Amazing cruise on a really nice ship.
Really enjoyed the itinerary except Santorini.
The food was incredible and the staff were amazing.
So much so we've booked a 2 week cruise on azura next year instead of a 2 week caribbean cruise on Arvia.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
All in all the food was really good, we never had a bad meal.
Highly recommend the glass house and the beach house.
We couldn't get into Sindhu or The Epicurean as they were both fully booked, so make sure you book extra pay restaurants either before you sail or on embarkation day.
Breakers Bar
5 out of 5
Really nice space where we spent the majority of our time when on board.Really friendly and helpful staff, always music, quizzes or activities on every day and great place to grab drink and watch the sail aways.
Brodie's
3 out of 5
Nice but gets very busy especially on sporting days/evenings when football is on.Get there early if you want a seat.
The Glass House
5 out of 5
Our favourite restaurant on board,We webt here 3 times on a 7 night cruise.The staff were amazing, as our group size was 7, they went out of their way to make sure they could fit us in and get us served as quickly as possible.The food was amazing, highly recommended. You can't pre book tables here so if you're in a big group, either get there early 18:00/18:30 or later in the evening 20:00/20:30.
Java
4 out of 5
Our meeting place with the rest of our group every morning.Staff are always friendly and helpful but service can be a little slow on port days when it's busier but that's to be expected.
Blue Bar
1 out of 5
Looked nice, but refused entry twice because of dress code rules.The first time was because I was wearing chino shorts and shirt and was told I need to wear shirt and trousers.The next day I went back wearing shirt and trousers only to be told that I also needed to be wearing a tie.
Terrace Bar
4 out of 5
Small but nice, good views watching the sunsets in the evenings with couple drinks.
Poolside Pizzeria and Grill
5 out of 5
Pizza, burgers and hotdogs all no extra charge, and perfect snack while sitting around one of the pools on sea days.Does get quite busy on sea days, but shout of to the cooks who worked non stop to make sure we never ran out of food.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Being an older ship, azura doesn't have any mini golf, rock climbing, water slides etc.
But the staff do their best to put on activities across the whole ship such as;
Quizzes, bingo (sea days only), dance classes etc
Casino
3 out of 5
Small but has everything you need to lose some money.
Oasis Spa & Health Club
5 out of 5
We used the thermal suite on the first sea day, which was perfect way to get over the first nights hangover.Highly recommend.
Aqua Pool
4 out of 5
Nice big pool with couple of hot tubs and views of the sea screen, we watched the women's world Cup final and they had fairly new films played daily such as avatar 2.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Theres 3 main areas for entertainment, the playhouse theatre, the malabar and manhattan.
We didn't go to a show at the playhouse but heard that the shows were really good.
The malabar regularly had live music, karaoke and stand up comics.
The manhattan club regularly had rock & roll and blues nights performed by the on board band who were amazing.
Malabar
4 out of 5
Really nice themed bar, always something going on; music, karaoke, stand up comics, live bands etc.Again can get quite busy but the service and staff are quick and friendly.
Manhattan
5 out of 5
Our go to venue for late night entertainment, had serval shows on including rock & roll and blues etc.Again gets quite busy so get there early.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The staff across the whole ship we're absolutely amazing.
Our cabin steward Glen was really friendly and helpful.
Also the staff at breakers bar and the glass house stood out from the others but generally all staff were amazing.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Our last cruise was on Iona so we were worried about the age of the ship and how dated it could be.
But we loved the whole ship, there were a couple of areas that looked more tired but nothing to complain about.
We stayed in an inside cabin, and we actually preferred this to the equivalent on Iona, mainly because the cabin on azura is bigger and has a walk in wardrobe area.
We loved the ship so much we've already booked a 2 week cruise on her for next year, instead of the 2 week carribbean cruise on Arvia we were going to book.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We stayed in an inside cabin, and we're worried about the age and how dated it could be.
But we actually prefer this cabin to the equivalent on Ions, mainly because on Azura the cabin feels alot bigger and has a walk in wardrobe area.
Ship tip
If you want to eat at the extra pay restaurants, make sure you either pre book or book on embarkation day,
We couldn't get into Sindhu or Epicurean as they were fully booked,
Also the beach house only had 1 available slot left when we tried.
One of our favourite places of the whole cruise,
We done a guided tour of Ephesus with access to the terrace houses.
The guide was really friendly and knowledgeable, and I'd highly recommend paying the extra to see the terrace houses, absolutely stunning mosaics and frescos.
After the tour in Ephesus we had a walk around the kusadasi markets and stopped in a bar for local food and drinks.
On the day we docked at santorini, there were 3 other cruise ships in, a total of 12,000 people all trying to get to the same place.
Firstly, to get ashore it's tendor boat only, the tendors drop you at Fira old port which is at the bottom of a cliff.
The only way to the top is to walk (30-45mins), cable car or donkey(DON'T USE THE DONKIES!).
We were the first tendor of the ship at around 08:30am, even at that time the que for the cable car was over 45 minutes, so we paid €30pp for a private boat trip to Oia with coach transport back included.
We arrived at Oia by 9:30am and had a lovely breakfast, we originally wanted to stay till around 3-4pm but by 12:30 we were back on the ship.
The streets we're overcrowded and you literally couldn't move in areas,
Once we got back to Fira, we decided to walk the donkey track down which took 30mins, we did hear some people waited nearly 3 hours at the top to come down by cable car.
In my opinion, the best way to see santorini is either on the Internet, or by boat or plane.
Its honestly that bad, if we were ever on cruise with santorini as a port of call again, we wouldn't bother getting off the ship.
Another one of our favourite places, we didn't book any excursions.
We spent the day wondering the streets of the walled medieval town which was amazing. We stopped in a couple of traditional bars for drinks and mezze.
The food, drink and people are amazing.
We got off the ship and used the hop on/off bus to go to the Acropolis, the original Olympic stadium and the temple of zeus.
The hop on/off bus was around €20 per person, but it's well worth the money and is an easy way to get around the whole city.
This is a great review! It really is a shame with Santorini because it’s beautiful but you end up tired, hot and frustrated. 3rd party excursions want you to get up to Fira yourself but with tenders and cable car queues you literally have no idea when you’ll make it. We had a similar experience to you in Rhodes, ended up being one of our favourite ports which we didn’t expect.
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