Smurfie Live on A626

[david63]

Friday 30th September 2016

Our penultimate sea day which started off somewhat overcast but improved as the day progressed, only to deteriorate later.

We were able to spend a large part of the morning on the balcony, and even saw some dolphins alongside the ship. We did also have a walk round the inside of the ship but were beaten back by “Paddy’s Market” – why do P&O allow the shops to take over the whole ship?

This afternoon was the crew talent show which we were persuaded to go and watch by one of the waiters in The Planet as he was taking part in one of the dance items. Some of those taking part really should stick to their day jobs, but there were some good bits of entertainment amongst the other acts.

Tonight was our last Black Tie night and once again another gentleman was asked to leave the Planet for being inappropriately dressed – he, or at least his wife, was nor a happy bunny. Tonight we ate once again in the Epicurean restaurant and had what was probably the best meal of the entire cruise.

To be continued …

[Stephen]

Friday 30th September 2016

Our penultimate sea day which started off somewhat overcast but improved as the day progressed, only to deteriorate later.

We were able to spend a large part of the morning on the balcony, and even saw some dolphins alongside the ship. We did also have a walk round the inside of the ship but were beaten back by “Paddy’s Market” – why do P&O allow the shops to take over the whole ship?

This afternoon was the crew talent show which we were persuaded to go and watch by one of the waiters in The Planet as he was taking part in one of the dance items. Some of those taking part really should stick to their day jobs, but there were some good bits of entertainment amongst the other acts.

Tonight was our last Black Tie night and once again another gentleman was asked to leavethe Planet for being inappropriately dressed – he, or at least his wife, was nor a happy bunny. Tonight we ate once again in the Epicurean restaurant and had what was probably the best meal of the entire cruise.

To be continued …

Will they ever learn

I must admit, I do enjoy seeing the riff raff turned away

[qbman1]

Fool. Probably ruined his life. He'll be banging the desk down at reception demanding compo!

[david63]

Saturday 1st October 2016

This is our last sea day before arriving back in Southampton tomorrow morning.

We have had a surprising calm crossing of the BoB – even the Captain remarked on it. Although the temperature has dropped a bit there has been quite a lot of sun today.

Obviously the main focus today has been with packing and just enjoying the last of the good weather before we get home and having a final relax – nothing much else to as everything seems to stop on the last day – apart from the shops. It always amazes me as to how many people have to spend so much time buying so much “tat”, and looking round the shops I never realised how many things that are on sale that neither of us either want or need!

We had already pre-booked Sindhu for tonight and I have never seen it so quite. In our opinion Sindhu does not have the “wow” facter that it used to have, but apparently Atul is on board soon and he will be changing the menus – not sure if that is just for Azura or across the fleet.

To be continued …

[oldbluefox]

Fool. Probably ruined his life. He'll be banging the desk down at reception demanding compo!

With a bit of luck he will 'never sail with P&O ever again!!!' Clearly dress codes, and probably everything else, do not apply to him.

[Mervyn and Trish]

But he's paid for his holiday and he's allowed to wear what he wants. How dare they insist he doesn't ruin the ambience for the dinosaurs. It's his hooooman right. Etc.etc.

[kaymar]

Thanks for the excellent, comprehensive reports, David and hope you had a safe and trouble-free journey back up the M6. It's a beautiful day for it - just like being in the Med.

[david63]

Sunday 2nd October 2016

Ah, joy of joys – disembarkation day. I used to think that disembarkation was easy peasy, then they changed it to be “silent” disembarkation which, at first appeared to work quite well. Now it has degenerated into the most appalling shambles I have ever seen (and that is being generous). Rules state that you have to be out of your cabin (or in our case – suite) by 08:00 – not a problem as we can have breakfast from 07:00.

Now not wanting to push the point of having a suite but there was an expectation that there would be some consideration given to the fact that most suite passengers have paid a lot of money for their accommodation so there should be “something extra” – well you might think that, and I might think that but P&O most definitely do not think that. Having asked at reception do suite passengers get any priority for disembarkation and being told only the upper levels of the Peninsular Club have priority and you have the first slot after them does not go down over well when you find thr other passengers (i.e. our neighbours) have an earlier disembarkation time.

Anyway being the good passengers that we are we assemble in out allotted venue (Meridian Restaurant) at 08:00 for our 09:15 – 09:30 disembarkation. Cutting a [very] long story short we eventually disembarked at around 10:00 – a three year old could have organised it better.

Finding our cases was easier than on previous cruises due in part to many cases already having been reclaimed. Now the one bit of good news – our car was literally parked next to the CPS cabin (row A1 – and it was the first car in the row)

The journey home was going OK until we hit the road works around Stoke on the M6 where there had been an accident on the southbound carriageway so we were delayed about 45 because of “rubbernecking”.

All back home now and cases unpacked – washing, I am told, will start tomorrow!

Conclusion

This has probably been one of the best cruises that we have done, due to three things:
1. The weather has been superb throuout the cruise with only a couple of showers which have been at night.
2. The itinerary which was probably the main reason why we chose this cruise
3. The fact that we had the upgrade to a suite which I thought was good value for what we paid but I am not convinced that I would have thought the same if I had paid full price. I know that it may sound a bit churlish but I don’t think that there are enough additional benefits to justify the difference in price. However I have a feeling that Mts Smurf has a different view that may prove to be expensive.

As I have mentioned before this was our first cruise with Freedom Dining and is something that we knew that we would have to try one day. Our conclusion is that Freedom Dining is not for us and I know that many prefer it – but we are not amongst them. We have tried it and can now speak from experience. The things that we thought we would like about it, we did and the things that we thought we would not like, we didn’t.

As for the ship I still think that Azura is one of our favourite ships but she is starting to look a bit tired and in need of some TLC.

This was our first cruise since the introduction of the two dress codes. The Back Tie nights were, on the whole, fairly well adhered to but some of the ladies ideas on evening/cocktail dresses does stretch the bounds of one’s imagination. The main problem seems to be with “Evening Casual” as there is such a variation with many still adopting what was “Jacket required” whilst many others varied from casual to scuff.

The end.

[oldbluefox]

Welcome home Smurfman and thanks for your reviews which made for interesting reading. The Monastery at Monserrat sounded a fascinating excursion and one we may do when next in Barcelona. I don't know what has happeed to La Ramblas but there don't seem to be as many 'living statues' and street artists as in the past.
I can understand your reservations about Freedom dining. We liked the fact that you could arrive for dinner at a time to suit yourself. However we found the dining experience quite busy with people constantly coming and going and tables being cleared and re-laid constantly. Children also seemed to be wandering hither and thither throughout the meal, to whee I don't know but that added to the general movement of people which was much more pronounced than nn set dining times.Having given it a try, there are pluses and minuses but we prefer the old set dining times ourselves.

[qbman1]

I shall miss all these little updates from the Smurfmeister.

Glad you had a good cruise - the weather always helps

I am absolutely with you about Club Dining. Admittedly we have never tried Freedom but we are entirely happy with the fixed time and everything else that goes with Club so we have not intention of defecting to the dark Freedom side (unless, of course, it is forced upon us in which case we would have to seriously consider whether we wish to continue to cruise with P&O).

I'm not sure what they have done wit the disembarkation procedures either. For a time, it worked really well but the last couple of times have been awful. I am not sure who the new "procedures" are supposed to benefit, but it us certainly not the paying customers!

[CaroleF]

Thank you Smurfie for all the postings, it's been very entertaining. When we've had a suite we've been told we can disembark at any time we wish, once the main disembarkation has started. We've usually been given a little card which says, I think, Priority. We then hand that in with our cruise cards when we disembark - except you don't hand the cards in now do you!

We've always been happy with Club Dining too and have no wish to try Freedom. We like getting to know our fellow cruisers on the table and have often socialised with them apart from dinner. I suppose the only time we have got a tiny example of what it would be like on Freedom Dining is when we've joined a table at breakfast or lunch in the main dining room. There have certainly been some people we've met on these occasions with whom we had nothing in common with at all! How we would get on for a 14 night or more cruise I don't know. Luckily this has never happened on an evening table. Yes some people we have had more in common with than others but we've never felt things were awful and we must change tables. Still, everyone to their own choice.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise Smurfie.

Carole

[david63]

... to whee ...

Freudian slip?

As there were very few children on-board and most of them were in prams we did not experience any issues with them wandering hither and thither but I could imagine it happening on a cruise where there were greater numbers of the "little darlings"

[oldbluefox]

... to whee ...

Freudian slip?

A bit too subtle to be intentional but it does seem appropriate. Once installed at the dinner table we, as kids, were not allowed to move away until the meal was finished (and that seems to apply to most children onboard). However there is a significant number of families from hell where children are given free rein to come and go and do whatever they please on the assumption everybody else loves their 'little darlings'. Meanwhile their parents are totally oblivious and just ignore them. You got off lightly Smurfy but let me know when you are next cruising and I'll see what I can arrange.

[qbman1]

... to whee ...

Freudian slip?

A bit too subtle to be intentional but it does seem appropriate. Once installed at the dinner table we, as kids, were not allowed to move away until the meal was finished (and that seems to apply to most children onboard). However there is a significant number of families from hell where children are given free rein to come and go and do whatever they please on the assumption everybody else loves their 'little darlings'. Meanwhile their parents are totally oblivious and just ignore them. You got off lightly Smurfy but let me know when you are next cruising and I'll see what I can arrange.

Apparently, it's called "permissive parenting". I know what I'd do with the little sods!

[towny44]

Thank you for the review David it was most enjoyable, I totally agree about the disembarkation process it does appear to have been planned by a half wit. However I do admit that we rarely/never attend the allocated lounge, we try to choose a time which should enable us to have breakfast, return to the cabin to pick up our carry off luggage and then go straight down to the disembarkation point.
I need to remind you that my wife is in a wheelchair so the cabin steward is normally sympathetic to our request to leave our bags in the room, and the gangway staff never question why we are early or late, although normally disembarkation runs ahead of schedule, or maybe I am thinking about our Celebrity experiences.
We prefer freedom dining but that's because we like to share a table, and freedom lets us mix with a larger number of passenger than club dining.
We are booked on Azura next May so I am glad to hear she is, in the main, in good shape with a good crew.