Azura worries

After trying to get my other half on a cruise for 5 years shes finally agreed to one for our Honeymoon.....I've bigged it up so much but after reading the lastest reveiws on here they are pretty shocking, i'm hoping i havent made a mistake. I've been on the Oceana, Aurora and Ventura and the food was amazing but i've heard its a bit ropey now. We love eating out so I downloanded some menus to tempt her :). Even if its not as good as i remember will it still be something a first timer will enjoy?

Thanks

After trying to get my other half on a cruise for 5 years shes finally agreed to one for our Honeymoon.....I've bigged it up so much but after reading the lastest reveiws on here they are pretty shocking, i'm hoping i havent made a mistake. I've been on the Oceana, Aurora and Ventura and the food was amazing but i've heard its a bit ropey now. We love eating out so I downloanded some menus to tempt her :). Even if its not as good as i remember will it still be something a first timer will enjoy?

 

Thanks

Well we've just come home from our first cruise on Azura and thought the food choice and variety pretty good. We ate in the main dining room and enjoyed our meals. We've not been on Azura before so can't draw comparisons from the past but have travelled on Aurora, Oriana, Celebrity and Cunard and although perhaps not the best we've had, we thought it held up well.

We did meet a number of people who thought the food standards had dropped especially during last year - fairly common criticism on lots of cruise lines I think - but several said they thought there had been an improvement since then.

Some people are still disappointed by the withdrawal of the additional silver service vegetable selection - I liked that too but accepting that it's now a feature of the past, we were quite happy with what was presented to us.

There were excellent reports of Sindhu, Seventeen and the Glasshouse should you wish to have a special meal some evenings. The Italian in the evenings (in Verona) also got some great comments - there's only a very small cover charge for that.

I suspect your other half will really enjoy the experience - it's something new to her - and your honeymoon - of course she'll be happy!!!! So I hope you have a wonderful time. And Congratulations!! :)

Hi there. We were on AZURA last Oct and we enjoyed all the meals we had. And everyone we spoke to said exactly the same. The food was delicious. Couldn't fault it actually. So go and enjoy your honeymoon on a fabulous ship.

We were on Azura last June and loved it, even though, like you I was a bit concerned because I had read some poor reviews.

I am a bit of a foodie but We found the food was very good and although the silver service has gone, I actually preferred the plated meals, as you now get veg appropriate for the dish rather than (say) Brussels sprouts with fish:D. I also found that the food was served hotter than before - no waiting for the veg to be served. There was plenty of choice. The other 3 couples on our table all felt the same.

We dined at all the alternative venues except Verona - and can thoroughly recomend them. I don't like Indian food, but loved what I had in Sindhu - nothing like the Indian rubbish from the restaurants at home. Seventeen - which is being renamed Epicurean from April - was wonderful - worth every penny of the cover charge, and the food in the Glass house was excellent.

There are a lot of people on this forum who seem to find fault with anything and everything and expect every single meal to be perfection. Well it's not like that in reality, and if you should find something not to your liking , simply explain the problem and ask the waiter for something else. I did have one meal which wasn't to my liking ( nothing wrong with it - I just didn't like it!) and as soon as he saw I wasn't eating it he immediately offered to get me something else. It gives you the opportunity if you like to try something new, knowing that you won't go hungry if you don't like it!

I would stop worrying as I am sure you will have a wonderful cruise - when and where are you going?

BTW - you will see I am booked to go on Azura again this year - isnt that a recommendation.....? :)

.

Hi there, Honeymoon and your worrying about the food.....😄

We were on the Azura 12 months ago and thought the food fine.

Every cruise we have been on, the food was fine. But we have read reviews to the contrary. Either we are easily pleased or some folk are just picky.

Every cruise you can find some negatives but don't look for them.

The food will be good, if there are some dishes not to your taste, well ha ho... Have another bottle of wine as we do.

Have a great cruise and congratulations ...

We have been on Azura twice and will be taking our grand-daughter on it for a short trip in May. We have enjoyed it both times, far more than when we went on Ventura which is a very similar ship. When we were on her last year they had introduced plated meals rather than silver service and in my opinion it has worked to improve the standard of the food. Just go with an open mind and don't worry about minor hitches that may occur, have a great time and perhaps your other half will become a cruise addict.

We have been on Azura twice, Ventura and Oceana once. We like Azura the most. In fact, Azura was our first cruise with p&o after RCI and I couldn't fault it. The food is the same quality across the ships we have been on and we have never had a problem. You will find that as above some people will find fault with everything and people probably feel inspired to write a review if they don't like something. I'm sure you will have a wonderful honeymoon and try to keep an open mind by ignoring the reviews and see what you think yourself. :)

Was on Azura a couple of months ago and I thought the food was pretty good. The Hatlets who are a bit fussy enjoyed it.

I would add, generally, that I think a lot of the reviews are a load of bull. I've read reviews of cruises I've been on that at best are nitpicking and at worst are fantasies (I do wonder if they are written by other cruise lines PR departments). Some reviews are so appalling that if they were accurate you wonder why anyone would travel on the ship twice.

People are unrealistic about what they should get. Just looking at P&O, you can get 7 nights cruising on Azura to Norway in June for about £600pp outside cabin, e.g. about £80-£90 a day. Have a look and see how much a hotel room is in your typical concrete block hotel, without breakfast lunch and dinner, entertainment, and travel, people at your beck and call, room service.

If people want exclusive cruising it's still there with the likes of Regent, Seabourn, Oceania etc. I have looked at these, but I think, heck , I can get a month on P&O for what a week would cost me on those.

Was on Azura a couple of months ago and I thought the food was pretty good. The Hatlets who are a bit fussy enjoyed it.

 

I would add, generally, that I think a lot of the reviews are a load of bull. I've read reviews of cruises I've been on that at best are nitpicking and at worst are fantasies (I do wonder if they are written by other cruise lines PR departments). Some reviews are so appalling that if they were accurate you wonder why anyone would travel on the ship twice.

 

People are unrealistic about what they should get. Just looking at P&O, you can get 7 nights cruising on Azura to Norway in June for about £600pp outside cabin, e.g. about £80-£90 a day. Have a look and see how much a hotel room is in your typical concrete block hotel, without breakfast lunch and dinner, entertainment, and travel, people at your beck and call, room service.

 

If people want exclusive cruising it's still there with the likes of Regent, Seabourn, Oceania etc. I have looked at these, but I think, heck , I can get a month on P&O for what a week would cost me on those.

Hear Hear !!

I completely agree with you. One particular person who knocks P&O at every opportunity doesn't even cruise with them.

We have been on Azura a number of times. We have always enjoyed it. We normally take Freedom Dining and have pretty much enjoyed all our meals. The Buffet can be a bit busy etc but no more than you would expect. The Speciality Restaurants are excellent. We particularly like Sindhu and the Glasshouse but Seventeen and Verona are excellent as well. We always take a Wine Package and work our way through it with no problem. Sunbeds are a bit of a challenge but that is down to the behaviour of people. We do a lot of dancing and although the Atrium is restrictive we still enjoy it and always make friends through it. We enjoy some of the shows but its not really our thing so that is down to us. We do enjoy a number of the cabaret acts and also the speakers can be very good. We learned to play bridge on a Transatlantic.

Of course its not perfect and there are some things we don't particularly like but that's down to us more than anything.

The biggest problem IMO with cruises is that you have a massive number of people in a fairly small space and I do think you need to be considerate and respectful of others. That is not always the case but that's not down to P&O.

We love cruising and P&O suits us and I'm definitely not easy to please.

Was on Azura a couple of months ago and I thought the food was pretty good. The Hatlets who are a bit fussy enjoyed it.

 

I would add, generally, that I think a lot of the reviews are a load of bull. I've read reviews of cruises I've been on that at best are nitpicking and at worst are fantasies (I do wonder if they are written by other cruise lines PR departments). Some reviews are so appalling that if they were accurate you wonder why anyone would travel on the ship twice.

 

People are unrealistic about what they should get. Just looking at P&O, you can get 7 nights cruising on Azura to Norway in June for about £600pp outside cabin, e.g. about £80-£90 a day. Have a look and see how much a hotel room is in your typical concrete block hotel, without breakfast lunch and dinner, entertainment, and travel, people at your beck and call, room service.

 

If people want exclusive cruising it's still there with the likes of Regent, Seabourn, Oceania etc. I have looked at these, but I think, heck , I can get a month on P&O for what a week would cost me on those.

One of the most sensible posts I have ever read on CC.

Wish I had said it.......😄

First - a lot of sensible replies on this thread!

Unless your other half is only used to top quality 5 star hotels, she is not going to be disappointed.

Reviews are very peculiar things. Some folks will score everything at 5 out of 5 when it is highly unlikely to be worth that - others will score everything at 2/5 which would be very harsh. I once read a review (on this site I think) that described mdr food aboard Arcadia as like school dinners - in that case, they must have gone to somewhere like Eton!

For several years, there have been reviews around that say the food is now 'not very good' and I have read these and worried. I then get on board and enjoy almost every meal I have.

I am not a big-ship enthusiast and sailed on Azura in February 2011. There were aspects of the ship I was not keen on but the food was perfectly fine.

When you think of the food an average 4-star hotel knocks out for a wedding party of 200, the dishes that come out of P&O's kitchens to serve 3000 pax in an evening are nothing short of miraculous!

A first cruise is almost always a fantastic experience and I am sure you will both have a great honeymoon. Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for taking your time to write such fantastic replies, I can't wait it's so far away and its all I think about :)

Cheers

I have not sailed on Azura or any P&O vessel for that matter, so I cannot offer any information about cuisine.

The Azura and the Noordam (on which I was saiing) shared a dock at Grand Turk on January 18th. Azura sailed before we did. At sailaway, there were many, many very spirited passengers, waving Britain's flag, singing and yelling, being prompted, I think, by the Cruise Director over the P.A. What a fun sailaway they were having! It made my think I might enjoy a P&O cruise myself.

Have a wonderful voyage!

han anything.

The biggest problem IMO with cruises is that you have a massive number of people in a fairly small space and I do think you need to be considerate and respectful of others. That is not always the case but that's not down to P&O.

We love cruising and P&O suits us and I'm definitely not easy to please.

I've only been on four cruises but my experience so far is that everyone has been very pleasant (a single exception to this). It compares well to other types of holidays I've been on.

(There was one slightly terrifying lady who we were learning bridge with once. I think she might have strangled her husband if he made the wrong bid. The bridge coaches reminded me of boxing when they step in to seperate the fighters, which may be unique. Outside bridge she was fine though :) )

I've only been on four cruises but my experience so far is that everyone has been very pleasant (a single exception to this). It compares well to other types of holidays I've been on.

 

(There was one slightly terrifying lady who we were learning bridge with once. I think she might have strangled her husband if he made the wrong bid. The bridge coaches reminded me of boxing when they step in to seperate the fighters, which may be unique. Outside bridge she was fine though :) )

That's Bridge. Our instructor on a cruise was very intimidating. However we met a lovely couple through Bridge lessons. We did play Deck Quoits once and found that a bit intense. Not sure what anyone can get wound up over throwing a bit rope. I just thought it was for fun. :)

Was on Azura a couple of months ago and I thought the food was pretty good.

I agree. We returned yesterday from the 2 week Caribbean cruise. Freedom dining choosing tables of 8. During that time, on our tables, there were no complaints at all and many compliments. My companion sometimes asked for alternative vegetables etc, and the waiters always supplied them, despite being run off their feet.

Yes, the cheese board lacked much variety, but the stilton, if you ask for it is still delicious!

As for the buffet...and the warm freshly cooked scones every tea time...irresistable:)

fantastic, I'm going to stop worrying and start being more positive!

Thanks!

There's always little things that annoy you ; some people choose to let these wreck their holiday. They just make the most noise. It's like some of the idiotic stuff on Tripadvisor "My light bulb went, it took them a WHOLE TEN MINUTES to fix it, one star".

First cruise we all went on, the Hatlets toilet flooded on the first day (fortunately empty), wouldn't stop pumping water. The crew bent over backwards to (i) sort it out and (ii) sort out alternatives when they couldn't immediately fix it. Complaining about it would be absurd, stuff like this happens. It's how companies react to problems that makes or breaks them (e.g. Fred Olsen and the recent "Fire" on Boudicca).

The (admittedly not huge) cruises I've been on, most people seem happy most of the time.

Personally I think Cruising and P&O are brilliant, as do Mrs Hat and the Hatlets. It took Mrs Hat and I 20 years to get started. I remember we seriously discussed it for our Honeymoon ; if we had done that we might be Platinum by now.....

First cruise we all went on, the Hatlets toilet flooded on the first day (fortunately empty), wouldn't stop pumping water. The crew bent over backwards to (i) sort it out and (ii) sort out alternatives when they couldn't immediately fix it. Complaining about it would be absurd, stuff like this happens. It's how companies react to problems that makes or breaks them (e.g. Fred Olsen and the recent "Fire" on Boudicca).

Our second cruise, on P&O's Sea Princess/Victoria, BC (= before children) was riddled with disasters. They'd just started fly cruises based in the Med rather than sailing out of Southampton and were having provisioning problems. They ran out of fresh water (didn't have an onboard treatment plant, stored it in tanks), so for several days water for drinking/washing/showering was restricted, especially when the first attempt to take supplies on board failed because the water wasn't safe/clean. No problem - we moved on to beer/wine :D, but then they started to run out of that too, and food! At this point we started to worry, especially when DH learned there was just one Stilton left on the whole ship! (We were seated on the Purser's table).

The shortages were compounded by expecting to take on crates of salad, fruit etc. in Egypt and finding they'd been supplied with crates of turnips and equally useless provender. Then our coach nearly crashed on the way back from Cairo late one night, I got badly crushed in the Arab quarter in Jerusalem (I was 3 months pregnant) and, and...

We didn't complain, we didn't demand our money back, we put it all down to experience, had a laugh about it and still have great memories of that particular cruise.

Groove chick and Manwithahat, you have made me smile!

Memories eh? I remember, as a young child, during the Suez crisis, the whole ship was on meagre food rations in case we couldn't get through the canal and would have to turn round and return to UK via South Africa....luckily we did get through just before they closed it.

That's Bridge. Our instructor on a cruise was very intimidating. However we met a lovely couple through Bridge lessons. We did play Deck Quoits once and found that a bit intense. Not sure what anyone can get wound up over throwing a bit rope. I just thought it was for fun. :)

Reminds me of when Miss Hat was at nursery, and there was a Parent race. I've never seen anything like it, it made the All Blacks look like a dance troupe.

I would have made it a three legged race or something like that.

Some people take these things far too seriously.

Reminds me of when Miss Hat was at nursery, and there was a Parent race. I've never seen anything like it, it made the All Blacks look like a dance troupe.

I would have made it a three legged race or something like that.

 

Some people take these things far too seriously.

Sadly I do remember around 25 years ago I won a Parent Race. I got a £2 voucher. I suspect things were a bit less "competitive" then. Mind you, looking at some of the parents when I collect my Granddaughter at school I reckon I could still beat at least 75% of them. :) :)

Mr Hat and dgs1956, you ain't seen nuthin' I assure you!

In my part of leafy yummy mummy land, I've known mums go into training for the parents' race on primary school sports day and the Jimmy Choos are kicked aside in favour of very upmarket trainers. Not me, I assure you - I'm built for comfort, not for speed! :D

Mr Hat and dgs1956, you ain't seen nuthin' I assure you!

 

In my part of leafy yummy mummy land, I've known mums go into training for the parents' race on primary school sports day and the Jimmy Choos are kicked aside in favour of very upmarket trainers. Not me, I assure you - I'm built for comfort, not for speed! :D

HaHa, High pressure stuff indeed.

I did tell the story about being partnered for Deck Quoits with a lady who was decked out entirely in white including long trousers and a hat. She clearly was unhappy being partnered with someone she perceived to be a numpty. However I hate being beaten at anything but don't show it. We were eventually beaten in the semi and she stomped off in the huff.

Verona is great and we also like the Glass House. The Marco Pierre White menu I hade in the MDR was one of the best meals I have had on a cruise. Sindhu is also good.