A427N -Iberian Peninsular

Reports about cruises on Azura
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Not so ancient mariner
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A427N -Iberian Peninsular

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Post by Not so ancient mariner »

Azura A427N

This was to be a new one for us in a variety of ways. Not only was it our first trip on one of the ‘large’ ships, but our usual choice of cabin has been a balcony, normally, high up, and near the bow or stern. This time we have an outside cabin, midships on deck 5 – the lowest of any cabins on the ship.

Wednesday Oct 15th

A relatively uneventful journey down saw us in Southampton in plenty of time – which was just as well as roadworks meant the last mile or so to dock gate 4 might have been quicker on foot; - though perhaps not so with the amount of luggage in the car. We briefly stopped at Mayflower Park to take some photos of the RCI leviathan Oasis of the seas, which is essentially TWICE the size of Azura.

Check in and boarding procedures went smoothly as usual – in fact easier, as the cabin was close to the embarkation point, and we didn’t have to queue for the lifts.
Also pleased to discover that the 'P' in P deck stands for 'Panama' - and not 'plebs' as one person had suggested. :thumbup:
The cabin was as pleasant surprise, as it was larger than expected, with plenty of storage space for all the gear we had with us. Organisation on the ship was not all it might have been, as the dining arrangements being changed from those stated on our cruise personaliser, and the vouchers for the sailaway glass of bubbly were not present. Reception said I would have to see the restaurant manager about dining arrangements, and that the vouchers for the bubbly would be delivered either later that evening or the following day – and implied that this was normal practice: Not a lot of use for the sailaway from Southampton! :thumbdown:

As it happened I missed the sailaway anyway, as I joined the queue to see the restaurant manager to attempt to reinstate our original promised dining arrangements. We did not seem to be alone with this problem, as there were 40 people in front of me when I joined the queue, and around 25 behind me by the time I reached the front. All in vain as it turned out, as I was told that I shouldn’t place any weight on anything I was told before I actually joined the ship, and they would try to help – but wouldn’t make any promises they might not be able to keep. At least the ‘bubbly’ vouchers were delivered during the evening.

Initial impressions: Nice ship – shame about the organisation!

Thursday 16th At sea

We awoke to a very empty grey sea, concerns about possible noise from ‘Brodie’s’ directly above or cabin, proving to be unfounded.
Breakfast being most of the ship’s length away, and no less than nine decks above us is a bit of a drawback, but shops, reception and the library being very close helps compensate. Speaking of the library, it has a sign saying that “Passengers using a mobile device please see the Cyber Librarian, who will assist you”
‘Cyber Librarian’ is a new one on me. Please send suggestions on a postcard (or perhaps that should be by email)
A long Atlantic swell was causing Azura to pitch noticeably, and quite a few passengers were looking the worse for wear. Films are being shown in various locations around the ship, as the skyscreen is U/S. (not that it was practical to use it anyway, due to the weather!) Meals in the MDR are being provided ready plated – leading to many requests to the waiters for “extra peas, but no sprouts” or similar things which were never a problem when we had ‘silver service’ Joined the Syndicate quiz tonight: - lost out in the tie-break, so not a bad start.

Friday 17th At sea

Had a noisy night last night. The sea changed to a choppier state, causing Azura to pitch less, but requiring the stabilisers to work to minimise rolling. We must be directly above the starboard one, as periodically we would get this muffled roar and vibration lasting a couple of seconds, rather like we had some mechanical giant sleeping in the cabin below, and periodically snoring. Weather wet and windy during the morning, but sun appeared in afternoon – thought it stayed just as windy. We won the syndicate quiz tonight.


Saturday 18th Lisbon

Arrived before dawn and berthed at the quay immediately downstream from where we moored on our last visit. Did our own thing, and took a taxi to the Oceanarium. It is similar to many of the ‘sea life centres’ though without the pools that allow you to touch rays etc. as it tended to concentrate on ocean, rather than coastal marine life. It was also somewhat larger, and had sea otters (a first for me), and was well worth the visit. It is situated on the Expo site, so is set in most pleasant surroundings.
Departure was accompanied by the usual sailaway party, and the skipper gave an almighty blast on the ship’s whistle just as we passed under the 17th of April bridge, – hopefully not causing too much mayhem amongst the motorists above! Interesting cloud formation at sunset prevented reflections off the sea, but allowed a beam of sunlight to illuminate the cloud overhead. We didn’t do particularly well in the quiz tonight. Manuel Martinez was performing tonight. He act was virtually identical to the one we saw on Oceana 18 months ago, but still both clever and entertaining none the less. Mick Testoni was the ‘guest speaker’ on this cruise, giving an interesting and at time amusing series of talks on the history of the RNLI and his career with the inshore and main lifeboats at Lowestoft, and some of the rescues he was involved in.
We are spending far more time in lifts on this cruise. I normally use the stairs to go up 2 to 3 decks, but here it’s often 9 or 10, and I draw the line at that. We also learned to avoid the midships lifts and use the forward ones, as these were far less crowded, and you stood a fighting chance of getting where you wanted to be with only a couple of intermediate stops!

Sunday 19th. Gibraltar.

We arrived at midday, having passed lots of shipping, (including ‘our little Adonia’ - as the officer of the watch put it) on the approach to the harbour. We went on a tour of the sights, visiting Europa point, St Michael’s cave, stopped to see some rock apes (the indigenous ones – not some squaddies from the RAF regiment!), went to see the border with Spain, and were dropped off at Casement Square. Interestingly, the toilets there have bilingual signs reading “WASH BASIN FOR HANDS ONLY” (!)

I’m not sure I want to know the reason why these signs were felt to be necessary :shock:

We then circumnavigated the town by foot, spending lots of money on duty frees – and ended up in Morrisons(!) Knackered by then, we took a taxi back to the ship.
Departure wasn’t until 23.30, so we had the opportunity to see the lights of Gib before we left. Although physically tired, we still had the mental energy to win the Syndicate quiz again.

Monday 20th. Malaga

After another pre-dawn arrival, we headed off on the coach trip to Selwo Marina. This is like a smaller version of Loro Parque in Tenerife, but had similar attractions-albeit on a smaller scale. The dolphin display was restricted by the size of the facility,
But the bird display, (parrots, parakeets & cockatoos) was at least as good, with added humour in the form of a performance by a common or garden domestic chicken!

In the outdoor café, we found 2 young cats to feed, and were also visited by 3 old speckled hens. Pity these weren’t of the bottled variety, as they would have gone down well in the 30° temperature. After returning to the ship for lunch we walked into Malaga, and found around 20 cats living amongst the boulders that form the harbour wall. They are obviously being fed by people as they appear in good condition, but weren’t tame enough to let you get too close.
Back at the ship we found no television signal, instead it was displaying the message:

“Due to our current location we are currently experiencing difficulties in receiving TV reception. We expect normal service to resume as soon as we leave the Fjord.”

Fjord?? We are in Malaga. It must be at least 1500miles to the nearest
fjord!!

We tried the Glasshouse tonight, and it certainly lived up to the recommendations we had received. We had an excellent three course meal, with a glass of wine each, for slightly less than half the cost of a meal in XVII. They do, however, need to do something with the menus. They are showing the signs of a hard life, with the aluminium covers having bent and buckled corners from being repeatedly dropped on an unyielding deck.
Good meals and wine evidently do not aid the concentration, as we did not do very well in the quiz tonight.

Tuesday 21st Cadiz

Yet again a pre-dawn arrival. We weren’t the only tourists in town, as Costa Fortuna was berthed immediately ahead of us, and Pullmantur’s Empress was also visiting. The temp was pleasantly cool first thing, but the skipper promised an afternoon max of around 29°, so it was shorts & polo shirt for the trip ashore. This was the ‘Trail of 2 cities’ excursion, comprising a guided coach tour around Cadiz, followed by a walk around the parts inaccessible to motor vehicles of any size. The thermometer was reading 23.5° when we rejoined the (air conditioned) coach around 13.15 for the journey to Jerez de la Frontera, but just half an hour later when we arrived, the temperature was MUCH higher. Definitely siesta time! Anyhow the guide showed us some of the more important sites (and sights) of Jerez before leaving us for an hour’s ‘free time’ - which was mostly spent sitting in the shade eating ice cream. On her return the guide led us back to the coach for the return trip. We didn’t see a thermometer anywhere in Jerez, but back in Cadiz it felt cooler – and the thermometer on the newspaper offices was showing 32°. So Jerez must have been 34 - 35°
On departure we had the usual horn battle with Costa Fortuna and a sailway party which attracted much catcall whistling from the passengers on that ship. They probably had the last laugh as she slowly overtook us at around 10pm, which provided the opportunity for some good photos. In fact I spent too much time doing this, and was nearly late for the syndicate quiz. Very close this evening. We won again, - but only after two tie-breaks.


Wednesday 22nd. At sea

The sky screen is finally working, and showing the Tom Hanks film ‘Captain Philips’ – perhaps not the best choice, given its subject matter. Anyhow, instead of loud music (much of which was actually enjoyable), the pool area now reverberates to the sounds of screaming, shouting and gunfire. I know I don’t speak for everyone, but can only echo the sentiments of a passenger who remarked in a scouse accent that he “goes on holiday to get away from that sort of thing!”
Later I was informed that the sky screen was u/s once more. As one who hasn’t been to the cinema for a couple of years, I cannot say that’s a great loss. In the quiz, our handicap of starting with minus one prevented us from being in another tie-break.



Thursday 23rd La Coruña

Guess what: a pre-dawn docking: - so up for breakfast, and off on the coach to Santiago de Compostela. A knowledgeable guide showed us round the magnificent cathedral and its surroundings, explaining the history and traditions of the place. It contains the remains of the disciple James, which the locals hid to prevent Drake taking them in a raid on the area launched in the aftermath of after King Philip II‘s abortive attempt to invade England in 1588 (the Armada). These relics were very well concealed indeed: - not only did Drake not manage to find them, but it was nearly 300 years before the Spanish themselves located them again! (though the French sacking the area during the Napoleonic wars may be a factor in this!)
We encountered tour parties from RCI and Aida cruises at the cathedral, and on our return to La Coruña found Independence of the Seas docked there. No signs of an Aida ship though, so I assume they must have docked in Vigo. We left shortly after our return, but no horn battle with Indy ensued.
Once again we ate in the Glasshouse – or ‘The Prison’ as one of our syndicate quiz team members always called it. This time we felt so full after the first two courses, that we called it a day, and retired to the atrium to listen to the big band music being played there.

Friday 24th

The weather and sea-state have been much better than the outward journey, so there is minimal movement of the ship. We attended the final performances by most of the entertainers on board, and had a final meal in the glasshouse. The cabin steward – excellent as usual – informed us he now has 19 cabins to look after, which could explain why he never found time to produce any towel animals.

Saturday 25th

Arrived – again before dawn – in a dull and damp Southampton. With Independence of the seas, Emerald Princess, and Queen Victoria also in port, it looked like the roads out of Southampton could be busy – and they were. It also took an uncommonly long time to disembark, though the posters were saying this was mostly due to a much higher than usual number of passengers requiring assistance.

Final opinions.

I joined Azura thinking I would not like the larger ships – so how did she compare?

Well, would I sail on her again? Well, yes; but she would not be my first choice, nor would I do so during school holiday periods. Yes she has more choice of entertainment, and the Playhouse allows the Headliners to produce more technically demanding shows, but the standard of service in the MDR and other areas was noticeably inferior to that which we have had on previous cruises.
All things being equal I would choose Oriana or Oceana iinstead (even though other cruise reports suggest standards may be falling across the fleet – if not the cruise industry as a whole)

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Dark Knight
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Re: A427N -Iberian Peninsular

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Post by Dark Knight »

nice report Notso
we preferred Sindhu for the select dining and the sea screen is a bit useless during the day, but great at night with a cocktail or two to accompany the film of the day
on the whole we would choose Ventura over Azura but they are both a bit too big for us :wave:
Nihil Obstat

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barney
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Re: A427N -Iberian Peninsular

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Post by barney »

Very nice report.

Thanks very much :thumbup:

It's always interesting to read other people's views.
Empty vessels .. and all that

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towny44
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Re: A427N -Iberian Peninsular

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Post by towny44 »

Enjoyable review Notso and some interesting comments, many thanks.
John

Trainee Pensioner since 2000

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Not so ancient mariner
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Re: A427N -Iberian Peninsular

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Post by Not so ancient mariner »

I had mentioned elsewhere more comments about the various dining options. My OH is not keen on Indian food, so we did not try Sindhu. At £56 (plus the cost of drinks) for a meal for 2, we thought XVII to be relatively overpriced - especially when in the Glasshouse we could get an excellent 3 course meal including a glass each of (to paraphrase a certain TV programme) 'a reasonably priced wine', for less than half that. The Venezia 'free-for-all' buffet (in both senses of the term) was essentially the same as the equivalent venues on previous cruises. My only grouse was that the supply of teacups did not always keep up with demand.

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