There are a ton of options to sort through if you’re looking to go on a cruise. Where do you want to go? Do you want to party or do you want to see the world? Do you want to sail on a boat that’s basically a floating amusement park, or do you want something smaller, quieter, or classier? If you’re looking for a boutique cruising experience focused on the cultural heritage of your destinations, and with an elegant but comfortable vibe that’s a little more upscale than what you’ll find with some of the largest cruise lines, you might want to consider Azamara Cruises. I recently spent 10 days on an Italy intensive Azamara cruise, aboard the Azamara Quest ship, and if you’re wondering what an Azamara cruise is really like, read on.
An “Intensive” Exploration of Different Countries and Cultures
Azamara specializes in what they call “Destination Immersion experiences”—lengthy cruises that dock in numerous ports in a specific region of the world, providing guests with an intensive introduction to the local culture, and often including UNESCO World Heritage sites on the itinerary. Our voyage—an “Italy intensive” that started in Chioggia (effectively the cruise port for Venice), cruised through the Adriatic while hitting stops in Montenegro and Croatia, headed through the Ionian with multiple stops in Sicily, and eventually ended in Rome—was like a 10-day overview of the region, giving us several hours each day to explore a different city before returning to the ship to push off to the next destination. The best way to describe it is like staying in the same hotel while the city changes every day; you don’t have to worry about the inconvenience of changing hotels or finding transportation from town to town, but you also get a fairly limited amount of time in each city. For example: if you were on our cruise and really wanted to explore Venice, you should’ve flown in early and spent a few days there before the cruise officially started. We did that on our own, but Azamara offers packages that let you spend more time in the cities that bookend your trip—in our case, Venice and Rome. The advantage to this model—in addition to, again, not having to worry about checking into various hotels and dealing with local transit—is that pretty much all risk and effort is removed from the equation. You can board Azamara’s ship on day one assured that you’ll get enough time to get your toes wet in whatever town you visit—and, in some cases, as with Kotor in Montenegro or Siracusa, see pretty much all the major tourist attractions.
Ample Excursions
Every stop on our cruise came with a long list of excursions we could pick from, at an additional cost per person. It was fun and easy to explore any of the cities on our trip on our own, but these excursions make it even easier, and can also introduce you to tourist and historical sites you maybe wouldn’t think to visit on your own. We were able to knock some of the major goals off our to-do lists—we visited Pompeii and saw the mosaics of Ravenna—while also having fascinating experiences we never would’ve prioritized on our own, like taking a wine train through the vineyards and wineries outside Dubrovnik. It’s easy to book excursions online before the cruise or the night before once you’re on the ship, although some will sell out in advance. Azamara also hosts a series of AzAmazing Celebrations, which are unique experiences and explorations focused on the culture of whatever city or country they’re based in; a recent AzAmazing Day in Siracusa featured an opera performance, an actress reciting the city’s foundational myth, and more. Hearing live opera echo throughout the plaza next to the Duomo di Siracusa was an unforgettable part of our cruise.
A Manageable Ship and Respectful, Reserved Passengers
Azamara’s four ships are noticeably smaller than the massive boats you might be familiar with from cruises to the Caribbean. The Quest, the ship we were on, holds about 700 passengers. Its smaller size makes it easier to navigate than some of the titans you’ll find in other lines, and it’s also easier to find quiet nooks to settle into if you want to get out of your cabin but don’t want to be surrounded by others. It’s also not a hard-partying crowd; the average age of an Azamara guest is in the 50s, and during our cruise we only saw a couple of teenagers and a single child (infants under six months aren’t allowed). Based on the many fellow passengers we met during dinners and excursions, it’s particularly popular with retirees. Many of them return to Azamara regularly; we met a duo of American friends who were on their 12th Azamara voyage, and a couple from England who were on their fourth trip with the cruise line. Both of them were impressed with how Azamara routinely remembers them and their preferences when it comes to drinks, desserts, and where to sit in the dining room. That’s the kind of attention to detail that really encourages loyalty from a customer, and based on the people we talked to onboard Azamara has some extremely loyal guests.
Legitimately Good Food
Cruise food can be a major roll of the dice, even within the same cruise line or on the same ship. Of the various cruises I’ve been on, Azamara has the most consistently good dining options, with most of them included in your standard package. The highlight is probably Discoveries Restaurant; it’s not the best or fanciest restaurant onboard, but it’s close on both counts, and you don’t have to pay extra to eat there. It has a consistently great menu with a number of regular dishes as well as nightly specials and themes that reflect different styles of cuisine. You don’t have to wear a coat, but don’t expect to get a table if you’re wearing a ballcap, shorts, or jeans with holes in them. It’s almost as good as the ship’s two higher-end restaurants, but you don’t need a reservation and it’s included as part of your standard cruise package, making it a fantastic combination of quality and affordability.
If you want to splurge, you can book a night at Prime C, a top-notch steakhouse, or Aqualina, where you’ll find a Mediterranean menu. Both are worth the money. Aqualina serves up seafood and Italian dishes, with a wonderful selection of salads and pastas, whereas Prime C offers succulent cuts of beef, veal and lamb, alongside seafood and poultry options. Prime C is also home to an incredible chef’s menu dinner that will overwhelm you with several courses worth of excellent food and wine pairings.
In addition to those three restaurants, Azamara also offers an ever-changing buffet at the Windows Cafe. Every night is a different theme at Windows, focusing on a different regional cuisine. It’s also open for lunch. At the Patio, near the ship’s pool deck, you can find hamburgers and chicken fingers, along with self-serve ice cream. And the Mosaic Cafe is a coffee counter that serves pastries in the morning and small sandwiches and other finger foods throughout the rest of the day. Azamara has a number of dining options, with the highest quality food I’ve yet to encounter in a cruise’s standard package.
A Variety of Drinks Packages
Good news for all the drinkers out there (yes, I am one of you): just booking an Azamara cruise will get you access to a good selection of spirits and beer. The basic inclusive package includes labels like Smirnoff, Flor de Cana, Gordons, Jim Beam, Jose Cuervo Especial Silver, Seagram’s 7, and more. A solid list of standard cocktails are also available on demand, and since all sodas are free, you can get any of those liquors mixed with Coke or ginger ale without having to pull out your wallet. That package also includes Budweiser, Bud Light, Beck’s, and Carlsberg Draught for the beer drinkers, and O’Douls for the non-alcoholic beer drinkers. I did splurge a couple of times on fancier cocktails, but for the most part the standard drinks package was more than enough for me.
If you do want something extra, though, there are two upgrades you can pay for. The Premium package, which costs about $17 a day per person, almost triples the amount of beer available for you, adding Guinness, Sam Adams, Miller Lite, and more to the list. It also unlocks a higher tier of spirits, including Woodford Reserve, Captain Morgan’s, Absolute, Cuervo Gold, and more. And if that’s not enough for you, you can really go for it with the Ultimate Package; for an extra $24 a day, this gets you 14 more spirits (including Glenfiddich, Kraken, Johnnie Walker Black, and Tanqueray Number 10, among others), over a dozen wines (it’s the only drink package that does include wine), and free Evian and Perrier. The Ultimate would have cost me almost $250 on the cruise I went on, and obviously would be even more expensive on Azamara’s longer cruises. If you want the best, though, it’ll obviously cost you.
Finally, if you prefer to savor top shelf cocktails, you’ll enjoy Azamara’s Atlas Bar. The bar itself—a kind of nouveau speakeasy—is only available on one ship, the Azamara Onward, but its drink menu is available on the line’s three other vessels, and its 12 cocktails are worth the extra money. My favorites were the Red District, a mix of Remy Martin VSOP and absinthe with sugar and Angostura, and the Heart of Azamara, which is Grey Goose with strawberry puree, lime juice, passionfruit, Galliano, and more absinthe.
Classic Cruise Entertainment
While the ship cruises between ports at night, you’ll have a variety of options for entertainment. Nightly shows include travel-themed musicals and musical revues from performers that just might include your cruise directors. The Living Room is a comfy lounge to hang out in by day, and a bumping dance floor at night, with DJs and karaoke nights. And Azamara is famous for its White Night events; every cruise has a White Night party on the pool deck with live music, dancing and a barbecue served by the crew. You don’t have to worry about choosing between White Night or an excursion; they schedule these parties to have no conflicts, so everybody on board can join in.
Maybe the Most Important Part of All: The Cabins
As with any cruise line, Azamara offers a range of suite options. The most basic, an interior suite, gets you a double bed, a small loveseat, a desk, and a TV. It might be a little cramped for more than one, but it’s the most affordable option, of course. An oceanview room is similar but has a window, so you can take in the ship’s surroundings as it sails from port to port. A veranda room (which is what we stayed in) is a slightly bigger room that has its own private balcony; it’s perfect for gawking at majestic coastlines or just having a private breakfast outside. You can also book a veranda room with Veranda Plus, which adds various perks to the package. The next level up is the Continent Suite, which offers a bigger floor plan, a queen bed that can be split into two singles, much more counter space, more seating options, a veranda, and the option to have either a shower or tub in the bathroom. The Spa Suites, which are very limited in number, are right next to the spa, and offer a sizable room with a veranda, snacks delivered every day, a big bathroom, lots of storage space, and both a rain shower and a private soaking tub. The Ocean Suite is basically a hotel suite at sea, with a separate living room branching off its bedroom, and a large veranda with both a table and a reclining deck chair. Finally, the World Owner’s Suite is basically what it sounds like: you pretty much need to be a titan of industry, or some similar extremely rich person, to swing this one. If you can pay the price, though, it seems worth it, with tons of space across multiple rooms and a large private veranda.
Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.