Azura - Specially restaurants - Good luck getting a booking

[enjoysailing]

2 hours ago, daiB said:

Read the first post carefully. There is a reason.

 

I am not sure what I misread in the first post. I was commenting on the second paragraph "All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff ". I took that to mean a shortage of crew. Did I get that wrong?

[daiB]

Just now, enjoysailing said:

 

I am not sure what I misread in the first post. I was commenting on the second paragraph "All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff ". I took that to mean a shortage of crew. Did I get that wrong?

The reason for the shortage is also given. These shortages are not apparent in other ships

[yorkshirephil]

9 hours ago, daiB said:

The reason for the shortage is also given. These shortages are not apparent in other ships

The reason is not given, someones opinion is given which may or may not be correct, unless someone has comparisons of staff to passenger ratio's then it is hearsay, P&O have cruised in the med for many years and should also know what the visa rules and regulations are, therefore making sure that their ships are fully staffed, using visa rules as an excuse is hardly acceptable, if that is actually true of course.

[Cathygh]

Glasshouse on Britannia is part of the virtual queuing system. The queue closed at about 6.30 everynight and did not reopen before 7.30 which is when we like to eat. I don't know if it opened later. Someone told us they tried to walk in and were told there was a 45 minute wait. We asked if we could go in for a drink- yes they said. We hadn't realised you coud just pop in for a drink, and I don't think many other did either as it was relatively quiet(compared to 2018 when it was rammed every night with drinkers far outnumbering the diners). Then once we were seated we were asked if we were dining. We declined, but I do wonder if they did not knw we hadn't been in the dining queue, and if we had ordered would they have twigged? 

[9265359]

13 hours ago, daiB said:

You have not read the first post either. We have been on Ventura/Aurora and Iona with no problems so there must be a problem with having the ships in Malta although I have not heard about it before.

As I said at the start - there is apparently an issue with visas for crew for the Malta and Greece season, as they are now more restrictive since the UK did what the UK did - hence the issue being specific to Azura. 

[9265359]

On 12/9/2023 at 9:20 PM, terrierjohn said:

Have you asked at reception what the numbers of staff on board are, and checked this against the advised staff numbers? Or is this just your opinion?

After I expressed surprise to reasonably senior hotel management - hotel management not restaurant management - about the lack number of people eating in the venues and that they were fully booked, that was the explanation offered. 
 

I could tell you their rank, but I won’t, but it wasn’t anyone on reception or running the restaurants. 

[enjoysailing]

10 hours ago, daiB said:

The reason for the shortage is also given. These shortages are not apparent in other ships

 

I have re-read the initial post and still stand by my post that you are commenting on. My comment was that P&O should not book more passengers that the crew can deal with. According to the P&O Brochure there are 1250 crew to 3100 guests. So if the crew are fewer they should adjust their expectations when taking bookings.

 

Surely it is better to give guests a good all round experience that will create good reviews and future bookings rather than taking on more than can be serviced well and they will have a less than good experience.  

[daiB]

2 minutes ago, enjoysailing said:

 

I have re-read the initial post and still stand by my post that you are commenting on. My comment was that P&O should not book more passengers that the crew can deal with. According to the P&O Brochure there are 1250 crew to 3100 guests. So if the crew are fewer they should adjust their expectations when taking bookings.

 

Surely it is better to give guests a good all round experience that will create good reviews and future bookings rather than taking on more than can be serviced well and they will have a less than good experience.  

However it is only the extra venues which seem to be affected. So the vast majority of customers are not affected. Foe example on Azura only 10% of passengers a use the Epicurean even working at full capacity. If it were affecting the MDR you may have a point.  

[zap99]

24 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

As I said at the start - there is apparently an issue with visas for crew for the Malta and Greece season, as they are now more restrictive since the UK did what the UK did - hence the issue being specific to Azura. 

Don't RC, NCL, Celebrity ,Aida et al sail in the Med. Why just P&O ?.

[9265359]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Don't RC, NCL, Celebrity ,Aida et al sail in the Med. Why just P&O ?.

Do they have a ship doing the same ‘loop the loop’ from Malta for months on end?

[zap99]

7 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Do they have a ship doing the same ‘loop the loop’ from Malta for months on end?

You said Malta and Greece.  NCL and RC have ships starting cruises from Athens. We had a week on Azura in April from Malta and didn't have any problems getting into speciality restaurants.

[9265359]

9 minutes ago, zap99 said:

You said Malta and Greece.  NCL and RC have ships starting cruises from Athens. We had a week on Azura in April from Malta and didn't have any problems getting into speciality restaurants.

Malta and Greece was what I was told. 
 

And so do NCL or RC have a ship doing ‘loop the loops’ for months on end from Greece?

[zap99]

7 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Malta and Greece was what I was told. 
 

And so do NCL or RC have a ship doing ‘loop the loops’ for months on end from Greece?

They each have 10 round trip cruises starting and ending in Athens for summer 2024.

[9265359]

15 minutes ago, zap99 said:

They each have 10 round trip cruises starting and ending in Athens for summer 2024.

Then perhaps they have been better at sorting out visas for their crew. 
 

The issue isn’t that it is impossible, just more restrictive. 

[Wonky]

1 hour ago, daiB said:

However it is only the extra venues which seem to be affected. So the vast majority of customers are not affected. Foe example on Azura only 10% of passengers a use the Epicurean even working at full capacity. If it were affecting the MDR you may have a point.  

Disagree with you here, if there are restrictions on all the “extra” venues then this of course puts more pressure on the included venues. The buffet is absolutely rammed.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, 9265359 said:

After I expressed surprise to reasonably senior hotel management - hotel management not restaurant management - about the lack number of people eating in the venues and that they were fully booked, that was the explanation offered. 
 

I could tell you their rank, but I won’t, but it wasn’t anyone on reception or running the restaurants. 

If that is the case, then what excuse did the senior member of hotel management give for P&O not switching acceptable staff onto Azura in exchange for those not meeting this "visa" requirement?

[9265359]

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If that is the case, then what excuse did the senior member of hotel management give for P&O not switching acceptable staff onto Azura in exchange for those not meeting this "visa" requirement?

They said they are trying, but they can only switch those crew members with the visas and that they had the length of contract left that made it worthwhile. 
 

However since you put the word visa in inverted commas then you have clearly already made up your mind about this. 

[terrierjohn]

36 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

They said they are trying, but they can only switch those crew members with the visas and that they had the length of contract left that made it worthwhile. 
 

However since you put the word visa in inverted commas then you have clearly already made up your mind about this. 

I was using it to highlight the issue you raised, anything wrong with that?

[9265359]

Just now, terrierjohn said:

I was using it to highlight the issue you raised, anything wrong with that?

That isn’t the usual meaning. 
 

Anyway take your pick - 

 

- P&O have messed up the crewing of Azura and not the other ships; or

 

- There is an issue caused by the schedule of cruises that Azura is running that doesn’t impact the other ships which are not doing those month on end loops from Malta. 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, 9265359 said:

Anyway take your pick - 

 

- P&O have messed up the crewing of Azura and not the other ships; or

 

- There is an issue caused by the schedule of cruises that Azura is running that doesn’t impact the other ships which are not doing those month on end loops from Malta

I know absolutely nothing about this issue, so this is pure guesswork, but am I right in thinking that Azura is unique in having been based in Malta for a very prolonged period of time? If so, it is likely that 100% of the crew currently on board will have had to commence their current contracts in Malta. 
 

Conversely, other ships, including those from other cruise lines operating in the same area, may only be based down there for a few months at a time, in which case the majority of their crew are likely to have commenced their contracts elsewhere prior to the deployment in the eastern med, so will be far less impacted by any ‘local’ issues there.

 

As I say, complete guesswork as this is the first I’ve heard of this issue. 

[9265359]

10 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I know absolutely nothing about this issue, so this is pure guesswork, but am I right in thinking that Azura is unique in having been based in Malta for a very prolonged period of time? If so, it is likely that 100% of the crew currently on board will have had to commence their current contracts in Malta. 
 

Conversely, other ships, including those from other cruise lines operating in the same area, may only be based down there for a few months at a time, in which case the majority of their crew are likely to have commenced their contracts elsewhere prior to the deployment in the eastern med, so will be far less impacted by any ‘local’ issues there.

 

As I say, complete guesswork as this is the first I’ve heard of this issue. 

Yes.
 

The explanation given to me was that due to the ship effectively being based there for a long period then it fell under the visa rules controlled by Malta / Greece and those required longer contacts for the crew from some countries to be eligible for visas (11 months was mentioned) - and the issue was that crew preferred to be on shorter contracts which were available on other ships and other lines. 
 

Hence it being an Azura specific issue. 

[carlanthony24]

This appeared on another site. Non refundable deposit.

[9265359]

26 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

This appeared on another site. Non refundable deposit.

Yes, there is a charge made if you don’t cancel any of the pay restaurants other than the Glass House with more than 24 hours notice, but that has been the case for aged. 

[carlanthony24]

Never even knew. Don’t remember seeing it on the app

Edited December 11, 2023 by carlanthony24

[9265359]

3 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Never even knew. Don’t remember seeing it on the app

It was always in the small print on the advertising poster at the venue, but it has probably been added to the app to counter the ‘book and don’t turn up’ brigade who then moaned about the charge - which given the origin of your screenshot is pretty likely.