This was our first cruise with Azamara and we chose it because smaller ships can dock right in Saigon (two days) and Bangkok (three days) and because of Azamara's reputation as a destination immersion cruise line. We had never been to Asia before (well some consider Israel to be in Asia, but more "middle east"). We have cruised on my mass market lines including Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival. Lately, Celebrity had been our cruise line of choice.

My overall rating of the cruise reflects this outstanding itinerary, but also our experience on Azamara. We spent three great nights at the Hotel Icon in TST in Kowloon before the cruise and even took the ferry to Macau for a day and night. At the time, the protests in Hong Kong were mainly selective and on weekends. We are thankful to be able to enjoy Hong Kong, while it is still Hong Kong. It's beautiful and a great place to begin our cruise.

Embarkation was very easy and that relates to having only 700 passengers on the ship. Read more