Azamara Quest is branded as a luxury experience and whilst it certainly is a very elegant and select ship, very reminescent of a an edwardian country house hotel, with excellent food and staff.....the cruise experience was marred by some silly and unnecessary actions.

We ( and many others that we spoke with) found that the evenings lacked any form of activity unless you wished to sit in one of the numerous (and comfortable bars and listen to or dance to music or use the casin.  With the odd exception on some evenings,  there was nothing organised to occupy passengers of an evening and you would see groups aimlessly wandering around trying to find someothing to do.

The eveing shows in the Cabaret Bar left a lot to be desired.  Out of 13 evenings there were only 4 external performers, one a classical pianist, two  were singers and the fourth  a ventriloquist who claimed to have been  in the busines for over 30 years ...(time enough I would have thought to have created a decent act!)

The on board team consisted of 5 very good singers..but no production numbers  with dancers etc ..the explanation being that the cabaret bar was too small...however many other cruise ships manage it.    

 The rest of the main evening shows consisted of utilising the talents of the  board staff,  one evening dedicated to the cruise director and his wife, another a full show  with the piano bar singer  etc . Whilst capable not what I would have expected from the shows on ship such as this.

 I also question why they decided to pressure wash the promenade decks at 9.00 am in the morning whist the ship was at sea.....therefore closing them to passengers who wanted to sit and relax as the ship sailed ....and on two other occasions actually asking passengers to leave their bed chairs so that the desks could be washed ( soaking the mattresses on bed chairs as well)

The food and staff in the main restaurant were very good, and buffet dining in the Windows Cafe at rear of the ship was adequate, but with limited selection, howver this was offset by the attentiveness of the staff.

Prior to the cruise we wre apprehensive about the open dining arrangement but this turned out to be a real pleasure.  You could eat at whatever time suited you and were given the opportuity to dine with just your partner or share with others and this turned out to be very interesting as you share with different people each night 

 Whist you don't form the same relationship as you do when sitting with the same people all cruise ( not always desireable)  the size of this ship meant that you were always coming across previous dining partners and out of the whole cruise we only experienced one evening which was a bit flakey.

Would we cruise on this ship again? Possibly --but it would not be our first choice if there were alternatives.

 All in all I would rate the whole experience 7 out of 10