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Azamara Journey Barcelona to Copenhagen 14 nights |
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Reviewed By: O'Shea, Copenhagen on 25th Jun 2009
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| Cruise Line: Azamara Club Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Azamara Journey |
Sailed:
May,
2009 |
| Destination: Northern Europe |
Age: 65+ |
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We joined the ship in Barcelona on 23rd May and cruised back home to Copenhagen arriving 6th June. We did not use any of the ship arranged shore trips mainly due to one of us having a mobility problem. Also, being a 'small' ship, the Azamara Journey was able to dock close to and sometimes within 'spitting' distance of towns where we had never been before.
Crew service was excellent. From our 'butler' Mohamed to, well everybody really. Always somebody to help you if you just maybe looked lost or needed assistance.
The ship's policy of crew having to greet passengers at all times was evident but also seemed natural for most.
Passenger mix was probally +80% American/Canadian, +5% Danish, and a mix of British, German, Chilean, Australian and a few Japanese.
Entertainment was mostly quite good and once in a while excellent. There were plenty of planned activities during days at sea - up to yourself whether you wanted to participate or not.
I quite enjoyed 'brushing up your French'. The library was an excellent room to sit in and relax and read/snooze between meals!
It was also up to yourself where you decided to eat - no need to book. No 1st. or 2nd. sittings but then of course no fixed table which meant meeting 4-6 new people at each meal. That was OK for us but would maybe not suit everybody.
Evening meals in the main Discoveries restaurant were very good. Nicely presented with excellent service. The wine was maybe a touch on the expensive side.
The buffet in Windows at lunchtime or evening was good and varied with a twist of theme food most days. Had a very good curry made by the chef in front of me, and the Sushi, which I saw being made, was very good. Even a Japanese lady thought so. Watch out for the Wasabi - hot hot !!
Buffet breakfast in Windows was good and ample. Basically the same many choices - enough choices to enable you to compose your own different breakfast each day.
Custom made omelettes or Eggs cooked to order with Ham (off the bone) for example. Also porridge or grits or prunes or many cereals to get your digestion going before tackling freshmade waffles and so on.
If the weather permits then please please sit outside on the deck aft of Windows and enjoy your breakfast or buffet meal al fresco. Once again with excellent service.
Room service worked very well on the few occasions we used it - 24 hour service and no extra charge!
We enjoyed our breakfast sitting in the sunshine outside on our balcony whilst navigating the Thames up to Greenwich.
Others told of burgers or whatever at 3 o'clock in the morning!
Ports of call were for us good - places we had never visited before as well as some which we had.
Both embarcation and disembarcation went very smoothly, helped I guess by the relatively small number of passengers(<700) but no less due to the well organized procedures.
Our only complaint was about the nice but large bathtowels which were impossible to 'stow away' once unfolded. The towels had no means of attaching themselves to the small
knobs on the back of the bathroom door and therefore fell down constantly.
All in all we had a very good time aboard Azamara Journey and can only recommend the ship to others.
Though we guess that families with children would maybe prefer other ships with 'rockclimbing' and so on?
We liked the relaxed and informal atmosphere on board but would also have liked the restaurant personnel to have turned back some of the few Americans who thought that shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops were just the thing for evening meals.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Discoveries restaurant for evening meals. Windows buffet for breakfast/lunch. | | Entertainment |  |
| The Chinese pianist ,classical with a twist of modern, was excellent. The young lady with her violen was very good.
Most entertainment involving the ship's own entertainment group delivered a 'solid' performance. | | Shore Excursions | n/a |
| Due mainly to one of us having mobility problems we did not use any of the ship arrangede excursions. | | Staff | |
| Our 'Butler' Mohammed and his sidekick(cabin 6083) were very polite and helpful. Apart from that ALL crew members were also polite and helpful especially when my wife who has a problem with her balance got assistance without asking. Well done. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| Lots of activities when at sea, also when not at sea!
Though mostly aimed at over 60'ties - we are both over 70. | | Cabins |  |
| The cabin was fine and lived up to our expectations.
Only real complaint is that the nice large bath towels should maybe have some way of attaching themselves to the small knobs on the back of the bathroom door. They fell down constantly. | | Overall Rating | |
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