paulrobs

Should be on the 26th August 2018 Greek Islands cruise. My mother's 75th birthday cruise and we're doing three nights in Naples before the cruise so that she can do Pompeii and Herculaneum which are on her bucket list. Thinking of booking one of the balcony rooms up on deck 11 starboard side, quite fancy trying something different to our standard mid-ship deck 8 balcony choice. Really enjoying this thread, very informative, thanks.

All booked now. Plumped for a deck 11 room. Oh and my mother's 80th not 75th. Oops!!

Should be on the 26th August 2018 Greek Islands cruise. My mother's 75th birthday cruise and we're doing three nights in Naples before the cruise so that she can do Pompeii and Herculaneum which are on her bucket list. Thinking of booking one of the balcony rooms up on deck 11 starboard side, quite fancy trying something different to our standard mid-ship deck 8 balcony choice. Really enjoying this thread, very informative, thanks.

Thanks for your review. We are doing this cruise on 21st August. What did you do in Bergen. Did you go on any ship excursions? What was the weather like. Do we need to take warm clothes for trips off the ship?

Any more tips appreciated.

Unable to see photos.

Thanks

It rained most of the day in Bergen so we restricted ourselves to a look round the wooden houses and shops on the quayside. Were planning to go to the Ice Bar.

The only ship excursion we did was at Olden when we did the Birksdal Glacier. We could have taken the open top sighteeing bus but we didn't want to miss seeing this one. Having seen the buses, I think we could have done it DIY. For Flam we pre-booked the mountain railway to Myrdal on the official website. Was more than £20 cheaper per person than doing it via P&O. Quite spectacular. For Stavanger, I'd recommend you DIY. Everything is close by and walking distance.

Yes re warm clothes. We had jeans with us. Also long sleeved shirts and a fleece and a raincoat. It rained for 23 days straight in June, it does rain a lot. Rucksack too to keep the raincoats and fleeces in when it gets hot. Temperature range each day could be quite significant so you have to be prepared.

Hope this helps.

I'll try to fix the photos before posting anything else

The Petroleum Museum had a mock up of a rig at the rear of the museum. Very interesting and some good views.

I'll post remaining photos later tonight or tomorrow some time.

Day 3 at Stavanger. Beautiful place. The old wooden town should not be missed. I also had a look at the Petroleum Museum which charted the history of Norway's oil and gas exploration and production. Very informative and enjoyable. My wife and son walked around the town and visited the park area. Crown Princess, the same class of ship as Azura, was in port at the same time as Azura. Our cabin was the 4th from the stern on the third row of balconies down from the top and is the first row of balcony cabins that aren't overlooked - you'll see from the photo that decks 8, 9 & 10 all protrude a little and these balconies are overlooked from above. Worth looking at when you book.

Just thought I'd post a few pics of our recent cruise on Azura to the Norwegian Fjords. Focus is on the cabin, views from the balcony and the places visited - Stavanger, Flam, Olden and Bergen. Our first cruise on P&O and we really enjoyed it, all of our previous six cruises were with RCI. How does P&O compare? Very well. We were a little concerned beforehand but we enjoyed the ship, food, entertainment and the ports of call. Don't think Azura has the wow factor that RCI ships seem to have - the Promenade is not that spectacular and neither is the Atrium in comparison. But we enjoyed the ship and would cruise again with P&O. This is good because it gives us more choices in terms of itinerary, for example RCI don't do the Norwegian Fjords in the summer holiday and because my wife works in a school we're a bit tied to these.

We'd always wanted to do the Norwegian Fjords and did they live up to our expectation? Yes and some more. Absolutely beautiful, awesome, spectacular and wonderful. We are so glad we did this and may do it again in the future. Not the same as a warm weather cruise with little chance to sunbathe but the scenery and beauty of this country more than made up for it.

Food was on a par with what we have experienced with RCI. Drinks much cheaper, noticeably so when paying the bill at the end of the cruise! Liked the freedom dining option, it gave us a chance to eat when we wanted to. Azura sets aside two main dining rooms for freedom dining and you are allocated one of these two when you board. There is sometimes a small queue of about 10 people as you wait to be seated but it does move very quickly. If you don't mind sharing you can go straight in but there is sometimes a wait if you want, for example, a table for 2/3/4 on your own. We shared 3 times and ate on our own 4 times. We only had to wait once and this was about 7 or 8 minutes. Clearly if you walk in at 7:00pm and ask for a table for two you'll likely have to wait quite a while until a table becomes available. They give you a buzzer and you retire to a bar for a drink and wait for the buzzer to go off. Easy. Not quite as good as we experienced on RCI Anthem of the Seas because on that ship you can pre-book times in restaurants for the flex dining option. We liked this because you can look at the daily programme and decide when to eat. We do like flexibility of dining times though. When we sailed away from Flam - aboslutely breathtaking as I hope my later photos will show, we sat on the upper deck and on the balcony for a long time and wouldn't have been able to do this if we were tied to an early dinner seating.

We had cabin B730 on deck 11 (Barbados Deck). Situated towards the stern (back) of the ship on the port (left) side. Slight judder experienced from the ship's propellors whilst underway but didn't bother us. Decor is perhaps a bit old fashioned but cabin was clean, everything worked and the guy who looked after the room - Christopher - was fantastic. Always polite, always helpful, always cheerful and a pleasure to talk to.

Day 2 at sea crossing the North Sea. Calm all the way and some wonderful views passing other ships and the oil and gas rigs. I'd done the crossing before in a Type 42 Destroyer in 1985 when serving in the Royal Navy and it brought back memories. Bit more comfortable this time as I recall!

You cannot do that with P&O because CPS do not park your car for the duration of the cruise where you picked it up on your disembarkation. They are driven away and parked in other part of the port and then returned to that car park day before your arrival ready for your disembarkation.

Doesn't surprise me. Did wonder where the car was going, although knew it was staying inside the port. I'd rather not have a complete stranger drive my car around the port and park it a number of times to be honest but no choice really. All parking options for a P&O cruise appeared to carry some risk. Prefer the ABP option for RCI cruises to be honest.

Speed limits have been reduced and cameras installed on West Quay Road since our last visit. Still an easy enough trip.

 

I still prefer ABP "park up and leave the car where it is" system over CPS.

Me too. ABP parking not an option for P&O which is a shame. Used ABP on three previous Southampton departures with RCI

Hi Paulrobs, as you are just back from Azura - can you remember what times the theatre shows were, there were some posts a month or so back saying that they had changed. We are on in October and am interested in the current times as we may change our dining time. Thanks

Hi. 8.30 and 10.30 most days, occasionally 8.45 and 10.45.

Drove in to Mayflower terminal on the 22nd and out from Ocean Terminal on the 29th and both were fine. Well signposted and clear and easy to follow. It has improved since 2015. You have to expect some queuing though because the port is handling a lot of traffic on embarkation and dis-embarkation days.

Drinks are definitely cheaper on P&O mind. We definitely spent less on drinks than we previously have done on RCI ships.

Just come back from 7 nights on Azura, our 7th cruise with all previous 6 cruises on RCI. We enjoyed Azura and would cruise with P&O again but we think RCI ships have a bit more of a wow factor and Azura (and therefore Ventura) has a bit of a weird layout with its deck 7 starboard side Promenade and fairly poor central Atrium (in comparison with RCI ships). Food and service are about the same in our experience but we did think there were more miserable staff on Azura than any other ship we've been on. Didn't spoil it for us, we are always determined to enjoy our holidays. Would love to try Brittania now. Hope you enjoy your next P&O cruise strawberry field.

Just got back from a 7 night cruise on Azura. Used CPS, absolutely no problems and car was parked about 200 yards from the terminal building. Would use them again. Handing over your key and watching your car driven away by someone from CPS was slightly disconcerting during embarkation and on balance I think we'd still prefer to park ourselves and hand over luggage at the carpark and then walk to the terminal but can't do this on P&O. Ok though, no problems and key collection at carpark entrance was easy, well managed and quick when we dis-embarked.

Just got back from a 7 night cruise on Azura to the Norwegian Fjords. Thoroughly enjoyed our trip and we thought the ship was nice. Nice but no wow factor when walking round. As others have said. No complaints though, we had a great time but we do prefer RCI. Not much in it and we'd be happy to cruise with P&O again but on Britannia. Our previous cruise was on Anthem of the Seas and although we told ourselves not to we couldn't help comparing Azura and Anthem which wasn't really fair given the disparity in size and age. We're happy though because we'll likely cruise based on itinerary in the future and P&O will give us additional possibilities.

I managed fine without internet for 14 days. Fantastic peace and tranquility not having to constantly check emails, texts, etc. A holiday for me is a complete break from what I do when I'm working and this includes the internet.

Just done a 14 night Med cruise.

From memory, there were 3 x 80's nights with a tribute band. 3 x Quo nights with a tribute band. Anthem rocks - a party hosted by the Cruise Director. Think there was also a 70's party too. Always seemed to be something going on and the Music Hall on these ships is really quite avenue for party nights. There was a resident rock band that played most nights in the Music Hall too. Another band played in Boleros most nights.

The 80's nights and Quo nights were done such that the first two nights were in the Music Hall and the 3rd night in 270. 270 at night-time with the window blinds down with videos & still projected onto the blinds and a full house was really something else.

Our problem was trying to squeeze everything in.

Just finished 14 nights on Anthem. Enjoyed every minute and would not hesitate to go on a Quantum class ship again. So much to do, so many new things to try onboard and, despite being a tad traditional ourselves, we really enjoyed trying different restaurants each night.

Devinly Decadence restaurant is a real hidden gem. I'd have happily eaten there every night.

Never having done anything like it before, the iFly was just awesome.

Just come off Anthem after a 14 night cruise and yes there was a separate lounge area for Diamond and above which I believe had breakfast and other snacks available through the day. Didn't use it ourselves - we are a few points away from Diamond.

Sailing this Saturday an Anthem. In 48 hours we'll be boarding. We just can't wait!!!

You won't find us complaining. We'll be enjoying every minute, we'll be tolerant of things that maybe don't go so well and we'll be determined to have a great time!

Great review, thank you! We sail on her in less than 2 weeks. Can't wait. Yes it will be different and unlike any RCI ship we've been on before. Dining will be different too. We'll go in with an open mind expecting it to be different but determined to enjoy it. We'll have a ball and I'm sure many others will too. Great review though, really enjoyed it.

What an absolutely awesome display of engineering ingenuity and execution. Been following it closely but not posting very much. Absolutely incredible to get her to Genoa without major mishap.

Big thank you to everyone for keeping this thread going. I've been a regular reader of all posts. Looking forward to the refloat and tow to Genoa and hope it goes well. As a practising professional project manager and having spent 10 years at sea in the Royal Navy, I can guess at the amount of planning, risk assessments, mitigation and contingency plans that have been put in place every step of the way. Hugely impressive so far.

Dearly hope that Greenpeace don't try to disrupt the operation in any way. There will be enough to think about during the operation without worrying about where Greenpeace are or what they are doing. Hope the authorities take a really firm line if/when necessary. This is a dangerous and difficult operation and Greenpeace should recognise that to interfere would only add risk and danger to an already risky and dangerous operation.

Love the legal arguments too. Very well put, as always (John).

Still hope that Captain Fantastic is convicted and locked away. Seems to be taking an age but I hope they get to a conclusion that recognises that someone has to be responsible for a completely unavoidable and unnecessary maritime disaster.

Here's to a successful operational outcome for the salvage of CC and trial of the man who fell into a boat.

Captain Schittino has been offered a Ship's Master position by a Maritime Salvage & Demolition Company.

 

http://www.youtube.com/embed/QYltdonj2iE?wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=1

He'd be pretty good at this, no question. Get a few ladies on the bridge too and he'd be in his element!!!

Uni ... Yes I would sail with Costa again and have been looking at the New Diadema(Diamond) itinerarys, no idea about the two people i mentioned though.

 

After all you do not cut down the whole Orchard because of one bad Apple!

Depends whether you think the whole orchard is bad or not. I do but I guess that you don't.