Azura - Under A Clear Blue Sky

A couple of years ago, Val and I were lucky enough to go on the shakedown cruise of P&O’s then newest ship, Iona. For the uninitiated, shakedowns are short cruises to test the functionality of the vessel with a full complement of passengers, although the passengers are usually all staff, ex-staff, and their family and friends.

It has to be said that Iona’s shakedown was not trouble-free, but to a degree, that’s the point of a shakedown, identifying areas that need fixing. In Iona’s case, the online restaurant booking function didn’t work, and some of the staff in the restaurants and elsewhere looked a little bewildered. Our two-day trip took us from Southampton to the Isle of Wight, Poole Harbour, and back again (we didn’t go ashore at either location), and I rather suspect that some of the teething problems we experienced had not been ironed out before the ship’s maiden voyage just a few days later.

While Covid precautions were still very much uppermost in most people’s minds when we did the shakedown – without a negative Lateral Flow Test no one was getting on board Iona in August 2021, and washing hands was compulsory before entering restaurants - they had largely been consigned to history by the time we boarded Azura last week for a seven-night cruise through the Mediterranean and Adriatic.

While Iona is the largest cruise ship I’ve been on (184,000 tons and 5,200 passengers), Azura is no lightweight, coming in at 116,000 tons and carrying 3,100 passengers. Despite its size, and the fact that it was full for the cruise we were on, Azura has a remarkably intimate feel, and although it is now thirteen years old, the amenities are as luxurious as you could wish for.

Azura as we boarded in Valletta

Our cruise started in Valletta. We flew to Malta from Gatwick, having originally been able only to book the cruise with flights from Birmingham; fortunately, London flights became available a week before we sailed. Landing at 6pm and embarking the ship at 7pm left no time to see Malta, and the same was true of the journey home. After dinner in the Meridian Restaurant, it was time to unpack some of the contents of my suitcase more vulnerable to creasing (suit and shirts mainly) and take a relatively early night.

From Malta, a day at sea and an opportunity to acclimatise to the ship and find our way around before docking at Taranto in Italy. Throughout the holiday, the weather was nicer than the forecast had suggested before we left England, but Taranto was a little overcast, but pleasant enough. There’s an old town and a not so old town, separated by a bridge; the old town is more picturesque and we had a lovely gelato there, but on the whole, it isn’t the sort of place I’d go out of my way to revisit.

Taranto

Italy I’ve been to before, but never yet Greece, so landing in Corfu Town on the Sunday was somewhere new. Val was quite keen to find a beach for a swim, but the weather wasn’t entirely in our favour and the nearest sandy beach was probably too much of a hike to reach comfortably, so we contented ourselves with a wander round town where – it being Sunday – the churches were busy, as were the cafes, but only the smaller shops were open. After a lovely lunch overlooking the sea, we strolled back to the ship rather than get the shuttle bus.

Corfu

Entertainment on board ships these days is a lot more professional and varied than it once was, and on Sunday evening we watched some live music from The Bluejays, whose speciality is 1950s and 1960s rock and roll. Not especially my favourite genre, it has to be said, but I like nothing more than seeing a live band who can play well, and The Bluejays were certainly that. So much so that we saw them again a couple of nights later, when their setlist was quite different and still excellent, even if the lead guitarist was hampered by a broken string. I’d thoroughly recommend The Bluejays if you like 1950s/60s rock ‘n’ roll. Actually, I’d recommend them even if you don’t.

Food on board was plentiful and delicious, as it always is on cruises, and Azura has a variety of restaurants. We opted for the buffet for breakfast and lunch, or just grabbed a slice or two of pizza from the poolside, but ate in the Meridian or Peninsular Restaurants in the evenings. The menus are always varied, with choices for adventurous dinners and more conservative ones alike.

Our third port was Split. Croatia’s tourism industry has had to recover from both the war of the 1990s, and covid in more recent years. In 1990, tourist arrivals stood at 8.4 million, but fell to 2 million a year later when war broke out. They have now recovered to the extent that 18.9 million tourists arrived in 2022. The TV series Game of Thrones, much of which was filmed in Split, has had a beneficial impact on tourism, and a large number of visitors to our last port of call, Dubrovnik, were there to take in the sights they had seen on screen.

In Split we opted for a tour to the Krka National Park in Lozovac, which is about an hour’s drive from the port. Unseasonally heavy rains that had affected parts of Croatia in the week or so leading up to our arrival had led to parts of the park being closed right up until the day we visited. The waterfalls are magnificent (okay, perhaps not on a par with Niagara or Victoria, but impressive enough), and for a change from walking round town, the tour was worth the effort (and the money: Shore excursions can be expensive, but this was actually quite reasonable).

Krka National Park

Our final port of call was Dubrovnik. It was the hottest day of the holiday and under a clear blue sky we wandered the walled city, famous as a location for Game of Thrones - in particular, Cersei Lannister's Walk of Shame - packed with tourists, including those from both Azura and a Viking Cruise lines ship that was also docked there. We had a lovely walk around town, a pit-stop at a pavement café, a delicious ice cream, and then back to the ship.

Dubrovnik

One day at sea cruising back to Malta, during which I walked about seven miles round prom deck, and then it was off to the airport to fly home. Getting to the gate at Valletta’s airport proved to be a bit of a bun fight with passengers from two cruise ships descending on the terminal, the queues at passport control were long and slow moving.

In complete contrast, I cannot ever recall as quick an experience after landing at Gatwick as this one. No queues at the e-Passport gates, which – for once – recognised Val’s passport, and we were back in the car and away from the airport in nearly record time.

Cruising has long since lost its image of being expensive and elitist and is now as affordable as any other type of holiday and a generally informal, although it is nice to have the opportunity to dress up a bit on the formal nights. 

This cruise and this ship were perhaps the best I’ve been on and make me keen to do it again.