Grand Princess & Azura Comparison

[seb530]

Probably well discussed but it in my opinion Princess have ruined the lines of the Grand Princess by removing sky walkers.. It just doesn't look right at all as the ship doesn't have the nightclub/bars of similar class ships.

 

Anyhoo, following my trip on Azura I noted down some comparisons between P&O/Princess and Grand/Azura which you may be interested in:

 

Azura has no way to access the area above the bridge as this was through "crew only" doors

 

On Azura, you could not walk completely around Promenade deck as there was no way to get around the nose of the ship on that deck. From the deck plans you would have to go up one deck and out doors at end of corridor which we didn't try.

You could walk around the front of the ship above the bridge area, starting on the starboard side but the port side was blocked by cabin balconies.

 

The Manhattan venue located at the rear of Promenade was the ships nightclub (as opposed to the Planet Bar or, as was, Skywalkers on the Grand. this seemed a good decision as it was always busy until about 2am, leaving the Planet Bar as a quieter location for drinks.

 

Azura has two dining rooms for fixed dining and one for freedom dining whereas the Grand had two freedom and one fixed. I was slightly surprised at this as i thought freedom dining was gaining popularity

 

Both top deck centre pools are open to the elements whereas the Grand has one covered

 

Azura has 3 staggered layers of decking which can be used to view the seascreen (aka movies under the stars)

Azura outer doors onto decks are largely automatic (helps on those blustery days)

 

Azura Cabins have tea/coffee making facilities

 

In-cabin tv has the facility to view hour bill making reception (as its called on Azura) a much quieter place

 

Azura only had one ping pong table whereas it could have done with four as this was a very popular activity amongst teens

 

Tipping on Azura was set at £1.60 per person per day for restaurant staff through an automatic charge and a recommended £1.50 per day for cabin steward. At £3.10 per person per day, these charges compared very favorably to Princess who charge d $10.50 (£6.56)

 

Shuttle buses from the ship to the town centre in each port were free. Princess charge approx $10 for each person return trip

 

Drinks were very reasonably riced. The very agreeable house white wine was priced at £11.95, Princess cheapest were near $20 (£14). Two beers was £6.40, again not too bad. All prices were what you paid, i.e. No 15% gratuity visible on top (not to say its not built in somewhere)

 

Strangely, P&O seem to miss a trick in the main theatre by not offering drinks, whereas Princess had waiters in the theatre who were very attentive.

On port days there is no water or soft drinks to take ashore, albeit this may change from cruise to cruise.

 

Shop prices excluded VAT so you had to remember to add 20% to all prices

The popcorn on Azura for Seascreen was not free

 

There is no unlimited kids drinks card with P&O. coke was £1.50 or £1.75 a glass but you could buy a 20 drink package for £30 which was a bit pricey considering the base cost of these mixers. However, to sweeten the deal a little you could add a 20 ice cream card for £10. Both cards were identical and any many staff would not have noticed an ice cream card passed for a drink. Ethics aside, useful for those trips which turn out to be less sunny than expected. Ice-cream is of the soft whippy type served in a nice thick chocolate tipped cone. This type of Ice-cream was free in Princess

 

Breakfast - largely a full fried breakfast and could really have done with more fruit/smoked salmon a la Princess. Compared to the waffle station on Princess, the Azura failed badly with no cream, almonds or fruit.

 

Dinner - food was very good but portions of the main part (beef etc) were quite small and fleshed out by veggies. At one sitting the waiter offered another portion as "the chef was not giving big portions". Good for the water to do it but shouldn’t be necessary. However, on the flip side I hate wasted food so tough to call.

 

Besides Formal and Smart Casual, P&O have a semi-formal dress code some nights. I found this a real pain as I didn't mind bringing formal and casual but just didn't like to have to bring a jacket for one night. Personally, I don't see the need for this and think that P&O should get rid of semi-formal

Buffer venues - three serving stations as opposed to the Grands two which alleviated the queues although not the dash for tables!!!!

the ship was 90% UK passengers with slightly less observing formal evenings than I saw on Princess

 

Photo prices were high i felt - £15.95 for portraits and £6.95 for casual prints. Printed books containing 5 portraits could be bought (and printed) on board - not a bad deal as you also got the hard copy prints free. However, this compared very badly to the Panraven book i ordered on Princess last year which worked out at 100 pages for £40 and you could fill the book with all your own photos and any you had bought, the only downside being you did this when you got back and required some effort.

 

P&O do not offer any type of Ultimate Tour experience. The Captain advised that they had considered it but, in his opinion, it was down to security. This is understandable in todays world but doesn't explain why another line under the same Group differs in opinion..

 

All in, I believe that both cruise lines offer a great experience but the drink prices, free shuttles and lower tips result in P&O offering better value fr money. On a weeks long cruise, i would expect a family of four to save £250 plus ($400) by traveling with P&O.

[Pam in CA]

Just a quick comment. Skywalkers was removed from the Grand Princess to maintain structural integrity. The weight and location of it was causing too much stress on the ship's structure. Unfortunately, it's removal resulted in a profile change but better that than a possible crack in the hull.

[nml]

They did replace the Skywalker nightclub with the new One5 Lounge and Nightclub

[Essiesmom]

Another difference you might consider:

Grand Princess built in 1998 for the American market

Azura built in 2010 for the UK market.

 

EM

[Vexorg]

A more direct comparison to the Azura would be one of the three Crown class ships (Crown, Emerald and Ruby) which have the extra deck compared to the Grand class. A lot of this would still apply, but some of the layout-related comments would be no different between Azura and the Crown class ships.

[O2B@Cagain]

"food was very good but portions of the main part (beef etc) were quite small and fleshed out by veggies. At one sitting the waiter offered another portion as "the chef was not giving big portions".

 

LOL! A serving of meat is 3-4 oz., the size of a deck of cards. Veggies should be the majority of the plate.:D