Northeast Asia Trip- The Azamara Quest Overview

This was our first time sailing Azamara and I must say we were very pleased. We had previously been on 7 voyages with Royal Caribbean. RCCL owns 3 lines: Royal Caribbean (family-oriented ships, affordable pricing, wide variety of itineraries), Celebrity Cruises (beautiful ships with more adult focused menus and venues, mid-range pricing, fewer ships so smaller variety of itineraries, and Azamara (ships and amenities geared toward middle/older ages, high pricing but base fare includes most everything, 2 small ships but both with specialized and unique itineraries). So did we like Azamara more than the lower cost Royal Caribbean, nope. We like them equal. There are things with both that we loved and things with both with don't care for, but this review is about Azamara so I will try to stick there.
By far, the crew on board the Azamara Quest was SUPERIOR to any other ship I've ever been. And rightly so. For every 2 passengers on board the Quest, there is 1 crew member. But not just the ratio was excellent, the people themselves were genuinely nice and went way out of their way to make sure you had a wonderful experience. I cannot say enough good things about the crew.
The food onboard was just okay to me. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the food at the pool grill. I could go out there, order a turkey burger and baked potato, and they would cook it up fresh right then and there. Yummy! The buffet was small...and I guess that's due to the fact that the ship is super small. The options on the buffet were probably very nice foods, but I like plainer, more comfortable food. I felt the buffet food was pretty stuffy. (so we usually ended up at the pool grill every single day). There was one station in the buffet that I couldn't live without. The ice cream stand...

Here's D enjoying a delicious waffle cone with homemade (or should I say shipmade) Blueberry icecream.

This is the excursion desk. It's in the main lobby area towards the middle of the ship. The guest relations desk is also in this same area and looks very similar to this desk.

Me in the main lobby area. The excursion desk in the picture above this one is just to the right of these stairs. The Guest Relations desk is practically in front of this stairwell. 

Even the stairwells are nicely appointed. The picture above this one is the ceiling of the stairwell.

The picture above is of the library. The picture above this one is the library ceiling.

 The main dining room.

This is in one of the specialty restaurants.

This is the buffet. Seriously, isn't this just about the nicest buffet area you've ever seen? See the man in the background of the picture. Thats the area where the ice cream station is that I had in my first picture of this post.

Here's D at one of my favorite eateries on the ship. I think I visited this Pool Grill everyday almost. Pretty much anything you can grill, they will cook it for you right then and there when you order it. LOVE the turkey burgers and fries from the Pool Grill!

Here's D on one of the outdoor public decks of the Quest. They have SUCH nice lounge chairs and cushions.

6048 was our stateroom. We picked it because it was midship and had a balcony.

Our room.  I was very pleased with the size of the room and balcony. One thing I love about Azamara is the water pitcher (and fresh fruit and canapes) they leave in your room. I've been on other lines where you have to go to the buffet to grab a glass of water. I will say our room was very "creaky" while we were at sea. I also wasn't pleased with the bed. I stacked up 3 egg crates on top of the mattress and it still killed my back.

And here's the balcony. I thought it was very nicely sized. It even had 2 chairs and a modest little table so we could eat, snack, and lounge out there. After all the rough weather we had, our balcony floor started to buckle. I'm pretty sure that wood was gonna have to be changed out after our trip.

And that wraps up my Asia trip! Whew! That was a lot of them. Did you miss the rest of my Asia tour? If so CLICK HERE to see the rest of my pictures.

Coming up next...September 2010 Alaska!

Northeasst Asia Trip- Shanghai

March 17,  2010- At Sea (Day 13)

Nothing eventful to report....Thank Goodness. We had a wonderful relaxing day at sea. We packed some since our last night onboard would actually be an overnight in Shanghai. We had dinner with a big group of friends that we met onboard, share stories and pictures, etc.

March 18,  2010- Shanghai, China (Day 14)

Let me start out by saying that Shanghai is basically the Asian financial capital. Even though it is Asian NYC, it is still quite poor. Maybe some businesses are doing well, but I would say overall the majority of the people are well below poverty level. Which seems pretty consistent across China as a whole....or at least what I saw of the average person.

The shopping district was pretty cool. I did do a little shopping there. I got myself a Chinese embroidered purse...which I've yet to carry. But I will (this message is for D...lol). I bought a toddler Chinese boy outfit and a toddler Chinese girl dress...and a pair of baby Chinese booties. They seem to be very good quality, but in total only cost me about $10 USD. Yes, in some ways it's crazy to buy clothing for future children, but on the flip side I probably will never return to china (unless I adopted a child from there) so this was my one opportunity. 

 See how busy the market was?

The bridge, in the above pic, is a zig zag bridge. It is located near the Yuyuan Gardens and the Market. It was built this way because it was believed that the evil spirits would have a hard time following them across the bridge (evidently evil spirits can only go in a straight line?!).

 This place was absolutely gorgeous. We were there around 10am and the light coming int through all the different nooks and crannies was so beautiful.

After touring the Yuyuan Gardens, we visited the Jade Buddha Temple.

See the red cushy stools at the foot of the idols? Thats where Buddhists coming to pray to these non-living gods would kneel down. Very sad. 

As I was taking this picture, a worker there at the temple asked me was I taking pictures because I was Buddhist. I said, No. I am taking pictures to remember it. Are you Buddhist? He laughed and said, "No don't tell" in broken English. The tour group I came with was moving on upstairs, so I didn't get to ask him anything else.

The above 2 pictures are a replica of the Jade Buddha. In the room with the Jade Buddha, you're not allowed to take pictures. Believe me though, it just a big, hunk of Jade. Yet, people still prayed to it. I accept the fact that people pray to gods other than The Living God, but I seriously don't understand it. I don't understand how you can expect a big ole' hunk of Jade to do anything for you.

The Jade Buddha Temple is a gorgeous place, yet filled with no hope....only Jade.

D's fave place to grab a quick bite to eat. Did you know McD's around the world have different foods? You may not even wanna know what this McD's could have! We actually didn't eat there, but we have probably eaten at under the arches in 10 or more countries. Yes, I know. Shame on us. But D loves the place and how can you say no to that gorgeous smile of his?

This is an ABOVE average apartment building. It is QUITE nice in comparison to what we mostly saw around town. See the metal structures sticking out from the windows. That's your typical Chinese clothes dryer.

After the tour around Shanghai, we returned to the ship to pack. We were staying overnight on the ship and then flying home the next day. We thought the night would be a peaceful last night onboard the Quest, but all night we had random party and gambling ships passing.  Their skyline wasn't quite as awesome as Hong Kong, but still provided some unique buildings that were lit up at night.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to head home. Porting there with us was 2other previously Renaissance ships. When Renaissance Cruises went out of business with 8 practically new ships they were sold...Azamara has 2, Oceania has 3, and Princess has 3. Docked with us that morning was one of the Princess purchased ones and one of the Oceania purchased ones....pretty crazy to all be in Shanghai at the same time. The pic below is of one of the pulling up to the dock.

Well, that was the end of a sampling of our trip pics, but I have one last post to make.

Next and Last Asian post...focus on the Azamara Quest.

to be continued...

(did you miss the beginning of our trip to Asia? Click HERE to view)

Northeast Asia Trip- Great Wall of China

March 16,  2010- Great Wall of China (Day 12)

After a rough night with no sleep because of being sick, I didn't think I could get on the bus and ride another few hours further to see the Great Wall. But this was my one chance, so I just did it. Of course now I am very glad I did, but at the time all I wanted to do was crawl in bed. 

We went to the Juyongguan Pass section of the Great Wall which is somewhere around 50 miles or so from Beijing. Because of the HORRIBLE traffic around Beijjing, however, it took quite a while to get there. We were on one of first tourist buses to arrive there for the day since we went so early....after a few hours of being there, however, there got to be a large amount of people. Since it snowed the day before we got there, there was only one side of the Wall you could walk on as the other side was a pile of snow and ice. It was pretty dangerous actually. 

Me and D before actually climbing the wall. This shot is taken a flight of stairs down from the wall...which is explains how we're actually standing on flat ground. If you look at the first picture, you can see the wall is actually more like stairs most of the time....and you can also see the snow/ice on half of it.

Chinese-English translations are always funny to me.

After this, we left the Great Wall and headed back to Beijing to see the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Heaven is actually made of up of 3 buildings, 2 Halls and 1 circular building. Back in the day, the emperor would go to the circular building once or twice a year to pray for a good harvest. Others would go to the other 2 halls to pray. Today, the entire place is obviously a tourist attraction with the circular building being the main attraction. The circular building is 100% wood...meaning it was built without the use of any metal nails. Pretty remarkable for that circular structure. These days the other 2 halls are filled with locals playing games, singing songs, and just hanging out. It's kinda like an open air community center.

 In the pic above, the locals are playing a game akin to hackey sack. The "hackey sack" was made of some plastic rings stacked up and joined together with colorful feathers sticking out the top.

 More locals playing card games sitting in one of the halls at the Temple of Heaven.

This man was more than happy to continue his dancing and singing as I snapped his pic!

Me & D in front of the circular prayer building. It's beautiful. Do I think that it really helped the emperors to actually enter that building to pray for a good harvest? Nope. If they were God's children they could pray to Him anywhere. Of course, those emperors weren't praying to THE almighty Jehovah God Almighty. No, they were praying to the gods of harvest, rain, sun, etc. So I'm pretty sure their prayers fell on deaf or technically dead/non-living ears.

 Here's the inside of the building. It's 100% dark in there, so sorry for the bad photo quality.

Look how gorgeous! Yes, I'm talking about my gorgeous hubs and also the beautiful colors the wood of the circular building of prayer at the Temple of Heaven. I think my DH looks like a model. Dont you? :)

Next and Last Stop...Shanghai, China

to be continued...

(did you miss the beginning of our trip to Asia? Click HERE to view)