Azura March 2023 Live Blog

[elmsliebev]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Glad to see you have had a great time. Certainly looks like there hasn't been a shortage of green beans...🤣

Green beans are the only veg I dislike (it's the squeaky texture!) I can see I'm going to have to be brave in October 😀

[zap99]

5 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

Azura set sail around 5:45pm heading north east for Cagliari at the average speed of 9 knots and seas remained calm throughout the night. 

 

Beach house food excellent again. Chicken wings and Nachos. Mains 10oz Lava Rock Steak and Chicken/steak Fajitas. 

 

Into the sea day, sea state became moderate has the low pressure front came in and the ships movement would be expected to increase which it did. The most movement since the cruise has started. Sick bags appeared on stairs. MDR was also pretty empty and some of the waiters stations were empty. Seasickness must be getting to quite a few people. 

 

Last formal night onboard.

 

Starters included tomato soup. Mains included Beef Wellington & Pork Loin.

 

They have ran out of a few drinks to name a few Peroni, Jolly Olly IPA, some wines.

 

Electric Avenue by the Headliners Theatre Company. Performed well even with the movement of the ship.

 

Cagliari Arrival 8am all onboard 5:30pm departure 6pm. Highs of 18 degrees not a cloud in the sky.

 

A free shuttle is provided by the port since walking in the port is not allowed. 

 

We are going to get off and explore.

 

Food looks good and I note prawn cocktail and salmon. Chef has obviously been reading this thread.😂

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, elmsliebev said:

Green beans are the only veg I dislike (it's the squeaky texture!) I can see I'm going to have to be brave in October 😀

Perhaps a meet is in order. Friends of Beef Wellington and green beans.🤣

[bee-ess]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:49 AM, carlanthony24 said:

Azura set sail at 6pm heading east for Palma De Mallorca at the average speed of 13 knots.

 

MDR tomato soup and feather blade of beef.

 

Arrival 8am all onboard 5:30pm departure 6pm. High of 23degrees.

 

Shuttle bus in operation adult single price £5 child £3 each way for saver fare guests. Shuttle drop off and pick up point is Cami de la Escollera opposite the cathedral. 

 

We decided to catch the shuttle bus and go for a wander and a drink before heading back to the ship.

 

We will be going to Manhattan to watch Rob West has Frankie Valli for the 2nd part of his show. If you have not seen his first show before then I recommend you do if he is on one of your cruises.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day before we arrive into Cagliari, Sardinia a new port us. 
 

They have ran out of a few drinks in the Glass House like Peroni, Aspalls, same in Brodies.

That seems a very small portion for a main course or had they just run out of saucers.

Edited March 28, 2023 by bee-ess

[carlanthony24]

After leaving Cagliari Azura sailed at an average speed of 10knots heading east.

 

Deck 14 and I think Deck 12 had an issue with no hot water broken pipe. Letter from Hotel General Manager informing us of the situation. Hot Water came back on early/late evening 

 

Flight information came after leaving Cagliari.

 

We also tried booking Azura for October 2024 around Croatia then onto Tenerife but all flights had been taken. Instead we booked to join Azura for its repositioning back to Tenerife and then do a week sailing around the Canary Islands. Islands include Malta, Palma De Mallorca, Gibraltar, Lanzarote, 2 days in Tenerife, Madeira sail late evening, Gran Canaria sail late evening, Lanzarote and then fly home from Tenerife. 

 

Starters included Chicken Satay Yakatori and mains included Beer Marinated Grilled Spring Chicken both tasty. 

 

Entertainment was Soul Sisters and Motown. If you have not seen I recommend that you do. 

 

Through the night and for our last sea day Azura sailed at an average speed of 9knots seas remained calm. Sicily appeared on the port side of the ship.

 

Captain announced he would be on the bridge from 4am ready for our arrival at 6am 

 

Last meal in the MDR Starters Tomato soup and mains prime roast beef.

 

The Headliners Theatre Company are performing Astonishing.

 

Our meeting time in the Meridian is 10:20am flight number TOM2443 (TUI) Boarding time for the flight is 11:35am departing 12:35pm due to arrive into Manchester 15:10pm. From experience we normally leave the ship around 2-3 hours before even for a chartered flight. We pre booked our seats before the cruise and our boarding passes confirm they are the correct seats

 

Another good thing is once we leave the cases out the night before we do not see them again till Manchester since they are all bonded and sealed onto a lorry in Malta and taken to the airport on our behalf. For those on a scheduled flight besides TUI and Jet2 they have to collect their luggage quayside then take it to a waiting coach where they will have to check in at the airport.

 

The feedback card we did asking for buffet theme nights, chocolates etc. We had a call to say that it is being passed shoreside. 
 

It’s been a great cruise time to look forward to October 2023

 

[carlanthony24]

Nothing to do with P&O but Malta Airport security was quick and painless but passport control was chaos with them sending everyone to gates at the same times and well Manchester passport control was easier this time and luggage already on the conveyor belt and managed to collect luggage with no problems. 
 
We did have a small problem exiting Multi Storey West car park they wanted an extra £50 since I overstayed even though I was told I wouldn’t have any problems since my two bookings would show up has linked. Women on the buzzer explained I had not booked even though I had the confirmation. She looked up my reg and did find both bookings so waived the cost. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by carlanthony24

[jaydee6969]

1 hour ago, carlanthony24 said:

Nothing to do with P&O but Malta Airport security was quick and painless but passport control was chaos with them sending everyone to gates at the same times and well Manchester passport control was easier this time and luggage already on the conveyor belt and managed to collect luggage with no problems. 
 
We did have a small problem exiting Multi Storey West car park they wanted an extra £50 since I overstayed even though I was told I wouldn’t have any problems since my two bookings would show up has linked. Women on the buzzer explained I had not booked even though I had the confirmation. She looked up my reg and did find both bookings so waived the cost. 

 

Just had a quick read of your thread.  We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise.  It was our first fly cruise, so we were a bit apprehensive, but all turned out well.

 

And I blame the French for everything!  Our plane out was late and then a knock on our flight, especially as no room for all the carry cases and divert around French air space.  All in about 75 minutes late landing, with the knock on of hitting rush hour.

 

We will look at doing that cruise again in the future, but I doubt we would get such great weather again.  We found it very relaxing, and was so nice to be away from the rain and cold for a while.

 

Plus we are back onboard Azur end of June, hopefully we can get a look at Valletta on embarkation day as we have an early flight.

 

Looks like we took a lot of the same photographs, I'll just add one from Valencia of the carrier that was berthed near us.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by jaydee6969

[jaydee6969]

On 3/23/2023 at 9:14 AM, carlanthony24 said:

Clocks advanced 1hr at 2am after leaving Madeira we are now 1hr ahead of the uk GMT+1

 

Sea state became moderate throughout the night and into the next day highs of 20 degrees with a breeze. 

 

Glass House for dinner with a colleague I use to work with. Popcorn chicken, chicken pate for starters. Mains included Haddock & chips, 8oz steak, pork & bubble squeak and pulled beef sliders. Plenty to eat compared to last time portions were bigger.

 

Entertainment for the evening was Headliners Theatre Company with Centre stage. 

 

Today we are in Cadiz arrival of 7am all on board for 7:30pm departing 8pm. No shuttle bus in operation since it’s only a short walk into the centre. We have been to Cadiz a lot but took a walk into town and went for a drink at one of bars. 
 

Weather in Cadiz sunny and no cloud 16 degrees highs of 20 feels way hotter than that.

 

An announcement was made yesterday evening by the Captain through the whole ship including cabins to announce that during our call they need to test the white life crafts a requirement by law. From 11:30am till roughly 1pm the ship will then leave the berth and turn to face the opposite direction during this time no one can leave or enter the ship. We have elected to stay on till we get back to port. 
 

Royal Caribbean ship and Costa ship in dry dock and not every day you see a submarine docked.

 

That Costa ship was in for conversion to Carnival branding.

 

  https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/03/costa-venezia-arrives-at-navantia-ahead-of-carnival-conversion/

 

[jaydee6969]

On 3/23/2023 at 9:22 AM, carlanthony24 said:

Symphony Of The Seas has also joined us unless she is waiting for dry dock. 

 

And Symphony was waiting for the dry dock to become available.

[carlanthony24]

4 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Just had a quick read of your thread.  We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise.  It was our first fly cruise, so we were a bit apprehensive, but all turned out well.

 

And I blame the French for everything!  Our plane out was late and then a knock on our flight, especially as no room for all the carry cases and divert around French air space.  All in about 75 minutes late landing, with the knock on of hitting rush hour.

 

We will look at doing that cruise again in the future, but I doubt we would get such great weather again.  We found it very relaxing, and was so nice to be away from the rain and cold for a while.

 

Plus we are back onboard Azur end of June, hopefully we can get a look at Valletta on embarkation day as we have an early flight.

 

Looks like we took a lot of the same photographs, I'll just add one from Valencia of the carrier that was berthed near us.

 

 

We were lucky our flight took us straight over Paris still landed about a hour late but it happens. Enjoy the next cruise we do the 16nights repositioning in October. Glad to see you got a pic of the navy ship never thought to go to the front for it.

[jaydee6969]

6 hours ago, carlanthony24 said:

We were lucky our flight took us straight over Paris still landed about a hour late but it happens. Enjoy the next cruise we do the 16nights repositioning in October. Glad to see you got a pic of the navy ship never thought to go to the front for it.

 

We were up in front of the gym, a good chat with some pax up there with the same idea albeit not with a point and click like myself.  I am not allowed to touch the wife's DSLR gear!!!

[jaydee6969]

On 3/21/2023 at 10:16 AM, carlanthony24 said:

 

To carry on from our Lanzarote port day gangways were taken up just after 5:15pm and Neil Turnball was pleased to say that everyone had made it back onboard and won’t have to burn extra fuel. He also said if all goes to plan he will be handing over to the new captain in Madeira. 

 

Celebration night onboard dress code applies from 6pm and is enforced in all main dining rooms, Blue Bar, Planet Bar, and the Epicurean. Other venues such has the buffet, Glasshouse, Theatre etc evening casual dress code is the minimum that is expected and from what we saw most were dressed in formal attire.

 

From 10am crew are in a full crew drill and it sounds like Neil Turnball relieve has turned up.

 

 

We noticed a change on the 'Celebration' night.  We did not receive the small cards for a free glass of fizz to be handed in at any bar.  But Captain Turnball did make captains gala speech in the atrium at 6 and 8, with waiters walking around handing out free glasses of bubbly.  As I have never attended one of these before, I assume this is how things were done pre-c?

 

Captain Luko Vojvoda was already onboard and all the handover formalities were done, and was presented by Captain Turnball along with senior officers.  He also quipped that Madeira was the only port on the cruise he was guaranteeing we would get into and most definitely on time as he had a taxi booked to the airport.

 

I was one of those not dressed up for formal night, but happily dressed smart casual and enjoyed the rest of the ship and ate in the Beach House that night.

[carlanthony24]

4 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

We noticed a change on the 'Celebration' night.  We did not receive the small cards for a free glass of fizz to be handed in at any bar.  But Captain Turnball did make captains gala speech in the atrium at 6 and 8, with waiters walking around handing out free glasses of bubbly.  As I have never attended one of these before, I assume this is how things were done pre-c?

 

Captain Luko Vojvoda was already onboard and all the handover formalities were done, and was presented by Captain Turnball along with senior officers.  He also quipped that Madeira was the only port on the cruise he was guaranteeing we would get into and most definitely on time as he had a taxi booked to the airport.

 

I was one of those not dressed up for formal night, but happily dressed smart casual and enjoyed the rest of the ship and ate in the Beach House that night.

Yes pre-c the Captain introduced himself along with other senior officers and waiters going round delivering the bubbly.

[elmsliebev]

@carlanthony24 many thanks for your excellent reports. You've really whetted our appetite for our week from Malta followed by the repo cruise. Maybe see you onboard!