The High Life - Cruising the Aegean & Adriatic

If you’re 30 years short of retirement age, there’s only one reaction when you tell people you’re going on a cruise – baffled surprise. Aren’t they just for the blue rinse brigade? Don’t you spend your whole time listening to cheesy crooners? Won’t you be cooped up with thousands of other people or shepherded about in big tour groups?

Stepping aboard, I hoped everything I’d read and heard about the cruise revolution was true, while my husband wore an expression of mild panic, announcing we were the youngest people there without our parents.

But cruising truly has become chic. Our ship, the Azamara Journey, boasts a butler for each cabin, fewer than 700 passengers, a dedicated martini bar, plus a string of restaurants, bars, a casino, pool, spa – the list goes on. Launched in 2008, Azamara (part of the Royal Caribbean group) has its luxurious priorities straight: impeccable service, cabins (or staterooms) which put most hotels to shame, and of course the ability to whisk you around 7 different destinations in 8 days with barely any effort whatsoever.

All ashore

Our cruise took in the Aegean and Adriatic, although you can choose everywhere from the Caribbean to China, with around seven to eight hours at each stop.

Starting in Athens, we headed to Turkey for Canakkale – the nearest port to the ancient city of Troy – and Istanbul, the Greek islands of Chios and Mykonos, and finally to Italy, for Sorrento before disembarking in Rome, where we added on an extra two days back on land.

The rumours of rigidly enforced rules were also nowhere to be seen. Jeans may be banned in the dining rooms, but so is stuffy formality. And although we joined one organised tour around the ruins of Troy – which is doable on your own, but requires some planning and a friendly taxi driver given the limited time frame – we weren’t the only independent travellers toting guide books as we headed down the gang plank, skipping the pricy transfers and dodging the groups to grab a taxi, train or boat.

Even better, the relatively small size of the ship meant that we weren’t always consigned to far flung ports, docking just feet away from the main streets in Chios and Istanbul. And the bonus sights were almost as enjoyable as the official itinerary – waking to a different view every day, the heel of Italy appearing on the horizon after a day at sea, Stromboli’s minor eruption, a spurt of red against the night sky as we sailed past the island volcano.

All aboard

Compact as the ship was, one full day at sea wasn’t nearly enough to enjoy it all. There was easily enough to keep you happy for a week, without ever disembarking, as more than a few passengers apparently decide.

Sunbathe on the sundeck or by the pool? Watch the waves from your cabin balcony or from the Looking Glass bar at the front of the ship? Eat in the main Discoveries restaurant, with its delicious daily menu, the speciality Prime C and Aqualina restaurants, for steak and seafood or room service? Relax in the ultra air-conditioned library or get hot under the collar in the casino? If you’re feeling energetic, there’s even a gym and running track to keep you in shape or a more indulgent detox in the shape of an Elemis seaweed wrap.

The games, lectures and entertainment do tend to be geared towards the older passengers, usually with an added helping of cheese, so if you love your music, do pack an MP3 player, unless the occasional piano version of Pink Floyd is enough. But we’d have been hard pressed to fit them in as well as the sightseeing, so this wasn’t a problem.

In fact you could spend the entire week working through the martini options – we did our best (the Espresso, French, Blood Orange or intriguing Rosemary Pear were front-runners) although at $11 (£7.25) each, and double the size and strength of a standard cocktail at home, we soon learned to limit ourselves.

The rules of the sea

One warning to first timers: if you have your heart set on dinner at the speciality restaurants or a pampering treatment, book the second you get on board, if not before.

And a second warning: everything will be billed to your seapass card, which acts as door key, passport and credit card while you’re on board. Every day, daily tips of $12.25 per person are automatically added to your account, along with wine at dinner, all those stops at the bar, organised tours, and any other little extras, although if you’re feeling brave, you can keep track of your spending through the interactive TV in your room.

The final warning is this: once you’ve tried it, you’ll be hooked. A luxury hotel which whisks you from place to place, crew who love being aboard and can’t do enough to help, and more sights than you can squeeze in – it seems greedy to ask for more. In fact there’s only one downside (apart from the inevitable weight gain) – getting off and returning to the real, butler-free, world.