Barcelona to Lisbon - What Fun!

Azamara Journey Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

MarieDMorrison

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 51

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

7 Night Tapas & Wine (Barcelona To Lisbon)

Sail date: June 07, 2017

Ship: Azamara Journey

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7064

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We have sailed on Azamara three times... we obviously like it! We have never had any thing less than an excellent vacation on this cruise line. Starting with the Captain - He was always friendly and willing to stop and take a photo. He has a great sense of humor. We ran into the doctor in the library one night; he was a pleasure to speak with also. The wait staff, the bartenders, and the room stewards were always professional and appeared to remember each of us. It is so nice to be on a ship of this size even though it means you have a smaller pool and less entertainment choices. Having sailed on other larger cruise ships in the past I will always come back to the smaller midsized ships. No bands of rowdy teenagers running the halls and not a lot of small children taking over the pool. I love kids but I'm at an age where I like a little peace and quiet when I come back from shore excursions.

The food is very good but it is excellent in the specialty restaurants. The upcharge is minimal and well worth it. While at the Chef's Table dinner I had the best dessert in the whole world! It was like absorbing a lemon cloud! (I believe they called it a Limencello Souffle.)

We had a special send off because the sister ship Quest was in Barcelona at the same time. They left port together and there was a joint departure party on the decks of both ships. A fun way to start the trip!

The ports of call were fabulous. I must confess that we never book shore excursions through the cruise line because of the size of those groups. We prefer smaller groups catered to our specific desires. We were able to find wonderful private tours at all our stops.

All in all, this was a wonderful trip. Cudos to Azamara! They do vacation right!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Eat, drink... what more is there?

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Shows are as good as they can be but I don't expect any big productions because of the size. Maybe they should throw in a magic show or a comedian some nights in the lounge. The entertainers on board individually were very good.

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

No programs needed because this isn't a children's cruise line.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Of course it would be nice to have a larger shower but there just isn't any room. The cabins are very, very nice.

Ship tip

This is not a cruise for small kids that need to be entertained. I think even teens would be bored. It is a great ship for adults but it isn't just "older" adults, either. Bring magnetic hooks for the walls in your cabin so that you have additional storage options.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

This is my favorite European city. Lots and lots to do and great tapas. I love Forever Barcelona (Marta) and Brightside Sidecar Tours (Quim was great!) Cervesea Catalana is a great tapas restaurant that is open a bit earlier than a lot of restaurants.

Thumbs Up 11

Mahon (Mao), Menorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5

Did no excursions here but great photo opportunities. Several of our party had a great beach day at one of the local beaches.

Thumbs Up 2

Alcudia, Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5

Loved our excursion here. Boat trip with Alejandra-Charter.com. They took us along the coast to see some natural caves (from the water), some wild goats, and a secluded beach where we stopped to swim. Beautiful water.

Thumbs Up 1

Gibraltar (U.K.)

5 out of 5

You can do this island in about four hours if you are not stopping any where to eat. Go see St. Michael's Cave and the monkeys. This place is the home of the only airport where you can drive across the runways. Interesting to see. This is mainly a place where you do a lot of driving around and do some quick stops at a few places of interest.

Thumbs Up 4

Cadiz (Seville), Spain

5 out of 5

Loved this area and our local tour guide Matti Coe from Toma & Coe. (Best tour guide on this trip!) Azamara should hire this guy to do Spain tours for them. He was fantastic. We went to an exclusive equestrian school and a sherry bodega where we even got an art history lesson. This day was so much better than I had expected!

Thumbs Up 2

Lisbon, Portugal

5 out of 5

Wish I had had more time to explore Portugal. The area is beautiful... Sintra was my favorite. We had a tour with Marcos Sobral from We Hate Tourism Tours. That guy is 'crazy' and I have to admit I was a little scared at the beginning of the tour. He talks so fast and is so loud and a crazy driver, always hitting the horn! However... it all turned out great. He was very knowledgeable and had such passion. Turns out he is a photographer as well. He took us to many lovely places that we would never have found on our own.

Thumbs Up 6

5 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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GerryBCruisin 2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed cruise review.

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cruisellama 5 years ago

Nice review

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WeCruiseToo 7 years ago

Thanks for the wonderful review and all the amazing photos! Especially love all of your port tour details, I will be filing these away for the future! Where will you be cruising to next?

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CruiselineSarah 7 years ago

Thanks for such a wonderful review! Your photos are beautiful, by the way!

Thumbs Up 1

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