Azura Review
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We went on this cruise with some apprehension after reading a few reviews, but we need not have worried at all. Azura is a HUGE ship and, like many more before us, we initially got lost a few times although it wasn't long before we learned where everything was located and found our way round quite easily. Embarkation of the 3,000 passengers is done easily and smoothly over two days in Barbados. Our cabin was ready for us (always kept spotlessly clean by Dhiren our very nice, helpful steward) and our luggage arrived fairly soon after we did.
There is so much going on all day every day that its sometimes hard to fit in everything that interests us. Sea days were never boring and if we felt like chilling out on a sunbed, there was never a problem finding one even in a reasonably quiet area.
The food was delicious and service good. We were on Freedom Dining which was great and we never had to wait for a table for either two or four. In fact, I caught a cough and cold during the cruise (probably from the flight out) and it was never a problem when we requested a table away from others so that there was no chance of them catching my germs. We tried Venezia buffet but didn't like it at all, bit of a scrum and not much choice really, and one evening we tried Verona too but were not impressed ... and it was absolutely freezing cold with the aircon blasting out uncontrollable by the restaurant management apparently. One thing we did notice with some dismay was that no hand cleanser was used either at the foot of the gangways before boarding the ship or on entrance to the main dining rooms - there was some available up in the buffet restaurants but very few people bothered using it. We also saw people using the toilets and leaving before washing their hands. This is the only big let-down on this ship for us. Everything else on Azura gained top marks from us, staff are all so very helpful and obliging, absolutely nothing seems to be too much trouble, in fact Reception staff even helped me arrange for a friend's cabin to be decorated with banners, streamers and balloons to help her celebrate a special birthday and she also then received cards from both Reception staff as well as the Captain.
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
Our cabin was more like a hotel room than a ship's cabin and all the cabins on C deck enjoy a double width balcony that was absolutely great on sea days as you could have both sun and a little shade too if you wished. There was absolutely no noise, very well soundproofed, our cabin steward could not have looked after us any better (we loved the chocs on our pillow each night and the towel creations he made for us, an elephant, a dog (complete with a Beware of the Dog sign!) and a hanging orang-utan, so very clever and most enjoyable.