A921 August 10th-24th 2019, Mediterranean Southampton to Southampton.

We have had a fantastic (first ever) cruise aboard Azura. We were a party of seven adults, some with mobility issues, and the holiday was an extremely enjoyable experience.

This was made possible by the unrelenting hard work of every single staff member who absolutely worked their socks off over long shifts. Staff were constantly painting and maintaining (this never got in our way), cleaning, polishing, hoovering, staining, varnishing, sweeping, serving and all done with smiles on their faces. NOTHING was too much trouble. Our cabin steward (Zenda) was a true delight. The little touches of turning our bed down, little chocolates left on our pillows to even beautifully folding my night clothes and placing under my pillow each night was wonderful.
Our cabin, a balcony, was fantastic. It was amazing to sit there with a G&T watching the whales and dolphins swimming alongside us.

We ate in the Peninsula restaurant for breakfast and the Meridian restaurant for our evening meal and every single plate of food was exceptional. We also ate in Sindhu and the Epicurean and, again, the quality was outstanding. Some meals were a work of pure art!

The entertainment was also great and we were spoilt for choice. We particularly loved the games areas and I became quite the expert at shuffleboard!

The only downside to our holiday was the disembarkation. I stress this was not the fault of any member of staff on board Azura but more the staff in Southampton. It was, quite simply, an utter shambles! My partner and I were disembarking with my partner’s brother who, having suffered a stroke 2 years ago needed assisted disembarkation. We were (supposed to be) with him but we were left behind and had no idea where my partner’s brother had been taken to or whether he had any of his luggage with him. It turned out he hadn’t so my partner and I were left to wheel 6 cases and a stroller between us to the coach. As we couldn’t find his wheelchair (which had all the necessary luggage labels attached), we assumed that at least this had been put on the coach. It hadn’t! It took 4 days for the wheelchair to then be couriered back.

That said, we would definitely travel with P&O again and the last word must go to Bolsover Cruise Club for making our first cruise one of the best holidays we’ve had!