7-NIGHT RIVIERAS AND SUNSETS ON THE JOURNEY. Full Trip Report with pix! 9/29/18 - 10/6/18

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Hello Fellow Azamara Cruisers!
We are just back (September 29 - October 6) from an absolutely A M A Z I N G week sailing from Barcelona to Rome on The Journey. I couldn't wait to sit down and tell the happy tale of our incredible journey on THE JOURNEY.
A little about us.. we are both in our mid fifties and this is our 5th seven day Azamara cruise.

It was yet another week filled with gorgeous weather, beautiful ports, delicious food, plentiful wine, lovely new friends and very smooth waters.

Laundry is done.. suitcases put away.. fridge restocked.. mail sorted.. check.. check.. check..

Ready to share the adventure? Come sail with me!


It was Friday September 28th and our nonstop flight from JFK to BCN was departing at 8pm.
It was a glorious early fall evening in New York.

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Flying time 7 hours.. they flew by quite quickly I must say

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Took the Azamara transfer from BCN and arrived at the ship by 11am.
Quick checkin.. just waiting to board.

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Oh yay!! 11:30 and we were up the gangway and our Journey had begun!

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Cabins were not ready yet so we marched up to Deck 8 and had a bite to eat and drink at The Patio.
Our poor tired bodies were so confused. Was it morning? Was it afternoon? Do we drink coffee? Do we drink wine?
We had both!

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We collected our literature for the first day. New name and new format for the former "Azamara Pursuit."

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1:30 on the nose and the announcement was made that the cabins were ready!

Geez.. we both needed showers and a nap desperately.
We haven't been on Azamara since they updated the decor few years ago. It was lovely!

Cabin 6087 near the back of the ship was to be our home for the next week. 😍

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Ports for the week!

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2:00 came and no luggage yet. Since we had to be back on board by 4:00 for the Lifeboat Drill we figured we better get out while the getting is good if we want to see a bit of Barcelona.
Loved that the ship was docked so close to the Columbus statue. It made it a very short walk to Las Ramblas. From our Balcony we could see the larger ships "parked" in the distance.

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We rambled up and down Las Ramblas.. admired gummies, the size of NBA players and the glorious weather!

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Back on board and our luggage was waiting for us. 🙂

Met Lyric and Gilda who were FANTASTIC cabin attendants! So sweet! So helpful!

 

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Unpacked.. everything always seems to fit just right.

Plenty of plugs for our plenty of electronics.

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Lifeboat drill at 4:45 in the Discoveries Restaurant.

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Goodbye Barcelona! See ya on another vacation soon.

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Just after the Sailaway was the Cruise Critic Social!

Wonderful to see the Captain Tysse.. Eric.. Heike... all familiar and friendly faces.
So very nice to meet all the posters from our roll call.
Getting "tireder and tireder" by the moment..
Dinner in the Windows Cafe.. a delicious Italian Buffet. What a pleasure to be on our favorite Sunset Bar/Deck again.. eating alfresco and thinking of all the wondrous things to come this week!

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 30 (Will have to post pictures later.. seems to be an issue right now.)

So we are up to Sunday and we are tendered at Port Vendres, France for the day. We got up leisurely and made it to breakfast at Windows by 10:30. I wasn't sure what there was to do in Port Vendres until I had read a post in our roll call by Lottie A (Thanks Lottie A!) about a the Little Tourist Train that goes from the port to a charming town 2 plus miles away named Collieure and then a scenic ride back to port by way of the mountain vineyards. When we bought our 8 Euro ticket we had the choice of whether to stay on the train for the 45 minute round trip ride or to reserve a spot on a later train and spend a few hours in town. I chose to stay on the train because I didn't realize that all the action was in Collieure and not in Port Vendres. Once we realized that, we actually decided to retrace the path of the train on foot and walk back to Collieure to spend an hour there. Weather gorgeous.. sights gorgeous!

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A few random thoughts so far..

A few random thoughts so far..

1. What happened to the About Rose toiletries??  The name always used to give us a chuckle. A comedian on the cruise once remarked.. who is Rose?  Why do we want to know all about her?

2. Great addition of two USB plugs underneath the reading lamps on either side of the bed.

3. The standard included wines have been absolutely delish!!  I loved that they included a Rose daily in addition to the two choices of white and two choices of red.  Husband Sam (shh... don't tell anyone) is actually a fan of cheap sweet Pink Zinfandel.. the sweeter the better. There must  be others who enjoy it too so if Azamara  is looking to add an extra wine a day then maybe, just maybe, a sweet Pink Zinfandel would be a good choice.

4. MOST. COMFORTABLE. SHEETS. EVER.  The new bedding must be about 1,000,000 thread count and 100% delicious!

5. Shout out to the staff at the Windows Cafe.  No matter what the time.. breakfast, lunch or dinner they are ALL so so so so friendly, welcoming and sweet!  So willing and happy to make your meal a delight. Fast as lightening with the wine refills, the warm greetings and the genuine smiles.  I recognized many of them from past cruises and felt like I was greeting old friends.  And who I didn't recognize became a new pal by day two.

6. Oh! Love that the soap for the shower is a BIG fat chunk of round soap the size of a hockey puck.  It doesn't fall thru the slots in the metal shelf in the shower. Perfect.

7. Love that our favorite table in Discoveries was probably the least desirable for everyone else and for that reason it was available for the 4 nights we ate there.  It was the table for 2 squished all the way in the near left corner (behind the wall that separates the bar from the dining room) when you walk in.  Laze and Amit were happy to give us that one since it was always free and by day two they knew it was our favorite.

8. Liked that the casino is now video gaming with no real tables.  It was always empty and it was a fun impersonal gambling experience. The casino people were super nice too.

9. Photo times they are a 'changin. I was one of the last hold outs for film cameras and then finally embraced digital.  Now even though I packed my camera I took all of my pictures on this trip on my phone.  Not to say that I won't bring my camera on a future trip but the phone is always in hand..

10. On the subject of photos.. the photographer was very low key all cruise which is great.  I did want to buy a picture that was taken at the White Night Party (because I looked a good 10 years younger than I actually am in it!) and it was a very reasonable $8 for a 6 X 8 photo.

11. Ping pong is fun!! Never was a fan but we just happened to pick up the racquets on deck 10 and started to play.

12. These random thoughts are getting sillier and sillier.

 

And now for the two ever so slight negatives.  Even though the cruise has been 99.99% awesome so far there are a few things that could be improved upon.  I always feel that a complaint is a gift not an insult.  It lets a business know what could be improved upon.

1. The internet should just be free for all guests.  At this price point it seems a bit "nickle and dimey" to charge for wifi.  Also.. it's painfully slow which definitely needs to be addressed as well.

2. The price of the shore excursions has gotten out of hand.  It seems as if the shore excursions have almost tripled in price since the early days of Azamara.

An $83 two hour walking tour or a $230 day trip is just way too much. On our previous Azamara cruises we had at least $500 of included credit and on this one we had none.  Maybe that made me more sensitive to the costs?  I'm not sure.

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SUNDAY OCTOBER 30 - PORT VENDRES

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At 4:00 we set sail for Marseille.

There was a lovely cocktail party for LVC members.. the passed around appetizers and desserts were truly works of art!

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BRAVO to Captain Tysse!  This was the weather forecast for Marseille. There were going to be gale force winds on Monday and he had to hurry up The Journey to get there before the winds started or else we would have had to miss the port.

Instead of arriving in the early AM Monday we docked at midnight on Sunday.  We were well protected at the dock. 6 lines instead of 3 held us in place.

 

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MONDAY OCTOBER 1st.

 

 

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We have been to Marseille as few times before all aboard Azamara cruises.

It's a lovely city to walk around.. good shopping.

I stocked up on Nespresso capsules as they are half the price that they are in the USA.

 

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We also walked up to the Noailles Market area.. about a 10 minute stroll from the mouth of the harbor.

There was a HUGE line of locals for one euro pizza.. we wanted to get in on the action so we bought a slice.  Hot and fresh.. it was delicious!

Enjoyed the middle eastern desserts too.