Azura world Cruise cancelled

[jeanlyon]

There are loads of people, myself included, who just love sailing out of the UK. That's what make it a cruise for me.

[davecttr]

Not all of us want to sail ex Southampton but our options have become limited due to the Carnival Corporation's transfer of ships to the Australian market.

Currently receiving 4 to 5 mailings and numerous e-mails every week offering deeply discounted cruises departing from UK ports which we are not interested in, we have no cruises booked for 2012 and beyond not because we are not interested but because the cruise lines no longer offer what we want!

I wonder if carnival are under the impression that a pan-european brand would work or that as long as you speak english their americam brands are just as acceptable as a british product. They may be wrong!

 

It appears to me that there is a gap in the market covering the former OV style or a 'P&O lite' brand offering fly cruises from the UK. Maybe they are playing the long game and are waiting until another company (tui?) commits to a considerable investment in the british market. Then they quickly redeploy/rebrand some ships and zap the 'enemy' plans :eek:

[MattyBarlow]

Carnival are happy to invest in German casual cruising with Aida. RCI group invest in the German casual cruise market with TUI. So why are the Brits now more or less ignored.

[delondin]

Sorry to hear this. When and what ships and what were the reasons given. Also was any compensation offered?

 

We had booked as soon as bookings opened, I think in the August, for a cruise on Royal Princess to Tahiti, something we had always been planning to do for our 25 th wedding anniversary. We booked early to get our early booking discount and to get the cabin we wanted as there were only a few of the cabin type as it is such a small ship. I then found out on the boards in the December ( the cruise was for 16 months' time at this point) that the ship was being transferred to P&0 and our cruise would no longer be available. Unbelievebly our travel agent and Princess Uk new nothing about this when I rang. They couldn't even confirm that I would get my deposit back at this point.

 

We were very disappointed because by now our options had gone for Tahiti. We managed to get an alternative cruise to Shanghai on sister ship Ocean and they moved our deposit over, but as it was a weekend when we booked it they couldn't confirm until the Monday that this would be possible. We didn't get the same cabin, which we had researched, but a similar one,

because it had obviously gone by now. We got no compensation because in their eyes we hadn't lost anything. Only our dream and cabin.

 

I always refer to it as 'my lost Tahiti' as since then the prices have rocketed.

 

We booked in October 2010 to go from Rio to fort lauderdale in march 2012. About three weeks later I read again on the boards that the cruise had been cancelled because it had been decided to reroute the star up the west coast instead. Again princess uk knew nothing about it when I rang which amazes me, and couldn't tell me when and if I would get my deposit back. When I looked into it there was publicity that had been around for some time saying that there would be another ship in the new area so IMO it wasn't a last minute decision to relocate the ship and they must have know when I made my booking. No compensation offered or incentive to rebook etc, but I did get my deposit back.

[davecttr]

Carnival are happy to invest in German casual cruising with Aida. RCI group invest in the German casual cruise market with TUI. So why are the Brits now more or less ignored.

Interesting question!

 

What sort of prices do TUI and Aida charge?

 

Has the British casual cruise industry made the mistake of chasing the wrong clientele? Aiming for the cheap and cheerful rather than a quality product. I can't remember the original quote but apparently it is easy to reduce prices but once the target audience are used to it it is almost impossible to increase prices again.

 

For me casual cruising would be a good quality british product that just happens not to have 'compulsory' formal nights. How ever it should not be too exclusive.

 

Carnival can't do this with P&O as it would lead to brand confusion.

[Sutho]

I predicted that this would happen when I found out the ship was going. The economic conditions is a load of garbage. There are two real reasons why this voyage was cancelled.

 

1. No one is crazy enough to book early anymore when P&O offer balcony and suite cabins at ridiculous low prices closer to the date with all sorts of onboard credit as an insentive. People are holding off for the bigger better deal.

 

2. Azura was never suitable for a World Cruise. I know what World Cruise passengers are like and they would never tollerate a ship like Azura. They are smarter than the average cruiser and actually know their facts about the right ship and Azura is not it. Azura is too crowded for too smal a frame ship to be doing long sea days. It has the lowest space ratio of passenger per open deck space in the entire fleet where Oriana has the largest ratio of open deck space. On Azura it gets crowded and packed with venues filling up quick leading to dissapointment if you are not at the event half an hour early. Azura may be goood for port intensive short cruises but it is not suitable for a world cruise.

[David&Heather]

For me casual cruising would be a good quality british product that just happens not to have 'compulsory' formal nights. How ever it should not be too exclusive.

 

For those of us lucky enough to have cruised with Ocean Village thats exactly what we got:)

[Single Cruiser]

For those of us lucky enough to have cruised with Ocean Village thats exactly what we got:)

 

Yep, a quality casual line, with as can be seen on here many loyal customers.

 

In its last year I took my sister, kids and parents on their first cruise aged 12-70! , they loved it.

 

Asked again the year after but when I explained the other options now available they said no and have booked of all things a coach holiday!

 

I really would like to see how they handle the expansion with the new ship in 3 years time (size of Ventura and Adonia combined). The smaller ships are much more suited to the world cruises, the larger the mass market..

[NSWP]

I predicted that this would happen when I found out the ship was going. The economic conditions is a load of garbage. There are two real reasons why this voyage was cancelled.

 

1. No one is crazy enough to book early anymore when P&O offer balcony and suite cabins at ridiculous low prices closer to the date with all sorts of onboard credit as an insentive. People are holding off for the bigger better deal.

 

2. Azura was never suitable for a World Cruise. I know what World Cruise passengers are like and they would never tollerate a ship like Azura. They are smarter than the average cruiser and actually know their facts about the right ship and Azura is not it. Azura is too crowded for too smal a frame ship to be doing long sea days. It has the lowest space ratio of passenger per open deck space in the entire fleet where Oriana has the largest ratio of open deck space. On Azura it gets crowded and packed with venues filling up quick leading to dissapointment if you are not at the event half an hour early. Azura may be goood for port intensive short cruises but it is not suitable for a world cruise.

Exactly Sutho, when we picked up the Arcadia for 33% less than brochure price on a P&O, 2 for 1 'promo' - Sydney to Southampton. Why would anyone book a WC 12 or 18 months out, even with 'Saver Fares'

 

They want to sell a WC at full fare and Azura was too big for that.

 

Bon Voyage to you to Singa and on Arcadia, Singapore to Sydney. Enjoy and no doubt some beaut pics from the lad from Newcastle.

[bazzaw]

Les

 

I'm not sure we know or ever will know the true answer to why Azura WC was cancelled. I think it is fair to say that all of the P&O UK WC voyages start out with a full ship from Southampton - but a lot of Brits get off along the way and there aren't that many who go the whole way (in comparison to the ship availability) -- hence our good deals lately from Oz to UK. P&O UK seem to be quite happy with that arrangement - lots of Brits one way and lots of Aussies the other. It could be that they weren't able to fill the ship starting out from Southampton - which would have made the situation even worse by the time it reached Oz?? But we don't know!

 

Barry

[NSWP]

Les

 

I'm not sure we know or ever will know the true answer to why Azura WC was cancelled. I think it is fair to say that all of the P&O UK WC voyages start out with a full ship from Southampton - but a lot of Brits get off along the way and there aren't that many who go the whole way (in comparison to the ship availability) -- hence our good deals lately from Oz to UK. P&O UK seem to be quite happy with that arrangement - lots of Brits one way and lots of Aussies the other. It could be that they weren't able to fill the ship starting out from Southampton - which would have made the situation even worse by the time it reached Oz?? But we don't know!

 

Barry

Easy Barry..more £ to be made in the Caribbean. Been told on Arcadia in Brisvegas, Sydney and Freo, 600 Poms getting 'orf' 1400 staying on and 600 Aussies geeting on. ! So P&O UK is going ok on this one. As yours were.

 

(I got this puter from Aldi, got £ $ on it may beEuro too, but not found the button !)

[Sutho]

From what I can remember from 2002 onwards is that there are usually over 1,000 British doing the full World Cruise. There are also another several hundred only doing the half voyage staying in Australia for a bit or taking another ship home.

 

They are extremely popular with the British and Australians commanding the most nationalities onboard. Only one year did I see Americans on P&O and that was in 2004 right after the Carnival merger and it only lasted for that one year and Americans have never been back.

 

The feedback I have seen from othes is that there are people saying that they completely ignored Azura as an option for a 2013 World Cruise. The reason is that it is too big with too small a space ratio. The other thing I kind of pick up on is that areas like the alternative restaurants and the retreat would not be used by World Cruise passengers as on the entire voyage their budget is stretched.

 

When I tried Azura I thought it was just too crowded to really enjoy as a ship. It was a good ship for the port intensive calls of the Baltic, but in reality the ship was a big disappointment as its entertainment structure was changed to cater to the 3,000 people that could not fit in the public rooms for the evenings schedule. Everything was rearranged turning a relaxed evening into a mad rush hour.

[geecee1]

Carnival are happy to invest in German casual cruising with Aida. RCI group invest in the German casual cruise market with TUI. So why are the Brits now more or less ignored.

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My point exactly, Matty. They seem locked in a time warp terrified of upsetting their current customer base when a an imaginative management

team would be looking to develop new markets which they did with OV

[jeanlyon]

Totally agree about Azura. Would never go on her again. Very crowded, especially when weather wasn't good. Waited over half an hour in 90 degrees to get back on the ship.

[serenity24]

Hi, i would love for there to be more sailing from and to southampton, or have the transatlanic trip back betwwen 15 to 21 nights that way you would see more islands before the leg back to blighty, if you island hop for two and a bit weeks then 5 days or so at sea coming back would be quite relaxing i would think, only my opinion though.

[English Rose]

I've just literally returned from the Azura after 14 nights in the Caribbean. I totally agree with the comment regarding Azura being overcrowded. It is such a shame because it is a 'nice' ship - not spectacular, but they did their best with what they had and we enjoyed it very much. My biggest complaint would be the overcrowding and areas (particularly the buffet) not able to cope on a sea day. Fortunately this was quite port intensive but I would not like to be on her for days and days at sea. Had a great time and better than I thought.

[tom_uk]

....My biggest complaint would be the overcrowding and areas (particularly the buffet) not able to cope on a sea day. Fortunately this was quite port intensive but I would not like to be on her for days and days at sea. Had a great time and better than I thought.

 

Interesting. We did a 17-nighter on Ventura to Venice last May/June of which just about 50% were sea days: two and a half to Malaga, two from there to Cephallonia, three back from Corfu to Vigo, and one last one from Vigo. The only time it felt crowded was on that last day, as it wasn't warm enough to go out on the decks.

 

But it's also possible that one person's 'comfortable' is another person's 'crowded', so perhaps it was just our perceptions.

[English Rose]

Yes, I hear Ventura (haven't been on her) has more deck space than Azura with the Retreat taking up sun bed space etc. More cabins as well - maybe that's why?

[MattyBarlow]

New cruises are online now

[bee-ess]

New cruises are online now

 

 

Can't see them on the P&O website - nothing for 2013 on Azura.

[MattyBarlow]

Can't see them on the P&O website - nothing for 2013 on Azura.

 

Some of the online agents have them on their sites.