SLOW TRAVEL
Sailing Azamara: The After Effect
Throughout our 12-night sailing with Azamara Club Cruises, we captured a variety of images, posting some along with posts here and others in Facebook Photo Albums. Now back on dry land we sorted through the bunch and have them available in Flickr Photo Albums, free to download and use as you wish*. It’s just another example of our commitment to bringing you every single part of the experience when sailing with any cruise line. We think there is nothing quite as important in the world of cruise vacations as matching the right traveler with the right cruise line. It’s all based on our firm belief that there is a cruise for everyone, but not all are created equal. Take a look and see more about the destinations we visited along the way, Azamara Club Cruises and specifically our ship, Azamara Journey. But first, let’s talk about the after effect of sailing with Azamara and an unusual reaction I need to report.
Sailing Azamara: The After Effect
To quote our friend Matt Long from @LandLopers “I love to travel, but I love coming home too”, and so do we. I look forward to seeing Lisa, Whitney, the dog, my own bed and getting back in to the normal home routine. If it was a good cruise, as I walk in the morning I might look at something from a different perspective, have a broader view about some event or happening in the news. Catching up on recorded shows last night, the ones we just can’t miss and always look forward to catching up on, something quite unusual happened. I simply did not care all that much about them. I believe the experience of directly connecting with the destinations was so overwhelmingly engaging that I walked away with a broader perspective on the world if not life itself.
This is not an entirely new feeling, I get this after every good cruise. This is not what has been termed ‘post-cruise depression’, a rookie malady easily overcome by booking another cruise immediately after one is completed. This is the effect of allowing a well-orchestrated cruise experience and those who administer it have their way with you, buy into all they have to offer and walk away a bit different. I know that feeling well. I love hearing from those who I may have helped identify a good cruise for them when they come back, glowing. My Azamara Club Cruises sailing on Azamara Journey was more. Far more.
While we have done a lot of work producing documentable differentiating factors that make Azamara Club Cruises a good choice for some travelers, this topic takes us down a different road. The After Effect of sailing with Azamara, as I experienced it, is a very subjective animal. If it is risky of me to talk details of other subjective elements like food or entertainment (what you like, I might not) then the risk is ten times that when talking about the after effect. Still, with high risk can sometimes come great gains and it would be remiss of me not to mention this really unexpected after effect.
I did not want to watch TV?? What?? I am the TV generation and that thing defined much of my world throughout my life. I know things people know who read books because I saw it on TV.
Could it be that the living, breathing world of real people and places has somehow become more important? If so, I will remember Azamara Club Cruises as the one to push it over the top.
Ok on to the photos
Sailing Azamara: Flickr Photo Albums
Note: You’ll need to be a Flickr member to see these images. Not a member? Sign up here
Kotor Montenegro
Kotor Montenegro – I had never been here before, did not really know all that much about Montenegro but corrected that mistake within minutes on an Azamara Journey walking tour of the city…which ended with lunch and a Niksicko Montenegro Beer.
Gythion, Greece
Gythion, Greece – Unique itineraries take the well-traveled passengers aboard their twin ships to places those big ships can’t get to or would overwhelm with thousands of people going ashore. The Greek port of Gythion was one of those places and served as an interesting first stop on our 12-night sailing.
Santorini, Greece
Santorini, Greece– This was actually our last port of call before a day at sea brought us back to Istanbul. And what a wonderful place it was, requiring a steep climb to the top (or take the cable car as I did) but the view was amazing.
Sunsets And Sunrises
Sunsets and Sunrises – I don’t know if it was the time of the year or just this part of the world but one after another, the sunrises and sunsets were just stunning.
Istanbul, Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey– My first time in Istanbul, it was the turnaround port for Azamara Journey and the only one I did not take a tour of. Still, walking off the ship and down to the beach for a cup of Turkish coffee brought the first of a number of direct connections accomplished on the voyage.
Zadar Croatia
Zadar, Croatia made for a wonderful day and was just a beautiful place, made better by a decision from the Captain of Azamara Journey to stay longer than planned. That enabled us to have dinner ashore and stay for a marvelous show of lights later.
Hvar, Croatia
Hvar, Croatia – This lovely place might have been the prettiest of them all, nestled in a setting of craggy cliffs and otherwise difficult walking terrain, it was worth the trouble to go high above the tourist areas for a magnificent view
Also see
Facebook Photo Albums
One from each port of call
* used for any other reason than personal use, please attribute Chris Owen, photographer