Azura - Specially restaurants - Good luck getting a booking

[9265359]

For those of you with cruises booked on Azura over the coming months and want to eat in Epicurian, Sindhu, The Beach House, or Glass House all I can say is ‘good luck’ - and if you are on a one week cruise then ‘sorry but no chance’. 
 

All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff - and apparently it is likely to get worse when Azura moves to its summer season around the med because of the more stringent visa requirements for staff imposed by Malta and Greece since…

 

For those on two week cruises and arriving on a Friday there is a possibility of grabbing slots in the second week in the restaurants that can’t be booked before embarking (i.e. virtually all of them), but damn all chance in the first because those were booked the previous week by those on two week cruises. 
 

For those arriving on a Saturday they will be picking up the leftovers from the Friday crowd. 
 

And so those on one week cruises - no chance. 

[Ilovemygarden]

8 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

For those of you with cruises booked on Azura over the coming months and want to eat in Epicurian, Sindhu, The Beach House, or Glass House all I can say is ‘good luck’ - and if you are on a one week cruise then ‘sorry but no chance’. 
 

All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff - and apparently it is likely to get worse when Azura moves to its summer season around the med because of the more stringent visa requirements for staff imposed by Malta and Greece since…

 

For those on two week cruises and arriving on a Friday there is a possibility of grabbing slots in the second week in the restaurants that can’t be booked before embarking (i.e. virtually all of them), but damn all chance in the first because those were booked the previous week by those on two week cruises. 
 

For those arriving on a Saturday they will be picking up the leftovers from the Friday crowd. 
 

And so those on one week cruises - no chance. 

Yes - I’ve just boarded and tried to book for the Glasshouse - didn’t realise it was a staff issue.  Fortunately I booked the Beach House before leaving home.   Loving the weather though 😎

[CruiseCrew123]

I’ve booked Epicurean on Boxing Day - no issues and we don’t board till the Saturday 

[9265359]

3 minutes ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

I’ve booked Epicurean on Boxing Day - no issues and we don’t board till the Saturday 

That’s booking before embarking.
 

Just wait to see what availability there is for the Glass House or any other venues you haven’t pre-booked when you board - there will be none. 

[CruiseCrew123]

Which of why I pre-booked . Also cheaper 🙂

[purplesea]

Thanks for the heads up.

We board in the middle of January and as we have plenty of OBC were planning on booking once on board. It is my birthday wlhile onboard and  were thinking of booking Epicurian, so will now get it booked as soon as bookings open.

[9265359]

11 minutes ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Which of why I pre-booked . Also cheaper 🙂

But that’s no good for those you can’t book, or if you fancy doing something spontaneously. 
 

As for it being cheaper - not really. 

[solentsam]

10% off

[Ilovemygarden]

You can’t book the Glasshouse prior to boarding. 

[enjoysailing]

That seems to be disappointing if you can't book restaurants due to staff issues. Surely a cruise line should match the number of passengers they take on a ship to the crew available to deal with the running of it. If they are short of crew in some areas they should limit the passengers. 

 

[9265359]

13 minutes ago, enjoysailing said:

Surely a cruise line should match the number of passengers they take on a ship to the crew available to deal with the running of it. 

Of course they should…

 

14 minutes ago, enjoysailing said:

If they are short of crew in some areas they should limit the passengers. 

Commercial suicide. 
 

And of course most passengers who can’t book think they have been unlucky and the venues are running at full capacity, and unless you actually walk into the Glass House to get a drink you wouldn’t realise the truth. 

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, 9265359 said:

Of course they should…

 

Commercial suicide. 
 

And of course most passengers who can’t book think they have been unlucky and the venues are running at full capacity, and unless you actually walk into the Glass House to get a drink you wouldn’t realise the truth. 

Have you asked at reception what the numbers of staff on board are, and checked this against the advised staff numbers? Or is this just your opinion?

[smilesonfaces]

7 hours ago, solentsam said:

10% off

Sindhu is 20% off and Epicurean £24 instead of £30 so a pretty good saving.

i do like the speciality restaurants so will stay up to book at midnight 2 weeks before ! 
I do think they should limit pre bookings to one per cabin though. 

[Wonky]

We are just about to cancel a couple of bookings In Epicurean so keep looking. Done it twice and both times some idiots decide to have a full on loud FaceTime. Why?? Would you do this in a restaurant at home?? Do you have no consideration for other guests?? If you are one of these people I’d love to know why you feel it necessary to have volume higher and talk louder than you would normally. Complained but didn’t really seem to care. 
 

Rant paused.

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, Wonky said:

We are just about to cancel a couple of bookings In Epicurean so keep looking. Done it twice and both times some idiots decide to have a full on loud FaceTime. Why?? Would you do this in a restaurant at home?? Do you have no consideration for other guests?? If you are one of these people I’d love to know why you feel it necessary to have volume higher and talk louder than you would normally. Complained but didn’t really seem to care. 
 

Rant paused.

I agree. It’s an increasing trend and is extremely discourteous to others IMO. It’s not happened to us in Epicurean, but seems to happen a lot in bars now. As you say, people also seem to talk much louder than they would in face to face conversation and have the device volume on too loud as well, so it becomes even more intrusive. I think that people who do this are the ‘look at me’ types, who want everyone around them to hear all their news and have zero respect for the fact that others don’t wish to hear. If I wished to make or receive a call like that I would do so in the privacy of our cabin, or if an urgent call came in whilst I was in a bar or restaurant I would go outside to take it so as not to annoy others. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Selbourne

[sandancer]

17 hours ago, purplesea said:

Thanks for the heads up.

We board in the middle of January and as we have plenty of OBC were planning on booking once on board. It is my birthday wlhile onboard and  were thinking of booking Epicurian, so will now get it booked as soon as bookings open.

We were on Azura in October and it was impossible to book Epicurean onboard. It was full every night. We were on a 16 night cruise so booked in advance for 2 nights so we could try both menus. For a special occasion I would not leave it to chance. Glasshouse was always busy and we were told on arrival that there would be a wait of at least 45 mins for food. We could not book but arrived at 6pm when they opened for food. Ate there 3 times. We also ate in Sindhu and the Beach House (very popular as so reasonably priced) but I found the smoky atmosphere unpleasant. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

18 hours ago, Ilovemygarden said:

You can’t book the Glasshouse prior to boarding. 

Always possible to do walk ins here - that's the whole point. Obviously you need to be prepared to wait some times but not always

Edited December 10, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 hours ago, Wonky said:

We are just about to cancel a couple of bookings In Epicurean so keep looking. Done it twice and both times some idiots decide to have a full on loud FaceTime. Why?? Would you do this in a restaurant at home?? Do you have no consideration for other guests?? If you are one of these people I’d love to know why you feel it necessary to have volume higher and talk louder than you would normally. Complained but didn’t really seem to care. 
 

Rant paused.

You just fell very very unlucky

[zap99]

19 hours ago, 9265359 said:

For those of you with cruises booked on Azura over the coming months and want to eat in Epicurian, Sindhu, The Beach House, or Glass House all I can say is ‘good luck’ - and if you are on a one week cruise then ‘sorry but no chance’. 
 

All the venues are running at a fraction of the normal capacity because of a lack of back of house staff - and apparently it is likely to get worse when Azura moves to its summer season around the med because of the more stringent visa requirements for staff imposed by Malta and Greece since…

 

For those on two week cruises and arriving on a Friday there is a possibility of grabbing slots in the second week in the restaurants that can’t be booked before embarking (i.e. virtually all of them), but damn all chance in the first because those were booked the previous week by those on two week cruises. 
 

For those arriving on a Saturday they will be picking up the leftovers from the Friday crowd. 
 

And so those on one week cruises - no chance. 

We had 2 one week cruises on Azura this year. We didn't try to book Sindhu, or epicurian, but ate in the Beach House twice and Glasshouse once, on each cruise.

[Wonky]

14 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

You just fell very very unlucky

I’d love to think that’s true but unfortunately I think it’s one of the downsides of having fantastic wifi. Happened on Queen Elizabeth last month too. Would love to see a policy similar to airlines that basically bans calls/video calls in restaurants and relaxing areas but we are probably a way off that.

[zap99]

13 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Have you asked at reception what the numbers of staff on board are, and checked this against the advised staff numbers? Or is this just your opinion?

We booked on board. We went to Glass House at lunchtime to try and book the evening. The man said we aren't taking bookings. If you just turn up we will sort it out . Best about 6.00. We arrived at 6.00, we're given menus and a drink and told the wait will be about 45 mins. All very civilised. If we could have booked it would have been for 7.00 . We would have gone for a drink pre dinner.

[Interestedcruisefan]

55 minutes ago, Wonky said:

I’d love to think that’s true but unfortunately I think it’s one of the downsides of having fantastic wifi. Happened on Queen Elizabeth last month too. Would love to see a policy similar to airlines that basically bans calls/video calls in restaurants and relaxing areas but we are probably a way off that.

Well we dine out an awful lot at home and on holiday. Approaching 100 times a year I would imagine

 

And never experienced it yet

 

So we are either very lucky or like I say I feel you've been  unlucky

 

Never experienced it  in any restaurant whether on land or in cruise

 

Or if I have then I've never actually noticed it so can't have been loud or bad 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[ScotchBoy]

9 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Always possible to do walk ins here - that's the whole point. Obviously you need to be prepared to wait some times but not always

Not any more. You have to book, but can only do so once on board. Friday embarkers (?) have an advantage here. This is something P&O need to address. 

[daiB]

On 12/9/2023 at 4:43 PM, enjoysailing said:

That seems to be disappointing if you can't book restaurants due to staff issues. Surely a cruise line should match the number of passengers they take on a ship to the crew available to deal with the running of it. If they are short of crew in some areas they should limit the passengers. 

 

Read the first post carefully. There is a reason.

[daiB]

On 12/9/2023 at 5:00 PM, 9265359 said:

Of course they should…

 

Commercial suicide. 
 

And of course most passengers who can’t book think they have been unlucky and the venues are running at full capacity, and unless you actually walk into the Glass House to get a drink you wouldn’t realise the truth. 

You have not read the first post either. We have been on Ventura/Aurora and Iona with no problems so there must be a problem with having the ships in Malta although I have not heard about it before.