Azamara is our current favorite cruise line. Here’s why.
We are digital nomads, traveling the world while working our businesses remotely. While we’ve enjoyed all the cruises we’ve taken, some lines stand out as favorites. These have shifted over the years, from lines like Royal Caribbean and Disney when we traveled with our kids, to Virgin Voyages and Celebrity, now that we’re traveling as older adults. However, our current favorite is a smaller line you might not be familiar with: Azamara. This post on Azamara Cruises 2024 will give you a rundown of the line, what makes them different and why we love them.
Why Listen to Us?
As of this date, we’ve done over forty cruises on 16 different lines, and we currently have another nine cruises booked. We’ve done expedition cruises, repositioning cruises and river cruises. We got married on a cruise back in 1997! We spent a few “extra” weeks on a cruise at the start of Covid. So we have some experience.
🛳️ Check out our guide on choosing a cruise to learn more about each line, as well as our other cruise posts to find out how to score the best deal or choose the right shore excursions.
Who is Azamara?
Azamara has smaller ships than most major lines, which allows them to provide an immersive luxury cruise offering authentic local experiences, country-intensive itineraries, overnight stays, and less-traveled ports.
According to Azamara:
“Our ships are perfectly sized to cross oceans, sail into intimate rivers, cruise along scenic waterways, and dock at locations bigger ships can’t reach.”
Azamara is based in Miami and sails worldwide. Royal Caribbean founded the line in 2007 in an effort to diversify its operations, but sold it to a private investment group in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. Since then, it’s been independent.
What Makes Azamara Our Favorite?
Azamara is our current favorite for three reasons:
- Smaller Ships. The small ship size allows them to get into smaller ports that the big ships can’t. The interior of the ship is also easier to get around than the bigger ships.
- Intensive Itineraries. In addition to offering region- or country-intensive itineraries, many times the ship will overnight in a port, giving you two days to explore.
- Friendly Community. Azamara enjoys a loyal, passionate following. We’ve found fellow passengers to be the friendliest we’ve ever encountered. It’s truly a community onboard.
Azamara Cruises 2024: Fleet
The line has four of the eight ships originally built for Renaissance Cruises between 1997 and 2001:
- Azamara Journey
- Azamara Quest
- Azamara Pursuit
- Azamara Onward
Each ship is 30,277 tons and can carry a maximum of 686 passengers. All four ships have Maltese registry.
Our Azamara Cruises
We’ve taken these cruises on Azamara:
- 12-Night Egypt and Israel Intensive Voyage – April 23-May 5, 2022 – Azamara Pursuit
This cruise started in Athens, Greece, then went to Alexandria, Egypt; Jerusalem and Haifa, Israel; Limassol, Cyprus; Kusadasi and Istanbul, Turkey. - Spain Intensive Voyage – April 4-15, 2023 – Azamara Onward
This cruise started in beautiful Lisbon, Portugal, then went to PortimĂŁo, in Portugal’s Algarve; Seville and Cádiz, Spain; Gibraltar; and Málaga, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, and Barcelona, Spain. Due to the ship’s small size, it was able to sail right up the Guadalquivir River and berth in the middle of Seville, rather than docking at Cádiz like all the larger ships have to do.
We have these two coming up:
- Japan Intensive Voyage – April 3-18, 2024 – Azamara Journey
This cruise starts and ends in Tokyo, making stops at Aomori, Akita, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Kitakyushu, Hiroshima, Takamatsu, Kobe, and Shimizu, Japan; and Busan, South Korea. Read about the Azamara Japan Intensive here. - Ireland Intensive Voyage – July 1-13 – Azamara Onward
This cruise goes out of Dublin, to Cobh (Cork), Bantry Harbour, Foynes, and Donegal, Ireland; Belfast and Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Ullapool, Scotland; and Kristiansand and Oslo, Norway, where it ends.
Always Included on Azamara
These amenities and features are included on every cruise:
- Variety of dining venues as well as room service
- Drinks, including alcohol, all day and night
- Tips and gratuities
- Exclusive cultural events, like their AzAmazing Celebration
- Unlimited self-service laundry (perfect for nomads)
Dining
Your dinner dining options are Discoveries (the main dining room), the two specialty restaurants – Aqualina (Italian) or Prime C (steak and seafood), or Windows Cafe (buffet with themed dinners). Mosaic Cafe offers coffee drinks, pastries and snacks. Additionally, there is The Patio (pool grill) offering lunch dishes and Swirl & Top, a frozen yogurt station. We’ve found the food to be quite good and of excellent quality.
Onboard Activities
There are shows that vary by ship – you can see them here. Otherwise, there is live music at various venues around the ship, plus lots of fun onboard activities, like arts and crafts, darts, ping pong, bingo, trivia and the like. Destination Speakers are experts who offer enrichment classes or lectures based on a specific destination and these can be fastinating and entertaining. There are some onboard shops offering things like jewelry, casual/resort wear, sunglasses, and gifts, plus the photo shop where you can go home with print or digital keepsakes.
Azamara Cruises 2024: Events
AzAmazing Celebrations
In 2014, Azamara introduced the AzAmazing Evening, an exclusive event taking place either onshore or onboard the ship. In 2024, they expanded this to include the daytime. AzAmazing Celebrations are included on all cruises except transatlantic crossings and voyages that are less than seven nights long. Each Celebration is unique to the port they are in. In the past, these have included such events as an exclusive showing of La Traviata in Livorno, for example.
White Night
On each sailing, there is a signature dinner and entertainment event hosted al fresco on the pool deck (weather permitting) known as White Night. With an extensive display of delicious food and live entertainment, White Night is one of the most memorable parts of each voyage. Be sure to bring something white to wear for the evening!
Health and Fitness
Sanctum Spa
The Sanctum Spa offers all the usual spa services – massage, facials, body sculppting, acupuncture, teeth whitening, and so on. The Salon offers hair and nail services for men and women.
Gym and Fitness Classes
In addition to the gym, which has machines, free weights, mats and other fitness tools, there are complimentary Yoga, Spin and Pilates classes.
Azamara: Pros and Cons
Pros: What We Love
- Small ship size easy to get around
- Small ship size allows them to access smaller ports than the big ships
- Country-intensive itineraries with several overnights
- Friendly, well-traveled fellow passengers
Cons: Not So Much
- Activities more limited than the large cruise ships
- Fewer restaurants than the larger ships
- Skews older than some of the big ships
Check out our YouTube video to see our analysis of Azamara, plus a detailed look at how to get the best price!
Azamara Circle Loyalty Program
You are automatically enrolled in Azamara’s loyalty program, Azamara Circle, as soon as you book your first cruise, and you earn points for each night you sail according to the type of cabin you booked (excludes upgrades). There are five levels – Adventurer, Explorer, Discoverer, Discoverer Plus, and Discoverer Platinum – and the benefits vary by level.
A Little History from the Dark Days of 2020
The Azamara Pursuit holds a special place in our hearts. At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, we were on the Celebrity Eclipse, preparing to disembark in Santiago and fly home. Within hours of our arrival, the Chilean government closed their port and wouldn’t allow us to dock. For several days, we circled off the coast as crew and corporate leaders tried to negotiate our entry. The Azamara Pursuit, which departed Buenos Aires on the same day as we did (March 2), was also caught up in this predicament. We hung out together for several days until it was confirmed that the decision was final. Ultimately the Eclipse was forced to sail to San Diego, CA (16 straight sea days) and the Azamara Pursuit proceeded through the Panama Canal to Miami (18 straight sea days).
Azamara 2025 World Voyage
For those of you who might be interested in living full-time on an Azamara ship, there is the 2025 World Voyage. It includes 155 nights, 37 countries, 13 exclusive events and 46 late nights or overnights. You can book the entire itinerary or opt for individual segments along the way. It starts in San Diego, CA in January 2025 and heads east to Hawaii, the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. From there, it goes to Southeast Asia, India, through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea, ending in the UK.
Conclusion: Azamara Cruises 2024
A lesser-known cruise line, Azamara has smaller ships than most major lines. This enables them to get into much smaller ports. Accordingly, they provide an immersive luxury cruise offering authentic local experiences, country-intensive itineraries, overnight stays, and less-traveled ports. The food is great, fellow passengers are friendly and well-traveled, and the value makes it one of our favorite cruise lines.
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