Live Trip Report Azamara Onward Barcelona to Rome France & Italy Intense Tour

WoolworthAdventures · April 15, 2023

Hi 👋 There Follow Travelers 🧳. Today is Saturday April 15 2023. I am going to be showcasing my travel experience on Azamara Onward just like the past fellow travelers have before. Doing daily reports on my journey for 14 nights on the beautiful Onward just did the transatlantic last month so looking forward to France and Italy coming up here.

As I am writing ✍️ this I am currently at the Barcelona airport hotel. Which I will be taking the Metro into the city center to explore around for an hour or so. Been to Barcelona beforehand and love Barcelona so much. Checkin starts at 1:30 pm I believe today but with what’s going on the website and not able to check in I am going to enjoy my time out in the city center and arrive around 3:00 pm hopefully things are quieter than.

Well I will keep you guys posted here with any updates and my experiences on the trip. I am here if you have any questions or concerns about the Onward ship or azamara in general.

Time to go grab some Spanish Tapas. First gotta take that 45 minute metro ride (cost 2 euros) compared to $35 euros for taxi 🚕. Anyhow I am really excited for this trip.

cavaaller · April 15, 2023

Thank you so much for doing this trip report. I cannot wait to read your updates!

Did you like the airport hotel? (We are leaving from BCN next year so are looking for a hotel either at the airport or at the terminal thus we would love to hear your input,)

thanks again and have a fabulous cruise!

WoolworthAdventures · April 15, 2023

2 hours ago, cavaaller said:

Thank you so much for doing this trip report. I cannot wait to read your updates!

Did you like the airport hotel? (We are leaving from BCN next year so are looking for a hotel either at the airport or at the terminal thus we would love to hear your input,)

thanks again and have a fabulous cruise!

Thank you for the well wishes!! Since you asked about the hotel I stayed at the Barcelona Airport Hotel which is a 4 star hotel rated. The hotel has a free shuttle bus that comes every 20 mins in morning from 4:00 am to 10:00 am then it runs every 40 minutes from then on 24/7. Which you Find the shuttle about a 5 minute walk away from the exit of the terminal plenty of signs to show you where to go.

Once at the hotel they have a great checkin area with nice happy people to help you. It was very easy and quick process to check in. I had arrived at 2pm and check in was at 3:00 pm but the room was ready and the hotel looked empty but could be cause or out in the town. I don’t have any photos of the rooms I come in was super tired.

But to me the room was decent enough the bathroom was huge compared to the bedroom area. The shower was nice and warm with nice selection of soup and shampoo. I don’t eat at the restaurant for dinner or breakfast but they do have a restaurant and bar.

The hotel was good for what I need just to rest up. If you looking for something that is close to the action this is not the hotel. It’s about 25 mins from the center of town and no nearby restaurants besides the hotel. I paid $100 US DOLLARS and would stay here again if I was just coming for a cruise. I have Been to Barcelona before but just don’t wanna pay $250 or more for a hotel just one day to rest.

sorry for the long reply but hope it was helpful

cavaaller · April 15, 2023

Super helpful. Thanks a lot!

WoolworthAdventures · April 16, 2023

Okay here we go as promised daily reports from the Azamara Onward.

Embarkation Day here in Barcelona on Saturday 04/15. From all the fuss with the online issues with the website and unknown details about check in process. I took a deep breath before going to the port because who knew what we could expect. I went to go enjoy the surrounding area around the port area.

The port area is very close to the central city area plenty of places to eat and just enjoy the lovely city of Barcelona.

I started heading to the Port Area to see how the checkin process was going at around 1:45 pm. The check in process had started at 1:30

Once to the Terminal it was such a breeze to get on the ship🚢 . Plenty of Baggage Handlers outside the terminal to greet and you ready to help you out with your luggage. Since I had not checked in yet it was a very easy just let them know your room number and they will give you the luggage tags. So no issue not having the luggage tags at all. That’s one issue that had been discussed online on forums.

Once in the terminal there was a little desk with three or four agents that would give us our room keys with the normal azamara wallet style.

Once we got our keys we were told to go on ship and the checkin process would be on Deck 5 in the Cabaret Lounge. So not knowing what was going to happen. I went with an open mind wishing the best and ready for the possibility of the worst. But it was nothing like that at all. They had a long table set up with about 7-10 port agents helping out to do the checkin just like they would normally do at the port terminal but it was actually really nice to have it done onboard instead. So they just asked for passport and room number did the normal checkin and was finished in 5 mins or so.

After the checkin process we were told to stay in the Cabaret Lounge for the Muster Drill which now these days is a lot different than before. All you do is sit down and drink champagne 🥂 lol not that easy but the champagne part is incredible Included. One of the crew members goes over were the mustard stations are at. I mean muster lol I must be hungry that’s coming up next don’t you worry. They also show you how to put on the life jacket on. After that you free to walk around the ship. The rooms were not available til 2 pm so it was not a long wait til they were open.

Stay tuned for Lunchtime coming up in the next update in a little bit sorry for the long message. Sorry but not sorry as I say.

Edited April 16, 2023 by WoolworthAdventures

WoolworthAdventures · April 16, 2023

Lunchtime Onboard Today was at the Windows Cafe aka the Buffet up on Deck 9 Aft. I was surprised that Discovery the Main Dining was not available but it never felt like it was packed so it was nice.

Some of the Selections of the food are below

This is what I went for Lunch and it was delicious as you would expect on Azamara. The salmon was fresh and the shrimp salad was great as well fresh seafood onboard is always a nice treat.

Edited April 16, 2023 by WoolworthAdventures

WoolworthAdventures · April 16, 2023

Not sure why the photos and videos aren’t posting correctly but I will try to fix that going forward I will post dinner in a few hours and update some port information.

cavaaller · April 16, 2023

It is great to hear first hand that in spite of all the angst people experience because of the website-debacle everything seems to run smoothly.

Mackdogmolly · April 17, 2023

Thanks so much for sharing your trip! I am “homesick” for Azamara!

Grandma Cruising · April 17, 2023

On 4/16/2023 at 11:54 AM, WoolworthAdventures said:

Not sure why the photos and videos aren’t posting correctly but I will try to fix that going forward I will post dinner in a few hours and update some port information.

If you want some space between your photos, once you have downloaded them and start inserting them, make sure you press return after you’ve inserted one and then that your cursor is below the picture you just inserted before you insert the next one.

Sleep7 · April 18, 2023

👋Hi WoolworthAdventures!

Thanks for posting all your wonderful pix and commentary. We are boarding soon and your day by day review is making me extra excited! 😃

WoolworthAdventures · April 18, 2023

Alright sorry for the delay going to try this again. Thank you @Grandma Cruising .

Dinner at Windows Cafe on Night One was Seafood Buffet

WoolworthAdventures · April 18, 2023

Before leaving Barcelona we did have a Port Change for the next day. We were supposed to be in Port Venders France 🇫🇷. Due to 60 mph winds forecast overnight and it being a tender port. It was very smart by azamara to cancel that port for our safety. So kudos to Azamara for that decision.

Azamara did try to get other ports before making the decision of going straight to Marseille France 🇫🇷 so we would have two full days with an overnight in Marseille. I was kinda spilt down the middle of that yes overnights are nice but Marseille with one day is perfect will get into more of the days in Marseille later tonight

WoolworthAdventures · April 18, 2023

Dinner Menu Night One at Discovery Restaurant Main Dining Room

Lady President · April 18, 2023

Thank you for sharing menus-- I love seeing them! 🙂

pickypicky · April 21, 2023

Hoping the OP will return to finish the review. I was enjoying it and looking forward to the remainder!

WoolworthAdventures · April 21, 2023

April 16 2023

Port of Call Marseille France 🇫🇷

Some New Items to me were the Destination Feature Specials at breakfast and lunch was a nice treat.

For breakfast that had French Toast but for lunch they had a great burger at the patio

Looks a little different than the picture but it was delicious for sure. Azamara food does not always look the greatest but don’t let that take the wonderful favor and taste away.

Also for lunch they had a special in the Windows Cafe

WoolworthAdventures · April 21, 2023

April 16 Marseille Daily Schedule

Show Today

Two Shows Tonight at 8:00 pm and 9:30 pm.

The Living Room on Deck 10 is a great way to end the night looking forward to that.

Hours of Dining Options

Continuing with Dinner

The Chef made a surprise dinner for night last minute we had a little preview to white night bbq night on the pool deck. With the house band playing at the deck for us.

Samples below here