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Ventura

Azura

Aurora

Fantastic Cruise on Azura

Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo

Never again. First time on p&o.  so disappointed. Bar service non existant. Sometimes had to wait for over a quarter of an hour just to order a drink. And another to be served. Food——- . Most street food is even better. Buffet so poor with almost no choice at all. The meat when available was as though as leather. We have been on various different cruise lines but never like this. So poor. Asked for meat at the evening meal, asked for well done. No way. Sent back twice . At the end had to change and had fish, which is not quite my favorite. On a positive note the staff in the restaurant were excellent. They did their best to help with the menu, but again i am a meet eater but a very disappointed meat eater.

Cabin was fine, clean and proper. Would appreciate feed back from p&o.

But p&o never again.

Never again. Not worth the money. Almost a rip off.

Organised a friends get together for a weeks cruise around the Greek Islands sailing from Malta. Arrival to Malta went well,  embarkation went smoothly.  Had an extended stay due to late arriving passengers (not their fault). Valletta is a beautiful city and well worth a visit.  One couple in the group were given their cabin keys only to find an officer in their bed who had been working the night shift. They were given a temporary room for the night eventually before finally being given the original room the next day.  Complete mix up with their key cards meant they couldn't order drinks as they didn't work. The poor couple spent most of the first night going backwards and forwards to reception. Bit a great start..

Itinerary 

After the late departure we had a day at sea,  but due to storm Daniel we had a torrid time,  with 60 knot winds and rain. No chance to relax unfortunately. Then the not so sunny captain from Derbyshire alerted is to a potential fire onboard. This saw crew members running around with life jackets on,  whilst the passengers sat nervously waiting for the all clear,  which came thankfully. Due to headwinds we were unable to make up the lost time leaving Malta and arrived at our next port 6 hours late.  With no extension on the departure we lost half a day at Athens.  More strong winds prevented us visiting Mykinos which the captain cancelled.  We stayed on arriving at Crete late afternoon. The rest of the trip went as planned. 

Ship and entertainment.

Had a deluxe cabin which was spacious and not too bad.  Cabin crew was fine and helpful, champagne in the fridge but not cold as the fridge didn't work. As the ship was full, getting into restaurants was a slow process.  The buffet on deck 15 was a nightmare. Finding a table was just a scramble. The food in there was basic, bland and repetitive. The food in the free restaurants were small portioned and often luke warm. The staff were non engaging and tired. The Sindhu restaurant was nice as was the Glass restaurant.  Both had a supplementary charge. The entertainment was a massive letdown. We looked forward to a west end type show but there wasn't one.  The singers were no more than karaoke standard.  The comedian told jokes from the 80's and spoke about his wife most of the time and how men were always at fault. The bands weren't too bad,  but again just went through the motions. We had our photos taken on the celebration nights and not one was decent.  Either eyes closed or mid turn etc.  Very disappointing.

Service in the bars ranged from food to bad depending on which you went in. Some of the bigger venues took an age to get served,  often having to go to the bar to see what the problem was. Access to water was poor unless you wanted to pay for an expensive 250ml bottle.  Seems crazy that there was a reluctance to provide water around the ship, without having to trail upto deck 15.

Overall we left feeling a bit 'Meh'. This was our first P&O cruise so it will take a lot to risk going with them again. Certainly wouldn't sail on Azura again. Just no spark at all.

Bland, bland, bland

Having read the reviews in advance we were a little worried.  This was our 27th cruise (various lines including P&O).  We had an aft balcony cabin which was on the corner of the ship.  It was spotlessly clean and, although a little tired furnishing-wise, due ship's age, it was more than adequate.  Only gripe was the bed seemed harder than usual.   The service around the ship was fine, staff were pleasant and most of them worked hard.  Tables were quickly cleared and cleaned in the buffet and they did a good job of getting everyone to sanitise their hands on entering the servery.  The food in the buffet was very good with plenty of fresh salad. Mostly geared to the English palette for hot food, but all very nice, except the broccoli - avoid that!  The ship in general looked in good order, light wood panelling and new looking carpets on the landings and the paintwork outside seemed fine.  The bad?  Well, most of the entertainment was not great, a female singer who sang flat most of the time, a couple of "reasonable" shows by the ship's company and a male comic who was quite funny, sometimes.   The atrium used for dance classes and dancing is just too small for the number of guests on board who want to participate.     We also hated having drinks served in plastic glasses in the buffet, these were clearly not able to be cleaned properly by the regular dishwasher process (they had scrapable marks/debris on them)  and so we had to pour the drinks into china mugs each time.   As for the missed port of Mykonos, well no-one can predict the weather, but this was the third disappointment of the itinerary.  We booked a year ago, specifically because it included Split, which then got cut out months ago.  Then there was a very recent notification to say Gythion was cut and replaced with Katokolon.  (The latter was a waste of a day, nothing there but a row of over-priced shops unless you want to visit the original Olympia.)  However, all in all, we had a good cruise and enjoyed the trip.  Some people have indicated displeasure with the captain, but we found him to be a breath of fresh air with light hearted humour rather than the usual strictly functional stuffy announcements.   Each to their own I guess.   The sun decks are absolutely heaving on sunny days - no space just to walk around as bodies everywhere, but if that is your thing then this is the ship for you.

Good & Not so Good - 14 nights 

FIRST TIME CRUISER

I went with a friend , simply no good on all levels boring , flat atmosphere,  rough sailing , missed stops, mykynos and skatios   no compensation , late sailing by 7 hrs! no entertainment , food OK,  staff miserable . Captains night waste of time . What was the point ? I didn't get why ?  I can't really say I went to Greece ! What I saw was rubbish . ( because of missed stops )Cabin OK no issues there although my friend says its dated .

No pool entertainment ! Children's films at the pool and I never even saw children there  .just boring . I did not get s full cruise experience,  alot of money for nothing really.

Met 6 others on our table at night and made our own fun . 4 out of eight of us were 2st time cruising we were simply dissapointed.  Everyone I spoke to on the ship all said exactly the same thing . Lots said no more P&O cruises for them again . I would avoided this ship unless you just want to sunbath all day .

RUBBISH and BORING 

Chose to go with p and o because of recommendations from friends . This was our first cruise, only my husband and myself in the party . Our baggage labels were sent to us and printed and put on our cases . We had confirmation of a free upgrade. When we reached the embarkation point we were told those labels didn’t match our cabin. The staff didn’t know why so we were left waiting until they found out . The staff gave no indication why this had happened but gave us another pass to get on the ship. She gave us a room number we had to go to and the keys were outside. The keys didn’t work . We went to reception and the staff put something into the computer and said they would work now . We went up to the room , and again the keys didn’t work. We went back down again and saw the same staff. She done something again and we went back to room and yet again the keys didn’t work . So on the fourth time of going up and downstairs they eventually worked. I asked the staff if the room on our origional luggage labels was the upgrade we had confirmation of . She said yes but we couldn’t have that room as another had been given to us on a different deck !  She said that wasn’t an upgraded cabin, and there were no upgrades left. She was not very helpful at all and that is one of my greatest pet hates if you have bad service . The customers next to us were complaining that their room had a member of staff sleeping it ! Which I then thought the service must be naff . This was our first impression !  So where was our upgraded cabin as we had the room number and luggage tags from p and o ? . The room was ok , was clean and tidy . The cabin gentleman was really nice who looked after our cabin. Unfortunately the weather was horrible as we were in the middle of storm Daniel , we couldn’t get off the ship, missed our shore excursion to mikanos, and cut short a stay to Athens . We had a couple of excursions booked . One to a beach break in Heraklion ( which was an absolute joke . We were dumped off the coach and was nothing there , and nothing else around even a shop). We went to Athens and plaka and had a half hour to get a drink and then back to the bus. We got off the ship on the day before we left I’n katakolon which was lovely thank god ! The staff on the ship I thought were great ..attentive , smart and greeted us always with a smile . Bgwhan in the glass house was amazing ! The ship is dated and the carpets in some places were dirty. Under the tables in the buffet restaurant on the breakfast serve were dirty and had chips on floor off night before . I think the cleanliness needs addressed . Obviously with being stuck on the ship because of the storm there wasn’t very much to do. Out highlight was 1 game of bingo . The hand sanitiser stations were rarely in use , but sometimes the staff had a bottle to spray you with . To top it all both myself and my husband have tested positive for covid as I know quite a few other guests did aswell. !

I wouldn’t go back on the Azura , I’ve heard the Iona is supposed to be a good ship . Very sad and dissapointed at our first cruise

Stress from the start

I don't want to waste a lot of my time writing this review, but just to say that we were with a group of people (10 in total) and we all has a lot of issues during our weeks cruise. Worst of all it was my friends wedding onboard, and many of her arrangements and our dining plans were messed up! We weren't able to sit together for dinner until the 4th night!! Even the special wedding night meal saw us split across 2 tables!! 

Putting the wedding aside, the food in the buffet is appalling, an Asda cafe is better. The main dining rooms provided mostly adequate food but tiny portions. Certainly no special meals to write home about.

The service was generally hit and miss too, at the restaurants and bars. 

The only thing I'd compliment is the Retreat which we rebooked and was worth the money getting away from the crowds and have a bit of comfort.

P & O are so far removed from the other cruise operators such as Celebrity and Princess - truly shocking, I won't be sailing with them ever again

P and No! Awful

I have only one gripe and that is the arrival time in Malta.

I particularly wanted to visit Malta because I lived there as a small child but the late arrival time of 5pm ( we actually boarded at 8 pm but that was out of P&Os hands) from Gatwick meant we would arrive and sail very shortly afterwards.

People who flew from Bristol & Manchester arrived at 11am allowing them to leave the ship and visit Valletta.I feel short changed and missed out on one of the places on the itinerary.

I don’t recall being given an option of where to fly from.

The rest of the trip was great, the balcony cabin was spacious and clean. The steward smiley and friendly ( as were all of the staff we came across) 

The bed was the most comfortable I have ever slept in,I could have stayed in bed all morning.

We ate early every evening which allowed us to visit the earlier shows. 

We only had breakfast in the restaurant on the first morning. If you feel a little greedy or embarrassed going through the cooked breakfast menu asking for 2 slices of bacon, 2 eggs ,etc whilst the others around the table are just having a bowl of cereal the use the buffet and just help yourself to as much as you feel you need. I have to say the bacon was thick and all the fat cut off, I can’t get it that quality in my local shop. 

Evening meals are small but perfectly adequate and of course you can always top up in the buffet given the need.

Sea days are busy on deck and loungers sometimes a little difficult to find if you want two together. Having said that on the last sea day they were plentiful , perhaps some were tired of the sun.

I have to say I disagree with the captain with his view that Taranto is quaint. I know the old city is old of course but I just found it a run down dump. Please visit the castle where the coach drops you off .I saw quite a lot of people approach the entrance then walk back to the road. I suspect it’s because they saw a desk with a queue and perhaps thought they had to pay. ITS FREE. they were just giving out leaflets. 

Would I go again ? Yes if I could choose my departure airport now knowing the disparity of arrival times. 

Is the ship tired as some people comment. Obviously subjective but I thought it was glitzy, clean and spacious. 

Would you starve…not on your Nelly. 

We had a great time, I’m now in need of a holiday because of all the walking.

We had a fantastic time

Just back from a Med cruise on Azura and it was wonderful. The crew cannot do enough for you. The captain is friendly and present around the ship a lot, which was lovely. Food and service in the main dining room was faultless and breakfast and dinner. The buffet was great for lunch, lots of salads as well as heavier options. Veggie dishes are good and easy to find. Plenty of sun loungers everywhere, and never struggled for a seat. The ship was full, and it really never felt it. There is a wonderful chilled out feel, so you can really relax. The shore excursions were wonderful, really efficient and superbly selected guides. Our cabin was gorgeous, really big. Yes there are one or two tired bits, but after a week on a shiny MSC ship which was godawful, we have come to realise that the ship doesn't need to be gleaming chrome and brand new carpets to have a wonderful experience. It is the crew and the culture that make a cruise, and Azura has it sussed. Next cruise booked on Azura.

A wonderful week on Azura 

We chose based on dates, itinerary, price and P&O reputation. Our balcony cabin was roomy, comfortable and mostly well kept. It's a tired older ship, cabin carpet had some stains, the fridge barely worked and the cold water wasn't cold. The ship was crowded, it being August, and felt it at times. Reception weren't great. The main restaurant food was often good, never great, but sometimes iffy. The buffet food was quite bad, like Motorway service station food. It was our first P&O, having used RCCL many times and Marella twice. Seasoned P&O cruisers were talking about the drop in quality of service, poor food, signs of cost cutting, comparing this experience umfavourably with past cruises. One talked of staff hating their jobs since Carnival took over the P&O brand, with pay, benefits, working hours all deteriorating. It seemed a shame to have missed "proper" P&O of the past. They still have some pretentions, demanding formal wear on 4 nights for "Celebration" night in the restaurant, so you'd have thought they'd have made some effort with the food.

The Headliners theatre shows were EXCELLENT, as were the comedians, magicians, guest bands The Privateers and Soul Kind of Wonderful, really good.

CARNIVAL trading as P&O

We chose this cruise due to its brilliant itinerary visiting 3 ports in Croatia (Split, Zadar & Dubrovnik) and one in Greece (Corfu). Initially we were supposed to go to Trieste (gateway to Venice & Slovenia) however few months before the cruise we were informed that Trieste would be changed to Corfu which was our first disappointment.

We flew to Malta from London Heathrow on Air Malta. There was a P&O representative at check-in which was great. The flight went ahead smoothly and we reached Malta on time at 3pm on day of sailing. 

We were transferred to Cruise Terminal in Valletta via P&O shuttles within 20 minutes. It was an unusual cruise terminal set in an old building. Check in was quick as we were boarding cruise much later in the day. Instead of our boarding cards, we were handed a letter which we were asked to show at the gangway and were asked to collect actual room cards outside our cabin. Thus was quite unusual as we have always been handed cruise cards at check in.

Anyway, we proceeded to enter the ship whereby our letters were scanned at the gangway. We proceeded to our cabins and found our cards outside our cabin in an envelope (this is bit dangerous as someone could have opened our envelope and used our cards to purchase drinks or something else prior to our arrival).  

Our cabin was on deck 10. It was a good size cabin on port side with a huge balcony which we were very pleased with. There was a dressing area with plenty of storage. The bathroom had a shower with a shower curtain which we are not fans of. No sooner had we entered the cabin, we had a knock on the door and the cabin steward introduced himself and gave us tips of keeping room cool, preventing toilets getting blocked etc. We asked him for 2 wine glasses and ice bucket and he promptly brought those. He ensured glasses were replaced daily and ice bucket was filled with fresh ice on a daily basis. He was the only crew member who we were very pleased with through the cruise.

We then proceeded to view rest of the ship. There were 4 pools including a adults only pool which was accessible from the gym area. One of the pools had a big screen for viewing films. All the open public areas were very busy as it was really hot in Malta that day. Also being August, there were many children onboard.

We then continued to explore inside the ship including the many restaurants, bars, main theatre, other entertainment lounges, atrium etc. Everything looked great however none of the crew smiled or greeted us. Unfortunately this continued for the rest of the cruise and was another big disappointment. It seemed the staff were not happy working on the ship and this reflected in various areas of the ship like bars, buffet restaurant, spa etc. 

There was no show in the theatre on the first night which was disappointing. Usually we get to see a welcome show whereby the cruise director introduces his/her team and gives an overview of rest of the entertainment of the week. However this ship didn't seem to have a cruise director at all as we never saw one in rest of the cruise.

However there were 3 production shows (all very average) and 3 vocal artists on rest of the 6 nights. We only enjoyed the Coldplay vocalist who was excellent. There were comedians/magicians in other lounges but were not very entertaining.

We enjoyed the quizzes in the Brodies bar but here also there were different people from the entertainment team conducting the quizzes. Few were good  but others were plain average or boring. Bar service in Brodies was always slow.

The captain did regular tannoy announcements and tried to be funny but we never ever saw him once around the ship. In our previous Princess cruise we saw captain mingling with guests daily.  Moreover the officers we came across never smiled, greeted or tried to converse which was disappointing.

However our biggest disappointment of all was when we were barred from going to any of the main dining rooms for an evening meal on 2 Black tie evenings. As we didn't have space in our luggage, we didn't carry suits with us. Most ships are relaxed about this but in Azura, we were asked to go to buffet or one of the speciality restaurants for a meal where we had to pay a surcharge. We don't come on cruises to dine in buffet for evening meals and hence had to go to Beach House for our meals on those 2 back tie evenings as Sindhu, the Indian speciality restaurant was fully booked. There are 3 main dining rooms on the ship. I dont undertand why one of the dining rooms is not allocated to guests who don't have a suit or don't want to wear one. This is one main reason we won't be cruising on P&O again especially when flying to another destination to board a cruise. We did address this to a senior officer towards the end of the cruise but he just said it was company policy and other guests would complain if they allowed those not wearing the right attire for black tie evenings. 

The few meals we did manage to have in the main dining rooms were good though. We enjoyed the food and service there however did notice several items on menu kept repeating daily like tomato soup, cauliflower soup etc. They always has 2 vegetarian choices for mains which was great.

We also really enjoyed our meals at Beach House despite the disappointment of not being able to go to the main dining room. 

Food in breakfast buffet was disappointing with minimal choice. Service was lousy with no one to serve tea/coffee. Sometimes our plates were not cleared and at other times they were taken away even before we had finished. Lunch was similar with minimal choices for vegetarians. Also on most ships, free water, lemonade and iced tea is offered rest of the day. However on Azura, only free water is offered after breakfast is finished which was another disappointment. 

The saving grace of the cruise was the excellent itinerary. Despite not going to Trieste, we enjoyed our day in Corfu and did 'Royal & Rustic Corfu' excursion with P&O which was excellent. In Split, we did Cetina river excursion which was great and spent afternoon viewing beautiful Split by ourselves. In Zadar, we did 'Krka national Park and waterfalls' excursion which was our best excursion of all. We had beautiful weather all day and was surprised when we got back and were informed by other guests that it had rained in Zadar for few hours that morning. On our last stop in Dubrovnik we did a snorkeling excursion to some caves and went to a beach at a nearby island. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a lot of fun however due to late arrival of the ship to the port, there was some confusion with the buses and we didn't have a bus to take us to our boat and hence had to walk quite a bit to get there and back. Also no safety instructions were provided before we commenced snorkeling. Other then that, we had a good time and after the tour, came to ship for lunch and went back out to explore the old city.

I must say that P&O excursions are good value for money compared to other cruise lines like Princess whereby all excursions are overpriced. Hence we were able to do an excursion at every port on this cruise and enjoyed all of them. 

On sea days, we spent a lot of time relaxing in our huge balcony or going to some port talks/quizzes/films etc. Moreover, steam and sauna were complimentary which was great. Hence  after a swim in the adults pool, went to steam/sauna on most days. Most other ships charge you to use these facilities.

On disembarkation day, we did a tour of 3 cities of Malta with P&O and then came back to ship for lunch. We were transferred to airport at 2.30pm as our flight was not due till 5pm. This is great that P&O would let you stay onboard (although cabins need to be vacated by 8am) until your shuttle is due to take you to the airport. On other cruise lines, you are asked to disembark by 9am even if your flight is late in the evening.

Hence on the whole P&O has a lot of positives like cheaper shore excursions, free use of steam/sauna, being able to stay onboard on disembarkation day till your shuttle to airport is due etc. However unfortunately for us the negatives far outweighed the positives and hence I would only give this cruise 2.5 out of 5. P&O were supposed to send a post cruise survey by email but never did. Perhaps they want to continue operating Azura in the same way and not interested in guest feedback to make any improvements. Well, one thing is for sure, we won't be returning to Azura ever again.

A disappointing cruise saved by a brilliant itinerary!

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