Overview

My wife has had MS for 40 years and is now confoined to her personalised electric wheelchair. We have cruised many times before on a number of cruise lines but found our trip on the Azura particularly disappointing on many levels. Pre-cruisecommunication/assistance was very poor and misleading. Staff assistance was generally poor. Staff did not generally listen and were not empathetic to my wife's needs. Shore excursions offered were discriminatory. On the plus side, the ports visited were amazing and weather was kind - where we could get out.

Transport & Parking

Drop-off parking at Manchester airport was relatively uneventful. On exiting Valletta Airport we were guided to PO Representatives who initially tried to get my wife to board a bus! Eventually, having explained we had already coordinated wheelchair accessible transport with their accessibility team they ordered a suitable taxi. As a result we were late getting to cruise terminal. There was a queue of busesfull of passengers outside cruise terminal blocking lowered paving area. The driver tried to explain to bus drivers and P&O staff that area was required but they ignored him. We had to wait until all passengers had disembarked and buses left to access drop-off point. Check-in staff were almost gone as we were last passengers to board. Not a great start. Disembarkation was equally chaotic. We had been assigned at time to meet in on-board restaurant for 10.30. Our flight was leaving at 12.30. Knowing the usual delays for wheelchair passengerrs at airports, we queried timings with Guest Services on the night before and on morning of departure but were told "we have done this before, do not worry". This did not decrease our anxiety. We were invited to disembark at 10.40 and shared the taxi with another genetleman in a wheelchair whose flight was 12.00. We arrived at the airport at 11.30 and we were dumped 200m from terminal building on a busy access road without lowered pavements. It took a while, and our lives in our hands, to get to a lowered pavement at the terminal building. We arrived at the Gate for 12.10 to find that staff had not been informed that assistance was required. Once again, we were last on board and had the indignity of being transported through the packed plane on an aisle chair. There was no room in overhead lockers for hand luggage, foot rests, chair cushion etc. The plane was further delayed when airport staff boarded the staff for us to complete the paperwork for loading chair in hold. Picking up the car at Manchester airport was relatively uneventful.

Access

Cruise ships are generally reasonable for disabled access (once aboard). However, we wexperienced a few issues of note. As we were the last passengers on board, few staff were available to guide us to our cabin. No-one checked us in, showed us to our cabin or gave us key for cabin. When we arrived at the cabin it was locked. We could not see how to get access. There were no visable staff on that deck. I had to go to another deck to be told that keycard would be in envelop in mailbox for the cabin by cabin door. Arriving back at cabin we eventually spotted white envelope and mailbox which was located about 5 feet from floor (see picture). Not exactly obvious and certainly not accessible for someone in a wheelchair. We appreciate that cabin staff have to clean rooms but the clutter in corridors and lift/stairways was unreasonable. I usually had to move at least 4 or 5 trolleys to allow my wife to pass with her wheelchair. Staff were not usually available. How would a wheelchair person access their cabin on their own?

Toilets

There were no changing places toilets available. Disabled toilets had reasonable space/facilities but had full-size sinks with an overly large marble surround which made it very difficult for wheelchair user to reach taps. Laundry was inaccessible to wheelchair users as door had a raised threshold and space between units were too narrow.

Staff

As usual, some staff were excellent. Especially those who got to know your needs i.e. stewards and dining staff. Guest services and excursion staff, in our experience, were not overly helpful or sympathetic. Guest services did not know if shuttle buses were accessible. On a number of occasions we had been reassured by Guest Services that buses were accessible only to find that was not the case once we were off the ship. They claimed they could not tell in advance if buses accessible as transport provided by third party. Guest services were not sympathetic about non-access to laundry or our concerns about disembarkation timings. Excursion staff initially promoted accessible tours for wheelchair users but when we questioned the price differential for able-bodied (£47/person) and accessible (£210/person) they quickly cancelled our bookings and discontinued tours and were generally, unhelpful. It is not reasonable, according to UK and EU law, for disabled passengers to pay significantly more for the same tour. Charging disabled passengers (and their accompanying carer) over four times the able-bodied person proce for the same tour is not, in our opinion, reasonable. To then cancel the tours at very short notice because they are not cost effective is again, in our opinion, unreasonable. It certainly impacted our abilityn to enjoy our cruise

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