Azamara, Azamara Onward, Mediterranean Review

Chose this cruise as an original cruise to South Africa was cancelled twice through Covid. We were given an ultimatum to either loose deposit or move to another cruise. Arrived at the port and it was the worse embarkation ever experienced. Shifted from one part to the terminal to another and finally left out in the sun for 25 minutes to through security before finally being able to go onboard. We were given times and a number but none of this was used and people just embarked Wiley Nile’s. To get onboard it was hard to get on board as the gangway was a number of steps. Once onboard had to do safety exercises first. We went to cabin. This is the smallest cabin I have ever encountered. Bathroom was a joke and it had a shower curtain which I thought had gone out of cruising years ago. Had to move a heavy table in order to get on the balcony then move back to sit at the desk. Balcony had a huge table and two chairs. In order to look over the balcony you had to move the table. Wardrobe was a joke so small. Went up to the buffet which was so small and with the number of people there it was impossible to look for food. Before we did this we tried to book the paid restaurants. We were in the first group on but found we could not get any of the dates we wanted. Evening meal was not better I chose steak which was impossible to cut. We thought this was so supposed to be 5 star cruising but I have had better on lower class cruises. We set sail and it was impossible to walk around as the ship was listing from side to side. Could not sleep and had to take some tablets for motion sickness as it was so bad. I have cruised many times and have never had this before. Went to the restaurant next morning for breakfast to find it was only open for brunch from 9.30-11.30 so had to resort to the buffet. Wasn’t open for lunch and only opened once in 7 days. We like to be served when we are on cruise and not go the buffet. On two days we were asked to vacate the pool deck at 3.30 so they could set up for a white night party and a group entertainment night which is a cheek. The white night was a joke as the temperature in the Canaries drops rapidly at night and they were handing out blankets. We chose to eat in the dining room and this was the worse meal I have ever had. We only went to 4 ports in 7 days. One of which was a tiny island I think was called El Heiro. We did not even get off for this as you had to take bus to the town which only ran every 30 minutes. We got back to Las Palmas on Friday and did not have to get off until Saturday. Shore excursions where severely overpriced. Hop on bus in Madeira were nearly double you paid onboard then just walking out of the port and paying the bus privately. All shore excursions were really expensive. The shop onboard was only open whilst at sea which meant it was closed most of the time. We had $500 onboard spend which was so hard to spend as the shop was also overpriced. On the last few nights of the cruise the shop was full of people trying to spend their onboard credit. The entertainment was awful. There were some dancers and singers which were very low class and I have seen better at our local pantomime. Very repetitive just singling and dancing. The cruise directors night was probably the best although not that great. On disembarking we had to be out of room by 8am and off the ship by 9am. We were directed to the where we could get a taxi as we were staying the night in Las Palmas. When we got there there was a massive queue. The taxi drivers would not take us as we were only going into the city they only wanted airport of south of the island trips. We had to walk outside the cruise port in order to get a cab. We paid a lot of money for this cruise and it was certainly not worth the money. I would never use Azmara again. We have cruised many times but this is the worse cruise I have ever taken. We were told that this was a luxury cruise line and it certainly wasn’t that. We stayed in Las Palmas for 6 days in a hotel and we enjoyed this more than the cruise. The only good thing about the cruise was the staff who were very friendly and did their jobs well. The bar lady at the pool deck even made me a mocktail as all the drinks available on our package was very creamy and the other drinks available as a non alcoholic drinker were just gassy drinks. It was very annoying to find that other people on the cruise had had flight, 3 day hotel stay and cruise for a lot less than we paid.