Cruise Ship Review, Cruises Destination & Port Reviews

We sailed from Athens to Venice on Azamara Quest on the 15th August 2010 to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. The Azamara package included flights from Manchester and transfers.

As regular cruisers we were looking for a smaller ship with open dining and an itinerary which included some less visited ports. The Quest looked ideal as it also offered an informal dress code, making for a relaxed holiday.

The transfer and check in for the ship were effortless and welcoming with no queuing or waiting around, we were most grateful to receive a complimentary upgrade to a club continent suite as the ship was not fully booked. After a glass of sparking wine we were shown to our cabin. The spacious and contemporary design was great although the bathroom was a bit on the small side, this didn’t really matter and my wife thought the Elemis toiletries were a quality touch. The cabin (as well as the rest of the ship) was kept in immaculate condition at all times and the bed was really comfy.

We had the services of a butler but apart from a couple of occasions we really didn’t require his enthusiastic services, we almost felt sorry that we had nothing for him to do ! He called daily to our cabin in the afternoon to offer items from both savoury & sweet trolleys but we were already full from all the fantastic food on offer.

For a small ship the dining options were superb. Fresh, quality ingredients were served in all the venues, the service exceptional at all times. We dined at both Aqualina (Mediterranean influenced) & Prime C (steaks & seafood) but found the main dining room – Discoveries – to offer a great choice of varied menu options. Our favourite lunch time venue was to sit outside under the sun umbrellas in Windows café, whilst taking in the views from the aft of the ship along with a glass or two of the excellent wines served at both lunch & dinner.
We weren’t sure what to expect from the complimentary wines but found that they were all of excellent quality and different on everyday of our 12 night cruise. There was little reason to order from the extensive wine list unless you wanted something in particular. Bottled waters & other soft drinks were also included in the fare.
I don’t want to leave out the fantastic deck barbeque’s which were offered on 2 evenings. After going shopping with the chef to the local fish market in Corfu we were presented that evening with an unbelievable array of shellfish and whole fish being cooked to order along with many local Greek specialities. A centrepiece was a whole fresh tuna being served as sushi. As a keen cook myself I recognised the huge amount of effort required by the staff to make this an outstanding event.

The overall atmosphere on board was of a friendly and happy staff who couldn’t do enough to help. The captain, Carl & the hotel director, Philip were always visable around the ship chatting to people in a relaxed way, often joining in for lunches or even helping out at the BBQ.

Itineraries on Azamara incorporate longer stays & overnights in port, great for seeing destinations like Venice when the hoards of tourists have departed !(I guess that’s a bit rich). A couple of highlights of our trip were the excursion to Alberobello from Bari in Italy to see the Trulli houses, small hut like homes with conical stone roofs, like a scene from a lilliputian film set. In Ravenna, Northern Italy, a visit to the town’s chapels which house incredible 6th century mosaics, a Unesco site. Although the port of Ravenna was a good 30 minutes away, Azamara’s generous free shuttle transfers operated throughout the stay.

The only problem now is to decide which itinerary we will go on next year.

Looking for a small ship I can highly recommend the Azamara Quest,I cruised on the ship late september from venice to rome the weather was beautiful and hot for the time of year.
The staff and service are the best I have experienced. The food was superb and so is the complimentary wines with lunch and dinner.
I would certainly travel onboard again in the near future

We boarded the ship in Athens, Check in was very smooth and quick and What an amazing recepetion from the staff, white gloved waiters handing you a glass of champaigne as you entered the reception area!

The ship was lovely, I was a little apprehensive about the size of the ship as I had only ever travelled on large ships such as Azura and Queen Elizabeth, but my fears were put to rest pretty much straight away.
Our cabin was beautiful, even though we had a disabled cabin it was brilliant as the sizing was huge! peeking through other doors the standard cabins did look a little small but then again it is a small ship.
We had fresh fruit and ice waiting for us everyday when we came back from port and a nightly turn down service, fresh towels everyday and even new toiletries!

The dress code was great as we didnt have to worry about formal evenings, it was smart casual which helped on the luggage allowance for the flights

The restaurant at the back the 'Windows Cafe' was immedietly my favourite place on the ship. The open air dining at the back was fabulous and the waiters couldnt do enough for you. The first day we had a 3 hour lunch up there and as the wine was all in, it was great, not once were we felt pressured to move from our sun drenched table, even though we had finished our meal. They just kept bringing us more wine!!!

The Food was to die for, so much choice it was unbelieveable, I loved the seafood 'a la carte' restaurant Aqualina, and we even got a free one as it was our first night on board. The dining in Discoveries was wonderful, again so much choice and cooked to prefection, as it was open seating we always requested a table for 2 which we got almost immediately! I would say this is the best part of small ship crusing, we never had to wait for anything!!! tenders, dining even the lifts seem to be waiting for us!

The pool area was brilliant! on larger ships it has always been a fight for sunbeds but on Quest it seemed we always had a choice, even the service from the waiters around the pool was brilliant, I pretty much had diet coke on tap! despite having the wine and soft drinks included we did try out the odd ****tail or two! the prices were very reasonable for example, a beer was $5 and so were the ****tails, and as there wasn't any gratuaties to pay it worked out very reasonable!

Entertainment was low key with a few good singers and comedians but the best entertainment was the 'white night' party up on the top deck, the entire deck was tranformed into a wonderful open air dining with white linen table cloths draped all around. they had local entertainment from Crete and got everyone up dancing! even the cruise director did a sing song!

We braved the Fitness centre which was brilliantly equiped and the spa was so relaxing, maybe a little more expensive for treatments than some other ships i have been on but so worth it!

I would definately travel with Azamara again as it was a wonderful experince from day 1 and as everything was included our bill only came to $200 for a week! $100 of that was spent in te casino which was quite pricey! a $10 minimum bet on black jack!

I would reccommend Azamara to anyone wanting a hassle free luxury cruise, and i cant wait for my next one!

Myself and my partner travelled on the Azamra Quest in Aug 2011. We did a 7 night Croatia cruise roundtrip form Venice. I have travelled on a couple of other ships before and this was the best i have experienced accomodation and food wise. Azamara is a boutique ship company carrying just under 700 passengers. We stayed in an oceanview cabin which is one of the most spacious i have been in. The dining is all open so you are not limited to a time slot for dinner and there are no formal dress evenings therefore it was a very relaxed feel. There are various places to eat on board including outside dining and specialists restauarnts charging an extra $15 per person, which is well worth it. All other venues for breakfast, lunch dinner is included in the cruise fare. The best thing about it is the value for money as wine and soft drinks are all included! Speaking to people on board who have travelled on the other luxury cruiselines such as Silversea and Seabourn (which can cost double the price), said that there was very little difference in the standard of service and ship, therfore Azamara is a good option to look at for this kind of small ship luxury cruising at a fraction of the price of the competitors. The best thing about Azamara i feel is the itinaries, it is a very destination focused cruiseline. We had 5 stops in Croatia and 1 in Italy, places the larger cruise ships dont visit, and places i wouldnt have normally chosen to go if not on a cruise. These places such as Kotor in Montenegro or Korcula in Croatia had an authentic feel and not over run with tourists, which is rare in Europe in August! The staff were all very good and friendly, i lost my key card on a shore excursion and the guide called the ship to have a replacement waiting for me at the tender on the way back to the ship, those extra touches make a big difference for a hassle free holiday. The only negative thing i could say is the lack of evening entertainment on board, i prefer the larger ships for the evening all singing all dancing shows and choice of venues,The Quest was fairly low key and the evening entertainment was all over by about 11pm, however as i said Azamara is detaintion focused and passengers should pick this comapany for the varied ports and great service/food. This is quite common on the smaller ships and it wasn't a problem. Overall i would definatly travel on Azamara again, i thought it was fantastic.