Freedom of the Seas

Orginally posted by : Judy A Kaan

Freedom of the Seas - Aug 26 - Sept. 2nd

Embarkation - How easy was this! We arrived at the ship about 12:45 pm and we were aboard
at 1:00 p.m. We were able to go to our cabin – and drop off our things and went straight to the Windjammer and Jade. That is on Deck 11 – where the buffet food is. We were immediately greated with Pina Colada’s – and how good those were!

Whats really cool is in the elevators – on the floor they change the day of the week every day! Wish I took pictures of it everyday for my photos. Maybe next cruise!

When we found our room – it had twin beds in it. But no problem – requested a queen bed and after the Muster Drill. Since it’s our “2nd honeymoon” – we received a bottle of Wine – such a nice touch! (Not sure if my husband pre-ordered it though). We were on Deck 7 not too far from the Library and the Elevators. Which was very convenient if you just wanted to take the stairs to Deck 5 or Deck 4. Had Breakfast sometimes at Leonardo’s dining room. Opted for that to be served instead of the Windjammer.

On Deck 5 is where the Promenade is where there is shopping on the ship, also for the ladies – a big tip is when you go where they sell the Cosmetics and Perfume – they do free makeovers.
Get the appointment made on the first day – because there is not that many slots available and They do SELL OUT FAST! I couldn’t get my makeover for the formal night – but I got it for
the night we were at Portofino. At Portofino – a must to go. You will be treated royally! And the food was excellent!

Promenade – had almost everything. They even had a barber shop for the guys. If you needed some extra dessert late at night – the Café Promenade was open 24 hours a day. Sorrentos Pizza closed at 2:00 a.m. if you wanted to have some pizza. And their pizza was excellent! So are the Panninis. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is also there (for an additional fee). Yummy ice cream!!!!

In the middle of the Promenade for shoppers like myself – they would be selling jewelry for great prices and towards the end of the cruise – they were selling scarves, jewelry etc. for a mere $10.00 a piece. Then towards the end of the trip, by the pool area – they were selling t-shirts for 2 for $20.00, plus jackets at 50% off. It seemed like a madhouse for this – but we ended up getting a few items.

The Dining Rooms: There are 3 different dining rooms – Isaacs, Leonardo and Galileo. We were in Isaacs – and what a beautiful dining room it was – but what makes it is the waiters and head waiters! At first we ended up with a table for 4 at the entrance and were not happy about it.
But they aim to please – and the next night we were moved to a table for 10 in a great location.
Our tables mates were from England with three children ages 13, 15, & 17. One night we did eat at Portofino’s – which was a great choice! Every night they had Shrimp Cocktail’s for us and my husband loves jalapeno peppers and were there for him every single night!

Definitely a plus is Johnny Rockets – even though sometimes it is a wait – they give you a buzzer for when it lights up.

Room Service is available “Free of Charge”. Just use your discretion to tip. We used room service quite frequently. Was a pleasure to have room service and enjoy our breakfast on the balcony.

Fun Events – Quest is an “Adults Only” event. Can’t say much about it – definitely have to check it out. Great events also for kids – which there were tons of families out there. They had the H2O zone for kids, the arcades and plenty more activities for the younger set. I know they even had scavenger hunts. Not to miss was going on the Flow Rider! I was lucky enough to try it and loved it! Also there is Rock climbing on the ship and a Boxing Ring which I didn’t get a chance to do. Also a 9 hole miniature golf course -

They have a running/walking track that went around the ship, and ping pong near by. It gets a little windy playing ping pong. Plus the 3 pools I believe and loved the jacuzzi’s. Favorite one was in the Solarium! Especially going there late at night – all the pools are open 24/7. Also at night many bars to choose from – one of our favorites was the Champagne Bar and The Bull & Pen.

Other activities were Bingo – if you liked to play – someone actually one $4,000!!! So many things of different interest for different people – even there was a Scrapbooking Class – and they sold a Freedom of the Seas scrapbook along with if you wanted to by the Scrapbooking extra materials.

There were many shows to see – Love and Marriage (which was hysterical), the ice show (Definitely Not to Miss), Motown show, The Broadway Show – called “Once Upon A Time”, plus, plus, plus…..Not to miss was reliving everything at the Farewell Show! And our Cruise Director Becky Thompson was FANTASTIC!!!!! Like to bottle up her energy. She was everywhere – if you spoke with her – she would remember your name.

On Deck 12 was the Freedom Day Spa. The prices however seemed high – just for a blow-out for my hair they charged $80. Surprised though that there was no makeup artist aboard.

On Deck 4 is where you can view all of your photos and also where the Casino is. A tip with the photographs – as each day progresses they put more racks up on the photos. Best to buy the photos as you go – because the last night it is insane! Many photographers are onboard for many types of photos.

On Deck 5 of the Promenade deck is also where the Guest Relations are with any problems. I lost my Seapass Card – so that was easily replaced.

Sad note was that someone on our cruise had a heart attack and had to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. This is when we were near Puerto Rico, I believe.

Getting on and off the port went pretty quickly. The one that took the longest though was Puerto Rico – since we disembarked at 3:00 p.m. – everyone wanted to leave at the same time.

The Disembarkation would have been quick – except that there was some sort of bomb scare at the terminal. And I would rather be safe with precautions on board. We made the best of it – and thought – this gives us a little extra time on the ship and we went to Deck 11 by the pool for a little while. We were off the ship by 2:00 p.m.

Only disappointment - was that we had no MIDNIGHT BUFFET. Was told by our waiter Ceaser that one of the kitchens was being remodeled. Oh well….. At least we had a pool buffet at the beginning of the cruise - which was so much Fun!

Every day was a perfect sunny day! And I would book this same cruise all over again.

Carnival Elation

MY HUSBAND AND I LOVE CRUISING TOGETHER!! IT HAS BEEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE PERFECT GEATAWAY FOR US. WE SO ENJOY THE TIME ALONE, NO COOKING, NO CLEANING AND NO TELEPHONES…JUST THE BEAUTIFUL SEA AND US!

WE HAVE SAILED WITH CARNIVAL 4 TIMES AND EVERY CRUISE HAS BEEN A FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE. THE FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT HAS BEEN GOOD, NO COMPLAINTS. HOWEVER, WE DO FIND THAT THE ENTERTAINMENT ON THE LONGER CRUISES IS BETTER. OUR MOST RECENT CRUISE WAS ON DECEMBER 9, 2006 ON THE CARNIVAL ELATION. WE FOUND THE SHIP TO BE VERY CLEAN AND WELL TAKEN CARE OF. OUR FAVORITE PRE-DINNER SPOT ON THIS CRUISE WAS THE FRESH SUSHI BAR (NEXT TO THE CASINO). WHAT A TREAT…IF YOU LIKE SUSHI, YOU WILL LOVE THIS. WE ALSO LOVED THE ELATIONS BAND THAT ENTERTAINED ON DECK…THEY WERE THE BEST WE HAVE HEARD ON A CRUISE. AND OF COURSE WE LOVE THE GAMES ON DECK TOO…ESPECIALLY THE HAIRY CHEST CONTEST!!

WE ONLY HAD ONE BUMP IN THE ROAD…I WAS NOT FEELING WELL ONE MORNING AND WE MISSED OUR EXCURSION IN MEXICO…BUT CARNIVAL GAVE US NO TROUBLE AND EASILY REFUNDED OUR MONEY.

OVERALL, WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HAPPY WITH CARNIVAL AND WE LOVED THE SHIP “ELATION”. OUR NEXT CRUISE WILL MOST LIKELY BE WITH CARNIVAL BUT THIS TIME WE ARE GOING TO TAKE THE KIDS AND LET THEM EXPERIENCE THE EXCITEMENT TOO!

Golden Princess : British Isles

Orginally posted by : Rob Holloway

Cruise to the British Isles on the Golden Princess
Cruise Destination: British Isles: UK / Wales / Scotland / Ireland
Cruise Date: August 10, 2005
By Robert Holloway mailto:reholloway@telus.net

My wife and I (60/62) booked this British Isles cruise in April 2005 and learned a lesson, book as soon as you can with a deposit, otherwise the price or offers change. Cruise lines are now like airlines, capacity controlled values.

We have been to Alaska with Celebrity (Infinity) and Mexico with Princess (Sea Princess ) in 2001 now we are finally in 2005 on a cruise we have wanted to do for a long time.

We live on Vancouver Island, Victoria in Canada, so 10+ hours later via Air Canada and 8 hours ahead time zone, we arrived in London for three nights and Southampton for one night prior to the cruise.
It is a great way to go and be relaxed.
Stayed at London Hilton Euston and Novotel Southampton, great hotels for about 65 GBP (pounds) a night, about $125 CDN. For August, good rates as we prepaid back in April. Also stayed at Novotel Heathrow for 1 night on way back, it is isolated on airport row if you want to walk around.

Arranged by online booking in April 2005 for for Imperial Cars of Southampton to drive us from London to Southampton, to the pier next day and return to London. Great service and value for not dealing with taxis, tubes (subway) and buses. About a 2+ hour drive from Hotel Hilton Euston in London to Southampton.

Following day , Imperial Cars picked us up at the hotel in Southampton and we arrived 12:45 at pier, about a 15 minute drive from the Novotel Hotel.
With express check-in we were onboard within 15 minutes, a few pounds to the luggage porter, bags onboard about 1 hour later. Bypassed the photo hounds while boarding except for security picture to match your cabin card. The ship had about 2,800 passengers with 700 Brits, 1,700 US and rest of us around the world.

Food choices were great on the buffet and Horizon was well run. It does take awhile to find food choices on different islands but not long. Plenty of seating though tables for 2 or 4 are limited. We chose 2nd seating fixed with a table of 8 which soon became 6, very good company.

Ports were: Southampton & sea day, sea day, Dublin, HolyHead Wales (Tender), Belfast, Grennock (Glascow), sea day, Orkney Islands Kirkwall (Tender), Queensbury, Edinburgh (Tender), sea day.

It of course rained a bit once we got to Wales and Northern Scotland but if you have a sweater, light jacket and umbrella (brolly), not an issue. Lots of fun, countryside was wonderful and beautiful.

We took basic tours in most of the ports and walked around in Greenock and Kirkwall. Currency is GBP everywhere except Euros in Dublin and the ship now has machines that convert your monies for you, great feature. Entertainment was great with local talent brought in in some ports, bagpipes greeted us in Greenock , a band in Belfast and a local youth music group in Wales. The Welsh in Holyhead were great greeters and made us feel welcome.

Staff on ship were friendly and our cabin staff including dining staff were fantastic. It is a large Hotel on water , if you accept that then its hard to fault the services.

We will come back to the UK, especially Wales and Orkney and Southern England, and get out into the countryside.

Only blip was food costs in London , for us it’s 2-1, what you pay locally becomes same but in GBP. Outside of London, it is less expensive.

We considered this cruise as a wonderful way to sample, like a buffet, the British Isles. Of course, I do admit to being born in UK but had not been back since 1966/67. It was wonderful
Cheers
Rob:

Costa Magica

Orginally Posted by : Dick McIntyre

We took a bump on a Coral Princess Panama Canal cruise(they made it interesting - upgrade from an inside to a balcony, pick up any difference in airfare, and a cabin credit of $999. We asked our agent if she could find anything the original week for a good price, and she booked us on Costa Magica, out of Toronto. We’re from western New York, and it easier to fly out of Toronto than Buffalo.

The ship was beautiful, the food mediocre, some of the staff rude, and some of our fellow passengers, especially a large group from Holland , obnoxious. The cuisine was different than that of the lines that cater to a mostly North American clientele - the beef made Ponderosa steaks seem like Morton’s of Chicago’s. The pasta was very good. My wife ran into a spa manager who only liked to be spoken to in Italian, and we were llterally chased out of a theatre during what was a private performance for the Dutch people(no signs were posted that it was a private party).

The only two ports we really enjoyed were Cozumel, and Gran Turk. My wife especially enjoyed Cozumel, since she ended up leaving with a large diamond ring to add to her collection. Gran Turk was beautiful - it isn’t really developed yet. We’d like to go back there for a stay.

Upen deplaning at Pearson, we found that Skyservice(the charter airline that we flew) had done a number on one of our suitcases - It was now hourglass shaped.

One of the crew told us that the food improves dramatically when the ship returns to European waters, so maybe that’s when to cruise on her.
His exact words to us were: “If you think your food’s bad, think what we have to eat.”

Holland America Maasdam

Maasdam by Rob Holloway
Eastern Canada
May 20, 2006
Cabin Category: Balcony Cabin Number: 165
Cruise length 7 nights.

Our vacation was to spend a week with a daughter who works in Boston, then take the seven (7) night MS Maasdam cruise from Boston to Montreal and visit our other daughter in Montreal and her husband and our grandchildren.

We wanted to take a cruise with less people (1,266) instead of the 2,600 type ship. It worked out well as we celebrated a birthday in Boston then our grandson in Montreal.
We flew from Victoria BC (Vancouver Island) Canada to Ottawa then to Boston a week prior and stayed at Hotel 140 for $149 US a night. Hotel 140 is located just off Cobley Square and is an renovated YWCA. Very clean room , small but the price and location in heart of Boston at graduation time cannot be beat.

Logan airport is busy and old , taxi was fine and rate was about $25 which includes the tunnel and AP fee. Taxi to the pier itself in the south end was about $15 including tip. Porters took our bags about 11:30am, gave then $5, swift checkin after we were assigned number 3 group, probably onboard by noon with rooms available by 1pm.
They take you to Lido deck to wait and a buffet is available.
One tender to Bar Harbour, pier stops each day (Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Sea day to Saguenay Fjord , Quebec, Montreal).

All our tour tickets were pre-booked and paid and were in our cabin when we arrived. Holland America does a very good job in selections and tour operations. Our dining room service was excellent , table 64 (1st seating) but the table was set for 10 and only about 7 showed up which dropped to two couples and one single lady. Next time we will stay with the 6:15 seating or later as it is too early when you return from a tour to relax. Next time we will request a table for 6 instead, easier to know people. We did have a good time with our table mates. We used room service for breakfast most day and tipped $2 each day, those trays are heavy to carry from the dining room. Always on time and excellent food choices. We used the laundry service and it was returned same day even though we selected normal service, surprised us. Our room steward (ASEP) room 165 Balcony V deck was excellent.

The entertainment was a good mix, though they could have brought onboard more local talent. We are in our early sixties and were in the younger group but who cares, lots of energy though, at night the younger folks held court. The ship has been renovated and those beds were wonderful and comfortable.

Internet service is expensive at $0.75 a minute with a setup fee and plans to a lower rate. The speed was slow, not like a true ADSL/CABLE. The room and computers though were excellent What was missing, a mute point , was not knowing the order of colours departing the ship on the last day. We did arrive late about an hour but as we were one the last groups, off by 10-10:30am in Montreal.

Rob Holloway

Carnival Triumph

My husband, daughter and I took our 7th cruise with Carnival on 8/11/07 on the Triumph out of Miami. Carnival is the only lines we have cruised with because we have such a wonderful time with them. This was a 7 day cruise and we had an aft balcony cabin. (7130) Although we loved the extra room on the balcony I will probably not book one again. No breeze so it was pretty warm during the day.

Miami terminal was great. No problems getting on or standing in lines.

As usual the ship was beautiful. We spent a lot of time in the casino which was great. Ended up breaking even.

Sea days were fun. Always games or something going on around the Lido deck.

We had 4 ports. Half Moon Cay, St Thomas VI, San Juan Puerto Rico and Grand Turk. All beautiful places, but San Juan was absolutely stunning!

We ate in the dining room every night and the food was perfect as well as the waiters.

Although we had a good time this was probaly my least favorite ship. Not as many activities as the other cruises we have been on and the past guest reception definately was not as good. The ship was in great condition. We saw no problems.

Carried our luggage off ourselves and were in our car on the road by 9:00am.

I would rate this cruise an 8 out of 10 and would recommend it for the ports alone.

Royal Carribbean Rhapsody

Orginally posted by Angie M Williams

We were on the Rhapsody on May 20th of this year. The boarding in Galveston was great. This is the easiest I have ever seen. This was our fifth cruise so embarkation was not new to us. We (husband, daughter 18 turning 19, and me) boarded around 11:00 a.m. We got on and checked out our room (seventh floor - balcony - middle of ship). It was clean but our suitcases were not there yet. We decided to go to the Lido deck to eat. We certainly were not the first ones. We ate and then went to check out the ship. The previous year we were on the Royal Legend and it was a twin ship so we were able to make our way through the ship without getting lost.

Rhapsody was a little late leaving because of a medical emergency on board. Muster drill was as usual. (Around 5 p.m.) Nothing different. For the people who have never done a muster drill, they check off your names and you are put in a certain part of the walkway (outside). When everyone is accounted for, they let you go back to your room.

Our seating was for 6 p.m. We hurried and changed our clothes and went to the diningroom. Food every night was good and our waiters were great.

First day at sea was good weather. Second day we went to Cozmuel (swam with dolphins), third day we were in Honduras (took tour of the area), fourth day in Costa Maya (just got the category five hurricane Dean-glad we went when we did) and fifth day we went to Progresso, Mexico. We just walked around there.

They had a good light/show. Don’t know what you call it but it is dark and people dance with scarves and such and make great designs and such. Good juggling and such. We do enjoy the dance type shows. Definitely rated G. We did see a comedy show that was good also.

My husband and I tried a few dance classes. I can’t say we were the best.
We also did the walk in the morning. With Royal, they give you points for exercise classes. Dance classes count also. At the end, you turn in your points and you can get t-shirts, water bottles, etc.

The ride was pretty smooth.

One thing I didn’t like is that they did not explain it very well on the tipping. The previous year we were on a Royal ship and the tips were put on your charge card unless you change it. Well when we got the envelopes, we thought they were in case you want to add to the tips. On the last morning we got our bill. The tips were not on there. We called and also went down to the pursers desk and told them what had happened. They said they closed out our account. We could not add to the account and they wouldn’t open it. Finally I called Royal’s office and they told me to send the check to Royal in Miami. That was three months ago and the check was not cashed. We even put our waiter and sub-waiter’s name on there and their picture. This I did not like.

Sun Princess

Orginally posted by : Frank Farber

My wife and I and another couple sailed on the Sun Princess in April on a ten day Caribbean cruise. We are all experienced cruisers, mostly with Holland and Celebrity. This was our first Princess cruise.

The ship is an older vessel but well appointed and spotless. Our outside cabin was small and the bathroom was miniscule-one person could barely turn around. Our cabin steward was excellent.

There was a wealth of activities offered and great participation by the passengers. Dance lessons were offered-waltz, merengue, cha cha, etc.- and were well attended as were trivia contests, afternoon teas, spelling contests. The library was well stocked and many computers were available.

Food was generally good in the dining room but the buffet area was small and congested with mediocre to adequate food. The small pizzeria, however, was excellent (our companions own an Italian restaurant). Service in the dining room, at the teas, and in the pizzeria was excellent.

Nightly entertainment was professional and enjoyable. The last night champagne waterfall was especially good with the crew mingling and dancing with guests. A great time was had by all that night.

In St. Thomas, Princess is now docking at Crown Point–not much there-out of the way. Havensight is much better with plenty of shopping.

All in all we enjoyed ourselves well enough to try Princess again. We are booked on the Crown Princess this November

Crown Princess

Here is a summary of my recent cruise aboard the Crown Princess. It was a 9-night cruise sailing from Brooklyn, NY with port of calls at Bermuda, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Grand Turk. This was a family trip consisting of 13 people in total. This was my 9th cruise and my 2nd time with Princess.

Ship

Activities with nominal fees - The majority of the shipboard activities had a fee. With four sea days, there was not much daytime activity outside the usual art auction, bingo, line dancing class, or pool games. Princess did have a guest marine biologist providing free lectures onboard who provide a lot of interesting information.

Fees for some food - Princess does charge for brew coffee thru the “International Cafe” and gelatos. Sushi and tapas that are available during the evening also carried charges.

Public Area - The theatre and lounge was not big enough to hold everyone. On a couple of nights I saw plenty of people who either left or had to stand for the shows. I really felt the crowd when getting off the ship at the ports and pool area during sea days.

Food selection - Everyone in my party all agreed the food was exceptional. There was plenty of choices either thru the buffet, Internal Cafe or sit-down. We had traditional seating and enjoyed having the same waiter who provided plenty of entertainment to the kids. The Head Waiter saw how much we liked the escargot and made it available to us each night.

Balcony - We had connecting cabins and had the Room Stewart open all the balcony doors.

Kids Area - All the kids had a great time. They provide you a daily activity list which range from T-shirt coloring to various arts and crafts.

Shows - I only was able to see a couple of the evening entertainment. The comedian was funny.

Ports

St. Thomas - Princess has decided to dock at Crown Bay instead of the usual Charlotte, Amalie. The new dock location is definitely not as convenient or scenic. Megan Bay was beautiful and water was fantastic.

Grand Turk - This location is still in the ‘development’ stages. The ship docks right next to the beach where there are some shops. I think this place will improve in the coming years as plenty of contruction is occuring around the beach. You do have the option of using the beach or pool. However, there was a limited amount of beach chairs. These chairs where already setup.

Overall, it was a great cruise. Most everyone working on the ship was helpful and friendly.

Azamara Journey - Deluxe New Brand

Orginally posted by: Art Sbarsky

AZAMARA: A DELUXE JOURNEY

Celebrity Cruises, the very highly-rated premium Cruiseline, has spun off two of the R-class ships from the days of Renaissance into a brand new brand: Azamara Cruises. They have promised that the brand will be developed into a “deluxe” cruise experience, featuring the “distinctive combination of impeccable service, exceptional cuisine and off-the-beaten path destinations.” They introduced Azamara Journey in May 2007 with virtually no advance fanfare. The ship also picked up the Bermuda itinerary previously served by Celebrity’s Zenith for its first season. I had the opportunity to sail for a week recently.

The word “deluxe” has also been used to describe Oceania (though the line does not call itself deluxe); it’s another brand that uses former Renaissance ships, and as a matter of fact, I’ve never seen two brands as similar as Azamara and Oceania. While this is largely due to the ships themselves being virtually identical, with the changes the company is planning on making, Azamara will take on a personality of its own and should be quite distinctive.

One very fun example of just how new the product really is occurred the first day the ship was in Bermuda. Due to bad seas at the St. George area, the ship simply docked in Hamilton for its three-night stay. That first afternoon a rainsquall came up driving everyone from the pool deck. After the rain, the towels naturally were soaking wet and the crew had to replace them. Out came two large laundry bins with brand new towels, still in their plastic wrapping. They were rapidly deployed on all of the gorgeous, comfy deck chairs and the sun-worshippers were very happy. Note: there are quite a few double-longer chairs for couples — very nice!

The 30,277 gross-ton Azamara Journey, previously Renaissance’s R6 and, more recently, Pullmantur’s Blue Dream, carries 710 guests (double occupancy) and 390 crewmembers, though on this cruise the crew numbered 408. This equates to a space ratio of 43 and a guest/crew ratio of 1.8.

To compare the space ratio to other premium and luxury ships: Millennium-class is at 46; Century-class, 40; Noordam, 44; Rotterdam, 45; Grand Princess, 41; Coral Princess, 46; Regatta and Insignia, 44 (they have fewer pax than Journey); Crystal Symphony, 53; Crystal Serenity, 62; Regent Seven Seas Voyager, 59; and Regent Seven Seas Mariner, 70.

Overall, Journey’s space ratio is therefore pretty much in line with premium and lower than luxury. The only times the ship felt crowded was around the pool area on sea days and in the main dining room when it was filled.

One feature that’s totally appropriate for the upscale nature of the product is the
multiple number of quiet areas for simple pleasures such as reading or chatting. My favorites were the library and the covered area on the pool deck with really deep, comfy chairs and sofas (perfect for napping). Even the pool music volume was conducive to relaxation.

Prime Dining
Menus for the main dining room will be changed shortly by a new culinary team, headed up by Jacques van Staden, so comments on that menu would be somewhat irrelevant. However, new menus are in place for the ship’s two alternative dinner restaurants: the 86-seat Prime C, for steak and seafood, and the 82-seat Aqualina, for “contemporary American cuisine with a Mediterranean flair.” At this stage, Prime C gets more rave reviews than Aqualina; its outstanding food and great decor make it one of the top alternative restaurants at sea. The menu is extensive, with beef the highlight (even though the Kobe beef is really from Idaho), the lamb is cooked to perfection, and the side orders include onion rings and truffle-enhanced steak fries. The range of appetizers is such that they could conceivably become a full, balanced meal when combined. The Prime C setting, with its dark wood, resembles a big city steakhouse. In the entrance area near the bar, there’s a beautiful wine room that sets the tone for the quality of the experience. In the restaurant itself, the tables are large and nicely set apart from each other. Every guest gets one dinner in one of the two alternative restaurants as part of the cruise fare (suite guests get two). After that, it’s $25 per person for Prime C (tip included) and $20 per person for Aqualina.

The casual restaurant on pool deck, appropriately named Windows Cafe during the day, is renamed and transformed into Breeza at night, with white tablecloth service as well as a more casual side for buffet diners. All diners can partake in the buffet, which is a treat because there’s always sushi available, and, on one night, great lobster tails. Another nice touch is a free juice-bar/smoothie service in the casual restaurant at breakfast. For outdoor dining, the daytime grill outside near the pool has the requisite hamburgers (always well-done), hot dogs, nachos and cheese, and–here’s a surprise–hot pretzels. The line is going to be enhancing this area with items such as Philly Cheesesteaks.

Sizing Up The Staterooms
Much has been written in the past about the small stateroom size on the Renaissance R-class ships. That hasn’t changed, so the staterooms are about average for premium and substantially smaller than for luxury. For comparison purposes, an ocean-view stateroom on Azamara is 170 or 175 square feet; a deluxe ocean-view stateroom on Celebrity’s Millennium-class is 170 square feet, Oceania lists the category as 165, while large outside doubles on Holland’s Rotterdam are 197 square feet, and the ocean-view double on Crown Princess is 181 (all measurements exclude balconies).

The fifteen accommodation categories on Azamara start with inside rooms at 158 square feet and go up to 175 for outside staterooms and 560 for the largest of the suites. They’re nicely laid out with an acceptable number of drawers and decent closet space; the 251 private balconies are a distinct advantage for light and comfort. More than 75% of all outsides have balconies. The six wheelchair-accessible rooms are larger than their counterparts in each category.

Mini-fridges (for all rooms) were not yet installed on my cruise, but temporary ones have been installed and permanent ones are coming. Toiletries in all staterooms include three offerings from Elemis as well as extra touches like q-tips and cotton balls. Bathroom towels and bed linens are of excellent quality. Flat screen TVs in all rooms are nice, but they don’t swivel a lot. The 42 suites have DVD/CD players. A small but meaningful enhancement is the really powerful hair dryer in the desk draw, put there to supplement the bathroom’s wall version which isn’t.

Onboard Ambiance
There are nice touches around the ship that contribute to the designation of Journey as deluxe:

* Production shows have live mikes for all singers and a live seven-piece orchestra.

* There were virtually no announcements made during the day. It keeps the ship quiet.

* The library is stunning, the most beautiful one I’ve seen at sea, with comfortable seats, a pleasing view over the pool area, and a gorgeous, recessed ceiling.

*The ship has the look of a very classy, small hotel. The artwork is eclectic and nicely done and the staircases have a beautiful wrought-iron look. The grand staircase from deck four to deck five was the site of many a photograph.

*The gym is well equipped for the number of guests onboard, with five treadmills, 15 pieces of other workout equipment, free weights and an aerobic area.

* Service is already very friendly, and I saw pro-active service by all levels of staff. As one example, one day I was standing at the Caesar salad bar at lunch, and the server had walked away to get supplies. The restaurant manager saw me, hurried over, and promptly served me (and, no, he didn’t know who I was).

Azamara’s Future
While Celebrity is going to continue making changes for awhile yet, particularly in terms of amenities and dining choices, it is clear that the intent is to offer an adult, high-quality experience. It will be fitting for couples and singles ranging from baby-boomers on up. Azamara did have a daytime kids program on this cruise, but the facilities were limited; it’s just a set-aside corner of the casual restaurant during the day.

The big picture is that the culinary experience and service are already deluxe. As Azamara keeps improving, it will be a very solid alternative to the larger capacity premium ships and the higher-priced luxury ships. For pricing, the company is hoping they will generate per diems about 40% higher than Celebrity.

After Journey completes its season in Bermuda, it really spreads its wings geographically, heading for South America and Antarctica during the fall and winter before heading to Europe next April. Itineraries will run from ten nights to 18, with overnight calls in the most important ports, such as Buenos Aires, Rio, and Venice. There will also be an Azamara world cruise in the not-too-distant future.

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