Azura A510N

Arrange to meet other members whilst on a cruise on Azura
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Raybosailor
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1195
Joined: February 2015
Location: Nottingham

Re: Azura A510N

#51

Post by Raybosailor »

GillD46 wrote:
Sorry to read your cruise wasn't what you had been hoping for, Ray. Hopefully your next will be better. We got back from Britannia yesterday and really enjoyed it.
It wasn't all bad Gill as I said previously the dining experience as a coeliac was second to none and there were plenty of positives to dampen the disappointment of lost days and ports.

The other element that sells cruising from Southampton for me is the ease of check in and disembarkation compared to airports, yes there was a long que at check in but I think a lot of this was caused by too many people arriving way before their allocated time. Disembarkation wasn't too bad for us we were given a time of between 09:15 and 09:45 so we had breakfast in Oriental and went to our muster point in Malabar at 09:10 and sat in comfortable armchairs until being called. We were in the luggage hall at 09:40 and cases loaded in car and on the road by 10:00, has anyone on here ever left a plane with 4 large suitcases and two travel bags and picked up the car from airport parking to be on the road in less than an hour?.

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Raybosailor
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1195
Joined: February 2015
Location: Nottingham

Re: Azura A510N In A Nutshell

#52

Post by Raybosailor »

Azura In General
She was a clean ship apart from one or two blocked public toilets which were annoying. The pool areas were kept tidy by the staff and we never had a problem getting a sunbed despite the towel brigade still reserving them for their return later in the day. I found the sports court a little disappointing for a large ship and some of the equipment was either damaged or well worn. The gym on the other hand was large and well equipped with the walk up the stairs to it a good warm up exercise. The library seemed a bit small for a large ship which was a shame because its position is in the most stable part of the ship on a heavy sea day. There seems to be a lack of comfortable seating apart from in the bars where you are bombarded by waiters trying to ply you with drink, a quiet lounge would be nice. We found Azura difficult to navigate for the first few days, particularly when going to the Oriental Restaurant which was tucked at the rear end and you found yourself having to go up a deck along and back down again to get there.
Entertainment.
• Andrew Derbyshire: Pop idol finalist, In Manhattan (never got a seat)
• Micky Zany: Comedian, missed his show too
• Stephen Williams: Magician, I don’t usually like magicians but I was singled out to help with one of his tricks and was amazed at the result.
• Beatles Experience: Not the best Beatles tribute I have seen but they were entertaining.
• Richard & Adam: Britain’s Got Talent finalists, A good performance from them.
• Joe McElderry: From X Factor, undoubtedly the best act of the cruise.
• Leanne Mitchell: Winner of The Voice, brilliant act from her.
• Dean Richardson: As Freddy Mercury, not a bad singer but he spent too much time doing camp gags.
• Ben Makisi: Brilliant tenor doing opera and songs from the shows.
• Aljaz & Janette: Aljaz Skorjanek & Janette Marara from Strictly Come Dancing with an amazing performance which was well supported by the Headliners dance group and the Azura orchestra.
• Catch 22: The resident band with some good Soul & Motown music.
• There is a lack of a dedicated cinema on board apart from the sea screen which is open to the elements, films were shown in Malabar but there are a lot of pillars and obstructions to block the view.
Dining
We dined in Oriental Club Dining every night of the cruise, the reason for this is my gluten free diet is better catered for here as the head waiter would come every night to discuss the following days menu. Harish the head waiter, Shrawan and Kalpesh the table waiters were absolutely brilliant at their jobs which made my dining experience an enjoyable one. The food every night was good and sometimes amazing despite being gluten free.
We had intended trying one or two of the select dining venues but when Harish brought the following days menu every night Cheryl had a peek at it and there was always something to tempt her to stay in Oriental, this pleased me because I didn’t have the task of informing a different set of waiters about my needs, it saved me a few quid too which always pleases me.
Lunch was usually taken in the Peninsular Restaurant as I could order it every night and I just had to tell the waiter my cabin number and they had all my order on screen down there. On port days we often ate in the buffets or pool cafes which wasn’t such an easy experience for me but we got by.
I would definitely recommend P&O cruising for people with food allergies as they are very good at catering for most if not all allergens and dietary requirements.
Cabin
C224 this time we decided to book an inside cabin as we never spend much time in them anyway, our cabin was clean and had all the space we needed but I am not keen on the open hanging rail as opposed to a proper wardrobe with doors on. Our cabin steward Agostinhi was friendly and efficient and nothing was too much trouble for him.
Overall
We liked our twelve days on Azura but we prefer the midsize adult only ship of Arcadia, there were quite a few children on this cruise despite it being in school term time but they were all very well behaved. I would imagine that it would be a different story during the main school holidays but we would never book at theses times.

Well that's all from me, we are not taking another cruise this year due to other commitments but I will pop into the forum to see what you have all been up to.

Happy cruising and good health to you all from Ray & Cheryl.

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