Having read so many negative reviews of the Azura I was very worried that we'd made a mistake in booking the cruise but I am happy to reassure people who have booked to go on her that they will have a great time. Not everything was perfect but nothing is so I will try to give my balanced view, so be prepared for a lengthy review! We travelled down on the Intercruise coach from Grimsby, the journey took approximately 9 hours (not helped by a delay on the motorway) the caoch was brand new and we had plenty of stops. When we arrived at Southampton it was 3 o'clock and as we were the last coach to arrive the terminal wasn't too busy and it took about 30 minutes to get checked in. Once onboard there is no one to show you to your cabin but we found ours without much difficulty. As I was with my parents we had booked 2 cabins on a guarantee basis. When the allocation came through we were happy to see we had been upgraded and were only next door but one to each other in A617 and A625. The stewardess was in the corridor when we arrived and seemed very puzzled by the fact we had A625 and told us to wait while she went to fetch her supervisor. After a short while he came and having checked our paperwork said that a crew member had arrived that day and had been put in that cabin! Off he went again and in the meantime we went into the other cabin which we were very impressed with. It was spacious and the layout with the open wardrobe and bathroom opposite was good. There was a decent sized flat screen TV, small fridge and the tea and coffee making facilities. The bathroom was small but adequate with toiletries provided. After another 10 minutes the housekeeping supervisor came back and said we had 2 options to either accept another cabin on a different floor or they would move the crew member out. We didn't want to be in different parts of the ship so said we would wait for the cabin to be emptied. By now it was time for the safety drill so we went to that and then went to the buffet restaurant for some food. It wasn't the best start but by way of apology we did get a bottle of wine! Now for the negative, I did have concerns having looked at the deck plans about being sandwiched between 2 large areas of white space and we did experience noise. A625 was much worse and had loud banging and strange noises, although it wasn't constantly and was worse when sailing. This we believe was due to being below the funnels and wonder if there had been complaints about this cabin before and that is why a crew member had been put in it. The other cabin also had banging and sounds of things moving about, when we asked our stewardess about it she said the galley was above us. It didn't spoil the holiday and we can't fault the actual cabins, the beds were so comfy and they were kept very clean but it is something worth mentioning for anyone thinking of booking a cabin in this location. On to the ship, it doesn't have the wow factor of some of the American ships but there was plenty to do and although it was full it didn't feel as though there were 3000+ people on baord. There were quite a few kids with the Scottish schools breaking up 2 weeks before the English ones but apart from seeing a lot around the main pool they were no bother. I had worried about finding a sun bed but again as long as you didn't expect to get right by the pool we always found loungers with plenty of space between them. There was only one table tennis table, which was a shame as we like a game but there were always people using it, we didn't do any of the other deck games or use the sports courts. I was disappointed that the dance classes were done in the main atrium as there isn't much room there and it isn't private so we didn't partake in them. On other cruises they have been done in the lounges. On sea days there were lots of seminars, quizzes , bingo, films etc so plenty to do. We didn't watch any on the sea screen preferring to go to see them in Malabar. The lay out isn't ideal to see a film and you had to get there early to get a good view. One was shown in the theatre which was much better for viewing and would be better if they were shown in there all the time. Overall we really enjoyed the quality of the entertainment, a common problem on all cruises I have been on is that the venues are not big enough to seat everyone and the Azura was no different. To ensure a seat in the Theatre you needed to be there at least 30 minutes before but it was worse in Manhattan when for some shows we were there 60 minutes before. Stand outs for us personally were Manuel Martinez the cuban comedian/magician and singers Andrew Derbyshire and Maxine Mazumber as Dusty Springfield. Now lets talk about food! It was plentiful and available 24 hours a day. We were given our preference of freedom dining and allocated the Penninsular Restaurant. The nights we ate in there the quality of food and choice was excellent, portion sizes were big enough for us and I sometimes ordered 2 puddings. The other times we ate in the buffet restaurant. The layout as others have said wasn't well organised and when it was busy was a bit chaotic, having said that we always found a table and most of the staff were very helpful. I am a fussy eater and most times found something to eat but did struggle on some of the themed evenings as apart from one choice of meat on the carvery there wasn't enough choice of plain english food. Ate a couple of times at the poolside grill which was fine but didn't use any of the extra charge restaurants. The staff on the whole were good, probably not as friendly as some of the other cruise lines I have been on, especially the drinks waiters but our stewardess Girlie was lovely. The ports of call we really enjoyed and nearly all docked in town or had shuttle buses put on by the port authorities which were free. The exception was in Barcelona but rather than pay the P&O shuttle bus charge we hopped on the T3 bus which was just outside the terminal and dropped us off at the bottom of Las Ramblas and only cost 4 euros return. Other ports we enjoyed were Alicante, Cartagena, Gibraltar, Cannes. Personally we don't like Civitavecchia or Livorno as we don't do the trips and there isn't much else to see there. One last negative was disembarkation which was a bit of a shambles. We were herded into the Meridian Restaurant with all of the other coach passengers, it was hot and there were no seats left and no one gave us any information as to why we were late in getting off. Our allocated time was 9.10-9.30 but we didn't start moving until 9.50 and then the queue was snaked round the Atrium. Finally we got off, collected our bags and made it to the coach. The driver said it had been like that for the past couple of weeks so wether or not it is normally like this I don't know. It didn't put us off P&O as on the whole we had a fabulous time and are already looking to book another cruise with them next year.