P&O SUE

I despair of people sometimes, I really do. I must admit the lifts on Aurora were brilliant, big for the size of ship! Of course, as she’s smaller used the stairs quite a lot as well. We always self disembark now and the waiting for a lift on the last morning is normally quite bad. On Aurora we got in the first lift that arrived and just walked off the ship about 5 minutes after getting out the lift - bliss!

The next day we woke to calm seas. We were due into Rotterdam about 3pm. We had breakfast in the buffet about 8.45 and was very pleased to see the omelette station. Not too busy at that time. We had a walk around the Prom deck. Then went to the coffee shop Raffles and ended up in the Crows nest for lovely views as we sailed into Rotterdam, takes about two hours to transit through. Lovely and sunny and it felt very warm with the sun pouring through the glass. I did a lot of reading. We then had lunch in the Glasshouse, we had the three small plates. I had a glass of the Money Spider which was lovely. We went up to Prom deck to watch us dock. We waited a good half hour before we ventured out but there was a big queue in front of us! We crossed the Erasmus bridge and got lovely views of Aurora docked. I’ll leave the rest of the day for now as it was a bit fraught!

Thought I’d do a write up of our cruise. Our first time on Aurora and my 11th cruise. We went down the night before to Southampton and stayed at the Hilton with a view over the cricket ground. Lovely room, fab view over the cricket ground but the pillows were very uncomfortable. Good breakfast on the Thursday morning and we sat in the bar til 11am (with coffee!)before making our way to Mayflower terminal. We pulled up exactly at our embarkation time of 12.45am but we had to sit in our car for quite a while to wait for CPS. I was a bit anxious that we could see long queues outside the terminal already but as we reached the building I could see a sign saying to wait if we were early so by now it was nearly 1-15 so we quickly went in as we could hear them call out that if your time was 2pm or earlier you could go in! Anyway we snaked round, constantly moving, were checked in, and through security and on the ship by about 1.30. We went to our muster station and a call went out that the cabins were ready. We were in a sea view on E deck and when we got there our cases were already there! The benefit of a smaller ship! I took a photo of our cabin and the time on it says 1-42pm. we dragged the cases in and went up to the buffet for lunch. It was busy but bearable and we got a table with no trouble. We then went to look at the Crows nest and I was very taken by the big wing chairs in front of the big windows. After unpacking we settled down for sail away which was about 4-45pm. Dinner was pre booked for the Beach House at 7pm. We enjoyed that and it was quite fun watching everyone staggering about because it was quite choppy. The show by the theatre company was cancelled that night due to the weather. I was absolutely fine but John was feeling a bit green so we retired early to our cabin. IMG_0353.mov

@Beckett Jane, thank you for mentioning the sea sickness medication, however I’ve never taken anything on a cruise with me as I seem to have good sea legs 🤞🏻 John did feel a bit rough so we had to retire to our cabin fairly early the first night. We ate in the Beach House the first night which is high up. I think perhaps if we’d been lower down he would have been better. People were staggering about with the motion, it was quite something! Haven’t had rocky weather on a cruise for years! Was fine after the first evening.

Hello all, we are back from our Easter break on Aurora. We had a good time, with one unfortunate adventure! I will do a longer post later, probably tomorrow as we’re going to our son's later. For now here is the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam near where we were docked.

And we’re off, hello from The Crows Nest Aurora. Have a good weekend everyone.

Hi all, we have arrived at the Hilton overlooking the cricket ground. Lovely view from our balcony 😁 Back on Monday.

Unusually I hadn’t seen the early evening news or looked on my news app on my phone. Phoned mum just after 6 (I find just after ‘The Chase’ is a good time to get her 😀) So it was mum who told me about Catherine, it really is quite upsetting when you see her video. It must have been awful for them to tell their children. I’m sure she’s getting the best possible care.

Evening all, so pleased to hear you have got the go ahead for your cruise @Josy1953 now go ahead and have a great time. Another stressful day at work, not enough appointments to go round! Better not say anything else, too political! Next Wednesday can’t come soon enough!

Only had a short cruise on both of these ships but I wanted to go back on them both, lovely memories.

Thankyou Avril, people round here have really let them get huge!

@Josy1953 good luck for this afternoon, I’ve got everything crossed for you. Even though our cruise is only 4 nights I’m getting really excited now, hope we get onboard with no hiccups! Because of the Bank Holidays and my day off being Tuesday I’ve only booked two days off work but got over a week off! Going down to Southampton a week tomorrow Eek! 😁

It looked delicious Graham!

Down South, I’ve been commenting on the magnolias round here, lots of front gardens with HUGE trees! I always thought they were a bush 😁 Anyway they all look lovely.

I can understand that but we’ve never had a problem (so far!) with the buffet whereas I was a bit underwhelmed with the MDR lunch we had last year, plus we were on one of those awful tables for two that are so close to the next door ones!

I like the Glasshouse locations on Azura and Ventura. We like having the tapas dishes at lunchtime on a sea day when there’s hordes in the buffet! I know many of you go to the MDR for lunch but we’re usually happy with the buffet.

I see there’s 2 new cruises for Iona now for March 2025. A 5 night and a two week Canaries cruise.

I’m sad our journey has ended with you Tiger, looking forward to the next one!

Great reports and photos Tiger! I did chuckle at your laundrette stories 😁 And yes I have happy memories of a Wimpy banana split, although it was the 80’s for me 😉

It was Eavesway, haven’t seen anything else about it, I’m gutted for them.

Thank you Jane, I’ve just got home from a manic morning at work and booked the Beach House for my upcoming cruise 😁

Happy birthday to Pauline, hope you spoil her Graham, I’m sure you will! 🎂🎈🥂🎂🎈🥂🥳

My last word on the Royal photo, one of the ‘errors’ was Charlotte’s hair was shorter one side than the other!!! What a load of rubbish, it was obviously down her back! People these days just want to cause trouble!

Morning all, just seen that due to an awful crash on the M6 yesterday Aurora left without a coach!! Those poor people, I’d be devastated. I can’t find many details but it seems they did wait for a while for them.

My tulips are coming out so they’re brightening up the day!