Our 2nd P & O cruise - and what a disappointment. Oh, we had a fantastic holiday, the break was lovely, but would we cruise on the Azura again? Absolutely not! The ship is big but doesn't absorb the people very well. There was so many things not right - here goes:
Library - far too small for the size of the ship and not a very good selection of books either, the Atrium area was small in comparison with that on the Oceana, the lifts were a nightmare - you seemed to wait for ages - and I lost count of the number of times I threatened to get out of them when other passengers seemed quite happy to ignore the maximum number of people sign in them and just keep on cramming in saying 'room for a couple of small ones', entertainment with the exception of the comedian could have been better, the tribute acts were diabolical, the dining rooms were packed to capacity - waiters had to go in sideways - as did we, to serve you if you were on a table for 2, the buffet restaurants were like cattle markets and the choice of food could have been better - I have never seen such small cakes and sandwiches for afternoon tea, the sun decks were packed to capacity with sun loungers as well - no room to walk round them - I don't want to be that intimate with strangers whilst sunbathing, the daily events seemed geared to the older passengers - and there was plenty of them - I don't call these entertainment - ' how to deal with puffy ankles, 'how to deal with lip lines' 'friends of Dorothy meeting' (Who was Dorothy anyway), Whist drives, 'Botox fillers' - unless you were over the age of 60 I really couldn't see why you would want to go and attend them. Movies seemed to be repeated several times during the course of the cruise and the outside cinema - why have movies on during the day when some people would have liked some general rest and relaxation time in the sun, the pools and jacuzzis - no separate ones for the kids, so you never got a look in as there was daily games for the kids in the pools and it was generally noisy. Reception staff generally unhelpful and didn't seem to want to help. And the ship didn't feel that stable during the odd patch of rough weather - hubby thought the Captain didn't have the stabilisers on as it would have slowed the ship down - and he couldn't have gone much slower on the journey out!
The good points - our cabin steward - Guatam was an angel - although I must state that we were shocked when we arrived back at our room on the last night to find he had left us an empty envelope for us to leave him his tips in - we were going to anyway but I thought it was a bit cheeky, the waiters at dinner - Wilber, Tony and Dexter - couldn't have done more for us, Sindhu and Seventeen - definitely worth paying extra for although if you want water with your food, ask for tap water or you will get billed £1.850 for every bottle you have. Our favourite place was The Glass House - fantastic service, knowledgeable staff and great food and the best wine ever! Oh and the Planet Bar - early morning coffee and a good book.