Oceana Cafe Jardin/Azura Pizza and Beach House

Really looking forward to my cruises on Azura and Oceana this summer and I had a number of questions about the alternative dining/food offerings in general. I'd be really grateful for people's feedback. I'm very excited to sample the Glasshouse for it's wine and food offerings and Sindhu for food on Azura and both of these are extensively reviewed.

I had heard that the pizza setup had changed on Azura since the refit, apparently you can no longer preorder your own pizza. Is the quality any good, are the pizzas they now offer, stonebaked, thin pizza or are they more American style deep pan offerings?

On Oceana, I'm aware that Cafe Jardin is free to use at breakfast and lunchtime. I wondered if you knew what the food offerings were for breakfast and lunch? On the website there are only menus for the evening. I wondered primarily, if pizza and pastas were offered at lunch time and if people felt the quality of pizza was in line with that of a Pizza Express/Prezzo chain restaurant standard? Would you recommend an evening visit, it does seem to be excellent value?

Obviously the Beach house will be on both Azura and Oceana by the time we sail. Do you rate it from your experiences on Aurora, Azura and Britannia?

Cafe Jardin is nice for lunch. We did it a few times in April.

No Pizzas but there is a good salad bar and range of desserts.

It's mainly baguettes and other light snacks, the mushroom vol-u-vent is nice (and huge).

The one time we used Cafe Jardin in the evening we were not impressed, it was about 18 months ago, so it may have improved.

Cafe Jardin breakfast is - fruit compote, museli, and similar items (no boxes of cereal), fresh fruit, ham, cheese, lovely pastries, bread rolls, jams and marmalade, fruit juices and then there is a small menu of hot dishes served to order - had a very nice bagel with smoke salmon and hollandaise. This hot menu changes daily. You go and wait to be seated, you'll be offered tea or coffee and if you don't want to order a hot item you go and help yourself to the buffet. We like it very much as we don't always want to go to the restaurant and hate the buffet.

At lunch there is a menu - again changes at some point - we've had paninis with ham and cheese, tuna, then the occasional pizza, things like that. There is a salad bar to which you help yourself and then desserts. You can order wine if you wish.

None of these meals are chargeable - drinks are of course, as are speciality coffees.

Hi we were on oceana in April/May this year . We tried cafe jardin for breakfast and ordered the smoked salmon poached egg etc based on the recommendation posted on another thread . My opinion was it was really poor the salmon very little of it , eggs mixed quality ( mine overcooked while my husbands egg was really undercooked with runny white ...yuk) maybe we were unlucky :(

We did have a much better experience when we ate there in the evening (extra £5.25 each I think) food excellent quality and wow did you get a lot! The Seafood board starter was huge the salmon on there was a full size main portion (made up for lack of it at breakfast) , mains were good and dessert delightful.

The horizon grill menu also looked nice but unfortunately we couldn't get a table.

Hope this is useful:)

Loved Cafe Jardin on Oceana for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We probably ate our way through the whole menu on our 10 day cruise in March! :)

I enjoyed the Eggs Royale for breakfast.....poached eggs, smoked salmon and bearnaise sauce on an English muffin. Mine was always cooked as I ordered it. The breakfast sausage roll was good too. Loved the fruit, yoghurt and berries and the best thing was Earl Grey tea in a teapot.

Lunch was mostly Panini type food and dinner was great, lovely pasta and fish and fab desserts. The flights of wine were excellent value too.

The Horizon Grill was less successful. It's in a part of the buffet restaurant, a bit like a corridor and does not have a "specialty dining feel" at all. The steak was OK but I was less than impressed really.

On Azura I think you will be spoiled for choice with speciality dining. I think Epicurean (used to be 17) is one of the best speciality restaurants at sea and the steak, lamb and crepes suzette are fantastic. Sindhu is amazing too and nothing like a curry house on land. We love The Glasshouse and usually eat there a lot. The great choice of wine there is probably the main reason, but we love the food too.

Loved Cafe Jardin, and as you can see all comments execpt the one about runny eggs and little bits of salmon, all the comments and feedback are all good.

Sometimes people dont know what to expect.

Cafe Jardin is tiny compared to the other dining options. Its quiet at the beginning of the cruise, then gets busier as more and more people find out about.

Then there is the over rating that some people do, others read it on forums like this, and think its gonna be the best place to eat in the world.

which of course its not.

and then they feel let down.

let down, they do and then complain that the best thing in the world, ........really isnt.

then the negetive comments that " MY egg is overcooked, my egg is runny"

and so on.

some people eh ?

But some give it a second chance and some change their minds and enjoy the dinner which is nice to hear,

But because there is a surcharge and therefore its quieter for dinner you get looked after better.

Some people after all, are cheap and dont want to pay extra.

some, not all.

Lets be honest Its a small dining venue that serves a limited menu.

it serves eggs,

its serves hot beverages.

its serves pieces of meat between bread,

its limited but nice.

The staff are nice, the staff are friendly and you are not on a five star cruise so expect what you pay for.

Its nice.

full stop.

PS A runny egg has never ruined my cruise.

.

Loved Cafe Jardin, and as you can see all comments execpt the one about runny eggs and little bits of salmon, all the comments and feedback are all good.

 

Sometimes people dont know what to expect.

 

Cafe Jardin is tiny compared to the other dining options. Its quiet at the beginning of the cruise, then gets busier as more and more people find out about.

 

Then there is the over rating that some people do, others read it on forums like this, and think its gonna be the best place to eat in the world.

 

which of course its not.

 

and then they feel let down.

let down, they do and then complain that the best thing in the world, ........really isnt.

then the negetive comments that " MY egg is overcooked, my egg is runny"

and so on.

some people eh ?

But some give it a second chance and some change their minds and enjoy the dinner which is nice to hear,

 

But because there is a surcharge and therefore its quieter for dinner you get looked after better.

Some people after all, are cheap and dont want to pay extra.

some, not all.

 

Lets be honest Its a small dining venue that serves a limited menu.

it serves eggs,

its serves hot beverages.

its serves pieces of meat between bread,

its limited but nice.

 

The staff are nice, the staff are friendly and you are not on a five star cruise so expect what you pay for.

Its nice.

full stop.

 

PS A runny egg has never ruined my cruise.

 

 

 

.

That's the thing here everyone has different standards. I certainly know what to expect from eggs royale and it isnt anything like what I received .

Serving undercooked/raw eggs can be dangerous, however as I didn't eat it there was no harm done, and as mentioned it didn't put us off trying in the evening and I wouldn't be so petty as to let it ruin my cruise.

Great thing about these forums are you can read the comments /advise from a usually 'diverse group' of individuals and then as with most advise either take it or leave it.

😀

Janieb, I am sorry your Eggs Royale were not good. Perhaps you should have discussed it with the ever helpful maitre d in Cafe Jardin. I am sure they would have redone the eggs for you. I also quite often asked for just the smoked salmon and it was always a reasonable amount, served with a bagel.

Just as an aside, I have never rated P&O food. I usually cruise on Azamara and Silversea, so I know what good cruise food is.....and apart from some of the speciality restaurants, P&O is more like a good staff canteen IMHO anyway. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Cafe Jardin. We had a very cheap deal on the repo cruise in March and of course, "you get what you pay for", but I would have no hesitation in recommending Cafe Jardin to anyone.

I'm trying Holland America food in a few weeks. I hear the Pinnacle Grill steaks are great, so we will see.

Just as an aside, I have never rated P&O food. I usually cruise on Azamara and Silversea, so I know what good cruise food is.....and apart from some of the speciality restaurants, P&O is more like a good staff canteen IMHO anyway. .

I must say that I am impressed at your cruising history, some top class cruise lines you mentioned...

And Yes, lets be honest P&O food is canteen food, but as you mention it is cheap and cheerful and you always get what you pay for.

Lynn IS impressed.

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I must say that I am impressed at your cruising history, some top class cruise lines you mentioned...

And Yes, lets be honest P&O food is canteen food, but as you mention it is cheap and cheerful and you always get what you pay for.

Lynn IS impressed.

I wasn't trying to impress at all Lynn Knickers ...just trying to establish that I do know a good Eggs Royale and IMHO that's what Cafe Jardin do serve.....at least, they did to me.

I very much enjoy my P&O cruises ....always have lots of fun at a reasonable price. In fact, I am on the Azura mini cruise with a friend this weekend and I know we will have a great time. However, I am quite sure that we will be eating in Epicurean and The Glass House! :D I just love those Ollie Smith wine flights.