First time fly cruise – Azura

Armed with a folder full of paperwork including proof of vaccination, passenger locator forms travel insurance, etc, we got up at 01:00 to travel to the airport arriving in good time for security checks and breakfast. The only problem at the airport was that passengers could not enter the security area due to a broken shutter door – the first delays had started, our flight got off more or less to time even though the door to the departure gate would not open and after a few hours landed at Malta, boarded the airport bus, and arrived at the terminal to … the door on the bus not opening! So things really do come in threes.

Security to get on the ship was tight with clothes regularly coming off, camera cases opened and liquids displayed but at least we were kept same.

For this cruise it appeared that Azura only had about 1500 passengers and a shortage of crew which led to the speciality restaurants being closed for the week. As with Staycation cruises there were no turndowns, change of towels or chocolates in the evenings. Other nice little touches had also been stopped which is probably a reflection of the huge losses the cruise industry have made through covid.

One disappointment was out cabin had been upgraded a couple if weeks before sailing and we had been moved from mid-aft deck C to midships deck B. The new cabin was relatively small in comparison to other ships with a shower you could hardly turn in and whose head was aimed at the chest rather than the whole if the body – Britannia was much better. The balcony was also very small and only half that we had originally booked on select.

The ship was very quiet but it was easy to find somewhere to sit and we were always quickly served. Service throughout the ship was good.

Food on board lacked imagination and there was definitely a shortage of vegetables except for the dreaded green beans which seem to follow me round from ship to ship in the fleet. Portion size had also been reduced.

The dance instructors were excellent, thank you Karen and Harry, you helped make the cruise as did our friends who we had not seen for 3 years.

The ports of call were excellent and we particularly enjoyed Trieste, a new port to us.