AZURA - family or adult only?

[lady scout]

Thinking of booking for Azura to Iceland in June but am not sure if Azura is a family kids welcome ship or not. Did not really enjoy the Ventura with all the kids on board and as this ship appears to be as big or bigger then I am being cautious this time.

[Quercus]

Azura is a family ship.

[u2cruiser]

Classed as 'family friendly larger ship' in 2011 brochure. :)

[BrianI]

Azura is the same size as Ventura, just a different interior decor. Both cater for children.

Brian

[lady scout]

Thanks for the prompt replies - we will factor them into our decision. :)

[kevinyork]

Same size, same kids facilities (with the exception of Cirque Ventura). However the marketing for the Azura has been targetted at singles and couples. Certainly when we were on Azura last May we had difficulty spotting any kids and the kids clubs were empty. Therefore a like for like cruise on Azura and Ventura IMO would see far more kids on Ventura especially returning families who have enjoyed her before.

[Merlin7]

Thinking of booking for Azura to Iceland in June but am not sure if Azura is a family kids welcome ship or not. Did not really enjoy the Ventura with all the kids on board and as this ship appears to be as big or bigger then I am being cautious this time.

 

I don't think that Icleand wil be popular with families. Certainly our cruise to Greenland, Icleand and the fjords was not.

 

Anway, children on board are very well catered for, IMO, and no bother at all. We actually enjoy seeing them, the few times that they appear.

[tom_uk]

Also, I was wondering what time of year you were on Ventura? I can well believe that during the school holidays Ventura has a very large number of children on board; I'e heard figures of 600+ mentioned. However I have a feeling that out of the school holidays it might be different. Last year there were about 260 children on board during a 14 night W Med cruise in late May/early June, and we hardly ever saw them - just the occasional 'round the deck' crocodile of the younger ones, to show off dressing-up costumes; and in September 2008 on a Canary Islands cruise, I don't we noticed the children as much as that, even. So I would be very surprised if Azura was overrun with kids on an Iceland cruise in June.

 

Finally, you can email 'poreservations@pocruises.com' and ask them how many children are booked on a cruise. I did this last year and received a very helpful reply, with the number broken down by age-range; e.g. twenty-five 6 to 24 month olds; eighty-three 3 to 7 year olds; etc.

[SeaSickGill]

Finally, you can email 'poreservations@pocruises.com' and ask them how many children are booked on a cruise. I did this last year and received a very helpful reply, with the number broken down by age-range; e.g. twenty-five 6 to 24 month olds; eighty-three 3 to 7 year olds; etc.

 

Can you do this generally to find out how full a particular cruise is?

[Norfolk Brit]

Last year, in Venice, we happened across a senior officer from Azura; according to him, children were not actively encouraged on Azura, but were accepted. P&O were trying to actively encourage them onto Ventura.

 

Of course, he may have been wrong, or the (un)official policy may have changed.(

 

Mary

[Thejuggler]

It's a family ship, but you won't get many children on board for a trip to Iceland in June. We did the fjords on Ventura last June and there were very few children about - there were queues of OAPs waiting o go on the bungy trampolines!

[cclarke12]

Last year, in Venice, we happened across a senior officer from Azura; according to him, children were not actively encouraged on Azura, but were accepted. P&O were trying to actively encourage them onto Ventura.

 

Of course, he may have been wrong, or the (un)official policy may have changed.(

 

Mary

 

They might say this, but if it is the case why have children's facilities available that rival Ventura in size and capacity? It seems to me that P&O don't really know who their target market it for Azura. Having been on Ventura and Azura, the latter just comes out better from kids from our perspective because they have refined some of the children's facilities based on the experience they have from Ventura (e.g. children's pool at the back is much better on Azura)

 

Also for May half term this year, P&O have offered 90% discount child discount on the Azura Fjords cruise - if that isn't encouraging families I don't know what it is.

[lancashire_cruisers]

They might say this, but if it is the case why have children's facilities available that rival Ventura in size and capacity? It seems to me that P&O don't really know who their target market it for Azura. Having been on Ventura and Azura, the latter just comes out better from kids from our perspective because they have refined some of the children's facilities based on the experience they have from Ventura (e.g. children's pool at the back is much better on Azura)

 

Also for May half term this year, P&O have offered 90% discount child discount on the Azura Fjords cruise - if that isn't encouraging families I don't know what it is.

 

Well it certainly encouraged us to book that cruise:D!

 

Debbie:)

[cclarke12]

Well it certainly encouraged us to book that cruise:D!

 

Debbie:)

 

We're booked too - see you there. We are now awaiting the 2012 brochure to see if they have a similar bargain for school holidays :D

[lancashire_cruisers]

We're booked too - see you there. We are now awaiting the 2012 brochure to see if they have a similar bargain for school holidays :D

 

Same here. DD starts high school in September so it's purely school holidays for us for the next few years!

 

Debbie:)

[Britchic4]

We're booked too - see you there. We are now awaiting the 2012 brochure to see if they have a similar bargain for school holidays :D

 

Me too!:D

[Thejuggler]

Same here. DD starts high school in September so it's purely school holidays for us for the next few years!

 

Debbie:)

 

Same reason as we did the Fjords last year - last time we can go out of school hols!

 

After pricing a school hols cruise we won't be going on another for a long time - the thought of a ship full of children also puts us off!

[cclarke12]

uote=Thejuggler;27914916]Same reason as we did the Fjords last year - last time we can go out of school hols!

 

After pricing a school hols cruise we won't be going on another for a long time - the thought of a ship full of children also puts us off!

 

Keep an eye out for prices. My DS started school last September and we hadn't planned on doing a cruise in summer holiday leading up to this, but come last May great deals were coming up and we couldn't resist a deal of £1099 per adult on a 16 night Azura cruise for mid August which just got us back in time for the start of school (although we did end up deciding to upgrade....). There are good deals to be had - I certainly won't be paying the early booking prices for P&O summer school holiday cruises. There were only about 300 kids on Azura on that cruise and they were really well behaved. Last year Azura and Aurora had great July/August deals a few months before departure.

[Shelledpea]

I've booked Azura for October as they were offering free child places ;) so yes they take children ~ whether they give them back or not I don't know :D

[Britchic4]

I've booked Azura for October as they were offering free child places ;) so yes they take children ~ whether they give them back or not I don't know :D

 

Question is Shell, do you want them back?!:D

[davedex]

Finally, you can email 'poreservations@pocruises.com' and ask them how many children are booked on a cruise. I did this last year and received a very helpful reply, with the number broken down by age-range; e.g. twenty-five 6 to 24 month olds; eighty-three 3 to 7 year olds; etc.

 

Can you do this generally to find out how full a particular cruise is?

 

just tried the email & got the following message

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

poreservations@pocruises.com on 21/02/2011 13:12

The e-mail account does not exist at the organization this message was sent to. Check the e-mail address, or contact the recipient directly to find out the correct address.

 

any help???:confused:

[mrspjotter]

Just got back from 2 weeks around the caribbean on Azura - the ship was sold to us as a family friendly ship and we have a son aged 10 and twin girls aged 7 but in my opinion based on our experience on Azura and from what I have heard from friends who have been on ventura that ship would be a better choice for families.

 

We went out of school holidays and there were less than 50 kids on board - P&O told me there were 27 when I phoned an enquired but I think there were mor than that but definitely not more that 50.

[Brayman]

Just got back from 2 weeks around the caribbean on Azura - the ship was sold to us as a family friendly ship and we have a son aged 10 and twin girls aged 7 but in my opinion based on our experience on Azura and from what I have heard from friends who have been on ventura that ship would be a better choice for families.

 

We went out of school holidays and there were less than 50 kids on board - P&O told me there were 27 when I phoned an enquired but I think there were mor than that but definitely not more that 50.

 

Did you expect P&O to just conjure up kids then?

In term time you surely would expect far fewer kids to be around. That's why lots of people book in term time - to avoid them, regardless of ship.

[mrspjotter]

Brayman - you misunderstood me I wasn't complaining about the number of children onboard I was merely stating how many there were on a term-time holiday as the op was asking the question!

 

The reasons for us thinking Ventura is a more family friendly ship were nothing to do with the number of children onboard this is our 3rd term-time holiday so I am fully aware that the number of children onboard would be low!

[Brayman]

Brayman - you misunderstood me I wasn't complaining about the number of children onboard I was merely stating how many there were on a term-time holiday as the op was asking the question!

 

The reasons for us thinking Ventura is a more family friendly ship were nothing to do with the number of children onboard this is our 3rd term-time holiday so I am fully aware that the number of children onboard would be low!

 

OK, I understand now,.