My week with P&O Cruises on Azura
- alex52591
- Oct 15
- 18 min read
I was very lucky to recently be invited to join P&O Cruises for one of their Shine At Sea events where they host a group of Travel Agents on one of their ships. Historically I've always cruised from a UK port or flown out to meet the ship on a packaged product which wasn't a dedicated fly cruise, so I was really excited to fully enjoy the Fly Cruise experience.
What's the difference between a Packaged Cruise and a Fly Cruise?
A Packaged Cruise is where we organise the flights, transfers, accommodation and cruise for you and package it all together under our own ATOL. This means that whilst you're flying to the cruise, the flight element isn't part of the Cruise Liners package.
A Fly Cruise is where the Cruise Liner actually charter the aircraft (or part of it) to specifically fly you out to meet the ship. It usually means that you don't need to include a pre-cruise stay in the package and offers peace of mind that if your flight is delayed, the ship won't leave without you.
Day 1 - Flying out
I arrived at Gatwick Airport and headed for the P&O Cruises check-in desk. Usually when you travel with P&O Cruises you'll head to their dedicated check-in desks rather than the airlines (although this will differ depending on your airport so it's best to always check first). There were no queues so I checked my bag in and was handed my boarding pass within 2 minutes and off I went to security. So far, so good.
After grabbing a bite to eat it was time to board, we flew with Enter Air who were great. The flight was on-time, the onboard comfort was on-par with the likes of easyJet and the service was friendly. We landed in Malta around 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
My luggage was one of the first on the belt and I headed for the coach, my luggage was handed over and we were off in no time.
How does luggage work on a P&O Cruises Fly Cruise?
This is one of the best parts of a P&O Cruises fly cruise in my experience. On the outbound flight, the luggage is placed on a lorry when you reach the coach and the next you see it is when it reaches your cabin later that evening. On selected flights, usually those operated by TUI Airways, you don't even need to collect it at the airport, you check it in in the UK and the next you see it is in your cabin.
On the return journey, you leave your luggage outside your cabin before midnight on your final evening and the next you see it is on the luggage belt after landing back in the UK. It's unbelievably convenient I absolutely LOVED it!
Top tip: Remember to pack any essentials, including medication and your passports, in your hand luggage and NOT your checked luggage.
You're dropped off at the port and check-in was really seamless. I was given my cruise card and got straight on the ship. From the runway to my cabin took a total of 56 minutes, it was by far the smoothest most convenient boarding experience I've ever had, plus, look how magnificent the check-in terminal is in Valletta.
My luggage was still enroute from the airport at this point so I decided to have a look around the ship. Checking our popular venues like Brodies (a UK-style bar with a casino), all four of the pools, an art gallery and of course the poolside pizzeria.
P&O Cruises had packed our schedule out for the week so before you knew it I was off to the panoramic Planet Bar for the welcome meeting to join the 39 other agents on this experience. Planet Bar is really impressive it's wonderfully decorated and has views from the 18th deck at the front of the ship. Whether you're in port or at sea, the views are great!
Night 1 we dined at Sindhu, a firm favourite for P&O Cruises guests and as such, it's featured on every one of their ships. The food was delicious, service was outstanding (the best of the week, in fact) and the surroundings were wonderful. My one little thing with Sindhu was the portion sizes were a little small, so maybe eat here on an evening where you're not going to be too hungry. Fear not - there's always midnight snacks to look forward to!
As Sindhu is a speciality dining restaurant it comes at an extra cost - but my food tonight came in at £24.50 which is outstanding value for 3 courses that would easily cost £60 on land. The cost gets added to your account or comes out of your onboard spend if you have any as part of your package.
Next door to Sindhu you'll find Malabar, one of my two favourite bars on the ship - it has a dark yet vibrant décor, styled on Marine Drive in Mumbai. We spent the first night here sipping tasty cocktails and playing the quiz (we came second which is very good for me!).
How was the cabin?
I was lucky to be booked into a Balcony cabin on C deck, which offers a larger balcony area (it was huge!). The cabin itself had all the amenities needed, with a large walk-in wardrobe area and plenty of hangers, a safe, tea & coffee making facilities, a hairdryer and a really comfortable bed.
We were towards the front of the ship and the sea was quite rough for the first two nights and I really felt it. If you don't like the motion of the ocean then it'd be worth paying a little extra for a midship location.
Check out a video of the cabin here:
Day 2 – A Day at Sea
I love it when your first full day is a Day at Sea as it gives you chance to have a lay in and then explore the ship fully in a leisurely fashion. This is what I did today. Breakfast on Azura comes in the form of the buffet, or you can order from a menu in one of the three sit-down restaurants. I opted for the buffet today which was plentiful and tasted great. There’s free tea, coffee, juice and water available too, or if you fancy a Costa coffee you can get that from Java, the ship’s coffee shop.
I was hoping to get some sunshine today but the weather had other ideas – although there are spaces on the ship where you can lounge outside and shelter from the wind, so I did that for a while before grabbing some more poolside pizza (I honestly couldn’t get enough of it over the course of the week).
The Horizon newsletter is delivered to your cabin each night, and contains full listings of all the entertainment and activities onboard the ship the following day. It’s honestly unbelievable the amount of stuff going on on the ship throughout the day.
What's included on a Sea Day?
There’s genuinely too much to list but here are some highlights: Fitness classes, solo travellers get togethers, LOADS of quizzes & puzzle games, dance classes, guest speaker talks, creative classes, quoits, £5k bingo, shuffleboard, table tennis, casino lessons & events, live music and tons more, plus this is all before 5pm!
Most of the onboard activities are free so it offers and insane value for money and by far the most I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship before – which is especially impressive considering Azura isn’t even P&O Cruises’ largest ship.
Some pictures from today’s Horizon are below, but please keep in mind the programme will vary on other ships & sailings.
Tonight is Celebration night, one of two evenings this week to get dressed in your best suits & dresses! We dined in the Meridian Restaurant, one of the ship’s waiter-service restaurants offering a 5-course dinner, all of which is included in the price. If you’re on a Select Fare then you’ll get priority on your preferred dining slot and table size, or you can alternatively opt of Freedom Dining like we did, which is where you head for a table when you’re ready. There is sometimes a wait, but our longest wait was less than 5 minutes, and they even have virtual queues that you can join before heading down.
The food was very good, and portion sizes tonight were spot on. Considering we visited the restaurant at peak time, the service was efficient and friendly.
After dinner we head to the Capitain’s Speech which is in the Atrium. This seems very old fashioned, but Captain Chris was actually quite laid back and cracked a few jokes, plus they hand out free prosecco so naturally I’d highly recommend you attend!
There was plenty of entertainment to choose from tonight, so we went to see Reel-to-Reel, the entertainment teams West End style show featuring songs from the movies. It’s not usually my kind of thing (you can’t win them all, right?) but if you do love this style of entertainment then you’ll enjoy it! It was especially great for families.
The night ended at a pretty epic session of karaoke at Malabar!
Day 3 - Civitavecchia (Rome)
First things first – what you all really want to know – it’s pronounced Siv-it-ahv-eh-kia.
Whilst I've been to Rome before, I've never done so by ship, and people always have plenty to say about how far the port of Civitavecchia is from Rome itself, so I was keen to experience this for myself today. P&O Cruises took us on one of their Excursions today, with a guided tour of Ancient Rome & Vatican City including return transfers.
It's no secret that when you book your excursions through the cruise company, they're more expensive than doing your own thing. Sometimes, it’s worth just doing your own thing, but in Civitavecchia it’s just not. So many people get the train into Rome from here, and whilst the trains are cheaper and relatively frequent, it was a 40 minute walk each way from the ship to the station. It’s a massive chunk of your time PLUS if there are any delays getting back to port you risk missing the ship.
We hopped off the ship and straight onto the coach, whizzed past all the people walking to the station and were in Rome within 2 hours including a comfort stop enroute. Along the way our dedicated tour guide for the day talked us through the plan for the day and gave us loads of interesting facts and information about the region of Lazio, Rome and Italy as a whole.
First stop was the Colosseum where we got to look around the exterior whilst our guide talked us through the history, and despite being here twice before, I still learned some new facts! We then took a walk along alongside the Roman Forum up to the Piazza del Campidoglio. It was then back on the coach for a short hop to Vatican City and a guided tour there. We then had two hours of free time to get some lunch, from the meeting point it was easy to get some great pasta and take a look around Rome. I walked from the Piazza Navona to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and back in time to get some gelato before re-joining the group for a walk back to the coach via Castel Sant’Angelo.
90 minutes later we were back onboard having ticked off all of Rome’s main sights. If it’s a first time visiting Rome then this tour booked via P&O Cruises was the perfect way to do it, but keep in mind there’s A LOT of walking involved. We covered over 20,000 steps in just a few hours. Or if you’ve been before and like me, you just can’t get enough of Rome, please still book your transfer through P&O Cruises even if it’s just to get to and from the city and then do your own thing. If you are doing this then check out my recommended activities in Rome by clicking here.
Tonight was a more laid back affair after a long day, we had dinner at the buffet (which was ok but not as good as the Main Dining restaurants or Speciality Dining), had a few drinks and played along with a game at Manhattan Club (more on that later) and then got an early-ish night.
Absolutely perfect day!
Day 4 – Livorno (Florence & Pisa)
We had a slightly later start today so we decided to have breakfast in the main dining restaurant. There’s a massive menu with a selection of continental options plus a ‘create your own’ full English which is perfect for fussy eaters like me! Tea, coffee, fresh juices and smoothies are also available here included in the price. This was a lovely way to have breakfast as whilst the buffet was good, this was noticeably better. The food was all freshly cooked, service was great and it’s a nice way to start the day.
Today we were booked onto the ‘Sights & Selfies tour of Florence & Pisa’, another guided tour booked via P&O Cruises where the coach met us directly outside the ship and whizzed us into Florence. During the journey we were given selfie sticks (perfect if you’re a solo traveller or your travel partner isn’t the best photographer!) and our guide talked us through the plan for the day and some history of the region.
Again, I’ve visited both Florence & Pisa before but on this guided tour I learned so much that I didn’t know from my previous visits. Our tour guide was one of the best I’ve ever had anywhere in the World, she was friendly, funny, went at a good pace and knew a lot. The tour of Florence was broken up nicely, with some guided parts before a 20-minute break for free time. For this first break our guide handed out vouchers for complimentary gelato, but as it was past midday a few of us opted to try one of Florence’s famous wine windows instead!
We then continued the tour of the city before a 45-minute lunch break. Florence is famous for it’s Porcetta rolls so be sure to try this out! We then bid farewell to our guide and head back to the coach for the short trip to Pisa.
Florence is a stunning city and much like Rome, even though I’ve been before, I really enjoyed my time here and I would absolutely love to visit again in future! It’s a perfect day out on a cruise and really added to how special this particular itinerary is.
On the flip side to that, if you know me then you’ll know it’s no secret that I hate Pisa, it’s an awful city full of pickpockets and with nothing to see but the Leaning Tower, so I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this part of the day, but it was a good way to break up the journey back to the ship. If you’ve not been before, then it’s worth doing to see the famous Leaning Tower and have a quick look around the town, but I took it as an opportunity to sit in the sun with a glass of wine watching the World go by.
Overall, this was a great day out and I would again recommend that you book your excursion via P&O Cruises for this particular port of call.
We were back to the ship in time to catch a wonderful sunset from the balcony with a glass of wine in hand - you’re noticing a theme here, right? – so that brings me nicely onto Drink Packages.
P&O Cruises Drink Packages: Do I or Don't I?
This is a question I get asked a lot – and even for myself on this occasion I was in two minds. Normally I’d go for it but I thought this is an amazing itinerary and so I’d be spending a lot of time off the ship, so I decided not to bother. It was a big mistake.
If you add the Classic Drinks Package at time of booking, we give you a 20% discount meaning it comes in at a cost of £39 per person per day. Adding it after booking but before sailing gets you a 10% discount coming in at £44pppd, or adding it onboard is £49pppd.
As you’ve noticed so far – I do like a glass of wine – and on the ship a large Pinot Grigio was priced at £9.50 a glass and Cocktails were between £8-£12 per drink, meaning the drinks package works out cheaper if you have more than 4 glasses per day. Think a glass before dinner, two with dinner and two after then you’re winning. From now on, I will highly recommend that you include the drinks package at time of booking.
Tonight was another chilled night with Main Restaurant dining and a few drinks in Manhattan Bar.
Day 5 – Villefranche (Nice, the Cote d’Azur & Monaco)
The South of France has A LOT to offer so calling there on a Med cruise is an absolute winner. P&O Cruises will dock in Villefranche, which is a small town on the outskirts of Nice, giving easy access to Cannes, Monaco & Monte Carlo, Antibes, Eze and more. You could honestly spend days based here.
Villefranche is a very small port and so the ship operated with a Tender today.
What is a Tender?
A Tender is a small boat which transports passengers from the ship to the port, allowing cruise liners to offer stops at ports that wouldn’t otherwise be able to accommodate a ship. It can sometimes be unsuitable for passengers with reduced mobility and if you’re prone to sea sickness in smaller boats then I’d recommend that you take tablets or wear wristbands whilst on the Tender.
Having been lucky enough to explore a lot of the South of France on a previous cruise, I opted to do my own thing today and head into Nice. It’s easy enough by train (but one of the agents did unfortunately get pickpocketed on the train so be careful!), although we opted to Uber on this occasion. It took around 20 minutes and cost 25€ so was great value for money!
Heading to Nice is very easy to do yourself, but if you’re heading further afield, I’d recommend booking your excursion through P&O Cruises at this port, as the traffic can build up and it gives you extra peace of mind that you won’t miss the ship if you’re on a booked excursion.
It was a really chilled day with lunch on the seafront at the wonderful Bocca Mar, followed by a leisurely walk through the city and it’s sights. We eventually head up to the viewpoint at Parc du Mont Boron which gave the most breathtaking views over the city and the coast.
I thoroughly enjoyed Nice and will definitely go back soon for a weekend break there!
Top tip: Villefranche actually has two ports, and you should really ensure you direct your taxi to the correct one, as we found out the hard way by being dropped at the wrong one and having to run up and down hills to make the final tender back to the ship by the skin of our teeth – we honestly were 90 seconds away from missing the ship!
Tonight we dined at The Glass House which is another of the ships speciality dining restaurants. The menu is designed by José Pizarro who is one of P&O Cruises Local Food Heroes, offering a range of Tapas plus bigger Mediterranean-styled main courses, and wine to compliment it chosen by Ollie Smith. They offer a range of 6 Wine Flights which is essentially a tasting platter of wine – sounds amazing but the one I chose fell short of my expectations so I felt it was more of a novelty that I wouldn’t do again.
The Glass House Menu
The service here was also slow so don’t visit on a night where you have other plans. The food, however, was sensational. The tapas was so tasty with really good portion sizes, the fish and chips were cooked fresh and the dessert was one of the best I’ve had at sea. I loved everything about the food here! It came in at £17.73 which is unreal value for money.
After dinner we headed to Manhattan Bar – which is the ship’s New York City styled entertainment bar and nightclub (although I’d use that term quite loosely – it’s more of a late night bar). They stay open until it’s down to low numbers so the party here can go on into the early hours! There’s a range of shows on here in the evening from live music to comedy shows, and afterwards there’s a DJ who takes requests! It’s a great way to spend the later part of the night and was another of my favourite bars on the ship!
Day 6 – Ajaccio, Corsica
Somewhere new for me today so I was really excited to visit Ajaccio (pronounced Ah-jack-see-oh). This is a great place to do as much or as little as you like, P&O Cruises offer plenty of excursions and some of the group opted to do these, ranging from Kayaking which looked really fun, to hiking in the Corsican countryside, to visiting a Honey Bee farm. The overall feedback for these excursions was good, especially the kayaking which was highly recommended.
My day in Ajaccio
The ship docks in the heart of the town so for today I decided to do my own thing and I had a really wonderful day. The city has a local farmers market which is open everyday between 8am and midday, with a huge range of fruit, veg, charcuterie, flowers, crafts and more. I started with a mooch around here before stopping at a café on Place Foch for my morning coffee in the sun – what a start to the day!
I then hopped on the Petit Train d’Ajaccio (Little Train of Ajaccio), which is a road train that takes you on a guided tour around the local area. Don’t get caught out like I did – you have to pay with cash – it’s a 90 minute round trip which takes you around the town and then down to the Iles Sanguinaires. It’s a really scenic route which shows off how beautiful Corsica is.
Ajaccio is a perfect port to do your own thing, but with plenty of P&O Cruises excursions too if you fancy doing something different.
Back in town I had lunch off the ship and then had a look through some shops before getting back on the ship for our much anticipated behind-the-scenes tour!
Back on board, it was time for our Ship Tour, starting with a tour of the Bridge (the cockpit of the ship, if you like). This was really interesting as I’ve never done it before. P&O Cruises offer a Bridge Tour as part of their onboard activities, it’s not free but it is worth it. It’s very exclusive and can only be booked on board – beware, it does always sell out so you need to book as soon as you get onboard.
We then head to the kids club, click below for more info on that (I was really, really impressed) and finally had a tour of Oasis & The Retreat.
Kids Clubs on P&O Cruises
Azura really shined here, I honestly couldn’t believe the standard of the kids clubs (I even suggested they should open one of them for an adult-only night!). The kids clubs are split to two or three age groups plus a night nursery. At peak times it’s recommended that you pre-book your kids clubs places to avoid disappointment.
There’s plenty to do for all ages, with a great zone for older kids who may prefer a bit more freedom. Check out the videos below to get a real feel for each of the areas (we visited whilst they were closed so don't worry - it's not normally this quiet!).
For the grown ups: Oasis & The Retreat
Once the kids are enjoying the kids club, or if you’re on a child-free break and want to keep it that way, Azura has an adult-only pool known as the Oasis, and the infinity pool at the back of the ship was also a more intimate zone which I rarely saw kids at.
Plus, an exclusive area named ‘The Retreat’, which is an outdoor terrace with a spa-vibe, where you can find more comfortable sun loungers, complimentary snacks plus breakfast and lunch, smoothies and fruit platters. It’s £69 per person per day which in my opinion is quite steep, but P&O Cruises do limit the number of guests who can enter so if you do really value a more private and relaxed vibe during the day then it’s definitely worth it.
No pictures here as we didn't want to disturb everyone's privacy - but plenty to be found on the P&O Cruises website!
Tonight was our second Celebration Night, so another excuse to get dressed up in our finery. We kicked off with drinks at The Planet Bar, where I couldn’t resist trying the special BAFTA cocktail (P&O Cruises sponsor the BAFTA awards as you may know).
We then head for dinner in the Main Restaurant which was again delicious, before spending the night at Malabar for the Horse Racing – this was one of my favourite events of the week and I’d thoroughly recommend it if you like a cheeky bet on the horses! I will also shout out to the entertainment team at this point because they worked really hard for the whole week, I didn’t once see them stop, and they were outstanding from start to finish.
Day 7 – Day at Sea
Our final day was rightly spent as a leisurely day at sea. A perfect ending to this magnificent itinerary. It was a very chilled one mainly spent on a sun lounger enjoying the last of the sun for me this year!
There was again plenty going on across the ship, the entertainment was literally non-stop.
Dinner tonight was at The Epicurean which was very much a case of saving the best for last, the pictures and videos really say it all. Dinner here is a set price of £35 per person and it really is a show. The jamon is carved at the table and if you choose for the Crepes Suzette (which I cannot recommend enough) then it’s flambéed in front of your eyes!
The service here was really friendly they were amongst the best I experienced on the ship and it was a really special way to end our week.
The Epicurean Menu
As mentioned earlier, my luggage was left outside my cabin before midnight and the next I saw it was on the belt at Gatwick – how amazing!
Day 8 – Valletta & flying home
You need to be out of your cabin by 8am on the last day, but unlike with many other cruise liners, P&O Cruises allow you to stay onboard and use the ship’s facilities until your coach pickup time, no matter how late your flight is. You can also come and go as you please so we had a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant and I then got off the ship to go into Valletta.
Valletta is a beautiful city and being the Maltese Capital makes it one of the Sunniest Capital Cities in Europe – enjoying sun over 300 days of the year!
I got back to the ship in time to get the coach transfer to the airport – no need to check-in as P&O Cruises had taken care of my luggage and the last night I had a delivery to the cabin with my boarding pass for the flight, so it was straight through security and onto the plane. Enter Air were again on-time and offered a good service.
Final thoughts
This week has made it easy to see why P&O Cruises have so many incredibly loyal customers. The whole Fly Cruise experience was so seamless and easy from start to finish, the ship was spotless and there was so much to do in board I feel like I didn’t even experience a quarter of it. The itinerary was perfection and the value for money is second-to-none when you consider you can book a week on Azura for as little as £699pp.
Azura is a lovely ship, I'd recommend her more for families or couples who prefer a more laid-back vibe with classic entertainment, but whatever you're looking for, you're going to have a great time and you really can't fault the price!
Ready to book?
Check out our dedicated P&O Cruises page here, and get in touch with us today to book your P&O Cruise with Mynt Travel.
