Azura Reviews

My first impression of the Azura is that she was a lot more modern than what I expected. Having spoken to many people with regards to P&O I had the impression that the ships were quite traditional. Where as when we got on board, I would say that the ship is more designed with couples in mind. P&O are certainly trying to appeal to the younger market here.

The evening entertainment on the ship was really good. I wasn’t expecting all the bars to be open all the time, but they were all really good. I would recommend the glasshouse if you fancy a nice glass of quality wine, or there’s a cabaret bar or the night club (Manhattan Bar).

The food on the ship was of a fantastic quality, with a number of restaurants to eat in. I would certainly recommended booking into the Indian Tapas restaurant, as the food in there looked exquisite.

The spa with its treatment rooms looked fine if you like that sort of thing but its major attraction was the reserved pool and settee loungers in luxurious purple – quite eastern harem like. The rest of the upper open decks has plenty of sunbeds – there must have been one for everybody and some to spare

The Cabins were of a really good size and very modern décor, with a good size balcony, with plenty of room to maneuver around, you never once got the feeling being claustrophobic.

Overall, she is certainly a step in a new direction for P&) and would certainly recommend her to both new and old P&O passengers.

Having seen an advert in a national newspaper for a Western Med cruise on the Azura, I obtained a brochure and discovered that P & O were offering a fantastic deal on the cruise commencing 27th April. An outside (obstructed view) cabin was on offer at £799. As these cabins are obstructed by lifeboats they are only available for grades LA & LC. All these cabins are on E Deck and as the lifeboats do not extend the length of the ship, booking one of these cabins seemed to guarantee:-
(i) An obstructed view cabin on E. Deck
(i) A cabin which could not be placed in extreme forward or aft position
What an offer! I could not believe my luck and got in touch with my travel agent immediately.
I was delighted to hear that the obstructed view cabins were available, but my travel agent went at great length
to clarify the terms of the contract with P & O:-
(i) P & O reserved the right to select the number of the cabin. That did not worry me in the slightest
as I knew the cabin cabin would be on E Deck
(ii) P & O would guarantee that I would recieve a cabin which would be at least the same grade that I had
booked but may also upgrade my cabin. Fine, I may even be allocated a balcony cabin.
(iii) I would not be allocated my cabin number until a fortnight before sailing.

Eventually, I received my cabin allocation. I had been given an upgrade to a JD cabin which is situated on P
Deck, underneath the theatre and quite near the front of the ship. It was three decks lower than the E Deck I had anticipated. It is a cabin I would never have booked
under any circumstances as it is on the lowest passenger deck and in a poor location. Had P & O broken their contract? No! Although it is probably one of the worst cabins on the ship, there is no blocked view from the small porthole. Consequently, it is officially an upgrade according to P & Os own grading system.

Naturally I phoned customer services in an attempt to change the cabin. I was told that it was not possible as the ship was fully booked. I asked if I could pay for an upgrade and received the same response.I then asked if my name could be put on a list in case there were any cancellations and was told that this was unlikely but I could check in a few days time to see if the position had changed. I waited 3 days and checked on the P & O website. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Not only were outside cabins available, Obstructed view cabins were available on, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ON E DECK AND WHAT IS MORE THEY WERE NOW BEING OFFERED AT OVER £300 LESS THAN I HAD PAID.

Naturally, I phoned P & O again asking for my cabin to be changed back to the cabin I had originally booked. I went to great lengths to point out that I was not seeking any form of refund. I was told that as I had booked through an agent, I would need to make the transfer through my agent.

Having gone through the whole of what had happened I contacted my agent. He got in touch with P & O who, apparently stated that they would not dowgrade me back to my original choice of cabin on E Deck. After all, P & O had chosen to upgrade my cabin at no extra cost. Very ,very re-assuring!

There is a lesson to be learnt. P & Os contract on "getaway fares" is a restrictive contract an is a device
which seeks to avoid all the legal implications contained in the law of contract. It leaves the consumer in a situation whereby P & O are able to allocate any ocean view cabin to any person such as myself who books the Cabins under the category of "Obstructed View" because this means that whether or not the "Obstructed view
cabins are availble at the time of booking, P & O can use the loophole in their agreement to allocate a cabin
in the "part obstructed view" or "outside" cabin categories, and thus dispose of all the unwanted surplus cabins to unsuspecting customers such as myself who believe they are obtaining a bargain.

I have grave doubts about whether the courts would be prepared to uphold such a contact which seeks to bi-pass all consumer rights under contract law. It is a case that I intend to test in the near future

P&O Excursions do not cater well for disabled people. These are contact details for inexpensive, disabled- frendly mini-buses in the Caribbean:
ANTIGUA Jenson's Taxi Service 1(268) 723-2619 jensontaxi@gmail.com Chair hoist
GRENADA Elvis Andrews (473) 440-0653 Cell: (473) 407-1767 Adequate Wooden ramp
BARBADOS Chris Hunte (246) 231-2216 (246) 416-8566 Chair hoist

Azura is not a disabled-friendly ship:
On Deck 15 there are far too many sunbeds which make even walking through for the able-bodied difficult, even quite dangerous. Unfortunately to get from the lifts at one end of the deck to the other (where the two self-service restaurants are) we had no alternative but to try to clear a path through the sunbeds/tables/chairs.
Access on Decks 16 - 18 was definitely restricted for anyone in a wheelchair or on a mobility scooter.
Although there were some disabled toilets throughout the ship, the doors were difficulty to open and access was not always direct, ie with sharp twist and turns - not exactly disabled friendly.
For able-bodied people everything else was absolutely lovely but we definitely would not recommend this ship for the disabled.

We have just returned from our Caribbean cruise on the Azura, we were very impressed with the ship and also the staff on board everyone was really friendly and helpful. The whole entertainment team were very hard working and the shows by The Headliners were very professional. The cruise director Neil Oliver worked exceptionally hard and the sailaways especially the Great British Sailaway were great fun. We really enjoyed the line dancing on the days at sea and Lisa arranged for 2 intermediate classes which were very good. We ate in Sindhu restaurant and The Glass House restaurant a couple of lunch times and the food in both was really lovely. We were on freedom dining and we ate in The Meridian restaurant in the evenings we found that freedom dining suited us as we did not want to eat the same time every night. We didn’t find it a problem getting a sun bed even on the days at sea there were enough for everyone. We would definitely go on another P & O cruise again.

We have just returned from our Caribbean cruise on the Azura, we were very impressed with the ship and also the staff on board everyone was really friendly and helpful. The whole entertainment team were very hard working and the shows by The Headliners were very professional. The cruise director Neil Oliver worked exceptionally hard and the sailaways especially the Great British Sailaway were great fun. We really enjoyed the line dancing on the days at sea and Lisa arranged for 2 intermediate classes which were very good. We ate in Sindhu restaurant and The Glass House restaurant a couple of lunch times and the food in both was really lovely. We were on freedom dining and we ate in The Meridian restaurant in the evenings we found that freedom dining suited us as we did not want to eat the same time every night. We didn’t find it a problem getting a sun bed even on the days at sea there were enough for everyone. We would definitely go on another P & O cruise again.

The Azura is an identical sister to Ventura (and the newer princess ships)
So if you've tried & loved the Ventura - this may just be the ship for you,

She’s P&O's newest ship, she's aimed at the couples market (she's not adult only - just adult focussed)

The first thing that hit me was the amount of space onboard, huge & plentiful public areas.
The decoration is a very modern contempory style

The food onboard has a great variety, Mainly English Quesine

Drinks prices are one of the most reasonable I've found on any ship.