First Impressions of a First Time Azamara Cruiser

[ChucktownSteve]

It all depends on the venue and the bus sizes. Sometimes bus 1 is top suites only sometimes top suites plus Top loyalty only. Not seen it ever being right down to discoverer - there were 45 Discoverer plus and above and over 200 Discoverers onboard. So Steve must have got priority for another reason.

 

 

 

That makes me happy to hear that. But whatever the reason, it has really sold my DW on cruising. Until this cruise she just gone along so to speak.

 

My last couple of posts are out of order from my next one because I have been taking advantage of SPB's free internet on our 45 minute ride out and back from Catherine's Palace on my cell phone while the others are copy/pasted from a word document on the laptop.

 

 

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[Teknodude]

Thanks for the info folks - I'm not desperately worried. It all sounds very well organised. Do most have dinner back on the ship after the evening's event? We tend to eat late, so it would be better for us, and from Chucktown Steve's reports, it sounds like it is a fairly short time between returning to the ship from the day's sightseeing and heading back out for the Azamazing evening.... how long did you have, out of interest? Thx!

[ChucktownSteve]

Well it’s an absolutely beautiful Azamara “Chamber of Commerce” day. Three days of sunshine in Russia. Who would have thought? If memory serves me correctly, I believe they said St. Petersburg only gets about 30 days of sunshine per year. I don’t know if it’s an exaggeration or not but I’ll take it.

Today we’re starting later and doing an hour of city sightseeing before getting a guided tour of the Faberge Museum. Then it’s lunch at a local café and off to the Tsar’s village. We’ll end the day at the Catherine Palace with the Amber Room.

peaking of Amber, I broke down and purchased a small amber tree that has little pieces of inexpensive amber representing leaves on the tree at the ends of numerous wires depicting branches on a birch tree.

Yesterday I filled our complimentary laundry bag. Change that to stuffed. Because it’s made of cloth, you can really pack it in compared to the paper one that tears easily on another line. I also put my shoes in the cloth shoe bag and got them back when we returned nice and shiny.

Hanging on the rod in the closed is an elongated shoehorn. I have found this to be one of the most useful amenities so I don’t have to bend over to the floor putting my shoes on. I need to get one for home. What a small thing that wound up being so convenient.

Breakfast again was very good in Windows. I requested a freshly made waffle that only took 3 minutes. It was tasty with fresh strawberries. The fresh fruit is abundant on this ship. Even refreshed daily in the cabin.

OK back on the ship after the SPB tours and three FULL days. St. Petersburg was wonderful. However if I never see another gold leaf whatever or palace, I won’t be disappointed. Azamara should create a T-shirt with their logo that says I survived three full days in St. Petersburg. I’d buy that.

Now for the record: I did not have a drink with Vladimir Putin but I would have if he would have invited me. Does that constitute intent? So no collusion here. And while I’m at it, I didn’t have a drink with Lech Walesa even though we were in the same room. We didn’t have a conversation. He talked I listened.

Tonight is the shop’s Russian Bazar for people who didn’t buy enough but have OBN they need to spend. Sailing away to Helsinki for tomorrow. I believe tonight is the first production show of the cruise. I understand something happened to one of the performers so they needed to bring a new one in and they needed time for them to learn the shows.

[hiccups]

 

Dinner last night in Discoveries again was wonderful. We requested the window again but waited too long before approaching the maître d who told me there would be more than an hour wait. We were one table off but still a great view. The shared bottle of Champaign was an excellent choice.to toast new friendships.

 

I won’t bore you with what I ordered. Suffice it to say it was seafood and more seafood prefaced by a Mediterranean salad. I don’t consider myself a foodie, but apparently I am. I realized that last night while eating the entrée. I discovered the rice and even the green peas were cooked to the proper bite. It was so freshly cooked and delivered to the table still hot without being warmed under lamps. And ohhhh the flavor. We’re still early into the cruise however this is the best food we’ve experienced at sea including a similar premium line.

 

quote]

 

I've been surprised by your comments about the wait for window tables--we never requested one, and were always shown to one immediately. I hadn't thought about them being a hot commodity :)

 

I thought Discoveries had the best food of the ship's included venues, but personally didn't find it superior to what we've had on some other cruise lines. I think part of the issue is I can't eat seafood, and often, Discoveries had a seafood-heavy menu. I felt like I missed out at White Nights because so many of the special items were seafood.

[ChucktownSteve]

Technodude, There was plenty of time between getting back, freshening up (aka showering), eating in either Discoveries or Windows and heading out to the AzAmazing evening. There’s also food in the Windows Café when you return for another bite if you OMG haven’t had enough food on the cruise. lol

Since you brought up food…or I did, We’ve had sushi on at least two buffets in Discoveries so far with some in Windows too. So if you’re a Celebrity cruiser and miss the free sushi when they created SO5, you’ll be happy.

BTW if I don’t post for a while, it will be because I ran out of my DW’s free minutes. I’ll resume once we get to our hotel in Stockholm.

As I put away my laundry that was returned today, the shirts, pants and shorts were on hangers. My socks were paired and folded over at the end. The underwear, my wife swears, they threw mine out and replace them with new paris. Hahahaha. Now I know to bring half of what I think I need since I’ll have the laundry bag free. Or better yet, maybe I should empty out my whole supply at home and bring them to Az.

They had the hallway clogged with tables full of Russian souvenirs last night. Lots of people bought stuff. I drank at the Spirits bar enjoying conversation.

We’re sailing into Helsinki. It’s socked in with fog but we’re plodding ahead at 5:30. We’re supposed to dock about 8:30. There won’t be a shuttle into town. We’ll see if we want to walk or not after the walking we did the last three days. We have several hours before we make that decision. If it’s raining, I believe our decision will be made for us since we don’t have anything we must do.

Sailaway is 5pm to Stockholm.

[tiggertom]

Pleased to hear you are still having a wonderful time. Have a good day in Helsinki and I hope the fog clears in time for your spectacular arrival into Stockholm.

[ChucktownSteve]

Hiccups, Executive Chef Monica just came back on board for this sailing. Besides food being subjective, perhaps the Executive Chef may have something to do with the differences.

Regarding the table location, had we not been chatting and let the window tables fill up along the perimiter, we wouldn’t have had to wait. However once they did fill up, it takes an hour for them to turn over. Timing is everything. There were plenty of other available tables however I wanted a specific location.

I agree with you that Discoveries had the best food, excluding White Night. For the people that had evening excursions, Discoveries also had the surf & turf from WN served in the MDR so they didn’t miss out.

I awoke again before 5am. This time I waited until about 6 before making our coffee run. They had put out the ern of regular coffee but the bean grinding coffee machine was out of beans and the paper coffee cups were gone. A crew member getting coffee said the machine is out but he’s not here yet. I suppose sometimes it doesn’t pay to wake up before the crew starts their day. Fortunately we bring our insulated coffee mugs so the coffee run was successful.

Windows Cafe does start serving breakfast at 7am today. The fog cleared and we sailed into Helsinki with the sun shining and some clouds; docking an hour early.

Because we had so far eaten breakfast in the Windows, I decided to try Discoveries this morning. I discovered why not too many people were eating there. Besides the breakfast taking a very long time, the Windows omelet guy makes three to four dozen omelets to the Discoveries one. Mine came out uncooked in the center and was inedible. It was difficult to get the assistant waiters attention for a coffee refill and the head waiter was hiding in the kitchen. I won’t be attempting breakfast there and will stick with Windows. Maybe it was that they became lax with the lack of passengers.

When we went ashore, we broke down and took the HOHO.

I’m glad we did because at one of the stops we saw a rose garden and conservatory greenhouse so we hopped off. We enjoyed the various varieties of roses and aromas heading up to the glass structure. We spotted various plants and trees inside including several varieties of orchids.

Then back to the HOHO to finish the route. This HOHO was pretty decent with good doses of history and narration without the incessant music.

The weather turned out to be perfect. Not too hot or cold with some sun. In fact I believe except for the first part of the cruise we’ve had better than expected weather. So I will apologize now to the passengers on the next two voyages because we’ve used up your good weather already.

We’ve sailed. The sun is high in the sky and it will remain light for several hours longer. This evening will be our last opportunity to use up our non-refundable OBC. I booked Prime C for tomorrow night so no use letting the rest of the feux money go to waste.

[Grandma Gilly]

I think that Robert is the executive chef with three chefs under him-Monica, Iwan and Fabio.

Last time we were on board Journey, the lovely Fabio was our chef and he left for his vacation with us at the end of our cruise. Robert came on board about a week before Fabio's vacation.

[alfredo1]

Just a note re coffee, the coffee machines in Windows which make fresh coffee in various forms are available 24 hours a day with china mugs and take away containers. Makes good coffee, albeit with a shortage of a small nibble to accompany during the night. Room service will also supply 24 hours.

[Grandma Cruising]

Only trouble with room service is you have to wait for it - sometimes you just want a hot drink straight away.

We use the room service breakfast ordering cards to order tea and fruit juice in our stateroom every morning. Delivery time is in half hour slots and it usually arrives at the beginning of the chosen slot.

 

 

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[ChucktownSteve]

Forgot to talk about the food yesterday. HA. When we returned to the ship it was shortly before Windows closed so we went up for lunch. They were making what they called Philly cheesesteak sandwiches. We’ll I would have ordered mine wit but they were really more like ham and cheese Paninis. They were very good though.

We finished spending our OBN. If my calculations are correct, including Prime C this evening, our credit card will be charged 48 cents additional for the cruise tab.

After enjoying the piano music in Spirits Bar. We went to the cabin to relax awaiting the Scrumptious Chocolate Buffet. They were setting it up the tables in Mosaic as we passed.

After relaxing and being still full from lunch, we decided to continue relaxing and catching up on some news. We skipped dinner AND the buffet because we would have been too tempted to indulge in a cruiser’s favorite pastime on board. Even though we were told not to miss the rum balls. Maybe next time.

We took a nap and awoke early. I usually beat the crew awake but this time I also had to wait for the sun to wake up too. So at 4:30, I made my trek for our coffee. After making my DW’s cup, the machine decided it wanted to have someone empty the grounds. Remember, yesterday it was out of beans. Are we seeing a pattern while the crew takes their well-deserved nap overnight? Perhaps a second machine or a bigger one would fill the gap.

At 4:52 I ordered coffee and club sandwiches from Room Service. I remembered the suggestion from the earlier post. Let’s see if anyone is working? The TV satellite has been down for several hours. It must be a location thing.

OK sun started rising on the horizon. I took some nice pics then the clouds became jealous and have blocked it. It’s very overcast and looks like we’re going to hit some rain.

Well breakfast/lunch has arrived in a timely fashion…a tad under ½ hr. We ordered the club sandwiches and COFFEE. The food hit the spot. It was an interesting Club with a fried egg. Everything was very good. The fries were still hot, fresh and cooked just right.

This is the second room service and both times they put the tray down and turned to hurry off. I had to stop them to give a gratuity for which they both seemed surprised. That surprised me. Anyway my DW asked him this morning if we were the only ones awake to which he replied yes. Lol

Today we’re doing an independent tour at 10am once we dock in Stockholm. I hope the rain holds off.

[Grandma Cruising]

There are two machines in Windows, one as each side.

 

 

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[workingtocruise-59]

I think that Robert is the executive chef with three chefs under him-Monica, Iwan and Fabio.

Last time we were on board Journey, the lovely Fabio was our chef and he left for his vacation with us at the end of our cruise. Robert came on board about a week before Fabio's vacation.

I think that Monica, Iwan & Fabio all have the titles Executive Chef and Robert is the Corporate Executive Chef.

[marinaro44]

I think that Robert is the executive chef with three chefs under him-Monica, Iwan and Fabio.

Last time we were on board Journey, the lovely Fabio was our chef and he left for his vacation with us at the end of our cruise. Robert came on board about a week before Fabio's vacation.

Monica, Iwan, and Fabio all have the title Executive Chef. Robert has fleet-wide responsibilities and comes on-board when major menu changes are introduced (e.g., recent Discoveries breakfast menu).

[Grandma Gilly]

That would explain why Robert was on board. Changes must have been made the following cruise

[ChucktownSteve]

Grandma Gilly, not on our cruise. The Executive Chef is Monica E. Ortiz. If she’s the same one you’re thinking about, she must have received a promotion.

Alfredo1, you are partially correct. The machines are physically there 24 hours a day and they may be functioning properly by the time you get there. But if they run out of coffee beans or the ground tray needs to be emptied overnight, it becomes a boat anchor until serviced. Does anyone get the reference to boat anchor? Lol

They were right that sailing into Stockholm is a sight to see. Passing what seems like tons of little islands and extensions with homes, docks and mini lighthouses along the 20NM inland.

We did a 5 hour private excursion on a large bus. Their Wi-Fi didn’t work. We went to the Museum where the resurrected Viking vessel that sunk as soon as was launch was housed. We rode around all the areas with good history and narration. Then we had two hours walking on our own in the old town looking for shops ending with ½ hour walking tour.

Dinner was in Prime C last night. DW ordered the Filet Mignon and I ordered the T-bone. Both had excellent flavor without any sauces. Her filet was tender. My steak was more like a porterhouse. I ate the filet small filet side but the other side was too tough to eat. The waiter noticed it and brought me a half sized filet because I was reaching my food limit. My filet was perfect and very flavorful. Jaison’s service was top notch.

Embarkation day we awoke about 5am…because we could. I laid around being lazy but finally decided to head to Windows for the morning coffee run at 5:25. There were pastries and fruit out but only the dreaded coffee machine. There were five people ahead of me and it took 15 minutes because everyone had to push the coffee button twice to get a full cup.

There was a crew member doing something with the cream/milk containers with post it notes. Finally after everyone was grumbling about the time it took, I asked him what time will they bring out the coffee urn. He said 6am. Not with all the people embarking early, that just doesn’t make sense not to have put it out when they put out the continental breakfast. The beans were about out and the person in front of me was making their coffee when the crew member brought out the urn early. Phew.

We’re sharing a car service with another couple from our roll call. They’re dropping us off at our hotel near the airport then they go on to the airport. Our flight is out at 830am tomorrow. Then it’s back to work for us.

Overall I feel this was an excellent cruise and one of the best, if not the best, we’ve been on. Of course I’m discounting the OLD days when cruising was different. The one thing that makes Azamara stand out better than the rest is the crew. And it’s not just a few of them. Although I have not sailed the super-premium lines yet, I’d say Azamara’s service and attitude is up there with them. The difference I felt was that the crew and guests were almost like family in some cases. It’s not as easy to get to know them on the mass market lines.

I’ve tried to be more factual and not compare too much to the other cruise lines. Although I know some slipped in. Thank you for following if my droning on and on hadn’t already caused you to stop following. J

I found the food to be very good most of the time and a miss at others. Thus I can see reasons for people’s positive and negative opinions. I don’t feel that the few misses I encountered to be enough to tarnish my high image of AZ. YMMV.

TYVM AZ for a great cruise with a very interesting itinerary. I very much look forward to sailing Azamara again. Now I just hope they have a good promotion with the proper timing and itinerary.

[ChucktownSteve]

Yes Grandma there are two machines but the other one isn't turned on early. I've walked passed it on two occasions when it was shut down. Only the one is at the main entrance for overnight.

[QueenP]

Thank you so much for your balanced and entertaining posts, I've really enjoyed following your cruise😊

 

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[Grandma Cruising]

Oh, I have got tea from the machine near The Patio early on a couple of mornings when we had to get up before breakfast room service times due to an early start for an excursion. Must admit I didn't look at the coffee machine, as we drink tea first thing. The hot water boiler was definitely on, though.

Thanks very much ChucktownSteve for your detailed review - made very good reading.

 

 

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[tazza_0712]

Thanks for your terrific review. It's been a great deal of fun following along!

 

 

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[tiggertom]

Thanks Steve, really enjoyed your blog. :)

[uktog]

I have really enjoyed reading your perspectives as a newbie, thanks!

[Food galore]

Thanks Steve for your lovely balanced review.I can't believe how early you get up in the morning. Do you get up that early at home?

[Teknodude]

Thanks for the review - can't believe it's over for you already. Our friends from Miami on the cruise certainly seemed to have fun - we had daily updates from them as well!!, and we are excited to be joining the Journey on the 23rd in Stockholm. I hope you left some nice weather there for us! Safe trip home....

[cpgrneyes]

I echo all the kudos and thanks to you, Steve. We've been on a number of Azamara cruises, but did a land trip last year. You've revved up my excitement for our cruise back on AZ next month. I think a lot of us who followed your wonderful and balanced reporting are almost as sad your cruise is over as you and you wife must be!

 

Cheryl