Azamara Cruise Line
Azamara Quest Cruise Review
By: Tom Ogg
Part One - The
Ship --
Part Two - The Cruise
Getting to The Cruise
Thursday, September 24th, 2008; Los Angeles,
California
I spent the evening in Los Angeles and was up early to make
the 7:15 flight on Continental Airlines to Newark, New
Jersey. The flight went perfectly and I enjoyed the
Continental President’s Club for an hour or so before
boarding my flight to Rome. Everything went right as
scheduled and the flights were completely uneventful.
Friday, September 25th, Rome Italy
After clearing immigration and customs I proceeded to the
pickup point for the hotel I was staying at, the Hilton
Garden Inn, while still located on the airport, is
actually in the cargo area quite a distance from the airport
terminal. The hotel advertised that there was a free shuttle
to and from the airport every 30-minutes. I waited for 30
minutes, then 45, then an hour, then an hour and 15 minutes,
and finally after an hour and one half, I decided to simply
grab a taxi to the hotel. I was a little irritated, but was
happy to be at the hotel. I knew better than to go to sleep,
so I took a shuttle back to the airport and then took a
train into Rome. The Leonardo Express operates between the
Termini Station in downtown Rome and the airport and is the
best way to access Rome’s wonderful sites. I took a taxi to
Spanish Steps and then walked all of Rome’s major
attractions down to the Coliseum. After returning to Termini
Station in a taxi, I boarded the train back to the airport.
Once again, the shuttle to the hotel turned into a disaster.
When one finally appeared, I boarded the shuttle that had
also picked up a flight crew and then made its way over to
the Hilton Airport Hotel. It dropped the crew and was
supposed to continue on to the Hilton Garden Inn. Instead
they asked me to get off the shuttle and explained that
another one would be by in about 15 minutes. Of course, that
wasn’t to happen. When one finally did show up it was a 10
passenger shuttle and there were easily 15 people waiting to
be shuttled to the Garden Inn. What ensued was the most
ridiculous excuse for service that I have ever experienced.
Unprofessional, child-like behavior on the driver’s part led
to the entire group of people being stranded for about
half of an hour while the driver sipped coffee in the hotel lobby
after demanding the everyone get out of the shuttle.
Would I ever stay at the Hilton Garden Inn again? Not on
your life. Would I recommend that you do? Only if you ignore
their offer of a free shuttle to and from the hotel and
simply take a taxi. More important, you should factor in the
cost of going to and from the hotel along with the room
rate and I think you will see that there are many other
options that are more viable. I had dinner at the hotel,
which was barely passable and called it an evening. The
harsh reality is that this hotel is simply a crew hotel and
offers little in the way of amenities or service and views
individual guests as a nuisance.
Saturday, September 26th, 2008; Rome Italy
I was up early, ate at the hotel’s breakfast buffet that was
included with the price of the room (foul) and took a
shuttle to the airport. I made my
way to the train station and took the train into Termini
Station. The fare is 11 euro and the train is a non-stop
ride from the airport. It takes about an hour. There are
connections at other stations to the port of Civitavecchia,
but they require one to change trains by many times having
to schlep their luggage down stairs through an underpass and
back up to the platform to then board the train during a brief
stop. This can be very hectic. By taking the train to
Termini, the Civitavecchia train originates here and one can
board it at their leisure. It makes for a much more relaxing
journey. The fare to Civitavecchia is 8 euro and the trip
takes just over an hour with several stops along the way.
Once in Civitavecchia it is a short 5-block walk to the port
entrance. Since the port is secure, a motor coach meets all
of the passengers and takes one to the ship where
embarkation is quick and easy. All in all, it was a very
easy way to arrive. However, I would never suggest that you
try to fly into Rome the day of the cruise and try to do a
train transfer unless you are a seasoned traveler and
understand the train system in Italy. Check in for the
cruise was easy and I was in my cabin in no more than 10-minutes from arriving at the cruise terminal.
The Cruise
Saturday, September 26th, 2008; Civitavecchia
Italy
Once on the ship, I reconfirmed
our group’s activities, delivered flyers to the group so
that they knew what to expect and then made my way to the
luncheon set up in the Windows Café, the ship’s buffet area.
I enjoyed an excellent “welcome aboard” luncheon and the
spent some time in my cabin getting ready to meet the group
at our “Welcome Aboard” cocktail party that was scheduled
for 7pm in the Looking Glass Lounge. After the dreaded life
boat drill, I got ready for the cocktail party. I was up in
the room early to make sure that everything was setup, but I
did not need to be concerned. Everything was ready to go and
I had the opportunity to meet some of the staff of the ship.
It turned out that the bar manager was an old friend from
Celebrity’s Century that used to manage Michael’s Club. He
was one of the best bar managers in Celebrity’s fleet and I
was excited for him that he was promoted to oversee the
entire ship’s bars and lounges. It could not have happened
to a nicer gentleman.
A group of us left the
cocktail party and decided to see if we could crash Aqualina
Restaurant without reservations. The Maitre di was very
accommodating and sat all six of us with no fuss at all.
This turned out to be an excellent decision, as Aqualina was
a fantastic specialty restaurant that we thoroughly enjoyed.
We made reservations on the next available night on our way
out of the restaurant to enjoy it again. While the Welcome
Aboard introductory show was in progress, I opted to turn in
for the night in preparation for an early morning tender
into Sorrento, as a group of us wanted to take the hydrofoil
into Amalfi and Positano for the day.
Sorrento Shopping Street
Sunday, September 27th, 2008;
Sorrento, Italy
Our group met at 8am with the intention of catching a tender
into Sorrento and then taking the ferry to Amalfi first,
then the bus to Positano and then the ferry back to
Sorrento. Our thinking was flawed though, as the ferry
frequency had changed dramatically from its summer schedule.
The first ferry to Amalfi wasn’t until 11am and the last one
back from Positano was in mid-afternoon making the ferries
an impossible venue to visit the villages. We then decided
that we should take the public bus to visit the villages.
After standing in a long line, we were able to discern that
we could do the public bus, but it would require hours of
riding in a hot and crowded bus and that we would have to
meet a schedule that would severely limit the amount of time
we had in each stop. We decided to simply enjoy Sorrento for
the day. It proved to be a wonderful decision.
Sorrento is a world-class
destination in itself and many people overlook its charm and
uniqueness in favor of seeing other nearby sites. With
Pompei, Capri, Positano and Amalfi all close by, it is easy
to overlook Sorrento. However, Sorrento has wonderful
pedestrian shopping streets, excellent restaurants, great
beach clubs and lots of color. We thoroughly enjoyed our day
in Sorrento. We purchased a bottle of local wine from one of
the many wineries in Sorrento with the idea of enjoying it
in one of the ship’s restaurants. I was surprised that the
wine was to be confiscated when we boarded the ship and
returned upon the end of the cruise. Since we had purchased
a cold bottle, we decided to simply debark the ship and
enjoy the wine on shore before re-boarding the ship. We did
this and at that point the story got out that we were
drinking wine from a paper bag like vagrants in the parking
lot of the ferry terminal. It gave us a ton of laughs for
the balance of the cruise.
We dined in the main
restaurant after meeting for cocktails in Discoveries
Lounge. What a treat Discoveries Lounge was. The bar
tender was personable and the overall experience was
wonderful. This would be the first of many visits to the
lounge. Dinner was excellent. The service was gracious and
efficient and very timely. We were not rushed, yet there was
no lag in the presentation of the various courses. After
dinner we had the opportunity to watch the last part of the
evening’s entertainment, a Mr. Preston Coe. His singing was
excellent and we all enjoyed the show.
Monday, September 29th, 2008;
Day at Sea
I awoke early and made my way to
deck 10 to see what the weather was like. We ha been blessed
with a perfect day with lots of sunshine and very
comfortable temperatures. It was very much like my home in
San Diego. Our first seminar was scheduled for this morning
in the Aqualina Restaurant so after getting ready, I made my
way to the restaurant to be sure everything was ready to go.
Once again, the staff of the Quest had taken care of
everything. The seminar went fine and we broke at 11:45, as
the Captain’s Club party was in Prime C next door to where
our meeting was taking place and we did not want to disturb
it. Many of us in our group were members so we moved from
the seminar into the Captain’s Club meeting and enjoyed the
Quest’s hospitality before going to lunch.
I spent the afternoon relaxing
by the pool on deck 10 before getting ready for our group’s
dinner in Prime C restaurant. We met in the Prime C bar
about 30-minutes before our reservation and enjoyed this bar
very much. The house wine served in the bar is Kendall
Jackson Chardonnay and it is a healthy pour for the $10.00
price tag. Note that wine on the Quest is relatively
expensive. Their house wine is Hess, which sells for over
$8.00 per glass. An 18% service fee is added to each drink
ticket and the bars where entertainment is available always
seem to be out of Hess and then pour their premium brand
which is Wente. I actually prefer Hess over Wente, so it was
irritating to have to pay $10.00 per glass plus a service
fee for wine I didn’t enjoy all that much. Dinner was
excellent and even though our table got a little rowdy, the
service was excellent and staff were accommodating and
friendly.
Mdina Street
Tuesday, September 30th,
2008; Valletta, Malta
I was keen on getting off the
ship to explore the city, since I had never visited Valletta
before. The ship docks right downtown and the old city is on
top of the hill directly by the ship’s berth. The port of
Valletta is becoming a growing port and they have invested
in much infrastructure to be able to allow ships to use it
as a port of embarkation. Beside a modern cruise ship
terminal, there are numerous restaurants, bars, shops and
boutiques right along the ships themselves within the port.
This came in very handy, as the day promised rain. We were
off the ship and walked into the old city by penetrating one
of the gates to the walled metropolis. After climbing up the
surprisingly steep streets to the main square, we were
treated to an exquisite pedestrian shopping street that
seemed to set Valletta apart from many of the cities in the
region. It was clean and beautiful and quite frankly,
surpassed my vision of what it would look like. After
several hours exploring Valletta’s sights, we decided to
take the local bus to Mdina, a walled city dating back some
3,000 years. Catching the bus was easy and after a 30-minute
bus ride we were delivered to the entrance gate to Mdina.
Since it was starting to drizzle, we were determined to
explore Mdina as quickly as possible before stopping for
lunch. Mdina is a wonderful pedestrian city that has been
transformed into an excellent representation of what life
before Christ must have been like. We settled into a local
restaurant for some wine and lunch and thoroughly enjoyed
our lunch while the drizzle turned into a full-on rain
storm. We waited for a break in the rain before making our
way back to the bus stop for the return ride into Valletta.
Once back in Valletta, we made our way down the narrow
streets to the port and then decided to hide out in the Hard
Rock Café until the rain let up enough to get back to our
ship.
Back on board, I returned to
my cabin and got ready for dinner in the Windows Café and
the wonderful stir fry station. I have to say, I worked for
a Chinese-Hawaiian company for 12-years in the late 1960s
and 70s and that helped mold my overall business acumen. It
also helped form my eating preferences and stir fry to me is
like steak and potatoes is to some folks. I love it and I
cannot get enough of it. I could eat stir fry every night
with no problem and I consider myself a connoisseur of
quality Asian and Asian fusion cuisine. The stir fry venue
(and sushi venue) on the Quest was of the highest quality
and would keep any aficionado of Asian dining happy for the
entire cruise even if they did not dine anywhere else on the
ship (not that I have an opinion…VBG) We enjoyed a leisurely
conversation after dinner and ended up spending the entire
evening in the Windows Café drinking wine and listening to
the entertainment provided at dinner time. I went to sleep
like a baby.
Tunis, Tunisia Mdina
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008; Tunis,
Tunisia
We arrived in Tunis right o
schedule and while we were supposed to dock in Tunis, we
ended up tendering instead. We were anchored within the
inner harbor, so the tender ride was quite short. We were
required to present our passports as we cleared immigration
in the cruise ship terminal and were issued a temporary
visitor’s card that needed to be carried with our passport
while in Tunisia. After clearing immigration, we were
delivered outside to a horde of taxi drivers yelling to get
our attention. Having been in similar situations the world
over, I knew to leave the immediate port area before
starting to negotiate for any kind of transportation. We had
heard that there was a train that went from the port to the
Medina, or the old section of Tunis. We were consistently
told (even by the lady from the tourist office) that there
was no train. Once we had made our way passed the gate to
the port (against the protests of the guard that was on
duty) we immediately saw the train tracks and sure enough,
the train. Unfortunately we were visiting right at the
pinnacle of the religious holidays in Tunisia and all of the
banks were closed making it next to impossible to obtain the
local currency needed to take the train. However, if you
visit during normal times the train station is about 200
yards from the entrance to the port and there is a bank
right near the train station where you can exchange euro for
Dinar to use to board the train. We understood that the
train to Medina was approximately 5 euro (in local currency)
each way. We met a gentleman who spoke perfect English who
agreed to take us to Medina for 6 euro each in his taxi, so
off we went. Considering that the taxis within the port
wanted hundreds of euro to take folks on a “tour” I would
highly recommend that you leave the port area and negotiate
with taxi drivers outside of the port, as there were dozens
of them.
Most of the shops in the
Medina were closed due to the holidays, but the very center
of the huge pedestrian old city was bustling with activity.
We saw many groups from our ship and I was thankful not to
have been with them. They were moving at a snail’s pace over
the cobbled narrow passageways and it just didn’t look like
fun in the heat of the day. We say everything we wanted to
see (and then some) and started back to meet our driver at
the designated point. While he was a bit late meeting us, he
sent another driver to explain that he would be delayed
about 5 minutes. Once we connected we decided that we hadn’t
seen enough and negotiated for him to take us to see
everything in the city. We agreed upon a price of 20 euro
each for the four of us. We cruised through Ville Nouvelle,
a distinctly French area on our way to Sidi Bou Said, a very
unique village that dates back centuries. All of the
buildings in this village are white and blue and it is set
above a wonderful marina and beach area. The shopping is
wonderful and there are excellent sidewalk cafes and
restaurants. One would not expect this kind of pedestrian
village would be found in Tunisia. On the way to Carthage,
we stopped at an American Cemetery and Memorial dedicated to
Americans that lost their lives in World War II. This
27-acre cemetery moved me to tears, as I suspect it did the
others that were with me. A wall with thousands of names of
soldiers that had given their lives and that were buried in
the cemetery stood as an immense reminder of the cost of
World War II. I would say that every American that visits
Tunisia should take the time to visit this very moving
cemetery.
After spending much time and
emotion at the cemetery we continued on the Carthage.
Founded in 800 BC many of the ruins are still there to
enjoy. However, there is little effort to preserve them. As
an example, we stopped at one site that was a coliseum built
by the Romans that looked like a miniature of the Coliseum
in Rome. It was complete with the underground tunnels where
gladiators and tigers once entered the arena. Only on the
day we were there, several young children were playing cops
and robbers in the tunnels and surrounding structure
completely unsupervised. I thought it was shocking. We
continued looking at ruins in Carthage until we had had
enough and decided to start making our way back to the ship.
Our driver had become our close friend by this point and as
we drove through Tunis’ back streets as a treat he would
show us how to spell our name in Arabic while driving a
million miles an hour through thousands of pedestrians. He
stopped when he found out my name was Tom and came back from
a local market with a package of cookies called Tom in
Tunisia. He was great! When we finally got back to the ship
we each gave him an extra large tip.
We were exhausted from the
day’s activities and I chose to simply dine at the stir fry
station in the Windows Café and call it an early night.
Thursday, October 2nd,
2008; Day at Sea
This was the day of our second
seminar and rather than do the scheduled topics, we elected
to spend the time talking about the deteriorating economy
and the challenges that we faced as travel professionals. It
was a GREAT session and it spawned some excellent ideas that
I turned into an article for the trade publications. No one
knew at that point just how badly it was going to get. After
a relaxing afternoon in the Jacuzzi our group met for an
early reservation at Aqualina Restaurant. Once again, dinner
was an exceptional event and one everyone enjoyed. We closed
the restaurant and then continued on for a nightcap in the
Looking Glass Lounge.
Barcelona, Spain and Goudi
Friday, October 3rd,
2008; Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is one of my most
favorite cities in the world. It simply has everything going
for it and I couldn’t wait to get out and enjoy it. One of
the really wonderful things about Azamara is that the size
of the ship allows it to get into harbors that the larger
ships cannot. Barcelona is a great example of this.
Virtually all large ships dock in the outer harbor and
getting into Barcelona proper involves a taxi ride over the
harbor bridge and on to the foot of Las Ramblas. The Quest
docked right in the inner harbor and it was a short 5-minute
walk to Las Ramblas. This made Barcelona truly accessible
for everyone. I spent the day walking my favorite streets
and visiting my favorite sights and had a wonderful time.
Asparagus for lunch with some wine and then some tapas for
dinner and I was ready to call it a day.
Saturday, October 4th,
2008; Barcelona, Spain
I spent another day simply
enjoying my favorite city. Was taking pictures of Barcelona
to do a port review of the city and I had taken a wonderful
picture of La Sagrada Familia a few years back from the
backside of the pond in the adjoining park with the
structure’s reflection mirrored in the pond. I planned my
timing to have the sun in the perfect position and then
intended to get even a better shot. I walked to the
Cathedral and then into the park. When I arrived on the
backside of the pond, I found that it was bing worked on and
had been completely drained. Well, you always have to leave
something for the next time, as they say. I was back on
board in plenty of time to relax and then meet some of our
group for dinner in the main restaurant. We enjoyed a brief
cocktail period in the bar before experiencing a simply
wonderful dinner.
Sete's Canals
Sunday, October 5th,
2008; Sete, France
This was my first visit to
Sete and I was looking forward to seeing its sights. I just
love France and everything about it and Sete is said to be
the Monk Fish capital of France (if not the world) Sete must
have a restaurant for every single resident, as I have never
seen more restaurants in my life. They litterly are
side-by-side for miles. All of them offer seafood dishes and
since the fishing fleet is parked right by the restaurants,
one is led to believe that the fish is not only fresh, but
local too. We walked the streets of Sete, hit the public
market (more like a huge garage sale) and visited its parks
and pedestrian shopping streets. One of our group had heard
that there was an excellent beach just outside of Sete, so
we began walking. After 30 minutes or so, we were delivered
to the beach area. Unfortunately, the Mediterranean does not
get much wave action, so the beaches are more small rocks
than sand. Such was the case with this beach. While it would
have been OK if the sun had been glaring, but it wasn’t, so
we head back into Sete to find some lunch. After running
into other people from our group at various restaurants, we
settled into a restaurant / bar for some local cuisine and
wine. Unfortunately, Monk Fish was out of season, so I just
enjoyed some wine and then went exploring for a bit more.
Sete’s canals, restaurants, coastline and culture make this
a very wonderful port. It is also not overrun with tourists
or tourism. All in all, Sete got high marks from me.
Aix en Provence (from
Marseille)
Monday, October 6th, 2008;
Marseilles, France
Since it has always been a mystery
as to how to take the train and / or bus to points inland in
Provence and I had been to Marseille a good number of times,
I decided to figure out how to do Provence on your own. It
turned out to be a lot easier than anyone ever thought.
First I will share the good news. The Azamara Quest was able
to dock right next to the inner harbor. Normally, Larger
ship have to dock in the outer harbor and then transfer into
Vieux Port (or Old Port, the heart of Marseille’s port area)
From there, one would walk, taxi or ride the HoHo Bus (Hop
On, Hop Off) Because of the location that the Quest docked
at, everyone could simply walk into the port from the ship.
This is a huge advantage in this port. We walked into town
taking pictures as we went and at the foot of the harbor,
caught the bustling fish market early in the morning. This
was a unique experience as the negotiating was fierce and
the fish was so fresh that they were still flopping around
on the tables.
Across the street from Vieux
Port there is a large tourism office, so we decided to start
our search there. After chatting with a lady who gave us
specific instructions to the bus that left for Aix en
Provence every ten minutes or so, we took off to find it.
After about ten minutes walking, one of the guys in our
group saw a bus that read Aix en Provence and we had found
it. The fare to Aix en Provence was 5 euro each way, so we
boarded the bus and off we went. The bus dropped us about 2
blocks from the entrance to the walled section of Aix and we
spent the day wandering the pedestrian streets of Aix en
Provence and simply fell in love with it. Aix is touristier
than either Arles or Avignon and as such, offers more
restaurants, shopping and color. I would definitely
recommend taking the bus to Aix en Provece, especially if
you have been to Marseille before. I was back on the ship in
plenty of time for a Jacuzzi and then a dinner of stir fried
vegetables. I slept great!
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Tuesday, October 7th,
2008; Monte Carlo, Monaco
Ahhhh, Monte Carlo. We
anchored off of Monte Carlo and tendered into the new cruise
terminal. I wanted to get some pictures of the palace and
surrounding area, so off we went to climb the stairs to the
palace. While I had been there a number of times, I had not
really made it a point to explore the area in depth, so that
became the focus of the day. The area next to the palace
dates back a number of years and it pedestrian streets
offers tons of shopping, great restaurants and bars and is
unique to Monte Carlo. When wandering the streets it is hard
to believe that just a few hundred yards away, people are
driving around in their Ferraris, Porsches, Bentleys and
Masseratis. Monte Carlo is one of the most expensive places
on Earth and it is easy to see why.
Portofino, Italy
Wednesday, October 8th,
2008; Portofino, Italy
Portofino was a wonderful
surprise. Having never been there, I had no idea what to
expect. The tender ride into Portofino became more and more
intriguing as the inner harbor began to unfold. The upscale
city is downright beautiful and one can’t help but notice
its beauty upon arrival in the small harbor. The clearly
Italian buildings are set right on the harbor’s edge and the
subtle colors make the view so picturesque that it is almost
unimaginable. Portofino is surrounded by steep hills and the
topography adds to Portofino’s beauty. Exploring Portofino
reveals that it is truly a rich man’s port as designer
stores are everywhere and the restaurant prices are
staggering. We enjoyed a glass of wine (house chardonnay)
that was 12 euro (about $17.00) per serving and it wasn’t
even a generous pour. After a climb to the fort (now a
museum) we decided to take the trail that led towards Santa
Margherita along the pedestrian trail that led through the
forest high above the road to the same town. Since the
cliffs are so steep along the coast, the narrow road that
leads from Portofino to Santa Margherita is so narrow there
is barely enough room for two automobiles much less
pedestrians. So, they built a pedestrian walkway the covers
the distance high above the road and it offers stunning
views of the area in a peaceful and beautiful surrounding.
We walked about half way to the city and then turned around,
as it started to rain in earnest. Back on the ship, I took
time to enjoy the Jacuzzi and some time working in my cabin
before meeting some of the group for dinner in the
restaurant, which was again very excellent.
Monterosso (from Livorno)
Thursday, October 9th,
2008; Livorno, Italy
Having done Lucca, Pisa and
Florence a number of times, a group of us decided to go
visit the villages at Cinque Terre. Once again, the Azamara
Quest displayed its ability to deliver superior positioning
in the harbor because of her size. We were docked right at
the heart of Livorno and the main shopping street was only
two blocks away. This is a huge advantage over larger ships
that dock in the outer harbor and then have to transfer by
motor coach through the industrial (no walking) harbor for
15 to 20 minutes into downtown.
We grabbed a taxi to the train
station in time to catch the 10:30 train to Riomaggiore, the
first of the five villages that makes up Cinque Terre. We
were required to connect to the Riomaggiore in La Spezia,
but the connection went smoothly and without incident. The
train ride from La Spezia to Riomaggiore only took about ten
minutes so it wouldn’t have been a big deal if we had missed
the connection. If you have not done Cinque Terre, it is
well worth the effort to do it. There are five villages
nestled in little coves along a dramatic coastline that are
connected by hiking trails. There is also a train that
connects all five villages and the area is a national park.
In order to walk the trail, one needs to purchase a ticket
(5 euro) for the trail, or a ticket that includes the trail
and unlimited train rides (8 euro) We did a brief
exploration of Riomaggiore and found a nice little
restaurant for lunch before starting on the trail to the
next village, Manarola. The trail between the two villages
is well paved and only 2 km long and is an easy walk.
Manarola was wonderful, but we were anxious to continue on,
so after a good look around, we started walking to Corniglia.
This trail was not paved and took a lot longer (about an
hour) to get to Corniglia. Before we arrived at the town, we
saw the train station and also a bus that took one into the
town, which was perched atop a mountain. We opted to take
the bus for 1 euro and I was glad that it was there. The
stairs that one would have to negotiate to enter the village
looked horrendous to me after a long and dusty walk. We
stopped for a glass of wine before taking the bus back down
the hill to catch the train instead of walking. We had heard
that the fourth village was the most quaint so we decided to
take the train into the fifth village (Monterosso) to
explore that and then take the rain back to the fourth.
Monterosso turned out to be OK. Living in San Diego, I am
used to world class beaches and Monterosso is nothing more
than a beach town with a mediocre beach. Since everyone else
in the group lived inland, they thought the town was
outstanding. The beach had little sand and was covered in
rocks like most Mediterranean beaches. After another glass
of wine, we caught the train to the fourth village, Vernazza.
Wow! What we had heard was very true. This little village
was worth the trip to get to it. It had all of the charm and
character one would imagine for a village that had been
isolated from the rest of the world until about 100 years
ago. It was colorful, quaint and beautiful all in one. We
explored every nook and cranny of the village and finally
decided to settle into one of the oceanfront restaurants to
watch the sunset and have something to eat. The sunset was
absolutely beautiful and it seemed that the entire village
came out to enjoy it. We reluctantly caught the train back
to Riomaggiore where we were able to connect to a direct
train back to Livorno. We finally made it back to the ship
about 11 pm.
Livorno's Public Market
Friday, October 10th,
2008; Livorno, Italy
By the time that I awoke and
was ready to go, there wasn’t enough time to go into
Florence to find my wife the watch that she had wanted. I
walked into Livorno and decided to simply explore it
further. Livorno is such an overlooked port. It is easy to
see why with Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence and Lucca all
drawing people away from it, but it is a very interesting
ittle port in its own right and certainly worth exploring.
The public market place is astonishing. It is quite like
being in an old movie with all the activity taking place,
vendors shouting and singing, laundry hanging out of the
buildings surrounding the outside marketplace and the main
building that houses the public market is simply to die for.
Its canals and partially walled inner harbor and fish market
all lend a certain flavor that makes Livorno wonderful in
its own right.
We dined in Prime C again and
the six of us had a simply wonderful time. Azamara’s
alternative restaurants are excellent. The food is superb,
the service attentive and the overall experience is what
dining in a fine restaurant should be. I think everyone on
this cruise would agree that Azamara’s dining experience in
the main dining room, the buffet and the alternative
restaurants exceeded everyone’s expectation. I know that it
did mine.
Saturday, October 11th,
2008; Civitavecchia, Italy
The ship was cleared by 7 am
and since my flight on Continental left too early in the
morning, I was forced to spend another evening in Rome. I
took my time debarking the ship and was one f the last ones
off. After taking the shuttle to the port entrance, I
dragged my luggag the 4 blocks to the train station and
boarded the train to Termini Station in Rome. After an hour
or so, I arrived in Rome and then purchased ticket on the
Leonardo Express to the airport, transferred to my hotel and
had a late lunch and then turned in early so that I would be
fresh in the morning for my return flight.
Sunday, October 12th,
2008; Rome, Italy
I was up early and made my way
to the airport and boarded Continental for a long, but
uneventful trip home.
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