hansol1966

Just got of Azura 4th May and noticed a strong smell of sewerage during the lifebelt drill in the Blue bar, if we could have disappeared we would have..horrible.

While waiting for a tender to St. Peter Port, watching the lucky few (excursions) getting off the ship early we had the same smell over deck 16 Breakers bar wafting around us so we moved down the ship which solved the problem.

Having worked in the building industry all sewage systems have to vent to air to stop build up of gases, with the two occasions mentioned the ship was static maybe the fumes linger. We were in the Blue bar on a sea day 1.00pm and smelt nothing..A problem that definitely needs solving.

Oh dear silly me sausage fingers...1.30pm of course. Thankyou for your attention.

We sailed to Ijmuiden/ Amsterdam direct from Southampton with no sea day arriving 12.30pm Offloading 1.30pm. With your extra sea day you will easily make port for before 8.00am. Basically treading water along the way.

Why not travel the same speed (16 knots) as our trip arrive at 1.30am and have 2 nights in Amsterdam.....P&O .???

The queues on the 22nd March Azura test/debacle trip was mostly down to the disembarkation time of 1.30pm..passengers sitting around after breakfast with nothing else to do, waiting to get of the ship. One port only so most people wanted to make the most of it. The next morning we got off at 8.30am,with a short wait we were off.

on your trip arriving early 8.00am it should be easier as passengers will be having breakfast etc.

With the shuttle bus it will drop you about 10 mins from Amsterdam Central Station by the river. 250 yds in front of the train station are the canal boats @ 10-12 euros very easy to do and a lot cheaper than a tour £32-34 or £11 as you have the free shuttle.

For us the shuttle bus and location 20+miles from Amsterdam central was a pain with the added problem off the first day queuing ..no shelter or seating.

Yours should go better.

Yes we did that Brian not every Post Office provide that service but there is always one locally.  Give them your old passport (which they send to HM Passport office) provide your mobile number and pay the fee, the counter staff then take your photo in their digital booth and send it on, very simple. No postage or photo costs , I received a email back in 30 minutes from HM Passports to say application was received, with daily updates on progress. Just under a week it arrived.

All I am really posting is if in doubt use the HM passports website, put your details in and see what the passport office say. Who knows how Brexit might unfold...I would always err on safety especially with travel documents.

Sorry don’t know my son is over 18.

As I have posted on another thread I did notice in a newspaper with Brexit looming (or not) that the 10 years on your passport actually runs from the start date not the expiry date where usually they would add on a few months if you renewed early giving 10 years plus a few months. My passport started  22/09/09 but expired on 22/02/20.......but the true expiry date is in fact 22/09/19......taking 6 months off gives a usable passport date until 22/03/19.  On the passport website there is a check for a current passports validity entering your relevant details.

The service I mentioned was not the check and send service which I used for our son on our last cruise 22nd March Amsterdam, the reason being, my sons passport had expired 18 months previously and we could not find it after moving from Surrey to Wales. We needed a photograph signed but we have not known anybody in this area for two years. We had to travel back to Surrey from Wales due to time constraints to have the photo countersigned. So there are many scenarios to a passport application.

The service I used is not available in all post offices but very easy to use and gives peace of mind.  You give the counter staff your old passport and mobile number pay the fee, they take photo in their digital booth and that is it...30 mins later the passport office emailed to say the application had been received with daily progress reports and a progress tracking number. A very good service if you want peace of mind. No photos or postage to buy as it’s in the service.

Post office do a service....they take your digital photo you give them your old passport and mobile number...pay £90-91 and they do the rest....all the paperwork and send your passport to the passport office...our passports were back within a week...no photos to be signed could not be any simpler. Only certain Post offices do this service just check online. I’m sorry Narrow boat girl should have posted this earlier...enjoy your trip.

Narrow boat girl we had to renew our passports that had an expiry date of Feb2020 but our passports start date was September 2009 giving according to new rules now the passport actually will have expired in September 2019..6mths off leaving the passport valid to April 2019. The passport website has a checking facility with some basic details will tell you whether you should renew your passport.

If no tv why don’t P&o let everybody have free movies. But as I posted earlier the channels are repeated daily on a four day. Post the daily movies around the ship on your cabin tv as a given, it means everybody, frail and disabled don’t have to gather on top deck or go elsewhere on the ship to watch the daily movies.

In a superior deluxe balcony on the recent Amsterdam trip I could not believe how poor the tv was (if tv is not part of your thing don’t worry). Why don’t P&O broadcast the daily movies in the cinema inside and outside on a specific channel like Cunard do also enrichment programmes, early morning shows showcasing the days acts and activities in a magazine format, also cookery demonstrations....this was for all but especially for passengers with limited mobility. Apart from that every day for four days the programmes were repeated on every very limited channel...could be a lot better.....The minimum is showing the films of the day being shown in cabin...

Mole were you on this cruise as I was and do you have an association with P&O as you sound like voice for the company......I was on this cruise and I saw the buses 19 shuttle ..3 disability great job well done....excursions.  1.30  first embarkation ...shambles...huge queues..after the 19 buses left there waiting still on the quay 200 passengers till the buses returned, then a lot of passengers were waiting for the buses to return..3.00 pm plus after boarding arrival in Amsterdam ironically near to the passenger terminal where Azura would have docked originally at 4.00 pm...hardly a full day in Amsterdam.

Just back today, will post more tomorrow our cabin was just below the photo of the buses and I watched all of the bus boarding process from on high...including one bus just below us which grazed another bus taking it’s tail lights off rendering it unusable....2 full days in Amsterdam....as still advertised..Joke...will post tomorrow. Nice to be moored opposite a Steel works instead of an Amsterdam skyline.

Very nice to see P&O have moved the drop off point to much better location near the Central Station which provides easier access to Amsterdam. The canal cruises are a short walk away and cost us 8 euros now might be 10 euros...P&O are charging £34 each....you can easily do it yourself for 10 euros and a 300 yd walk straight opposite Central Station. It’s still 2 hrs each trip there and back, if this stays the same with Ijmuiden docks it is possible Amsterdam will become like any coach based product a day visit with no overnights. 

We are on the 22nd March trip and had the holiday information brochure, all excursion to Amsterdam have a 1 hour coach trip their and back ...2 hours for one visit, if you want to go to Amsterdam in the evening as well that’s 4 hours...go the next day that’s 6 hours travel. From the original berth to Amsterdam central 20 minutes leisurely stroll along the river or a 1 mile taxi ride for a few Euros, from Ijmuiden somebody did post on this thread the taxi fair and it was not cheap. Just a thought on the lock gates theory if this was true P&O would be all over the media saying they can’t dock in Amsterdam due to this problem and if true myself and most passengers would accept it.  Because they haven’t the passenger tax must be why so many cruise lines are trying to make a stand...The honourable thing for P&O to do would have been to fulfill the cruises advertised as berthing in Central Amsterdam Passenger terminal and berth at Ijmuiden docks where this was and will be advertised.  I will post how the process unravels.

Thankyou for replying to my post happy v ...my default is would all of us (disabled, elderly, walking problems) plus able bodied passengers realise the difference between Ijmuiden docks ..shuttle buses as against the original destination Amsterdam cruise terminal where I have docked twice before....Good access to Central Amsterdam..walking or a short and cheap taxi ride to and fro...1 MILE...as against 20 miles..anytime...a cheap short taxi ride whenever you want  for all passengers as well.

lets vote Ijmuiden docks or Amsterdam cruise terminal...

We are travelling on the Azura 22nd March 4 night mini cruise to Amsterdam  with our disabled son with travelling problems....As advertised this cruise was perfect ..close to Amsterdam central...lovely walk or push to the popular areas for us...Not to be..We are soon to be the guinea pigs for IJmuiden P&O coach transfers...2000+ passengers travelling to Amsterdam with a 2 hour turnaround what will be the waiting time as it is the only port of call...how many coaches at 60 people each..40...well see....old people..disabled people..what if it’s raining...we have decided not to get of the ship with our son as the transport round trip will be to much..Docking centrally was doable..but not 2 hour round trip transfers...

I did post on this thread yesterday that a major UK website was offering Azura March 22 nd 4 nt balcony for a fraction over 100 PPPN..to AMSTERDAM not the port on the coast as I call it (IJmuiden)....IJmuiden should be classed as the same as Zebrugge...Rotterdam.....both cruise ship coach based products..IJmuiden possibly might become the same. As for the Amsterdam Council who ultimately have the upper hand I’m sure can either give in or charge the coaches a fee for entering the city....this is why I think PO coaches have to find some private land to offload passengers, as dropping and waiting for passengers in a popular area would not go down well....This is brinksmanship and we are the PAWNS............

IJmuiden is not Amsterdam...as Tilbury is not London...I have cruised to Amstrerdam twice with Cunard and docked at the cruise terminal..no problems..a pleasant walk along the river to the main station, canal cruises and popular areas. Get off and on when you want ..wonderful especially if this your only port of call and an overnight stay..very special and easy especially with a disabled person in a wheelchair....very doable and pleasant. let’s take the change...20 miles away... 50 mins travel..THERE AND BACK...2500 passengers getting off to their only port of call  as on our cruise Azura March how many buses ....Fourty or Fifty ..the waiting time to get on..what if it’s raining..my sons disabled in a wheelchair..this change is ridiculous...it’s about a stand and money...The cherry on the cake is we will not be dropped where 99% of passengers want outside Central Station or near but in some obscure underground parking lot  20-30 minutes from the centre....with a wheelchair it’s going to be that we don’t leave the ship...many thanks P&O for the change...You should have honoured cruises advertised as docking in Amsterdam not a port on the coast..then sell cruises like Brugge..Rotterdam as coach based products....words fail me.....

This was our first trip with Fred Olsen as it was a nice mini- cruise to Le Havre over the weekend. The ship had delays boarding as some works still had to be finished so it was packed while waiting to board.....The ship started boarding about 2.45pm and we were on by 3.30pm (free tea coffee+biscuits while we were waiting).

As it was our first time the nuances of the refurbishment ill leave to seasoned travellers. We had a meal in The Grill which is their new speciality restaurant charging a £20 pp fee. The meal was of very good quality and by being cooked to order was fresh and hot. While the set menu could have had a few more choices in the starter (3)/pudding(2) category it was still a very good meal.

I would have it again..finding the restaurant was tricky as there is no mention of it yet in the ships map or any signage onboard, it is in fact part of the Palms restaurant tucked around the back overlooking the pool area. Nice but cold be made more special.

Also i heard on the tv that there was a new coffee shop called Cafe Venus and always looked busy.

Apart from embarcation this was a very good trip with excellent staff...welldone.

For the next three weekends (Sat/Sun) South West Trains until 16/3/2014 are offering return tickets to any two South West Trains stations for £10.......for example Waterloo to Southampton/Portsmouth/Bournemouth....anywhere on the network....A great deal.....(Winter Sale)

Well done Cunard for booking 2 great acts for our short Hamburg to Southampton mini cruise. Leaving Hamburg we had a Beatles cover band (The Beatles Experience) who were fantastic...standing ovation. The next night we had a brilliant aerial..acrobatic..balance act INCANTO.. another standing ovation...well done Cunard.

We have just got off the QM2 from Hamburg to Southampton and have the transfer booking form to hand.

SOU-STP St Pancras International Station Transfer (approx 2.5hrs drive)

Approx departure time 08.45am $59 per person motorcoach transfer