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Holyland Cruise
Reviewed By: Curran, Southport on 25th Sep 2008
Cruise Line: Azamara Cruises	Times cruised before: 1-2
Cruise Ship: Azamara Journey	Sailed: August, 2008
Destination: Mediterranean	Age: 56-65

My wife and I have recently returned from a 14 night cruise which we enjoyed very much indeed. The standard of food and service in the ship's main restaurant was higher than we expected and the two 'premium' restaurants were even better. You would be well advised to book these early as they are popular. We were delighted with the size and condition of our suite and balcony and on the mornings when we chose to have breakfast in our room we found room service was spot on. The staff on the ship appeared to genuinely enjoy their jobs and were at all times helpful and courteous. When booking the cruise I had some reservations about 'up front' tipping as I normally like to experience service before rewarding it! I have to say however that I was quite happy to have the service charge applied to my account in this case as the overall service was excellent. I found that sharing a table with different people each evening was more interesting than meeting the same group each night as we had done on our last cruise. We actually became very friendly with another couple early on and some evenings we would ask for a 4 table and on others join a larger group. It was all very relaxed however I think that it might be nice to have perhaps one evening in seven as a more formal event. Having said that it's nice not to have to bother packing a dinner suit especially if one is flying to meet the ship. Because we had been to Egypt and Rome before on quite long holidays we only went on two organised excursions. One to Jerusalem and Bethelem and one to Athens. We found both trips to be well organised and enjoyable. The Athens trip was important as it was our last port of call and if we hadn't organised a trip we would have ended up at the airport with a very long wait for our evening flight home. Watch out for this and book your excursion early to fill up the last day if you're going to have a late flight home. Overall a most enjoyable cruise. Average age though I would guess would be 60ish so you might find that a problem if you're lucky enough to be young. Having said that, the younger people on board all seemed to be enjoying themselves. In spite of a health scare ( some people had a meal in Port Said and came back with a tummy bug ) which was dealt with quickly and with minimum disruption of service and the fact that my wife lost an expensive bracelet we would still give this experience 9 out of 10.
Quality of Food
6 nights in premium restaurants remainder in main restaurant. We put on 8 pounds each!!!
Entertainment
Standard rather good. Better than our last cruise
Shore Excursions

Staff

Children's Facilities	n/a

Onboard Activities

Cabins

Overall Rating