P&O Cruises’ Azura
The Beautiful Baltic
by Emma Gray
The Azura is one of the newest and largest of P&O’s fleet and as
such has many modern and contemporary design features. The main
atrium of the ship stretches over three floors making it the
smallest I have ever seen on any ship, yet despite it being far
smaller in height than others it still has an open and spacious feel
to it thanks to clever lighting and the use of a lot of glass.
The Glasshouse is just one of the bars on the ship which I enjoyed
whilst onboard. It has a clever design plan which creates intimate
corners and smaller areas whilst still being large and open plan.
P&O have created The Glasshouse in partnership with Olly Smith, a
television and newspaper wine specialist, and it functions as a fine
wine bar and restaurant. The food here was delicious and the bar
staff were very friendly and helpful at all times. I recommend that
any future passengers who enjoy wine try out one of the fabulous
wine flights!
The Playhouse theatre onboard is not big enough to seat the 3100
passengers that Azura can carry and the show times are staggered
throughout the evening in order for everyone to be able to enjoy
them. However, this was a problem for one off events such as the
audience with the captain, Paul Brown, when there were not enough
seats for all who wanted to attend and this resulted in passengers
standing and sitting on stairs and in aisles.
The entertainment provided in The Playhouse Theatre from the
Headliners theatre company was the best I have ever seen on any of
the nine cruises I have been on. The shows were slick and well
rehearsed with fabulous dancers and strong singers working together
to put on great performances most nights.
Sindu is one of the select dining
restaurants onboard and was created with celebrity Michelin starred
chef Atul Kochhar. The food and ambience of this restaurant was
simply divine and the relaxed atmosphere was a welcome relief from
the bustling main dining room. The service was impeccable and the
food was perfectly flavoured so that many different spices could be
tasted without any single one being overpowering or too spicy.
Our main dining room was the Peninsular restaurant on the second
seating of 8:30pm. Having previously cruised with P&O I was looking
forward to excellent food and service in the main dining room but
was sorely disappointed. Our main table waiter was less than
friendly and gave the impression that we were little more than an
inconvenience to him, however, the assistant waiter was pleasant and
polite. P&O have recently changed their dinner menus and I found the
changes to be less than satisfactory. On any given evening of our 14
night cruise there were at least three fish dishes on offer as main
courses, which is fine if you are a fan of fish but if not you may
struggle as I did. The vegetable accompaniments with the main
courses were extremely repetitive with peas being offered every
single night!
Oslo
Our first port of call was this pretty Norwegian town. The sail up
Oslofjord in the morning was simply spectacular. Rocky hills and
trees seemed to rise out of the clear blue waters and the pastel
coloured traditional Norwegian houses appeared to be perched
precariously on the hills. Oslo itself was a little disappointing
and beyond the Royal Palace and its gardens, Parliament buildings
and the National Opera and Ballet House there was not a lot to do in
terms of sightseeing however there are plenty of cafes and
restaurants on the waters edge to spend a few relaxing hours.
Copenhagen
From where the Azura docked we walked ten minutes along the shore to
the famous statue of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid.
It is far smaller than I was expecting and not to be confused with
the larger statue of a topless mermaid which is just around the
corner!
From here we bought tickets for the open top bus sightseeing tour of
Copenhagen but
I would recommend that any future visitors opt for a boat tour
instead because it allows you to see far more of Copenhagen in a
shorter space of time and is far more relaxing, especially on a
sunny day. The boat trip we took began on the Nyhavn next to the
Kongens Nytorv Square and was very reasonably priced for the one
hour cruise time.
After our boat trip we strolled along the main shopping street of
Copenhagen which begins on the opposite side of the Kongens Nytorv
Square and stumbled upon a stunning little café- The Royal Café.
This is situated in a quiet and quirky courtyard next to the Georg
Jensen Museum and offers a wide array of beautiful cakes and
pastries that I can highly recommend!
Stockholm
Stockholm was my favourite port of the cruise after St. Petersburg
for its beautiful canals and clean, open streets. Whilst in
Stockholm we visited the city hall which is where the annual Nobel
banquet is held. After dinner in Blå hallen, the Blue Hall, Nobel
Prize recipients, royalty and special guests dance in Gyllene salen,
the Golden Hall, which is decorated in over 18 million gold mosaic
tiles and is a definite must see.
We also took a boat trip on the archipelago, which similarly to
Copenhagen is a fabulous way to see the city. Most of the boat trips
offer a hop-on, hop-off service stopping at places such as the
wonderful Vasa Museum which houses the wreck of the Vasa warship
which sunk on its maiden voyage and lay at the bottom of the sea for
more than 300 years before being brought to the surface.
Helsinki
We visited the Russian Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, the largest
Orthodox Cathedral in Europe, and were treated to hearing a man
singing in Russian inside. From here we walked just a few minutes to
the Lutheran Cathedral, a stunning white building with five blue
domes. The predominantly white interior of this Cathedral is very
simple compared with that of the Uspenski and this reflects the
different beliefs of the two religions.
There was a large market situated next to Norra Esplanden at the
edge of the water (many boat trips also leave from this area) and
there were many stalls selling fruit, vegetables, handmade souvenirs
and jewellery. Near the market are many cafes and restaurants which
are reasonably priced.
St. Petersburg
The two days we spent in St. Petersburg were undoubtedly the
highlight of our first cruise in the Baltic seas. We researched and
booked a two day tour with a Russian company, Alla Tours, and it was
easy and hassle free from start to finish. Speaking to other
passengers afterwards who had taken trips with P&O we realised we
had been able to fit much more sightseeing into our short time there
and had seen a lot more of the main attractions than they had done
which was just one of the advantages. Part of the reason for this
was that because of the tour we did not have to wait in a single
queue for anything, our wonderful tour guide took us to the front of
every queue and saved us hours of time by doing so.
On the first day we met our guide 30 minutes after the ship was
docked and firstly went on a city highlights drive with the driver
stopping frequently for us to get out and take photographs. We were
given headsets in order to listen to our very knowledgeable guide
talk us through the fascinating history of the city. We then took a
boat trip to view the city from the water which was lovely. This was
followed by a trip to the St. Peter and Paul Fortress and a trip
inside the Cathedral where many of the Russian Tsars are buried. We
then travelled to Peterhof via hydrofoil (which took just 30 minutes
rather than an hour by coach) and were given a tour of the
beautiful, ornate gardens and viewed the many fountains, all of
which are powered by gravity!
Catherine’s Palace was the afternoon section of tour. The strikingly
beautiful blue and white exterior of the building did little to
prepare us for the stunning interior with many rooms decorated in
gold, ornate ceilings and dazzling chandeliers adorning the Palace.
The second day of our tour began in the Hermitage Museum, the third
largest in the world. We spent more than two hours there admiring
yet more stunning rooms decorated in gold and marble and saw
original paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet and Titian to
name but a few. This was followed by a visit to The Church of the
Spilled Blood, one of the most awe inspiring buildings I have ever
seen. The bright blues and greens of its exterior together with its
shining gold domes are something not to be missed. The interior is
just as striking with mosaic covered walls and ceilings
painstakingly restored after the Bolsheviks went on an offensive
against religion and destroyed churches all over the country in the
1930’s. Next stop was the Yusupov Palace and a walk through the room
where Gregory Rasputin was allegedly poisoned and spent some of his
last hours before escaping onto the streets of the city. Last on the
tour was a visit inside Saint Isaac’s Cathedral- another stunning
cathedral with gold domed exterior and intricate and beautiful
mosaic works covering the interior.
Tallinn
Tallinn was by far the quaintest stop on our two week cruise and we
were so taken with the old town of Tallinn than we never made it to
the newer part. The winding, cobbled streets have many independent
shops and little cafes and it is easy to spend a few happy hours
exploring them.
The main square of Tallin, Raekoja Plats, is a lovely place to sit
with a coffee and people watch with the town hall as the backdrop.
If you are feeling energetic you can climb the stairs to the top of
the city hall tower and admire the view from the top for only a few
euros.
Wärnemunde
This quiet German town provided a very pleasant and relaxing day
ashore. The sun was shining and we took advantage of this and took a
walk along the large white sandy beach which was so beautiful it
looked like the type of beach you would expect to see in the
Mediterranean. There are many cafes, restaurants and reasonably
priced shops along the river’s edge just minutes walk from where the
ships dock. We had a lovely evening sailaway from Wärnemunde as
hundreds of people had gathered to watch the ship leave, there was
music and a party onboard and two pleasure boats followed us out
into the open waters which prompted much whistling of each of the
ships whistles in happy acknowledgement of the turnout to watch the
Azura sail.
Bruges
The Azura docked into the port of Zeebruge and from there we took
the complimentary shuttle bus to the train station in the seaside
town of Blankenberge. The train journey from there to Bruges is just
over 10 minutes and more than worth it to experience this picture
postcard town with its small canals and abounding chocolate shops. I
can highly recommend sampling Belgian waffles and stocking up on
some of their wonderful chocolates which come in all shapes and
sizes- ducks, dogs, cats, swans, dolphins- they almost look too good
to eat!
More from
CruiseDiva.com:
Articles
& Advice
Cruise
Reviews
Cruise
Line Profiles
