Thoughts on Azura

Just back from 2 weeks round the Med on Azura. My first time on one of P&O’s bigger ships and to be honest I won’t be rushing back.

This was my 13th cruise – my 8th with P&O and there have been 5 with Celebrity. To date my favourite ships have been the Eclipse and the Adonia

I had thought that Azura was only a little bit bigger than Eclipse but my overwhelming feeling on this cruise was of crowds and queues (in fact my pet name for the ship became Qzura)

My observations:

• The cabin – a standard balcony – was very acceptable and I liked the separate wardrobe area. Beds comfy and bed linen good. Shower – well its enough to say “nylon shower curtain” – yuk. I would much rather have the shower and bathroom on the Eclipse
  
• Ports of Call – thoroughly enjoyed these and that’swhat made the cruise a good one. For the first time ever didn’t enjoy Gibraltaras far too many people in the town and in a couple of shops and a restaurantfelt the locals were trying to rip us off – never felt that before
  
• Dining. Main dining food not good. I don’t eat fish and most nights that eliminated at least half of the starters and main courses.One night I had a salad to start and asked for it without dressing (or for the dressing to be on the side). That was not possible as it leaves the kitchen with the dressing all over it. Meat cuts were cheap I couldn’t eat the pork one night and the ribs of beef were very fatty. Please please give us some decent tasty potatoes and no more green beans with every meal. I know it wasn’t proper silver service but I long for the days when you were served a selection of veg and potatoes.
  
• Atmosphere in MDR – we were in a quiet section (on second sitting) and only had 6 on a table for 8. Most of us were not enjoyingthe food and often ate elsewhere. This meant we often dined as a 2 or a 4 and there was really no traditional feel. The evening meal has always been the highlight for me – not so on this cruise. Also didn't like the location of the Oriental Restaurant - seemed to be at the back of beyond.
  
• Speciality restaurants – excellent. We dined once in the Epicurean and it was lovely and virtually every other day in the Glasshouse – much much nicer than the MDR. One meal in the Beach House was goodthough it does seem to be a bit stodgy and a bit chips with everything.
  
• Buffet – I had one lunch and one breakfast there before abandoning it completely. I hate toast that has been made an indeterminate number of minutes earlier and is brick hard and stone cold. My wants at breakfast are simple – poached egg on warm toast. Couldn’t manage this. Why don’t they cook the toast to order like they do on Celebrity. Lunch was tasteless and selection seemed very poor to me. I admit I have been spoiled by the selection on Eclipse and Constellation.
  
• Embarking and Disembarking – plenty said onother threads. Inferior service but P&O passengers amazingly put up with it!
  
• Organisation re shuttle buses in port etc. Ihave never queued so much in my life. In Barcelona for example (where I accept that the port staff dealt with the shuttle buses) we queued for ages. One ortwo P&O officers stood about ineffectually. Buses were leaving with many empty seats – ours had 12 empty seats despite at least 200 or more people waiting. Why can’t someone organise this better.
  
• Bars – ship seemed tacky to me – in particular Manhattan and Malabar. I accept these were not to my taste so tended to stay at The GlassHouse or The Planet Bar.
  
• Officers – senior officers seemed very pleasantand always said good morning etc. Junior (younger) officers seemed to scurry about averting their eyes at the sight of passengers and never saying hallo
  
• Entertainment team – I witnessed three girls from this team eating in the Glass House one evening (I was sitting next tothem). They were completely lacking in manners – not even thanking the hardworking staff who brought their food and drinks and the mess they left on the table was astonishing. They should be ashamed
  
• Cabin stewards, dining stewards bar staff etc –all absolutely lovely and helpful
  
• Children on board – a delight – this was a concern about a school holiday cruise but completely unfounded. Children were well behaved and polite and parents should be proud (with the exception of one young girl on a scooter who kept running it in to everyone but she was the minority!)
  
• Speakers - it was a strictly cruise which was fine but the only speaker was speaking on characters from the past e.g. Dickens and it wasn't appealing. Celebrity score higher here
  

Overall summary – the Azura is not for me – too many people in too small a space (I have never felt this on the Eclipse which seems to handle crowds better in the public areas). Food poor . Experience felt like Butlins at sea

It was a good cruise but this was because of ports and the people we met. However in P&O’s defence this was a fairly cheap cruise for us and so I guess you get what you pay for (and I would be happy to pay more if P&O upped their game)

Thank you Gadabout for a good review, it did seem as though I might have written it myself with all the Eclipse comparisons, but it's difficult not to constantly compare the two when one is so much better than the other and, according to my spreadsheet, no more expensive.

I do hope things have improved before our next cruise on Azura in mid May, at least as far as food is concerned and I hope it's not too tacky. I do realise that the Grand Princess class have several pinch point problems at busy times in the evening, and several other design flaws which even Princess have found impossible to rectify, but IMO Azura and Ventura are better than bland Britannia.

There isn't anything in that review I would argue with!

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I have only been on Azura once and that was back in 2011. Whilst the mdr food I found perfectly acceptable then, I completely concur with your comments about the ship being so crowded. I found that every night, every bar and entertainment venue was absolutely heaving and I struggled to find a seat anywhere.

The problem with most Grand Class ships is that after the first three or four builds, an extra deck of cabins was added - so you have a full deck of cabins with 2+ people in but no extra public room facilities.

I have had no desire to go back on her again and will stick to ships no bigger than Arcadia in the P&O fleet.

We are going back on Azura mid May, like Terrierjohn, and can't wait. We had a great Caribbean cruise last year, great food, great company. We avoided the busy areas round the pool on sea days just because that suited us. I did wander along there when it was busy and thought how great it was that so many people were having a great time. I can't understand why people seem to criticise P&O for providing holidays that suit a range of requirements. We love the formal nights, not everyone does, each to their own. We only use the MDR, our choice. We use the speciality restaurants, our treat to ourselves. We book some excursions with P&O, sometimes we do our own thing. We have sailed many times with P&O and Princess and will continue until we fancy something different, We, as someone else said on another thread, are just appreciative that we can afford to cruise, so we just 'enjoy'.

We are going back on Azura mid May, like Terrierjohn, and can't wait. We had a great Caribbean cruise last year, great food, great company. We avoided the busy areas round the pool on sea days just because that suited us. I did wander along there when it was busy and thought how great it was that so many people were having a great time. I can't understand why people seem to criticise P&O for providing holidays that suit a range of requirements. We love the formal nights, not everyone does, each to their own. We only use the MDR, our choice. We use the speciality restaurants, our treat to ourselves. We book some excursions with P&O, sometimes we do our own thing. We have sailed many times with P&O and Princess and will continue until we fancy something different, We, as someone else said on another thread, are just appreciative that we can afford to cruise, so we just 'enjoy'.

I'm afraid I don't understand your post.

I realise Azura is not for me for various reasons. If I cruise again with P&O it will be on their smaller ships.

I still think though that it is not unreasonable to expect better catering. The menus may sound good but food quality is poor. One lady at our table remarked that she had been at her local Beefeater the week before and had a much better prawn cocktail than the one in the MDR. I do think it's sad that that's now considered acceptable.

My wife and I were on the same cruise and I could copy and paste your review as my own. P&O have sunk to new depths with serving up reformed meat as leg of lamb and those squeaky green beans every meal come on!! The six seat table we were on complained loudly and were rewarded with some fresh veg for the second part of the cruise but most of us had given up and attended the Epicurean which of course P&O would approve of at £28 pp surcharge!!

AS

Ooh, getting nervous now about going back to P&O after 10 years or so! We are on the Azura in May cruising the fjords. Never had a bad cruise to date (though wouldn't sail Fred Olsen again) so hope this we will enjoy this one :eek:

Also just come off this cruise and I was obviously on a different ship. I accept that Azura can seem too big, and she has gradually grown on me though I still prefer Aurora and Oriana. Agree with the comment about the Oriental Restaurant; I opted for Freedom Dining in Peninsular this time and had a much better experience; I think most of the interesting people do Freedom now and I met some lovely people at dinner. As I like fish I found the choices on the menu fine, and the always available steak was cooked to my liking the couple of times there was nothing else I fancied. I also used the Glass House and Epicurean and Sindhu with great experiences in each.

Perhaps my perceptions were different as I had a balcony and tended to sit there on sea days rather than on the pool decks; though I did have a good experience on the higher decks; no problems with overcrowding or getting sunbeds there!

The weather was the best I've ever had on an April cruise; the service I found great, and while the Strictly theme limited other entertainment that was acceptable even to a non Strictly fan like me; by the way I really enjoyed the speaker on theatre and writers!

Also just come off this cruise and I was obviously on a different ship. I accept that Azura can seem too big, and she has gradually grown on me though I still prefer Aurora and Oriana. Agree with the comment about the Oriental Restaurant; I opted for Freedom Dining in Peninsular this time and had a much better experience; I think most of the interesting people do Freedom now and I met some lovely people at dinner. As I like fish I found the choices on the menu fine, and the always available steak was cooked to my liking the couple of times there was nothing else I fancied. I also used the Glass House and Epicurean and Sindhu with great experiences in each.

Perhaps my perceptions were different as I had a balcony and tended to sit there on sea days rather than on the pool decks; though I did have a good experience on the higher decks; no problems with overcrowding or getting sunbeds there!

The weather was the best I've ever had on an April cruise; the service I found great, and while the Strictly theme limited other entertainment that was acceptable even to a non Strictly fan like me; by the way I really enjoyed the speaker on theatre and writers!

I also sat on my balcony and never round the pool - I like the peace and quiet the balcony gives you and am not a pool person.I think the bigger ship is just not for me - atrium was always busy and too many people milling about

Traditionally I do freedom dining on Celebrity and Fixed 2nd Sitting on P&O. Would be hard to comment re "interesting people" - my table companions were lovely - its just that we all got fed up with the poor food. Not eating fish certainly restricts you. One person at our table commented that a lot of the fish was "cheaper" fish but as I am not a buyer of fish at home I couldn't say.

One disappointment was that the baked Alaska was Arctic roll!

We did go the chef's buffet lunch twice in Meridian and on the first occasion sat next to an absolute bore who was on his 37th P&O cruise and thought them wonderful. On the second occasion we joined a table, said hallo and were then completely ignored - you meet all sorts cruising!

Interesting. We all have different likes and dislikes. We did a 2 week Med cruise on Azura in 2011 and didn't particularly like the ship. 2 years later we did a similar cruise on Ventura and much preferred it. We couldn't really put our finger on why as the ships are near identical! Both have the same major design flaw - a gym where a Crows Nest should be. We didn't find the size an issue, but we had preferred Oriana and Oceana. That said, we went on Britannia expecting not to like it as much as some of the other ships (due to all the negative reviews) and have to say that we found it to be the best P&O ship we had been on by some margin - a true flagship. We don't like the lack of a promenade deck and lack of stairs mid-ships (which puts too much pressure on the lifts), nor the shallow balconies, but the cabin furnishings and facilities, as well as dining options, are a class above the rest of the fleet. We are looking forward to our first cruise on Aurora and hope that we like it as much as we do Oriana, but hope that we can now adjust to the lack of facilities compared to the likes of Britannia. I guess that all I am saying is that we all like different things for different reasons and we will never agree on the 'best' or 'worst' P&O ship.

We're going back to Azura this summer - third time on her, and also four on Ventura. We have also done Oriana and Arcadia, and to be honest we prefer the 'Grand' class ships.

That said, I do recognise the issues over food quality, but I don't think that's ship-specific - I believe the reduction in quality has happened across the fleet.

Let me turn to something the OP raised, and that's the number of people at the table night by night. We certainly noticed this on our last couple of Club Dining cruises - every night there was at least one couple dining elsewhere (including us several nights). Our conclusion after several such cruises was that the old spirit, when you had a full table every night has gone, and I think it's the existence of Select dining that did it. I can't even say it's a bad thing, because we use the Select restaurants as much as anyone. What we want, of course, is the freedom to use Select dining ourselves but have a full table when we eat in the MDR! And in fact we've pretty much found exactly that, with Freedom dining. I agree that it's not entirely the same because you are meeting new people every night, but we have found that the conversation still flows well on a full table.

We're going back to Azura this summer - third time on her, and also four on Ventura. We have also done Oriana and Arcadia, and to be honest we prefer the 'Grand' class ships.

 

That said, I do recognise the issues over food quality, but I don't think that's ship-specific - I believe the reduction in quality has happened across the fleet.

 

Let me turn to something the OP raised, and that's the number of people at the table night by night. We certainly noticed this on our last couple of Club Dining cruises - every night there was at least one couple dining elsewhere (including us several nights). Our conclusion after several such cruises was that the old spirit, when you had a full table every night has gone, and I think it's the existence of Select dining that did it. I can't even say it's a bad thing, because we use the Select restaurants as much as anyone. What we want, of course, is the freedom to use Select dining ourselves but have a full table when we eat in the MDR! And in fact we've pretty much found exactly that, with Freedom dining. I agree that it's not entirely the same because you are meeting new people every night, but we have found that the conversation still flows well on a full table.

Yes I think you are absolutely right re the MDR and freedom dining.

Today we have just booked an autumn cruise on Celebrity - and I feel like I am going home to be back on the Eclipse. We have booked freedom dining as we like the select restaurants and so we are likely to find interesting folk to chat to in the MDR. Also if you go at roughly the same time and ask for the same section you do tend to dine with some people again and again

It is a pity though - I have hugely fond memories of my first cruise on Adonia and the wonderful food and atmosphere in the MDR - it was just over 6 years ago but it seems like a different style of cruising altogether

We were on Azura's Maiden Voyage and that was absolutely fantastic, as I'm sure people may have heard over the years. We have been back on her twice since and she was still as wonderful (although a few things had been changed - not for the better either).

However, we haven't been on her since 2012 and things may have changed. She was (is?) a lovely ship. I'm afraid, with larger ships, you are going to get areas that have more people like the Atrium, it is a lovely space after all so passengers will gravitate there, but we generally found it was never particularly overcrowded anywhere. It also depends on the cruise and the time of year you take it as to the passenger demographic.

We agree with Selbourne that Britannia's decor is a cut above the others, although it is, to be fair, a different look - very modern - so not to everyone's taste. We loved it, and Britannia is one of my husband's favourites (the other being Adonia).

We also agree with tom_uk regarding dining tables being empty in the MDR. We always have a table for 2 in the second sitting on P&O ships. We tried Freedom once and did not take to it. However, when we travel on Britannia again we will be taking Freedom dining as both times we have travelled on her we have hardly used our table, and, in fact, the last time we let the Restaurant Manager know that he could give our table to someone else about halfway through the cruise as we knew we weren't likely to use it again - there are just too many excellent alternatives to eat in on Britannia.

We are on Arcadia (my favourite ship) in July and will definitely eat in both Sindu (which we love) and Ocean Grill as it is nice to have a different eating venue at some point during the cruise. We are on Adonia in August and, again, we will eat a number of meals in Ocean Grill, with may be one in the Glass House one evening as well. We're also hoping she's kept the wonderful atmosphere she had before going over to 'fathom'.

The select dining venues are, we think, a great addition to all the ships. It is, after all, no different to being on land where we can all choose between different types to go to.