laurakdy

We were on the Azura at New Year and Robert was also the Captain.

He is absolutely fantastic. He was always accessible. You always seen him around. He is newly married and his wife was onboard as well.

He married our friends and he was so lovely, made plenty time for them, even though there were a lot of weddings taking place over the period of the cruise.

At New Year he was up on stage joining in with all the entertainment.

He is also ladies, very easy on the eye. Made for some nice wedding pics! :D:cool:

You will love him.

We were on this cruise Winnie and it was absolutely fantastic.

Our friends got married on Hogmanay and what a day/night it was. Don't think we'll get a better New Year ever again.

The Captain was one of the best and he was so good at the wedding. Charming, funny and friendly.

Can't think of a single negative at all. Well, a few moaners aside.

Dreamliner was a nice surprise as well.

Anyone on here that's concerned about The Azura, please don't be she's a wonderful amazing ship.

We went to Epiucurean on Azura twice in one week it was so good! In my opinion Menu A is the best one. I recommend the Chateaubriand for two and the Crepe Suzette which is prepared tableside.

 

It is well worth supplement. Go for it!

 

Eddie

That's exactly what we had. Absolutely marvellous it was...

You can definitely still have a good time even if you're disappointed with some aspects, but I can definitely see how people who normally have poor New Years and stay in watching Strictly Come Dancing would love it....glad you loved it.

 

Can you let us know where you got such a good deal because I definitely didn't pay nothing.

I think some people would be perfectly happy staying in watching Strictly at any given time. Doesn't necessarily mean their New Year is poor. Offensive to people who do such things I'm an X factor person myself. :D

In relation to prices of the cruise. Its a Cruise on P & O and I think most are familiar with all the ranges of prices. The prices certainly dont include any high end acts and I think most people wouldn't expect any except for yourself of course. Go upmarket say, to Celebrity. They may provide some of that although highly unlikely.

Does a holiday not make everyone really chilled and relaxed as that's how I'm feeling? :cool:

Yeah as I said I was on Azura, I said I was disappointed not that I didn't have a good time...nothing happened to me I just thought the menu wasn't all that and the 'special guests' were poor....

 

I thought apart from the word 'disappointed' the post was quite positive.

Many apologies. Disappointed and having a good time I couldn't quite understand.

As for special guests, I was very happy with Darcey Bussell. It was a P & O cruise afterall and not sure who you would be expecting to get with the price of the cruise.

I guess some people are always looking for something for nothing.

It was absolutely excellent. We tried it twice and couldn't fault it.

Was disappointed with New Year on Azura...but spent on a beautiful ship in the middle on the Caribbean Sea was still one of the best!

Were you on Azura this New Year? If you were I seriously cannot believe what I am reading. It was an absolutely fantastic time on the ship and don't think it could have gone any better. We had an amazing time. Not sure what else you could have wanted as I know none of my New Years back home have ever been like it before and never will again.

I'm guessing something may have happened for you to feel this way and that's entirely your own business.

No problems for me boarding Azura. Took around 40 mins all in all and that was checkin and heading to your lovely nice clean cabin. Sitting with Prosecci in hand very shortly after. :D

We have been regular Celebrity cruisers since 2002 and although we have also tried Royal Caribbean we consider Celebrity to be our cruise line of choice. We have just returned from our first P&O cruise aboard Britannia for Christmas and New Year and I thought it might be helpful to share our thoughts and comparisons. I have posted this on both the Celebrity and P&O boards.

 

Why did we choose P&O on this occasion?

 

We decided 12 months ago to have a change and go away for Christmas for the first time. We have been on many cruises and enjoyed them all so started looking at options. P&O had not really appealed previously but their new ship, Britannia, caught our interest. There were several benefits over the Celebrity offering. Both cruises were in the Caribbean as we wanted some better weather and to see some blue skies! The P&O trip was 14 nights and covered Christmas and New Year’s Eve, compared to the Celebrity trip which was 12 nights and only covered Christmas. The P&O trip was £2,000 cheaper in total. P&O charter planes direct to Barbados and handle your luggage once checked in at the airport. This makes things very easy as we exited the plane and walked straight across the tarmac to buses ready to take us to the ship – no going through the airport, collecting bags etc. Similarly, on the return journey once you put your bags outside your cabin the night before departure you don’t see them again until collecting them from the airport carousel in the UK. We were able to stay on the ship all day on the last day and use the facilities, although we did have to vacate our cabin by 8 am. On the last day it took just 2hr 45mins from leaving the ship to being on the plane ready for take-off, including a 45 min journey from the ship to the airport. With a mobility impaired family member this made the whole process much easier. Finally, our youngest son, aged 19 would not have been able to drink alcohol on the Celebrity ship because of the ship operating under US laws and sailing in US waters, but with P&O he was able to drink as it operates under UK laws and does not sail in US waters (at least that is my understanding). He is not a heavy drinker, but given that this was a Christmas cruise (and being a student in the UK he is used to being allowed to drink) we would not have felt it fair to book a cruise where he couldn’t have the occasional beer. All of the above factors meant that, on this occasion, we decided to give P&O a try.

 

Our thoughts….

 

We enjoyed the trip and found there were many more similarities than differences. I am not going to write a detailed review of the trip but simply pick out the things that we liked and the things that we missed, when comparing this cruise to our many experiences on Celebrity.

 

The things that we liked…..

 

• The Britannia has a free launderette which, although I only used it a couple of times, was very handy. It was an excellent facility with 4 washing machines, 4 dryers and 4 ironing boards and irons and was open from 8 am to 10 pm. It happened to be close to our cabin (which I didn’t realise when booking) which made it even handier. There are no launderettes on Celebrity ships.

 

• Entertainment is subjective, but overall I would say the entertainment is better on P&O. In fairness, it is probably easier for P&O because they are not trying to cater to an international audience, as is the case on Celebrity, and can therefore tailor the entertainment to British tastes. There were several venues with live music every day/night (‘Pulse’ rock/pop 8 piece live band in the Live Lounge, ‘The James Murrum Band’ in the Crystal Room for more traditional dancing, The Anderson Sealy steel band by the pool etc.). In addition there were nightly performances in the theatre ranging from the usual production shows, a comedian, a ventriloquist, tribute bands and a violinist – something for everyone. On our more recent Celebrity experiences I would say the amount of live music has been paired back but this was not the case on Britannia.

 

• We hoped that by travelling on a British ship we would still experience something of a British Christmas and this proved to be the case. The whole team went out of their way to put on a range of festive activities – decorations put on every cabin door, a Christmas Eve deck party looking for sightings of Santa (with help from the officers on the bridge) was magical and great fun, midnight mass, a service of nine lessons and carols conducted by the Captain on Christmas morning, the nativity story performed by the children from the kids club, a passenger choir singing carols in the atrium, a Christmas Fete on the pool deck in the afternoon with a huge range of traditional games and prizes, Santa’s grotto with gifts for all the children, a gift for every cabin (P&O limited edition Monopoly), a Christmas themed production show etc. All that we had hoped for and more – you won’t feel as if you have missed Christmas on P&O.

 

• Room service - we used room service to deliver fresh orange juice every morning and found the service to be extremely prompt. On Celebrity we have found there can be a long wait, irrespective of how little you order.

 

• We found the Horizon buffet to be relatively civilised, particularly when compared to the Windjammer on Royal Caribbean which we found to be an awful experience. We never struggled to find a table at any time of day and generally the tables were cleared promptly.

 

• P&O are very relaxed about taking your own alcohol on board for use in your cabin. We bought bottles of gin and rum in the duty free shop in Barbados and took them on board with no problem. They also sell bottles of wine, spirits and mixers (for consumption in your cabin) on the room service menu at very reasonable prices. On Celebrity you are only allowed to take 2 bottles of wine and if you purchase alcohol along the way it will be confiscated and only returned to you on the last day.

 

• The gratuities are cheaper on P&O as are the drinks, although on Celebrity they offer an all-inclusive drinks package (often offered as a free incentive to book), free drinks at the evening drinks party for their Elite members (part of their loyalty scheme) and ‘free pour’ measures making their drinks much stronger.

 

• Freedom dining – our last couple of trips on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have been with flexible dining, rather than fixed time dining. We found P&O had the best of all the flexible/freedom style dining experiences. If there is a queue they give you a pager, allowing you to remain in a bar until your table is ready, but this was rarely needed. Very efficient and no need to stand in a queue.

 

• Fun – this was a Christmas cruise and therefore the demographic was probably younger than the typical P&O cruise. We enjoyed the sail away parties (I know they are not for everyone) and the New Year’s Eve deck party. It was generally livelier than we have experienced on our Celebrity cruises – they certainly know how to party!

 

The things we missed…

 

• On P&O there are no towel stations by the pool. You are given one pool towel in your cabin and that is it. We really missed the Celebrity system where there are piles of fresh towels by the pool (no need to carry them around) available all day. If your towel gets wet you simply place it in the used bin and collect some more. On this trip, we would often visit the beach in the morning returning to the ship for a late lunch and pool swim. Our towels were wet and sandy so we put them in the used towel bin on the way back on the ship but there was nowhere to pick up any fresh towels. We ended up collecting towels from cabin attendant’s trolleys and hiding them under our bed to build up a store for future use. We spoke to others who did the same so we were not alone. Completely ridiculous and a definite negative for us.

 

• Soft drinks – on Celebrity there are free drinks stations by the pool and in the buffet with a choice of water, fruit punch, lemon drink, iced tea, coffee, tea etc. whereas on P&O there is a jug of iced water on the bar by the pool and that is it. In the Horizon buffet they don’t even have an ice machine so if the glasses have just come out of the dishwasher your only option is warm water, coffee or tea - or put your hand in your pocket and pay for a drink. We really missed this facility.

 

• Ice cream – on P&O the only ice cream available has to be paid for (apart from in the dining room) whereas on Celebrity there is a free ice cream counter in the buffet supplying a range of ice creams, sweets and toppings. On Royal Caribbean there are soft serve ice cream machines by the pool, again free of charge.

 

• It has been reported many times that the balconies on Britannia are very narrow and we found them to be disappointingly small. We had 3 cabins and opened up the dividers to create a large space, but the space was so narrow it was impossible for us to sit around on the balcony together. Disappointing but not unexpected since I was aware of the issue before booking.

 

• We found the food to be of good quality but a bit limited in choice when comparing to Celebrity, both in the dining room and the buffet. No signs of any smoked salmon at breakfast, no streaky bacon at breakfast, no olives in the buffet, no pasta on the evening dinner menu – typically there would be 3 meat with veg options, two fish options, plus one vegetarian option. The desserts were better on P&O and were ‘proper’ desserts rather than the air filled mousse type desserts often seen on Celebrity.

 

• We found there was a lack of visible security around the ship. We hadn’t realised this until one of the sail away parties during which a member of the crew was targeted and in our view treated very badly by some passengers. We felt very uneasy and could not believe there appeared to be no security around to help. At such a gathering on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean there would be visible security stationed around the pool with walkie talkies to call for back up if needed. This needs addressing urgently for the safety and security of the crew. The sail away parties are attended by large numbers of people, most of whom have been drinking to a greater or lesser extent, and it is easy for things to get ‘out of hand’. A visible security presence would help prevent this and is desperately needed at these events.

 

• TV – there is no facility to check your on board account or order room service via the TV on Britannia, as is the case on Celebrity, although I understand this is going to change (certainly with regard to the on board account anyway).

 

In conclusion…

 

Well done if you have made it to the end of this! I hope it has been of some use for anyone considering either cruise line. We would consider P&O cruises again but probably only on their newer, larger ships and only if the itinerary and price were favourable. Celebrity is probably still our line of choice but for Christmas we enjoyed the British feel provided by Britannia. If you are on a cruise in the Caribbean in the depths of winter, when the UK is covered in grey skies and rain, you can’t go wrong. Just wish we were still there!

An excellent review, Thankyou. We are just back from Azura and I will do a review when I'm less tired but we are really wanting to try Brittania.

A couple of things thought you mentioned. Azura most definitely had the streaky bacon. They had both back and streaky. Normally at home I would never have streaky but quite like it when I'm on me hols...ok. Maybe that's where it all went! As for checking your account though the TV. You certainly can do this on both Ventura and Azura, so very surprised you can't do it on Brittania.

As for the towels, I know the first time we went on Azura, it was the same as celebrity and you just picked up towels as and when you needed them. Thats not the case now and although you only get given one every night in your room. We always ended up with 4 between 2 of us as we used to keep them and our lovely cabin steward always gave us fresh one's nightly as well.

Is there a place to write reviews or do we just put them on this page?

I am just going to put it on here.

On another site I wander onto someone had posted a thread about a post on Facebook.

I think the facebook poster may be on Azura??? Probably wrong.

Anyway on there people were given a gift from P and O of the new monopoly game.

Costs £50 to buy on Aurora.

Anyway this oik thought it was a terrible pressie, as it wasn't even one each, but one per couple.

He felt duty bound to complain to the captain about said pressie. According to oik (you need to read the post to see how he comes across) Captain was dismissive of his complaint.

I gave up reading the comments after a while. Way over 100 and none of them agreeing with the poster.

One reads about the problems the people up north are suffering, with no Christmas, then you have this person complaining about something he was given,and feeling he had to share his very important point of view with the captain.

Comments?

Oh my god, cannot believe what I am reading. We are just back from this cruise. Absolutely fantastic by the way and I will put up a review when I'm less tired but we were absolutely delighted win the present and have brought it home. Some people just can't help themselves.

Very pleased to hear it. However I have read some complaints, think on Facebook, about the embarkation in the Caribbean. The way you're transported from the airport to the ship came in for a lot of stick. You can't please some people

Seriously? I've done this 4 times now and there is absolutely no problem whatsoever. In fact, best transfers I've had on any holiday.

I hope you are not insinuating that I'm whinging.....

:D:D:D Not insinuating anything. Stating the facts in relation to this thread. Entirely up to you how you interpret the posts.

I agree, I think people are missing the point, it's not as simple as turning up just before you allotted time, there are a lot of other factors to take into consideration and a lot of them are our of your control.

We are boarding Aurora next Saturday I certainly have reservations - I only live in Portsmouth, normally 40 minutes away from Southampton. We have a 3:00pm slot. I can not run the risk of leaving my house at 2:20 on the last Saturday before Christmas when West Quay shopping will be a nightmare and there are 2 other ships in, it would be a recipe for disaster, and there's no way i'm paying for a hotel!! We will have to turn up early just to ensure we are there and not stuck in traffic. But I will be cross if all the coaches with loads of people turn up at 2:50 and all get on... We will just have to see how it goes:eek:

But I will be a good boy and stay patient and sit nicely in the terminal until my time.....

I don't think people are missing the point all but P & 0 cannot be responsible for every single eventuality that may or may not happen whilst you are travelling to the cruise port.

What is confusing me though is, why would you be angry if a coach load turn up at 2.50pm? Your not due to board until 3pm so shouldn't be a worry at all. Yeh you might have a wee delay but then so might they. Horses for courses really.

I don't think its worth stressing about at all. Loads of good reports on here about how well the new procedure is going but some people are just ignoring the facts and still whinging on about anything and eveything they can.

I've been on both Azura and Ventura and they both had muster after the ship left Barbados on the Saturday. It wasn't long after we had left.

Any other ship I've been on always had muster beforehand,nth at why I thought it odd?

It's actually after it leaves port, which I found odd.

I shall get booking.

Sounds good to me...:D

Thanks everyone. We may do that. I just seem to have so much stuff this time...:cool:

We're going on Azura in Decemer to the Caribbean. Can you buy extra luggage weight?

The reason I am asking is, I saw a thread previously and it was about a Thomas Cook flight whereby you could do this but I have never heard of this.

By the way, I don't mean flying premium, just bog standard cheapie seats.

We are flying Thomson. Does anyone have any idea?

In the main it's usually sea days. To have one on a port day is unusual but things can change for whatever reason. Your cruise personaliser may show them, although not sure if it's a bit early yet for a February cruise.

The first time we went on Azura we hadn't booked any of the restaurants beforehand and we couldn't get anything at all over the 2 weeks apart from one very early booking which didn't suit us. They put us on a waiting list but never got the call.

Won't make that mistake again and like to book in advance. I don't check out the menus beforehand as I love a surprise. Don't fancy deciding weeks before.

Trouble that a 'another lovely day at sea' isn't what we booked neither is a day in Guernsey which is what they have suggested. It's only a 4 day cruise and I'm really fed up, sorry but I have to vent my spleen somewhere!

I'm a bit confused with this comment. Why would you need to vent. In the grand scheme of things with what has gone on in the world over the last couple of weeks, it's at most a tad disappointing. :confused:

A few years ago they 'upgraded' us before we left and the luggage labels still had the old cabin number on them.

We didn't use them obviously but our luggage still found its way to our cabin, no trouble at all. :D

I am sure P&O have done extensive research on whether the loss of revenue would make any difference.

It seems they are not too concerned about what probably in the grand scheme of things, isn't too much of a concern.

Someone pointed out earlier that they spend the most money on the day arrive, which I find odd (only my opinion). I reckon all these new cruisers make up for more than that by spending much more over the duration of the cruise, which crosses out anything you spend on the first day. We're talking one day here and also perhaps a difference perhaps of 2/3 hours. Then we have others who may board earlier than they normally would as a result of the change and they're spending their money instead.

What also might be a lot of money you to may not be to someone else who spends.

We have only been cruising since about 2008.

Started off with a fly cruise, with Thomson, so you boarded when you arrived.

Then Fred, which is turn up when you like, but boarding does not start until 2pm, only snacks in the terminal, and no lunch on the ship, so if you had late sitting you could be all day without food:eek::eek:

Then we made it to P and O. From what has been stated by Pando they were having up to half the ship arriving from 11.30am onwards (I have seen this myself when on a few B2B we have done)

There surely must have been heaving terminals , with a large number all trying to be first. We used to arrive about 12.30-1pm, and there were always a large numbers of people already there

So Pando have come up with this cunning plan, which people are moaning about, but amongst all the wailing there are postings from people turning up at their allocated time and being on board with in 20mins.

Anyway agreed P and O should maybe have managed how they let people know about the new boarding arrangements better.

You still have the problem of how to board a lot of people.

I know those who have been on American ships will say, we walked on at 11.30am, but for you to do that ,somebody would have to have walked off at 6.30am.

Do P and O cruisers want that?

Do a huge number of people board the likes of Anthem at the same time, or are people arriving throughout the afternoon?

I have watched the video of the person boarding Anthem, it took approx. 2 1/2mins, maybe when I board on the next cruise I will see how long it takes, but I doubt it will be much more than that. Cruisers causing delays by not having the passport and etickets to hand, and having to fish around in the suitcase, and other sundry things. (how many times when leaving the ship in a port have you been behind someone who doesn't have their cruise card in their hand, and has to start searching in their bags for them)

People say if it wasn't broke, but obviously as regards the logistics P and O felt they could not continue with people turning up earlier and earlier in ever increasing numbers (how many times on here have people posted in the past ,ignore the time on your ticket, turn up when you like)

I notice on the mayflower terminal thread people some people have said they did not know about the changes (not everyone is on the web) However on your eticket it does state a boarding time, and requests that you stick to it.

Would people be happier if they did away with providing lunch altogether, so you had to eat shore side?

What an absolutely fantastic post. Says it all in very simple terms I'll bet they still don't listen and its its the very people that are whinging about the changes that are causing the problems.

Hi

 

We have full insurance through our bank. In short and i am being careful what i say here, the insurance will not reimburse the insured if they believe the cause of the accident was related to an 'underlying condition'.

 

In my father's case, he was diagnosed with MS over 30 years ago. MS is a very personal condition and in the case of my father the effects are relatively mild. My father fell down the full length of his stairs and i am of the belief the insurance company will attribute this to his MS.....it wasn't but proving that is never going to be straight forward.

 

To proceed with the claim i would have to request a 'cancellation invoice'. At this point the holiday is gone. In my opinion i think it would make more sense to try and sell the holiday, at a reduced rate to someone else. Incidentally we are not able to push the holiday back it would seem.

 

I hope this now makes sense.:(

Oh dear, you really are up against it. That's so unfair. I do hope you sell it albeit as you say at a laser price than you paid. Good luck. Xx