Azura Christmas cruise

[billuk]

We were on a 2 week cruise on the Azura over Christmas it was our 1st P&O cruse and last cruise with them,  we enjoyed the cruise however P&O seem to treat customers as a problem and nothing is geared to make the cruise run smoothly, plus points some of the staff were fantastic minus points some of the staff were miserable and everything seemed to be  a bind to them, including our cabin steward without doubt he has chosen the wrong career, our room had tablets under the bed when we went to store our cases, the room was not kept up to the standard you expect off a premium cruise line, the balcony was never cleaned the whole cruise. Minus point trying to get a steak cooked to your liking, at the “Gala Christmas dinner “I asked the waiter for a very-very well done steak and I got what I would class as a raw steak served (my wife says it’s not raw but it’s not cooked as requested) I then sent it back and a asked for it to be cooked as requested when it came back it was still not cooked properly, I informed the waiter that is was not his fault, as he had requested how i asked for my steak to be cooked it’s the cooks problem, by this time the head water came over he said that he would sort out my order by this time my wife was halfway through her Gala dinner after about 20 minutes my steak arrived my wife had finished her dinner, however the steak was still not cooked to my liking so I ate my 3 roast potatoes and left the restaurant,  so much for the gala dinner.

 

The next night the head water ran over to our table and asked if he could give us a bottle of free wine after my problems at the Gala Christmas Dinner (as if this would fix everything) I declined his offer as I would have much rather enjoyed my "Gala Christmas Dinner" with my wife,  Plus points quiz night in the bar, live Entertainment, live football coverage this was was first class. The casino was good I think this is because I won a couple of hundred pounds over the cruise.

 

We have cruised with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Marella and Norwegian in the past and will in the future, will we cruise with P&O again think not, in my opinion they just don’t look after their customers properly,  as I said you get the feeling you are in the way of their cruise.

 

If you are thinking of booking the Azura i would recommend to wait until after the planed refurbishment as the ship looks very tired now and there was a lot of toilet smells around the ship 

in the public areas

[Harry Peterson]

16 minutes ago, billuk said:

We were on a 2 week cruise on the Azura over Christmas it was our 1st P&O cruse and last cruise with them,  we enjoyed the cruise however P&O seem to treat customers as a problem and nothing is geared to make the cruise run smoothly, plus points some of the staff were fantastic minus points some of the staff were miserable and everything seemed to be  a bind to them, including our cabin steward without doubt he has chosen the wrong career, our room had tablets under the bed when we went to store our cases, the room was not kept up to the standard you expect off a premium cruise line, the balcony was never cleaned the whole cruise. Minus point trying to get a steak cooked to your liking, at the “Gala Christmas dinner “I asked the waiter for a very-very well done steak and I got what I would class as a raw steak served (my wife says it’s not raw but it’s not cooked as requested) I then sent it back and a asked for it to be cooked as requested when it came back it was still not cooked properly, I informed the waiter that is was not his fault, as he had requested how i asked for my steak to be cooked it’s the cooks problem, by this time the head water came over he said that he would sort out my order by this time my wife was halfway through her Gala dinner after about 20 minutes my steak arrived my wife had finished her dinner, however the steak was still not cooked to my liking so I ate my 3 roast potatoes and left the restaurant,  so much for the gala dinner.

 

The next night the head water ran over to our table and asked if he could give us a bottle of free wine after my problems at the Gala Christmas Dinner (as if this would fix everything) I declined his offer as I would have much rather enjoyed my "Gala Christmas Dinner" with my wife,  Plus points quiz night in the bar, live Entertainment, live football coverage this was was first class. The casino was good I think this is because I won a couple of hundred pounds over the cruise.

 

We have cruised with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Marella and Norwegian in the past and will in the future, will we cruise with P&O again think not, in my opinion they just don’t look after their customers properly,  as I said you get the feeling you are in the way of their cruise.

 

If you are thinking of booking the Azura i would recommend to wait until after the planed refurbishment as the ship looks very tired now and there was a lot of toilet smells around the ship 

in the public areas

Not sure about the other points (we had no problems with the food or the room steward) but I can certainly confirm the tired state of the ship - and that smell, which has been going on for several months at the very least.  Quite what it is nobody seems to want to admit to, but it hardly fits in with claims of luxury cruising!

[mrbluesea]

I do not think p&o consider or market themself a a premium cruise line.

[Harry Peterson]

24 minutes ago, mrbluesea said:

I do not think p&o consider or market themself a a premium cruise line.

Indeed they don't - for good reasons.  But the word 'luxury' is pretty liberally scattered about the marketing, and that doesn't sit well with the smell of sewage or tired accommodation.

[AndyMichelle]

So sorry you had such bad experiences, let's hope they sort out the issues in the refit. 

We were on Ventura for New Year and, although not perfect, (P&O never is), our experiences were a contrast to yours. 

The ship is in good condition, our cabin was spotless and our steward a delight. 

The food was good if not spectacular and the service was a bit hit and miss, (too many passengers for not enough staff) but we still had a great time. 

Andy 

 

[terrierjohn]

Billuk, your comment about P&O staff considering passengers a problem  mirrors my own view of many of the customer service staff. Which is in stark contrast to RCI and Celebrity who always go out of their way to ensure problems are resolved rapidly and to the full satisfaction of the passenger.

Fortunately for us we only infrequently experience the problems you encountered, and normally only one at a time. Most certainl if RCI prices at launch, which we have to book because we need an accessible cabin, were competitive with P&O, we would definitely sail with them more regularly.

[daiB]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

So sorry you had such bad experiences, let's hope they sort out the issues in the refit. 

We were on Ventura for New Year and, although not perfect, (P&O never is), our experiences were a contrast to yours. 

The ship is in good condition, our cabin was spotless and our steward a delight. 

The food was good if not spectacular and the service was a bit hit and miss, (too many passengers for not enough staff) but we still had a great time. 

Andy 

 

Service is now excellent in all bars. Even when i do not sit up at the bar the staff are with you very quickly. Main difference of course is the lenth of cruise.

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, daiB said:

Service is now excellent in all bars. Even when i do not sit up at the bar the staff are with you very quickly. Main difference of course is the lenth of cruise.

Valid point Dai. 

As we got off, a lot of new crew arrived, so wonder if that had anything to do with it. 

45 minute wait for a drink in all the bars was about the average, never had that before, but it was the shortest cruise we have done. 

Andy 

[beachmad123]

2 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Valid point Dai. 

As we got off, a lot of new crew arrived, so wonder if that had anything to do with it. 

45 minute wait for a drink in all the bars was about the average, never had that before, but it was the shortest cruise we have done. 

Andy 

 

45 minute wait for a drink think of the money you saved.

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, beachmad123 said:

 

45 minute wait for a drink think of the money you saved.

Nah, we just started doubling up... 

Andy 

[pete14]

4 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Nah, we just started doubling up... 

Andy 

Not trebling or quadrupling just in case?

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, daiB said:

Service is now excellent in all bars. Even when i do not sit up at the bar the staff are with you very quickly. Main difference of course is the lenth of cruise.

I thought you were on Ventura Dai?  The OP was complaining about Azura.

[janny444]

Hi....I have to agree with an earlier comment that RCI/Celebrity have a much more " can do " approach to customer service and 99% of the time that comes across ...it never feels that we are being any trouble.

Unfortunately on P&O that attitude doesn't come anywhere near 99%....yes there are many of them who have the correct customer service approach but there are far too many who seem to have left their smiles in a box in their cabin.

P&O are not a luxury or premium cruise line but acceptable for the price paid although if the smell of sewerage was pervading the ship even the low price paid would be too much.

I think the OP is right in not sailing with P&O again....better to pay more and receive the standard that " ticks your boxes"

[P&O SUE]

12 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Valid point Dai. 

As we got off, a lot of new crew arrived, so wonder if that had anything to do with it. 

45 minute wait for a drink in all the bars was about the average, never had that before, but it was the shortest cruise we have done. 

Andy 

I have done two 4 night cruises and a 5 night one and I don’t remember any problems with waiting for a drink. I hope this is not a new thing with the new iPads/ drink packages as my next cruise is a two night one!!

[Harry Peterson]

19 minutes ago, janny444 said:

Hi....I have to agree with an earlier comment that RCI/Celebrity have a much more " can do " approach to customer service and 99% of the time that comes across ...it never feels that we are being any trouble.

Unfortunately on P&O that attitude doesn't come anywhere near 99%....yes there are many of them who have the correct customer service approach but there are far too many who seem to have left their smiles in a box in their cabin.

P&O are not a luxury or premium cruise line but acceptable for the price paid although if the smell of sewerage was pervading the ship even the low price paid would be too much.

I think the OP is right in not sailing with P&O again....better to pay more and receive the standard that " ticks your boxes"

What really annoyed me was not so much the sewage smell (which I didn't complain about, thinking it was just a temporary issue) but the downright refusal of the 'customer service' staff to allow me to speak to the Customer Service Manager - on the grounds that it 'wasn't the protocol'.

 

The reason for wanting to talk to him was that various issues about the state of the suite (no hot water, bathroom lights flickering badly and unrepairable, shower not draining, general state of repair) were simply not being addressed, and neither was the fact that the TVs across the ship were all out of action for several days.

 

It took an email to the Carnival CEO to get things resolved, and the CSM who'd instructed staff not to allow customers to contact him was suddenly very keen to talk and help.  It shouldn't be that way. 

[Elaine0138]

Not making any excuses, but all cruise lines have a black out period for crew travelling to and from the ships this is normally around 15 December until approx the end of the first week in January. Normally there are crew changes at the end of every cruise. This big change does change the dynamics of teams wherever they are working onboard. My son who works on cruise ships and has for the last 15 years always tells us to avoid Christmas and New YearCruises as they are not the best.

[AndyMichelle]

9 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought you were on Ventura Dai?  The OP was complaining about Azura.

Dai was replying to my comment about Ventura John. 

Sorry to cause confusion. 

Andy 

[beachmad123]

29 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I have done two 4 night cruises and a 5 night one and I don’t remember any problems with waiting for a drink. I hope this is not a new thing with the new iPads/ drink packages as my next cruise is a two night one!!

Best order now !

[Eglesbrech]

Sorry to hear that the OP had so many issues.
 

P&O are defiantly no longer “premium” and the marketing is almost misleading as it tries to show a level of luxury that is no longer there. The line provides a decent product for a reasonable price but  nothing more.

 

Add  to that the fact that everyone’s enjoyment of a cruise is influenced by their personal experiences on the ship and one person can have a great cruise and another a miserable one. In the OPs case a poor steward and some dining issues added to smells in the corridor etc soon adds up to a very poor impression.  How hard can it be to provide a steak cooked to order, that is really very basic cooking and a very reasonable customer expectation.

 

 

[AndyMichelle]

5 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

What really annoyed me was not so much the sewage smell (which I didn't complain about, thinking it was just a temporary issue) but the downright refusal of the 'customer service' staff to allow me to speak to the Customer Service Manager - on the grounds that it 'wasn't the protocol'.

 

The reason for wanting to talk to him was that various issues about the state of the suite (no hot water, bathroom lights flickering badly and unrepairable, shower not draining, general state of repair) were simply not being addressed, and neither was the fact that the TVs across the ship were all out of action for several days.

 

It took an email to the Carnival CEO to get things resolved, and the CSM who'd instructed staff not to allow customers to contact him was suddenly very keen to talk and help.  It shouldn't be that way. 

We can all only speak as we find and obviously for the amount that complain, P&O must have an issue with this. 

Our experience differs though. On Oceana when we had a noise problem, when we first complained we were undoubtedly fobbed off. We complained again later the same day as the issue was not resolved. Within an hour, we were visited by the CSM and moved that evening. 

Wine, chocolates and a letter of apology were in our cabin on returning from dinner. 

We couldn't have asked for any more and it was all done with a smile by the reception team. 

Perhaps we were just lucky. 

Andy 

 

[Eglesbrech]

5 minutes ago, Elaine0138 said:

Not making any excuses, but all cruise lines have a black out period for crew travelling to and from the ships this is normally around 15 December until approx the end of the first week in January. Normally there are crew changes at the end of every cruise. This big change does change the dynamics of teams wherever they are working onboard. My son who works on cruise ships and has for the last 15 years always tells us to avoid Christmas and New YearCruises as they are not the best.

I think we experienced what you are describing on Britannia when a lot of the staff turned over all at once and the service was just dreadful. Generally we are happy enough with the service we receive on P&O but on that occasion I complained bitterly as it was beyond  acceptable.

 

If the lines know that this is an issue then they should address it rather than let the experience of paying customers suffer. 

 

 

 

[Elaine0138]

4 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

What really annoyed me was not so much the sewage smell (which I didn't complain about, thinking it was just a temporary issue) but the downright refusal of the 'customer service' staff to allow me to speak to the Customer Service Manager - on the grounds that it 'wasn't the protocol'.

 

The reason for wanting to talk to him was that various issues about the state of the suite (no hot water, bathroom lights flickering badly and unrepairable, shower not draining, general state of repair) were simply not being addressed, and neither was the fact that the TVs across the ship were all out of action for several days.

 

It took an email to the Carnival CEO to get things resolved, and the CSM who'd instructed staff not to allow customers to contact him was suddenly very keen to talk and help.  It shouldn't be that way. 

Funnily enough we had a similar problem on NCL trying to speak to the Guest Services Manager, fobbed of by the front desk on for 2 days. In the end like you I went over their heads, the GSM was in our cabin within 10 minutes and he was appalled when he found out what the front desk were doing. He knew nothing of our problem, the smell of fried food in our cabin, turned out  there was a problem with the venting from one of the kitchens and it was blowing through our air conditioning unit. The GSM had us in a lovely fresh smelling within the hour and we had a daily supplies of treats.

[beachmad123]

With so many different personalities on the ship its difficult to get consistency. 

Our last cruise we had a excellent cabin steward who wanted to make sure we had everything we needed. When we went to the MDR our waiters were equally good always trying to please. So much so that it made me realize in comparison to the cruise before these waiters were streaks ahead.  Getting back on topic I did observe that the bar staff were slow joking and chatting among themselves while customers waited.  But generally all over the ship the staff are very polite and pleasant. 

Considering the amount of staff in any business I think there will always be some who do the minimum and those who go the extra mile 

[AndyMichelle]

15 minutes ago, Elaine0138 said:

Not making any excuses, but all cruise lines have a black out period for crew travelling to and from the ships this is normally around 15 December until approx the end of the first week in January. Normally there are crew changes at the end of every cruise. This big change does change the dynamics of teams wherever they are working onboard. My son who works on cruise ships and has for the last 15 years always tells us to avoid Christmas and New YearCruises as they are not the best.

That explains a lot, thanks Elaine. 

We had never seen so many tables left dirty and a complete change of attitude from a lot of the crew as they seemed under too much pressure. 

Definitely not what we are used to from P&O, but it was our first New Year cruise. 

We still had a great time though. 

Andy 

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, beachmad123 said:

With so many different personalities on the ship its difficult to get consistency. 

Our last cruise we had a excellent cabin steward who wanted to make sure we had everything we needed. When we went to the MDR our waiters were equally good always trying to please. So much so that it made me realize in comparison to the cruise before these waiters were streaks ahead.  Getting back on topic I did observe that the bar staff were slow joking and chatting among themselves while customers waited.  But generally all over the ship the staff are very polite and pleasant. 

Considering the amount of staff in any business I think there will always be some who do the minimum and those who go the extra mile 

Our experience wasn't that of the waiters chatting, they were absolutely rushed off their feet. One barman and 2 waiters in a packed Metropolis was nowhere near enough. 

In contrast, our cabin steward couldn't have done more. Wherever he was in the corridor, when he saw us coming, he would stop what he was doing and open our door for us. 

Andy