Azamara Christens Third Ship, the 702-Passenger Pursuit

Azamara Club Cruises on Aug. 28 christened the 702-passenger Azamara Pursuit, a renovated R-class vessel and the third ship for the 11-year-old small-ship line. The ceremony took place in Southampton, outside of London.

Azamara CEO Larry Pimentel spoke first about what it meant to him that Chairman and CEO of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s Richard Fain gave him time to develop a destination-focused cruise line, using older refurbished ships that are small enough to get into lesser-visited ports. But it is the itineraries and shore excursion programs that define the line: these ships were among the first to stay later, longer, and overnight in ports, and to offer extensive night touring — in a style he calls “destination immersion” and also “slow cruising.”

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Before naming the ship, the former R8 went through dry dock in the Bahamas and wet dock in Belfast. During that time, the line added a number of staterooms, including regular suites as well as spa suites, and removed the casino, replacing it with a lounge called The Den.

Azamara chose to have two godmothers for this ship: Ellen Asmodeo-Giglio, executive vice president, for “Afar” magazine, and Lucy Huxley, editor-in-chief of Travel Weekly UK. The ceremony took place in The Cabaret onboard the ship, and included bagpipers, a drum corps, flag bearers, and both the American and British national anthems.

It felt like a fitting location for a line with a growing British audience. Pimentel attributes that rise in part to the line’s country-intensive itineraries in places like Ireland, Scotland, Japan, New Zealand, and Greece. In addition, the line is partnering with Belmond Orient-Express and Micato Safaris to offer extensive combination land-and-sea tours. And, because the line now has a third vessel, the other two ships are now calling on destinations they haven’t been to before, such as Hawaii and French Polynesia.

Destinations are so much the line’s focus that, as Pimentel pointed out, of their 300 ports on seven continents a whopping 200 are places that sister lines Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International never call on. “We invite our guests,” Pimentel said, “to explore further.”