November 11, 2023 my wife and I flew to Barcelona and spent two nights at the Le Meredien. The hotel was nice and well located. One of the things my wife wanted was to have Paella which we did both nights. We did the hop on and hop off bus both days and got to see some amazing sites. There were two different routes. We did both of them. We went to the church that was never finished and was being worked on when we got there. Had I known in advance, I would have bought tickets in advance. We got there and they did not have any tickets available at the time we arrived.
We departed Barcelona on November 14, 2023 on the Azamara Pursuit for Cartagena, Valencia, Malaga, Gibraltar and the Canary Islands. We had spent our honeymoon in Malaga and also visited Gibraltar. So, it was nice to go back and see places we visited 33 years ago. One of the things we did in Malaga was visit the home of Pablo Picasso and then went to the museum with some of his work.
In Cartagena and Valencia we visited the old cities and enjoyed it very much.
As for Azamara Cruises, this was our first time with them and certainly not the last. We had a balcony cabin. Dining was open seating. We went to the main dining room 4 times and found the food to be very good. We went to the two specialty restaurants, Prime C two times and Aqualina the Italian restaurant one time. Foos was excellent. One of the things I really liked was that the ship is small with only 700 guests. All soft drinks and water were included. Certain alcoholic drinks were included as well.
Getting on and off the ship in the different ports was really easy since the ship is mall. In Malaga for example, we were right in town since the ship is small. In many places they visit they dock right in town.
I certainly highly recommend Azamra to anyone looking for a small ship experience that is focused on the destination.
