A211B Azura June 2-9, from Malta

[Huggsy]

Has anyone been on the above voyage? (We unfortunately had to cancel this cruise - so very disappointed.)

Just interested to know how it all went - airport experience, port of calls and of course anything about being on Azura itself, etc. TIA.

[Al_W]

Sorry to hear you had to cancel. We are just back home after being on this cruise.

 

We flew out from Bristol and arrived 3 hours before the flight as instructed at 3am. Was very busy in Bristol with long queues but all went ok and we were through check in and security in about an hour and a half. Once we got to Malta was a dream, bags on the carousel and then taken to coaches and onto the ship by midday.  Room was ready about 1pm and the bags arrived in the afternoon.

 

Azura is showing a few signs of her age but still a beautiful ship and the staff were all so friendly and you could really tell they were pleased to be back on board. I’d say the rooms need some refurbishment soon, but public areas were more modern especially the Planet Bar, Blue Bar and Glass House.

 

The food was ok, main dining isn’t as good as our last P&O cruise, the portions are much smaller which isn’t always a bad thing. Choice much more limited. Buffet was fine and as always, although our friends said there was hardly anything available if you wanted midnight snacks. Glass house and Beach house was delicious and well worth the extra spend. Sindhu was closed all week. Epicurean was sold out all week so didn’t have a chance to try.

 

Entertainment wasn’t up to much… a mediocre girl group doing Motown and a comedian which I heard mixed reviews of so we cancelled our booking, although Astonishing was well worth watching and would recommend that. The house band were good.

 

We didn’t buy the drinks package and worked out at the end that we spent about £70 per day on alcohol on drinks that would not have been available on the package as we like a glass of champagne, decent wine and cocktails. 

 

Didn’t miss the evening turn down.

 

Did 2 po trips to Dubrovnik and Split and both were very well organised and nice to go straight outside to meet the coach without needing to hang around waiting for a silly little sticker in the theatre. 
 

Have always wanted to see Dubrovnik and Split and they didn’t disappoint, Korcula was beautiful and we will definitely go back for a weeks holiday there. Zadar was ok but not up to the others. 
 

All staff wore face masks but customers only have to wear on coaches, although most still don’t. I have tested positive for covid today 🙄

 

Flight home was all fine, got to the airport no need to drop off bags and straight through security. Flight was a little delayed and got into Bristol about 40 mins late.

 

We had booked this last minute so was a good deal, first time we did the saver rate (with middle ship supplement) and was given a perfect room. So glad we didn’t spend the  £500 pp to chose the room. 
 

Fab cruise, Croatia was beautiful just a shame to come back with covid. 

 

 

[Huggsy]

2 hours ago, Al_W said:

Sorry to hear you had to cancel. We are just back home after being on this cruise.

 

We flew out from Bristol and arrived 3 hours before the flight as instructed at 3am. Was very busy in Bristol with long queues but all went ok and we were through check in and security in about an hour and a half. Once we got to Malta was a dream, bags on the carousel and then taken to coaches and onto the ship by midday.  Room was ready about 1pm and the bags arrived in the afternoon.

 

Azura is showing a few signs of her age but still a beautiful ship and the staff were all so friendly and you could really tell they were pleased to be back on board. I’d say the rooms need some refurbishment soon, but public areas were more modern especially the Planet Bar, Blue Bar and Glass House.

 

The food was ok, main dining isn’t as good as our last P&O cruise, the portions are much smaller which isn’t always a bad thing. Choice much more limited. Buffet was fine and as always, although our friends said there was hardly anything available if you wanted midnight snacks. Glass house and Beach house was delicious and well worth the extra spend. Sindhu was closed all week. Epicurean was sold out all week so didn’t have a chance to try.

 

Entertainment wasn’t up to much… a mediocre girl group doing Motown and a comedian which I heard mixed reviews of so we cancelled our booking, although Astonishing was well worth watching and would recommend that. The house band were good.

 

We didn’t buy the drinks package and worked out at the end that we spent about £70 per day on alcohol on drinks that would not have been available on the package as we like a glass of champagne, decent wine and cocktails. 

 

Didn’t miss the evening turn down.

 

Did 2 po trips to Dubrovnik and Split and both were very well organised and nice to go straight outside to meet the coach without needing to hang around waiting for a silly little sticker in the theatre. 
 

Have always wanted to see Dubrovnik and Split and they didn’t disappoint, Korcula was beautiful and we will definitely go back for a weeks holiday there. Zadar was ok but not up to the others. 
 

All staff wore face masks but customers only have to wear on coaches, although most still don’t. I have tested positive for covid today 🙄

 

Flight home was all fine, got to the airport no need to drop off bags and straight through security. Flight was a little delayed and got into Bristol about 40 mins late.

 

We had booked this last minute so was a good deal, first time we did the saver rate (with middle ship supplement) and was given a perfect room. So glad we didn’t spend the  £500 pp to chose the room. 
 

Fab cruise, Croatia was beautiful just a shame to come back with covid. 

 

 

Thanks so much for your detailed report, glad you didn't have any dramas👍

[Sarah1974]

3 hours ago, Al_W said:

 I have tested positive for covid today 🙄

sorry to hear this, but thankfully the cruise was over, hope you're ok

[Pencil62]

4 hours ago, Al_W said:

Sorry to hear you had to cancel. We are just back home after being on this cruise.

 

We flew out from Bristol and arrived 3 hours before the flight as instructed at 3am. Was very busy in Bristol with long queues but all went ok and we were through check in and security in about an hour and a half. Once we got to Malta was a dream, bags on the carousel and then taken to coaches and onto the ship by midday.  Room was ready about 1pm and the bags arrived in the afternoon.

 

Azura is showing a few signs of her age but still a beautiful ship and the staff were all so friendly and you could really tell they were pleased to be back on board. I’d say the rooms need some refurbishment soon, but public areas were more modern especially the Planet Bar, Blue Bar and Glass House.

 

The food was ok, main dining isn’t as good as our last P&O cruise, the portions are much smaller which isn’t always a bad thing. Choice much more limited. Buffet was fine and as always, although our friends said there was hardly anything available if you wanted midnight snacks. Glass house and Beach house was delicious and well worth the extra spend. Sindhu was closed all week. Epicurean was sold out all week so didn’t have a chance to try.

 

Entertainment wasn’t up to much… a mediocre girl group doing Motown and a comedian which I heard mixed reviews of so we cancelled our booking, although Astonishing was well worth watching and would recommend that. The house band were good.

 

We didn’t buy the drinks package and worked out at the end that we spent about £70 per day on alcohol on drinks that would not have been available on the package as we like a glass of champagne, decent wine and cocktails. 

 

Didn’t miss the evening turn down.

 

Did 2 po trips to Dubrovnik and Split and both were very well organised and nice to go straight outside to meet the coach without needing to hang around waiting for a silly little sticker in the theatre. 
 

Have always wanted to see Dubrovnik and Split and they didn’t disappoint, Korcula was beautiful and we will definitely go back for a weeks holiday there. Zadar was ok but not up to the others. 
 

All staff wore face masks but customers only have to wear on coaches, although most still don’t. I have tested positive for covid today 🙄

 

Flight home was all fine, got to the airport no need to drop off bags and straight through security. Flight was a little delayed and got into Bristol about 40 mins late.

 

We had booked this last minute so was a good deal, first time we did the saver rate (with middle ship supplement) and was given a perfect room. So glad we didn’t spend the  £500 pp to chose the room. 
 

Fab cruise, Croatia was beautiful just a shame to come back with covid. 

 

 

We arrived home last Thursday (2nd Jun) after 14 nights on board Azura. No problems at Birmingham for early flight and as you say embarkation in Malta was a breeze. We thought the standard of food was still very good but like you we reckoned there was nowhere near as much choice as we remembered. We used the app thingy to book all our meals in the 2 mdr's and found it worked perfectly except in our cabin where there was no signal. Regarding Sindhu, we were told it was closed because they were using it as a canteen to feed newly arrived crew who were still quarantined.  Mask wearing was compulsory for the first week and was then relaxed for week 2. I felt sorry for the waiters on deck who still had to wear them when we were in Piraeus and Kusadasi where it was 34°C. We both enjoyed the cruise and are booked on Azura again in October when she heads to Tenerife from Malta. Unfortunately, we both tested positive for covid the day after arriving home. It seemed as though half the passengers on the flight home were coughing but we both had sore throats the day before returning so must have caught it around day 10 or 11 

[Huggsy]

Hoping you both - Al_W & Pencil62 recover quickly from your Covid doses🙏👍

[Pencil62]

Thanks Huggsy. We're over the worst I think. Just feeling a bit lethargic and can't taste or smell much. We've got away lightly compared to many.

[tring]

Thanks for the reviews on the recent Azura cruises, we are also booked on her for a translocation to the Canaries in October.  Hope those the picked up covid, recover soon, same happened to us in March from another cruise lines, though we think that was much more likely to do with very enjoyable nights out in Amsterdam and Hamburg.  At least we hope to have a few more antibodies against it now 🙂

 

[Al_W]

1 hour ago, Huggsy said:

Hoping you both - Al_W & Pencil62 recover quickly from your Covid doses🙏👍

Thanks 🙏 

[Al_W]

1 hour ago, Pencil62 said:

We arrived home last Thursday (2nd Jun) after 14 nights on board Azura. No problems at Birmingham for early flight and as you say embarkation in Malta was a breeze. We thought the standard of food was still very good but like you we reckoned there was nowhere near as much choice as we remembered. We used the app thingy to book all our meals in the 2 mdr's and found it worked perfectly except in our cabin where there was no signal. Regarding Sindhu, we were told it was closed because they were using it as a canteen to feed newly arrived crew who were still quarantined.  Mask wearing was compulsory for the first week and was then relaxed for week 2. I felt sorry for the waiters on deck who still had to wear them when we were in Piraeus and Kusadasi where it was 34°C. We both enjoyed the cruise and are booked on Azura again in October when she heads to Tenerife from Malta. Unfortunately, we both tested positive for covid the day after arriving home. It seemed as though half the passengers on the flight home were coughing but we both had sore throats the day before returning so must have caught it around day 10 or 11 

Yes we liked the app… very good for freedom dining as you can join a queue and see exactly where you are in it. I forgot to mention the afternoon tea in the main dining room was delicious, the food just kept coming out, the hot sausage rolls and coronation chicken pasties were amazing! 🤭

[Plugtheleak]

21 hours ago, Al_W said:

Sorry to hear you had to cancel. We are just back home after being on this cruise.

 

We flew out from Bristol and arrived 3 hours before the flight as instructed at 3am. Was very busy in Bristol with long queues but all went ok and we were through check in and security in about an hour and a half. Once we got to Malta was a dream, bags on the carousel and then taken to coaches and onto the ship by midday.  Room was ready about 1pm and the bags arrived in the afternoon.

 

Azura is showing a few signs of her age but still a beautiful ship and the staff were all so friendly and you could really tell they were pleased to be back on board. I’d say the rooms need some refurbishment soon, but public areas were more modern especially the Planet Bar, Blue Bar and Glass House.

 

The food was ok, main dining isn’t as good as our last P&O cruise, the portions are much smaller which isn’t always a bad thing. Choice much more limited. Buffet was fine and as always, although our friends said there was hardly anything available if you wanted midnight snacks. Glass house and Beach house was delicious and well worth the extra spend. Sindhu was closed all week. Epicurean was sold out all week so didn’t have a chance to try.

 

Entertainment wasn’t up to much… a mediocre girl group doing Motown and a comedian which I heard mixed reviews of so we cancelled our booking, although Astonishing was well worth watching and would recommend that. The house band were good.

 

We didn’t buy the drinks package and worked out at the end that we spent about £70 per day on alcohol on drinks that would not have been available on the package as we like a glass of champagne, decent wine and cocktails. 

 

Didn’t miss the evening turn down.

 

Did 2 po trips to Dubrovnik and Split and both were very well organised and nice to go straight outside to meet the coach without needing to hang around waiting for a silly little sticker in the theatre. 
 

Have always wanted to see Dubrovnik and Split and they didn’t disappoint, Korcula was beautiful and we will definitely go back for a weeks holiday there. Zadar was ok but not up to the others. 
 

All staff wore face masks but customers only have to wear on coaches, although most still don’t. I have tested positive for covid today 🙄

 

Flight home was all fine, got to the airport no need to drop off bags and straight through security. Flight was a little delayed and got into Bristol about 40 mins late.

 

We had booked this last minute so was a good deal, first time we did the saver rate (with middle ship supplement) and was given a perfect room. So glad we didn’t spend the  £500 pp to chose the room. 
 

Fab cruise, Croatia was beautiful just a shame to come back with covid. 

 

 

Who did you fly with we are flying out of Bristol with P&O later this year.

[Al_W]

1 hour ago, Plugtheleak said:

Who did you fly with we are flying out of Bristol with P&O later this year.

It’s was a Tui flight and was chartered by P&O

[devolve]

Was there regular covid testing on board. And did you need masks in the theatre.

[Al_W]

1 hour ago, devolve said:

Was there regular covid testing on board. And did you need masks in the theatre.

No testing or masks in the theatre. The only place they said masks were needed was in casino and medical onboard, and on the shuttle buses. 

[purplesea]

4 hours ago, Plugtheleak said:

Who did you fly with we are flying out of Bristol with P&O later this year.

We also flew out from Bristol on a 6am flight with TUI at the end of April. The passengers were a mixture of P&O and TUI holiday makers.

We arrived at the airport at 2.15am and P&O staff started checking our paperwork at 2.30 am, we were then able to proceed to check in for our flight, but had to wait for the baggage handlers to start work at 3 am for our luggage to be taken. It wasn't busy when we were there, so hopefully it will be the same for you.

[Plugtheleak]

11 hours ago, purplesea said:

We also flew out from Bristol on a 6am flight with TUI at the end of April. The passengers were a mixture of P&O and TUI holiday makers.

We arrived at the airport at 2.15am and P&O staff started checking our paperwork at 2.30 am, we were then able to proceed to check in for our flight, but had to wait for the baggage handlers to start work at 3 am for our luggage to be taken. It wasn't busy when we were there, so hopefully it will be the same for you.

Thank you for the detailed feedback much appreciated. We have heard some horror stories recently especially around Bristol Airport. Hopefully will be with TUI much better than Easyjet or Jet2.

[tring]

12 hours ago, purplesea said:

We also flew out from Bristol on a 6am flight with TUI at the end of April. The passengers were a mixture of P&O and TUI holiday makers.

We arrived at the airport at 2.15am and P&O staff started checking our paperwork at 2.30 am, we were then able to proceed to check in for our flight, but had to wait for the baggage handlers to start work at 3 am for our luggage to be taken. It wasn't busy when we were there, so hopefully it will be the same for you.

 

Wow,arriving at 2.15am takes unsocial hours to extremes IMO.  Can I please ask what time your flight was and if you were asked to be there so early?  In fact do P&O suggest an arrival time at airports?

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by tring

[purplesea]

8 hours ago, tring said:

 

Wow,arriving at 2.15am takes unsocial hours to extremes IMO.  Can I please ask what time your flight was and if you were asked to be there so early?  In fact do P&O suggest an arrival time at airports?

 

I think we were advised to be there 3 hours before our flight which was at 6am.

We arrived early as we had to drive up from the other end of Cornwall, and it is about a 3 hour drive. We  allowed extra to be on the safe side as we were aware that the main road near us was going to be closed, which would lead to a detour (but it turned out it wasn't). 

[Al_W]

18 hours ago, tring said:

 

Wow,arriving at 2.15am takes unsocial hours to extremes IMO.  Can I please ask what time your flight was and if you were asked to be there so early?  In fact do P&O suggest an arrival time at airports?

 

P&O docs says arrive 3 hours before and our flight was at 3am, we got to the silver parking at about 2.30am and couldn’t find a bay to leave the car in, left it on the side of a road in the car park in the end and got to the terminal just after 3am where we found the queues were already really long for the TUI Malta check it, so most must have got there much earlier.