As far as cruise lines go, Azamara is a hidden gem; it was merely a two-ship fleet, but they just announced they will soon acquire a third ship identical to the first two. The line is part of the Royal Caribbean family, but Azamara has been purposely kept small because Royal Caribbean also owns Celebrity Cruises, and the two cruise lines have similar profiles. But Azamara already has a fan-base and hence does not require as much marketing as its brethren. Also, I know it sounds counterintuitive, but there is one thing you get far more of on a small ship cruise that you will get on a large ship. That thing is extremely personalized service.
The best way to find a gem like Azamara is through word of mouth, or a blog like this one.
Azamara’s following begins with what was once a very radical, consumer-driven cruise line that existed in the 1990s. That was Renaissance Cruises, an infamous eight-ship cruise line that had such a strong following, just through word of mouth, that most travel agents would not even mention the name to their clients. Renaissance built eight identical ships, simply named R1 through R8. Unfortunately, despite its popularity, the 9/11 tragedy was enough to drive Renaissance into Chapter11. The line had always focused on deep destination oriented cruising, largely in the Eastern Mediterranean, which became an area Americans did not want to visit. The eight R-ships were sold, three to Oceania, another excellent small cruise line made up of former Renaissance executives, three to Princess Cruises and two eventually went to Azamara, at the time an independent cruise line. The ships that went to Azamara were R6 and R7, and the ship that is about to become the newest (third) Azamara ship is the original R8. It is coming from Princess Cruises to become the Azamara Adonia.
The Azamara Travel Experience
When I went on Azamara the first time, I had been on many of the R-ships beginning with Renaissance and later with Oceania. I knew the vessels, but the differentiating factor on Azamara was the service. They surpassed my expectations, offering excellent food and friendly, efficient service. Even more importantly, Azamara fulfilled the original purpose for the creation of the R-ships; right-sized vessels to offer a high quality but affordable small-ship “destination immersive” cruise line.
There are basically two types of cruisers. The first type enjoys days at sea no matter where they are in the world. But I belong to the other type: I cruise to travel, to see the world, hopefully to visit a different, fascinating port of call every day. This is especially true in Europe and other exotics locales (Asia and Australia, for example) where what I want from a ship is efficient access to the local sights, and an over-the-top efficiency and excellence in food and comfort when I return to the ship.
Azamara’s three ships are quite small at 30,000-tons and 700 passengers - about a quarter of the size of the average mainstream cruise vessel. But the line takes advantage of that small profile to get those ships into places that larger vessels can only see in their dreams. Azamara's ships have docked in downtown London, for example - on the Thames not far from Tower Bridge. Azamara's ships can also sail up the Seine to Rouen, close enough to easily spend a full day in Paris. In St. Petersburg, Russia, they dock on the Neva River within sight of the Hermitage Museum, and in Stockholm they can dock within site of the Royal Palace, while bigger ships must use the facilities 45 minutes away.
Speaking of shuttles, Azamara includes free on-shore transportation for all passengers to the nearest sight of significance in every port. I have seen competing cruise lines, with the same ships, charge $10 or far more for similar shuttle rides. Even worse, I have been left with no choice but to use the local taxi drivers, even in places like Brugges where the port is almost an hour away from main city.
In travel agent jargon, Azamara falls into the “upscale” category, which means it is like a luxury cruise line in food and service at half the cost, but with slightly more passengers. There are other cruise lines in this category, but Azamara often represents the best value for the same and often even better levels of service.
The Azamara Onboard Experience
The best thing about “destination cruising” is having your home travel with you. And with Azamara, you couldn’t ask for a better home away from home - especially in the suite categories where every passenger gets free wine with lunch and dinner. The wine list includes boutique selections from South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Australia and other unique regions. You can also get custom coffee drinks any time at no extra charge - CafeMocha, Cafe latte, espresso, etc.
There are two specialty restaurants onboard: Prime C Grill for steaks and chops, and Aqualina, mostly for seafood. My meal in Prime C was one of the best I have ever eaten anywhere, and that is saying a lot. Specialty restaurants are free for suite passengers any night and $30 per person for regular passengers. There are also four additional always-free dining venues which are all open seating every night. The dress code on the ship is always “country club casual.”
Here is the link to the Azamara Cruises on iCruise. Rates start as low as $200 per person per day, including special coffees, soda, and wine with meals; all gratuities; free shuttles and a special onshore event known as an “AzAmazing Evening”
About Paul Motter, Cruise & Travel Writer
<p>Paul Motter took his first cruise in 1983, when he was lucky enough to get hired by Royal Viking Line, a small but very influential cruise line still credited with inventing all-inclusive luxury cruises. At the time less than one million Americans had ever sailed on a cruise. For the year 2017 the projected number of cruise passengers is over 25-million people.</p><p>Paul's first cruise included sailing ten straight days at sea from San Francisco to Bora Bora, and he had no idea that was unusual. In the next year he sailed to destinations all the way from Tahiti to the North Cape of Norway. In later years Paul also worked aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's S.S. Norway and aboard three Holland America Line ships.</p><p>In 1999 Paul started the web site CruiseMates.com, the first professional cruise review site on the Internet, with well-known AOL cruise reviewer Anne Campbell as his partner. Paul served as the CEO of CruiseMates until 2007 when he became the editor-in-chief, the role he maintained until 2016. Paul has cruised on every popular cruise line in the U.S. His favorite ships include the Royal Caribbean Oasis-class, Carnival's Vista-class, Norwegian Cruise Line's Breakaway class, Celebrity's Solstice class, Oceania, Crystal, or any cruise on Princess or Holland America. His favorite river cruise experiences include the Nile in Egypt and a 10-day Russian River on Viking River Cruises.</p><p>His favorite memories as a cruise reporter include seeing Queen Elizabeth, Princess Kate and Camilla (all separately) commission the three Cunard ships now in service.</p><p>Paul has written about cruising for Women's Day, The San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Herald, Sherman's Travel, FoxNews.com and CruiseMates.</p>
