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Tuesday 13 April 2010

P&O Azura, a review

So as you will know by now P&O Azura was named over the weekend and headed off on her Maiden sailing to the Mediterranean.

I though I would look would look at the ship in line with some of the questions I get asked by many of my customers.

Q1: Can I have a cup of tea in my cabin?

This is a regular question, and with P&O there is the facility to have your morning cuppa. Incidently you can on Fred Olsen as well! However, out of the 2 kettles below, which is from the Azura and which is Ventura?



Answer at the end.

Q2: Is my balcony overlooked?

There is a choice of balcony cabins on both ships, a Balcony Stateroom and a Superior Deluxe Balcony Stateroom.

I have been in both now and the pictures are below, there is far much more room in the Superior Deluxe cabin and it also has the benefit of a Bath with shower.



But are the balconies overlooked?

As you can see from the picture below, if you are not aware and come out of your cabin in the wrong attire, the whole of the ship could have a surprise!



So which cabin category has the overlooked balcony?

Answers

Well surprisingly, the stainless steel kettle is from the Ventura. I expected that on the 'Azura' with its more sophisticed theme the fittings would have been better than the Ventura, but clearly not. For me, though the kettle is there to boil the water for the necessary cuppa when I wake up, so plastic or stainless does not really matter.

The Deluxe cabins are the ones which are overlooked, and the lady on a Caribbean cruise recently clearly did not realise that when she went out onto her balcony, or did she!!! (Sorry no photos)

The bigger cabin size of the Superior Deluxe cabin is great, but I do like a bit of privacy, so I would personally save the additional cost for spending on trips and go for the normal Balcony cabin.



Sunday 11 April 2010

P&O Azura

So, as you probably know Azura was officially named yesterday by Darcey Bussell in a stunning ceremony and will sail on its maiden voyage tomorrow from Southampton to the Mediterranean.

On Friday I had the opportunity to visit Azura in Southampton for an overnight stay, together with others from the office, about 700 other travel agents from around the UK. In addition some members of P&O Portunus Club had the opportunity to visit the ship for the day.

A I woke from my doze, sat on the coach coming into Southampton glinting in the sun was the ship, or was it Ventura...... no we were not in the Caribbean, it was too cold - it was Azura!

The actual ship is the same, but Azura has been themed differently, further information and photos will follow.