sunnyhat

We ate in Epicurean last year, outside against the rail looking over the pool , we booked a time so the sun was setting while we were eating, it was beautiful.

A friend of mine suffered from bad sea sickness but loves cruising she takes half of an Avomine tablet (available at chemists) every morning says it works for her. We now always take a pack with us for days with bad swells, one tablet , a couple of hours sleep and it works a treat.

We were pulled over at Southampton security, my other half had his darts in his hand luggage, they had to check with the ship whether he was allowed to take them. Why did he think there would be a dartboard on ship and when did he think he was going to play, who knows what goes on in their minds. We have also been pulled over trying to bring cheese on board.

Yes, we went to MDR one morning for breakfast on Azura last September for our Eggs Benedict treat, only to find we had missed out as it was only served once a week.

Yes there's definitely Pandora on Azura and I think Swarovski too so you will something sparkly :)

We had cat 1 hurricane winds for almost 3 days on IOS , sounds like she handled pretty much the same as Ventura, front to back and side to side motion, I watched the ships stats on the cabin TV, when the wind got to 123 mph I switched off, it started to scare me a bit. One lifeboat broke from its fixings and whacked against the side of the ship all night. We stayed in more or less the same position off the Portuguese coast for 2 days, we had to miss our first port of call Madeira. The rest of the cruise was fab, glorious weather in the canaries, I was a bit worried about the return across BoB but it was like a mill pond. We have done 2 more cruises since, but I would never sail out of Southampton Oct to end of March.

It was just a standard balcony on lido deck L305 :)

We had bathrobes in our balcony cabin on Azura last September :)

I've enjoyed watching it, but the woman who enjoyed everyone looking at her because she was on the "special" dining table, hmmm..Still I suppose everyone is different :)

Auto wine by the glass was in the buffet restaurants, three out of the four times I tried to use it I had to find a waiter for assistance, so after that I got wine from elsewhere and took it to the buffet with me.

There was a photographer on prom deck on Azura last September, we were the only couple out there, we had our photo taken it was lovely :)

When we were on Azura in September the Oasis pool had the endless current switched on at various intervals during the day. We never saw any children in there, it's just for adults. It did seem to go into the shade every afternoon due to the height of the ship around the retreat.

We have been to Lanzarote twice, 1st time we done an organized trip to fire mountain with a camel ride, 2nd just a coach transfer to Puerto del Carmen, nice bars, duty free shops and sandy beach, both trips were very different but we enjoyed them equally, I like Lanzerote it's very different to the other Canary islands with its quirky black landscape.

The adult pool on Azura is lovely and quiet, never very busy when we were on in Sept, but it does suffer from being quite shady due to its position, we found afternoons it always seemed to be in the shade.

Meant to add this photo to my post, sorry about the other half being in it.

We had a saver balcony, we got lido deck mid forward, Sun on it in the morning or early evening depending on which way we were sailing. Nice and shady at lunchtime when it was really hot, being on lido it was easy for the buffet, we often took our lunch back and ate on the balcony. Only drawback was a bit of noise overhead early morning, I think it must have been sunbeds being pulled out and a bit of cabin movement one windy day being so high up. We loved being so close to the pools too, we would have the same cabin again. :)

We had the anniversary package in 2010, I suprised my husband with it, decorations, champagne, cupcakes, flowers and bathrobes, I can't remember how much it was, but it was worth it to see his suprised face.

This is a standard cabin balcony on Azura. I thought it was a little on the small side, but that picture of Britannia balcony.... tiny!! Sorry about me being in the photo...

We sailed out of Southampton late October 2010 on independence of the seas, we sailed into category 1 hurricane force winds, we were not allowed outside for 3 days while the ship rolled and pitched, missed our first port of call, P & O's Ventura was also due to sail out of Southampton the same day but their captain postponed their departure by 24 hours so they managed to skirt around the storm.We had one lifeboat break free and it banged against the side of the ship throughout the storm the captain said they were the worst seas he had sailed for over 15 years, he stayed awake until we were safely through it. Perhaps he should have done the same as P & O.

A friend of mine recommended avomine, she suffers from sea sickness but loves cruising, she takes half or quarter of tablet every morning depending on weather conditions, I only suffer in rough seas but they have always worked for me, take one tablet when you feel a bit dodgy sleep for a couple of hours, when I wake up I feel fine.

How would you know it had changed unless you have the same cabin on the same ship every time , I don't think I could be bothered looking back to previous cabin gradings.

We had cabin L305 on Azura last year, we thought it was lovely, easy for the pools and buffet restaurants, balcony shaded during the day but sunrise and sunset (depending which way we were sailing) it was nice and sunny. A bit of noise in the morning above the cabin, sunbeds being pulled out I think and a bit of cabin movement one day when it was a bit windy. We loved Lido deck and would definitely book that deck again.

We had an amazing meal in The Epicurean celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary, we booked it so we could eat out on the terrace as the sun went down, super meal and excellent service.

We sailed to the canaries on 29th October one year we had a category one hurricane going down, missed our first port of call, Madeira. Then we had 24 degrees in gran canaria, 26 degrees in Tenerife and 28 degrees in lanzerote, we were out on deck every day all the way back to Vigo,still warm enough to go without a coat but overcast. Got a bit panicky thinking about crossing the bay of biscay but it was fine on the way back.

We had a paper invitation on Azura in September