Day 2 Sea Day On-board P&O’s Azura

Waking up on-board Azura on our first full day at sea I went out on to the balcony and this was the view I was met with…

a beautiful seascape stretching as far as the eye could see.

Breakfast was taken upstairs in the Verona restaurant a self service establishment. The choice of food was still as plentiful as dinner had been the night the before. There was a variety of cereals, yoghurts and fruits, of which the various melons were a firm favourite of my daughters especially Esther. You also had the full continental breakfast of meats and cheeses with various breads and rolls. Not forgetting the croissants and pastries.  My breakfast of choice was the cooked breakfast and there was always a good choice of bacon (crispy if you asked) sausage, including speciality sausages. They had poached egg, fried egg, omelettes, scrambled egg, beans, fried bread, mushrooms, hash browns, black pudding, white pudding, fried tomatoes, fried potato and others that I’ve probably forgotten. I will say I didn’t have all of them on my plate each day but that would have been some meal!

Azura is a large ship and that means there is a lot to do and a lot of places to explore when at sea. P&O publish a daily Horizon magazine which is delivered to your cabin every night so you know what is on around the ship the next day. We’d each highlighted a couple of things we liked the sound of that we wanted to do during the day and that left the rest of the day free to explore the vast ship or just relax on the balcony or one of the many sun-loungers on the various deck areas.

Surprisingly a couple of the things I chose to do were photography related. They have a large team of professional photographers on-board some who were offering complimentary training sessions on things such as night photography and basic holiday tips and tricks. I went along you never know what you might learn.

My wife had chosen the more energetic option of line dancing and ballroom dancing classes but they don’t work very well when you’re on crutches so I gave them a miss. Instead I explored the ship a bit more and came across the Battle of the Sexes in Brodie’s…

its a quiz that runs every sea day for the duration of the cruise, with obviously men playing against the ladies. We won the first day I’ll tell you how it went as the cruise progresses.

Lunch was to be had in various restaurants around the ship. We chose the Venezia on deck 15 and I had seafood salad which was very nice. This restaurant is self service but the staff are very helpful and if you have any difficulty with carrying your tray etc. they will happily do it for you.

A bit more exploring of the ship in the afternoon…

The decks looked very long when viewed like this but then they were.

They also kept them in very good condition constantly touching them up if they needed it to keep them protected against the weather and sea conditions.

P&O operate a dress code system on their cruises. some night are casual which is trousers and open neck shirt for the men and separates for the ladies. Other nights are semi-formal which are trousers and shirt with jacket and tie for the men and cocktail dress or smart separates for the ladies. The other evenings are formal attire which is evening wear or tuxedo and bow tie for the men and evening gowns for the ladies.

This first evening at sea was a formal night, so we all got to dress up in our finery for dinner.

Tonight's menu in the Oriental restaurant was just as exciting…

There was plenty of choice and to fit in with the Headbangers theme chosen by Tom- fishing-guy, for this week there are even some big birds. It was not one of these big birds I have chosen for my header though this week, it is another, "Big Bird", it is the “Bird of Paradise”. This exceptionally beautiful plant was to be found growing wild all over Madeira (where the photo was taken) and the Canary Islands.

Tonight's entertainment highlighted Azura’s own Headliners Theatre Company with their production of When Swing was King in the Playhouse Theatre. The big stage production combined hits of The Rat Pack and Ella Fitzgerald with Robbie Williams and Harry Connick Jnr a real swing time performance.

It was non-stop entertainment for those that wanted it around the ship or you could just chill out in a quiet bar, restaurant or lounge if that's what you preferred.

Mel decided to opt for the chill out option after the theatre whilst I went to watch Manuel Martinez, the Cuban conjuring comedian take to the stage in the Manhattan.

Well I’ll leave you with a shot of the chandelier hanging in the Atrium of the Azura…

Remember to stop by again tomorrow for more review of P&O’s Azura.

Have a look at what the other headbangers have created for their headers this week too, just follow their links at the top of my right hand menu bar.

See you tomorrow.