Review of Quest: Norwegian Fjords and Northern Cape

[nordski]

These are our comments on this primarily Norwegian itinerary August 11th to the 26th.

 

STAFF: This was our first cruise with Captain Jose and he impressed with his qualities of leadership and of humour. Often he did his best to make certain that the impressive vistas were accessible from all sides of the ship.

Overall, the staff exhibited the best team work we have experienced on any cruise, so kudos to the Captain, HD Philip Herbert, CD Russ Grieve and the HR Manager Tracie Jones.

 

ITINERARY: It encompassed some of the most beautiful sights that we have seen, augmented by what the locals assured us was unusually consistent and beautiful weather. The heavy jackets we packed stayed in the closet.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Generally we don't go to the evening shows, so it's a testament to their success that we consistently attended The Cabaret. The Quest Singers and Dancers had several impressive performers. Max DiFaz exhibited his usual skills in a number of settings.

 

SPECIAL EVENTS: The Azamazing Evening fulfilled its function, presenting a unique event in a remarkable setting (Grieg Hall in Bergen). In that Hall, naturally, we enjoyed a recital of works by local hero Edvard Grieg.

Appropriately, throughout the cruise, one of the loops of music presented on the interactive TV included samples from Greig's Peer Gynt.

White Night benefitted from our excellent weather and the striking backdrop of the narrow Troll Fjord. This event continues to be a huge success. Oddly, for the first time that we have seen, some people wore their bath robes to White Night. Perhaps this will lead to changing its title :).

 

REFURBISMENT: Much has been written already, and we concur with those who are very impressed with the new interiors of the ship.

In our view, there is much to like about the appearance of our V2 stateroom. In terms of public places, most have been transformed. As I recall, when Larry P. introduced complementary beverages one of his goals was to introduce more conviviality on board. In at least the case of the Living Room, he continues to pursue that goal.

In the past, that area often seemed underused and now there seem always to be people there using the computers, playing cards, and enjoying wine and pastries/tapas. By that criteria, the redesign was a success.

Another change that helped keep common areas accessible was the use of electric heaters at The Patio and Sunset Deck. Despite our brilliant days, evenings could be chilly.

 

 

FOOD: Not much we say will change anyone's' opinion on this topic. However, since my wife has dietary issues, we continue to be impressed with how these concerns are now addressed on board. A big improvement. This cruise, due to the diligence of Head Waiters Monico and Harry, she was truly able to enjoy events such as White Night.

We thought Chef Iwan supervised the preparation of food equal to anything we have experienced at sea. The only glitch we experienced was communicating how well we wanted salmon to be cooked.

A big thank you to a poster on this forum, excitedofharpenden (Phil), for alerting us to the benefits of eating supper at The Patio. We really enjoyed it.

We also agree with him that they have changed the supplier of burger patties at noon. Not as good as they once were; but the problem is solved at dinner.

 

MEMORABLE MOMENTS:

We filled out the mid-cruise "Attention to Detail" forms. Our effort was duly acknowledged on the Message Service on the Interactve TV. More impressively, we received a phone call response which revealed that, indeed, our form had been read with attention.

And it will be hard to forget the shore crew at Olden waving Norwegian flags as we sailed away to the sounds of Rod Stewart's "Sailing". We are sentimental suckers for that sort of thing.

 

ISSUES THAT NEED ATTENTION:

The new routers for Wifi have really helped but, at least in Norway, the service remains really really slow. So much so that if one, for personal or business reasons, needs to be connected that could be a problem. On the bright side, when one is in port we only had to pay once for Wifi (Wifey as one local called it).

 

It was difficult to keep up with the Olympics. There was one dedicated ESPN Channel, but it chose to carry events other than the 100 Metres or Relays on the Track, both of which are arguably premier events. The other ESPN2 Channel seemed to consist mostly of men apparently very excited about the upcoming American collegiate football season.

On the other hand, we didn't go to Norway to watch sports.

 

INTERESTING:

Our fellow cruisers seemed to be somewhat older, on average, than on our most recent cruises. Perhaps some of us were in Norway to contemplate the possible attractions of Valhalla :).

As well, the composition seemed more heavily American. Perhaps that explains some of the ESPN2 content. We were dire need of more Brits who often make up much of the cohort of our fellow cruisers.

 

CONCLUSION:

This was a wonderful experience, in my wife's view much superior to watching me stare intently at Graeco/Roman ruins.

Also, on many other forums we read that the cruise product keeps being diminished by attentiveness to costs. In our view, that is not happening on Azamara. Indeed, we feel that what Azamara offers keeps improving in value.

We recognize that the price has also increased accordingly, but there is still value for money.

And I really must learn to be more concise.

[uktog]

Great review, glad you had a good time on Quest

[excitedofharpenden]

Hi nordski. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Friends onboard shared photos as they went. Looked amazing and you lucked out with the weather.

 

Internet is always going to be an issue in the higher latitudes. I know the big Azamara cruisers won't do the Fjords because they need to be in touch to conduct business and the connection is so bad up there.

[upwarduk]

----We were dire need of more Brits who often make up much of the cohort of our fellow cruisers.

 

Quest leaves Southampton on her next cruise. According to our Roll call, there is a good mix of Brits and Canadians.

 

--- the cruise product keeps being diminished by attentiveness to costs. In our view, that is not happening on Azamara. Indeed, we feel that what Azamara offers keeps improving in value.

We recognize that the price has also increased accordingly, but there is still value for money.

 

Many thanks for your positive review.

I am looking forward to my first cruise on Azamara, so read with interest.

[Spursgirl]

Hi Nordski,

 

Loved your review which displayed your usual positivity. So glad you had such a good time and the weather was kind.

Haven't been on Quest for a while as my last few cruises (and my next) have been on Journey but hope to rectify that in 2017.

 

We met Tracie Jones on Journey in June, she is a lovely lady and a great addition to the wonderful Quest crew.

 

I have just one issue - how did I miss the pastries in the Living Room? Will rectify on Journey next month

[rallydave]

Just home late last nite from this, our first Azamara cruise which won't be our last. We can certainly echo nordski's many positive comments and for us the wifi worked extremely well in our suite. Yes, all concerns about the refurb of our CC Suite were false. Think they did a wonderful job with the refurb and the concerns were completely unnecessary in our humble opinions. In fact for the first time in our cruising careers we booked another cruise on board and in the same CC N2 suite as we enjoyed the location so much. Further comments coming once we get over our jet lag but, believe we have found our new cruising home and after reading on other boards dismissing Azamara as a luxury line, firmly believe that Azamara qualifies and that those who only classify Silverseas, Regent, Seabourn and Crystal as luxury lines are missing the mark. Don't have to be the most expensive or all inclusive but, it is the onboard crew that makes Azamara a true luxury line and now understand the mystic of the staff. Well done Azamara.

[nordski]

Hi Nordski,

 

Loved your review which displayed your usual positivity. So glad you had such a good time and the weather was kind.

Haven't been on Quest for a while as my last few cruises (and my next) have been on Journey but hope to rectify that in 2017.

 

We met Tracie Jones on Journey in June, she is a lovely lady and a great addition to the wonderful Quest crew.

 

I have just one issue - how did I miss the pastries in the Living Room? Will rectify on Journey next month

 

Fiirstly, and most importantly, as to the pastries I really hope I got that correct as I only allowed myself a brief glance at the serving area lest I succumbed.

 

Like you, recently we have only been on Journey so it was with considerable interest that we boarded again the ship that introduced us to Azamara.

 

Thanks for your confirmation re: Tracie Jones. I must add that, aside from one of the Future Cruise Consultants, Ms Jones is the only other staff member that we know is a Canadian, and, of course, to us that just enhances her positive qualities :). We must think of a way of providing a Canadian flag for the crew parade on White Night.

 

At the general meeting with the ship's officers, she also provided an excellent summary of the policies in place when, as was the case on the cruise immediately previous, a "clothing optional" group had chartered the ship. Those policies seemed eminently sensible for the crew's benefit.

 

Looking forward to your comments on your future cruises. I hope that your experiences are equally positive.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[hrhdhd]

Hey nordski,

 

Glad you're home safe. On the Journey sailing that was concurrent with yours, we had a ton of "Athletics" (aka track and field) coverage on the Olympics channel; it's too bad you missed it.

 

P.S. Living with an American man who is obsessed with collegiate football, I assure you the coverage on ESPN will get only worse.

[nordski]

Great review, glad you had a good time on Quest

 

Thanks.

 

And I believe I also should thank you for reminders concerning the crew Welfare Fund.

 

The young gentleman at customer services positively beamed as I made a donation.

 

Great way to recognize those who serve behind the scenes.

[nordski]

Hi nordski. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Friends onboard shared photos as they went. Looked amazing and you lucked out with the weather.

 

Internet is always going to be an issue in the higher latitudes. I know the big Azamara cruisers won't do the Fjords because they need to be in touch to conduct business and the connection is so bad up there.

 

Understandable and, not surprisingly, seemingly worse when navigating within the smaller fjords.

 

At times we also lost TV reception, but that was a good thing as there was, on some news channels, almost 24 hour coverage of a certain political personage whose pronouncements might invoke a Norwegian and now universal iconic image: Edvard Munch's "The Scream".

[nordski]

Quest leaves Southampton on her next cruise. According to our Roll call, there is a good mix of Brits and Canadians.

 

 

 

Many thanks for your positive review.

I am looking forward to my first cruise on Azamara, so read with interest.

 

Reverting to stereotypes, I assumed that many Brits perhaps wished to avoid visting a nation that might also be cool and damp in the summer :).

 

I'm glad if my comments help. As a caveat, I know that some crew members were going on leave as we disembarked in Amsterdam. I hope that by the time of your cruise the replacements are efficiently integrated.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just home late last nite from this, our first Azamara cruise which won't be our last. We can certainly echo nordski's many positive comments and for us the wifi worked extremely well in our suite. Yes, all concerns about the refurb of our CC Suite were false. Think they did a wonderful job with the refurb and the concerns were completely unnecessary in our humble opinions. In fact for the first time in our cruising careers we booked another cruise on board and in the same CC N2 suite as we enjoyed the location so much. Further comments coming once we get over our jet lag but, believe we have found our new cruising home and after reading on other boards dismissing Azamara as a luxury line, firmly believe that Azamara qualifies and that those who only classify Silverseas, Regent, Seabourn and Crystal as luxury lines are missing the mark. Don't have to be the most expensive or all inclusive but, it is the onboard crew that makes Azamara a true luxury line and now understand the mystic of the staff. Well done Azamara.

 

Dave, so glad to hear this from you particularly. We'll be onboard Journey in 4 weeks. Looking forward to you posting your own thread with all the details!

 

And to the OP, thanks. Having been to Norway on land, I would love to do that itinerary some day.

[English Voyager]

Reverting to stereotypes, I assumed that many Brits perhaps wished to avoid visting a nation that might also be cool and damp in the summer :)

 

Such a nation would be a home from home!

 

You made me envious with your report of good weather during your cruise.

 

During my cruise through the Fjords last month the temperature ranged between 12C to 18C, and in Bergen, naturally, and Trondheim the rain was torrential.

[BBMacLaird]

Hello Nordski, Thank you for your entertaining review! I'm so glad you and your wife enjoyed yourselves. I'll share this thread with the Quest, and others.

 

And a special call-out to Rallydave...thank you for letting us know you enjoyed your first Azamara cruise. Given your attention to detail, this is high praise, which we'll happily accept. Thank you.

[Spursgirl]

Fiirstly, and most importantly, as to the pastries I really hope I got that correct as I only allowed myself a brief glance at the serving area lest I succumbed.

 

Like you, recently we have only been on Journey so it was with considerable interest that we boarded again the ship that introduced us to Azamara.

 

Thanks for your confirmation re: Tracie Jones. I must add that, aside from one of the Future Cruise Consultants, Ms Jones is the only other staff member that we know is a Canadian, and, of course, to us that just enhances her positive qualities :). We must think of a way of providing a Canadian flag for the crew parade on White Night.

 

At the general meeting with the ship's officers, she also provided an excellent summary of the policies in place when, as was the case on the cruise immediately previous, a "clothing optional" group had chartered the ship. Those policies seemed eminently sensible for the crew's benefit.

 

Looking forward to your comments on your future cruises. I hope that your experiences are equally positive.

 

Nordski,

 

I fear I don't possess your culinary discipline. For me, cake and cruising are integral partners :)

 

Will report back after what I am sure will be another great Azamara cruise at the end of next month.

[nordski]

Hey nordski,

 

Glad you're home safe. On the Journey sailing that was concurrent with yours, we had a ton of "Athletics" (aka track and field) coverage on the Olympics channel; it's too bad you missed it.

 

P.S. Living with an American man who is obsessed with collegiate football, I assure you the coverage on ESPN will get only worse.

 

And hey back to you. Glad you are safe and sound as well.

 

Now you owe us a detailed description of your experience in the Med, particularly the shopping details :). Looking forward to that.

 

Re: ESPN. No doubt your DH can help me understand who Nick Saban is, and why his decisions will affect the future of the SEC, no, the future of the entire universe according to the commentators.

 

It was painful missing the sprints and sprint relays in Track because, for once in a long while, we had legitimate threats.

[DavidTheWonderer]

Further comments coming once we get over our jet lag but, believe we have found our new cruising home and after reading on other boards dismissing Azamara as a luxury line, firmly believe that Azamara qualifies and that those who only classify Silverseas, Regent, Seabourn and Crystal as luxury lines are missing the mark. Don't have to be the most expensive or all inclusive but, it is the onboard crew that makes Azamara a true luxury line and now understand the mystic of the staff. Well done Azamara.

 

On some other boards, perhaps especially the Regent one, there are a few folks who spend endless time discussing what "luxury cruise lines" are and are not. There are often overtones of elitism ("XXX is NOT luxury!") with more than a small sniff of superiority. These people are very small in number, but quite vocal about the issue.

 

We're fairly experienced with Regent and the Paul Gauguin, and had one try with Oceania. We are trying Azamara for the first time in a month, the 7-day Rome-Rome. From everything I've read, Azamara fulfills all the things I think are important. These pretty well all revolve around the social atmosphere on the ship. We're also booked for another Regent cruise in January, and the Paul Gauguin later in 2017, so clearly really like their products.

 

Considering what I know of rallydave's cruising background, his comments are particularly interesting to me. I'm looking forward to his posts when he gets over his jet lag.

Edited August 28, 2016 by DavidTheWonderer

[TravelBugM]

Concur with nordski's review having ourselves also thoroughly enjoyed the same cruise.

 

To confirm, there are small sandwiches and lovely pastries available in The Living Room during the day, same as in Mosaic Café. Those are switched to tapas around 5 pm.

 

And agree, The Patio for dinner is a great spot. We quite often had appetizers either in The Living Room or the Sunset Bar from Windows, then dinner at The Patio. We would usually fetch our dessert from Windows.

 

Jazz Brunch in Discoveries was wonderful.

 

We had an issue early on in the cruise at The Sanctum which we submitted an Attention to Detail form and it was dealt with almost immediately.

 

Overall a fantastic cruise, so much so that we booked not one, but two future cruises while on board!

[bob278]

I agree with all the positive comments. We also had a problem (no hot water in the shower) but it was quickly addressed.

 

The CC Suites are still very nice but there are some quirks. We had a shower-only cabin and there is no place to hang towels except on hooks on the door. That can make closing the door tricky but in the big picture,it is a small thing.

 

For whatever reason, Azamara decided to make the closets smaller. We have a full double closet for hanging clothes and one section with shelves and the safe. Along the desk/storage area, there are two drawers under the vanity (his and hers) and three large, deep drawers. The top of two of them is a flat surface that has no real value other than a surface for "stuff" (I guess you could use it for a suitcase, but ours fit easily under the beds). But we are on board for 44 days and had no problem finding room for everything.

 

The cabin feels more crowded. The area by the balcony requires shuffling sideways between the bed and table and table and door. The large chair and metal-framed side chair are comfortable but extremely heavy. My wife has trouble moving the side chair. Everyone had their own preferences and we preferred the sofa and chair with footstool (which somehow left more walking around room).

 

Still, it is a very comfortable cabin (the beds are fantastic!) and we have a split opinion of the carpet. My wife doesn't care for it and I think it is nice.

 

And I agree that the farewell from people on shore was one we'll never forget. Folks on the dock were waving flags and people in their houses on the hill were, too. But the music they played (loud enough to be heard for many minute) was especially appropriate. They followed "ailing" with Sarah Brightman/Andreas Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye". Almost brought a tear to my eyes. It was a wonderful moment.

[oddjob16]

Thank you for a great review. We also followed friends posting their pictures on this cruise and it looked spectacular. Agree totally on the patio burgers at lunch. They have changed them and the new ones are not nearly as good as the ones we got a year ago. Maybe we should start a campaign: "Bring Back our Burgers" :D

[uktog]

Thank you for a great review. We also followed friends posting their pictures on this cruise and it looked spectacular. Agree totally on the patio burgers at lunch. They have changed them and the new ones are not nearly as good as the ones we got a year ago. Maybe we should start a campaign: "Bring Back our Burgers" :D

 

On 9th August Journey cruise I think at lunchtime when you ordered from the grill it was the good old burgers of the past. I did see burgers in chaffing dishes poolside which did not look as "meaty" but to be honest our made to order burgers were as good as ever (or maybe my memory is fading)

[nordski]

Hello Nordski, Thank you for your entertaining review! I'm so glad you and your wife enjoyed yourselves. I'll share this thread with the Quest, and others.

 

 

Thanks for your comment and for sharing this thread.

 

In the interests of balance, I will point out that we did encounter one cruiser who, partially based upon the preparation of salmon which I mentioned in the first post, felt that Regent provided a better experience.

 

Clearly, if he took that position based upon this cruise then Azamara was a very poor match for his expectations and he will go on to enjoy cruising elsewhere.

 

I did think, and it is anecdotally supported by posts in this thread, that the Future Cruise officers were very busy indeed. During our appointment, a number of people gathered and rather impatiently waited for us to be done

[nordski]

 

 

We had an issue early on in the cruise at The Sanctum which we submitted an Attention to Detail form and it was dealt with almost immediately.

 

 

I didn't mention that we had a problem with a noisy headboard problem in the first night of rolling seas.

 

We spoke to our super efficient stateroom attendant (the best we've had) and within an hour a serviceman was at the door.

 

It was oddly interesting to me, the grandson of a tradesman, that on ships the term "joiner" (more accurately "marine joiner") is still used when that title has practically disappeared from North America.

 

The issue, of course, was solved.

[nordski]

 

And I agree that the farewell from people on shore was one we'll never forget. Folks on the dock were waving flags and people in their houses on the hill were, too. But the music they played (loud enough to be heard for many minute) was especially appropriate. They followed "ailing" with Sarah Brightman/Andreas Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye". Almost brought a tear to my eyes. It was a wonderful moment.

 

Thanks for providing these evocative details.

 

I'll add that the captain responded with blasts on the ship's horn and at least one car driver on shore replied to those.

 

Magical. And, as for tears, you are made of sterner stuff than I!

 

I also really enjoyed your description of your CC Suite.