Chose this cruise to visit ports in Ireland, Scoltand and Iceland none of which we had visited previously.
We had been on the Azura three times before so knew the ship well and although we generally prefer a smaller ship we had never been aware of the larger number of passengers on Azura.
This changed on this cruise. On previous cruises on Azura we had been in warm climates which meant the passengers were spread over the entire ship, both inside and outside. On this cruise, in a cooler climate, we found the ship felt quite crowded especially on 'at sea' days and there was often nowhere to sit and relax in the public areas.
P and O don't consider this to be a restricted view cabin although 50% of the view from the balcony is blocked by a metal bulkhead which makes the cabin extremely dark even in the daytime. When on the balcony itself the only view is the the left looking down the side of the ship, there is no view the right at all.