Azura 2nd April

My last cruise with P&O at Christmas 2015 was awful in terms of food, problems with cabin and lots of minor points as well

Watching the forums I have taken on board comments that food seems to have improved considerably.

We didn't want to write P&O off completely as we like sailing from Southampton all year round so we have booked Azura on 2nd April - mostly because of the ports and the fact that its a SCD cruise, and because the timing suits us.

I have taken into consideration now that as we have to travel to Southampton by taxi (and can't afford to arrive just before our boarding time in case of problems on the road) that we will probably be sitting at the terminal for hours depending on our embarkation time and I will do my best not to compare the experience to the other cruise lines that handle this so much better for those with a journey

Anyway - I have just noticed that Azura, Britannnia and Ventura are all in port that day - a Sunday (Southampton play Bournemouth the day before - lets hope that isn't moved for Sunday tv!). Does anyone have any experience of being in Southampton when all 3 of P&O's biggest ships are departing on the same day? I have had a quick look at hotels and they are booking up fast - I need to decide soon if we are going to stay overnight.

Any experience of this appreciated

I'd just say to stay overnight. It seems to be the most logical option IMO as you don't have to worry about congestion, and literally just turn up.

Dan

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Depends how far you are traveling. I just booked with eavesway directly and they navigated us around the traffic. Although I much preferred arriving my train.

While food is a personal preference; the food on the Azura really was quite good indeed.

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Our food on Britannia, March 16 was pretty good, varied hot and plentiful. We've sailed from Southampton a couple of times when big ships are in port including Anthem and Harmony but never really had an issue with the traffic. Taxi drivers are usually pretty good at negotiating busy periods.

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Think we'll take a chance and leave home early to ensure we get to Southampton before lunchtime

Depending on weather and embarkation time we'll either try and be patient in the terminal or walk/taxi into the shopping centre after we've dropped off our luggage and kill a couple of hours there

Thanks for the input

Were booked on the same cruise as you 2nd April, in the past we have driven down the same day, last year, we had 3 ships in port, our boarding wasn't until 3pm, but we didn't want to risk being late, we left about 9am, got on the A34 Bicester, about 10 miles from Southampton there were very long tail backs, but we still got there for 12 noon, we were lucky we were onboard by 1pm. We will do the same this year, with it being Sunday the traffic should be lighter. We have also booked hotels in the past and left the car there, but we have free port parking, so just leave plenty of time you should be fine. Might see you onboard.