After a hasty launch in 2007, Azamara Club Cruises undertook an ambitious overhaul last year to reinvent itself and create an intriguing new category in the cruise industry: ‘luxury lite’.
Attempt No. 2 to catch the train from Sorrento to Pompeii worked – a 30-minute journey that takes you right to the gates of arguably the most famous archeological site in the world. Having had local guides at Valletta and Mt Etna, we knew we’d benefit from the services of an official guide here, and, after paying the entrance fee (11 euros), were lucky enough to find the wonderfully informative and entertaining guide Mario Visconti (10 euros).
As the editor of P&O Cruises’ in-cabin magazine Pacific (as well as Cruise Passenger of course), I recently commissioned a feature on the theme of “How To Do Nothing On A Cruise Ship”. A sea day on this cruise is the perfect opportunity for me to practise what we preach. I could now leave this page blank while I do nothing at all ... however...
Is anyone heading off this week on a cruise somewhere? Unfortunately I’m not, but with the Easter holidays looming in a few days, I have been thinking about the options for getting away from it all at key times of year.....
Sitting here in Singapore at the lovely Marina Mandarin Hotel, I have a view of the bizarre Marina Sands Hotel (looks like a futuristic skyscraper topped by a boat) in one direction, and the Merlion in the other. It's steamy, overcast and may rain any minute, and my thoughts can't help but drift back to our cruise in Azamara Quest, which ended on Saturday in Hong Kong.
To date the trip has been amazing on many levels, and while I do want to talk about the destinations we've visited, there are a few things from the last blog about the ship which I want to share with you.
It's been a long time since I took a cruise during such a high-anticipation time as the Christmas holidays, and I guess you could argue it was risky to embark attempt it on a ship and a new line.
Hear the hilarious stories of life aboard the world's most luxurious fleet, including how nine men "mooned" BON VOYAGE from the San Francisco Bridge as the ship set out to sea.
