We are pensioners and have cruised many times and many lines. We picked this cruise because it looked interesting and was a good price. Having cruised on the AZURA this ship held very few surprises for us as they are sisters. It is one of the larger ships there was plenty to do and the entertainment staff were for the most part very friendly and soon made you feel at home. We had one of the cheapest balconies situated at the rear of the ship, the balcony was slightly larger than previous one we’ve had. When at sea there was quite a bit of noise from the wash which mostly disappeared when the door was shut and there was an occasional ‘shimmy’ when the autopilot made a correction both of these didn’t cause us to much of a problem.

As is normal the room maid was efficient and very obliging and kept the room spotless. We had most of our dinners in the main dining room and found the service was impeccable, preferring not to dress up on holiday we had formal normal night dinners in the buffet which was also very good. Most nights we went to the theatre to see some excellent shows, although being non dancers and not a follower of ‘Strictly come dancing’ some of the dancing shows left us cold. I hear you say if you not keen on dancing why did you go on a ‘Strictly come dancing cruise’ because the cruise fitted our criteria. We also saw some very good acts in the ‘Havana’ lounge including some very good comedians. Having been on many cruises round the Med we did not both with excursions but rather settled for a stroll around the local town, most of these places had some interesting points in their favour .

Although the Ventura and Azura are sisters we both thought that there was a better atmosphere on the Azura. One little niggle for us and several other passengers where the daily Sudoku and Crossword, on most of the previous cruises (and on many lines) the Sudoku and crossword were put out first thing to give you something to do while waiting for the activities to start, but on the Ventura they mad you wait until they had printed a newssheet and so didn’t appear until eleven o’clock and missed altogether when the hard working!!!! Librarian was given another job. Read more