P&O Cruises VIP day feedback thread. Non-attendees: tell P&O Cruises about your ideal cruise - £250 voucher prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

This thread is for the 6 Mumsnetters who attended the VIP day on P&O Cruises' family friendly ship, Azura. Hope you all had a wonderful time!

If you didn't attend the VIP day you can still get involved by telling P&O Cruises about your perfect family friendly cruise holiday. Where in the world would you sail? What facilities would you like to see on board? What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

VIP attendees:

We have a few questions we'd like you to answer, but please add any other comments you may have.

• What was your and your family's, overall experience of your day on-board Azura?

• Were you surprised by anything you found, or didn't find, on board?

• What were your/your DCs highlights of the day?

• What did your DCs think of the facilities on-board?

• After your experience on Azura, would you consider going on a cruise for a family holiday? If so, why? If not, why not?

• Overall, if it came up in conversation, would you recommend going on a cruise to your friends and family? If so, why? If not, why not?

If you have any photos you took on the day please do upload them onto this thread, we'd love to see them! Please note that P&O Cruises may use these pictures on their facebook page, website or any other marketing material.

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

MNHQ

We didn't attend, but we've been on Azura 3 times and love her (although detest the sea screen and much prefer Ventura's pool with the retractable roof - sea screens are only suitable on ships which stay in the Caribbean IMO). They are a great holiday choice when travelling with kids without a doubt. Our perfect cruise? Eastern Med, including Venice and Dubrovnik.

My perfect cruise would have the excursions off the boat included as standard. Also plenty of space and quite spaces.

I have never been on a cruise. I would love to go somewhere lovely and warm with beautiful scenery. I think space would be important both in the cabin and for my boys to run around without worrying about staying quiet. There are 5 of us and practical sleeping arrangements would be a must. Food would also be important with family friendly food (but not 'fast food type') and family eating times. A baby sitting service for 'couple' time would be good.

My perfect family cruise would involve lots of stop offs at interesting destinations. I'd love to sail around the Mediterranean with my six and eight year old, stopping off in Barcelona, Monte Carlo and going to Florence and Rome.
Ideally there would be family friendly shows in the evenings and while we were at sea there would be swimming and sports on board. Lots of new things for them to try with me. So family fencing lessons, golf and tennis etc
I'm not interested in kids clubs, I want to spend my time with my children, but I'd like to have the option to do lots of new things with them.

Where in the world would you sail? What facilities would you like to see on board? What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?

I didn't attend the VIP day but my perfect family cruise would be departing from Southampton so less flights, travelling around the Mediterranean or fly across to cruise the Caribbean or the eastern USA including New York.

Large swimming pool is a must with a toddler friendly shallow section as a desirable, soft play section for younger children to be able to run free without being toppled by bigger ones. Gaming area for the older ones and sports and crafty sessions too. A luxurious spa to unwind in is a must for recharging mums batteries.

Lots of different restaurants and snack areas around the ship in order to fulfil children's ice cream requirements without having to roam too far away. No set dining times is good too as children are unpredictable on holiday too.

My ideal cruise would be a very child friendly one, with lots of activities in and outdoors for them, with stopovers that would interest them too ie Barcelona.

The ideal facilities would be softplay, crafts and arts activities, shows...

My ideal cruise would be one that is child orientated with lots of activities relating to place visiting!

European or further afield....just as long as you got chance to see stuff properly!

My ideal cruise would be on land, I'm afraid. I get sooooooo seasick!

I'm not really sure what my ideal cruise would be like, I've never been on a cruise ship before!

I guess it'd be useful to have adjoining/partitionable rooms with a room service option. So DH and I can sit next door and talk/read with a glass of something medicinal during the evenings, without disturbing DD or having to send one of us to trapse across the ship and find a source of liquid.

my perfect cruise would be a land cruise because I'm scared of boats!

Non-tester.

Have been on a couple of cruises pre-DC though, and both were fabulous.

Where in the world would you sail?
Anywhere and everywhere. I like independent and off the beaten track travel too, but it's also great to have everything organised sometimes. A complete rtw cruise with loads of stops would be great. I'd also be especially keen on an Xmas cruise, with a visit to Santa included.

What facilities would you like to see on board?
Contrary to most, I'm not interested in babysitting services or kids clubs - I go on holiday to spend time as a family. I would prefer not to subsidise this when paying for my holiday - it should be an optional add on.
I would like a room big enough to have a bed for all of us as we are co-sleepers.
A pool with wonderful slides and a rapid river - stuff like that.

What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?
Everything to keep DC busy and entertained - rockclimbing wall, ice rink, trampolines, soft play, disco, swings, arts and crafts club. New stuff to try that many people don't have access to very easily, like archery, circus skills etc!

Non attendee here, although we had applied for a place.

My ideal holiday would be one where you could call the childrens club at whatever time my early waking children chose to surface and they came to whisk children away for a play and breakfast giving dh and I a lie in!!!

Seriously though, I love travel and like the idea of being able to see a lot of different places but still having the same base. My concern would be that our 2 young boys are happiest in the big outdoors where there is plenty of space to let off steam and I am not sure that a cruise would allow that. They'd enjoy the swimming, kids clubs and anything active eg climbing walls but still struggle to sit though a film.

If you didn't attend the VIP day you can still get involved by telling P&O Cruises about your perfect family friendly cruise holiday. Where in the world would you sail? What facilities would you like to see on board? What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?

My perfect family friendly cruise - I think it would be a short cruise, Northern Europe or Mediterranean. I would fancy the Baltic or Scandinavia, though I think actually my favourite would be a river cruise.

I have no idea what facilities are usual on cruise ships! My conception of them is they are a bit like an enormous floating caravan or Butlins resort, a bit glitzy, with horribly patterned carpet and lots of on-board entertainments. I would prefer a small boat with fewer guests, and less facilities than some huge behemoth - I would be going in order to visit different places rather than for the on-board facilities. I would rather a few small restaurants on board that cooked well etc. I suppose room-service for food would be good though!

I am not that bothered about Kids Clubs or anything like that - I would like there to be activities that my children could do, like swimming, sport etc, but I cant see myself packing them off to a club every day, that isnt what I would call a "family" holiday.

Just writing the above makes me think maybe a cruise is not the holiday for me!

It doesn't sound like it Mackerel :o For example, we went transatlantic last month, both ways. We spent 4 hours in New York. The ship was the holiday :o

My ideal family cruise would be in the Mediterranean so I could visit lots of places that I have always wanted to see in one trip. There would be plenty of time off the ship to sight-see and lovely gluten free menu options on board.

I would love to on a cruise. My ideal cruise would have plenty to occupy the kids while we relax. A spa and unlimited loungers by the pool so that I never have to kick DH out of bed get up early to get one.

I would like to dock at a different location about every other day to stop me getting bored. I'd also like plenty of entertainment, a cinema and some quiet spaces too. While I'm dreaming, I would also like a choice of places to eat, from snack bars to child free retaurants cuisine and I'd better have a gym offering a range of classes to help me burn it all of again and a quality children's club.

Oh, and prepaid tips so I wouldn't need any cash.

Before having children I always travelled independently and would never have thought of a cruise as being for me, partly because of the cost but also because of the idea of being shepherded about with no option to change direction or make new plans half way!

Now though, a cruise does appeal more as I think being able to see new places, having facilities around me, loads to see and do and having no daily travel plans to make sounds much more relaxing!

I would like to start with a short cruise that doesn't involve travelling a huge distance to begin with. I think for me having plenty of choice when it comes to food would be very important. Also lots of entertainment that would appeal to all the family in the evenings.

I have looked at the Disney cruises, but they are beyond my budget at the moment. Kids club wouldn't be a top priority for me, I'd be more interested in things to do that we can all be involved in together.

I didn't attend the VIP day but if my family were to go on a cruise, the Mediterranean would be my first choice. Blue seas, warm breeze, cloudless skies. I love the climate there - a million miles away from the cold old UK.

The first facility that springs to mind would be a crèche, staffed by fully qualified carers. I know that sounds bad if its a family holiday, but my partner and I need a bit of together time and a holiday where we could combine that with having fun with the kids would be worth paying a bit more for.

Other facilities would be a baby area which included a breastfeeding area and some luxury privacy cubicles, creams, lotions, nappies, a lovely supportive health visitor, maybe even baby bathing facilities if some of the cabins don't have baths. Babies don't stop being babies just because you're in the middle of the sea.

In terms of activities it would be good to have a soft play area with a baby friendly bit (can you tell that I've got a baby? :0) and there are cool new things you can get for those places like TVs on the floors which show moving images that they like to crawl on. Also a high tech baby sensory area would be great - something that you don't usually get at home.

A lovely big photo studio where you can go with your baby and mess about and have fun and people take pictures without posing you or putting you under time pressure would be great, and it would also be nice if the photos were very cheap because pretty much all you want to do when you have a baby is get photos of them and lots of people cash in on that.

Speaking of mess, a messy play area (with inbuilt showers) would be great fun - lots of shaving foam, gloop and sand and paint.)

A self service or buffet restaurant would be really useful because if you know your child is going to play up you sometimes just want to eat and run. A restaurant crèche might work well there, maybe positioned in the middle of the room so you can see them, or with video monitors at the tables. And table entertainment would be great. Babies like simple things like lights and mirrors, it needn't be clowns etc.

A library with song and rhyme sessions would be important, a quiet place is really handy when you're on a fairly full on exciting holiday.

And a doctors surgery, though I'm sure you have those already.

If you didn't attend the VIP day you can still get involved by telling P&O Cruises about your perfect family friendly cruise holiday. Where in the world would you sail? What facilities would you like to see on board? What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?
We cruised on Celebrity Eclipse with our 2 teenagers , and it turned out to be a perfect holiday .
Best parts for me ...
Leaving from Southampton , so no hanging round at airports .
I would choose the Mediterranean again , maybe Italy though , not Spain again ( and I've always wanted to go to Iceland )
I like to see facilities for children of all ages , a bored toddler maybe annoying , a bored teenager is so much worse ! DD ( 13 at the time ) loved the treasure hunt , midnight pool party ,
DS (15 ) just enjoyed the freedom of being able to wander round with his new friends
I would have liked a pool big enough to swim in , and more sunbeds !

I didn't attend the VIP day but my perfect cruise holiday would be a cruise where the kids are kept entertained while I get to relax. and have a break from day to day life at home. Facilities - varied eateries, kids play spaces and pool.

Non attender here (sadly!)

Where in the world would you sail?

I would love to sail around Canada (not all of it clearly)

What facilities would you like to see on board?

Kids clubs
The night nursery sounds fab (not sure I could use it though)
Spa
Library for children and adults
Good food - range of cafes / restaurants

What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?

Crafty stuff
sporty games
Puzzles
Swimming

did not attend but here's my views on the perfect family cruise:

Where in the world would you sail?
Probably not too far away - as the experience of the cruise would be just as exciting as where we might visit.

What facilities would you like to see on board?

Child / baby friendly facilities - are areas safe for children? are there high chairs / cots etc. Are attitudes friendly and understanding towards kids - even kids with special needs (Aspergers).

What activities would you, and your DCs, like to be able to get involved in while on board?
Plenty of activities to choose from would be good and a way of minimising any waiting / queues. My kids love swimming, bowling, games rooms - generally stuff we can do as a family that keeps them happy.

We don't necessarily need childcare or kids clubs as due to our sons special needs , he won't stay without us. just plenty of fun activities for us all.

Hopezibah - we took our 9yo DS with Aspergers on our cruise this year and he was very well catered for, they assured me that they would not be worried about behaviour in the restaurant (he struggles to stay in a seat for long, talks very loudly and is a very fussy eater) and it was true. They were also great with him at the kids club, they gave pagers to parents of SN children just in case and he loved it there. This was Royal Caribbean Intl.

I would love a cruise that involved creative writing, with wonderful writers (Margaret Atwood springs to mind) great food and interesting literary places. Ian Fleming's Jamaica - that sort of thing. But it would also have enough stimulation (and good food) to keep a teen interested. So perhaps some YA authors too!