#CruiseChat’s own Captain Birdie meets Jose Vilarinho, Captain of the Azamara Quest
#CruiseChat sat down with Jose Vilarinho, Captain of the Azamara Club Cruises‘ Azamara Quest to learn more about his background, where he loves to cruise and what sets the Azamara Quest apart.
Cruise Chat: Tell us a little bit about your background, what drew you to the sea and what made you want to be a Captain?
Captain Vilarinho: Well, I’m coming from Portugal, from the sea side, I live just near the sea, my family in the past owns a fleet of fishing trawlers, that means I grew up near the sea and inside the ships. Of course, when the time came to decide my future, I asked my father to go to the nautical school as my dream was to be a skipper on the fishing trawlers. I did my graduation and after my first experience, I really love cod fish, but it is on the plate. It was very hard in the North Atlantic fishing trawlers with the cod fish. So I transferred to the cargo ships, and in 1989 I have my first experience with the cruise ships and that’s when I decided really I’d like to be a Captain on a cruise liner.
Since then, I moved to the states and have snaked my way through several companies to progress and go up as fast as I could on my career and got my first Captain’s assignment at 39 which was goal before 40 and my first command was taking on a ship called the Crown and since then I’ve been around to Renaissance Cruises, this is one of the highest point of my career was on the building of the ships that are now the Azamara ships in France, where they built the fleet. After Renaissance, I moved again to other companies and the last 2 years I spent at Aida Cruises having a little bit of experience on bigger ships, and basically after that experience I realized I really like small ships and for me, this size ship — 30,000 tons, is big enough and small enough. It’s the perfect size for a friendly and warm cruise for any guest.
CC: So really, you’ve come full circle having built the ships that Azamara sails now when they were part of Renaissance cruises.
CV: Yes, the fleet went up in a very short time, it was a very fast construction. You know the ships were coming out like flies. We always had 3 ships in the ship yard line, one in the top construction dock, a second tht was already floating and a third that was being finished. It was like an assembly line. The blocks were all over the shipyard, just waiting to be put together. There were 8 sister ships and R7 is now the Azamara Quest and R6 is Azamara Journey.
Captain Jose joins in #CruiseChat from aboard Azamara Quest on Tuesday February 11, 2014
CC: What’s the most unique thing about this ship that sets it apart from other mid-size or small cruise ships?
CV: A part of being a middle-size ship, this ship has a very very good seaworthy conditions on the sea. In spite of it’s shape, a box shape, it works very well in every weather and it rides very nice in heavy weather and of course the traditional diesel electric propulsion it gives you the real feeling of handling a ship and the maneuvering of the ship. On the new pod ships nowadays, you don’t feel it to maneuver the ship. but on this size of ship it gives you a very good handling feeling.
CC: A big part of what sets Azamara Club Cruises apart is Destination Immersion. What do you think is the part of Destination Immersion that guests on the Azamara Quest enjoy most?
CV: The most good feedback I get from the guests is really starting from the destinations themselves. As we say, ‘you’ll love where we take you.’ And because we go to unique ports and small spots. A guest told me recently ‘I booked your cruise because you do a lot of tendering, because those are places no other ship can go in. The AzAmazing Evenings are always a highlight and guests have much expectations. People are very happy with the full cruise and then we put them over the top with the AzAmazing Evening. It really is the wow effect. That’s what really makes the perfect combination makes us different from other cruise lines.
CC: What’s your favorite cruise destination?
CV: I do not have a favorite cruise destination. I learned through this 27 years of sea life that all the cruises are different and it really depends what you are looking for in each cruise. I really love to do Norwegian Fjords, that’s one of my favorite itineraries to sail, but I really love to do South America as well as Asia. Again, it’s picking the right destination to do what you’re looking for on that particular trip.
CC: What’s your favorite port to sail in or out of and why?
CV: To sail in and out, I think Lisbon is one of my favorite ports. It’s a very safe port and there’s nothing more beautiful to see the city of Lisbon from the sea side. It’s called the Town of the Seven Hills and when you sail into the river you can see the Seven Hills of the town plus bridge that is the replica of the golden gate bridge.