Ellen Bettridge, vice-president of sales and marketing at Azamara Club Cruises, was brimming with delight when she led a media tour of the company’s 30,300-gt cruiseship Azamara Quest (built 2000) in Singapore last Friday. The 690-passenger ship was fresh out of drydock after receiving a major refurbishment at Sembawang Shipyard.

Bettridge had much to be excited about. In the space of a mere two weeks, the ship’s fussy Edwardian style interiors inherited from its first owner Renaissance Cruises had been ditched in favour of more contemporary surroundings.