elmsliebev

ICF - when we flew PE with Tui to a Marella cruise from Dominican Republic we had 1st boarding and getting off - meant we were about 3rd or 4th people on the ship from our flight (luggage was bonded for all and went straight to the ship) 2-3-2 seats so we had a 2 to ourselves lots of legroom glass of fizz, juice or water before takeoff lots of drinks as required inc Baileys after dinner excellent food & service ice cream with a film amenity kit (eye mask, lip balm etc) noice cancelling headphones possibly more, can't remember. I know it cost us £600 extra return for 2 (this was just before covid) & for us, worth every penny. Some of those things may have also been available in economy eg ice cream. but for us the extra space & 2 seats to ourselves was a game-changer. We flew PE with BA last year to Vancouver & back from Miami after a QE cruise and if anything Tui were better. BA still good though, again 2 seats and lots of legroom. Whilst I could manage an 8 hour flight in economy, if I can afford PE at the time, I will do that, so much more comfortable.

My husband left his new wedding ring on the bedside table in our New York hotel room prior to our honeymoon TA on QM2 in 2009 - he'd taken it off to shower, I have no idea why! Realised when we embarked but there was no time to go back to Manhatten for it. The hotel tracked it down and it returned on the next EB crossing on QM2. Cunard then couriered it to us in Blackpol. No charge for any of it. How times change.

Really enjoyed your blog. We had ginger on QE last year and after the first time we asked for it, a huge bowlful was presented every evening. Love the stuff. I laughed at your "I'm a Northerner and not made of sugar" comment - this Northerner uses that phrase regularly! Mainly to my even more Northern husband (a Geordie) who has become de-acclimatised 😀

thanks.

does this apply to all drinks or only alcoholic drinks?

same for us, Sicily, Sardinia and the 1st week apart from Dubrovnik are all new to us. I'll sort out check in over the weekend.

Cosol tours in St Lucia were brilliant a few years ago. Full day tour, with food and drinks. We saw the mud pools (take old clothes - it stains!), waterfall, banana plantation, the Pitons, a boat ride and snorkelling. Small air-conditioned mini buses were used.

on QE last year you could also get decaf in the Commodore Club. I'd have thought QV would be the same.

sadly in the UK we generally don't get free gratuities. Still looking forward to next October though. Only a year+ to wait!

Can you take screenshots of the information on the app and either show it on your phone, or print it off? Enjoy Azura, we go in October.

we're on a 22 night cruise this October & there are 5 formal nights: 2 on the first week, then 3 on the actual repositioning bit of 15 nights. My OH is taking a suit rather than black tie this time. And polo shirts/short sleeve shirts for the other nights.

I haven't done an excursion with Cunard, but it's a fairly easy place to get around by tube/subway, assuming you're reasonably mobile. You can get the ferry across from Brooklyn to Manhatten to Pier 11 for Wall Street (Google Red hook - Manhatten ferry). That whole area is interesting, Battery Park, the 911 memorial (very moving), etc. Or you could get the subway up to mid town. It all depends what you want to see. Of course, if you want an overall view, then a tour may be best. It's a magnficant city.

but it hasn't got "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." from Now, Voyager (Bette Davis & Paul Heindred), partly set on a cruise ship. I think that film sparked my fascination with cruising. Ooops, of course it's there! Phew.

This is the little train. There is a step up to it. I'm guessing the coach is the standard one with 2 or 3 steps up to it. It does say the activity level is Moderate on the excursion page.

Nationwide also include car breakdown and mobile phone insurance. We got covid on a cruise last year and as we'd taken out the additional cruise specific cover (£40 for both of us for a year), they paid out £1800 very quickly, with no issues.

we decided to add the extra cruise specific insurance last year when we cruised with Cunard. It was £40 for a year for both of us. We ended up with Covid and had to isolate so we got £1800 back for "confined to cabin" which we spent on another cruise! It's personal choice of course, but we've done it again for this year 😀

Brooklyn has a brilliant botanical gardens, and the views across to Manhatten really are amazing. So it might be worth having a look across, then maybe subway. The subway is very straightforward. We went from near the World Trade centre site all the way up to the Yankees Stadium and back and felt very safe.

we go on Azura in October. At the moment our cruise personaliser says "coming soon" for booking Epicurian, Beach House & Sindhu in advance. I've read elsewhere that it will open up 2 weeks before we go. I don't think the app is currently used on Azura for booking restaurants, just the pager if needed. And, no you can't swap around between Freedom and fixed. You could eat in the buffet of course. We're on Freedom for the first time, so we'll see how that goes!

Rotterdam itself is an interesting city. When we were there in March we docked near the old Holland America Line building and used the water taxi to get across to the main part of the city. Great fun! There's an excellent food hall and the cube houses are nearby.

we're on Azura for 3 weeks soon and all that is showing is a 28 day pass to be booked onboard! No use to us whatsoever. I quite fancy booking it for the final week or our cruise as we have 4 sea days in that week. I'll "enquire on board" and hopefully be able to use up some OBC.

accidentally? Did he think it was a particularly free range mayo??

a fish finger butty for us!

hi all, In October we will be on our first P&O cruise for several years (Oriana & Oceana previously) though we were on Cunard's QE last year and MSC's Virtuosa in March. We are on for 22 nights (Malta-Croatia-Malta-Tenerife). A couple of questions: Does Azura have a jogging/walking track? Is there a proper Promenade deck? I understand there is an outdoor cinema screen - are films shown every evening (weather premitting)? What sort of guest speakers are there? We were very spoiled with Cunard speakers and just wondering if Azura will have some. Very much looking forward to it especially as quite a few of the ports are new to us - Sicily x2, Sardinia, Trieste, Zadar, Split many thanks

thanks for your reports @DamianG, really enjoyed reading them and especially the food photos!