amurray88

I sailed from Miami - they put everyone into different "pens" for want of a better word, based on their check in time. I was down for 11am and was on the ship for 10:15am which was amazing! I presume if you're down for 2pm and you're there at 11am then they'll clear the other pens first and then get you on. Remember, some 11am ones won't show til later.

Just finished watching 2 hours of Explora videos 😂

We were on with a pram and I was quite surprised...every time they asked for the baby to come out and gave the pram a good search...might have just been for weapons etc. don't get me wrong, if you wanted to take something on it would have been very easy though

Sadly think my RCL days are over for the moment. Just off P&O - flights, transfers, 7 night cruise all for £1,000 ($1250-1300). The entertainment wasn't as good as RCL obviously but it was surprisingly good.... £5 for a beer ($6.40). Tips all included and not added to drinks. We did have issues pre-cruise but very good on it. When I see the prices of Icon ...or even Oasis class, I think I'm now at a point of considering the more luxurious lines that are all inclusive and I never thought I'd ever say that but it seems it ends up working out around the same if you go on RCL, add a drinks package and treat yourself to a speciality or two.

From what I've seen, they're charging my 6 month old baby the same fare as an adult .....

Not according to the video

I agree with your comment on Disney. Having been a long term Florida fan, I can't see myself going back there either now. It's not much fun! The NHL game is a wee bit different...you're there for a few hours. On a ship for 2 or 3 days at sea ties you into that company a bit more.

Here's hoping. Got Symphony for £450pp last year...not sure I'll get that again 😱. Just off P&O cruise and didn't have to pay for baby which was so helpful, RCL is more or less full cost for baby (6 months old) so definitely having to make different decisions now.

Yup... That and the $200 per person restaurant on board (plus 18% = $236 per person). Got to be honest, I love RCL but if this is where it's going I think I'm priced out.

Just watching a video from UK guys who were on Aida Cosma (was intrigued as the ship pretty much followed us) and they flew into the North airport. Very strange. Would rather be safe than risk it though!

We stopped at a cafe right next to the shopping centre. Was lovely and I could not believe how cheap it was. 14€ definitely sounds expensive for that

Nope...they "suggest" you add a shot into it.

I love Oasis class ships... But the sheer price now that we have a family of 3 is too much compared to lines that don't charge for kids/babies. HOWEVER, I've just watched a video of Icon OTS and saw the menu for the milkshake bar. $16.50 for a milkshake, they cannot be serious??? ($14 plus 18%). Wow.

I love Oasis class ships but I've just seen the menu for one of the Icon of the Seas milkshake bars... $14 for a milkshake plus service fee... $16.50 for a milkshake. I think I'll stick with P&O from now on!

Didn't realise that...let's stick with the extra 30min transfer. Unless they can bring the boat to the airport instead?

That's exactly what I said! We went into Starbucks in London today to get boiling water for babies bottle (I wouldn't give them the £ for coffee). They had a hot chocolate (no marshmallows) at...wait for it.... £6.35! What is going on!

To be fair too .. the value really was incredible. Some MSC ships don't charge for babies but most other companies do (RCL is pretty much a full fare). For P&O not to charge AND give him a seat on the flight was incredible. What a difference it made having that extra seat.

Madeira was fine...it rained so maybe that spoiled it a wee bit. Found a lovely wee cafe which was ridiculously cheap (£4 for 2 coffees and 2 cakes). Thought the Christiano Ronaldo museum/hotel/restaurant a bit tacky? We went off the boat after dinner for a quick wander into the gardens. In fairness to the ports they were lovely but I'm normally up at 5am for a 5:30am train to Rome and not back on the boat til 5-6 type of guy. We found ourselves going off the boat for a quick wander (couple of hours) and that was it. I knew that when I booked it, the ports definitely weren't the attraction so happy to not worry too much about it.

Not the end of the world...and might not even be possible. But seems odd as it seems much closer to the port.

Hello all, Just back from Azura and a few brief opinions below on my thoughts as well as how it compares to my previous cruises (RCL, NCL & MSC). Pre-cruise - this unfortunately nearly made us cancel the cruise. It really was horrific - the P&O shore side customer service have a huge amount of work to do to be close to acceptable. 1/10 - bottom of the pile compared to the rest. Check in - due to our awful pre-cruise experience I was desperate for this cruise to go well so turned up to the airport hoping for the best. Jet2 staff were excellent, it was quick and easy. The bus to the port is a faff, potentially a necessary evil but could P&O handle the luggage (the same way they do on the return) and could they even use the north airport? Not sure if this is possible. When we arrived at the port terminal again it was quick and easy. Staff were helpful. 10/10 can't compare as have never done fly cruise before but check in was on par with other cruise lines in my experience. Ship - I was surprised - I heard alot of people saying the ship was showing her age, she was dated etc. we didn't find it this way. It's not sparkly but there's a charm in the wood interior. We had a big issue (as you'll read later) with the layout and design of the ship but I don't see that as being dated. The ship is newer (I believe?) than admittedly my favourite, Oasis class ships (we'll Oasis OTS). So the design isn't dated, it was just poorly designed in the first instance. On embarking the lifts took forever however, during the cruise I felt the lifts were quick. Theatre is adequate although could definitely do with more accessible seating at the back. The buffet wasn't good, what a poor layout and service 👎. And by that I don't mean the staff, but to only have small parts of the buffet open at any given time is strange. The main restaurants (we ate breakfast/lunch&dinner in MDR) most days - was great and they were very understanding of us having a baby with us. Shop prices are high - they were selling a Radley purse for £96 that was £36 on sale on the Radley website. The bars weren't great and the flow of people was strange. Main theatre shows at 8:30, coming out at 9:15, show at Manhattan starts at 9:30. Literally hundreds of people moving from one side of ship to the other to find the venue already full. Bit odd. Ship - 6/10. Nicer than NCL Epic, not as nice as RCL or MSC ships IMHO. Food - MDR food was very good. Menus on the whole were very good but felt that one night the menu was a little strange - that's all down to opinions. The buffet food we didn't really touch but on the whole looked fine. Someone told us they put hot chocolate out at 11pm and although not normally for us, it was very good. Our biggest let down was Sindhu. I had heard amazing things about this but the service really was awful. We were 1hr 40mins between arriving and receiving our mains. On arriving we asked for a pot of boiling water for our babies bottle. We then reminded them 30mins later when the poppadoms came. And reminded them 30mins later when our starters came. We were told the chef was making it (seriously?). By this point we were a bit anxious as babies don't cope well with being hungry 😂. The water came with our main course (1hr 40mins after requesting)...as did the screaming. We tried to eat the main course but baby was screaming so much we had to leave. No apology for time taken and full bill was charged). Beach house was excellent...I think it gets a bad name on here but I was really pleasantly surprised. Food - 7/10 better than RCL, slightly worse than NCL (MDR is equivalent, although NCL's speciality is better) and worse than MSC. Staff - they were excellent. Couldn't find a fault. When we sailed MSC last year we found that the ground staff were great but restaurant managers, bar managers etc were very poor to customers and colleagues. With P&O we found the staff from top to bottom were great (apart from the pre-cruise experience mentioned above). Staff - 10/10 better than MSC and RCL (RCL waiters must have been under alot of pressure as they kept saying on surveys we must give 5/5 as RCL see 4/5 as being unacceptable) and probably better than NCL although it felt like they had alot more staff on NCL. Cabin - cabin was great. Biggest complaint might be that there are no bedside plugs. Could have done with a bigger TV but this doesn't bother us at all. But please...please sort the toilet paper. Surely there's no need for the sand paper they currently use 😂 Cabin - 6/10 bit worse than others due to plugs and TV... And go get a deal with Andrex! Entertainment - surprisingly good. The general theatre company put on a few decent shows that were entertaining and the 2 bands on board were excellent. The Vinylettes were good and the Privateers really stole the show - very very good. Entertainment - 7/10 - worse than RCL (can anything really compete with Oasis class entertainment?) and NCL - Better than MSC. Ports - our favourite port was La Palma although the cruise was more for a break with sunshine rather than ports. The other ports were blah. I found the overnight in Tenerife frustrating - I enjoy cruising and unless in a major city I'm not into overnights. Ports - 3/10. Can't compete with major Med cities. Accessibility - maybe it's because it's our first cruise with a baby but this was really disappointing - as was the layout of the ship. On embarking we were faced with steps and no other option (even though 7 days later there was a ramp). In Madeira there was "ramp" but with steps fitted on to the ramp. There were 2 options for baby pools - the Coral pool (1.8m deep at it's shallowest which was too deep for us to enjoy with a baby in our arms) or the perfect baby pool...which was on deck 16 and only way to access it was to lift the pram up a set of steep stairs. On the promenade deck there's a set of stairs to enter/exit...it really wouldn't take alot of money to change one of these into a ramp. Several events were advertised in Horizon with the strap line "this event is not suitable for passengers in wheelchairs" - surely this is crazy in this day and age? The layout of the ship - don't get me started. There were 2 decks on the whole ship out with cabin decks, that you could walk from one side of the ship to the other. Far far far too many "go up a deck, go along, go down a deck" or "this lift only goes to this deck, you'll need to go to that lift to get to that deck". We found the layout of the Glasshouse very odd. Beach house is in the buffet but done very well. Sindhu was fine for layout. But the corridors that run through Glasshouse with people walking through tables of diners just odd. Wouldn't go to the Glasshouse because of this. Accessibility - 2/10 - far worse than competitors. Other passengers - 99% were great. Given that we had our baby with us, most were very friendly. The ones that stick in your head though are the ones that commented about babies shouldn't be allowed on ships, or shook their heads, or pushed their way in front of you. An older gent in a wheelchair was struggling to get into his cabin one day. I tried to help him as he said he couldn't get his card to work. I tried his card and a woman came out the room, extremely rudely, told us to get away from her door, this isn't our room and to stop bothering her. The older guy was clearly disabled and a bit confused - no need to talk to others like that. Passengers 8/10 - better than MSC passengers but that's not saying much 😂 Amenities - it was a wee treat to have a sauna included at no additional cost. This then broke on day 3 and wasn't fixed for the duration. I could moan that it wasn't fixed...or praise that it was free. Either way, it was good while it lasted. Lastly - Value It was very good value for money. To get all that we did for ~£1000 is excellent. Would I go back? If I knew I wouldn't have the pre cruise hassle I probably would go back if the price is right. Lets face it - the ship is uninspiring. The destinations are bland. So I wouldn't go back for those reasons...but for a week in the sun, it is significantly cheaper than any full board, 3-4 star hotel, with flights, transfers etc.

I felt it was clear who the waiters and restaurant managers were. He was certainly "above" them and I could be wrong but I'm sure he was introduced during the captain's speech. Thanks!

Hello, After all the hassle of pre-cruise, we're on the plane back after a good holiday 👌. One guy in particular was great with us and DS. Is there any way of finding out names of officers? I reckon he was perhaps food/drinks manager as he was in all the restaurants, bars, buffet and generally around the ship all the time. Would love to know his name. Thanks!

It was only closed for that one day 👌. We were in Fuerteventura today and boarded with a bottle of beer (found a craft beer I like in a Hyperdino for 74¢ (normally about £2.50 at home) so thought I'd risk it... No hassle. I heard someone at the pool today saying someone at their dinner table brought on a suitcase full of drink. Seems a bit over the top? But hey ho

I've enjoyed that side... Compared to other cruise lines it certainly doesn't seem like there's alot of up selling ... Or general pushiness to purchase things. The tea/coffee in dining room and buffet is of a good standard (other lines can have horrible coffee and so you feel compelled to buy better), the food in the restaurant is pretty good (admittedly not as good as cruising used to be but that's across the board now). I'm surprised they're owned by Carnival given the laid back approach to people spending money.😂

The spar was closed unfortunately so was just a wee tourist trap place with sweeties, postcards, drinks etc. No issues at all and felt as though we could have taken on 4 kegs of beer and no-one would have cared. This is only in Tenerife though - the other ports, security has been carried out by P&O and I would say they would have been stricter.