Live from Greece and Croatia

[uktog]

 

 

The last evening ended on a high. Cruise Director Darren has introduced a 45 minute farewell set in the Den. It was the happiest event with guests and bar team saying goodbye and leaving to do their final packing on a high. 
 

 

Disembarkation was zero announcements stress free calm (maybe someone should tell Quest to do likewise the morning they were disembarking beside us in Ravenna we were woken up early by their cruise director’s dulcet tones repeating very regularly!). 
 

We’ve lucked out on Welcome Pickups we’ve had the same driver every time and indeed he will also take us to the airport at the end. Our hotel, Hotel Perianth part of the Mr and Mrs Smith chain is in a side pedestrian square and is lovely.  (If only we could work out how to find it each time we come back - we always find it but never the same way, some routes more circular than others!)

 

It’s very much a Greek rather than tourist part of town but we walked 10 minutes for this view (and a drink) 

and five minutes last night to revisit the Orthodox cathedral

we loved it in the day so calming

Today we’ve again taken it easy (a mere 11000 steps so far) and as we’ve seen all around the Acropolis before, we headed 15 minutes in the other direction from yesterday and after the obligatory view of the choreography (white outfits only on Sundays by the way)

 

we have had a lovely time in the National Gardens by the Parliament. 

 

[uktog]

So final thoughts (yes some very subjective)

 

*based on our experience of Quest in April and July and Journey now, we would score Journey above Quest

*The crew on Quest seem more settled and better trained though there are still a few not quite getting it right. 
*The big buffets - White Night and the Brunch - are not as good on Journey not sure if that’s budget cuts or individual ships decisions 

*There were none of the little extras we’ve had elsewhere. Eg no cannoli or equivalent brought on board and no local nibbles at the Destination Celebration although the event itself was excellent 

*The food is now much less to our taste than before.  The focus is now on spice and Eastern not herbs and more Mediterranean.  This doesn’t work for us (menus are imbalanced one night every dish was spiced or peppered) but probably does for others

*The specialty restaurants need a revamp, the food is no longer worth the increased extra and at times the constant interruptions to service by waiters trying to emphasise how good they/the food are is downright annoying 

*The MDR restaurant managers respond the wrong way to feedback- we had an issue one night, every time we went thereafter seated in a different section the very competent and experienced waitresses were not allowed to serve our food, the gentleman took over in a way we did not appreciate. But in context 18/19 meals eaten there were fine. 

*The Chefs Tables are excellent and are worth the extra, but they need more than two menus

*The sommelier in the main dining room and all the bar staff are spot on especially the team in The Den. Loved having the new cocktails in the Den it was a perfect place for them we felt 

*We had Ultimate packages after one tasting of the included wines (yuk) and whilst there were substitutes they were always wines to our taste

*The dreaded club tonic is alive and well until you train a waiter to find the hidden Schweppes but you need to be on your guard especially at the Pool or you get “clubbed” 

*Its incredibly hard to spend obc - cancellations to excursions and a shop with nothing in it (worst Azamara shop range I’ve seen) you really struggle 

*The entertainment shows and specialist sets in the Living Room were excellent and with four singers and two dancers, a much better arrangement than on Quest. 
*The cruise director made the trip for us and many others. 
 

So yes there are niggles it’s not perfect but we did not expect it to be.  There are easy hits for them to improve on if they want to

 

Will we be booking more on Azamara- based on this experience you bet we will when the price is right! 

[lisiamc]

@uktog, we have enjoyed your experiences and your photos so much! It felt almost as though we were there with you. Thank you for a great series of posts. 

[uktog]

20 minutes ago, uktog said:

So final thoughts (yes some very subjective)

 

*based on our experience of Quest in April and July and Journey now, we would score Journey above Quest

*The crew on Quest seem more settled and better trained though there are still a few not quite getting it right. 
*The big buffets - White Night and the Brunch - are not as good on Journey not sure if that’s budget cuts or individual ships decisions 

*There were none of the little extras we’ve had elsewhere. Eg no cannoli or equivalent brought on board and no local nibbles at the Destination Celebration although the event itself was excellent 

*The food is now much less to our taste than before.  The focus is now on spice and Eastern not herbs and more Mediterranean.  This doesn’t work for us (menus are imbalanced one night every dish was spiced or peppered) but probably does for others

*The specialty restaurants need a revamp, the food is no longer worth the increased extra and at times the constant interruptions to service by waiters trying to emphasise how good they/the food are is downright annoying 

*The MDR restaurant managers respond the wrong way to feedback- we had an issue one night, every time we went thereafter seated in a different section the very competent and experienced waitresses were not allowed to serve our food, the gentleman took over in a way we did not appreciate. But in context 18/19 meals eaten there were fine. 

*The Chefs Tables are excellent and are worth the extra, but they need more than two menus

*The sommelier in the main dining room and all the bar staff are spot on especially the team in The Den. Loved having the new cocktails in the Den it was a perfect place for them we felt 

*We had Ultimate packages after one tasting of the included wines (yuk) and whilst there were substitutes they were always wines to our taste

*The dreaded club tonic is alive and well until you train a waiter to find the hidden Schweppes but you need to be on your guard especially at the Pool or you get “clubbed” 

*Its incredibly hard to spend obc - cancellations to excursions and a shop with nothing in it (worst Azamara shop range I’ve seen) you really struggle 

*The entertainment shows and specialist sets in the Living Room were excellent and with four singers and two dancers, a much better arrangement than on Quest. 
*The cruise director made the trip for us and many others. 
 

So yes there are niggles it’s not perfect but we did not expect it to be.  There are easy hits for them to improve on if they want to

 

Will we be booking more on Azamara- based on this experience you bet we will when the price is right! 

Oops that should read the crew on Journey are more settled- obviously a Quest hack 😂😂😂😂

[gardenbunny]

Enjoyed your posts and photos are beautiful!  We will do our first ever Azamara in April on Quest to Japan. We fell in love wih the small ships after doing 2017 and 2019 World Cruises on Pacific Princess - now the Onward!  Looking forward to our first visit to Japan and back onboard a small ship.  Have always heard great things about Azamara and been reading many of the posts on CC.  Been a tough time for all cruise lines resuming operations after the Covid pause and the new protocols.  Seems that all is going well even amid a few bumps in the road.

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, gardenbunny said:

Enjoyed your posts and photos are beautiful!  We will do our first ever Azamara in April on Quest to Japan. We fell in love wih the small ships after doing 2017 and 2019 World Cruises on Pacific Princess - now the Onward!  Looking forward to our first visit to Japan and back onboard a small ship.  Have always heard great things about Azamara and been reading many of the posts on CC.  Been a tough time for all cruise lines resuming operations after the Covid pause and the new protocols.  Seems that all is going well even amid a few bumps in the road.

We will do that itinerary in 2024 so I will be very interested to hear how it goes for you. 

[Mrs Miggins]

We always loved Quest but based on current information we are really looking forward to Journey next June.  Thank you for your review.

[RW75]

Thank you for taking the time to post, your thoughts and observations are very balanced  and you’ve provided a huge amount of pertinent information.  Not to mention your excellent photographs. 

[wjfan417]

Even though I don’t particularly want to go to Greece in July, I went ahead and switched my 7 day Greece Intensive that was booked for next October to the 7/15/23 11 night cruise. The July cruise visits almost all those small islands that you visited, so we’re really looking forward to it!

 

Diana

[Stem to Stern]

What a lovely report you have unfolded for us here.  Thank you so much for compiling all this excellent information.  Your photos and writing style are just fantastic.

[Jay19]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:49 AM, uktog said:

So this is a tale of two Cruises back to back. This allowed it to be a round trip out of Athens. 
We flew in the day before and given the timings of the flights did not arrive till after midnight Greek time. With that in mind we did not attempt to go into Athens which we will visit on our way home but rather stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport. This was a choice driven by economics as the Sofitel was four times dearer. The Holiday Inn had a free shuttle from the airport and totally ticked all the boxes we needed to do  - a clean room a comfortable bed and a good night sleep. 
Next day we used a welcome pick ups as before and they very promptly delivered us to safely to the port despite a hiccup in the instructions from Azamara which told us we would be at one terminal when in fact without another. 

 

We will be boarding in a few weeks for b2b cruises with many of the ports in your review.   I have used both your review, and the one from Host Jazzbeau, to work out plans for the ports and I'd like to thank you both for providing so much extremely helpful information.   It is some time since we sailed Azamara and I hadn't realised that they had changed the boarding times.  We plan on staying at the Holiday Inn at the airport as you did, and also booked with welcome pickups for the transfer to the port, however I now realise I booked a time that will be too early.   Would you mind telling me what time you suggest I change to?   Our boarding time shows as 1.30 onwards - do you think this is realistic or are people still arriving earlier?   I'm happy to abide by this but don't really want to end up in big lines if everyone turns up together.   Any advice would be much appreciated.   Thanks.

[Jay19]

3 minutes ago, Jay19 said:

 

Sorry, I tried to quote the start of your review and somehow my question didn't show as separate.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

14 minutes ago, Jay19 said:

Sorry, I tried to quote the start of your review and somehow my question didn't show as separate.  

The trick, as you seem to have figured out in the second post, is to click in the white area below the blue quoted box before you start typing your comment.

 

[I fixed your first post.]

[Jay19]

Thank you!   I thought that is what I had done but obviously not.   Only one coffee this morning. ☹️

[uktog]

I would certainly not get to the port before noon. After that you might well be ok, they do not seem to pay too much notice of allocated times these days

[Jay19]

Thank you very much, that's very helpful.    Much appreciated.

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

I would certainly not get to the port before noon. After that you might well be ok, they do not seem to pay too much notice of allocated times these days

I’m not sure they ever really did! I’ve always arrived at a time convenient for us (like when the hotel turfs us out) and they’ve let us board at a time convenient for them. As long as we’re prepared to wait, or to go exploring after dropping the bags, it’s been fine.

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, Jay19 said:

 

We will be boarding in a few weeks for b2b cruises with many of the ports in your review.   I have used both your review, and the one from Host Jazzbeau, to work out plans for the ports and I'd like to thank you both for providing so much extremely helpful information.   It is some time since we sailed Azamara and I hadn't realised that they had changed the boarding times.  We plan on staying at the Holiday Inn at the airport as you did, and also booked with welcome pickups for the transfer to the port, however I now realise I booked a time that will be too early.   Would you mind telling me what time you suggest I change to?   Our boarding time shows as 1.30 onwards - do you think this is realistic or are people still arriving earlier?   I'm happy to abide by this but don't really want to end up in big lines if everyone turns up together.   Any advice would be much appreciated.   Thanks.

Bearing in mind that the Azamara ships are not large I don't think you'll ever have big lines, but I'd do as uktog suggests. Arrive some time after midday. This takes no account of what might be happening on the day (for example a deep clean of the ship). Just prepare to be patient and you will hopefully be surprised. Quest in July was a piece of cake. On the ship by 12.15. You might not be so lucky. 

 

Phil 

[Jay19]

Thanks Phil and lisiamc for your comments.    I've now changed the transfer to hopefully arrive about 12.15 or thereabouts.    We don't mind waiting if necessary but will hope to be as lucky as you Phil!