This 26 night cruise started in Cape Town and was to end in Dubai. Sadly Corona Virus decided to intervene which resulted in the cruise missing many ports of call and a premature ending in Muscat which was not a planned port of call. Many countries refused us entry due to the fear of cruise ships being floating Petri dishes. There was a daily update from the Captain regarding our situation and this also changed daily. Ultimately the only country willing to accept us was Oman so we were forced to disembark there early. This resulted in 700 passengers having to find alternative travel arrangements home and get visas to enter Oman all this while floating at sea in a completely different time zone to many of our homes. The staff of Quest were exceptional during this very stressful time. They set up laptops and sat individually with passengers helping them get their visas. They gave access to phones to contact travel agents and all the while remained patient, helpful and positive. My only disappointment was the lack of assistance once we were delivered to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 5.30am to find our flight had been cancelled by Omani Air. We were not the only ones to experience this and as Azamara had disembarked us in an unscheduled foreign port I would have thought they had a duty of care to ensure we got away safety. The staff of Omani Air were not helpful at all and in fact lied to us. They expected us to stay in Muscat until their next flight to our destination left in 2 days time. In the end we found an agent at the airport and paid another $4000 to get home. This of course was no fault of Azamara’s but we did feel a little dumped.

The experience on the ship itself was excellent. Embarkation was swift and efficient. Quest is a little tired but this did not disappoint us. We had a balcony plus cabin at the front of the ship and as we had read the reviews we new the bathroom was small. We were happy with the size of the room and bathroom. Seriously how much time do you spend in the bathroom anyway? The cabin stewards were friendly and kept the cabin clean. It was my birthday on the second day and found our room decorated with a birthday banner and hanging decorations when we arrived back in the afternoon.

We dined most nights in the main dining room and found the food excellent. Great selection every night and considering the cruise was 26 nights the variety just kept on coming. I have read some reviews where they complain about the size of the meals. We could not complain at all. Considering there are 4 courses I could not imagine coming away from a meal without feeling full. We rarely ate dessert because we couldn’t fit another mouthful in. The staff in most areas of the MDR were amazing although on a few nights the wait for service was very long and we were not sure whether it was because of staff being overworked or just not up to speed. Read more