Frank Sap  

Age: 38
Occupation: international civil servant
Number of Cruises: 4
Cruise Line: Festival Cruises
Ship: The Azur
Itinerary: Eastern Mediterranean

In October 1998 we made a 7 day cruise aboard the M/S AZUR (Festival cruises or First European Cruises). We are a young European family with three children [at the time of the cruise 6.5y, 5y, 3y] living in the Geneva area [Franco-Swiss border].

Our previous cruises:
in April 1996 (without the children) on a 3-day cruise to Nassau and Key West on board the NCL Majesty (at that time still Royal Majesty)
 in April 1997 we had sailed the Costa Allegra in the Mediterranean sea with our 3 children
 in July 1997 we had sailed the Costa Victoria in the Mediterranean sea with our 3 children and my wife’s mum.

My parents had sailed the M/S Azur several times and found her to be a good ship (price/quality OK) and this considering together with the wonderful itinerary and the fact that they allow five in a cabin were determining reasons for us to book this cruise.

Itinerary

7 days from Venice to a Korcula-Croatian island, Itea-Gr, transit by night of the Canal of Corinth, Santorini-Gr, Crete-Gr, Rhodes-Gr, Athens-Gr, transit by day of the Canal of Corinth, day at sea, back to Venice. A superb itinerary !

Embarkation

The package booked in Switzerland included a transfer per bus, leaving the night before and arriving early in the morning in Venice. We preferred to pay ourselves the night-sleeper train which would get us to Venice more relaxed and faster. The check in went smoothly and because we had three small children we were given priority 1 to go on board, together with some other families. This was very convenient and was a plus. We were on board at 12.30 and were escorted to our cabin. No sign of a cabin steward , nor luggage so we headed to the very nice Welcome Buffet near the pool where we had plenty of choice to sit either outside (weather was permitting this) or inside (more about inside sitting for buffet later)

Our cabin

We had an I/S cabin (1033) at the stern of the ship on the lowest deck (deck 2). It had two lower and two upper beds. Our cabin was one of the smallest of the whole ship [110 sq. ft or 11 sq. meter]. The cabin was just average in furniture (I saw nicer ones when checking in the corridor) and had definitely not enough closet and drawer space for the five of us. Our luggage arrived very soon after lunch and we managed all clothing to be stored somewhere. The bathroom was excellent and the shower had good water pressure. Amenities were available but during the cruise I had to request our steward to put some more shampoo; as if he could not see this for himself! Our cabin steward was invisible, actually too invisible. We had to track him down after dinner the first night because we still had not received the roll away bed for the smallest of our children.

The children’s playroom was just a few steps away from our cabin (at the very stern of the ship) as well as the basketball ground (which was also used for the stretching and aerobics). The fitness and sauna were also adjacent to our cabin. The equipment and lay out was terrible (only three machines). A joke compared to some other ship’s fitness rooms. The children’s playroom is located where there used to be a squash court. It was conveniently located for us since we could easily drop the children at the kids area and got to our cabin for whatever we needed to do and they could come to us whenever they felt like it. In general I’d say that the cabins are still OK (a lot of them are inside) but some could be refurbished.

As we were on the lowest deck we could hear the engines quite well. This did not prevent us from sleeping or anything else since it was a constant sound. In the morning we could hear when we had arrived in the port cause the engine sound stopped and we knew it was time to get up.

The cabins do not have TV, which I only missed for the bow and stern camera view (transmitted on our previous cruises) and important if you are in an inside cabin to allow to see what the weather is like, if it is day light or night time, and so on. We never turn on TV when on board a ship for any other reason than that one (note that we are not hooked on TV).

The ship

The ship was built in 1972 as a ferry and transformed into a cruise ship in 1982. It shows cause there are a lot of inside cabins (more than oceanview ones). She is 15000 GRT and carries almost 800 passengers (passenger space ratio of only 22). In general our impression was that the ship should be kept cleaner in public areas (except lounges and restaurant which were OK). The pool decks (2 pools) were too crowded as well as the public areas. There are two lounges; one is used for everything and serves as a theater (viewing is terrible if you are not on the first 5 rows) and the other one has an orchestra and nice dance floor. There is a smaller lounge in tropical style that serves as disco at night and buffet area during the day. There is a small lounge on the top deck, with library and a very nice bow view. There is only one lift and it can take up to 4 (yes FOUR) people. We always took the stairs - no choice. The disabled were having a hard time. Since it is very crowded and not spacious the ship is definitely not recommended for wheelchair access. The lounges are very nicely decorated and so are all public areas. It also has the usual shop, photo desk, etc. The cabin decks are 2, 3 and 4; the restaurant deck is 5, the lounges and buffet area are on 6; deck 7 is reserved for the superior staterooms, the bridge and officers; deck 8 has another pool and some smaller buffet area. Interesting is that on deck 2 forward there is a movie theater which shows daily 3 movies (not the most recent ones).

There is a small casino on board but most Europeans are not much interested in casinos. The outdoor tables of the buffet were around the pool on deck 6 (very crowded). The buffet (for breakfast and lunch) was set up in the room where at night time the disco was. When the weather was not permitting outside eating, you had to take the tray and have your meal in the main lounge (also theater) where you had to either put the tray on your lap or put it on the small side tables. That was a terrible experience and we almost never went to the buffet when the weather was not clear.

The food and bars

Very important item if you go on a holiday and was very good on this cruise. There is plenty of food and very international ; two evenings we had a formal dinner but the food did not differ from the other evenings; it was outstanding and being used to “French cuisine” we really recommend this ship for its food. Breakfast was possible either in the restaurant or at the buffet. For the convenience of being served [remember that we had three small children with us] and remaining seated we always went to the restaurant. Only one day we arrived too late in the restaurant and quickly headed to the buffet (which was closing too). We quickly grabbed some of the last Danish and coffee and shared our food with some other late comers. The lady ironically said “here we are on a cruise , sharing our scarce food”. We had not properly read the daily news which announces all meal times. One does not expect hem to vary from one day to another but we were in the port of call for the whole day and the crew got some time off. So they had put their meal times earlier than normal. The breakfasts and lunches in the restaurant were very good but there seemed to be a very bad organisation from the waiter’s side. We never got our orders fast and correct, had to wait, had to call the waiters (instead of them checking whether we needed anything else). It really got on our nerves and only when checking with the maitre D it was possible to get things going. It was not pleasant to get the maitre D all the time to intervene so sometimes we just lived with the bad service.

For dinners we had our assigned table and waiters who were just OK. The food was very good and we had a table just for the five of us in first seating , just as requested. The restaurant is quite crowded and the seats do not have armrests which makes the meals a bit less relaxing in my opinion. We compared to the two Costa cruises we had made in 1997 and found that Festival Cruises is doing very well on the food side (free tap water at the table and complimentary coffee or tea after dinner in the restaurant; very good wine selection at reasonable prices).

We only made it to one midnight buffet (there was a different theme every midnight) which was superb in all aspects; it took place in the restaurant and we really admired the restaurant and kitchen staff cause they barely had finished cleaning up from the second seating and there was already the midnight buffet. These guys really work hard and deserve every penny of their tip (and we forgive them to a certain point if there response to serve us is not always prompt).

There were 5 bars and all prices were reasonable; Each day there was a “cocktail of the day “ which made it easy to chose and cheap to have a drink.

The entertainment

During day time there was the usual stretching, napkin folding, treasure hunt, pool side games and quiz, etc. for the adults. For the children there was a child counselor who organised only a few activities (painting, small games in the playroom, Disney video cassettes all the time). We could not leave the children on board during our shore excursions. That was a nuisance, anyway we survived and so did our children.

Each night there was a show with one or several of the following performers: the showstoppers dancers (5 girls in Vegas style), a magician and his assistant, a juggler and his assistant, a Spanish couple for the Flamenco dances.

For one week this kind of entertainment team is just fine and our children did not want to miss any of the shows in the main lounge. We thought it was mediocre but given the size of the vessel it was the best they could do. so we rated it as very good to excellent. The cruise director and her team were very efficient and always present which is nice. They were quite tolerant versus the children on board

The ports of call

First of all I want to say that shore excursions were overpriced (children 2-12 pay 75 % of the full rate !!!)

Korcula; 3 hr. in port
It is a small island and has as main attraction the “capital” where we strolled a bit around. It is there that Marco Polo was born and raised and his house is one of the main attractions.

Itea, Greece; whole afternoon in port
The town is worth a visit and has lots of shopping (so they say) We opted for the ship’s tour to the ancient site of Delphi (30 minutes drive by coach) and were pleased with the interesting site and museum. The tour guide was OK.

transit of the Canal of Corinth, Greece; this was between 9.30 PM and 10.30 PM. A true experience and as the weather was nice and pretty warm everyone was out on deck , party with sangria and music.

Santorini island, Greece; 8 am till 1 PM in port
we did not take any tours there (not worth it) cause you can easily organise something yourself. Although time is limited the little town has some nice spots and shopping opportunities. Disembarkation is by tender and the town is located high upon a cliff. You can take the cable car or go on the back of the donkeys . We did the latter and had the most fun of our entire cruise. The children loved it and so did we.

Heraklion, Crete; 4 PM till 8 PM
The cruise line offered only one tour , being the palace of King Minos in Knossos (just outside Heraklion) for 70.000 Italian lira ( 45 dollar) pp. We opted for a taxi ride to the palace at a charge of 20.000 Greek drachma ( 80 dollar). Having taken the first taxi coming out on the pier we obviously paid too much but given the limited time we did not start negotiating with the other cabs. The site is nice but you need a good documentation to imagine what it looked like long time ago. We drove afterwards through the town but did not get out of the taxi. The town seems like a very nice place to stroll around and it is only a 15 minute walk from the pier; so if you are interested in only going into town (or taking a public transport to discover some other places on the island) just walk!

Rhodes; 8.30 am till 4.30 PM
The ship is in the port just outside the main town (5 minute walk); it is a very nice setting, old town and houses, lots of shopping and nice castle and other interesting sites. We went back on board for lunch but then back into town for some more exploration.

Piraeus for Athens, Gr: 8 am till 2 PM
HD shore excursion to Athens Acropolis and other sites was 80.000 Italian lira (about 45 US dollar); As we were five in our party we did not take the Festival organised tour; we went out on the pier and negotiated with a cab driver who proposed a tour from 9.00 am till 1.00 PM for 28.000 Greek drachma ( about 100 US dollar). We did not take it but went further just outside the entrance gate (where the tour busses are parked in front of the cruise terminal). There we found lots of other cabs and negotiated a tour from 9.00 am till 1.00 PM for 18.000 Greek drachma ( about 66 US dollar). We took the offer and never regretted it. Went to Piraeus port (very nice setting), Royal yacht club, Acropolis, made a small walk in the Plaka area (shopping), went to see the Presidential palace and changing of the (only 2) guards and went to see the Olympic stadium. The weather was very nice and we enjoyed the tour immensely (especially given the fact that we thought we had made a good deal). The cab driver said that whenever a ship comes in the port there are lots of cab drivers that head to the port to sell their services. Back on board we talked to some other folks and they got a very similar deal for only 15.000 Greek drachma. So you really have to look out for deals; initially we only wanted a taxi into town (which should be around 5.000 Greek drachma) but had trouble finding a cab driver willing to do so. And as we wanted to revisit the Acropolis we were happy with the offers that we got.

Disembarkation

Went very smoothly and we found the coach just outside the terminal, ready to take us back home (which went uneventful)

Overall conclusion

Itinerary: excellent
Food: excellent
Ship: medium, given it’s size this ship is good for a port intensive cruise but not for transatlantic or enjoyment of the ship only.
Service: medium , although some other passengers had no complaints at all
Entertainment: good (given the size of the ship and the price of the cruise)

The M/S Azur gets a 3star plus rating but lacks class and space to get 4 stars. I would not rate it more than 3 star though.

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