Azura - Med Cruise - the highs and lows

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Just to add, that the Sky minisuite cost, including Princess Plus,  is about £800 more than our Azura cruise (including flights, to be fair). 

So, the dilemma is this:  20 days on a ship showing wear and tear, plus having to pay for drinks, or 14 days in a minisuite on a ship we like,  with drinks included. Both cruises are offering similar obc.

Given the various reviews abiut Azura, I'm tending towards sacrificing our £200 Azura deposit and switching to Princess.

Mrs W was less than impressed by the state of Arcadia in March this year - by the sound if it,  she will be less than impressed by Azura as well.

All views welcome! 

Wowzz, I wonder if P&O still allow you to switch bookings between Carnival brands, might be worthwhile asking your TA?

[wowzz]

Thanks for all your comments. 

We will be transferring our modest Azura deposit to some other P&O cruise, and booking Sky Princess  for the April 1st cruise.

Mrs W thought Arcadia was pretty awful on our March cruise. I dread to think what she would make of Azura,  especially with 20 days on board. 

 

[Ardennais]

22 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thanks for all your comments. 

We will be transferring our modest Azura deposit to some other P&O cruise, and booking Sky Princess  for the April 1st cruise.

Mrs W thought Arcadia was pretty awful on our March cruise. I dread to think what she would make of Azura,  especially with 20 days on board. 

 

Sounds like a very wise move to me. 

[gsmt47471015]

Princess seem to be getting a lot of plaudits, its a line we've not yet tried, are they as good as people are saying, and how does the pricing structure compare to P and O ?

[Megabear2]

7 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Princess seem to be getting a lot of plaudits, its a line we've not yet tried, are they as good as people are saying, and how does the pricing structure compare to P and O ?

My experience with the cruise I've just taken was very good.  However their handling of the emergency situation was dire to say the least.  I will never sail with them again I'm afraid.

 

 

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

My experience with the cruise I've just taken was very good.  However their handling of the emergency situation was dire to say the least.  I will never sail with them again I'm afraid.

 

 

I am, as most people know, a fan of Princess, but your experience was torally unacceptable,  and I full understand your position.

[Megabear2]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I am, as most people know, a fan of Princess, but your experience was torally unacceptable,  and I full understand your position.

I have given an update on my position in the P&O closed on Sunday link if anyone is interested. Just to say P&O have been brilliant on something which is not actually their problem.

[wowzz]

7 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

and how does the pricing structure compare to P and O ?

Trying to compare fares is always difficult,  given fluid pricing, but I would say that  Princess and P&O are quite similar,  although promotions can again make comparisons difficult.

To give you an actual example,  I am in the throes of booking a 14 night Med cruise from Southampton on Sky Princess. A deluxe balcony cabin, complete with the Princess Plus package (so 15 alcoholic drinks per day, and unlimited other drinks, wifi and gratuities) is coming out at £4478 with £200 obc. 

A similar cruise on Britannia, a couple of weeks later,  but only 12 nights is £4310, with a £820 obc.

So really not much in it.

Princess ships , imho, have a bit more panache than P&O,  the food is perhaps more geared  to the US market,  but the entertainment on P&O is superior. Others may have differing opinions.

 

[Fionboard]

Only cruises I was glad to get off (out of 65) were Royal Princess and Iona. Just not my style. Good thing we all have different tastes and reasons for cruising!

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Only cruises I was glad to get off (out of 65) were Royal Princess and Iona. Just not my style. Good thing we all have different tastes and reasons for cruising!

I was quite content to get off Azura after 14 nights and positively happy to leave Marella Discovery after 7 nights....

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I was quite content to get off Azura after 14 nights and positively happy to leave Marella Discovery after 7 nights....

We were pleased to get off Arcadia in March !

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

I was quite content to get off Azura after 14 nights and positively happy to leave Marella Discovery after 7 nights....

I can honestly say I have never been happy to leave a cruise, not even our first cramped inside cabin on Carnivals Carnivale.

[Britboys]

39 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I can honestly say I have never been happy to leave a cruise, not even our first cramped inside cabin on Carnivals Carnivale.

On Victoria once we had a small inside cabin with upper & lower berths but still had a fantastic cruise.

[gsmt47471015]

Thanks Wowzz for the comparisons, its always useful to have some factual information to consider, the only surprising thing was that in your opinion the entertainment on P and O was better, as Princess do emphasis in their publicity blurb how good theirs is .Also a bit alarming that you were glad to get off Arcadia in March as we are on her for a month in September!

And Britboys I presume that Marella did not exactly float your boat on Discovery ?

I'm sure others will have differing views with all cruise lines but agree the treatment of megabear was very shoddy in difficult times  

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Thanks Wowzz for the comparisons, its always useful to have some factual information to consider, the only surprising thing was that in your opinion the entertainment on P and O was better, as Princess do emphasis in their publicity blurb how good theirs is .Also a bit alarming that you were glad to get off Arcadia in March as we are on her for a month in September!

IMHO P&O  do better "big production" shows than Princess. 

With regards to Arcadia, we were on the ill fated March cruise. Hopefully by September a lot of the issues will have been sorted out, and the staff levels will have improved.

[zap99]

12 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I can honestly say I have never been happy to leave a cruise, not even our first cramped inside cabin on Carnivals Carnivale.

We have taken about 30 cruises. The one we didn't enjoy was..........🤔............nope, can't think of one.

[Red Ray]

14 hours ago, Britboys said:

I was quite content to get off Azura after 14 nights and positively happy to leave Marella Discovery after 7 nights....

I would have been more than happy to have left Marella Explorer 2 after 1 night...

[Britboys]

4 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

Thanks Wowzz for the comparisons, its always useful to have some factual information to consider, the only surprising thing was that in your opinion the entertainment on P and O was better, as Princess do emphasis in their publicity blurb how good theirs is .Also a bit alarming that you were glad to get off Arcadia in March as we are on her for a month in September!

And Britboys I presume that Marella did not exactly float your boat on Discovery ?

I'm sure others will have differing views with all cruise lines but agree the treatment of megabear was very shoddy in difficult times  

The ship was a great size for me but several venues were in need of refurbishment and those that had been upgraded were not particularly comfortable and looked like it had been done on the cheap. Also, food and service were the worst I'd experienced in over 25 cruises - and I had previously been on other budget cruise lines.

[slug33ukuk]

On 7/11/2022 at 9:17 AM, gsmt47471015 said:

Princess seem to be getting a lot of plaudits, its a line we've not yet tried, are they as good as people are saying, and how does the pricing structure compare to P and O ?

We just finished a cruise with Princess..(which we use regulary along with PO) you will find they have same problems...lack of staff (over 300 short) ships starting to show their age etc  bar prices up, excursions ..up etc  we were on EMERALD P

[anniedave]

On 6/28/2022 at 11:20 PM, wowzz said:

Does seem strange - on our BA flight to BCN, there was an announcement that masks should be worn,  and everyone totally ignored it. I guess the cc decided that  the odds were against them ! 

We had a BA flight to Barcelona on 3rd July- BA had subcontracted the flight to iberian airlines- as Iberian is Spanish - Spanish rules are still wearing masks on public transport including flights. We had friends who flew same route but on a  standard BA flight & they didn't need masks ! Depends on airline rules 🤷‍♀️

[Britboys]

44 minutes ago, anniedave said:

We had a BA flight to Barcelona on 3rd July- BA had subcontracted the flight to iberian airlines- as Iberian is Spanish - Spanish rules are still wearing masks on public transport including flights. We had friends who flew same route but on a  standard BA flight & they didn't need masks ! Depends on airline rules 🤷‍♀️

I flew BA, Malaga - London on 1st July and we were all asked to wear masks, which were handed out by crew as we boarded.

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, anniedave said:

We had a BA flight to Barcelona on 3rd July- BA had subcontracted the flight to iberian airlines- as Iberian is Spanish - Spanish rules are still wearing masks on public transport including flights. We had friends who flew same route but on a  standard BA flight & they didn't need masks ! Depends on airline rules 🤷‍♀️

BA and Iberia are part of the same company IAG, so not sub contracting, but sharing resources. 
 

https://www.iairgroup.com