Monday, December 22, 2008

Azamara Journey 11.21.08 - 12 night Western Mediterranean cruise R/T Barcelona, Spain.

Cruise 30 / 31. Cabin 6064.
Master: Captain Theodoros Mitropoulos
Restaurant Manager: Richard
Cruise Director: Sue Denning from Blackpool North West England
Cabin Steward: Luis
Hotel Director: Phillip Herbert from Gloucestershire, England
Bar/Wine Server: Mac

We started off with a wonderful direct flight with Celebrity Air on Continental, which left 710pm and arrived 9am. Shortly thereafter, we meet our cruising buddies, Rob and Michelle Butterworth at the baggage carousel. They just finished a 2 week Perillio land tour of Italy and were joining us.

We hopped on the transfer bus and were on our way to board the Azamara Journey, a new ship for us. The ship, at 30 thousand tons, was smaller then Horizon, but once aboard, the former Renaissance R6 ship, we realized it was very different then Celebrity's 2nd ship. Grand elegance greeted us with dark wood throughout, which gave you that immediate warm and cozy feeling. Wrought iron stairway ornamentation enhanced that rich feeling even more. She holds 700 passengers, 400 crew, and a 1:2 staff to guest ratio. While we were on there were 550 pax.

As we explored, we found similar areas such as Michael's club on deck 10 and the Discoveries Restaurant. Even the lobby on deck 4 was simple but had a classy style. The ship seemed very comfortably small.

Our cabin was also heavily wooded and was conformable with a pleasant amount of space and an average verandah, which we did not use at all due to the chilly weather.

I should tell you now of all the problems in the cabin that we had during the trip. 1) The toilet, in the smaller then average, bathroom decided it would not flush about 7 times, mostly at very inopportune times. Although someone was sent right away and it was fixed quickly, it was still annoying. 2) Twice, we got a personal call from the bridge when our smoke alarm sounded in the cabin. When Randi explained that we don't smoke, they said that the steam from the shower must have caused it to ring. 3) We had many an unusually windy night on this cruise with winds up to 55mph. That caused a whistling sound through our verandah doors which woke us. While that was annoying, it was certainly understandable with the winds bringing about the ship to a 15 degree list, I would estimate. 4) Last but not least was the time the batteries in our door’s lock died, and we couldn’t get in. Security was able to open the door for us.

On the other positive side, we had fun with Laura Shemanski, teasing her many times about how crowed our cabin was, with the “Jacuzzi,” placed right in the middle of the cabin. There was no Jacuzzi, but she was amazed that we might have one. She and Joe were very nice.

If there was one thing outstanding on this cruise it would be the food, with service being a close second. The food in Discoveries Restaurant and the specialty venues was outrageously good and by far it was the best we have ever had on board ship. The beef was so good, so tasty, so mouthwatering wonderful, that we found us ordering beef many more nights on this cruise then us normally would have. Whatever food we ordered, the quality was superb. After a long and good 1st day, we called it a delightful evening.

Marseilles, France
We booked the St. Remy and Flavors of Provence excursion which took us on a 1 hour bus ride to St. Remy. It reminded us a bit like Malta, with its cobblestone winding streets and close buildings and of course a church just off the square. We found a little cafe and tasted the local fare with some cheese and bread and other dishes. When we asked for a carafe of vino we received a jug of water. Ahhh, the French.

Monte Carlo, Monaco
Although we ported here, right next to the seized Shaw of Iran's outrageously large yacht, in this rich, small country, we choose to take the Nice and Eze Celebrity tour after we had lunch on ship. After the picturesque bus ride, to Nice, we walked along the cobble stone streets and through the local market. In Eze we climbed many stairs to the top of the castle to see wondrous views. On the way up, there were many shops built into the mountainside. Once back at the bottom, we stopped at a perfume store but Randi decided the Princess Grace fragrance was too flowery.

Portofino, Italy
This was our only tender port and a rough one it was. I would estimate the tender was rising and falling in the water a good 5 feet to the ship. Stepping off was timed slowly and carefully. Once we got to shore, the views of this Amalfi coast town were right out of painting. We joined the cruise director, Sue, for a short walking tour of the town. We then explored the hills and streets further and climbed along paths to cemeteries, churches, castles and beautiful views.

Prime C Restaurant
Tonight we dined in the ships delicious steak house and we were not disappointed. I had the 'cowboy steak' which was yummy.

Florence, Italy
Laura and Joe booked Tony, our driver for the day for 600 Euros. He picked us up shipside and drove us into town. Randi was having fun buying leather pocketbooks in the market area. Then we went to a wine tasting and lunch. The organic wine was delicious and we ordered a 1/2 case to be shipped home. Lunch was appetizers, bread and lasagna, and of course wine. It was very nice. After that we headed to Ponte Vecchio, strolled and shopped some more. Before heading back to the ship we stopped for some yummy Gelato.

I think that this was also the evening when we had a very nice dinner with Stamtios Mavogiannis, the Chief Engineer.

Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy
This was another independent taxi ride Michelle and I booked for 310 Euros. The long hour ride was boring as we drove through mostly farms. When we got to Rome, we picked up our Pope tickets, and then headed for the Vatican. We had a special audience with the Pope.

When we reached St Peters we stopped at the religious medal store. I bought my father a St. Jude medal to get well. I also bought my mom a St. Elizabeth and a St. Marco for myself, the saint of eyeglasses and shoes. Inside the hall, with a capacity crowd of 7000, we were in the front section to see the Pope. People sang and cheered when he came on the stage. There were many small ceremonies and songs that seemed to break out at any time. The Pope blessed all inside including the metals we carried. The hour plus ceremony, concluded with the infirmed in wheelchairs, being blessed on stage.

We decided to walk across town to the Arch of Constantine, next to the Coliseum, where we would meet our driver. Along the way we saw the Castle of St. Angelo's. We stopped and had a wonderful lunch in a "local, out of the way" place. We saw the Piazza Navona, and remnants of the Pantheon and the Forum.

That evening on the ship Randi wanted to play the slots so I gave her $50 to play deuces wild. Before you knew it she hit for $250. That was nice ! She said it paid out because she was Catholic for a day.

At Sea, Day 7
It seemed much too long till our 1st sea day since the top of the cruise was port-packed. We chilled out and relaxed today. Randi played a little Texas hold ‘em and I played some Roulette but this time, neither of us won. Today was Thanksgiving. We all enjoyed Turkey in the restaurant but in comparison, it may have been the weakest meal on board.

Cartagena, Spain
Again we walked with the CD in this lovely town. When we decided to continue to walk and explore more, we stumbled upon a 12 block long Gypsy Renaissance Festival with people dressed in era garb and booths full of food, spices and goods. Rob and I then split up from the girls and we explored some ruins and the old Amphitheater. The day ended with a late lunch and a dip in the hot tub back on Journey.

Aqualina Restaurant
Tonight we choose to dine at the fish house. The $5 per person gratuity was well worth it. I had lobster themador and everyone else had a full lobster. Everything was superb. It was too bad we had such a late lunch so we were pretty full to totally enjoy it.

Malaga, Spain
We started off on a waling tour with the CD, Sue here too. She took us down the main shopping area where the walking streets were made of marble. We also saw the Cathedral de Malaga and Rob and I saw the Picasso Museo which was quite good. Randi found some nice scarves to buy.

Seville, Spain
We walked with the CD through a town that was basically closed on Sunday. We planned to go to noon Mass at the Cathedral so we headed there. The church was wonderful inside. Soon the Spanish mass began and ran rather long since the Cardinal was installing 3 new priests.

I found out later that it was during this time that my Dad had died back home, quite unexpectedly. He was fine and in good spirits the day we left. How he declined so rapidly will always be a mystery to me. But it was ironic I think, that we happened to be in church at the time of passing.

After church, Rob and I toured the bell tower with some unbelievable scenery. We also explored the archeological exhibit. Soon it was back to the ship for burgers and a hot tub dip.

Gibraltar, United Kingdom
This fantastic town is all about the “rock.” We took the ship's Upper Rock Walking Tour and weren't disappointed. The bus took us to the base of the rock where we boarded a cable car to the top. It was a smooth ride and on the way you can spot the wild monkeys sitting on the ledges. When you got to the top with fantastic views you were greeted by more monkeys. If you left them alone they would leave you alone unless you put your packages or pocketbooks down; then they would steal them.

We then walked the rock's ridge seeing monkeys and scenery along the way. We even saw a RCL ship in dry dock being worked on.

Next we entered St Michaels Cave, filled with lighted caverns, stalactites and stalagmites. They even had an "in-cave" amphitheater, used for performances and parties.

The third leg of the tour, Randi and I didn't make. I needed to go to the Pharmacia for some pain medication for a sinus attack and migraine. The druggist gave me the equivalent of Tylenol with codeine so that helped a lot.

Sea Day, Day 12
This was a packing, relaxing and chill out day, the day before disembarking.

Barcelona, Spain
We wish we had some time to explore this city since it looked really interesting from the bus ride back to the airport, but maybe next time.

Our flights back to EWR were through London on British Air. In Heathrow, which is unbelievably large, we wound up being delayed 3 hours; a total of a 5 hour layover. This was all because the plane had to be towed from the other side of the field, or so they said. We wound up getting home that evening at 11pm rather then at 8.

All in all, it was a nice cruise on a nice intimate ship which we will have to do again in the future.