Azamara Onward, Italy Intensive, Luca was the highlight.
Embarkation- We arrived at the port location in Nice at 11am.
We handed in our luggage and were given our boarding cards.
We were seated in the shade by the ship for about 30 minutes before boarding the ship where the full embarkation took place in the Cabaret Lounge on board.
Ports – Many of the ports were by reached by Tendor and those that weren’t, were very close and walking distance.
At Portoferraio there is a little tourist train parked by the port, it is €5.00 per person for 20 minutes return trip, we did that first and then walked around.
Stateroom – We had an abundance of hangers which was great.
The towels were nice quality and the shower curtain seemed new.
Bottled water was delivered daily.
Various types of plug sockets and USB.
Some things not to expect from Azamara anymore, or at least we didn’t see them.
No notepad and pen in the stateroom
No flowers in stateroom
No daily ice and bucket in stateroom
No daily evening canapés in stateroom
Windows Cafe Buffet – Breakfast and Lunch offered a reasonable selection and the Evening buffet had a different country theme each night.
The desserts at lunch and in the evening were beautifully presented and impossible to resist.
We found the food very good, some things a bit repetitive.
Mosaic Cafe – Efficient friendly service, Almond liquor coffee was lovely after dinner and there’s always room for a couple of chocolates.The food offerings were always nicely presented and very tempting.
Discoveries Dining Room – We didn’t eat there many times as it took quite a long time and we enjoyed the daily evening country themed buffet.
Bars/drinks – Quality of drinks and service varied depending on the bar.
We found the best service and drinks to be in the Den made by Buidi.
Azamara Entertainers – On this occasion we were disappointed with the entertainment, the band in Living Room and the pianist in the Den early evening, were lacklustre .
Sometimes we prefer the band and sometimes the pianist but this time neither suited us.
The Azamara singers and dancers were good and injected some life with their Amped Up show.
Also, the singers from the show team occasionally sang solo in the Den and they were good.
The cruise directors show was powerful.
Guest entertainers- We were pleased to see some guest entertainers as we thought they had disappeared from Azamara.
Emily Yates was good powerful singer and for destination immersion Giacometti Riggi jazz pianist was excellent and also amusing.
AzAmazing evening – It was on board in the Caberet Lounge just like the other nightly shows, it was Italian Opera by three Tenors.
To us it seemed like the jazz pianist and served as another destination immersion rather than AzAmazing evening.
Our expectations for an AzAmazing evening are greater based on past experiences.
Perhaps it is time to rebrand it, to reflect it as destination immersion event, otherwise anyone who has done many AzAmazing evenings will be disappointed.
White Night – Due to stormy weather in Portoferraio the White Night buffet was moved into Windows and the band and dancing moved to the Cabaret Lounge which was unfortunate.
The food was very much like the normal buffet but with a bigger selection including Beef and Lobster but didn’t compare to the buffets we have experienced in past White Nights with the outside BBQs.
There is quite a lot of hype about White Night but the last few we have been to, the food doesn’t come close to what it used to be.
It seems to be less impressive since Azamara was sold to Sycamore Partners.
Excursions- We did the Luca on your own excursion, the bus journey was on a main road but with countryside views and it takes 45 mins to 1 hour to reach Lucca.
We were dropped off outside the city walls and the guide walked with us to a main square which was where we met at the end of our three hours free time.
The guide on the bus was very informative.
We would have liked longer as the time soon evaporated.
Even if you don’t like shopping, the streets are wonderful to see with the old fashioned shop fronts and beautiful presentation.
We walked around and saw the places of interest but did not have time to visit museums and palaces, needed longer.
Loved Lucca and would return.
We also did the late afternoon Livorno boat trip excursion, the boat is close to the port and you walk to it from the ship, it was extremely hot, hat definitely needed.
You can book direct cheaper than the ships excursion, we were told by a guide from the previous day that it costs about €15.00 per person.
The difference being the ships tour has a guide and you stop in a bar for a drink that tastes like sherry, served with biscotti.
Staff – Friendly professional service throughout the ship.
Cleanliness – Good to see that Azamara are still insistent on hand sanitising to keep a clean healthy ship.
We found all public areas to be clean and well presented.
They were busy cleaning all the brass work whilst we were on board and it was noticeably shiny.
Laundry – If you plan to wash and dry clothes before the end of the cruise, do not leave it until the last two days as you will find people queueing in the corridor and on our cruise many driers were out of order near the end of the cruise, best to do bits throughout when it’s not popular.
We were on deck seven so noticed it on the last days.
Account – when we got on board they did not have a record of our drinks package.
Also, ours drinks upgrade discount did not arrive on our account until half way through the holiday.
We had to query our account several times as we did not have our OBC.
It was eventually resolved two days before the end of the cruise.
Ensure you have all your booking details to hand just in case of need.
