mara01

Hi Tim, liking your blog so far. If you happen to go to Windows for breakfast, check out the 'Energizer' from the Smoothie Bar. Be warned however, you need to like Ginger!

Steve

I'm on a roll now thanks to Phil - this one is of the rear deck we know as Windows

Just discovered I have 1tb free on Flickr so here is another pic of the Adonia, I hope!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97228390@N04/8999348693/

Thanks Phil, I have managed to upload some photos of the Adonia interior at long last showing their versions of Looking Glass, Discoveries lounge, Pool deck, extended shop in Mosaic and the larger Club Luxe area

Thanks Phil, that clears up my confusion then!

As an aside, how do you post your pictures on the forum, I am having no luck as it asks for an Http address and all mine are held in iPhoto on my Mac. I have tried copying and pasting but again to no avail.

The relocated piano on Journey was actually in a very unobtrusive spot right in the far corner, left of where the harp is in the pre-refurb picture below. I thought it fitted in very well and was really nice to listen to music in the background having a pre-dinner drink.

 

 

Phil

Thats interesting Phil I could have sworn that the piano was in Club Luxe on the Journey when we did our Indonesia cruise this year after the refurb. Unfortunately I didn't take a photo, but I do have a Quest one post refurb fro our Malaga cruise at the end of 2012 and on that ship its in Club Luxe. (unless there are more piano's!)

Steve

love to see that space used for some type of bar - a real paino bar or sports bar- and a couple more shops.. the paino on Quest needs to go to the smalelr Discovers bar.

On the Adonia, there is a fairly large bar to service the to Casino Luxe area and the Piano is also located here. Not sure about additional shops, again on the Adonia the additional space taken by the extended shop in the Mosaic Cafe area means that area is mostly a walkthrough with very little seating.

Does the Discoveries bar have room for a piano? It gets fairly crowded in there at mealtimes and seating is always at a premium, I know the harpists (when Azamara has them!) sometimes locate there, but a piano does take a fair bit more room, and would I feel stifle conversation as it's a fairly enclosed space.

The Looking Glass bar on the Adonia has 6 large TV screens which are capable of showing sports, so I guess that is their sports bar.

My wife and I had an opportunity to compare P&O Adonia (formerly Royal Princess and R8), and thus identical to the Journey and Quest when originally built for Renaissance Cruises at the weekend whilst on a shipboard visit in Southampton.

It was interesting to review the ship against our recent experiences on both of Azamara’s excellent ships post refurb. What was clear is the positive impact the new decoration has made to the ship compared to the mostly dowdy decor in the Adonia. More importantly, there was no Mosaic cafe! This space on the Adonia is mostly given over to shops with a few chairs dotted around. Costa Coffee is available on the ship, but at a cost and the main outlet for this is in what we know as the Discoveries Lounge. For the purposes of this review I will continue to use the Azamara terminology. The Discoveries restaurant is very similar, but there seemed to be larger tables with less of the more intimate twos as the tables for four did not divide.

Windows buffet was very similar, although they had trays for people to carry their food, cutlery and drinks, clearly not served at the tables like Azamara then! The outside of the Windows deck was missing the bar area, but this did mean more tables were available, most being plastic topped although there were some wooden ones albeit smaller and in a poor state.

The speciality restaurants were similar, Sorrento and Marco Pierre White, both required surcharges but I am not sure what these were. Looking Glass was similar in layout as was the Cabaret Lounge. A big surprise was the lack of a casino, the whole area being given over to a lounge in the style of a gentlemen's club.

The pool area of course does not have the lovely sun loungers that Azamara has, merely plastic mesh ones, and only facing the pool, the underdeck ones were of the chair type, so no lounging in the shade watching the sea! This was also the case on the promenade deck, with only chairs to sit on. Other than that the Pool area is as Azamara was before the refurb.

We visited most stateroom types and my wife particularly noted that the balcony cabins had reclining chairs, something she has often mentioned as lacking on Azamara at every opportunity! I also noted they had bigger fridges fitted in the cupboard next to the patio doors. However, it was also clear that they needed new mattresses! There was also coffee making facilities in the rooms, but given the service on Azamara I don’t think this is particularly a plus point.

The Internet cafe is a table in the Library which in itself is the same as Azamara although all the books are locked away. The eConnections and acupuncture rooms have been merged into one large room which serves as a card room or wedding chapel as required.

The main staircase was very impressive with what looked like new red and gold carpeting, but this was not the case over the rest of the ship and many of the furnishings were dark and dour and could do with a makeover like Azamara. The same could be said of the balcony railings, clearly the same attention is not given to these as Azamara and many were in a poor state with bare wood showing through the varnish.

The luncheon we had was excellent, the Cauliflower soup was delicious and hot, the beef was very tender and the coconut meringue was lovely. The wines were acceptable, and service was good. We have sailed P&O before so the food was up to expectation, but being a day visitor, the menu choice was limited.

Overall, it is fair to say it is a nice ship but lacks the quality of the Quest and Journey.

Phil, I agree the 'all inclusive' strap-line was very misleading. I assumed it would be the same as Regent, etc.

 

The marketing also mentioned International beers, yet only American ones are on Bill's list.

 

Maybe the spirits list is incomplete, as I don't see a dark rum, yet many of the cocktails are made with dark rum. Maybe one can ask for the cocktail without all the additions, just the rum!

 

I shall, of course, do my usual cruise review

Tim

I think you'll find that Beck's is a European Brand from Germany, it may be produced in the States (and the UK) under licence, so technically Bill is right about 'International' beers. However, the taste may be different to the 'European' blend if the ship is supplied from the States.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck's_Brewery

Apart from that I am looking forward to my usual Margarita or G&T in Mosaic but now at no cost!

Steve