Cruising with Azamara
I’ve been lucky to have cruised quite a lot and sailed on the major cruise lines such as Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC. When a beautiful Spanish intensive itinerary was spotted, myself and a friend decided we would give Azamara Cruise line a try.
We started off by flying out to the gorgeous city of Lisbon in Portugal for one night before the cruise staying at the very central Brown’s Boutique Hotel. As the name suggests it’s a small boutique hotel with quirky décor in an excellent location. We dropped our bags and headed for the hop on hop off bus for a tour of the city to get our bearings. We got off the bus at Belem as it would be rude not to sample the famous Portuguese custard tarts! Lisbon is easy to get around, there are trams, buses, underground and funicular rail networks which are simple to navigate but if you prefer to explore on foot, do note that Lisbon is a hilly city! After a busy day of sightseeing we made our way to the famous Lisbon Time Out Market for dinner, this is certainly an experience that every visitor to Lisbon must try.
The following morning we embarked our cruise ship the Azamara Pursuit and started exploring. This ship is baby sized compared to some of the large cruise liners, with a capacity of 777 passengers but what it lacks in size and facilities it makes up for in character and staff (more about that later).
We sailed at the end of March and our itinerary involved skirting around the Spanish coastline. March is early in the season for the Med and some days we were unlucky with the weather but that didn’t stop us making the most out of the trip. We had an amazing itinerary and after we left Lisbon we had a day at sea before arriving into Seville in the early hours of the morning. We got up early to witness the ship squeeze in through the lock gate on the approach to Seville and dock right in the city centre. A key benefit of being on a small ship is the ability to get closer to location. We had an over night stay in Seville and this timed with the Semana Santa holy week celebrations in Spain and meant we could explore the city at night and watch the procession still going strong at 2am! Seville is a gorgeous city, with streets lined with orange trees and beautiful buildings.
Due to the tail end of a storm, it was too rough for us to dock in our next stop Gibraltar so we had an unexpected extra day at sea but this is when the crew jumped into action and provided an amazing brunch experience and additional activities onboard if you wanted to participate.
The following day we docked in Malaga and had time to explore the city and visit the famous Cathedral. Semana Santa celebrations were also taking place here. That evening a local troupe of Flamenco dancers boarded the ship for a specially themed show in the Cabaret lounge.
Cartagena was our next stop, this is a much smaller port town but nice to have a walk around, They have some ancient roman ruins here that are worth going to see. Back on board the ship we got ready for the famous Azamara White Night Party where the crew put on an amazing outdoor BBQ and the guests had the opportunity to show their appreciation to the multinational crew onboard and there was a party out on the pool deck with the in house band.
The following morning we got off the ship in Alicante, the weather was gorgeous and you could head to the beach for the day but we ventured to the Castillo de Santa Barbara via the lift through the mountain and were rewarded with amazing views over the city.
We spent our last day in Valencia and took the hop on hop off bus around the city for a tour and stopped off at the Oceanografic aquarium which is amazing. Valencia nicely blends traditional architecture with the modern contemporary designs of famous architect Santiago Calatrava. The following morning we disembarked in Barcelona and flew back home.
Important to note: Azamara ships are much smaller and therefore don’t have all the extras that the large cruise ships offer. There is no theatre onboard but they do have a Cabaret Lounge and a show is put on each evening. There is an excellent in house band and DJ so you can dance the night away if you wish.
Although there were some families on our sailing, the majority of people were couples or friends travelling together. The small nature of the ship means you bump into the same people regularly so its easy to strike up conversation and make new friends if you wish. This also is true of the crew onboard, who are exceptional, the service levels are of an extremely high standard and by chatting to some of the guests onboard, it’s the key reason they keep coming back.
If the thought of getting on to some of the large cruise ships with several thousand other passengers is not for you, consider sailing with Azamara.
