Saturday, March 27, 2010

Sharing A Vacation

Anyone who has been following this blog is aware that Linda and I recently returned from a great cruise on the Azamara Journey. We spent 12 days cruising to St. John, St. Martin, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Guadalupe, St. Barth’s and Virgin Gorda.

Whenever someone returns from a great vacation, they enjoy sharing their experiences with friends and co-workers. It’s a lot of fun to reminisce about experiences that others might enjoy. Things like the humpback whale we saw while walking the deck while the ship was cruising off Puerto Rico; and the sea turtle that Linda saw from our balcony while reading a book at St. Martin.

People are curious to hear about the boulders at the Baths in Virgin Gorda and our intrepid conquering of the Devil’s Path to reach the most spectacular part of this attraction which is a highlight of the Caribbean. They also like to hear about the mega-yachts docking in the picturesque harbor in St. Barth’s—including one owned by Jimmy Buffett. These are some of the dividends of travel that add to the inventory of life’s great experiences.

Because we have enjoyed many cruises, we have become a little jaded in our expectations. Our cruise onboard the Azamara Journey was a wonderful delight that ranked near or at the top of all of the cruises we’ve enjoyed together. The ship’s crew was efficient, friendly and proud to be part of a “happy ship.” The food onboard was uniformly good and the choices were often unbelievable. I have never seen a 25 pound Mahi Mahi displayed as part of a fresh fish display for a deck barbecue before.

Often people ask me which cruise has been my favorite. I think the statement, “my next one,” is an appropriate response. Every time we venture out on the high seas we build new memories that are a joy to resurrect. I highly recommend the re-charging which a cruise can deliver as a great plus in life. Oh, Linda and I are looking forward to the “next one,” we just don’t know what, when or where it will be yet.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wrap-up 12-Night Azamara Journey Caribbean Cruise

Our 12-night Azamara Caribbean cruise ended in Miami on March 20th. Both Linda and I felt that this was one of the best cruise vacation experiences we’ve ever taken. The itinerary was excellent and the ship performed beyond our expectations.

Once again, we were astounded when the disembarkation process was the smoothest and quickest we’ve ever experienced—a mirror image of the slick embarkation experience from 12-days earlier. Because we had requested the independent travel option, we were given a 9:00 AM departure time. In fact, we left the ship at 8:50 AM with no waiting whatsoever. It was a breeze to leave the ship, collect our luggage and catch a rental car shuttle all within about 200 yards, and taking only a few short minutes.

The departure breakfast on the Journey was nearly the same as every other morning, a stark contrast to most other cruise lines who give you a significantly reduced choice in the buffet on the last morning. The only shortcoming was a lack of coffee cups. The service staff was its usual friendly and efficient self. We even had a chance for a final meal with the Reinagal’s from the Williamsburg, Virginia Cruise Holidays store.

The guest relations folks had advised us that we could take a peek at the Sky Suites and Penthouse suites after 8:30 AM on our last morning on the ship. The Sky Suites were substantially larger than our balcony stateroom, and they had bigger bathrooms with a tub—unlike our postage stamp sized shower. The real wow was in the Penthouse Suite which has a nice living room, bath and a half and a huge balcony. I think these categories will do very well as Azamara moves up to the Super-Premium category in cruising (just below Luxury).

Azamara is to be commended for putting together a product which shines in comparison to the premium level of cruising (Holland America Line and Celebrity). The service level and the dining was consistently better than the two aforementioned large ship lines. It’s evident that Azamara has a happy and motivated crew.

Things like the two on-deck evening barbecues with fresh fish from the local island; the great sushi chef every night in the buffet; the barbecue lunch served by the ship’s officers to the guests, and the sociable Cova Milano Café are superior examples of where Azamara shines. We even had a three hour soft rock concert on the afternoon of the last sea day, and an ice cream social as a nice exclamation point. The officers, both hotel staff and ship staff were highly visible and readily approachable, which was appreciated by the guests.

Only criticism was the bathroom size, and marginal wine choices by the glass with an 18% tip added to the tab. But, if that’s the biggest concern, then Azamara is definitely on the right track. As the female Hotel Manager said, “if we make a profit, we will definitely be getting newbuilds in the near future—and well they should.

I would recommend Azamara Club Cruises to couples and adults who appreciate good service and cuisine. It’s not a great cruise for children, but there are lots of other cruise lines who are. Experienced cruisers should find Azamara to be just their cup of tea—Earl Grey of course.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 12- At Sea

The farther north the Journey travelled it became obvious the temperature was becoming slightly cooler and less humid. But there was enough sun for the sun worshippers to get their final fix on tanning. The last day of a cruise is always a little happy/sad. Another cruise is coming to an end and luggage is dragged out from underneath the bed where it had remained for nearly two weeks. It was also the time for those last-minute purchases from the ship’s boutique.
A nice touch was the Journey’s rock combo, Mirage and the guitarist soloist performed on the pool deck from noon to nearly 4:00 PM. Kind of a going away concert.
Linda and I went to the final enrichment lecture, which was conducted by Doctor Denny Whitford, a professor from the University of Maryland and a retired navy sea captain. He talked about legends and lore of the sea. In his 50 minute lecture he covered a wide range of historical and current sea stories—everything from sea monsters of mythology to historical terms that have survived until modern times. He even included the audience at times and had a lot of fun with his subject material.
At dinner time we had our final meal in the main dining room with the Reinagals, Bill and Teresa who own the Williamsburg, Virginia Cruise Holidays store. We had one of those great dinner conversations covering everything from burglars to marketing—maybe a little closer in content than one might expect.
Linda finally used up the last few internet minutes to find that Becca and Ben had been accepted at Princeton’s theological graduate school—way to go guys! Linda had written one of the recommendation letters so she felt she had a little impact on their success.
Back to the cruise, we had a little laugh when in the morning as we went to breakfast we noticed that a couple of staterooms already had their luggage in the hallway waiting for pick up. We figured they read 11:00 PM to be 11:00 AM and we ahead of everybody else in getting their bags ready for departure. The rest of us waited until after dinner to pack our bags.
We have to give Azamara Club Cruises high marks for their cruise product. While not perfect, nobody is, the crew, the content, and their management of the cruise was outstanding. And the new touches they will be adding will put them in the premium plus category—only the ten year old ship architecture will limit them as the aim at the top end luxury category. Linda and I were highly impressed with this cruise, and that’s hard to do for veteran cruisers like us.
Tomorrow is disembarkation the final farewell to the Azamara Journey. And then, it’s back to the real world—so sad!

Friday, March 19, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 11 - At Sea

This is the next to the last day of our 12-day cruise on the Azamara Journey. The weather is a little cooler, but still in the low 80s, but with much lower humidity. Many of the passengers seemed to be hurrying to get the last minute addition to their tan base. As a result, all of the deck chairs were busy and reserved all day long—so late comers were kind of out of luck.
Once again, Azamara did something I have never seen before on a cruise ship. At lunch time they offered a pool deck barbecue with the senior officers doing the serving for the passengers (carefully supported by the regular deck and restaurant staff.) It was a nice touch for the passengers to be served barbecued chicken from the Staff Captain. This lunch was well received by the passengers.
In the early afternoon, Linda and I and the Reinagal’s from the Williamsburg, Virginia store, played a little pinochle in the Looking Glass lounge. They played by East Coast rules and we got them to also play by west coast rules. No time to go into the details, but a fun way to get to know someone better.
Our end of cruise surveys and luggage tags arrived in our stateroom. That’s always kind of a sad time because it means our time is running out on what has been a great cruise vacation.
The crew has done an excellent job and it’s obvious this is a happy ship. Azamara has invested a great deal in training and supervision. The best service is unobtrusive, but always on the spot.
Linda and I decided to have our dinner on the outside deck outside the buffet for the final time. The sushi chef is excellent and his special of the day was a soft shell crab sushi which was tasty. The stir fry is also always available on the evening buffet and Linda selected a nice plate of stir-fried fresh veggies and chicken.
After dinner Linda and I ventured to the Cova Café for a cappuccino and an Earl Grey tea. We were joined by some ship acquaintances and had a nice discussion about the world of cruising—they’re looking at doing a Europe river cruise.
We caught the show with Craig Dahn, the pianist who had worked with Liberace when he was 14 year old. He is a gifted performer and his show was excellent.
The evening was capped off by watching the end of the Washington/Marquette game on the high definition plasma screen in the Casino—a nice last second win!
Tomorrow -- our last day at sea as we head for Miami.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 10 - Virgin Gorda

This was our first port call in the British Virgin Islands at Virgin Gorda. We started our port call itinerary at St. John which is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. With only 4,000 inhabitants, Virgin Gorda is a small island which is very green with tropical desert vegetation, including many cacti and bougainvillea flowers.
We opted for the Journey’s Baths and Spring Bay shore excursion. Which departed as 8:30 AM—a very smart decision with the hot and humid day reaching about 86 degrees and the same humidity. Unfortunately the Caribbean was a little rough and the surf was quite heavy. This meant that snorkeling was impossible due to the waves and sand which was stirred up in the water.
The Baths are one of the unique features of the Caribbean. Enormous granite boulders are the remainders of ancient volcanic activity and they are everywhere on around this unique area. Linda and I took the Devils trail and headed through the narrow trail through, and sometimes under and between the big rocks to get to Devils Bay. Sometimes it was required to crawl on and hands and knees but we made the trek in good order. Several beautiful sailboats had anchored off the bay and their owners came ashore in zodiacs, taking the easy way into the bay. The surf was high, but the water was clear and warm and most everyone took a dip in the bobbing seas.
The Reinagals joined us, but they took a Shore Trips shore excursion which was much better than ours. They got an entire island tour and lunch for only a little more cost than our ship shore ex. This reinforced our opinion that Shore Trips offers good value and a nice option apart from what the cruise lines offer. They also advised the Reinagals about the alternate trail back to the parking lot, while Linda and I had to be salmon going upstream when we retraced the boulder trail while dozens and dozens of big ship tours were coming in while we were going out.
Not much in the way of shopping in Virgin Gorda, but that’s really no big deal.
Back on the ship we opted to eat at the alternative restaurant Aquilina’s for the second time. It’s definitely one of the best alternative restaurants at sea, which is a highlight for Azamara cruises.
For the entire voyage we have yet to see clear Caribbean skies full of stars, but there’s still a couple of days left. Tomorrow is one of the last two sea days left before we arrive in Miami.

Azamara Cruise - Day 9 St. Barths

The entrance into St Barths is one of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. This is a French speaking island which is a haven for large yachts and schooners. We arrived to find a Sea Dream Yacht Club vessel anchored and the Seabourn Legend pulling in directly behind us.
It was another hot and humid day. Linda opted to put in a couple of loads of wash in the Journey’s self-service laundry just before breakfast. The ship has a very nice passenger laundry and it was no problems to get clean clothes enough to last the rest of our trip.
A nice thing about St Barths is it has a beach right next to town. With towels in hand we made it to Shell Beach for a dip. It was an OK beach, with nice water, but it offered no shade and we had to stay in the water to cool off. The water was a clear turquoise color and was warm.
Because Gustavia does appeal to an upscale crowd, we found that shopping was no great bargain. Poor quality t-shirts were selling for 20 Euros, or about $25 each, so no one seemed to be doing much buying. The town does have a lot of high end French stores and a nice little supermarket right on the main street, where wine, cheese, bread (and in our case bottled water) could be purchased.
Linda and I came back into town later in the afternoon when things cooled down a little, and we walked along the marina were the mega-yachts were docked. Their names included Dream, Experience III and the Battered Bull, and each of them was definitely in the multi-million dollar class.
The Azamara Journey stayed in port until 10 PM, and so did the Seabourn ship. The beautiful harbor and surroundings made it a great spot to spend a warm Caribbean evening.
We had the second on-deck barbecue. Again, the chef found local fresh fish and we had sword fish, king fish, rock fish as the main attractions. And, again, arrays of special salads were on the menu, with a really tasty mango and shrimp salad as a highlight.
The Reinagals from the Williamsburg Cruise Holidays store joined us for the deck party and we all went to the main show at 10PM to see a pianist named Craig Dahn, who was really excellent. He was kind of like a combination of Liberace, Elton John and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Tomorrow our last port call is a Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 8 - Guadelupe (Not our favorite!)

Arriving in Guadeloupe one notices the industrial development not typical of most Caribbean islands. A large power plan and a container port are readily noticeable from the dock. This is a French speaking island of nearly 500,000 inhabitants—very large for the Caribbean. It’s a butterfly shaped island with two large wing-like sides with a narrow intersection where it comes together and the main city, Pointe-A-Pitre is located.
We read the shore excursion brochure and decided to take a walking tour of Pointe-A-Pitre. Our friends the Reinagal’s from the Williamsburg, Virginia Cruise Holidays store joined us. As usual, the weather was hot and sticky—about 90 degrees! Disembarking from the Journey we passed through the typical market of mostly made in China souvenirs. Our guide took us across a busy street and our group of about 15 moved into the city. The town was quite dirty and crowded and our group was stunned when Ron, from Charleston, South Carolina has his gold necklace snatched from around his neck by a young man wearing a Rastafarian hat who ran away faster than anyone could react. This put a big damper on the tour.
We visited the home of the man who freed the slaves in Guadeloupe, early in the 19th century, and a busy spice market and fish market in the city center. The highlight of the tour was a visit to the local Catholic cathedral which had been built of steel, wood and concrete over the past 150 years or so. It was shaped much like a traditional European Cathedral with a long nave and two arms to each aide in the shape of a cross. Outside the church was a small flower market where a nice bouquet of birds of paradise and other tropical flowers could be purchased for 15 Euros (about $20). Perhaps with a bit of French pride, all of the merchants priced their products in Euros and wouldn’t take dollars—so they lost out on any sales from the ship’s passengers-not a bright tourism policy.
After passing through a rather chaotic and busy downtown shopping area, we returned to the ship feeling as though this was the worst port stop in the Caribbean. The shore excursion office obviously agreed because they refunded half of our fee for the tour.
A major downpour came in the afternoon, perhaps putting an exclamation point on this port call.
We again ate on the aft deck with the Reinagals. The ship has the best sushi we have ever experienced on any cruise. They also have a nice stir fry and pasta station at the evening buffet. And they always have nice sugar and gluten free desserts at both lunch and dinner.
The evening entertainment was the ships five dancers and singers doing a revue of swing era music. Not our cup of tea, but appreciated by the mostly elderly passengers attending the show.
Tomorrow we will visit St Barts and we’re all looking forward to this port.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Azamara Cruise Day 7 - St. Lucia

The Azamara Journey made its way into the harbor at St. Lucia Island under clear skies and very warm temperatures. The harbor is located right next to the runway for the islands international airport and we could watch two or three planes landing and taking off while the ship was docking.
St. Lucia has been experiencing something of a draught and it wasn’t as lush and green as several of the islands we had already visited. Like several of our other stops the dock had its own contained shopping plaza with the usual array of t-shirt stores, jewelry stores and other tourist oriented businesses. Unfortunately, the shop keepers decided to close their stores early, so ship passengers returning from shore excursions were not able to pick up that last minute souvenirs.
We decided to take a taxi to a local beach. They have kind of a racket at the pier where if you go with eight or ten other people in a van it’s $6 each to ride, but if you went by yourselves, the minimum fare was $25 per person each way. And, because the port was located in a secure area it was difficult to walk into town on your own. So we packed ourselves into a van and went to Reduit Beach on the Island’s Robinson’s cove area.
It was a nice beach with warm clear water. We rented beach lounges and an umbrella, which was mandatory under the 90 degree sun at the beach. Unfortunately Linda managed to burn the tops of her feet—we guess while she was floating in the water. Even with aloe vera and some other post-sun cream, Linda was uncomfortable for the rest of the evening.
The ship departed around 5:30 PM, and we were able to catch a sunset view of the Grand Piton mountains at the south end of the island. These are two 1500 foot volcanic plugs, the remainder of a rather large volcano from thousands of years ago. A very impressive sight!
Last night we again opted to dine under the stars on the deck outside the Windows buffet. Once again the fantastic sushi chef prepared excellent sushi, and Linda tried the stir fry with lots of fresh veggies. I even tried the venison chili, which was quite tasty. We did witness a near cat fight when the table next to ours was claimed by two different ladies. Near disaster was prevented when we invited one of the ladies and her husband to join us at our table.
Linda and I have found the Cova Milano Café, midship on the fifth deck to be a great spot for a cappuccino and a viewing platform to watch the passing parade of passengers going to the ship’s show lounge or to and from the casino. And, the piano player who hales from the Bay area, usually plays a nice medley of piano songs both pop and semi-classical.
Tomorrow we dock in Guadelope on the island of Dominica.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Azamara Cruise Day 6 - St. Kitts

Today we docked on the front of St. Kitts’s main town, Basseterre. It was nice having a substantial pier for the Journey so we could easily walk into town. Linda and I had opted for a ship shore excursion called “Pandora’s Box.” Kind of an ominous sounding name, but in reality, more of a sightseeing tour featuring the island of St. Kitts and some of it unique culture. St Kitts has a population of about 40,000 people and 43,000 green monkeys which once arrived on the island as pets a couple of hundred years ago.
Our shore excursion was nice because again we were blessed with 80 degree weather under partly cloudy skies. I occasionally take a peek at Seattle’s weather and I should just not mention our sunny skies and warm temperatures ever again for the remainder of the cruise.
Our island tour had Linda and I in the back seat of the van—because, believe it or not, we were the youngsters on the tour. One gentleman from Scotland had even visited St. Kitts during World War II on a Royal Navy Vessel.
After seeing the downtown area of Basseterre, complete with its bustling Saturday farmers market, we headed up the coast road and saw a large nursing school and veterinarian school which are part of the island’s plan to diversify its economy. They stopped growing sugar cane in 2005 because they were losing too much money exporting it to the rest of the world. Like much of the Caribbean, St Kitts has a major unemployment problem and are relying on tourism.
We visited the Clay House, a great-house built in 1763, which had previously been part of a major sugar plantation. This was a lot of fun because this attraction had a large botanical garden, aquariums, a zoo with monkeys, rabbits, love birds and parrots and many turtles. The great house had a large collection of treasures from all around the world which had been stored in the houses basement until it became a tourist attraction three years ago.
The tour also included a beach stop in Frigate Bay—unfortunately, not one of the world’s top 1000 beaches. Linda was determined to get in the Caribbean Sea so despite the sea weed and sharp sand she plunged in for a short swim while I watched from the beach chair. We came back to town and finished the day with a little shopping in downtown Basseterre, picking up a couple of mandatory t-shirts.
Around 7:30 we decided to have dinner on the aft deck behind the buffet. With the warm breeze, and candlelit tables, it was very romantic. This ship has a fantastic sushi bar and it was available for us at dinner. They were carving a nice loin of beef and the carver gave me a small three pound cut (large enough to feed our entire deck). After dinner we dallied in the Cova Milano Café for the piano player. During the daily drawing, Linda was only two numbers away from winning some kind of topaz ear rings—oh well!
Tomorrow we dock in St. Lucia.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 5- St. Martin

Linda was sitting on the balcony reading this morning when she spotted a large sea turtle swimming just off the side of our ship the Azamara Journey. By the time she called me, the turtle had disappeared into the depths of the Caribbean—so I guess we have to call it an alleged sighting.
St Martin is a split island with half speaking Dutch and the other half speaking French. We anchored off the French side of the island outside of its main town of Marigot. We were tendered the into shore and the seas were very bouncy and Linda got to sample some of the salt water from a wave that wanted to come into the tender and greet her personally.
It was quite warm in St.Martin with a temperature of about 85 degrees. Marigot is a bustling town with a definite appeal to separating tourists from dollars or Euros. Many beautiful yachts and large sailing vessels could be seen in the various marinas around the town. Most of the development on the island is situated along its coastal plain and its beaches are a $10-20 taxi ride away from the main town.
Linda and I climbed to the top of the steep hill where the ruins of Fort Louis could be seen. It was a hot and many staired climb up to the top. From the ruins it was possible to get a great panoramic view of Marigot, the harbor and even across to the island of Anguilla about 10 miles in the distance.
Our friends Bill and Teresa Rinegal from the Williamsburg, Virginia Cruise Holidays store caught the ship in St. Martin. And it was nice to have dinner with them and talk about the cruise biz and life in general. We told them how impressed we were with the food and service and after a nice dinner they were in agreement. After our meal we saw a very nice show featuring Doug Cameron, a classical and jazz violinist who performed a show based on hot jazz. He was good and received a standing ovation at the end of his performance.
On another note, every morning we receive a news summary recapping the previous days news events. I notice when it comes to sports whoever is putting the newsletter together has an east coast bias because they never include any scores from the west coast, including the Pac 10’s basketball tournament or spring training for baseball—just a little bit of a pet peeve. If that’s the worst complain from this cruise I would say that Azamara still hits a home run with us.
Tomorrow Linda and I have signed up for an island tour of St. Kitts, a first-time visit place for us both. I noticed that the weather in Seattle was 46 degrees with rain—maybe some of our warm weather pictures might help warm things up a bit.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 4 St. Johns

We awoke to the Journey edging its way into Cruz Bay, a part of St. John one of the three major islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas and St. Croix the other two). St John’s is blessed with some of the world’s best beaches and a great deal of natural jungle-like flora and fauna. Another nice thing about being aboard a smaller vessel is that we had no wait in boarding a ship’s tender to go ashore.
Cruz Bay is a small town with shops mostly for the tourist trade. Ferries bring cruise passengers from the larger ships which dock in St. Thomas. We rode with guests from Princess’s Emerald Princess on a taxi ride from Trunk Bay.
After visiting the Virgin Island National Park headquarters for some guidance on trails and beaches, we decided to take a taxi—make that a large pick-up truck with seats in the converted cargo bed—to visit Trunk Bay. We also stopped in Caneel Bay because a couple of our taxi passengers were undecided where they wanted to go. The parking lot for Caneel Bay is next to the ruins of an old sugar mill which is now part of the grounds for a large Westin resort hotel.
After traversing a narrow and winding road along the coast we arrived at Trunk Bay, passing Hawks Nest Beach along the way. Each setting for the various beaches included beautiful turquoise water and white sand beaches. A major attraction for Trunk Bay is the underwater snorkel trail which is part of the park at the beach. Linda and I “snorkeled up” and hit the water. Lots of swimmers were in the water and a lifeguard telling people to stay off the reef and not stand on the rocks. The snorkeling was excellent with lots of colorful fish, coral, sea anemones and a fishing pelican. The underwater signs explained the various types of fish and the coral.
After a little shopping, and a t-shirt purchase-we headed back to the Journey. The ship had announced that we would have a pool-side barbecue that evening. Unlike most other on-deck barbecues this one was something very different. Around 5 o’clock serving tables were set up and a big surprise was readied. The Executive Chef had gone ashore and had purchased fresh fish from local fishermen. The star of the show was a 15 pound Mahi Mahi. Kind of a homely fish, but boy was it tasty when barbecued and pan fried.
Linda, who is a salad lover by nature, was blown away with the salad selections on the barbecue. She had heart of palm with avocado, quinoa with artichoke hearts and melon ceviche which had fresh shrimp, lobster and scallops along with watermelon. Jerked Chicken, lamb chops, squid steaks, and fresh red snapper filets were also served. A display of local fish was included along the buffet table, complete with signs to identify them. Bottom line was this was the best shipboard barbecue we’re ever experienced—including a couple of six-star cruise lines!
I can honestly say that the Journey and Azamara continue to surpass our expectations for quality and service. So far our Journey on the Journey has been exciting. Tomorrow is St. Martin and Marigot.
Note to future travelers: It is well worth purchasing snorkel and fins at home and bringing them with you. The price and inconvenience of renting those items makes carrying your own well worth the effort if you like to snorkel. (not to mention the sanitation issues.)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Azamara Cruise - Day 3

By the second day at sea most of the passengers have become familiar with the ship and they start to fall into their cruise vacation patterns. Some will spend most of the day at the pool, while others will opt for the vast number of things available on the daily program. For example, this ship has a college professor from the Naval Academy who gave a lecture on “Who Owns the Seas?”. And if that wasn’t your cup of tea you could attend the formal tea with harp at 3:30 PM.
What’s also noticeable is that people are starting to become more familiar with their fellow passengers. Perhaps they ate dinner with them, or struck up a conversation in the Jacuzzi, but more socializing was definitely taking place. What’s nice about a cruise is that most folks feel very safe in the knowledge their fellow passengers like cruising and sharing their life experiences (in most cases).
Linda and I noticed a couple of things about the Journey. First, it has both a female hotel manager and a female executive chef. In over 25 years of cruising this is the first time I have ever come across this situation—and both of them were doing a fantastic job! Linda observed, and I agree, that this is a happy crew and it comes across in their service style-- both efficient and friendly at the same time.
One of the small vices of a cruise is that occasionally you will watch a TV movie that you never would at home. Yesterday a Steven Seagal movie caught our attention even though it featured the shooting of thousands of bullets, the breaking of every kind of glass imaginable and a cast of really bad guys eventually losing to the righteous law enforcers. All in all, a silly movie, but something a little fun to see.
We passed by the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispanola, and our hearts and prayers went out to the poor people of Haiti who are struggling with the aftermath of a devastating earth quake. It’s great to know that the cruise ships docking at Labadee on the Northern end of Haiti are still delivering much need aid and supplying much needed tourism jobs as well.
This morning Linda and I were doing our two-mile walk around the 10th deck track and off to our starboard side was Puerto Rico and a humpback whale which entertained us with a display of jumping and splashing for about 15 minutes. All of this took place after I carefully explained to Linda that she would only see whales in Alaska, or Hawaii or Mexico—so much for convention al wisdom. That was the first whale I ever seen in the Caribbean in after many cruises in these waters.
Well, tomorrow we’ll be arriving in St. John. We’ll snorkel at Trunk Bay and report on this island

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Azamara - Day 2 - At Sea

What is clearly apparent is that Azamara Club Cruises has invested a great deal of effort in providing some of the best food at sea. For two mornings the breakfast buffet has equaled or surpassed any I’ve experienced—including even six star cruise lines! From fresh squeezed orange juice to customized smoothies to Italian roast coffee, both the quality and the quantity of choices have been outstanding. And the same can be said for lunches and dinner where the bar has been set high and has been surpassed each time.
It’s obvious Azamara’s strategy of moving a half step ahead of both Celebrity and Holland America Line into a new category, call it “Luxury Light” seems to have excellent appeal to the line’s core audience. This audience appears to be veteran travelers and cruisers who have high service and product standards as part of their vacation requirements. From personal observation, the passengers seem to be a rather sophisticated group, comfortable in the higher end staterooms on Holland America Line and Celebrity. What’s also noticeable is the variety of international guests from England, France and elsewhere.
The only drawback appears to be the size of the staterooms. The Journey was originally built for Renaissance Cruises (justifiably bankrupt) in the 1990s. Our balcony stateroom has a Princess sized balcony and bathroom—meaning quite compact in size. New mattresses, flat screen televisions and the biggest and fluffiest bath towels at sea have helped raise the standards about as far as they can be taken with the size limitations. With Azamara Club Cruises adding complimentary house wine at lunch and dinner, included gratuities, free soft drinks and water and free in-port transfers, the management has gone a long way in justifying the price increases that will come with the new additions.
What is nice is the lack of “on board huckstering to sell things to raise revenues.” This ship is very calm and mellow. Even the casino is smoke-free and much more like a European style gaming club. The signature Cova Milano Café is an excellent example of a laid-back public room on the ship. At night a pianist holds sway and guests can order either coffee drinks or wine and alcohol if they so wish. Various nibbles and desserts are always available at no charge in the Cova. The setting feels more like a living room with comfortable couches and chairs for guests.
. Also striking is the number of entertainers onboard. For a small ship the Journey has a big ship array of bands, individual performers and dancing and musical shows. The rock band called Mirage is four excellent musicians who play a great repertory of rock of all forms. And they guys are all excellent musicians. The only clunker was an opening night comedian who perhaps was the worst I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship.
Linda and I spent the day relaxing around the pool. The wind was a bit brisk but the sun was out and we enjoyed our books and snoozing. Linda has her Kindle loaded with 50 book so she’s in heaven on earth. Add to that, she found the daily Sudoko puzzles in the ships Library and is having fun with those. We had dinner with 3 other couples and enjoyed getting to know them. Denny and Sylvia are from the Island of Jersey in Great Britain so we learned a little about that small island community. Our evening was topped off with piano music at the Cova Café. A good day at sea. Looking forward to a repeat tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Day 1 - Cruise to Southern Caribbean

Vinnie the Cruise Dog was heartbroken. He had developed a slight eye infection and wasn’t going to be able to go with his people Rich and Linda on their Azamara Journey cruise to the Caribbean.(He couldn’t have gone anyway, but please don’t tell him that.) But, before they left he asked them to send him a daily blog so he could vicariously go on their cruise.
Rich and Linda’s Southern Caribbean Cruise
It was a long plane ride from Seattle to Miami but Alaska Airlines did manage to get us in about 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. I had arranged for a night at the Miami Airport Summerfield Suites and our two-bedroom suite was very nice. The only problem was we ordered a small pizza and salad from a recommended local Italian restaurant and what arrived 40 minutes later was the wrong order and it was truly awful. Do not patronize Momma Caruso’s in Miami unless you want bad food, bad service and a bad attitude.
On Monday embarkation on the Journey was a breeze. No lines, a seamless system and good facilities made getting onboard a snap. Very nice touch was the warm greeting and glass of sparkling wine and beautiful music from the harpist greeting you as you entered the ship. Early boarding policy allowed us to come on board by 12:00 and wait onboard for the stateroom to be readied. Lunch in the Windows Café made the waiting very pleasant.
It was ironic that the Journey was docked, literally 200 yards from the corporate headquarters of Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara Club Cruises. Oh, it was about 75 degrees in Miami, just about perfect weather.
The Azamara Journey had been one of the nine Renaissance Cruise vessels before that cruise line went bankrupt—partly because they felt they could bypass the travel agent community—a terrible and wrong strategy. We had previously sailed on the Pacific Princess, another of the former ”R”-ships, but Azamara had done a much better job in bringing the vessel up to a higher quality than it had originally been. New beds, great new deck furniture (mostly teak) and other refurbishments made the Journey seem much more like an upscale cruise product than the Pacific Princess.
We had a balcony stateroom on deck 6 and it was compact, but very nice. The bathrooms and balconies are very small, but that was the original design for the ship, and not much could be done about the size. Adding Elemis toiletries, great new mattresses, flat screen TV and the biggest bath towels ever seen at sea, Azamara had done a nice job tweaking the product to make it feel like a premium plus cruise line.
What also was impressive is the attitude and service style of the crew. Obviously well trained and well motivated the service levels are excellent throughout the vessel. Also noticeably absent was the onboard hawking of drink cards, giant bing0 games and other obtrusive onboard revenue producers now found on most of the big cruise lines.
The other major difference so far has been the quality of the food. We ate in the Aqualine restaurant last night and it was outstanding! Linda had Chilean Sea Bass and I had Osso Bucco and the food was terrific! This restaurant is the equivalent of a fine shores-side bistro and a great way to start on a new cruise adventure. One of the cruise counselors for Cruise Holidays of Woodinville had recommended I try the cold seafood platter for an appetizer, and boy was she right! Prawns, clams, oysters and a nice little lobster tail made this a superior starter. And, because no sugar free desserts were on the menu, the waiter came with a blueberry/apple crepe that was magnificent. All in all one of the best meals we’ve had in our twenty plus years of cruising.
Tomorrow is another sea day and we’ll take a look at onboard activities and facilities. I think Vinnie would give this cruise two paws up for its excellent beginning.
P.S. From Linda – Love to all our family and friends, we miss you and wish you could be with us on this amazing adventure!