Well, here we go. We have just finished our 17 night cruise to Venice on Azura (A214) and as this was our first cruise with P & O I wanted to post a review with particular comparison with Princess (with whom we have sailed 8 times). We wanted to go back to Venice and the itinerary offered two days in port and so this was an ideal opportunity to try P & O.

We were in a suite (R 401) and this was identical to a suite we have had on the Ruby Princess and so the cabin type/position was not a factor in our opinions.

Embarkation was very swift. We arrived at 11.30am and by the time we had dropped the bags off we walked straight up to the priority check in. Our cruise card had a small black diamond symbol to indicate that we were in a suite and when we presented this in the terminal waiting area we were shown straight onto the ship. (This was the only time that the diamond symbol had any significance at all) Read more