Azura - Caribbean 4th-18th Feb 2017

Just got back from my latest Caribbean cruise, so thought I'd share some info on the cruise and ports.

Aruba - This was a new port for us. I've no doubt that had this not been our first stop (no exposure to the sun yet) we'd have spent the day on a lovely beach. But we played it safe and explored the local town. What we found was ridiculously overpriced beer and to some extent, a rip off. One bar boasted 2 for 1 on beers. No brand was mentioned. When we got the bill and no reduction on it, we questioned it. He said, well you didn't ask for the 2 for 1 beer. $10 for a beer when you can get a bucket of 6 in other ports for under $10.

Grand Cayman - Another new port, three on this trip. Paid for a tour that boasted of taking us to all kinds of places, but never did. We were on a tour with a local driver that included Brits and Americans. At the dolphin experience place, we agreed a time for return, only for someone to exceed it by around 20 minutes. When they did finally return, they clearly wanted to show that they didn't care that everyone else was waiting, and walked very slowly to the bus. Then a little later, the driver announces he needs to stop at an ATM for a number of people. I presume he did this because our American friends had said they didn't have the cash to pay him, because most of them got off at the ATM and had us sat there for 25 minutes. Again, no rush to get back on and no apology from anyone for having us all sat there waiting, including our friend from the Dolphin experience. Maybe apologising for something like this is a British thing? The upshot was that we didn't see all we expected and it made for a rather dull tour. For this reason, I wasn't sad to see the back of Grand Cayman, although it did look to be a nice island.

Jamaica - This was the stop of the cruise. We took the catamaran 'Cool Runnings' to the Dunn's River Falls and with a guide, climbed the falls. What an experience. Yes, it's very busy there, but that didn't diminish the enjoyment factor. The crew on the boat were also fantastic. A tour I would recommend.

Grand Turk is a place we'd been to before and on this cruise, replaced Amber Cove, which apparently had a naturist cruise in.....although thanks to the cruise line for no explanation on this. This was a beach day and we ventured over to Jack's Shack. Nice little bar. Just had beers and didn't bother with food, although the aroma from the grill had your mouth watering. Could have done with some service out by the sun loungers, but apart from them collecting empties, there was none. But great beach and finally a chill day.

Tortola is an old favourite of ours. But the day before was a sea day and although it didn't rain, it was overcast. We took a taxi to Cane Garden Bay, a place I love. But as we got there, I saw a lot of erosion on the wall and figured they must have had some bad storms. When we got to the beach, there were clear signs on erosion and the beach appeared half the width that it usually is. That meant the sun loungers at the front were constantly six inches deep in water and the loungers were subsequently spread further along the beach. We ended up six feet from the bus and taxi car park and didn't really feel we were actually on the beach. We also had rain, so we left early and came back over the mountain to a very hot cruise port. Shame about the bay, because it is a big favourite of ours.

St Maarten is another fave of ours and one thing we'd never done was to go over to Maho Bay and watch the planes land over the beach. So we did that from the safety of the bayside bar, since we needed a rest from the direct sunlight that day. A few beers and a lovely sea breeze. Very nice. We went back into Philipsburg for a few beers and some shopping and the best cheeseburger I'd had for years.

St Lucia is a fave of many people and it didn't disappoint. We'd never done a tour here, so we went to a botanical gardens where we learnt all about Lushan life and what they eat etc. We even got to try it for ourselves. This visit made the tour, but I have to say that we were promised more, like the beach and shops, but it didn't happen. That's twice on the cruise and I've never had this happen before. Back at the cruise port, we had a 'couple' of beers at the Rum Therapy Bar, as we always do. A late departure from St Lucia meant that we could stay at the bar until well after sundown. Fantastic.

Finally......Dominica. I'll just say that we did the rainforest and waterfall tour once before and the island doesn't really do much for us. So we stayed on board.

Back to Barbados and a beachfront bar.

As for the cruise itself, I'm happy to criticise where I see fit, but I think many things had improved. The food was better than previous cruises. More inventive both in the buffet and MDR. Waiters friendlier and cabin steward very good. I use the £12.50 internet package and it was very good for posting pics etc. The standard niggles remain though. No matter how much they tell people, they won't regulate the sun loungers themselves. Bed-hogging was as bad as ever and with a crew of 800-900, you would think they could spare someone to monitor this....because it really does need monitoring.

The entertainment was hit and miss. Resident bands were good, but the other entertainment....not so sure. Mark Walker is always good, and this time, he had our party up on stage doing Irish dancing. The other comedians, were average. Overall, I'd say this is an area for improvement. Others have suggested the entertainment in the Caribbean this year wasn't as good and I'd agree. I missed Manuel Martinez......he's always been on but wasn't this time.

My full scorn is reserved for the badly named loyalty desk, where you can book your next cruise for a £50 deposit and usually, extra OBC. They had a special offer on for next Feb. So we go to ask about it and she looks for availability. Oh sorry, ally he balconies are gone on that level, but you can pay for for another deck. Ok. Oh sorry, all those are gone too, but you can go up a level. And so it went on, until we were at a level that would have cost us £800-£1200 more than this cruise did. What they are doing is releasing only a few cabins and releasing the less favourite ones on the cruise desk. That's the trade off for the extra OBC. It has nothing to do with loyalty. I was a bit upset that the girl on the desk played this game where she looked for cabins, knowing that they didn't exist.

All that apart, another good cruise, great weather and great company. P&O have upped their game, particularly in the dining rooms. I believe P&O have one eye on Richard Branson's entry into the market in 2020, and I'd say they should be a little worried. Over the last 2-3 years, cruising has got more and more popular and the Britannia has helped to lure families in particular. But year on year, prices are going up far beyond inflation. I understand that some would say they'd be crazy not to do this when the going is a good. But they need to be careful. We have decided not to go back to the Caribbean after four consecutive years. Partly because we feel we've seen what we want to see, but also because the price doesn't stack up. If the price was right, we'd go back. It's hard to beat the Winter sun over there. But we could have two to three great separate holidays for the price of a balcony in the Caribbean. It's a no-brainier for us.