Question for John Watson

Another deck people fail to find in many instances is the Forward Observation Deck ....... To access the deck walk forward on Lido deck past all the cabins and a white door port and starboard leads to another door go through the two doors and you are out on deck. Shown on deck plans as a white unidentified space. Technically you are walking about on the roof of the bridge and there are time and age restrictions posted on a subtle sign.

Help please John - I couldn't find this door. Please could you advise where exactly it is as I saw a few doors but was afraid to push and end up in an engine room or set off an alarm lol.Which is the nearest cabin to it?I saw the Crew Access only door....

Hi,

Just got off Azura yesterday, and this area is no longer available to passengers. The doors are all marked Crew Only, as you found.

However, on one sail away you were offered to pay £25 to have drinks with senior officers on this observation deck.

Scriv, if you read this message I didn't see you at the bus stop in Olden, however what a fantastic cruise!

You need to walk forward on the Lido Deck past all the cabins up to L202 (port side) or L201 (starboard side). At these points a fire door; usually open, leads going through to give you access to the cabins numbered L104, L102 my cabin, L101 and L103 which are arranged in that order across the ship. The key is to find these L100 series cabins. Next to L104 and L103 at each end of the run are the entry doors to the short forward corridor to out on deck. The final door in each case is at the forward end of the corridor.

I think I was on Ventura when I stayed in L102, but believe that access to the Forward Deck Access is different on each ship and may well not be available on Azura.

Incidentally if you book on line and want a nice cabin with a window L102 is almost always available as it looks tiny. The missing space relates to the short exit corridor you get an every other cabin. Your cabin door is direct to outside with no internal corridor space in the cabin and you bathroom is next to the bed. Two beds or double laterally across ship and you can sit on the bed when in singles and open bathroom door.

Regards John

Aw thanks, Kitty. So it was the Crew Only door then? Ah well, never mind. Yes I saw the £25 drinks offer, but it was not quite what I had in mind lol.

I looked over at the regular bus stop and a Facebook roll call friend went over there for 9 45, but as I had said on the Roll Call forum, I had given up by then after getting the two statements from 2 official sources to say it wasn't coming - and one of those in bold :( I went up on the Glacier Express Shuttle Minibus from the little office on the quay - was in Bus No 4 which went at 10 30. Did you go up?

And yes, what a fantastic cruise and unbelievable weather. We met so many lovely people too. Shame I didn't see you too - but I may have done unbeknown....

Thanks John - I have noted all that for my next visit in a few weeks time, so I will have another go, although Kitty seems to think we can't get through there any longer on Azura.....

And thanks for the tip re L102. Worth knowing things like that.

If you want to have a look at areas of the ship not accessible to passengers for no charge and want to be within all the rules. It is possible to go down the crew stairs at either end of the ship when they do the Muster Drill. Just before the hooters, position yourself outside L102 forward or R748 or R749 aft. The crew wedge all the emergency exit doors open just before the drill starts. I only discovered this by chance as I booked R749. A few cruises later I have done the route a few times and on Princess they keep these stairs open for you return to cabin as appropriate at the end of the drill.

Regards John

Thanks John!

Getting to this area is one of the downsides of adding another deck of cabins to the original Grand class ships.

On Grand Princess you just walk along the deck above the pools, up a few steps and you are there!

It can be done even nowadays, it depends where you sail from and the weather. Venice is generally not a problem, Southampton wont happen due to the winds in the Solent. The crew only sign comes out when its too windy in my experience.

OK, maybe I put 2 and 2 together and made 5, but I do think that is rather a coinsidence that all the doors are marked crew only and then suddenly passengers are given the opportunity to pay £25 for the privilege to get onto this observation deck. Seems to me to be a good way to get some more money out of us passengers.By the way, we were able to access the other little used observation deck on the bow on deck 8.

No Scriv, we did the Dotto train around the village in Olden. Our friend travelling with us has MS and we thought that the walk to the glacier was too demanding for her. We then took advantage of the excellent weather to have a swim in the pool!

Getting to this area is one of the downsides of adding another deck of cabins to the original Grand class ships.

 

On Grand Princess you just walk along the deck above the pools, up a few steps and you are there!

Strictly speaking the issue on not having a completely all round the ship Promenade Deck on Azura is not cabins being added in this area but Balcony Cabins being added in this area. Ventura has cabins added in this area and the Promenade Deck works well with a straight stairs up to the forward section of the Promenade Deck layout. Ventura's added cabins are oceanview and set back in a slightly obstructed way as far as I recall. This is the main let down on Azura's deck layout.

Grand Princess has Balcony Cabins added in this area but to get round the problem the original design differs in two ways. Firstly the Balcony cabins in this area are very well set back overlooking the Promenade Deck and secondly giant shelves have been added to the sides of the ship as a by-pass route required to end up with a completely "all round" Promenade Deck. This feature only remained for a couple of the early sisters. There is a good video on Youtube called something like "Grand Princess Promenade Deck Tour" which shows the intricate stairs diversions externally near the forward area. The video starts at forward end and the unusual balconies are visible at 0.31 if you stop the player.

Regards John

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Incidentally if you book on line and want a nice cabin with a window L102 is almost always available as it looks tiny. The missing space relates to the short exit corridor you get an every other cabin. Your cabin door is direct to outside with no internal corridor space in the cabin and you bathroom is next to the bed. Two beds or double laterally across ship and you can sit on the bed when in singles and open bathroom door.

Regards John

Could you please tell if the bed or beds are under the window in this cabin?

I'm looking at booking it but I really dislike having to climb onto the bed to see out as you do on most HAL oceanview cabins.

many thanks.

[

 

Incidentally if you book on line and want a nice cabin with a window L102 is almost always available as it looks tiny. The missing space relates to the short exit corridor you get an every other cabin. Your cabin door is direct to outside with no internal corridor space in the cabin and you bathroom is next to the bed. Two beds or double laterally across ship and you can sit on the bed when in singles and open bathroom door.

 

Regards John

Could you please tell if the bed or beds are under the window in this cabin?

I'm looking at booking it but I really dislike having to climb onto the bed to see out as you do on most HAL oceanview cabins.

many thanks.

Beds set out as singles I believe you will have to get onto bed to be by window, as far as I recall. Beds set out as a double will move bed away from window thus you can stand by window. The long dimension of the bed is across the ship, feet to port, head to starboard not feet to bow, head to stern.

Regards John

I don't see the point of the observation deck on deck 8 on Azura being there if it's not accessible? When I cruised on Ventura it was incredibly easily accessible and we found it by accident, along with the observation deck on the bridge :D but I hope they're not wiping out the top observation deck on Ventura too.

By the way - does anyone know what the space at the very front of decks R, A, B, C, and D are? They have windows and a path around them but they show up as unmarked white space on the deck plans. I don't think they'd be crew cabins but I could be wrong

Dan

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I think that's where the Bridge Officers cabins are.

I don't see the point of the observation deck on deck 8 on Azura being there if it's not accessible?

 

Dan

 

 

 

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The observation deck on deck 8 Azura is accessible to passengers. It is simply very complicated to get to. If you are doing complete laps of the promenade deck, but not as a runner, you have to go inside the ship at the furthest forward doors, go up the internal stairs, which are a bit back, one deck to deck 8, then walk forward along the corridor to the end. Go through the door ahead of you and walk along corridor around the corner and step through the next door out onto the Upper section of the promenade deck which goes around the bow.

This upper promenade observation deck is a standard "Grand Class" feature which has been retained presumably for cost reasons. Access to this area on Ventura is easy as no Balcony Cabins are obstructing the straight run up to the higher level. On many other Grand Class ships this is also the case as oceanview cabins have been sited in the area just like the layout on Ventura. So a straight set of stairs is all that is needed for access.

An alternative to the Azura layout but much more expensive to build, incorporating Balcony Cabins in this area and still having a full all around promenade deck is to weld a couple of big shelves on the sides of the ship and have external stairs by passing the obstructing balconies. This layout may be seen on deck plans of Grand, Star and Golden Princess.

The "all around Promenade Deck" is a feature which has been dropped on the next generation of Ships as on Britannia, so I assume the line does not consider this point as central nowadays.

Regards John

I have booked a fed cabin overlooking the observation deck. I'm worried about some reviews of the lack of privacy but at the same time I think it would be great to have a quiet deck area nearby. Does that deck just open in port or is it open on sea days too? Thanks.

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I have booked a fed cabin overlooking the observation deck. I'm worried about some reviews of the lack of privacy but at the same time I think it would be great to have a quiet deck area nearby. Does that deck just open in port or is it open on sea days too? Thanks.

 

 

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The forward observation deck is open very infrequently. Usually closed at night and in port, but I am not saying it is otherwise open! The views out of the relevant obstructed views (cabins L101, L102, L103 and L104) are on the P&O website. Conversely looking into the cabin from the outside deck. I wondered about this when I arrived in the cabin, so I took a walk out on deck to assess the situation. The cabins have a mirror glass type system of coating and from outside even with my head up against the window I could not see in. If you try this Florry, make sure your windows/cabins count is accurate. At night you can see into the cabins, I assume if you leave your cabin lights on and curtains open. I had a rule no cabin lights on in the day unless the curtains were shut just in case.

Regards John

I have never managed to get out onto that deck on Azura in the last two cruises last year. There was a Crew Only notice on it. The only access seemed to be if you paid £25 or so to sail away with the Officers. I kept trying....