In April, pigs flew. I boarded a cruise ship with my 74-year-old father. Let me rephrase that: I, who am terrified of boats and get seasick at the sight of water, went on an eight-day excursion from Barcelona to Monaco with a born-again, gun-collecting Tea Partier. And we shared a room.
Cruising, as opposed to other types of vacations, takes some of the angst out of family travel. With food, drink, accommodations and scenery taken care of, vacationers can avoid extraneous stress and focus on having a good time with someone they might not have much in common with. Even better, there are plenty of places to slip away for some alone time.
But, due to a deep-rooted fear of being trapped at sea alone with my dad, I still wasn’t sure the trip was a good idea. I’m happy to say I was wrong.
Seasickness, my dad’s snoring and a minor bout of food poisoning aside, I found being on an Azamara Club Cruise a remarkably civil way to travel. The ship, the Azamara Quest, is a luxury vessel with bars, a casino, a nightclub and a spa onboard. With passenger occupancy at just 694, the ship doesn’t feel crowded at all, and the rooms are lovely — reminding me of a five-star hotel with comfortable beds, top-of-the line furniture and spacious balconies — even if the bathrooms are comparable to the ones you find on an airplane. The service is wonderful, with one crew person for every two passengers, ensuring that if you need anything, it will be done in the blink of an eye. The concierge rivals the one at the Four Seasons, providing guests with in-port restaurant reservations and tours.
But even better was the crowd. Because Azamara is a “destination” cruise line, with a different city each day, the people onboard are travelers who are interested in discovering different towns and meeting new people. Every evening, my dad and I looked forward to meeting new people and hearing about their adventures.
Almost every day we hit a new city. Because the company docks its ship in port until about 10 every night, there was ample time to explore during the day and evenings. My dad and I particularly enjoyed the guided tours of each city — Nice, Sète, Monaco, St. Tropez, Cannes and Marseilles — which were exceptional and eased my fears of being stuck on a ship. All tours were led by knowledgeable, English-speaking guides, who didn’t contain their tours to the main cities. Often, we were taken to smaller medieval towns that lay beyond the city limits. My dad and I bonded as we explored the cobblestone streets of Aix-en-Provence or Saint-Paul-de-Vence, alone in a beautiful country without any other family members.
Without distractions, we could focus on just spending time together, something we hadn’t ever really done before.
“I like this,” Daddy said one evening while we relaxed on the smoking section of the deck. “I’m so glad I’m here with you.”
My dad was especially impressed with the excursions’ access. Take Monaco, where Azamara offers evening tours of the palace and the famed Oceanographic Museum in Monte Carlo, allowing us to avoid the tourist hordes by visiting after hours, as well as taking us behind the scenes and into areas most tourists aren’t allowed.
However, with the exception of one included “Azamazing Evening” event — in our case, a water-jousting display in Sète — offboard excursions are not included in the price. If you want a guided tour of a city, it can cost up to $150 per person, which adds up after eight days. Another issue is, for a luxury cruise, the food on the Azamara ship was . . . wanting. The two high-end restaurants, a steakhouse and a seafood eatery, were fine — albeit at an extra cost of $25 per meal (unless you are staying in a suite). But after contracting a mild case of food poisoning on the second day from the plebeian free buffet, I took advantage of local cuisine in the ports we visited (which, being France, was delicious).
As this was my first time onboard a passenger ship with more than four bedrooms, I depended on my dad to tell me how Azamara lined up with other sea journeys. Dad, a bona fide “cruiser” (a term used by people who love to cruise, to describe themselves, not the term used on Grindr) who goes on at least four ships a year, was impressed.
“This is the nicest ship I’ve ever been on,” he said, puffing a cigar on the smoking section of the main deck. “Really beautiful, clean and I love the free booze!”
As for me — I just loved going on vacation with my dad.
Lowdown
Azamara Club Cruises start at $2,100 to $3,500 per person, double occupancy.
azamaraclubcruises.com
Follow Paula Froelich at twitter.com/pfro.