Azamara folk are incredibly loyal and proud of their ship, and that’s just the guests! (Well, the staff are loyal and proud too). This was our first Azamara cruise, so I’m barely qualified to write this review, surrounded as we were by guests cruising Azamara for their fifth, tenth, even twentieth time in its ten-year history.
The Captain set the tone, sociable, warm, and happy to show us Norway through his eyes. Our two (three?) sets of cruise directors brought enthusiasm and warmth to the trip. Entertainment maybe leaned too heavily on Broadway, but we appreciated the effort and I really liked the house band and the lounge performers. The cultural lectures were pertinent and valuable to appreciating our all-Norway itinerary. The cooking demonstrations were enjoyable and offered a peek at the professionalism and mutual respect that exists among the kitchen crew, which surely is not always the case.
The AzAmazing evening featured a brilliant concert in Trondheim’s Nidaros Cathedral, and the White Night gave us an opportunity to cheer for the staff as they paraded through. Shore excursions were hit-and-miss and overpriced as usual, but we followed the pre-cruise Roll Call here on CruiseCritic and had a good mix of internal and external bookings.
Cabin 7083 met all our needs. Easy access to elevator and stairs (usually stairs for us--it's not that big a ship!) with courtesy laundry room a short distance away on the opposite corridor. Perfectly quiet and mid-ship stable. We enjoyed room service breakfasts, always delivered at the start of the selected time window, and almost always accurately filled. The couch and table area is a bit tight for two so we breakfasted on the balcony which worked well. Yes the bathroom shower is very small but we managed OK with it, and the lack of a tub didn't bother us either. Very comfortable bed and ample storage.