Azamara Pursuit - Semi Live review, B2B2B - France and Italy intensive

[Georgeven]

Hi there, we are Jorge (40) & Stian (42) (a.K.a the arctic husbands) from Norway, this will be our 20th cruise; second with Azamara. This is the first leg of a B2B2B. This first week we had a Club Ocean Suite stateroom.

We booked these cruises to celebrate our 10th years marriage anniversary and because after meny RCCL and Celebrity we wanted to experience Azamara again and the ports of call in the meditterannean where the bil Ships cannot go 

 

PRE-CRUISE: Barcelona... One night stay  in the Eurostar’s Grand Marina, next to the port where Azamara starts... so the check out, walk to the ship was a decisive factor... we have been several times in Barcelona and sightseeing was not something we needed this time around. The Hotel is OK, nice but dated rooms, a reception staff that smiles but doesn’t do their job, the best of the stay is the small restaurant offering a Gourmet dinner experience and this was a highlight of the trip... the food and the wine pairings were PERFECT... do we recommend this hotel... yes for a stay next to the port.

 

EMBARKATION: very easy... just five minutes and then we were on board. 

SHIP: Pursuit is a beautiful ship. The newest of their kind... elegant, sophisticated and the color palette makes you feel happy.

CABIN: for this first leg of the back to back we upgraded (at last minute) to a Club continental suite, we got 8039, perfect location and the only suite I have ever said OMG WAO when opening the door... the colours, the decoration, the style and the light.

No noise problems, at least for us. 

 

SUITE CLASS PERKS: 

Internett: 235 minutes per guest, which is OK but slowly but after all you´re on holiday and IT works for reading emails if you ned it.

Butler service: our butler Roy has been outstanding, amazing level of service when we have requested our breakfast in the suite, our tea service in the afternoon. 

I will post a picture of the letter in the stateroom with all of the suite perks you can get

 

DINING: This week we just have ate dinner in Aqualina or Prime C, given that is included in the suite perks. Once we had dinner in the buffet (before the Azamazing evening) and once with the White party buffet that was AMAZING. Aqualina and Prime C quality of food and service has been really on point.  

Room service: we had breakfast in the rom almost everyday and it was very very very nice to have the extra space the suite provides and the balcony breakfast when it was not so cold in the early hours.

 

BARS:

For this first week we decided to buy the ultimate drinking package and it worked well for us this week. We got to try most of the included wines when having dinner, and some of the premium drinks we enjoy when on a cruise. For the second week, we decided not to buy it so we can compare the experience....

Our favorite place for drinks so far is The Den... it is just a very nice place, with some piano music on the evenings and the best bartenders and waiters.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

This week we attended all the Signature Singers shows (3 shows) and they were good. These guys can sing and dance and keep you entertained for the 45 minutes signing along. We loved the intimacy of the cabaret lounge shows, if you´re expecting but productions shows, this is not the case and it works for Azamara.

Azamazing Evening in Marseilles, Palais du Pharo. Was very entertaining, a kind of cabaret show with very french music, dancers and two great vocalists.

White Evening party: we are not party people so we didn´t stay long after the White Evening Buffett ended but the party looked nice and people was enjoying themselves. All the staff makes a great effort for this event and you should not miss it.

 

SERVICE:

In general the service level around the ship is very good. Of course there are some that are just good and there are some people that just go above and beyond. 

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS & Ports of call:

 

• Port Vendres: small, charming village, we just walked around and then found a hiking path that takes you to the other small town Collioure(or something like it). The Wall in the green areas around the Coast line is just very very very nice and easy with some amazing views. Breathtaking
• Sanary Sur Mer:Beautiful town, the marina, the restaurants and cafes, it was very beautiful. We just walked around and enjoyed perplekse watching here and there.
• Marseille: a vibrant city, we walked around, did some shopping and visited the Cathedral. It was great to be docked just in the center of town (or very very close)
• St. Tropez: we took and organized excursion from Azamara and loved every minute; we visited Gassinand Ramatuelleand the Bertaud Bellieu wineyardfor wine tasting. The guide we had has to be the most amazing guy we ever had AS a guide. We actually think we got a lecture on wine making, all about the process and the technology and traditional methods. The wine was so good we bought three bottles to take with us to the ship and enjoy in the stateroom. Also the small towns Gassins and Ramatuelle were beautiful and we got to learn about the history of the places. In Ramatuelle we enjoyed some free time that we used eating cheese and hams with a cold bottle of Rose wine from a local wine yard. It was an amazing day. The port of St. Tropez by itself, was not as expected, it was crowded and just a marina with amazing yachts, the best was the local artists selling their paintings around the marina. Beautiful paints and interesting people.
• Cannes: we have been in Cannes several times so we decided to go for the Excursion of the ship to Grasse with a perfume factory visit and to St. Paul de Vence. And again we got a great guide, the visit to the perfume factory: Fragonard; this was very enriching and we could resist and bought two new Eau de Colognes with shower gels... Then we visited St. Paul de Vence and OMG this small hilltop village is just amazing, it breathes art from everywhere. The local artist and small galleries in the very narrow streets, the views from the wall of the town, the small restaurants... once again we learned about the local history with our guide and in the free time we just walked around and decided to have a very French lunch, we found a little place where they make sandwiches, so we bought a baguette with local produced cheese and ham, and sat on the wall and had our small French sandwich picnic there... just beautiful.
• Monaco: Last minute changes out of Azamara control, The port authorities closed the port in Monaco so we got diverted to Nice... for the last night and day of this first cruise. We will explore a little bit of Nice today.

 

NEXT CRUISE OFFICE:

So far they have made a good job and we booked a cruise for 2021, Western Africa sailing from Cape Town to Lisboa. The benefits of booking on board make sense for us coming from the Nordic market.

I won´t be posting everyday but will check regularly and post some updates by the end of the second cruise reviewing ports, excursions, and things we have not yet tried during this first week on board, so if you have any questions, don´t hesitate to ask, I will try to answer.

[Lottie A]

Thank you so much for your review. I would have been on this cruise if some life events had not happened, so it's very interesting to me. 

 

I just love Sanary sur Mer and Coulliore (Port Vendres) and always look for cruises featuring these ports. 

 

I hope you enjoy the next part of your B2B. 

[Georgeven]

Also as part of the benefits of the suite, we had access to the Thallaso therapy pool (jacuzzi) in the Spa included. The times we used had the terrace for ourselves, it’s at the front of the ship and is a small quiet piece of heaven... 

I also got a clean haircut and it was Ok, of course it was not cheap but the service was good. No pushing products sells... 

[Georgeven]

Suite benefits with a Club Continental Suite

[tompeter]

Thanks for the report.

 

[laurieb]

Thank you very much for sharing your cruises with us!

[Mackdogmolly]

Great review. Thanks!

[BBMacLaird]

Thank you georgeven for the cruise review of the Azamara Pursuit and your port of calls!  So glad you’re having a lovely vacation!

[Georgeven]

A little info on the Back to Back day: we were invited to a B2B information meeting during the last day of the cruise, note that these itineraries are very port intensive, no sea days and just few hours window for these kind of activities; at the meeting we got general information and we also got an envelope with the new stateroom cards and a letter explaining everything.

In this sailing the cleaning and preparation of the “new rooms” were prioritize so we could kept our “old” stateroom until the “new” one is ready to move in. The stateroom attendant or butler will call you to tell you they are coming for your luggage and hanging clothes and help you move to the new one.

You can order breakfast in your room until latest by the 07:30 - 08:00 group.

You pack your things from the drawers and toiletries, all hanging clothes are moved as they are. 

After this, and between 09:00 - 09:45, we had to go to the discoveries restaurant to check out and then check inn with the new cards. And after lunch to come by the guest services desk to check that everything is order with the credit card registration. 

This was so easy that you feel it’s just like another day of the cruise. 

 

[Georgeven]

[kayakcove]

Thanks for the details on communication from the ship on the cabin and the B2B process.  We will be on Pursuit the last half of May and will also be going from a Continent to a Veranda. I was encouraged about your comments on your St.Tropez excursion as we are doing the same one. 

[Georgeven]

The change of port

 

due to weather and things outside of Azamara control, the port of Monaco was closed and then it was decided to dock in Nice for the last day of the cruise / first day of the cruise #2.

 

how Azamara managed to fix this impressed us.  Guest who still wanted to go to Monaco were provided shuttle busses on the evening of arrival. For B2B passengers we had the option to go to Monaco with free shuttle busses during the change day. We didn’t take the busses. And how they managed to embark all the new guests in this port so efficiently was incredible, even when it looked so complicated and so much work for the staff on board. 

 

About Nice, we decided to follow the flow and since we were in Nice, let’s explore it. It was a great surprise, beautiful city, flea and flower markets... the promenade anglais is just a lovely place to walk walk walk and enjoy the views of the blue sea. The architecture of the city is just marvelous... the old city is also just pleasant to walk around... I can definitely see ourselves flying from Oslo to Nice for some summer holidays and from there revisit some of the amazing town: Gassin, Ramatuelle, St. Paul de Vence, Sanary-sur-mer and Villefrache-le-sur. An intensive French cruise was just what we needed to start our holiday... now looking forward to two more weeks of la dolce vita on board the Pursuit in an Italian intensive itinerary. 

 

Au revoir Le France and Ciao Italia

 

 

[ptrpanpens]

Thank you for your review. I just got off that cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now I am spending some days in Nice at the hotel Suisse and have the exact same view you posted above of the Promenade des Anglais just by looking out my hotel window. Million $ view from this hotel.

[jkadventures]

Good info on the Pursuit- thanks!  We are joining you for the Italy intensive voyage. 

[BBMacLaird]

Hi Georgeven, 

When you have a chance if you could review your cruise on the Azamara Pursuit on the CC Reviews page? That would help us greatly because the Pursuit still needs more reviews!

Here's the link: https://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=1288

[Georgeven]

Cruise #2 - Italy Intensive Part One 🙂 

 

OK... now we are some days into our second cruise, new country, new ports, new cabin... 

 

For this one, we are in an Ocean View stateroom, 4000. Coming from the Continent Suite you feel the space is much less, specially in the bathroom... the room still does the job, practical, enough storage space (for us), tiny shower but you get used to. The room is totally at the front of deck 4 so noise and vibration could be an issue for some people. We are early morning and early sleepers so it doesn’t bother us that much... 

 

Santa Margherita: beautiful small town, we though about taking the ferry to Portofino but when we saw the crowds... No way.... we decided to go for a walk all around town, visited the church; we are not religious people but we like the architecture of worshiping places: churches, temples, mosques, etc... it gives you a glimpse in the local culture... 

 

we we found the villa durazzo in the top of the hill and there was a local fair/ market with flowers, handcrafts, art, food... it was nice to walk around and talk to some of the people there, also the gardens around the villa  and the statues were beautiful. Also the details in paintings on the top of the buildings around the center of town were just really beautiful.

 

Portovenere: small and beautiful... we were also planning to visit Cinque Terre and after a misunderstanding / kind of conflict moment with a local operator, and the crowds going on board the local ferry... we decided not to stress it and decided to stay there, we walked up to the castle, amazing views, had breakfast and lunch in town, freaking delicious pesto, and pizzas... and the local beer OMG....  

 

[Georgeven]

Today we are docked in Livorno after two days with tender boats... rainy weather so we decided  to stay on board and Spa the day away...  Ice & fire manicure and pedicure (early morning and early afternoon)... very nice treatments  or pampering I would say and a wonderful staff... Sheylla was Amazing...  DH (aka Stian) also fixed his hair... Kuddos to the hairdresser guy, very nice guy.  Even thou there was a little bit mess up of our original reservations, that we had to adapt the plan for the treatments. But still we are on holiday so chilled out that everything worked out. 

 

So far we have also booked another cruise for early December this year on South America on the Pursuit... the deal was so good we could not resist the temptation to go all the way up to the Club world owner Suite... YEAY!!!!!!! 

 

tonight is the Azamazing Evening, which we are so looking forward and tomorrow we are so going to Florence and Pisa including the visit to the Academia Museum with the ship excursion.

 

Best on board dining kept secret: make yourself a favor and go and try the Patio for dinner.... It was so so so so good the BBQ ribs and the Lamb tenderloin dish, that we didn’t understand why it’s so empty in the evenings... 

 

BTW: sorry for my typos but I am writing in my iPhone 

 

And the picture is the beauty Pursuit seen from Portovenere yesterday 😉 

[BBMacLaird]

Pretty shot of the Pursuit, thank you for sharing.

And thank you for booking the Owners Suite, wow! What fun! 🎉 🎩

[Mackdogmolly]

I am so enjoying your (almost) live reports and pictures!!

[excitedofharpenden]

Glad you are enjoying Pursuit. Continue to have fun. 

 

Phil 

[Georgeven]

Azamazing Evening in Livorno... just an incredible concert in a beautiful Opera Theater. Standing ovation to the performers..  

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Georgeven
Edited pictures

[tompeter]

Enjoying your reports!

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks for the review and for the lovely photos.

[Melissaghoti]

So glad you’re having such a great anniversary trip! Thanks for sharing with us.

Melissa

[Werangels]

Very interested in the Italy part.  Great photos and thank you for taking the time and effort.