Brayman

You're not really our of pocket though are you?

Agreeing with all the above plus points for Aurora, the one big thing for me is space, Oceana gets really crowded in the evenings because everyone is inside, during the day more are outside and there is ample space for everyone. Aurora is much more comfortable with plenty of seating at any time. The Crows Nest is so much better use of space than the buffet on Oceana. The stern on Oceana is nothing but the aft tiered decks on Aurora are just perfect. Both have a nice wide Prom deck. Personally I prefer the Glasshouse to both Cafe Jardin and Cafe Bordeaux. Oceana's bathrooms and showers are tiny too.

2 hours ago, Tablelamp said:

Thank you Dave,  it sounds similar to the Aurora.   Does it overlook the stern?   I get up early and all I need is to be nice and quiet, looking at the sea with no piped music but plenty of coffee.   Not much to ask is it.  

Christine

Unfortunately, nothing like the stern of Aurora. The stern of Oceana is one of its most disappointing aspects.

My view exactly, except we're more in to Gin than cocktails. Always buy bottles of wine at dinner but they're not included, so no point for us.

A bit ironic but our local Thomas Cook shop closed earlier in the year and the premises taken over by a charity called "Going for Bust"

11 minutes ago, Tablelamp said:

 

I think of those people who have been travelling for most of the day.  A nice shower before dinner, but to wake up on the first day of their cruise and be confronted with wet towels in the bathroom is dreadful.  I am aware, that in order to keep the prices down, P and O need to make cut backs (and some)!  but this most certainly must not spread to cleanliness.  If what we have heard is not a ‘one off’ it is absolutely shocking.

We may not have had a turn down but I'm prety sure the bathroom was tidied.

41 minutes ago, Tablelamp said:

This wonderful show which is shown on several ships, now has the narrator waving their arms about in time to the EXCELLENT music.   This is not a narrator’s job and detracts from the music.  Am I missing a change in the word narrator?

Which ship are yo on, who is the narrator, is it the Entertainment Manager or one of the Ents staff?

7 minutes ago, Balernocalling said:

Hi there, Could you please tell me who the Captain is for Aurora  and also the Entertainment manager?

Thanks.

David Pembridge and Jon Bartram

3 hours ago, majortom10 said:

The prices in your folder in your cabin are for bottles of spirits to be drunk onboard in your cabin and are not there to be purchased to be bought home. Never been on a cruise where spirit prices for onboard consumption purchased through room service are cheaper than those purchased in the shop onboard. All shops onboard are franchises and not run by P&O.

On Aurora last year that was definitely the case and i will be checking again in two weeks. Having ordered two bottles of Anderson's Gin in the Duty Free shop we found them cheaper in the Cabin so cancelled the Duty Free order.

Don't just assume that prices in the Duty Free shop will be cheaper than the in-cabin prices, we checked last year before completing our purchases and there was a difference and not always the same way! I believe the Duty Free shop is run by a franchise but the in-cabin sales are P&O direct, hence the discrepancies.

By the way the in-cabin sales count towards your duty free allowance if bringing them into the UK.

On 6/14/2019 at 11:25 AM, Denarius said:

Never been a fan of Aurora, my least favourite P&O ship. I have always considered her a poor man's Oriana, with almost everything on the latter being superior where a direct comparison could be made; the Lords Tavern versus Champions, Harlequins versus Masquerade, Tiffanys versus Raffles, the furnishings in the libraries, ... Am I the only P&O regular who feels that way?

I'm quite the opposite. We had three cruises on Oriana and liked it apart from a few niggles but from our first cruise on Aurora it quickly became our favourite. I would agree that Harlequins is far superior to Masquerade.

I hope not!!!!

Catania, like most Sicillian ports is a dump, you are best getting out of town as soon as you can.

Am I clear on this package? If you have bought the package and are happily obtaining drinks on your package and then I come along to have a chat, are you not permitted to buy me a drink on your package?

I believe there are various versions of the Nutshell tour and some of them take more than a day! The P&O one is basically up the mountain and back by a different route. I have the P&O one booked for July on Aurora.

12 hours ago, purplesea said:

I have never done Freedom dining as I prefer Club Dining.  It is nice to have the same waiters each evening as they get to know your preferences and you also get to know them.

My mother has an allergy to cheese she is given the menu for the next day to choose what she wants and if necessary any adjustments can be made, which I think would be more difficult with Freedom.

I also have a cheese allergy and always opt for Freedom Dining. The Head Waiter seeks me out every evening and gives me the following day's menus (lunch and dinner) to make my choices from. No problems at all.

7 minutes ago, AmandaLMcL said:

If you buy wine by the bottle (rather than a package), how is it managed? Can you take your half drunk bottle back to the cabin? 

You can take it to any part of the ship to continue drinking it and even leave it in the restaurant for a later night.

4 minutes ago, phoenix1975 said:

It's gone rather off the original topic now. I don't have any OBC and was asking about the discount you get from being a Peninsular club member.

Then you are laughing, you don't need to "worry" at all about your OBC, I do feel sorry for those that have that worry though! 🙂

6 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Confused about something.  P&O have changed their website - and not for the better, but on our cruise next week.  It says "For a little Extra, The Beach House, Champions Bar and Andersons"  What ?  you have to pay extra in those places, or am I being stupid.

 

https://www.pocruises.com/find-a-cruise/R906/R906

Anderson's have those specialist gins with various concoctions which my wife likes and I have a feeling that they are not included in the drinks package, costs between £7 and £10 from memory.

45 minutes ago, BrianI said:

Confirm that Neil Turnbul is the captain. Interesting that on the way down to check out some changes made to the engines we had to do a 3 hour full speed run and Aurora reached 27 knots. This was followed by a crash stop which involved putting the engines to full astern from 25 knots. There was a bit of vibration but the ship stopped in 6 lengths.

Brian

6 lengths! That's good going, as is 27 knots. Quite an exhilarating trip by the sounds of it!

You really think a Television is important when on holiday???

1 hour ago, cornflake girl said:

 

Thank you for your super quick response. I thought the same as you...

 

The dining staff had no problem seating just the 3 of us on a table for 4 when dining in Freedom but we did have to wait at times which, with a 4 year old, wasn't great. We may just have to wing it or get there super early!

It's been a while since we did fixed time dining but I thought that your table is already allocated, so presumably you have asked for a table for 3 on booking. It will likely be a table with 4 seats but if they know that the third seat is to be occupied by a 4 year old then it would be highly unlikely that they would allocate the 4th seat at all.

I hope it all works out for you.

Yes, there are changing rooms between the pools, for males at least, I can't speak for female facilities.

7 hours ago, napoxoguk said:

I think you must've misunderstood your guide - they might have referred to "indirect" (Venitian) technique being used, vs. "direct" (Roman) one. 

 

But it's hard to argue that the beauty, as always, is in the eye of the beholder.

I think it was use of the word "fake" that surprised us so much, and not just in the Church of Spilled Blood!

1 minute ago, jh1809 said:

Try to do an excursion that takes in the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood. The outside is remarkable enough, but the inside is the most amazing interior of a building that I've ever seen.

I was rather underwhelmed by the interior when our Russian guide told us it was mainly fake! What looks like mosaic is actually just paint it seems.