Azura Sailaways

Its my turn this week to choose the header theme for our little weekly header competition. I decided to keep the theme in tune with my on going blogging about our trip on-board P&O’s Azura. So this week I’ve gone for “Flags”.

What might you ask does that have to do with our trip, well as we sailed away from each port for those that wished there was a sailaway party put on by the ships entertainment team by the Coral pool.

This involved lots of flag waving and singing and dancing and generally having a good time.

All ages joined in.

Lots of people were waving their flags whilst soaking up the sun on the sun loungers.

They were even joining in right at the top of the ship, looking down over the coral pool.

The Azura is a British ship so the Union flag was the flag of choice as you can see. P&O even supply them for all the passengers.

Have a look to see what flags are flying high in the headers of the other headbangers just follow their links in my right hand menu bar.

Go on wave your flag!

 

Day 7 P&O’s Azura makes her 4th stop, in La Palma

Well Azura’s next port of call was to be the furthest west of the Canary Islands that we were to visit. The island of La Palma.

It had been decided by the family, that I’d go off on a tour by myself on this island, camera in hand, and let Mel and the girls have time to look around the port town together.

I chose an excursion called the Heart of La Palma which was scheduled, according to the brochure to take about 4 and half hours.

So knowing I was going to be out until early afternoon I had a good breakfast before heading down to my coach for the day, for my tour into the Heart of La Palma.

The tour started with a short drive to Santuario Virgen de Las Nieves. It is the religious centre of La Palma and one of the oldest places of worship in the Canary Islands, dating back to 1423.

The Church holds a terracotta statue of the Virgin Mary of the Snows, the patron saint of the island.

She sits on a marble throne covered in silver as you can see in the above picture.

It is not a big church, in fact it is a very modest one in size, but it makes up for it in it’s ornamentation.

I’ve stitched a few photos together in this post to try and help you see either the panoramic view, or more of the interior or exterior of buildings.

We moved on from here in the coach, climbing higher and heading towards the centre of the island, stopping for a quick photo stop on route.

As we did our guide explained more about the island, it’s inhabitants it’s history, climate and eco-system.

What I did find on this tour was that unlike the other Canary islands La Palma is a lot greener…

We arrived at La Caldera de Taburiente, designated a National Park,

and headed up through the pine tree boarded roads deep in to the middle of it.

The National Park has been created inside a 5 mile wide volcanic crater. It’s rims reach right up to the mountain ridge that runs from the north to the south of the island.

There was time for a walk through the National Park, soaking in the grandeur of the setting, it was fantastic.

With the Canary Pine trees growing all around us.

Unfortunately it had to end and with one last look…

It was back on the coaches. We had a short comfort break at the visitor centre just outside the National Park. I was disappointed to find though that the visitors centre had no shop or cafe. There was nowhere to buy a souvenir or even a quick coffee. The only option you had was a drinks machine. So remember to take some change.

Part of the tour was a final stop at a little cottage for wine tasting with an assortment of chutneys. The coach stops in a very scruffy looking parking area, and the guide escorted us across the road in to a garden completely hidden from the road.

For those who didn’t wish to sample the various wines there was fruit juice and the option to wander around the gardens.

Before it was back to the coach and back to Azura…

It had been a fabulous excursion. The guide had been excellent, very funny and very informative. The scenery had been breathtaking well worth the money paid for the excursion. Well done P&O.

I got back on board just in time for the end of the BBQ on the open deck by the Coral pool and very nice it was too. I certainly needed something after my busy morning out as well.

Mel and I spent the afternoon just relaxing in the gorgeous sunshine on our balcony. The girls were busy with their various activities and friends around the ship so we didn’t see much of them during the day, but we all met up for our evening meal.

The dress code this evening was Semi- Formal.

Two of the ships Headliners theatre company put on their own stage set in one of the lounges at 8:30pm so we went to watch them following dinner. They were very good although Nyna was obviously very new as she was very nervous when not singing. As soon as she started to sing though all signs of her nerves vanished.

We rounded the evening off with Asa Murphy’s tribute to swing in the Playhouse Theatre. He certainly has a fantastic voice.

Another great end to a great day I hope you’ll agree. See you soon for more from Azura.

P&O Interlude

Todays post takes the form of a delicious interlude from the diary of our cruise aboard P&O’s Azura. Instead concentrating on the delicious food that we had served on board.

As part of the Header Challenge I take part in each week, Lanny has chosen for this weeks theme “Delicious”, which I think sums up all the food on-board Azura perfectly.

The dining room was immaculately laid out. The waiters assisted you to your seats presenting you with your napkin and menu.

It was the food though that was the pièce de résistance.

Such as this Avocado Pear Salad with Crumbled Goat’s cheese Crottin and Raspberry Vinaigrette

Or this Bury Black Pudding with a Fried Free Range Duck Egg and Bacon Crumble.

When Harriet our youngest daughter ordered this main meal she wasn’t expecting the chips to be quite the size they were…

She said they were delicious though.

As did my one of my other daughters Esther who ordered the next dish…

the Chicken Tikka Masala with Pulao Rice, Poppadom, Naan Bread and Condiments.

 

(sorry about the poor picture)

And my choice the Gressingham Goose Roasted Two Ways with Potato and Parsnip Croquettes, Savoy Cabbage and Redcurrant Jus.

(Yes our family does have very eclectic tastes, but then the menu was so wide we felt we had to try out lots of different dishes).

As for the desserts well they were certainly “Delicious” with a Capitol “D”.

You had Summer pudding with Devonshire clotted cream…

and chocolate puddings that oozed out chocolate as you cut into them.

Warm Dark Chocolate and Praline Fondant with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Cappuccino Anglaise.

Or the Delicious Greek Yoghurt Cheesecake with Honey and Spiced Blueberry.

So as you can see; but unfortunately you don’t get to taste, technology has advanced but it’s not quite that advanced yet, the food we had on-board P&O’s Azura, was certainly “Delicious”.

I hope that was what you had in mind when you conjured up your theme for this week Lanny. I’ve created a header with just a few of the delicious delicacies highlighted here. I hope I’ve wetted your appetite a little bit, if so call back soon for more from on-board P&O’s Azura.

In the mean time have a look and see what the other headbangers have come up with for their delicious headers this week. Just follow their links in my right hand menu bar.

See you soon.

Day 5, P&O’s Azura docks in the Canary Islands.

Well did did yesterdays signpost point you in the right direction of which island we were going to be docking at in the Canaries?

It’s Gran Canaria. The second most populous island of the canaries it’s original meaning means Great Isle of Dogs.

This is the view we awoke to as we opened our balcony curtains…

We were just about to swing in to the island to head in to our port of call for the day, so we had timed it right.

Gran Canaria is certainly a lot more built up than Madeira had been. It has a large commercial port, which we passed through before docking at our berth.

Welcome to Gran Canaria…

P&O offer lots of excursions to help you to explore each port of call fully if you want to. Because of this, there are always a large line of coaches waiting dockside to whisk you away around the island.

We decided to make use of the local open topped sight seeing bus instead, which left from just outside the quayside.

The sight of the Azura towering over us as we walked out of the port was certainly a sight to behold.

The bus tour around the city of Las Palmas was very extensive. The one ticket allows you to hop on and off at various stops around the city, all day and there was a full guided tour via headphones as the bus journeyed through the streets. You could even choose the language suitable to you.

I would suggest getting to the bus stop early or alternately wait for the rush to die down a bit as the queue can get a little long …

The hills that surround Las Palmas also make up part of the city as they are covered in brightly covered houses.

We got off the bus in the old town district for a look around, and found the cathedral which really looked impressive…

The front of the cathedral was even more impressive though.

There are lots of places to buy souvenirs in Las Palmas but everywhere we looked they all seemed to want you to buy a souvenir lizard.

Lizards are plentiful on the Canary Islands, or so they say. Trying to capture one on camera is  a completely different story and these are the only ones to be had on camera from Gran Canaria today.

It was great to see palm trees lining the side of the road instead of the usual deciduous trees we are used to back in England, though as its an opened topped bus remember to duck when you go under some of them.

When we went back to Azura after touring around the city, there was still lots of options for us to do on-board the ship, or we could choose to just relax in the sunshine. We chose the latter.

Our Sailaway party was at 5:15pm as we moved away from Gran Canaria and headed towards our next port of call. Looking back as we moved out to sea you could see the hill of houses glowing in the evening light like a mountain of children’s bricks.

Tonight's dress code was Semi formal and tonight's menu…

and my choice from it…

All very nice dishes followed by the cheese board and coffee and macaroons.

The Headliners Theatre Company were putting on another big show tonight. this one was called “New York City Rhythm” from Broadway to Brooklyn a musical love story. The choreography music and dance was excellent a very good show.

Again there was lots of entertainment in the various lounges and bars around the ship to choose from, from lively to relaxing dependent on your mood. We chose the Planet Bar  which had  the relaxing type.

Don’t forget to come back for Azura’s next port of call.

 

Taster for day 5

Day 5's post will be delayed until tomorrow, in the meantime here's a taster of what's to come... 

See if you can work out which island we are going to be on from the signpost?

Day Eight of my Review of our P&O cruise abroad the Oriana.

Day eight of our cruise aboard P&O's Oriana brings us full circle back to Southampton in England.

Our final morning onboard Oriana (for this holiday at least) and we awoke to find we were docking in Southampton at the new Ocean Cruise terminal.

We decided to breakfast in the formal dining setting of the Peninsular restaurant and therefore headed down for the first sitting at 07:00am. Having to choose a particular breakfast rather than having the freedom dining of the Oriental did seem a bit strange. The food however was still of an excellent quality with friendly and polite service.

So that there is not a mad rush for the gangways, P&O have a colour code system for disembarkation.

We had been allocated purple which meant we did not have to leave the ship until 09:40am. This was fine as we were in no hurry to end our holiday. There is opportunity to change your departure time if you need to by calling at the main reception.

As we had time to spare, and our luggage had been taken from our cabin shortly after breakfast, we stopped at the Terrace bar for coffee.

Looking across the waters of Southampton I spotted Fred Olsens', Black Watch ship whom we had berthed next to in Bilbao. They seemed to be tied up at the berth that we had left from a week earlier.

Sitting on the terrace with the flags waving gently in the breeze under a clear blue sky I thought back over our holiday.

The ship had proved to be as good as the brochure had promised. The staff were all polite and friendly. There had been lots of activities to do over the course of the week for all ages. From the kids clubs (we didn't need them this time) to workshops, tours, dance instruction, seminars, talks, shows and live music and much, much more. There was also plenty of space just to quietly relax in places such as the library or secluded deck areas without piped music spoiling the ambiance.

The ship was always clean and well looked after. The brasses around the ship seemed to be polished daily and the decks were cleaned every night.

Access was good throughout the ship, although some doors out onto the deck areas were so heavy, assistance was needed to open them.

All the restaurants were of a very high calibre, with plenty of choice of fresh, well presented and tasty food.

If anything let it down it was some of the evening entertainment in the main theatre. The comedian Paul Boardman was mediocre at best. He ran out of material before the end of his set which spoiled the performance. The cabaret star Jimmy James was unfortunately not our choice of music and having him on two different nights of a 7 night cruise was a bit too much. Fortunately P&O do offer alternative entertainment around the ship so we were always able to find something to enjoy.

It was a shame when our colour was called forward for disembarkation. We had really enjoyed our time on the Oriana.

Disembarkation was easy with ramped access leading up into the Cruise terminal. Luggage was laid out in deck sections. Our cases had got a bit separated but it was easy to locate them and load them onto a trolley.

As we left the terminal building signs pointed us to the car park where our car was waiting for us. After a short wait we picked up our keys and lettered location of the car within the car park and were able to load our luggage for the journey home.

Photo courtesy of Pengannel

Thank you P&O for a wonderful holiday aboard the Oriana. I look forward to joining you again next year this time on the Azura.