealt with the 3-1-1 rule by taking small supplies of liquids and purchasing what we needed in Rome.

We stayed overnight at the Westin LAX in order to minimize the drama of leaving the house (and dogs) with suitcases. Our housesitter was there to distract the critters while we took Sky Car to the hotel. We were staying on points (Starwood Category 2, so we didn’t even have to use many of them). We had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant, played around on the complimentary Internet for awhile and then headed to bed.

We were up at 5:15 am to make our 7:55 flight to Dulles on United Airlines. When we arrived at the airport, the departures board was showing a one hour delay, which ultimately became two. We were nervous about making our connection to Rome, but found out as we were landing that we would be on the same aircraft. You’d think they might have told us that sooner to ease the stress, but it was no big deal.

We had used miles to upgrade to business class. United is light years behind the competition when it comes to comfort and service on international flights. They may be the last carrier not to offer lie-flat seats, and the aircraft is pretty worn out looking. We managed to get a few hours of sleep while crossing the pond, but it wasn’t comfortable. The food was ok, although not plentiful (not that we can’t both stand to have a little restraint forced upon us). The flight attendants were ok, although they sat in their jump seats and talked loudly for awhile during the night flight portion. I asked them to hold it down, and they obliged, but it shouldn’t have been necessary. Oh, well.

May 13: Ciao, Roma!

We arrived at Fiumicino Airport at about 8:15, ahead of schedule. Our driver from Rome Cabs was nowhere to be seen, so we had to call (note: if you’re thinking of making phone calls, get an overseas package from your cellphone provider to save a few bucks). The driver arrived shortly thereafter, and we were whisked off to the city in a large, comfortable van.

We arrived at the Roman Residence at about 10:30. Our driver hit Via Cavour at the wrong spot and had to circle the block in very heavy traffic to get to the correct location. Our room was not yet ready, so Massimo gave us a breakfast voucher and we went down the street to the Orologio (Clock) Bar, where they stuffed us with croissants, pizza, cappuccino and freshly squeezed orange juice. We returned to the Roman Residence a little after 11:00, found our room bed and our bed waiting for us with open arms. We took about a four hour nap and woke up feeling almost normal.

The Roman Residence is a terrific little B&B. It’s in a building with 5 other tiny hotels (4-10 rooms each), which Massimo (the owner) told us is quite common in Rome. It’s on the 3rd floor (U.S. 4th floor), which gave us a workout. We did use the elevator to haul our luggage (a tiny elevator that gave us another reason to take only carryon luggage) but otherwise were fine with the stairs.

Massimo and Stefano, who helps him out on weekends, are very friendly men who made our stay at the hotel very pleasant. We mostly saw Massimo, who recommended a couple of restaurants (the Gallina Bianca is right around the corner with hit or miss meals but good house wine, like every other restaurant we tried).

The neighborhood is funky – lots of young people (our 3 Cruise Critic couples probably raised the average age in the building by a good 30 years), bars, restaurants and shops. It’s near the Termini rail station, so very conveniently located. We were out as late as midnight and felt perfectly safe, taking the usual urban precautions.

We purchased as Roma e Più (and more) Pass, which gave us free admission to two sights, discounts on the remaining sights and included bus and metro transit. If you’re staying in Rome for three days (the length of time the pass is good for), it can be well worth the $23 or $25 for the pass. We saved a bit of money over buying the individual rides and admissions.

After dinner at the Gallina Bianca, we took Rick Steves’ Night Walk in reverse. We took the Metro to the Spagna station and walked out to the Spanish Steps. There were lots of people out and about. We also took in the Trevi Fountain (and had gelato in the piazza), walked past the Pantheon and to the Piazza Navona, at which point we decided to head back to the hotel (we missed the Campo dei Fiori). It’s a fun walk, with good sights and people watching.

May 14:

We toured the Colosseum, using our Roma Pass for the 11 Euro entry fee.

We had lunch at a small restaurant near Vatican City and chatted up our Roman waiter who had been raised in Toronto. We then went to the highlight of our day, the Scavi tour, hich takes you under St. Peter’s Basilica Our guide, Andrew from Wilkes Barre, PA, gave us some history of Rome. It’s a fabulous tour – we learned a lot about the ancient Romans and their burial rites, plus saw the tomb of St. Peter. Tickets are 10 Euros apiece and must be ordered in advance by email. If you do not fill out the application exactly as instructed they will ignore you, so make sure you mind their instructions.

After the tour it was time for wine, siesta and dinner. I can’t recall what we did after that.

May 15: Tivoli

Today we met Carmen and Gord for our trip to Tivoli, a charming little town about 20 minutes outside of Rome and the home to the ruins of Villa Adriana and Villa d’Este. They took a cab to our place, where Fabrizio Petrangelo of La Dolce Vita Tours met us in his Mercedes van. We couldn’t entice any other members of our roll call to join us, and it was their loss. Fabrizio is a terrific driver and guide who gave us a lot of information about Rome and Tivoli. We then used our Roma Pass for the 10 Euro admission and spent the next couple of hours wandering through the broken walls of what must have been a fabulous complex in its day. We then stopped for lunch at Sibilla, where we were plied with wine, antipasti and a veal entrée. After that we were off to Villa d’Este, the home of a Cardinal in the 1500s. The house is intact, although mostly unfurnished. The grounds are spectacular, with lots of fountains that reminded us of the Peterhof in St. Petersburg, Russia (those fountains were designed by Italian engineers). The cost was 420 Euros for Fabrizio and his services, plus about 60 Euros each for lunch. It was well worth it, as were the other two tours we booked through Fabrizio, in Sorrento and Taormina.

We had our siesta in the car on the way back to the city, rallied for dinner and then went for an evening stroll down Via Cavour. We happened across a gourmet market called Elite and bought 4 bottles of wine for the cruise. We then went back to the hotel, packed and went to bed in anticipation of our ride to Civitavecchia in the morning.

May 16: Embarkation Day

We were at last on our way to a cruise that was over a year in the planning. Our Roll Call had about 35 Cruise Critics and was the most active thread on the Azamara boards, with the exception of one long-past Quest cruise. We shared a ride in Rome Cabs with four other CCers. Traffic in the city was snarled because of a tree trimming project, but once we were outside of Rome we flew down the highway to the port.

We arrived at about 12:30 and were checked in within 10 minutes. All 4 bottles of wine sailed through the security check. Our cabins were ready before 1:30 (the advertised time), but we had time for a couple of welcome aboard glasses of champagne. We dropped off our bags, headed to the not-at-all-crowded Windows Café for lunch and then unpacked and did a load of laundry (the dryers are free even though they will take your money if you put it in) before muster drill.

We are in a 2A cabin – we had booked a Sky Suite but decided that it wasn’t worth the extra $2400 on such a port-intensive itinerary. Plus we got about $3000 worth of price drops by booking a guarantee. The 2A is great – it’s well laid out and we had no problem storing all of our stuff (of course we don’t have much). The room is prettier than the Sky Suite we had – it’s in blues and greens instead of orange, for starters. I could use a little more counter space, but this way I’m not cluttering up surfaces.

Alwin, our butler and __, the other guy (I just met him today and his name went through my head) are doing a very good job of keeping our cabin clean and stocked with gorgeous fluffy towels. We have nice heavy robes and slippers that I won’t wear since they’re scuffs and fall off my feet. The toiletries are Elemis brand, and are a different type than we had on Journey, a much nicer type with a light non-floral scent (I hated the floral lotion we had at Christmas time and didn’t use it).

We ran into a number of crewmembers who had been on Journey – Sue Denning, the CD, Scott __ the F&B manager, one of the singers, a few bar servers and one of the Prime C wine stewards, Ermina.

Muster drill is a bit of a pain but at least it didn’t last too long – meet in the dining room or show room with your life jacket on, listen to the yada yada and then march out to the lifeboat stations. We purposely hung back so that we were almost the last ones out there – by the time we were all lined up the drill was over.

We had a CC meeting in the Looking Glass lounge. The lone bartender was overwhelmed, but called for reinforcements and somebody arrived to help in a few minutes. We then got ready for dinner, headed to the casino bar for a drink with Angelo and ran into a fellow passenger from Journey. We ate with him and his partner at a table for 8 in Discoveries. The food was terrific, the service was good and we had a wonderful time.

After dinner was the show, then we headed for the Looking Glass for a few dances and off to bed.

May 17: Sorrento Day 1

Sorrento is a tender port – we were scheduled for a 9:00 tour and were off the ship easily. All of the ship’s tours had departed earlier, and Quest ran the tenders every 10 minutes, so there was no line, no jostling and no delay. Heaven!

We had a CC party of 8 for a private tour of the Amalfi Coast with La Dolce Vita. Vito from Naples was our driver, and proved to be every bit as capable as Fabrizio. We visited Positano and Amalfi, then went to Pesce d’Oro in Amalfi for a Neopolitan feast that was out of this world – two kinds of fresh pasta, antipasti, fish, calamari and dessert, plus three bottles of wine, four of sparkling water and then, with dessert, limoncello, mandolino and another that was fennel-based. Fortunately the only thing we had to do after lunch was nap in the van on the way back. I think we may have frightened Vito, LOL. After a Diet Coke in the cabin, we rallied to go back into town – we hadn’t seen any of Sorrento during the day, so we strolled the incredibly crowded streets, had a late bite to eat and headed back to the ship.

May 18: Sorrento, Day 2

We were on our own today, and took the hydrofoil over to Capri. Buying a ticket (13.50 Euros per person each way) is interesting, since there are multiple ticket windows, but they don’t sell all of the destinations at one place. No biggie – we each tried a different line until we found what we were looking for, and easily made the next scheduled boat. After a quick 20 minute ride, we bought bus tickets (1.40 Euros each segment) and boarded the funicular to ride up to Capri town. If you like shopping at expensive designer stores, you’ll be in heaven. We don’t, so we fled the town in favor of a walk, which turned into a hike of pretty substantial proportions, especially the 700 stairs we had to climb to get back to civilization. I lived to tell the story, and my legs are stronger for it. And the scenery was incredible.

After re-hydrating with water and wine, we boarded the bus to Anacapri. I asked a local where to go for lunch and he recommended a good pasta place that turned out to be closed on Mondays. So we went next door and had a fabulous lunch of tomato salad, bread, pasta (for me) and pizza (for Don). Washed down with wine, of course. It was then time to make our way back to the hydrofoil. The wait for the bus was too long, so we shared a 20 Euro cab ride with two young women from Australia.

The Captain’s welcome aboard party was held at 7:45 and it was very nice. We had some wine, did a little dancing and listened to a short speech by the Captain, who then introduced his senior staff.

Dinner was at Discoveries, and the food and service surpassed what we had the night before. Those of you who remember my account of our Journey Panama Canal cruise may recall that we swore off the dining room because the food and service were mediocre to horrid. Not so on Quest – our only complaint so far is that the coffee onboard is ghastly – the room service stuff is burnt (and curdled my cream this morning), the stuff in Windows is so weak that it’s like dirty dishwater and the stuff in Discoveries is drinkable but not good. And they are cream-challenged- I’ve asked for half & half and usually have to ask more than once because they just grab a little pitcher – more often than not it’s been skim milk. Ugh. I may break down and start buying coffee at Mosaic just to have a decent cup.

We attended the late show, a Hollywood production that was fine. Not exceptional, but entertaining enough. We then headed to the Looking Glass until midnight, which was a dumb idea, considering we were to be getting up early the next day for our tour in Sicily.

May 19: Sicily

Taormina (the port name is actually Naxos) is another tender port. We were able to go on the tenders without waiting for the Azamara tours to go first. We had booked our third tour with Fabrizio, and Flavia (guide) and Francesco (driver) were waiting for us on the pier. Francesco spoke little English, which is why we had a guide on this tour. We drove to the town of Savoca, which famous because the Godfather was filmed there. It’s a gorgeous hillside town with a lot of history besides the movie, and we enjoyed walking the steep streets and seeing the churches (and our gelato/cappuccino stop).

We then went to the Gambino (no relation to the Mafia family) winery on the slopes of Mt. Etna for a wine tasting. There was a ship’s tour group there and they rushed through their tasting as the guide urged them to hurry to their bus. We saw them driving out in a couple of winery vehicles that took them to their tour bus – it looked rather like a pair of clown cars. Feeling smug, we enjoyed a leisurely tasting of 5 wines along with big plates of antipasti, cheese, salamis and baskets of insanely good bread.

The cost for the day was 520 Euros (the van would have held 7; there were 6 of us) for the tour and 15 Euros for the wine tasting. It was another fabulous day. We did purchase a bottle of wine and were able to bring it aboard the ship, although some people had to turn theirs in.

We tried the buffet for the first time that night – they have pasta and stir fry every night, so I had the poor chef cook me a pasta primavera, which was excellent.

Don won $100 in the casino; I lost $40. I’m still up $20 for the cruise. The evening’s entertainment was the trumpeter from the Quest orchestra – he was very talented, and very avant-garde.

May 20: A day at sea

Boy, did we need the rest! We got up in time for breakfast in Discoveries (the omelet was ok but not as good as upstairs) and then headed for the cooking demonstration, which was held in Prime C. The venue was a little small, and we were late so had to stand in the back. One woman was saving a seat in the front row for her friend, who turned out to be me. J

After the cooking demo we went to the port lecture on Ravenna, given by a professor of medieval history. He is very knowledgeable and a pretty good speaker, but spent the first 45 minutes talking about every assassinated leader in the town. Since the Platinum/Elite party was about to start, we snuck out, sacrificing enrichment for free drinks.

The party was very nice – all of the senior management was there, the Captain spoke a few words and they circulated some tasty treats. So lunch was a light (relatively speaking) bite in Windows, followed by an hour out by the pool with some CCers (we have a fantastic group onboard!) and then a nap after such a strenuous day.

I did wake up in time to go to our Cruise Critic Connections party. Again, all the senior management were there – they are really trying to make us happy, and they’re doing a great job of it.

In the evening we attended a wine pairing dinner in Prime C that was out of this world. It was $60 per person, and worth every penny for the quantity and quality of the wines served. Only 10 people attended, and, after two women showed up 15 minutes late (shame), we had 5 courses, with bubbly, one white, two reds and a dessert wine. A word to the wise – don’t have a lot of cocktails before you go or you may fall off your high chair (I didn’t, but it was a close call).

May 20: Ravenna Day 1

Ravenna is a curious choice for an overnight port. The ship is docked in an industrial port – our view is of piles of chemicals and containers. Azamara is running a complimentary shuttle into town as there is no other way to get there (in a bit of highway robbery they were offering $8 shuttle rides in Sorrento or Taormina (I forget which as we didn’t need them) and are charging $15 in Venice for a shuttle to St. Mark’s Square).

Somebody else organized a tour for a change! We and 22 other CCers took a bus into Bologna, then split up into two groups for a walking tour. By the sound of it, we got the better guide – we went into the old stock exchange, which is now a library, the main cathedral (they allowed several men in shorts to go in, although they did turn away a young woman in a miniskirt), then walked through the farmer’s market to the Jewish ghetto. It was very informative and we had a nice time. Lunch was at a sidewalk café in the market, then Don and I went in search of wine and balsamic vinegar, a specialty of the region (you can get a 100 year old vinegar for a mere 200 Euros for about 200 ml). The bus ride back was very quiet, as most of us were in various stages of napping.

I got in my first gym workout in the early evening while Don did the laundry. Then it was a light dinner in the buffet, where the hotel director told me that the Captain, in response to our begging and pleading during the CC party, had called Miami and gotten permission to give us two more hours in Venice. How’s THAT for service?

Midcruise reflections: I cannot believe how much better a time we are having on Quest than we did on Journey. Not that we didn’t have fun on Journey, at least for the first 14 days of the 16 night cruise, but there were a lot of little annoyances and some big issues that left us unimpressed with the Azamara product. In contrast, everything on this ship is what I would expect a line that’s trying for 5 stars to be. Except for the coffee, LOL. Of course, with so few sea days (we had 9 on Journey), the crew isn’t being run as ragged trying to keep us fed and entertained, but I sense that the Quest crew is a lot more content, or at least they fake it really, really well. And we are sailing with an amazing bunch of CCers. Plus the ship is sailing at 580 passengers, so more than 100 below capacity. Everything is running smoothly. I bet we won't run out of food, either. So far, I give this ship a huge edge over Journey.:D

Hi Jean & Don, enjoy your posts. Will be checking back to see how things are going. :D

Thank you so much for posting your notes and starting this thread. We are on the same cruise leaving 6/28 so you are giving us a nice preview thanks again

Just curious are there any kids on board?

Jean,

I am inhaling your report and traveling with you vicariously.

I am glad you are enjoying this cruise a lot more than your last one on A .

Just one question - I am puzzled by your choice of flying with UA when Lufthansa is so much better and you can fly them TA (unlike us with OW who cannot fly BA); were you unable to get seats on Lufthansa?

Keep it coming and have a great rest of the cruise.

Hi Critterchick..

I am so glad you are as impressed as I was with Quest..and I love that you are doing a day by day as I think you know Stu and I will be doing this same trip August 9..I am so enjoying your review..Please say hi to Niyazi for me please and let us hear more!!

I am curious as to what you will do in Venice..

Regards,

Jancruz1

Hi Critterchick..

I am new to this forum only found it last week ,We are going on the Quest for the first time on June 28 so your diary is a great source of information.Keep up the good work and have a great holiday,

Comas

Critterchick, Glad to see you're having a great time. We took the Quest "Best of Italy" last year, end of April, beginning of May. Trip of a lifetime. Loved the Quest! Fantastic Crew.

When I saw this itinerary I was puzzled at the overnight in Ravenna. We stopped for one day which was plenty. Went into town, viewed the Cathedrals with the mosaics and had lunch in the square in town. I would NOT want to have an overnight there and don't know why they did that. You did well by going to Bologna. Some on our cruise went to the Ferrari museum but a long ride, 2 1/2 hrs I think, for a fairly short tour.

We did an overnight in Florence (Livorno) which I think was much better.

We also did the Godfather tour in Taormina which was lots of fun and great scenery all around.

All in All, the "Best of Italy" is a great cruise!!

ciao,

Luigi

ps pic is in Sovoca in front of the bar

Thanks for your great review and notes. We'll be on the Journey for Baltics and St. Petersburg in mid-June and hope that the problems you had will be ironed out by then. It's also a port-intensive trip, so maybe the staff won't be worn out. Plus, with the recession, Azamara (and the others I'm guessing) has enhanced its offerings to attract cruisers, so we scored a great upgrade at minimum additional cost. We'll have a birds eye view as we depart each port.

BTW - we also had a fabulous, multi-hour feast at Pesce d’Oro just outside Amalfi when we were on our Med cruise in June 2006 on the Millennium. Our driver picked it out for the four of us, and we were the only people there. Sat on the terrace, were plied with fabulous food and drink. At the end I asked for a grappa, and the owner came out with a tray of after dinner drinks including all that you mentioned. Plus, even though we decided against a dolci, he brought out a cake that had been soaked in limoncello. We also slept on the way back to, in our case, Naples.

Sam

Thank you so much for posting your notes and starting this thread. We are on the same cruise leaving 6/28 so you are giving us a nice preview thanks again

 

Just curious are there any kids on board?

I've seen two. They are noisy enough for 10, though.

Jean,

I am inhaling your report and traveling with you vicariously.

I am glad you are enjoying this cruise a lot more than your last one on A .

Just one question - I am puzzled by your choice of flying with UA when Lufthansa is so much better and you can fly them TA (unlike us with OW who cannot fly BA); were you unable to get seats on Lufthansa?

Keep it coming and have a great rest of the cruise.

We used miles and upgraded to business class on United. We couldn't have done that on Luftansa.

We had a great day in Ravenna. I went and paid homage to Dante (I spent a year in college studying La Divina Commedia) and then went and were awed by the mosaics. We had lunch in a randomly chosen cafe and it was spectacular. The Bolognese recipe for lasagne usually uses spinach noodles and a creamier cheese than we Americans are accustomed to. Delish! I still wouldn't do an overnight here. The port is a 20 minute ride from the town, and there are piles of some industrial stuff (looks like sand but isn't) that blow all over the ship. It can't be healthy. Perhaps they could stop in Bari for a day or something.

critterchick, glad to see you're having a great time. We took the quest "best of italy" last year, end of april, beginning of may. Trip of a lifetime. Loved the quest! Fantastic crew.

When i saw this itinerary i was puzzled at the overnight in ravenna. We stopped for one day which was plenty. Went into town, viewed the cathedrals with the mosaics and had lunch in the square in town. I would not want to have an overnight there and don't know why they did that. You did well by going to bologna. Some on our cruise went to the ferrari museum but a long ride, 2 1/2 hrs i think, for a fairly short tour.

We did an overnight in florence (livorno) which i think was much better.

We also did the godfather tour in taormina which was lots of fun and great scenery all around.

All in all, the "best of italy" is a great cruise!!

Ciao,

luigi

ps pic is in sovoca in front of the bar

how did you book the godfather tour? just rented godfather 1 and 2 - in anticipation of our august 9th trip - and saw your post. What other tours did you take? Ship or private? Thanks for the info.