Azura Reviews

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My husband and I have just come back from the Norwegian Fjords with Azura its the second time we have been on azura we did the western med in september 2011. We certainly liked her the first time and I still liked her the second time. This was a last minute booking as we had the offer of a balcony at discounted price come thruogh the post. Very pleased with the balcony. If I have to say anything about this trip I felt the captain we had on the cruise in sept Keith dowds was more of a people person and the ship was immaculate and staff were on the ball at all times.the captain on this cruise Paul Brown never saw him also I felt the staff were a little despondent and tables especially in the buffet were left for a while before being cleared or wiped. Our cabin steward compared to the cabin steward we had in september did not do any of the little touches the room was always clean and tidy but you could tell that he literally did that. Our last cabin steward made lovely little animals tidied both dressers and bathroom tops all the time so I could never find anything lol. This trip had more older generation and a fare few wheelchair bound people which I liked to see as Azura certainly seemed to cater well for these. I would say that on occassions the lifts became very cosy if a wheelchair was in one lol and maybe they ought to design bigger lifts. We met with a gentleman and his wife who was disabled and they showed us their cabin which I must admit was suitably designed for a wheelchair along with a big wet room (shower). However my moan is that there were several people on the ship with scooters and I feel that P and O need to assess this as these on scooters had the attitude that along the corridors those that were walking had to get out of the way. You would also find them parked in the corridors at the Malabar which is a walk though corridor and no consideration for those walking through. Norway itself is very expensive Stavanger is a port you can get off and mooch around however all was shut the day we went due to it being a holiday lol, Flam the most scenic fjord of them all unless you did an excursion there was no where or nothing to do however the size of Azura against the fjord did look magnificent and some good pics were taken. Olden again nothing to do unless you went on a noddy train around the lake at some cost!! or an excursion. Bergen a port that you can get off and free shuttle bus into the city and going up the vindickula is an experience for fantastic views. Pleased I,ve done it. Next cruise is august on indep of the seas Italian med for 13nights and just put deposit on Azura for central med 17nights oct 2013. got to work hard and earn more pennies inbetween time. I just love cruising and certainly a balcony now! clarey lou.

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Just got back from my second P&O cruise this time onboard the Azura (first one was with Ventura) Thought I would give P&O the benefit of the doubt following my first time with them. Have to say that although I had a great time which was mostly down to the destinations I went to and the friends I met, overall it was no improvement from the last one in that my main gripe was once agin the lack of entertainment for us under eightie's. The daytime programme was shockingly bad unless you liked boring talks or shuffleboard. Bare in mind it is now 2012 and not 1912 which is where I would put the quality of entetainment. Night time was much better and the acts in the main theatre were very good. Food was ok, but I dont want ok I want wow, the sort of wow that companies such as Disney cruise line offer you. I feel it was all a bit too old style british and a bit staid in its approach to quality but I suppose when you travel from the Uk on a Uk catered for ship, then what do you expect. Before I get "must be a yank or such like, I am infact born and bread a true Geordie living in Newcastle, so cannot be accused of being a little biased to other lines. The fact remains from what I have learned that if you book a brittish cruise out of britain, your never going to get that much quality or service,like you get ontheamerican lines, this is down to our attitude of "it will do" and I darn't complain I am way too british for that. Sorry for the above rant but it is what it is. P&O, you need to modernise and quick, if youdont want to loose the younger clients that wil replace the existing pensioners sooner or later.

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From the moment we embarked the vibe was good the food was fantastic, the entertainment top notch. the entertainment team were really great, Neil Oliver who is the entertainment Director was a star particularly at the Sail Away which are obviously his forte!!Having said that the Captain was a real sport at our Gibraltar one and joined in with the entertainment team. it was our first Western Med cruise and we learned few things...you cant get off the ship before 8am for the shuttle for Rome so its no good getting up at the crack of dawn like us. You can buy your tkt before you get to the station and the earliest train you can get to Rome is 8 40. Get off at San Pietro NOT the terminus then you can do the Vatican first. Make your way from St Peters to the Colosseum and termini to return (you might get a seat) this is much cheaper than the tours on offer. Queue at The Palatine for your tkts it is generally a shorter queue but to be honest we did Palatine and The Forum and that was all we had time for really, you makes yiur choice. There was a train strike when we hit Livorno but we found a taxi who took 6 of us to pisa for 120E and waited an hr while we looked around. (still cheaper than the tour) the same for Gib we paid ??22 or 25E ea to go in a taxi who took us all around the sights. The food was fantastic, the staff excellent always helpful couldn't do enough. We went in April so the loungers were not an issue don't know how it would be in high season. Barcelona...we went on the open top bus its so vast that I think you need to orient yourselves for a future visit other than that go to the Gaudi Cathedral and queue and make that your only trip. We did the bus but now know where we want to go in future. all in all we had a great cruise, just a bit of a roll between Barcelona and Gib but The Bay of Biscay was fine.

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Sailed on AZURA on her first cruise after her return from the Caribbean. We were delayed by 4 hours on departure by a computer failure, or was it deep cleaning!! We will never know. P&O excel at organisation compared to some other cruise lines so everything was well organised. Avoid cafe at terminal - too expensive and awful coffee. We had a balcony stateroom on Riviera deck and never again. Our cabin was under the aqua deck and we could hear chairs being scraped on top of our ceiling at all times of the day and night. Surely for such a new ship someone could have thought of adequate sound proofing. Certainly price charged a bit too steep for these cabins. Dining experience in Oriental,Sindhu, Glass House all excellent. Verona and Venezia self service buffets good food choices but there seemed at times to be too many chiefs directing staff and not watching when areas were running out of food. Entertainment staff worked really hard and Cruise Director Neil Oliver does very well. However, too many comedians one after the other left passengers sitting through one comedian telling 6 jokes we had heard the previous evening. Better scheduling required. The tribute acts were good but the in house company should act less and sing more, that was their strengths. Jet Set and Azura orchestra excellent. I have to comment on the last singer Ritchie Sampson. I think most people walking out the first evening during your act should have been a clue. The second time when the theatre was nearly empty should have been a wake up call. Telling an audience to applaud the orchestra and give ourselves a round of applause 3 times in 15 minutes is unprofessional and not what we expect. Motown and Soul are great sounds but you killed it. Awful. Weaknesses were very little entertainment during the sea days. Security staff particularly female staff should smile more, passengers have paid for the pleasure of cruising we are not criminals. P&O should be very careful when not reacting to children running around decks and around lifts and corridors in the evening. If one goes overboard it won't be the parents who will be taking the blame.

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Though its the first time we've sailed on Azura it wont be the last as we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. Very impressed with the gym - lots of resistant machines, treadmills, cycles, weights & space for floor exercises. Also good to see a choice of complimentary sessions ie stretch classes morning and late afternoon, fab abs etc as well as charged sessions, pilates and spinning. Entertainment overall good, never had a bad night of entertainers/shows/acts etc. Thoroughly enjoyed Martin Jarvis as Tom Jones, Steve Larkins as Freddie Mercury, comedian Paul Boardman but in our opinion Mike Testoni stole the show. Talks on real life experiences as a crew member working on a lifeboat & his life as an office in the MET. Very interesting and entertaining. A very close second was the Captain Paul Brown at Gibraltar's sail away, where had he been practicing those moves? If you were there you know what I mean. Brilliant entertainment. Headliners good with some very good singers especially Craig Thomas whose show with Rebecca Lisewski was exceptionally good. Sail aways exceptionally good - well done to Neil Oliver and his team who by the way no matter what time of day or where you saw them they would always have a smile on their faces & say hello. Watched a few films/concerts on the sea screen, amazing how when engrossed in a film you forget you are at sea. Staff offered fleece wraps though it still was a bit too cold on some occasions. Playhouse Theatre well designed, only struggled once to get a seat. Malabar (same layout as Ventura) personally don't think the design of the bar is conducive for entertainment, layout all wrong & especially when sitting on the back seats as when other passengers are walking through to get to other parts of the ships I think they forget you are watching a show/entertainers etc. Manhattan - slightly different layout to the Havana bar on Ventura as the 'sectioning' of the seating area is at waist level so you have a clearer view of the stage and don't have to constantly look at the t.v.s screens jotted around the bar. Had a few enjoyable nights in the disco which was after the shows. Bars all seemed to have their own atmosphere - the ones we visited: Olly Smith's Glass House: stylish & contemporary, Brodies: relaxed & welcoming, Planet Bar: quiet, sleek, stylish Dining outlets: Sindhu: we had a very enjoyable meal probably the best Indian meal we have ever had, Atul Kochhar was in the kitchen the evening we ate. Peninsular 2nd sitting: enjoyed every meal and service was exemplary. Verona: had 1st breakfast here, wouldn't visit again, queues too long and struggled to find a table ended up eating in either Meridan for lunch or the Venezia for breakfast. Food always good, the pastries, exceptional. Very good selection of 'themed nights' in the Venezia. We didn't visit but table companions who did said it was very good. Ports of call: Independent at every port of call: Cadiz - never been here before - caught hop on hop off bus - did a full circle (approx 1 hr) got off and then walked around the town. Lovely quaint place - sat in the square and enjoyed a coffee whilst basking in the sun. The town centre is pedestrianised which makes it a joy to walk around. Cephalonia: due to having a late night the night before, didn't see much of this resort & to be honest we are not sure if there was an awful lot to see!! Table companions went on 'the best of cephalonia' and reported back how much they had enjoyed it apart from the everywhere being closed as the tourist season hadn't started. Dubrovnik: Not even the rain could spoil this beautiful city - absolutely amazing but due to the rain missed the entrance to be able to walk around the top of the walled city. Lots of photo opportunities. Table companions booked cable car ride and though it went ahead due to the very low cloud they couldn't see further than their noses. Venice: Believe it or not due to how amazing I had found Dubrovnik when sailing into Venice I was slightly disappointed BUT then we walked into St. Mark's Sq and Venice took on its own identity. So many wonderful places, Doges Palace, Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, little alleyways, canals, gondola's - I could go on and on. I'm still in awe of the architecture its spell bounding. Korcula: A hidden gem. We thoroughly enjoyed this 'closed' but lovely part of Coatia. We met people going back onto the cruise ship saying don't bother getting off, its not worth it. We disagree - lovely walks around the harbour, places of interest, beautiful scenery and lots of flowers and fauna to admire. Cofu: Had an enjoyable walk around Cofu Town, very busy with traffic - lots of local & tourist shops. Didn't get to see too much as the weather wasn't good. Gibraltar: Very busy - two ships were docked side by side - Ventura and Azura. Ventura had to forgo Cadiz for Gibraltar as she needed to pick up a spare part for a repair. Walked around the town, pleasant enough shops slightly repetitive though and not sure if there are any 'duty free' bargains apart from the alcohol and cigarettes that everyone seemed to be buying. A slight niggle, the creaking of our cabin B245. Now I know there has to be some leverage but the noise some nights was unbearable. You could see where someone else had also had the same issue as lots of wedges were strategically placed around the cabin but to no avail. I cant remember any of the 'old' ships creaking like this, we had exactly the same problem on Arcadia on its maiden voyage over to the Caribbean. Have we been lucky in the past and had cabins that don't creak or is this today's 'workmanship'. Must remember my ear plugs for future cruises. All in all had a wonderful cruise, found every single member of staff to be friendly, polite & helpful, would definitely cruise on Azura again with the same itinerary apart from Gibraltar but what really made the cruise was the lovely table companions who we laughed with every night and then again whenever we met up with them elsewhere. Such fond memories.

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