AZURA – OVERNIGHT BEFORE LAUNCH 9th APRIL 2010

AZURA – OVERNIGHT BEFORE LAUNCH 9th APRIL 2010

I won the invite for two people to attend  this overnight visit to Azura from Travel Weekly, which meant I would need to meet up with their camera crew and be interviewed about what I thought of the ship.

We got onboard at about 12.45pm and went to drop our bags in the cabin before having a quick lunch. We were in cabin D425, which was really nice, having a separate sitting area together with a second TV. There was also a bath, as opposed to just a shower, which is always welcome onboard. When I looked it up I found that it was a superior deluxe balcony cabin, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

The buffet lunch was excellent, with all of the food piping hot, which often isn’t the case with buffets. There was also a very good selection. The only downside was the taste of the cold water from the machine, as it was the most chlorinated water I have ever had on a ship. When we tried the water elsewhere on the ship it was much better though.

We then met up with Suzanne from CCS and Lucy from Travel Weekly, ready for the filming. However, the film crew was running behind, so we went for a look around the ship for an hour.

We were really impressed with a lot of things on Azura, including the use of the deck areas. The Retreat looked really good, and I feel sure that it will be extremely popular with passengers, as it will be adult only, and will be a great place to relax. Food is served there free, and drinks can be served to you although they are charged to your account. The SeaScreen on deck was also a nice addition to the facilities available.

We didn’t get time to see all of the show cabins, but did make a point of visiting the single cabins. I thought that they were excellent, especially the inside one I saw which was larger than the outside one. These will surely sell out quickly on all departures

We then met up with Suzanne and the film crew again, for my few minutes in front of the camera. I have never done it before, so was a bit nervous, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected.

Dinner was really enjoyable, with a very high level of both quality and service. During the evening we watched the show in the main theatre, where the 70’s music and dance show was enjoyable. We also went for a drink in the Planet bar, which I thought was really innovative, and very interesting.

Overall I found Azura to be a great ship, and feel sure that she will prove to be very popular with P&O passengers.