Azamara Journey Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Told Capt we are now Azamara loyalists after 1 cruise ( amongst our 14 previous on HA, Cunard, RCL, Celebrety)

Overall the service is good, food is good, and drinks are great, but not much onboard activity

We can't wait to join another Azamara journey. The AzAmazing night at the Odeon amphitheater in Ephesus and the White Night event on the ship while docked in Santorini are so special and memorable.

There were plenty of castles and cathedrals to visit, but the everyday activities seemed to be the most interesting. These included a visit to a sheep farm and a famine village. The entire island is absolutely beautiful and very green. Worth the trip just to visit the outdoors.

Great cruise with a few disappointments, several booked excursions were canceled and missed docking at Leith. Crew and staff were excellent, professional and helpful. But Azamara appears to be struggling in their new independence.

Overall I would rate Azamara as above average. Azamara was transitioning to new ownership. Their website was a disaster and unusable. Pre-cruise communications were apologies. I had to call to get cruise documents. Not available on the website. I tried to book excursions a couple of weeks before the cruise only to discover most were not available but suddenly became available a few days before the cruise. Excursions were very expensive through Azamara. On board the crew was well trained and above average. Rooms were comfortable, clean and room steward was very helpful. Daily communications were very good. Negatives would be some of on board entertainment.

Have sailed Azamara multiple times. Once on-board this were fine. The HORRIBLE experiences prepping for the trip (especially excursions) was so bad we are looking at competitors for future travels.

My phone was stolen in Rome, so I have no photos currently that I can retrieve yet….. I’m still hoping I can do this. I just got a new phone.

Don’t get sick! – Abandoned by Azamara We are not people to post reviews, but we feel out of options, and we do not want others to experience what we are going through with Azamara. We are a very healthy couple 59 and 60. The cruise, the ship and staff were great, we were getting all that we hoped for. Halfway into our cruise on the Azamara Journey from Venice to Rome in April 2023, I became sick and was sent to shore with my wife by the ship doctor to get checked-out by the local clinic/hospital. We had to leave our two adult children on board, we were told to bring our luggage. Once ashore, we were totally abandoned even though they gave us assurances that we were to be contacted and escorted by their team to assist us. We spoke no Italian, we had no accommodations, the ambulance took me to a hospital, my wife was left to lift and haul all our luggage. While in hospital, the ambulance driver handed me a phone, an Azamara representative told me that we were not permitted back on the ship and that we had to find our own way to Rome. My wife could not visit at the hospital, she could not find out my condition as we shared a phone between us, she took it upon herself to find a hotel using her credit card concierge service, no taxis were available to take her to the hotel. It was physically and emotionally tragic on my wife, she is one of the most competent and resourceful people I know... and this broke her. We have made multiple attempts, both during our abandonment and the months after to get a response from Azamara. There has been no response at all from Azamara. So much went wrong, we want to be compensated in some way for lack of support, leaving our kids, not being able to return to the ship after getting a clear certificate of health from the local hospital the very same evening, the ship was still in the harbour for the next four hours! We were misguided, no support, huge lack of coordination from ship to shore, large extra costs were incurred on hotels, trains, taxis to make our way to Rome, not to mention losing half our cruise. We are not happy. Fortunately, I recovered by that evening. It is bad enough to get sick on a cruise, but to be abandoned by a world class cruise company is unacceptable.

Had a great time. The crew is awesome. No issues encountered. AA shore excursions were better than the cruise ones offered.

Stomach virus outbreak on ship. Captain and crew did nothing until Day 9.

Very poor community and management on ship. Very poor shore excursions.

First time on Azamara which is much smaller than others we’ve been on. Laid back atmosphere. Easy to meet new friends. Enjoyed the fact that there we never any lines!

Good quiet cruise to use as a way to travel to Pacific islands. Would not recommend for people under age 50 as they will find too little activity onboard.

This was our first cruise on a small ship but we will definitely do it again . Would recommend it to anyone except families with young children . Azamara clients tend to be middle aged to seniors .

We went with another couple, and this was both our husbands' first cruise. I told Andrea Whitby, our cruise agent that this has to be a phenomenal experience so that we can cruise again. It was definitely a fantastic experience. Everyone loved it, and we are now Azamara raving fans. We love the luxury experience and we are looking forward to our next cruise. Andrea Whitby was very helpful to get us with the right type of cruise so a big Thank you, Andrea!

The Uber driver returned us to the Journey and other than maybe a ten minute wait to get through security we were soon back on board. Lunch was enjoyed on the patio and we returned to our cabin to store the rest of our things. We had our complementary laundry bag ready for our room steward to pick up and took our laundry bag of “Special items” (mostly lightweight Columbia wear) to the laundry room to do ourselves. We were surprised to find we were not the only back to back cruisers who had this idea that this was a great time to do laundry, but we had no problem getting two washers and then a single dryer to clean everything. This was the first time ever that we were excused from the muster drill. Walking around the ship we just keep telling crew members 'In transit guests' and they smiled and waved us on. The cruise critic meet and greet was set for 6:30 PM. We attended and met the roll call members we will be touring with on a few of the islands. One couple asked if they could join us for dinner so we headed to the dining room and were able to get a four-top in Shaad's area. Arriving late (at 7:00) on a very busy dining room night and with our needed special orders, it took nearly three hours to complete dinner. We did not intend to attend Eric's welcome in the showroom of the show of “Come sail away” which we saw last week, so at this point we wandered past the shops and called it a night. Sunday, December 1 - At Sea A truly beautiful day as sea sums up this Sunday. We slept in until after 7:30. DW took the time to do her PT exercises, and I went to get some tea. There is a dining room brunch today so we waited on breakfast. Eric hosted a non-denominational church service in the Drawing Room. About 20 attended and Eric had some really good stories to tell. We also learned that his father was a Presbyterian minister. Following the service we enjoyed brunch and were able to sit in Shaad's area. We then went up to the pool area and I was only able to find one lounger in the shade. I took that one as DW wanted to look over the shops (nothing new) and sign up for the complimentary afternoon “Ladies Pamper Party” hosted by the spa. Shortly after DW came up the pool deck the couple next to me relinquished their loungers so DW took the one next to me. We stayed there reading and listening to the sounds of Vibz. We had a light lunch at the Patio and also moved lounger seats to stay in the shade. The couple we had dinner with last night told us that the price for the internet package is based on the number of days, and therefore it goes down each day. By tomorrow, if we haven't used our complimentary minutes, those minutes would pay for the package the rest of the cruise. We will certainly check that out! DW attended the 3:00 Ladies Pamper Party and really enjoyed the complimentary mini-facial. I returned to the cabin to clean up and get ready for the evening. I brought my log up to date. We visited the Living Room for the start of the Starlight Trio's set and then went to Discoveries at 6:00 for dinner. Guest Entertainer David Knight, a hypnotist, gave a really good show. Getting audience volunteers took him a while, and then about half the volunteers tested out, but it was a good & 'clean' show. After the show we visited the Living Room and listened to Vibz a while. We also danced. Then it was time to call it a night as we have a full day tomorrow! Monday, December 2 – Bridgetown, Barbados Our tour today booked through the ship is a photography tour with a local professional photographer, but it does not meet until 1:00. So despite at least three previous visits to Barbados, we never went downtown to Bridgetown, so we made that our morning excursion. We began the day with breakfast in Discoveries. About 8:45 or so we made our way outside, walked to and through the cruise terminal (which you have to walk all the way around so as to pass all the vendors who have paid for space there), and out the distant “Independent” doorway. We found a cab and for US$2 each caught a ride into Bridgetown. The driver offered to take those of us going to town to the 'far end' of town so we would walk back along the main shopping street. We did that, and actually found the 'far end' had more sights to see, including Independence Square and the parliament building. There is also a marina with several bridges crossing it, near the main bus station. We enjoyed exploring the town for about 2 hours, having purchased one shirt. We caught a cab back to the port and looked around the outside vendors. At the first one (furthest from the actual terminal building) we found a shirt for me and a nice Caribbean dress for DW. These will make an appearance at tonight's Caribbean party. We then went back to the Journey with just enough time for some lunch before heading out to our tour. There were 18 on the tour and gratefully this was in a bus built for 30 or more. Our guide was excellent and our tour took us far from the port to the rarely visited by cruisers area on the Northeastern coast of Barbados which they call the “Scotland” district. Everything here is very green and lush. We shot a great deal of photos of both man built and natural elements. The last stop of the tour was at the Atlantis hotel where we each enjoyed a superb Jamaican Rum Punch while watching the waves crash of the rocks. We returned to the Journey at about 5:20 and rushed to get ready for the Caribbean party as we were to attend the 6:00 show. This performance was not as enjoyable as the one on the first leg of the cruise. It was totally different but the emphasis here was less our cup of tea. The final segment, featuring a man on stilts in the showroom, was certainly the best part of the show. We had 8:00 reservations at Prime C. We went a little early and were seated all the way aft by the rear windows. Before 9:00 the skies opened up so that certainly showed that the staff made the right decision having the Caribbean event in the Cabaret. Dinner was very enjoyable but after this exhausting day it was a challenge to stay awake. We called it a night after dinner. Tuesday, December 3, Castries, St. Lucia, also DW's birthday. Early start to the day so we had a quick breakfast in the Windows Cafe. We saw our touring friends there and they actually were at our meeting spot before we were! I had already received an e-mail from our tour guide, Kurt of Island Man Taxi & Tours confirming our meeting spot, just outside the terminal building. Two other ships in port with us, the Queen Mary 2 (tendering – a long tender ride) and the Summit. We met Kurt before 8:30 and walked a few blocks to his van, parked in the garage of a Massy supermarket. Off we went with Kurt. First stop was an overlook high up with a great view of Castries and the surrounding area. Next we headed south down the West coast road. Kurt explained that nearly the only sign one sees is the “Hairpin curve ahead” sign. He was sure right about this. Between the windiness and the condition of the road (not the greatest for sure) I believe the average speed was no more than 30 KPH. Kurt did seem to know where the many potholes were and missed 98% of them. The next stop was a slow drive through one of the coastal villages. When climbing the hill on the far side, he stopped at an overlook where someone he obviously knew had a small shop. While there his friend, with a guitar, serenaded DW with a “Happy birthday” song. Back in the van, Kurt said that this fellow is the St. Lucian “Bob Marley” and knows just about any song one can imagine. We continued on driving through the coastal rain forest and another coastal village. We stopped at an overlook of the city of Soulfriere. This was again another great view and was also our first really good view of the famous Pitons. From here we could also see the steam from volcanic hot springs a little inland from the Pitons. We drove through Soulfriere and Kurt pointed out the Hummingbird beach area we would visit later. We then drove up hill from the town to the entrance of the Tet Paul Nature Trail. This trail took us past many native plants including both flowers and fruits. We saw pineapple growing, one per plant. Our guide explained that each plant produces one pineapple per year. There were great overlooks over country villages and we had unbelievable views of the Pitons and surrounding seas. The boats down on the sea looked so small from our vantage point. Just like the Piton trail, going back down was harder than going up. We need to take care on the high steps going down so it took a while. Reaching the ticket booth area we found many mini-buses parked and large groups just starting off, about a dozen per guide. We felt very blessed we were just a group of four! Back in Kurt's van, he gave all of us a Rum Punch made with St. Lucian rum. We next drove to the Toraille waterfall, where the two men went bathing directly under the waterfall. This waterfall was easily 75 feet high, and when standing right under the main part, it really beat up on the skin it was so forceful. From there, we headed to a great restaurant in Soulfriere for a seafood lunch. Lunch was very enjoyable and very reasonable at about $10/pp. From here, we went to the beach. We all went swimming and spent about an hour at the beach. Then it was time for the return to Castries, which took over 90 minutes of twisting and turning road. Kurt dropped us off at the terminal and handed DW a birthday gift, which was much appreciated and unexpected! Back on board, as it was now 4:30, we needed to get ready as quickly as possible for the 5:00 Club Voyage party. Dinner followed in Discoveries and was again very good. The show was “Jump, Jive, and Swing.” Even though we saw this last cruise it was so good we again attended. The staff changed the show some from last week and those changes made it even better. After the show we listed to Vibz in the Living Room for a few songs and called it a night. Oh, and the captain told us at the Club Voyage party (followed by a ship wide announcement) that tomorrow's call at Dominica had been canceled due to violent protests ahead of their Friday elections. We were headed to Martinique instead. I sent an e-mail to our tour guide in Dominica, Nature Isle Explorer Day Tours, asking for a refund of our tour deposit. Wednesday December 4 – Fort-De-France, Martinique (re-routed from Roseau, Dominica) All best laid plans sometimes need to change, and this is one of those days. We were not able to put together a literal 'last minute' tour so with some e-mail hints from our friends who were on last week's cruise, we walked the 3500 steps (each way) to the ferry boat landing. Fortunately we walked with the friends from our St. Lucia tour as my credit card would not work in the ticket machine and they didn't take debit/ATM cards. Tickets purchased we took the ferry across the bay to Anse a l'Ane. In talking with locals they said the beach was normally very nice but recent storms had kicked up a lot of rocks. They assured us the water is tested and safe. Looking back we are not so certain. In any case, we paid $5 each for beach chairs (in the shade) and I did take a swim for about 30 minutes. There is a lot of leaves and stuff in the water until you get quite far out, where the water became more translucent. After about 2 hours we decided to head back as the ship's wine and lunch were calling. Soon enough the ferry appeared, we rode across, and walked the 3500 steps back to the ship. Why so far? Being a last minute port, we were docked at the Tourelles Cruise Terminal rather than the one right downtown. We certainly enjoyed lunch and found the pool looked rather crowded. We ended up retreating to our cabin for a bit of a rest as we want to stay up for Eric's show tonight. We listened to the Starlight Trio a while before dinner. We dropped off the note to the couple we are renting a car with tomorrow, and enjoyed dinner in Discoveries. We opted to see the Piano entertainer, Peter Rossetti, in his main stage show “Rocket Man meets Piano Man.” The music is good but I had a hard time staying awake. I worked on my log between shows, and then Eric de Gray came on with his “Broadway Showstoppers” show. This is a terrific show and was just as good as the prior week. Better in fact as we had better seats this time. This is a 75 minute show and the time flies by – no problem staying awake either! After the show we called it a night. Thursday, December 5, Charlestown, Nevis – St. Nicholas Day (Netherlands) The Journey was right on time and tenders began at about 8:00 heading over to the small island of Nevis. We had arranged through cruise critic to share a rental car with another couple. The main road around Nevis is pretty good and can be driven in about one hour. We decided to drive it counter-clockwise so our first stop would be the Botanical Garden. It took quite some doing to reach the garden as the main route was blocked by road construction. The gardens are very nice, with a decidedly Asian theme. In fact, the restaurant in the gardens is a Thai restaurant. We spent about two hours at the gardens, including about a 5 minute shower. From the gardens we continued on our drive trying to reach the rocky beachfront near the lime kiln we saw on the map. We could not reach it, but did spend about 10 minutes with some local children who seemed transfixed that we had happened on their road! We continued our circuit and stopped by the ruins of a sugar plantation. Much of the equipment was still in place and this is now a historic site. Great views were available from nearly every vantage point on the island. Further along we stopped at a beach immediately 'behind' the airport affording incredible views of nearby St. Kitts. By this point we were getting pretty exhausted and sitting in the back seat bouncing around was taking it's toll. We asked our touring friends if they would mind dropping us back at the tender pier and they were most accommodating. We headed back to Journey and had a late lunch recovering from our circuit adventure of Nevis. That evening was the White Night party. We had our dinner in Discoveries and then proceeded up to the pool deck. We sat with friends and nibbled a little before the entertainment began. This was essentially the same show we had seen on the previous cruise segment however the feeling was quite different being out on the open deck. We truly appreciate the amount of work the crew has to invest in changing over the entire pool deck to have this event! What an incredible time. One of the photographers took our photo dancing and that photo ending up becoming our Christmas card photo – appropriate as it is St. Nicholas day! We called it a night after the party. Friday, December 6 – St. Barts The only repeat port on the two cruises was St. Barts. This time we took our time going over and brought our snorkeling gear. We walked to “Shell beach” and quickly discovered that the snorkeling there was best on the left side, by the rocks. I saw thousands of fish of many types and really enjoyed snorkeling there. After having more than our fill of the water, we cleaned the sand off everything and began walking back to the tenders. We met a number of guests along the way just heading to the beach. We told them what we could to enhance their experience. We had a nice conversation with the crew member handling refreshments at the tender pier while waiting for the tender. Everyone onboard is so friendly. Back on board we found two shaded chairs and relaxed with some soft drinks and wine. We enjoyed a swim in the pool, being the only ones in the pool. We enjoyed a last lunch at the Patio, and relaxed a little more in our chairs. Later that day we packed a good portion of our stuff for the return home the next day. The Discovers Club Voyage event was at the aft bar on deck 9 for sail-away. We had a very nice time at this event. The last dinner of the cruise in Discoveries was terrific, and the chocolate buffet had many items different from the prior cruise. We talked some with the pastry chef about his creations. This last night the entertainment team presented “Just Dance.” We missed this show on the first segment and greatly enjoyed everything about it. We then went back to the cabin to finalize the luggage and put it out for pick up. Saturday, December 6 – Disembarkation and return home We woke before the alarm went off. We left our cabin a little after 7:00 bringing our carry off bags with us to the Windows cafe so the cabin team could ready our room for the embarking guests. We had a nice breakfast with all the crew members thanking us for sailing with them. Shaad stopped by and wished us safe travels home. At about 8:40 we headed out with our carry-off bags to find the captain, hotel manager, and Eric De Gray, along with a few other officers wishing everyone safe travels and come back again! With no rush of guests it was nice to stop and chat for a few moments. We found our luggage with no issue and had no wait at all at customs. So nice not to have a line, and the agent asked how our cruise was. We headed outside and dropped our luggage and got into the bus to transfer to the airport. Our driver was entertaining but dropped us at the wrong spot, assuring us our luggage would arrive. After a few minutes DW noticed luggage down at the other end of the terminal and sure enough all the luggage for those in the van was down there. Summary: We have cruised about 35 times. The majority of cruises are on Celebrity and Holland America, with a few other lines occasionally. Really enjoy the smaller ships. Favorite ship was HAL Prinsendam but it was sold. New favorite is the Journey. A few years ago I wrote in a review “I guess the days of 5-star cruising are history.” Well, that is not true. I feel that Azamara gives a five star experience. When we can, if the price fits into the budget, we would happily cruise on Azamara again. The food and service are great! Love the more inclusiveness of the fare. The thing that was very unexpected is the quality of the entertainment. It is hard to remember a cruise where we enjoyed every bit of the entertainment as much as we have on these two cruises. Some of the shows were repeated during the second segment. They are so good we went to see them a second time! So 5 stars for the good ship Journey. May she and her outstanding crew have a long and happy life!

Azamara Journey 11-21-19 We booked the Azamara Journey 12 days before embarkation as our planned Galapagos adventure on the Celebrity Xpedition was canceled by the cruise line. This back to back cruise, the “9-Night Caribbean Highlights Voyage” followed by the “7-Night Caribbean Breezes Voyage” was available at a terrific price and with nice booking incentives. As we had always wanted to try Azamara, this seemed like the best “Plan B” to use our planned vacation time. Wednesday, 11-20-19. We left our Pennsylvania home at 5:45 AM. Our neighbor who drives for Uber picked us up and took us to the Philadelphia airport, arriving just after 6:30. We quickly checked the bags, breezed through “Pre-check” security, and were ordering breakfast from Chick-Fil-A by 6:45. Our flight to Miami boarded promptly and departed on time. We landed in Miami 40 minutes early (!) but it took 25 minutes of waiting before we could park at a gate. By the time we reached baggage claim (quite a walk!) the bags were coming out and literally within two minutes we were on our way to the transportation center. As we were meeting friends we were cruising with in Fort Lauderdale, we took the “Tri-Rail” to the FLL station ($5/each, 40 minute ride) and then walked to the nearby Fairfield Inn. After leaving our bags in our rooms, with our friends we visited the famous “Jaxson's Ice Cream parlor” for an ice cream lunch. We stopped at Dollar General and Walmart for a few needed items that were too hard to pack for air travel. Driving along A-1-A, we noticed the water levels on the inter coastal seemed extremely high, in fact, there was some flooding along the side roads. Finally we stopped at a dive shop for travel fins to use when snorkeling. After a brief rest at the Fairfield, we went to meet cruising friends at the “Big Fat Greek Restaurant.” We were not rushed and had a very nice meal and the plus two hours passed too quickly. Back at the Fairfield we agreed not to set a meeting time for morning. As the Journey was just arriving from a trans-Atlantic, Azamara has asked guests not to arrive much before 12:30. We did agree to set up an Uber XL for an 11:30 pick up the next morning. Thursday, November 21 – Embarkation We enjoyed a good night's rest at the Fairfield. Arriving for breakfast at 8:10, likely about the peak time, it was a little chaotic. All was fine though and we enjoyed breakfast with our friends. We then took an excursion to Hollywood Beach. Being early on a weekday no problem finding on street parking. We enjoyed a nice walk and took pictures along the beachfront promenade. We visited the Margaritaville resort, walking around taking photos of the unusual decor. At 10:30, it was time to head back to the car and return to the Fairfield. We had just enough time to gather our things and wait for our Uber ride. Mr. Uber arrived with a well traveled but clean Grand Caravan for our transfer to the Miami cruise port and the Azamara Journey, arriving there at about 12:10. The porters took our luggage, we checked in (no wait), arranged for specialty dining reservations, checked in with the front desk on DW's special diet needs, and were seated at the Patio ordering lunch by 12:45. Due to the Coast Guard inspection, cabin availability was delayed until about 2:00. After enjoying a lunch of fresh Grouper, we walked around exploring the ship. We really like the layout of “The Living Room” (Crow's nest area) as it is a wide open space with lots of seating, some of it unusual in design but comfortable. While sitting and chatting, an announcement was made that the cabins were available, so we headed down to our outside stateroom, #4029. I took my traditional cabin photos before moving any of our things in. One of our two checked bags had also arrived. No time to unpack as we attended the 2:30 “First time Azamara cruiser” gathering in the Cabaret (showroom). Very nice beverages and Hor d'oeuvres were passed around before Eric, the cruise director, welcomed all the first time folks to Azamara. We returned to the cabin to unpack, and found our other suitcase waiting for us. It took about an hour to put everything away. We went to find the “Swirl & Top” ice cream station and had a small bowl of soft-serve. We took that by the aft bar on deck 9 and enjoyed a beverage while waiting for the 5:00 muster drill. We attended the muster drill, which seemed to take a long time to start due to one missing cabin in our section. After the muster, we went back to the Living Room for “Dancing with the Starlight Trio,” along with Tapas and beverages. There were actually Tapas I enjoyed (dates with bacon and nice chicken nuggets). At about 6:30 we headed down to the Discoveries restaurant for dinner. We were seated at a table for four by a window. Service was terrific as was the food. They took very good care of DW's food sensitivities. I enjoyed shrimp cocktail, Grilled turkey breast (something new for me – it was good but not as good as traditional turkey), and Red Snapper (excellent). Dessert was gelato. We left dinner walking past the Mosaic Cafe (coffee/tea/snack shop) and headed to the Cabaret for the cruise director's welcome and the opening show, “Jump, Jive & Swing.” No boring time before the show sitting around in an silent showroom, the house band was playing numbers while waiting for showtime. Very impressive. “Jump, Jive, & Swing” is a”Magellan award-winning” show. This was certainly full of energy and I was impressed with the performers. The show went until about 10:15 at which time we called it a very full day. Friday, November 22 – At sea It is certainly good to be back on the ocean, as it's been nearly 5 months. We sure did sleep well. I ventured out around 8:00 to the Mosaic Cafe to bring some tea back to the cabin. Almost too hot to carry! I stopped at the front desk as the welcome aboard information asked guests to stop in if they were staying on for the next cruise, as we are. Back at the cabin, DW was ready about 8:50. On the way to breakfast we found the desk for the “Colors of the Caribbean” event tickets had opened early. We were able to get our tickets and also for our cruising friends, so we returned to our cabin to drop them off and delivered our friends tickets. They asked us to save them room at our table for breakfast in Discoveries. Breakfast in Discoveries was very nice, although it took a little long. Maybe it's just the first morning. They have a buffet set up, you can order off the menu, or mix it up. We mostly ordered off the menu but did look the buffet over and I had a small amount of Blueberry cobbler from the buffet. Else my ordered fruit plate and omelet were delicious as well! The cruise critic gathering was at 10:00 in the “Drawing Room.” This delightful library area on deck 10 mid ship has a warm feeling with a painted ceiling like you would see in famous Italian places. Eric the cruise director introduced many of the staff, and had us go around introducing ourselves. About half in attendance were on their first Azamara sailing. We left there to check out the shops, and then toured the suite that is being offered as a prize for the 12:15 bingo game. We thought the suite (8068) was not all that impressive. We headed up to the pool deck and got a table near (but not in) the Patio to listen to the 12:30 session of “Music by Vibz.” They are really good. Not one, but two – 45 minute sets with just 15 minutes between. We enjoyed it all, at times, while in the pool, Lunch was very enjoyable as well. We did a combination of the Windows cafe along with the Patio offerings. The ladies left to attend a “Smartphone photography class” At about 3:00 everyone headed down to relax a while – this cruising can really wear you out! We had dinner reservations at Prime C tonight. Beforehand we enjoyed the Starlight Trio again in the Living Room. A much larger crowd was there this evening. At 6:30 we went to Prime C. We had a most excellent meal and we were very impressed with how well they took care of DW's special food sensitivities. They even made her a crab cake with Almond flour. We left Prime C at 9:10 and headed straight for the Cabaret for the Captain's welcome toast. The Captain has quite a sense of humor and plays well with cruise director Eric. The show was assistant cruise director Meg Young in a solo show “Get happy.” It was okay. We left during the final costume change simply because by 10:30 we were too tired. Tomorrow is our first port call of Labadee, Haiti. Saturday, November 23 – Labadee, Haiti (Royal Caribbean Private resort) Another very good nights rest to the slight motion of the sea. Up a little after 7, I went around taking photos a little after 8:00 as we were sliding by a tree-covered portion of Haiti off the starboard side. I ran into our friends on the pool deck and agreed to meet them aft of the Windows cafe for breakfast. We met up for breakfast and really enjoyed our seats at the aft rail, until the Journey arrived at Labadee and needed to turn for docking so we were then in the sun. Breakfast complete, we headed back to our cabins to prepare for a day at the beach. At 9:15 the clearance to go ashore was announced and off we went. We caught the tram and took that to Columbus Cove, where we were provided 4 beach chairs in the shade. Clean restrooms and a calm sea made for a very pleasant morning. I got out my snorkeling equipment but as this was purely a sand bottom there was nothing to see. At about 11:30 we decided to move and headed over to the Town Square by tram. They were setting up the lunch and again we were provided four beach chairs in the shade. A waiter appeared immediately offering drinks. As Azamara cruisers, we had the same beverages included on Labadee as we have on the ship, a very nice benefit. We enjoyed lunch and I then headed into the water to snorkel. I swam past the “Floating bar” and put on the equipment. There is an assortment of small coral like brain coral in the bay, but visibility was likely two feet or less. I did see a few very small fish, but nothing to photograph. Heading back to our chairs I took a walk with one of our friends to the jetty to watch the waves crashing. We saw a few folks take advantage of the zip line, which claims to be the longest zip line over water. Returning to our chairs, we all got drinks and carried them out through the water to the Floating bar. This is quite a unique feature and it would have been really neat had it been staffed. We certainly understand how not every feature was “Open” as this port is built for 5,000 or more guests and the Journey is only 650 strong. But it sure was nice having the run of the place and never having to wait for anything. By 2:30 we had enough and packed up to head back to the ship. On the Journey, three of us headed to the pool and hot tubs to relax just a little. Then after cleaning up from the day, we all met on the pool deck for sail away tunes by Vibz. I also downloaded all our photos to my Surface and brought this log up to date listening to Vibz. Dinner was enjoyed in Discoveries. We went early attempting to make the 8:15 show (which we just made). A nice window table would have been really nice if it wasn't already dark outside! The waiter and dining room manager took very good care of DW's special needs. The 8:15 show was “Out at sea,” a journey around the world without leaving the ship. The show was excellent. We tried the piano entertainer but found he was just not as enjoyable as others. It was also getting late so we called it a night. Sunday, November 24 – At Sea What a beautiful sea day this is! Absolutely perfect weather, mostly sunny and 80 degrees. No whitecaps, a deep blue sea and sky. After we had a light breakfast delivered by room service, we visited to Lido for another cup of tea and sat out aft at the rail watching a number of birds following the ship. I am pretty sure I spied some flying fish as well. The shops were having a “Black Friday sale” and we found two clearance items at an additional 20% off. That takes care of the “Non refundable OBC” that Azamara gave us for booking. Today was a Sunday Brunch in discoveries, with music by the Journey orchestra. What a truly delightful event this was. The food was excellent as well. We headed up to the pool deck as the Starlight Trio was playing two sets beginning at 12:30. We enjoyed their performance greatly, sitting at our favorite shaded table. We left for the 2:00 scavenger hunt. The four of us, with a quickly determined team name of AzAmazing ended up winning the hunt with 138 points! We had tight competition from a group of youngsters that had 134 points. 3:15 brought the Captain's presentation and Q&A session. Speaking of the Captain, we have seen him and the senior staff “Out and about” interacting with guests all the time. Holland America could take some lessons from Celebrity and Azamara in this regard. We went to get ready for the evening and visited the Living Room for the Starlight Trio set. Dinner was in Discoveries and our waiter, Shaad, does a terrific job keeping the wine flowing of our favorite South African red. He also watches over DW's special food sensitivities. We are asking for Shaad each night. We thought we went early to the Cabaret for the 9:30 show, cruise director “Eric de Gray” with his show from “Vegas to Broadway.” Wow, what a show! A standing ovation ended the performance. After Eric's show we called it a night. Monday, November 25 – Gustavia, St. Barts This was our first visit to St. Barts, an island well know as the playground of the rich and famous. Just our opinion of course, but it is not set up to be friendly for cruisers. 95% of the information I gather from Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor seems accurate, the information on St. Barts was not. How anyone could possibly report the walk from the ferry terminal to the Eden Rock resort and beach as being 35 minutes and “Mostly flat” they must have had way too many rum punches! In any case, we did make the walk, up over the mountain and down past the airport to Eden Rock. The water was murky and snorkeling didn't allow any visibility. Besides, after that hike over to there, much of which on narrow roads with no sidewalks, I was too exhausted for much exertion in the water. We had a pleasant enough time swimming and floating in the delightful water, then walked down the beach to watch a few airplanes take off or land on the very short runway. We walked back to the airport and caught a cab back to the tender landing. Due to my own error, we did not have any Euros and the cab mark-up for US dollars was 50%. Ouch. Back on board we enjoyed lunch on the Patio and took a dip in the pool before getting ready for the evening. The Starlight Trio was playing in the Living Room and we enjoyed dinner with Shaad as our waiter. Our friends went to Aqualina, the Italian specialty restaurant this evening. After swallowing too much salt water during our outing, I wasn't feeling the best at dinner but by the end of the meal, after eating very lightly, was feeling much improved. At 8:30 there was a deck party, “Cherries Jubilee & Dancing” with Vibz on the pool deck. We were able to get a table for the four of us and really enjoyed the music. We were even able to dance a few numbers. We did not make the one-time show of “Just Dance” at 9:45 as it was a long day and we have an early start tomorrow. Tuesday, November 26 – Saint Maarten We were up early as we had an 8:15 meeting time with our friends so we would be on time for our reserved “6 Hour sailing/snorkeling tour” with St. Maarten Charters. We had a quick breakfast in the nearly empty Windows Cafe at 7:40 and met our friends at exactly 8:15. Off we went, taking our time taking photos in the dock area before following our instructions to walk towards town to Chesterfield's restaurant where we were to meet the Spellbound catamaran for our tour. Our instructions were very specific that the meeting time was 9:00, and we were there a few minutes before nine. We were welcomed by the captain and reviewed DW's dietary sensitivities with the very nice lady on board. Some time after 9:00 the captain told us that he was waiting on seven others and was unsure where they were. At about 9:20 we viewed a very large Carnival ship slowly pulling into port. It turned out that his other guests were on this ship. By 10:00 we were still waiting. I'm sorry, but by nature I am a punctual person and there are few things more precious that port time. Waiting an hour after an agreed meeting time is just not right, at least for those who are on time. We ended up leaving while our friends stayed*. We made our way back to the port, against quite a bit of foot traffic from those heading into town from Carnival. Wow, that is a big ship. We looked around a number of shops at the port complex and headed back to Journey. Once on board, we used the pool and while talking figured out this would be a great time to do our laundry in the self-serve and complimentary laundry. We started our two loads and went to the Patio for lunch. They specially prepared a meal for DW and I very much enjoyed their wings and grilled Grouper. We put the laundry into the dryers and enjoyed some relaxation time in the shade on the pool deck. I looked through Trip Advisor on my phone and found a likely outing for Antigua. I sent them both text messages and filled out a booking form, hoping to hear from them later in the day. I did not hear from them until after 10:00 the next morning, too late to join their tour. We enjoyed the pool deck until about 3:00, relaxed a little and got ready for the evening activities. Tonight is Azamara's first-ever “Colors of the Caribbean” event. We had arranged for 6:00 dinner followed by the 8:00 show. Beforehand we enjoyed Vibz playing in the living room. This event was designed to replace Azamara's “Aamazing evening” on shore, which they claim no venue in the Caribbean could be found large enough to host. This is all new to us anyway, but I will just say that without question this was the 'worst' dinner of the cruise. Most of the 'hot' items in the dining room Caribbean buffet were at best lukewarm. I understand why they went to buffet style in order to move half the passengers through in less than two hours, but the execution needs improvement. We went up to the Windows Cafe at about 7:35 to reach the back of the long line for entry to the pool deck. At 7:40 the doors were opened and we were seated. Nice Caribbean hand foods were available and these were quite nice. We were told the show would not actually start until 8:20, to allow time to enjoy the foods and beverages. A few local artisans also had their wares on display. The show itself was quite enjoyable and ended up with the finale being a conga line at about 9:00. This wasn't intended to be the finale, but the skies unexpectedly opened up and with the electronic equipment, and slick deck for the dancers, they needed to call the show at that time. All in all we had a very nice time, but during the next week's event we will attempt to dine in Prime C if it is open. Afterwards, we called it a night to get ready for the next port, as we now have six in a row! Wednesday, November 27 – St. Johns, Antigua. With no early plans we went to the main dining room about 8:00 and had a leisurely breakfast. I ordered the “Steak and eggs” for the second time this cruise and really enjoyed it. Just as we were finishing up our friends came in so we stayed and talked while they had their breakfast. We left the ship about 9:30 to join the masses leaving from three large ships in port with us. Two of them were on extended voyages round trip Europe, a P&O ship and a “Mein Schiff.” Additionally there was a large RCCL ship, so likely about 14,000 cruisers. Working our way through the many drivers offering island tours, we wanted to visit the local market. Well, the market opens at 5:00 AM and by 10:00 AM many of the vendors are long gone. We did find a number of vendors still at the nearby craft market and made a small purchase. We walked passed the bus station and back along Market street to the town center. After a while the smells were getting to us so we headed back to the Journey while our friends did a little more shopping. Back on board we enjoyed the pool and lunch. After lunch the two ladies went out to look over a few other ships near the other quay, while the men stayed around or in the pool. The evening included a “Discovers” event on the forward open deck on deck 11. This was an extremely nice with all the senior officers greeting their repeat cruisers. We spoke at some length with Eric, the cruise director and entertainer. Dinner was very nice in Discoveries although tonight it seemed the dining room was unusually busy. In fact, we did not see an empty table. Thru a combination of things dinner ended up taking nearly 2 ½ hours, but the wine kept flowing! We went straight from dinner to the Cabaret and secured good seats for tonight's one time show, Eric de Gray's “Broadway Showstoppers” & tribute to Abba. What an absolutely incredible show. Very likely the best show we've ever seen on our 35 or so cruises. The show wasn't over until 10:30 and at that point we called it a night. Thursday, November 28, Thanksgiving Day (US), Basseterre, St. Kitts. We had a plan for the day. The plan included leaving the ship by 9:00 to head to South Friar's Beach. We just wanted an hour on the beach to swim and then planned to return to the ship for lunch, then going out to see some things in town. That was a good plan, but the weather had other ideas. From 8:00 – 9:30 or so it was raining buckets. So when it appeared to let up just a little we did venture out with the Azamara room umbrellas. It soon did stop raining to we visited Independence Square, the Cathedral, walked over to St. George's Anglican Church hoping to climb the bell tower (it was not open), and then headed back towards the port. All-together this was nearly 7000 steps. Back in the port complex we went directly to the Caribelle Batik shop. On our last visit here we were at Romney Manor, where this process is actually performed, creating unique apparel in a multi-step dying process. I ended up buying a shirt and we also obtained a gift for someone back home. After this stop the men returned to the ship while the ladies visited a number of the other shops. As the Journey is the only ship in port they had the stores largely to themselves. We all enjoyed lunch and then the ladies went back out to see the shops. It had become a beautiful day but the beach had much less appeal with the early afternoon sun, so the pool deck was very welcome. We watched the crew work very hard to decorate for the “White Night” party this evening. The ladies returned and it was soon time to get ready for the evening. We had a 5:00 “Back to Back” cruisers meeting in the Cabaret. There are nearly 90 staying on board for the next 7 day round trip San Juan cruise. We met with the dining host to reserve Prime C for the Caribbean night (Barbados) as we thought that was the least satisfactory meal on this cruise. During the meeting much to everyone's dismay it began raining. On our way back to our cabin Eric made the announcement that the White Night party was being moved indoors to the Cabaret. The Thanksgiving deck buffet was moving to the Windows Cafe. Our plan was to dine in Discoveries where the menu included traditional Thanksgiving options such as Turkey and Ham. However, all four of us opted for the Chilean Sea Bass. Wow, that was incredible Sea Bass! In all honesty, it was a great menu overall this evening. We told Shaad that we wanted to be finished by 8:00 to get to the party in time to get seats. The dining room ended up being completely packed out with folks waiting. We were out of there at 8:05 and were able to get seats we liked for the White Night party. During the warm up for the party three members of the senior staff were making Crepes Suzette in the rear of the Cabaret. They were also really into the party atmosphere dancing along with the DJ's tunes. The party itself was a lot of fun. The entertainment staff went all-out, non-stop, for nearly two full hours without a break. They succeeded in getting a great number of folks involved on the dance floor. We took advantage of most of the slower numbers. When the party was over, we were more than ready to call it a night! Friday, November 29 - “Black Friday” (US), Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands This was our first visit to Virgin Gorda. The unique feature this island with a population of 3,500 is best known for are the “Baths.” These unique rocks along the southwest coast of the island are deep-earth rocks propelled through the air by volcanic eruptions at some past time. The winds and sea have sculpted them over the centuries and they have created a unique set of coves, tide pools, and caves just waiting to be explored. Explore we did! We first met in Discoveries for a breakfast of “Steak and eggs” at 7:30. By 8:30 we were heading for the tender. We ended up tendering with three tour groups from the ship. We managed to stay just ahead of one of them upon arrival at the baths. We were instructed to take the path towards Devil's Bay beach and then go through the caves to the baths beach. This was certainly one of the most unique things we've done in the Caribbean in many years. I hope we make it back to Virgin Gorda in the future to explore some more. We also made good use of our snorkel equipment at the bath's beach. With all the submerged and semi-submerged boulders, that became a great spot for coral to grow and many fish congregate there. I shot quite a few underwater photos. Getting out of the water DW was pushed by the waves into a few submerged rock ledges and she and our Around noon we tried to go back into the caves to more fully explore a swimming area in the cave but we were told that the path through the caves was “One way” due to “Two ships being in port.” (We did not ever see another ship...) We were not up to climbing the hill and beginning the process all over again, although looking back a few days later, maybe we should have tried. We did peruse a shop at the parking area and a couple of “Clearance” shirts were acquired as a reminder of our great time at Virgin Gorda. We were directed to one of the open air converted van taxis for the ride back to the marina. It took quite a while to get moving, and we arrived at the marina to quite a line of folks waiting to return to the Journey. We were able to obtain a few cups of cold water and about 15 minutes later we were on the tender back to Journey. Back on the ship we dropped our bags in our cabin and headed up for lunch at the Patio. The staff there take such good care of us, keeping our favorite wines flowing along with 'safe' foods for DW. We enjoyed a little pool time before getting ready for the evening. Dinner in Discoveries was greatly enjoyed with the premier dish tonight being “Surf & Turf.” Most of us had some variety of this. Also this last evening was the “Infamous Chocolate Buffet.” Very reminiscent of what Holland America used to do on each cruise, there is an incredible abundance of Chocolate of every variety, cakes, gelato, etc. My personal favorite was the dark-chocolate covered marshmallows. We bought a few photos at the gallery. Then we agreed to one final nightcap at the Spirit's Bar before heading to our cabin for the final evening. We passed on the show this evening of the guest entertainer, David Knight, a hypnotist. Saturday, November 30 – San Juan, PR, USA The Journey docked very early (before 6:00) as this is disembarkation day for all but 90 of the guests. Our cruising friends were leaving the ship as they are flying back to Florida on Monday. Despite the early docking, no one was allowed to leave the ship (even the walk-off guests) until all the luggage was unloaded, which was not until after 8:30 AM. Sure glad we do not have an early flight next week Saturday! We packed up our non-hanging clothing and toiletries to be moved three cabins to #4023 for the next 7 day segment. We met our friends in the Windows Cafe at 7:45 and enjoyed a last breakfast together on board. At 8:35 we returned to our cabin to find that the housekeeping team had already moved everything into #4023 except for our safe items. We took care of that and secured that material in our new cabin. We took advantage of the time to put most of our clean clothing into drawers in 4023, and then left the ship with our friends at about 9:05. Going through US Customs took less than five minutes, and it was time to arrange travel to Old San Juan. It ended up that a taxi was half the price of Uber as Uber claimed this was a 'high demand' time frame. So we took a taxi to their accommodations, the 452 Guest House. We were able to leave their luggage and we headed out to walk the oceanfront from the San Cristobal Castle to the El Morro Fortress. This was a beautiful walk and after a while we noticed a cruise ship far out heading into port. This ship ended up being the Holland America Veendam, which we have enjoyed sailing on in the past. We took many photos along this walk and while approaching the El Morro fortress, our friends heard a bicyclist take a tumble. They tended to this man and called 911. It took 20 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. This happened when we had left them to find water, which we purchased bottles from a vendor nearby for $1/bottle. They ended up using the water we bought for them for the injured man. There is very little shade near El Morro but I did retreat to the shade of a monument. We were all back together and headed to the beverage vendor to obtain four more water bottles. We then walked toward the main pier area as we wanted to visit CVS. On the way, we saw there was a handicrafts market at the La Princesa Promenade so we did view the various vendor's goods. As we neared CVS we did notice an increase in the breeze and some dark clouds approaching. We obtained what we needed in CVS and by then the skies had opened into a downpour. As is typical in the Caribbean, this did not last long, but it was long enough that it delayed us from our planned walk back to Plaza Colon to take the complimentary shuttle back to the Journey, so we called an Uber for the $7 ride. We bade farewell to our good friends who we hope to see during a Florida visit in February.

Overall a good experience, lots of very nice people on board. The all inclusive is really good with some excellent wines on offer.

Great trip except for the one excursion inMalaga. There is no other cruis line better than Azamara.