Azamara Jorney PC 3 January 2010 Thoughts

[Rotterdam]

My partner & I returned from this 16 day Panama Canal cruise w/ a 3 day stay in San Diego.

 

We stayed at the Omni downtown - nice hotel but no soundproofing in room. Great staff overall.

 

Sailing out of San Diego is just wonderful - easy & a beautiful sail away.

 

The Azamara Journey is a smaller ship w/ only 640 passengers on this cruise. We loved the open seating dining & country club casual dress code. Never having to wait on lines(except for security on initial boarding) was great. The pool, gym & steam room were clean & never crowded.

 

Dining - we ate in the main dining room 9 nites & never had a problem getting a table for 2. We tried both specialty restaurants - we preferred Prime C, but did not see any reason for a return visit. The buffet area is nice & we ate outside several evenings on the aft deck.

 

Cabin - we had an outside midship cabin on deck 4. The cabins are small, dated & the beds really need to be replaced - also the furniture is made for small people. Closets & storage space is ok if you do not overpack. warning - cabin 4031 has a laundry pump underneath it & it sounds like a clothes dryer w/ sneakers in it going at full speed - at 1 & 4 a.m After 4 nites they seemed to fix it.

 

Service - it ran from very good to just horrible. Our cabin "Butler" was good but did not like to dust the furniture and it took 2 days to get shampoo & soap(she said her assistant did not understand her). We found a few waiters that were great and a few that wouldn't pass a Mc Donalds test.(a breakfast in the DR - took over 90 minutes & we had to keep asking for silverware , cream for coffee etc). Our waiter in Prime C - we could not understand a word he was saying - it turned humorous at one point. The bar staff could have an attitude & because they rely on gratuities - it gets uncomfortable at times when they work against each other. The 18 % gratuity is a corporate gimmick(we were told 15 % goes tother staff & Azamara corporate gets the other 3% - either way - service levels do not warrant any more than 15%.

 

Food - was hit or miss. Overall it was 3 out of 5 star. Beef was consistantly served raw - we ordered it medium to well. In Aquilina my seafood appetizer came straight out of the freezer & the lobster tail was raw. We both had food poisoning on 2 different sea days. I am happy with a salad so I always had something to eat.

 

Officers etc - the captain had the personality of a piece of cardboard & seemed to permeate the staff at times - tho the Hotel Director, Guest Relations Manager & cruise Director were very personable & helpful.

 

Will we return to Azamara - probably not...we'll stay with the smaller ships but look into Regent & Seabourn. Also, with the new pricing structure many people felt the increase was not warranted. Azamara should just bill itself as the small ships of Celebrity.

 

I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[pepbcn28]

Regarding people age.... any 30-50 people there? Or maybe mostly over 60?

[Rotterdam]

most passengers were over 50....with the majority over 60. This was a 16 day cruise so that usually means an older crowd. I don't know if the carib cruises have ayounger crowd or not. The ship was very quiet at nite(which was fine fir us as wewanted to R&R).

 

Funny thing is that originally we said we probably would not sail w/ Azamara again - but after a cruise we took in July 2010 on HAL Veendam to Bermuda - which was horrible - we have reconsidered returning to Azamara.

 

 

Regarding people age.... any 30-50 people there? Or maybe mostly over 60?