Recently sailed on Azura.
Enjoyed our cruise but feel that standards are dropping on P&O.
Trying to book for dinner using the My Holiday app was stressful.
We have used this before on Arvia with no problem.
On Azura we could not access the app in our cabin, the only place we could get it to work was in the central part of the ship.
We couldn’t join the queue for dinner until we left our cabin.
We would join the queue at no 64 expecting to wait some time for a table so ordered a drink.
Within a couple of minutes we got a message saying our table was ready.
Most passengers were just going to the dining room and getting pagers.
When we got on the ship we were informed that there had been a gastrointestinal outbreak and hygiene was paramount.
This was good but there was a lot of inconsistency when using the dining room.
There was no salt and pepper on the tables but if you asked for it, it was put on the table.
However, one evening the waiter ground the salt and pepper on our food for us.
Some tables put butter in the centre of the table, others put a Pat of butter on your side plate.
The standard of food has definitely gone down.
Food portions were small as well.
A 5 oz sirloin steak is not a big portion for a grown man! I think I only had one meal where I said that I really enjoyed it, other times it was just okay.
Dinner used to be the highlight of the day but not anymore.
It seems that for entertainment P&O are relying on tribute acts as there were four different ones during our cruise.
The Headliners group were very good as usual.
In the atrium the entertainment was sparse unless you were a dancer.
There was a pianist/singer who was a good pianist but not so good singing.
He always asked for requests but then said he didn’t know the songs! On sea days there was not a lot to do if you didn’t want to lie out on deck or if the weather wasn’t good.
All in all we did enjoy our cruise and would cruise with P&O in future but would consider Arvia or Iona as there is more of a choice for meals that is inclusive rather than going to specialty restaurants.
Also improvement in the entertainment should be looked at.
