Norway in the sun

Ship tip

We’ve just disembarked from the Azura and here are a few thoughts. We loved every minute on our Norway cruise. Cabins .... beautiful and ample space , we had a balcony on deck 14 near a pool. Very quiet! Kids on the ship.... lovely and well behaved, a pleasure to be around them, they all seem to love the kids club even the teenagers. Food.... we only ate in the Oriental and peninsular restaurants . Lovely food mostly, Cunard food was nicer, but plenty of choice and good quality. The buffet is busy. Drinks... we had a wine package, that was good value for money, other drinks cost about £ 7 Pools... yes we had gorgeous weather, the oasis pool is quietest. Plenty of sun beds, the retreat, which you have to pay for uses that pool and in my opinion is probably only worth it on a cruise to a very hot climate as there isn’t much shade about. Entertainment.... headliners theatre group were fantastic, west end style shows, other highlights were silk and beats, the one comedian wasn’t so funny Shore excursions.... for some people and some places they might be the best thing to do. In Norway and for us, reasonably able bodied I did think they were a rip-off. For example the Flåm train. £ 98 each with a booked P&O excursion, £ 90 for two people booked directly on the train. There was a lot of scaremongering about missing the ship. Well you are on exactly the same train as the excursion. It’s literally two minutes walk from the ship that’s towering over that tiny village. How could one miss it? Service.... everybody worked so hard and all the waiters and stewards made you feel special. The dress code... we like to dress to impress on a cruise, but you didn’t have to. On the two formal nights everyone did wear evening dresses and dinner suits. I even saw a little boy in one. Those people, who didn’t fancy that, just ate in the buffet. The infamous smell... yes around deck 7 by the Malabar and Sindhu restaurant it was bad. We called it the smellybar. We couldn’t smell it anywhere else and it didn’t bother us, just walked a bit faster through this area. The decor .... some people on this chat claimed the Azura was in desperate need of refurbishment. We didn’t feel that, she’s a beautiful ship ! Embarkation and disembarkation.... very well organised! To sum it up, we had a great time, as we cruised on Cunard before, we weren’t disappointed, but I suppose everything is maybe just one notch up on the QM2. I must emphasise though how much we enjoyed ourselves and as we’re leaving, we are already looking for the next cruise adventure.