Favorite Azamazing Evenings

[nordski]

49 minutes ago, hiccups said:

I really enjoyed the Riverdance Azamazing Evening in Dublin.  My husband came along begrudgingly and admitted afterwards he was glad he attended.

 

Our other two cruises had the Valencia Azamazing Evening, and we thought it was just okay--we skipped it the second time.  It was a very nice venue, though.

Looking forward to whatever we may experience on our Peru/Chile cruise in January 2022!

We were there as well. Glad your husband enjoyed it. It was memorable.

[ddpe]

All great, but my husband and I often remember the evening in Ephesus.  Eric especially made the evening special in his attire.  Bangkok was also so wonderful!  I can't wait for the resumption of cruising.  

 

[Lynnewob]

14 hours ago, Bloodaxe said:

Another evening we really enjoyed was in Dubrovnik old town in June last year, the Cellist Anna Bruckner gave a great performance.

Just has impressive to us was the amount of birds, Swallows, Swifts and Martin's wheeling around above the town.

They may not have been welcomed by the people dining outside the restaurant's but we were fascinated by them, never seen so many in one place.

We were there too and the performance was excellent. Very lucky to sit on the second row with two empty seats in front of us for some reason, which worked nicely in our favour. 

I agree with your comment about the birds, I have never seen so many in one place.  It was a wonderful evening.

[Oulton Jim]

[To Werangels] That's correct -about a 5 minute walk from the Broads. Yours is a nice village. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by Oulton Jim

[Grandma Cruising]

Like dope we loved the evening in Bangkok. It was magical with the little train journey through the replica buildings in the ‘Ancient City’, a great display of dancing, fireworks and then floating a lamp in the river.

Edited August 7, 2020 by Grandma Cruising

[uktog]

8 minutes ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Like dope we loved the evening in Bangkok. It was magical with the little train journey through the replica buildings in the ‘Ancient City’, a great display of dancing, fireworks and then floating a lamp in the river.

It was a very photogenic evening 

[NeilWM]

We also loved the Riverdance performance at the lovely old Gaiety Theatre in Dublin

[excitedofharpenden]

1 hour ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Like dope we loved the evening in Bangkok. It was magical with the little train journey through the replica buildings in the ‘Ancient City’, a great display of dancing, fireworks and then floating a lamp in the river.

I remember that one too.  I also remember it being so hot an humid!  I don't do well when it's like that.  Even though I'm male and don't think I'm going through menopause I'm inclined toward a personal summer!😄

 

Phil

[Mrs Miggins]

Best one for me was at the Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo.  Spectacular venue, lovely music plus actors on stilts dressed as underwater creatures in many of the rooms, interesting exhibits, excellent drinks and nibbles, the view of Monaco from the roof terrace, and the opportunity to tickle a shark (small).  5 minute ride back to the ship.  Perfection.

Also loved Ephesus, in the small amphitheatre, wearing flower garlands and laurel wreaths, a bit of Greco - Romano wrestling, Crew and Captain dressed up, and some lovely music. Splendid ruins in the twilight - a few local dogs barking far away.  

 

The weirdest was in Cannes, in a Theatre under one of the great hotels, some music and dancing, some scantily clad young ladies (audible gasp from the audience)  greatly enjoyed by one half of the audience. Enthusiastic Can Can.  Sadly the excellent male dancers remained fully clothed.

[Mrs Miggins]

[Bloodaxe]

The mention of Dogs barking in the distance at Ephesus reminded me of Cats wandering around and the the sound of Goats bleating with their bells jangling has night fell, very atmospheric.

[nordski]

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

 

The weirdest was in Cannes, in a Theatre under one of the great hotels, some music and dancing, some scantily clad young ladies (audible gasp from the audience)  greatly enjoyed by one half of the audience. Enthusiastic Can Can.  Sadly the excellent male dancers remained fully clothed.

Now THAT made me laugh! Well done Mrs. Miggins.

 

I too saw that performance and quickly rationalized that the appearance of the “scantily-clad young ladies” was an “homage” to an earlier, more misogynistic, period on the French Riviera. “Always important to acknowledge one’s history,” I said to my wife.

But the audience reaction reminded me of an Evening in a beautiful theatre in Cartagena, Columbia. The star was a rather young male pianist who played with a rather florid style.

 

About 3/4 through his performance, he was joined by a young female dancer whose moves awakened the interest of the other half of the audience.

 

In the rather fuzzy photo below she seemed to be cheering on the erstwhile Liberace by flourishing cheerleader style pom-poms.

 

As you can imagine, I envied the young man.

Although not of the quality of other Evenings, it was certainly memorable.

 

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

 

 

The weirdest was in Cannes, in a Theatre under one of the great hotels, some music and dancing, some scantily clad young ladies (audible gasp from the audience)  greatly enjoyed by one half of the audience. Enthusiastic Can Can.  Sadly the excellent male dancers remained fully clothed.

The weirdest one I ever did was in Bergen. It was a medieval celebration of Norway and we walked to it from the ship and down the backstreets, being "serenaded" by a Norwegian theatre group dressed up in costumes and grotesque masks and noses. Yes, it was plain weird and Captain Johannes was a bit incredulous at the whole thing and said they'll never do that again. 👺

 

The strawberries they served us however were the best I have ever tasted. It was the very early days of Azamazing. It was so strange that it was actually quite fun and memorable. It's one of the few I can recall readily. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

My weirdest was in Cartagena Columbia. Beautiful setting but this old lady came on to be the entertainment spoke no English when one of the backing band tried to help interpret she kept stopping him and rambling off. We had a programme she was to do 12 songs. After 4 (and one hour) Elisabeth and Amanda decided to cut it. Even when Amanda came on stage the old woman grabbed the mike back and started rambling. Everyone talked about it next day in amusing anecdotes it seemed that not only was the lady rather old, she was smoking backstage and not a Rothmans finest 🙂 

 

Quest was due to have the same event the month after, they did get to enjoy the venue but for some strange reason the old lady did not feature..... 

[laurieb]

7 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Best one for me was at the Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo.  Spectacular venue, lovely music plus actors on stilts dressed as underwater creatures in many of the rooms, interesting exhibits, excellent drinks and nibbles, the view of Monaco from the roof terrace, and the opportunity to tickle a shark (small).  5 minute ride back to the ship.  Perfection.

Also loved Ephesus, in the small amphitheatre, wearing flower garlands and laurel wreaths, a bit of Greco - Romano wrestling, Crew and Captain dressed up, and some lovely music. Splendid ruins in the twilight - a few local dogs barking far away.  

 

The weirdest was in Cannes, in a Theatre under one of the great hotels, some music and dancing, some scantily clad young ladies (audible gasp from the audience)  greatly enjoyed by one half of the audience. Enthusiastic Can Can.  Sadly the excellent male dancers remained fully clothed.

I'm hoping that we have one at the Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo, as we overnight there

[Grandma Cruising]

Others I remember were - 

- in Cyprus, our first Azamara cruise. They bussed us up to one of the villages in the Troodos mountains on a glorious day in October. The village was beautiful, all pedestrian, and we were greeted with wine and lovely snacks, then all sat down in the village square for a display of Greek dancing and singing. Unfortunately when they planned it nobody took account of the fact that once the sun goes down it gets very cold in the mountains and nobody had coats! It had to be cut short so all of us shivering passengers could get on the busses and back to the ship to warm up

- Aqaba, where we were taken out to Wadi Rum to a sort of modern amphitheatre. The surrounding scenery was lovely. They cooked flat bread - 2 at a time, so it was very slow getting round. The display was a group of men and a boy doing traditional dances - interesting for the first couple of dances, after that pretty boring as the dances were all very similar. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Grandma Cruising

[berkshireboy]

4 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

Others I remember were - 

- in Cyprus, our first Azamara cruise. They bussed us up to one of the villages in the Troodos mountains on a glorious day in October. The village was beautiful, all pedestrian, and we were greeted with wine and lovely snacks, then all sat down in the village square for a display of Greek dancing and singing. Unfortunately when they planned it nobody took account of the fact that once the sun goes down it gets very cold in the mountains and nobody had coats! It had to be cut short so all of us shivering passengers could get on the busses and back to the ship to warm up

-

 

We were also on that cruise.  As well as the cold, the organizers were not aware that after each performance of a particular style of local singing/dancing the performers went off elsewhere in the village to change into different costumes etc. taking about 20 minutes, whilst we were left to talk among ourselves not knowing what was happening.   I also recall we were sitting near the back of the square and that drinks and snacks were served to the front rows first and didn't reach us at the back.  Eventually this was resolved.  [This is a problem we've encountered on other Azamazing evenings].

Looking back over the years I would say that in our experience poor Azamazing evenings outnumbered memorable ones by about two to one.  Perhaps we've been unlucky.

[Grandma Cruising]

14 minutes ago, berkshireboy said:

 

We were also on that cruise.  As well as the cold, the organizers were not aware that after each performance of a particular style of local singing/dancing the performers went off elsewhere in the village to change into different costumes etc. taking about 20 minutes, whilst we were left to talk among ourselves not knowing what was happening.   I also recall we were sitting near the back of the square and that drinks and snacks were served to the front rows first and didn't reach us at the back.  Eventually this was resolved.  [This is a problem we've encountered on other Azamazing evenings].

Looking back over the years I would say that in our experience poor Azamazing evenings outnumbered memorable ones by about two to one.  Perhaps we've been unlucky.

Not sure that was the same event. We were served drinks and snacks as we walked into the village and had a while to wander around looking in shops & getting more drinks and snacks before sitting down. 

[Redtravel]

EBest was in Bordeaux at  Chateaux Giscours.  Tour of vineyards and winery, entertainmentment, lavish food, and the most fabulous wine I have ever tasted.  It was over the top devine.  

[cpgrneyes]

I can’t believe I didn’t think of another VERY memorable evening in Liverpool at the Cathedral. It began with light opera/Broadway type male and female singers and ended with a Beatles cover band playing with the real Beatles shown on screens. Russ beckoned us up to dance, and I found myself dancing. In Liverpool. In the Cathedral. To the Beatles. Azamazing!

[AllisonJames]

Another vote for Riverdance in Dublin, July 2019, Azamara Journey! Our wonderful memories of all our Azamara cruises are sustaining us during this time when we cannot cruise....looking forward to being back some day!

[Baynanno1]

2 hours ago, cpgrneyes said:

I can’t believe I didn’t think of another VERY memorable evening in Liverpool at the Cathedral. It began with light opera/Broadway type male and female singers and ended with a Beatles cover band playing with the real Beatles shown on screens. Russ beckoned us up to dance, and I found myself dancing. In Liverpool. In the Cathedral. To the Beatles. Azamazing!

 

Different cruise, but almost same evening . . . champagne for starters in the Cathedral followed by voices (similar to) & songs of Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli (but not quite look alikes) followed by the "Beatles" . . . fabulous . . . until the return when we got more than a little wet.

[tiggertom]

The wackiest Azamazing evening we went to was in Cabo San Lucas when we were taken to some canyon out of town and the dancers did a presentation of Dia de Muertos - day of the dead - where they were dressed as skeletons. Mexicans view death as a celebration and it was very colourful and lively and loud and the margaritas were very strong. It was a good night.

[mole.man]

Cherbourg for D-Day +70 years in the terminal. They had actors in period costumes and a big band. The mayor presented a plaque to a paratroper vet.

Alan Fairfax's post - https://www.silvertraveladvisor.com/blog/cruise-azamara-blog/azamara-club-cruises-memories-of-world-war-ii-days-5 

 

 

[marinaro44]

1 hour ago, mole.man said:

Cherbourg for D-Day +70 years in the terminal. They had actors in period costumes and a big band. The mayor presented a plaque to a paratroper vet.

Yes!  How could I forget?  Wonderful French wines, cheeses, breads, pastries, and an intoxicating spirit of joie de vivre.  A true celebration.