2nd Port of Call : St Maarten/St Martin.
We hadn't booked any excursions here, but we were very keen to go to Juliana Airport at Maho Beach, as seen on Worlds Extreme Airports.  We walked the gauntlet of tour guides/taxi drivers and negotiated a price of 10 USD each to get there (2 of us in taxi).  Coming back we got in with a group of people and negotiated 8 USD each.  Before choosing our taxi driver, we had called in at tourist information near the ship and were told the journey would take approx an hour and a half.  What a load of rubbish !!!  There were some roadworks, but despite this, we arrived around 35 minutes after setting off.  This is DEFINITELY worth a visit. Maho beach is beautiful with the Sunset Bar at the end.  Clear and warm waters, but beware the beach slopes downward quite a lot, so getting into the sea is easy...getting out can be an experience which you'd make money from on You've been framed !  You can watch the locals hanging onto the fence when the jets are taking off, and the pilots even wave to you as they're turning the aeroplane ready to take off.  Not to be missed ....get a taxi and go !!!!  Good food also at Sunset Bar if a little expensive (we paid about 14 USD for burger and chips but it was a good burger and chips !

St. Maarten

3rd Port of Call : Tortola
No excursion booked.  We opted for a walk around the town, which isn't very large.  There are few local craft stalls.  Pay a visit to Pussers Landing (a local bar serving excellent Rum Punch).  We spent most of the day on the ship after our walk around the town here.  We could have booked a tour around the island or taxi to the beach, but again the weather was threatening, so we opted to stay close to the ship.  During the afternoon the sun came out so we decided we'd made the right choice !

Tortola

4th Port of Call : Grand Turk
What an absolutely beautiful beach.  No need for any excursions here.  YOu walk off the ship and into the clearest, most blue water you'll ever see.  A large section of the beach belongs to the cruise lines so sunbeds are free.  If you walk further along you have to pay.  Our ship was first in port so we got all the beds. After lunch an American Cruise liner arrived and a lot of them ended up walking further along and having to pay.  This beach is a fantastic photo opportunity as well with the ship's photographers dressing up in tuxedos with bottles of champagne in hand and getting photos of everyone in the water.  Just beyond the beach are a range of shops, but quite expensive so wouldn't recommend gift purchasing here.  We only realised too late in the day that many of the people from our ship had gone into a large pool just behind the beach that had a Flow Rider facility (surfing in the pool!). It belonged to the hotel there but it certainly appeared that a lot of the Azura passengers were using the pool and sunbeds for free...so worth checking this out.

Grand Turk

6th Port of Call : Antigua.
Well, there are 365 beaches on Antigua. One for every day of the year.  However, when we arrived it absolutely poured down (again!), so we opted for an island tour with a few other people.  Worth bearing in mind that every port has a gauntlet to be run of taxi drivers/tour drivers trying to persuade you onto their trip.  They are all good, but reminder : NEGOTIATE !!!!  If they say it's 40 dollars, tell them you'll pay them 10 and go from there ....they love to barter with you so don't be timid !  We got into a minibus called Charkie's Taxi Service for 25 USD each.  We got an excellent tour of the island showing us lots of the beaches we couldn't go on !!  We were also taken to Nelson' Dockyard.  It costs an extra 8 USD to get into Nelson's Dockyard and in our opinion, and that of everyone else we spoke to, is that it is NOT WORTH IT !  There's little more than some gift shops, a small and not very well stocked museum, and the rest of it is a marina where a lot of private yachts are moored.  If you take a tour and Nelson's Dockyard is one of the stops...take the tour, but then find yourself a comfy seat outside the Dockyard area and wait for the tour to continue... The drivers on each taxi / tour were only allowing half an hour here anyway.  The rest of the island tour was very interesting, with us going up into the hills for spectacular views of houses of the stars (Eric Clapton, Oprah Winfrey, Whitney Houston).  In short, I would definitely recommend an island tour here if the weather is inclement.  If it's sunny ...get a taxi to one of the local beaches and enjoy the water !!!

Antigua

7th Port of Call : St Lucia.
I loved St Lucia !! In comparison to the other islands, it just somehow seems more "civilised" if that's the right word.  You'll see what I mean when you arrive !  Lovely port area with gift shops and bars.  I would happily book a fortnight's holiday on St Lucia.  We negotiated hard with four friends and got a taxi driver to take us to Choco Beach (10 minute drive).  We ended up paying
40 USD for six of us, return.  You don't pay the taxi driver until he picks you up at a prearranged time and returns you to the ship.  He wanted to take us to another more popular beach (Reynolds ?  can't remember). But one of our friends had been there and said it would be packed and so we insisted on Choco Beach.  It was lovely !! Beautiful azure seas.  Negotiate your sunbed price !!  Man wanted 5 dollars each and we insisted we wouldn't pay more than four and got it in the end.  A local man approached my pink sunburned husband, seeminly concerned about his burning and proceeded to produce a large Aloe Vera leaf, which he cut open and proceeded to massage my husbands back, arms and shoulders with.  My friends and I watched with interest, wondering how much hubby would negotiate on this... As he's a purchasing Manager, we were all making bets on how hard he would negotiate.  At the end of the massage (around ten minutes), the guy asked for 12 USD and my husband paid it !!!!!!! No negotiating !! I was very disappointed in him lol !!!!  Hubby said it was worth it, but if you have this massage, I'd recommend you just pay the guy around five dollars and he'd  be happy with that !

St. Lucia

8th Port of Call : Dominica
How humid is this island !!!! everyone walking around drenched in sweat lol !  We had tried to book the River Tubing excursion, but it was fully booked up, but we heard everyone who did it had a fabulous time.  There are various excursions from this port, and in the future, I'd book one.  A short walk from the port is the town, with lots of market stalls.
THIS IS THE PLACE TO PURCHASE YOUR GIFTS !!!!  Cheapest port on the cruise and they dont hassle you !! Every other port the locals are "in your face" trying to persuade you to buy their wares and it gets tedious.  In Dominica (pronounced domineeka), they leave you alone except to ask how you are.  We bought lots of gifts from here ..jewellery, wooden goods, hawaiian shirts etc.  Also some good duty free shops.  We spent about 2 hours in the town and returned to the ship to spend the afternoon around the pool, but I'd definitely like to take a tour here in the future.  Yet again, tour guides/taxi drivers will happily take you wherever you want to go.

Dominica

Barbados : We arrived on the Friday in Barbados and waited around 3 hours for luggage which was delivered very efficiently to the cabin.  This was our first night onboard and we were tired from the flight, so we didn't venture off the ship.  However on the Saturday, we had booked a Jeep Safari around Barbados with P & O.  The weather was very bad that day with heavy rain, but nevertheless we made the best of it and the driver, Dion, was an absolute charm.  He was funny and knowledgeable and made the experience well worthwhile.  We went off road through the rainforest for a while which was really interesting, and the rain stopped whilst we were in there.  We called at a place called Bathsheba with breaking waves and breathtaking views, and stopped there for a while to be served complimentary rum punches (the first of many on this holiday).  Highly recommend this Jeep Safari !!!  Things to beward of ... in Bathsheba there are men with monkeys asking if you want your photograph taking.  The monkeys are really cute but if you take a photo, they expect you to pay them !  Also rule of thumb in every single port on this cruise.... negotiate, negotiate, negotiate !! Never pay the first price quoted... that goes for jewellery, gifts, taxis, island tours etc !!!
Important : if you didn't buy drinks from duty free at your airport, get them from the port in Barbados to take onboard ....cheaper ! also buy some soft drinks/mixers to go with.

5th Port of Call : St Kitts
We had the Sugar Train Excursion booked here.  You can only book this excursion through P & O ..tickets are all reserved for cruise ship passengers.
There are three excursion times during the day and we chose the morning one.  It was approximately a forty five minute drive to get to the train.  You are told by the coach driver which part of the train you will be boarding.  Downstairs is undercover and air conditioned, upstairs is covered but open to the sides and offers the best views.  People were worrying that they had to get on first to get a seat upstairs, but basically, everyone got a seat upstairs and no-one sat downstairs !!  They board some Caribbean singers during the journey and we were serenaded for an hour or so along with being give complimentary rum punch, pina colada or soft drinks and some local sugar cake (which is bloody horrible !)wash it down with some drinks though and you'll be fine.  The views from this train were fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  HOWEVER !  The sugar train is famous for derailing ! (not in a dangerous way, it just sometimes slips it's tracks and has to be lifted back on). There's no danger to passengers.  The third excursion party were nearly 2 hours late back from their trip after it derailed, and they were also soaked as it started pouring down !!!  I'd say yes to this excursion though....one not to miss in my opinion.

C708.  Spacious cabin with "half covered, half undercover" balcony area.  Ideal for sitting in sun or shade, whatever your preference.  Good cabin layout..through the door bathroom to the right with a very large open wardrobe at the side.  Much better than wardrobes with doors .. you can see all your hanging items at a glance !
We had bed in Queen configuration which was extremely comfortable with very soft sheets (can only surmise they were very high Egyptian cotton count).  Decor stylish with greens and browns with subdued lighting at the balcony window. Nautical prints on the walls added to the ambience.  Ample fridge space and cupboard space with very good powerful hairdryer.  Fast boil kettle with box of supplies for tea/coffee making.

We chose the first week as one of the main course choices was Chateau Briande and we were sooo glad we chose that menu ..Our main that evening was Beef Wellington and four of us having the same had one very thin slice of the Wellington which we didn't consider ample.

Azura Review

A126 Azura Caribbean 25th November 2011 by Lesley

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