Azamara Journey - Overview of Dining and Cuisine
The Azamara Journey of Azamara Club Cruises has four main dining venues. Discoveries Restaurant on deck 5 aft is the main restaurant, and it serves elegant open seating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Aqualina and Prime C are the two specialty restaurants on deck 10 aft, and they feature Mediterranean and classic steakhouse fare, respectively. Finally, the Windows Cafe on deck 9 aft is the Azamara Journey's casual buffet, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It has both indoor and outdoor seating. In addition to these four dining venues, the Mosaic Cafe in the upper hall on deck 5 midship serves specialty coffees and "tasty bites" all day long, and the Pool Grill serves grilled specialties like hot dogs and hamburgers at lunch and late into the afternoon.
Azamara Club Cruises offers complimentary bottled water, sodas, specialty coffees and teas anytime. In addition, Azamara Club Cruises does not charge extra for wine served with lunch and dinner in any of its four main restaurants, which makes dining so much more fun and relaxing. I thought the complimentary wines were quite good, but the ships also have a selection of premium wines to purchase. The two specialty restaurants have a nominal fee of $15 per person for most guests; suite guests have complimentary seating in both Prime C and Aqualina.
In addition to these dining venues, the Azamara Journey has special dining and culinary events such as cooking demonstrations on sea days and buffet dinners outdoors by the pool.
One of my favorites was classic English tea time, which is served each sea day in the Looking Glass observation lounge forward on deck 10.
The food on the Azamara Journey was consistently delicious, well-presented, and in appropriate portion sizes. The service was excellent and well-paced. The selections are varied, and the executive chef Lisa Anne Jones and her staff of 60 chefs do a terrific job. We dined at a large table at most meals, and everyone I asked raved about how good the food was.
"Best of the Best" Dinner
Guests staying in the 10 Owner's Suites on the Azamara Journey have the opportunity to attend a very special dinner once each cruise, and are hosted by the Captain and his senior officers. This "Best of the Best" dinner menu is designed by the executive chef and is served in the Drawing Room, which is the loveliest public room on the ship. The elegant library setting sets the mood for the entire evening. Needless to say, the dinner was one of the best I've ever had. The sommelier paired a different wine with each course, enhancing the experience. Each course was beautifully presented, with amazing details.
Following our pre-dinner champagne, the meal started with an egg and caviar amuse that was a hard boiled egg still in the shell with the top cut off and the contents scooped out. The egg was refilled with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and some of the hard boiled egg. The concoction was topped with caviar. It was all served with toast points and chopped melon on the side. Very nice. Each of the dishes that followed had the same level of detail and precision. I loved the appetizer, which featured blue crab, lobster medallions, and a melon-orange dressing with a flaky herb-phyllo crisp. A peach sorbet doused with champagne cleansed our palates for the main course, which was either a pan-fried sea bass or a duo of roasted veal rib-eye and pan-seared foie gras. Dessert was the "Chef's Surprise" pictured above, a decadent chocolate and ice cream treat, accompanied by a chocolate vodka-tini made with premium vodka and expensive chocolate. What's not to love?
Although not all the meals were as exquisite as the "Best of the Best", each was memorable and delicious, and it is obvious the chefs put a lot of effort and thought into the food preparation and presentation. The following pages describe the dining venues and cuisine on the Azamara Journey in more detail.
More on Azamara Journey Dining and Cuisine
It has both indoor and outdoor seating. In addition to these four dining venues, the Mosaic Cafe in the upper hall on deck 5 midship serves specialty coffees and "tasty bites" all day long, and the Pool Grill serves grilled specialties like hot dogs and hamburgers at lunch and late into the afternoon.
Azamara Club Cruises offers complimentary bottled water, sodas, specialty coffees and teas anytime. In addition, Azamara Club Cruises does not charge extra for wine served with lunch and dinner in any of its four main restaurants, which makes dining so much more fun and relaxing. I thought the complimentary wines were quite good, but the ships also have a selection of premium wines to purchase. The two specialty restaurants have a nominal fee of $15 per person for most guests; suite guests have complimentary seating in both Prime C and Aqualina.
In addition to these dining venues, the Azamara Journey has special dining and culinary events such as cooking demonstrations on sea days and buffet dinners outdoors by the pool.
One of my favorites was classic English tea time, which is served each sea day in the Looking Glass observation lounge forward on deck 10.
The food on the Azamara Journey was consistently delicious, well-presented, and in appropriate portion sizes. The service was excellent and well-paced. The selections are varied, and the executive chef Lisa Anne Jones and her staff of 60 chefs do a terrific job. We dined at a large table at most meals, and everyone I asked raved about how good the food was.
"Best of the Best" Dinner
Guests staying in the 10 Owner's Suites on the Azamara Journey have the opportunity to attend a very special dinner once each cruise, and are hosted by the Captain and his senior officers. This "Best of the Best" dinner menu is designed by the executive chef and is served in the Drawing Room, which is the loveliest public room on the ship. The elegant library setting sets the mood for the entire evening. Needless to say, the dinner was one of the best I've ever had. The sommelier paired a different wine with each course, enhancing the experience. Each course was beautifully presented, with amazing details.
Following our pre-dinner champagne, the meal started with an egg and caviar amuse that was a hard boiled egg still in the shell with the top cut off and the contents scooped out. The egg was refilled with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and some of the hard boiled egg. The concoction was topped with caviar. It was all served with toast points and chopped melon on the side. Very nice. Each of the dishes that followed had the same level of detail and precision. I loved the appetizer, which featured blue crab, lobster medallions, and a melon-orange dressing with a flaky herb-phyllo crisp. A peach sorbet doused with champagne cleansed our palates for the main course, which was either a pan-fried sea bass or a duo of roasted veal rib-eye and pan-seared foie gras. Dessert was the "Chef's Surprise" pictured above, a decadent chocolate and ice cream treat, accompanied by a chocolate vodka-tini made with premium vodka and expensive chocolate. What's not to love?
Although not all the meals were as exquisite as the "Best of the Best", each was memorable and delicious, and it is obvious the chefs put a lot of effort and thought into the food preparation and presentation. The following pages describe the dining venues and cuisine on the Azamara Journey in more detail.
More on Azamara Journey Dining and Cuisine
- Azamara Journey - Discoveries Restaurant
- Azamara Journey - Aqualina Restaurant
- Azamara Journey - Prime C Restaurant
- Azamara Journey - Windows Cafe
- Azamara Journey - Mosaic Cafe
- Azamara Journey - Poolside Buffet Dinners
- Azamara Journey - Afternoon Tea Time
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