Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

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towny44
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Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

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Post by towny44 »

Azura A308N Western Med. Cruise April 2013
We travelled down from Yorkshire the day before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Botley Road, a perfectly acceptable modern budget hotel, but alas no central heating in the rooms and Easter week 2013 was bitterly cold. The room heating is provided by an electric radiator which works only when the single key card is in the power slot, so the room cools down rapidly if you are not in it.
Despite this we managed, and the included breakfast was well up to budget hotel standard and did include a hot section. Travel time to the Ocean terminal was about 25 minutes, including a short wrong turning.

Because this was an early season cruise we had chosen a partly obstructed accessible cabin rather than a balcony. This was a very good choice as these E deck cabins are exactly the same layout and dimensions as the balconies, and the partial obstruction only covered the bottom half of the window and allowed in plenty of light; and it was £350pp less than a balcony.

Over the first few days we felt that dining service standards had slipped significantly since our Ventura cruise in June 2012, but it was probably due to us comparing it with our last cruise in September on the Eclipse.

Little things like Celebrity ensuring the freedom dining table was quickly filled, and only then would the waiter introduce himself provide menus and then give the table his views on the night’s menu. Also the assistant Maitre D’ would be constantly patrolling and ensuring things were running smoothly and sorting out any minor problems, and the sommelier (wine waiter) always within view seeming to have eyes in the back of his head.; and despite never feeling rushed service was maintained at a steady pace without any unnecessary delays.

This cruise it felt a little like a school dining room, menus were given out immediately upon seating, no introduction by the waiter, no information on the choices unless you asked, and lengthy waits for the table to fill up, and between choosing and being served, as a result we missed the start time of several shows. In addition the wine waiter was seldom there when wanted and the assistant Maître D was noticeable only by his absence.
However by the end of the cruise things seemed to have improved or perhaps we had just become accustomed to the service level. It will be interesting to see if our perception of Celebrity standards had been rose tinted when we take our next Eclipse cruise in June.

Which brings us to the standard of food presented; again I felt that although the choice was still quite extensive the quality, especially of the steaks, was well down on previous experience; but having said that it was still good and certainly much better than my own cooking at home.
We did not use any of the speciality restaurants on this cruise, again probably Celebrity’s fault, since after experiencing the location of their Tuscan Grill overlooking the ships wake from promenade deck level, Seventeen and Sindhu just do not compare.
We mainly used the buffet for breakfast and an occasional lunch or afternoon tea; we found the quality quite good and always found a seat somewhere, even if we had to search for a while. However the design with two separate sides is not the best, we prefer to have a walk through central section which allows you to choose seating from both sides.

However our cabin steward was one of the best we have had, nothing was too much trouble for him and he looked after the cabin very well and was extremely polite and friendly.

The entertainment was enjoyable, the Headliners were up to the usual standard and there were good tribute acts, singers, and comedians. But the show timings were poor, theatre shows at 8:30 and 10:30, Malabar shows at 8:45 and 10:45 and Manhattan at 9:30 and 11:30, which made it a bit difficult to see two consecutive shows, that is if you wanted a seat. On Ventura last year most of the Headliner shows had a third one at 7:00 or 7:15 which, because we are freedom diners and my wife a wheelchair user, suited us far better. Trying to obtain an aisle seat on the ground floor level to sit next to my wife in her chair proved almost impossible at the 8:30 show, and 10:30 is too late for us. However by the end of the cruise some seat back top covers had appeared on the aisle seats, which had printing on the back asking that the seat be reserved for wheelchair user carers, pity they had not been on from the start.

We did not book any accessible port excursions, but decided just to do our own thing.

Lisbon - it was still cool and a little damp in the morning and because of this, combined with a crew emergency drill at 10:00am which included the lifts being out of action and the fact we had been before and Azura was berthed way downstream from the tourist centre, we decided to stay on board.
Gibraltar – it was warm and sunny and there is a level walk into the town centre, which is relatively easy when pushing a wheelchair. There is one main shopping street and quite a lot of pavement cafes which enabled us to while away a couple of hours.
Barcelona – there is a shuttle to take you from the port to the world trade centre which is about 100yds from the bottom of Las Ramblas. For wheelchair users there was only one accessible bus, so you need to be prepared to wait and not be in a hurry. Ramblas is uphill but it is only a shallow incline, and there are interesting stops along the way, the market and a couple of squares with lots of pavement cafes.
Valencia – the shuttle takes you to the old town which has lots of charm, is quite pedestrian friendly and masses of old Churches and buildings to admire, as well as the ubiquitous pavement cafes.
Malaga – there was a shuttle bus into the centre but a short walk will take you into the town or to a local beach. We chose the latter and walked along the promenade and of course stopped for drink at one of the cafes, this time beach rather than pavement.
Cadiz – we had wanted to take a tour to Seville but P&O did not offer any accessible tours, so we wandered around the town and found Cadiz to be our favourite port on this cruise. Lots of narrow winding streets, a very pleasant park area and some nice beaches, as well as lots of old buildings including the cathedral which started life as a mosque back in the days of the Moorish occupation. This is all contained in a small peninsular which enables you to see most of the town easily in a full day stop.

We have another Azura cruise booked for October this year, but for 2014 we will be on Princess and Celebrity, enough said!
John

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Jan Rosser
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#2

Post by Jan Rosser »

Nice to read your report on our cruise John - completely agree about the cabins on E deck - very good value even for a solo cruiser like me. I did find freedom dining a bit chaotic this time - I think it was very popular and I had a buzzer on one occasion which I've not had before. I agree with you about the waiters - they seemed to be under a lot of pressure.

Azura is not my favourite ship but I do like the Glass House and dined there a few times - the waiters there were very friendly and didn't blink an eyelid at me dining on my own and were very attentive.

I found people very friendly and it was a pleasure to meet you and Pauline - I look forward to hearing your account of your cruise on the Eclipse - I have sailed on several Celebrity ships and enjoyed them very much but they were all fly cruises - I haven't tried them from Southampton yet.

Back on Ventura in July with the family - it will be interesting to see how much of a clone she has become of Azura since her refit :lol:
Janis


lynden
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#3

Post by lynden »

Hi

Thanks for the happy memories.

We were on this one too.

Agree obstructed cabins on E deck good value.

The weather was fantastic, and the ports all very pleasant especially Cadiz which was a pleasant surprise.

We think p & o standard have dropped but cant really complain as we are now paying less than on our first cruise in 2004

Busy looking for the next getaway deal

Fancy Ventura 8th June but will the price drop even more?

Who knows?
lynden


hopefultraveller
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

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Post by hopefultraveller »

John
Do I gather that the lower floor of the theatre is the best for wheelchair users? How many spaces are there?
They were very good on Arcadia keeping the accessible seats free ( even though they were at the back)!
Val

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towny44
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#5

Post by towny44 »

hopefultraveller wrote:
John
Do I gather that the lower floor of the theatre is the best for wheelchair users? How many spaces are there?
They were very good on Arcadia keeping the accessible seats free ( even though they were at the back)!
Val
On Ventura/Azura we find the upper level seats crop off the top of the stage and there are several pillars in the way as well.
We find the lower floor gives a better view, but of course you have to sit at the side.
There are probably about 8-10 rows which are on the level and most of these will accomodate a wheelchair alongside the outside seat, some would probably accomodate more than one wheelchair.
John

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hopefultraveller
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#6

Post by hopefultraveller »

Thanks for the info.

Val


stocktonmackem
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#7

Post by stocktonmackem »

Enjoyed your report and tips about the ports. As my husband uses a wheelchair they were very useful. We prefer the lower part of the theatre as the views are better. My daughter was with us last year so she went ahead of us to get an aisle seat which helped us. She isnt coming this year so hopefully they will reserve the aisle seats on Ventura when we go in Sept. Thanks for the tip about E deck cabins, we usually get a balcony one but I will keep this in mind for the future. Glad you enjoyed most of your cruise.

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towny44
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

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Post by towny44 »

stocktonmackem wrote:
Enjoyed your report and tips about the ports. As my husband uses a wheelchair they were very useful. We prefer the lower part of the theatre as the views are better. My daughter was with us last year so she went ahead of us to get an aisle seat which helped us. She isnt coming this year so hopefully they will reserve the aisle seats on Ventura when we go in Sept. Thanks for the tip about E deck cabins, we usually get a balcony one but I will keep this in mind for the future. Glad you enjoyed most of your cruise.
A further tip about E deck is that cabins 303 & 304 are listed as fully obstructed when in fact they only have chains hanging down, a bit like open venetian blinds, when we booked there was only 302 available which, while listed as partially obstructed, is somewhat more obstructed than 303 & 304.
John

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stocktonmackem
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#9

Post by stocktonmackem »

Thanks :)

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The Invigilator
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#10

Post by The Invigilator »

Hi Towny

So sorry to read that you were disappointed with the restaurant I guess we must of been lucky as our experience was fabulous, on one night only they sent us away with a pager but it went off within 30 minutes. For the first couple of nights just purely by coincidence (with it being freedom dining) we sat with the same people a family of 4 and we became really good friends and in fact after that time the Maitre de always put us on the same table so we could be together. The service in our area from the waiters and the wine waiter was just brilliant. Every evening we were greeted by everyone from the maitre de to other staff as we walked through with a cheery hello, we were always asked about our day and they treated our sons and the other lad from the other family so well - really looked after them. We were never rushed always checked back on and as for our wine waiter well it seemed that as soon as the glass was empty she was there topping it back up again. We were often asked if we would like anything else (not to good for my diet!)

We did go up to the Planet Bar on the first sea day in the hope of meeting yourself, Jan and Melsea but only bumped into the lovely Jan - never did see the Ferrari red wheelchair :-(

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Jan Rosser
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#11

Post by Jan Rosser »

Hi Babs - thanks for your reports on the ports we visited - glad you enjoyed them - I remember you saying most of them were new to you. I did manage to meet Melsea as well as John (Towny) and his lovely wife Pauline - I bumped into them several times. So nice to re-live the trip - have you got your next one planned yet?
Janis

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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#12

Post by The Invigilator »

Hello Jan - it was a fab cruise wasn't it, we couldn't have wished for better weather could we. A great ship, beautiful ports, amazing weather - just brilliant :D

Sadly we havn't booked our next one yet although we would love to try one of the new fly/cruise trips to the Eastern Med. unfortunately the place I work is having to make a lot of redundancies and until I know what's happening there we can't make any arrangements :(

It's not long until your next one now - I bet you are really looking forward to it. Do you know if anybody has heard how that poor person is who had to be taken away by ambulance from the ship at Cadiz?

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Jan Rosser
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Re: Azura A308N Western Med. April 4th.

#13

Post by Jan Rosser »

Hope you'll be okay Babs with the situation in work - bit of a worry I guess but stay positive :thumbup:

11 weeks to my family cruise - they were down over the weekend - getting excited as you can imagine :D

Matthew wants to see the Fjords so we've booked for May 2014 - 7 days - another one to look forward to :lol: he fancies the fly cruises too so who knows ;)

:wave:
Janis

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