P&O Cruises, Azura, Mediterranean Review

Azura, Mediterranean

The ship was clean and well kept. There were sometimes problems with the lifts - often one or two would be out of order. This could make it take a while to queue at busy times.
The Lou gets on the pool decks were frequently all ‘reserved’ with towels by mid-morning and it was very difficult to find any. These were often left unoccupied for hours at a time, and the staff weren’t very proactive in removing the towels and ensuring guests could use the loungers.
The food on board was generally good, although portions sizes were random and often mean. One night I choose gnocchi as a main course and got a large dish with 7 pieces in - as a starter it would’ve been fine, but as a main it was ridiculous. Another night a friend had steak and chips… 5 chips!
The main problem with dinner was that the booking system is simply not workable, especially when the ships are busy. On the ‘gala evening’ it was chaos - people were waiting hours for tables, and families were stood in the queue with increasingly tired and upset young children. The staff then started to try to close the doors saying service stopped at 9pm… the long queue of waiting guests were understandably unimpressed - I’d been waiting since 7:30, and some had been queuing for over 2hrs. It needs sorting asap because freedom dining is a great idea, they just need to be able to make it work so that guests actually get fed at a reasonable time.

The spa was not very good value and I’d not bother again if I cruised p&o. I went for a shellac manicure on the first afternoon, and had to return twice to have it fixed as it kept lifting which was frustrating and time consuming. The hair services were also average at best - slow and short lived results. They used so much product that by the evening the cut and blow dry had become greasy and limp, and by the next morning I had to re wash it. I expect a good blow dry to last at least a couple of days. The actual spa and salon itself was also much less luxurious than the ones I’ve used on other ships. I’ve had much better at sea spa experiences on other lines and wouldn’t use this one again.

In terms of value for money, I can’t fault it. I paid a fraction of what some guests had by booking as a late deal. Had I paid full fare I’d be much less impressed, but for <£500 for a weeks winter sun fly cruise and no single supplement it was great.