Oriana - the good and the bad

[Dark Knight]

Barney
my limited experience of freedom dining Azura and Ventura
puts your 7.30 ,right in the middle of the rush

[Quizzical Bob]

Barney
my limited experience of freedom dining Azura and Ventura
puts your 7.30 ,right in the middle of the rush

We never had a problem on Azura at around 7:30 but that was a few years ago.

[Suekersh]

We usually aim for 6:45 - 7 pm ish. They open at 6 pm and there is always a queue. By 6:45 it has quietened down and we don't have a problem getting a table.

There are 2 freedom dining rooms on Azura both in the Atrium area albeit on different floors.

[barney]

Barney
my limited experience of freedom dining Azura and Ventura
puts your 7.30 ,right in the middle of the rush

We are going on adult only Arcadia DK, so the average age will be somewhere between oldish and ancient

Many will be tucked up in their beds before we even venture to the dining room.

[lioness]

One night my friend didn't fancy the main courses, so had a starter and ordered salmon from the left hand side of the menu - P&O favourites. It was totally dry. Another night I had the chicken from that menu, same problem.

One night goujons of fish were on the menu. I love those, so ordered. It came in soggy batter. Goujons should be in breadcrumbs. The following day in the buffet they had goujons, served in breadcrumbs and were delicious. It only seemed to be the main courses in the MDR that were disappointing

[Ranchi]

That was our experience on Oriana in April, Lioness. Aurora was excellent earlier this month.

[lioness]

Oh dear, not just me then. I was talking to someone on the ship and saying that we had wonderful food last September. She said, well of course, because you had Carl - the chef and he is no longer on the ship.

[poole boy]

my wife tells me the food was very good in march when we went to see the northern lights on Oriana the rest of our table all agreed the food was great but unfortunately I went down with noro virus so only really enjoyed the first 4 nights which were excellent but did not eat much after that.
graham

[Not so ancient mariner]

We usually aim for 6:45 - 7 pm ish. They open at 6 pm and there is always a queue. By 6:45 it has quietened down and we don't have a problem getting a table.

There are 2 freedom dining rooms on Azura both in the Atrium area albeit on different floors.

The Peninsular MDR on deck 6 by the atrium wasn't freedom dining last week.

[Mervyn and Trish]

P&O website currently lists Azura as two Club Dining restaurants and one (The Meridian) as Freedom. I wonder if this may be changing in the future with the apparently increased demand for Freedom? Ventura apparently has two for Freedom.

[lioness]

Peninsular was Freedom Dining and Oriental was for Club Dining. I confess to being gobsmacked by people queuing for food at 5.30!!

had a very nice telephone call from Chris Edgington's team today at my office! Discussed the food and the terrible volume in the Pacific lounge and also the awful plumbing. ie had no flush on the toilet for one day, others were worse off. No cold water in the taps for the whole cruise, only warm and hot.

was told that 80% of feedback on food was OK, so that means 20% were not happy.

We have been given a little OBC on Adonia for our next cruise and a promise that the plumbing will be looked at. I'm not holding my breath. OBC was not my intention, but I wish I had known we could ask for different veg with the food. Also, a lot of it was served in bowls. One little lady at our table could hardly look into the bowl! Again, she said why didn't we ask for it not to be served in bowls. good point. Never occurred to me.

Jean

[Ian Perth]

As far as I'm aware Azura changes to two freedom dining in April 2015, the Peninsular and the Meridian, the Oriental will remain club dining. As far as I'm concerned Azura stills provides excellent food, no complaints whatsoever.

[Janet-]

why didn't we ask good point. Never occurred to me.

Jean

Jean
I think most of us suffer from a pre-programmed brain that makes us accept what we are offered without asking for what very often are small things but what would make us a lot more satisfied. I know I'm certainly guilty. Perhaps this should be my new year's resolution

[lioness]

Not just me then! Ha ha. I will remember next time. The food on Azura 2 or 3 years ago, I forget, was absolutely fine. Didn't like the ship, but the food was fine. I've always found the food to be excellent, until this cruise.

[Manoverboard]

Reading all this with some interest ... albeit with a tad of disbelief in all honesty

Food for us is a major part of any holiday and especially so a cruise, with that thought in mind I do believe that in similar circumstances I/we would have had a little word in the Restaurant Manager's ear else failing that we would simply up sticks and eat in the buffet / select dining venues .... starting on Day 3.

[lioness]

Yes the restaurant manager came over when we sent the beef back. The new plates arrived and he watched me try to cut it without success. If you can't cut fillet of beef, there's something wrong.

[Silver_Shiney]

Yes the restaurant manager came over when we sent the beef back. The new plates arrived and he watched me try to cut it without success. If you can't cut fillet of beef, there's something wrong.

so what did he say?

[Manoverboard]

Yes the restaurant manager came over when we sent the beef back. The new plates arrived and he watched me try to cut it without success. If you can't cut fillet of beef, there's something wrong.

so what did he say?

" Between you and I, Madam, that isn't fillet steak " ....

[GillD46]

Sounds very bad indeed. The last cruise we took with P&O the meat was like that - we haven't been back since.

[lioness]

He made notes I have spoken to P&O about it, I'm not sure I can understand what you can do wrong with fillet of beef, other than stand it in an oven for an hour, which is what it looked like. The beef wellington on the last night was very good, however, the pastry around it was soggy

[Frank Manning]

We are convinced that the Exec Chef makes a big difference. We did back to back cruises on Aurora a few years ago, and on the first trip to Venice the food was excellent. The Chef (already mentioned on here) left at the end of that trip, and on the next trip to the Baltic, the standad of food nosedived significantly. We always look to see where that latter chef is likely to be and try to avoid him if at all possible.

Agree about Natali Milverton though; she is great fun.

[lioness]

I'm already hoping, rather selfishly, that Natalie is the CD next September, as we will have another choir