My husband and I have attained Caribbean grade loyalty tier with P&O and have sailed on all the current ships. We cruised last year both on Azura and Ventura. Sadly this last cruise will almost certainly be the last with P&O. We sailed on Celebrity Equinox in March this year and it was with that still fresh in our minds that we joined Azura in Southampton on June 1st for a cruise to the Canaries.

We arrived early and embarkation was a breeze so once on board we made our bookings for the specialty restaurants we enjoy and headed to the spa. We have in the past booked the Retreat for the full length of the cruise and were dismayed to find that the price had doubled since last year. As we had poor weather forecast for the first couple of days and no sea days between the Canary Islands £350 per couple seemed very expensive. We decided to just book on a daily basis despite staff saying we may not get places as they would be sold on a first come basis. By the end of the cruise we had spent just two full days in the Retreat a total cost of £80. Had the spa management not been so greedy on their prices we would have happily paid £200 as last year and lost out on days we were unable to use. The Retreat was never full and often had only half a dozen or so passengers ... seems the rest of the passengers agreed with us .... too expensive .... no half days sold. The Sanctuary on Princess ships is exactly the same area but has a totally different flexible pricing structure and is usually used to capacity. Not sure why on this ship topless sunbathing was allowed in the Retreat area. Should only be on designated top decks. How embarrassing for some passengers and staff.

As Caribbean tier passengers we had lunch provided on embarkation day in the dining room. Sadly this was not the welcoming experience of previous cruises and was to herald the start of some very poor staff encounters. Here we are loyal repeat paying passengers .. the perfect opportunity for P&O to meet and greet and impress their welcome. Nothing could have been further from the truth. A cursory nod of the head and a begrudging acknowledgement. We took our glasses of fizz and scarpered. The buffet had got to be better than this! So much for loyalty perks. The second Caribbean tier lunch sadly was little better. Norovirus had hit the ship and no officers turned up ... not even to say hello and goodbye. We never did see the captain whilst on board. Read more