Cruising the Amalfi Coast on Azamara Club Cruises
To say I am a cruise convert is probably an understatement, I think I loved it more than he did, especially the casino, but more about that later.
Our cruise was around the Almalfi Coast, 8 days starting in Venice where we were docked for 3 days. Azamara cruises are very much about destination immersion and you will generally find that you stay in a particular location for a few days or late into an evening, in order to truly experience where you are. Whilst in Venice we walked the streets by day and spent the evening on board the ship enjoying the fabulous food and all-inclusive drinks!
Our cabin was 6001 which is a balcony cabin right at the front of the ship, which was perfect, because in July there is an evening in Venice to celebrate Festa del Redentore. Venice has several festivals that commemorate episodes of plague that overtook the city in the 16th and 17th centuries.
The biggest one of these festivals is the Festa del Redentore, or Festival of the Redeemer, which marks the end of a big epidemic in 1576, as it cumulates with an enormous firework display on over the water, all the small boats come out a toot their horns when it finishes, it was quite a spectacle and one I feel privileged to have witnessed, and we had a birds eye view from our balcony!
Departing Venice, we opted to have breakfast on our balcony and watch this beautiful city disappear into the distance behind us. It wasn’t too sad though because we knew we had another 5 places to see and a day at sea ahead to really explore the beautiful Azamara Quest.
As I have mentioned before the food quality on board is exceptional, from the freshly grilled tuna wraps at the pool bar to the extensive and always tasty buffet restaurant. There really is something for everyone. I remember thinking ‘they can’t possibly create food for all these people and have it taste as good as it looks?’ but they did, and I was seriously impressed every time I ate something. The crew on board also made everything really special and nothing was too much trouble. One night we opted to dine in Prime C, which is at an extra charge (only $30 p.p.) and free for suite guests, but so worth it as you could literally order everything on the menu if you wanted to! We had a gorgeous table with views of the sun setting into the sea as we dined. We ordered Chateaubriand, and it was hand carved at our table and was quite possibly the nicest steak I have ever tasted. Well worth the visit.
On our first day at sea we went along to the ‘Free slots’ session in the casino. Having never stepped foot in a casino before I was unsure what to expect. Anyway, I was very quickly won over when I won over $200 on a slot machine! I promptly converted my winnings in to cold, hard cash and the rest is history I guess. It meant that I could go back every night and discover my passion for Blackjack. Some nights I was up, some down, but ultimately it enabled me to tip the staff a bit extra at the end of the cruise (not essential as gratuities are included) and upgrade my drinks package, more below.
As for the wine, Azamara try to get wine from the destinations you are in, so for us it was Italian red and whites (such a hardship!), I opted to upgrade myself (with my slots winnings) to the ultimate package whilst on board so that I could also have unlimited prosecco, Stuart was happy with beer and wine, but it was nice to have the option to pick and choose, and it really isn’t that expensive at about $20 a day. The staff tend to get to know what you like to drink too, so at about 4 o'clock every day I was hand delivered a glass of prosecco without having to ask, pure luxury.
On our voyage we visited Kotor in Montenegro and its spectacular landscape, we even climbed to the top of this enormous mountain which led to a ruined medieval village. It was a steep and hot climb, but we were accompanied by the Captain and Cruise Director and they bought along plenty of water and snacks. This is one of the nicest things about a small ship, and particularly Azamara, you get to the know the crew well and they get to know you too!
We also went to Corfu, Taormina in Sicily and Amalfi, finally ending in Rome where, sadly, we had to disembark. I think the thing about a cruise is it gives you an insight into a few places all at once, without having to lug bags around and gives you ideas as to where you might like to spend more time in the future. For me Amalfi is somewhere I need to go back to as I would like to hire a car there and go and explore further. Some of the other passengers did this and highly recommended we do it next time. We just didn’t know what to expect I guess, so just went with the flow and didn’t plan too much, which also had its advantages.
We left the Azamara Quest with mixed emotions, it was sad that our journey was coming to an end, but we had one night in Rome to look forward to, and I was looking forward to seeing our children who we had not seen for over a week! I would 100% book another cruise and am already planning one for next year to Japan, Russia and Alaska, with Azamara.