Well I’ve eventually sorted through enough of my photos of the holiday to start bringing you some views and reviews of our holiday on-board P&O’s ship Azura.
Why we told our 3 daughters there wasn’t a limit on luggage because we weren't flying I don’t know? It was maybe a mistake!
One very full boot of our people carrier and a full roof box later we had packed the car and were on our way. The journey down to Southampton was fairly uneventful though and check in for boarding Azura was very quick and smooth. I was given disabled assistance and whisked straight through with the family and on-board to our cabins. Our suitcases and luggage had all been taken straight from the car by P&O’s porters and would be delivered to our cabins later that afternoon. The car would be taken by P&O’s valet parking and placed in a secure car park until our return. Access was all very easy for those in wheelchairs or with mobility difficulties with plenty of assistance available. All in all a very easy book in at P&O’s Ocean terminal.
We had booked a balcony cabin on C deck with our daughters in an inside cabin straight across the corridor from us. This seemed to work out very well.
The balcony cabin was very spacious with a large king sized bed, walk in wardrobe, dressing table, fridge, tea & coffee making facilities and good sized bathroom. The girls cabin still had the same facilities (although no balcony obviously) their beds had been made up in to two singles with one bunk which our eldest claimed. The only criticism I would have would be with the height of the shower heads. They are a bit too low and I’m only 5’ 11”.
The balcony though was the best bit about the cabin. C deck cabins have the largest balconies on-board Azura one of the main reasons for us choosing our cabin. They also have a large part of their balcony that is not overlooked by any other balcony another good reason for choosing a C deck balcony cabin.
The other reason is location, it only has cabins above and below it, which meant we weren't disturbed by noise when sat out out on the balcony or indeed when in the cabin, a very good choice.
We set sail from Southampton with Captain Keith Dowds at the helm at 4:45pm with a big sail away party on deck to wave goodbye to Southampton and celebrate the start of our holiday.
I don’t think the party was quite as big on the dock side among those seeing us off though…
The Azura has a very large gym and spa which offered some free prize give aways of treatments, that could be taken throughout your holiday. Unfortunately we didn’t win any spa treatments but we did still use the spa, but, more of that another day.
We had chosen the earlier dining option of 6:30pm and we were seated in the Oriental Restaurant which was situated at the Aft most part of the ship.
We certainly had a wide a varied choice on our menu each night, this is our first evenings menu…
there was a lot of it too; with coffee & chocolates at the end, it could be a six course meal if you wanted it to be. More on the food soon.
The evenings entertainment was varied to suit all tastes across the ship. You could go ballroom dancing in in the Atrium ballroom to live music…
I’ve sandwiched a few photos together to give you the effect of flowing down the staircase over 4 floors down to the ballroom floor at the bottom.
There was also other options to choose from such as The Azura Orchestra in the Malabar lounge (more about here another day). Or quiz night in Brodie’s Bar.
We decided to go and listen to Peter Piper, a comedian who was on stage in the main Playhouse Theatre.
Seating 800 in tiered seating with 3 shows a night, there was plenty of space for everyone in the theatre.
Peter Piper was very good he had the whole theatre laughing a great way to start the cruise. He was so good I went back to see his second show later in the cruise. He’s well worth going to see if you get the opportunity.
The rest of the evening was to be spent roaming the ship trying to find where things were, dropping into various venues to listen to different entertainers, before retiring to our cabin.
Our itinerary would involve the next three days spent at sea; before heading to Madeira, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Palma, a day at sea, Lisbon, Vigo, a day at sea, before returning back to Southampton.
Join me tomorrow as we explore more of Azura on our first full day on-board heading down towards Madeira.
4 comments:
want to go back
Come with us Mel, we go in November!!!
Looks a lot better than the Ventura,
for the cabins, the atrium is much the same.
Poor girls no windows to see out of, you should have swopped half way through the trip.lol.
We weren't in the cabin long enough for having no window to be much of a problem :) I do miss the food on the boat though... it was very very nice!
Gail and I aren't too sure about cruising. She doesn't travel well and I don't like the idea of being stuck out in the middle of the sea with no land in sight. The accommodation looks four star though.
Post a Comment