Four megaship veterans try cruising on a smaller scale
SOME people like hosting relatives at their homes. We prefer cruising with family because it gives us time together (and apart), plus interesting ports, entertainment and meals without the hassle of shopping, cooking and housekeeping. Every summer since 2009, my cousins Wayne and Mary Jane have joined me and my husband, David, on the high seas.
This year, when it came time to map out our annual trip, Wayne suggested that we try something different. Azamara Club Cruises’ small ships specialise in upscale but casual - no tux or gowns required - voyages. Aboard its two vessels, the Azamara Journey and the Azamara Quest, the line offers something it calls “immersive cruising,” the ability to explore a port through shore tours that convey the local culture as well as overnights that enable cruisers to experience a destination after dark as well as the next day. As frequent cruisers on megaships that carry more than 4,000 passengers, we wondered if we’d find happiness on the 690passenger Azamara Journey. Could we forgo the bumper cars, ropes courses, outdoor movies and multiple music and food venues on large vessels?
Despite our misgivings, we were hooked by the promise of more time on land and the opportunity to visit ports that aren’t accessible to large ships. We booked Azamara Journey’s nine-night Normandy, Holland and Germany package. The ship departed from Lisbon in midJune, docking in St. Peter Port, Guernsey; Cherbourg, France; Honfleur, France; Amsterdam; and Hamburg, Germany, where we disembarked for our flights back to the United States. Our booking came with a US$300-perperson shipboard credit, and our goal was to stick as close to that amount as possible. After all, most cruise lines offer special outings – helicopter rides, dogsledding atop a glacier, floatplane trips, VIP winery tours with dinner – for hefty fees, but we hoped Azamara would deliver local outings at more-affordable prices.
The ship had the requisite pool deck, lounge, buffet cafe, main dining room, speciality restaurants, gym, spa and theatre. Although the venues appeared doll-size compared to those on big ships, David and I liked the scale. Wayne and Mary Jane, however, thought the ship was too small and lamented its lack of organised activities and people-watching spots.
We all looked forward to our first stop, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands occupied by the Germans in World War II. It was time to test Azamara’s immersive-cruise proposition.
Of the six available tours in St. Peter Port, two were primarily sightseeing rides, a third traced the sites in “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society,” a novel none of us had read, and a fourth explored the German occupation, a topic that didn’t appeal to us on a fine summer’s day.
That left us two options, both of which would have decimated our budget: the “Fishmonger, Farm and Gin Distillery Tour” and that evening’s “Castle Cornet Reception.”
The medieval castle rose on an island a 15-minute walk from the dock and the admission cost was about US$23 (RM103). We wondered whether the prosecco, canapes and private guide would be worth the added zeros. Maybe, but we had an allowance to consider. We settled for a selfguided walk and a drink at a local cafe.
Back on board, we were pleasantly surprised by the evening’s entertainment. We had assumed that a small ship focused on land tours would skimp on talent.
But as soon as cruise director Eric De Gray began belting out “Some Enchanted Evening,” we realised our error. In his “From Vegas to Broadway” show, De Gray, backed by a seven-piece chamber orchestra - a rarity at sea - sang “Send in the Clowns,” “Phantom of the Opera,” and other Broadway favourites.
His delivery energised a crowd of attendees with an average age hovering in the mid-60s.
In the morning, our ship arrived in Cherbourg, at the tip of Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula and stayed 14 hours. That gave Wayne, Mary Jane and David plenty of time to stroll through the Cite de la Mer museum.
An outing to Mont SaintMichel, an island Unesco World Heritage site, intrigued me, but nine hours on a bus did not, so I signed up for a four-hour bus tour to Cap de la Hague. — WPBloomberg