Azamara journey: The jewels of the Mediterranean arent always what youre expecting

When the Azamara Quest sails from the old port of Nice, I'm already ... asleep.  I've had a long couple of pre-cruise days keeping pace with the myriad sights of the Cote d'Azur. Yes, I'd planned to be up out on deck as we left France for Italy. But I've made the mistake of retiring to my generously sized stateroom with its comfortable bed.

Sadly, given my jet lag, that bed has proven ... just ... too ... beguiling.

What was supposed to be a quick nap turned into a deep slumber.

In my defence, Azamara Club Cruises are famed for their late departures. It's one of the boutique cruise line's signature points of difference – along with their two "small" ships (Azamara Quest has a twin sister, Azamara Journey), which means they can dock at older, more traditional ports like Nice.

Larger cruise ships wanting to visit Nice or Monaco have to anchor offshore at Villefranche and then go through the laborious process of disembarking and reboarding by tender. 

Their supermodel advantage has allowed one or other of the Azamara ships to sail in recent years to destinations usually only accessed by tour bus. 

Up the narrow Garonne river to Bordeaux? No worries. Following Columbus along the Guadalquivir to moor at landlocked Seville? Sure. Docking at St Petersburg within a few hundred metres of the Winter Palace rather than being confined to the main cruise terminal on the outskirts of the city? Of course.

But back to our current cruise. When my jet lag wears off, around midnight, I venture out onto my balcony to discover we're already steaming down the Italian coast towards Livorno, the port city built by the Medici family (and sadly wrecked by World War II).

This nine-day cruise, from Nice to Athens – via the east coast of Italy, Sicily, Crete and Santorini – is the beginning of Azamara Quest's maiden voyage to Australian waters. She arrives in Darwin from Bali on December 28, continuing via Thursday Island and the Great Barrier Reef to Cairns. 

What follows is a leisurely exploration of the east coast of Australia and New Zealand, and back again, until the ship leaves Darwin on February 25 for Bali.

Azamara (a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean) has been operating only since 2007, but the product has been considerably refined. Now gratuities, most meals, most alcohol and shuttles into the ports are included in the initial package. 

Sure, you pay extra for the guided shore excursions, the spa treatments, the personal fitness trainers, the bonus liquor packages and  a supplement to dine in the Quest's two signature restaurants, the Prime C steak house and Aqualina. 

But otherwise you never have to show your cruise card or sign a docket for the entire voyage.

Then there are the lengthy stopovers in each port. "We stay longer in each port, and have longer overnight stays in port than any other cruise line," one senior member of the crew tells me over a latte in the Mozaic Cafe on our one "sea day", steaming from Sicily to Crete.

Certainly on this voyage, the Azamara Quest is so often docked in the heart of a city, we  really are able to use it as a floating hotel. On our night in Sicily, for example, I felt like an evening after-dinner stroll in Messina before the floor show, so I just got off the ship, walked 300 metres to the city's ancient cathedral and historic district and spent an hour exploring before reboarding – knowing our ship wouldn't set sail until midnight. 

In the past two years, Azamara has introduced two other innovations. Most cruises contain "an Aza-mazing Evening" – a complimentary excursion after an on-board dinner to enjoy a particular sample of local culture. 

On our cruise it was meant to be an evening in the ancient Sicilian city of Taormina,​ where we'd listen to an operatic quartet and a pianist perform hits from Carmen, Turandot and The Barber of Seville. 

However, forecasts of gale force winds and torrential rains had convinced our personable and ever-present "Captain Jose" to cancel the outing an hour or two before we were due to leave, opting to bring the opera singers on board instead.

Every passenger I met the next morning was glad of that particular "captain's call", given the TV pictures of the deluge that struck Italy overnight – which proved how uncomfortable we'd have been walking in the rain from the original venue to our tour bus.

Most voyages also include "an Insider Access" shore excursion – visits to private homes, farms, villages, estates: places that usually will never be experienced by tourists because they don't know they exist.

At beautiful Sorrento – much more relaxed in October than during the summer height of the tourist season – we were spoilt for choice when it came to shore excursions.

Unforgettable Pompeii? The clifftop spectacular that is the Amalfi Coast? Capricious Capri, the unpredictable, impulsive island that has besotted everyone from Caesar Augustus to Gracie Fields? A pleasant day just finding out about Sorrento's secrets?

None of these for me. I had been persuaded to spend my one day in this most stunning part of the Italian coast visiting a family-owned mozzarella cheese factory.

 The couple of hours we spent with the Morese family learning about mozzarella, ricotta and the water buffalo whose milk is essential to both products turned out to be an unexpected highlight of the trip.

Who knew water buffalo, imported from Asia, have lived in Italy since the eighth  century? Or that most mozzarella – whether cooked on pizza or sold in the chilled sections of supermarket delis – is fake, made from lower fat cow's milk? Or that only three areas of Italy are traditional producers of high quality mozzarella – and we are in one of them, dining with a family who have lived in this region for 600 years and have been keeping water buffalo for 400 years of those.

 Back on the Azamara Quest, the top notch restaurants, Prime C and Aqualina, are indeed top notch, but frankly, the food every passenger has already paid for on this Azamara cruise is the best I've ever tasted on a cruise ship. So there's absolutely no need to pay the upgrade unless you want to splash out.

My tip? Book a table at the Quest's a la carte Departures restaurant, or enjoy a themed buffet at Windows (Indian was my favourite), before dishing out the extra dosh.

Naturally, if this still sounds like slumming it, you can elect to travel Club Class, which means you not only get larger suites but you have the service of a "butler". As far as I can tell, we're not talking Jeeves here. 

Instead, you get one go-to person who deals with all of your needs – whether that's shore adventures or laundry.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

azamaraclubcruises.com

CRUISING THERE:

Azamara Journey has a 12-night Mediterranean Jewels sailing departing from Barcelona to Venice on July 21, 2016. Ports include Cannes, Porto Venere, Livorno (Florence and Pisa), Civitavecchia (Rome), Amalfi, Corfu, Kotor, Dubrovnik and Koper. Fares  from $7179 per person, twin share.

Azamara Quest's maiden season in Australasia includes a 16-night cruise which leaves Sydney for Auckland on January 15, 2016. Ports include Melbourne, Port Arthur, Hobart, Dunedin, Akaroa, Picton, Napier and Tauranga. Fares from $6279 per person.