Beach house on aurora

[galeforce9]

Does anyone have recent experiences - good or bad?  Is it usually necessary to pre-book? 

[alanbab]

We dined at the Beach House on Aurora in June and it was so good that we went 3 times! The steak on a hot stone is excellent. Yes to get the time that you want I would book. Enjoy.

[galeforce9]

15 minutes ago, alanbab said:

We dined at the Beach House on Aurora in June and it was so good that we went 3 times! The steak on a hot stone is excellent. Yes to get the time that you want I would book. Enjoy.

 

Thanks alanbab. Just what I was hoping to hear!!  I like the look of the sample menus. 

[Cristaltips]

I agree with alanbab, we went twice on our last cruise and the hot stone steak is lovely. If you want to eat outside in warmer climes, I would definitely book. Ooh, it’s making me hungry!!!!

[gadabout60]

Was there yesterday and I would say it was only so so. I think we may have made the wrong choices from the menu. 

 

Other thing I didn’t like was the lighting. It was really really bright and in no way atmospheric. They said that will be addressed at the refit 

[Selbourne]

We like the Beach House as it is a welcome break from the main dining room. Some people dismiss it as being the food from the buffet. It isn’t. Think high quality American diner, with food cooked to order. Main courses are very good (other than the ribs, which used to be excellent when the Beach House concept was launched, but changed for the worse with the new menus and now have a very odd flavour). The lava steaks are excellent and the seafood skewer is a monster. We do, however, find the starters and deserts to be poor. I tend to go for the nachos with chorizo as a starter (my wife likes the pork crackling, which are more like prawn crackers in texture than the ‘pub’ variety). For desert we often just ask for Eton Mess ice cream on its own (it comes with a desert that we don’t like). As with all Select dining restaurants, reservations are often not needed very early on in a cruise, but are certainly advised towards the end. If we have lots of OBC to use up, we make all Select dining reservations on day 1 to secure our first choice days and times. I’m prepared to be corrected, but I don’t believe that the Beach House on Aurora has an option to dine outside. At least I’ve never noticed it if it does. 

[tartanexile81]

We did  the Supper Club in September and we wouldn't recommend wasting money on that. We were very disappointed compared to Britannia and Azura. However we went a few times just for dinner which we enjoyed and we generally didn't book.

 

And I agree with Selbourne,  there's no option to dine outside due to its Deck 8 midship / aft ocation

[Kitekat]

We dined at the Beach House twice during our late November cruise on Aurora. The food was variable. Loved the ribs, but the buffalo wings were disappointing. Dessert too was variable. We did book but there were always tables free.

 

The location was a corner of the Horizon buffet so I would expect that it would be possible to dine outside in warmer weather. The Glass House is located on Deck 8 and has fabulous food (not to mention excellent wines selected by Ollie Smith) and was a firm favourite with our family.

[simonpjd]

Result from the Dartmoor jury.

Beach House 0

Glass House 5

no contest.

[Selbourne]

Like others, we much prefer the Glasshouse, but the OP was asking specifically about the Beach House on Aurora.

 

Could those who think it would be possible to dine outside in the Beach House on Aurora please confirm if they have ever done so? It’s not like the buffet, where you can select your food and sit where you like - indoors or outdoors. Tables are laid and it’s waiter service and on all our cruises on Aurora, where we have dined in the Beach House around a dozen times (including warm weather cruises) I have never seen an area outside laid up for Beach House customers. 

 

As I have said, I am quite prepared to be corrected, but I fear that the OP may be being mislead as, like tartanexile81, I don’t believe that this is an option on Aurora. It’s worth noting that if indeed this is an option (on Caribbean cruises, maybe?) the port side of the outside area on this aft deck is a smoking area, so this would deter us from dining outside in this area, even if it were possible, as you would still smell the fumes. 

[galeforce9]

Thanks for all your advice.  I am interested in the other select dinng venues on aurora too.  I sailed on her quite a bit in the early years from 2000 on but that was in the cafe Bordeaux days etc!  We’ve tried the glass house on azures and loved it but wondered wherher aurora’s was a pale imitation, similarly with Sindhu, which we were a massive fan off on inception elsewhere.  

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, galeforce9 said:

Thanks for all your advice.  I am interested in the other select dinng venues on aurora too.  I sailed on her quite a bit in the early years from 2000 on but that was in the cafe Bordeaux days etc!  We’ve tried the glass house on azures and loved it but wondered wherher aurora’s was a pale imitation, similarly with Sindhu, which we were a massive fan off on inception elsewhere.  

The Select dining venues do vary a lot by ship. We love the Glasshouse on Aurora as it is in an area with negligible passing traffic, so is always quiet. A number of passengers feel that it lacks atmosphere as a result, but it suits us. Although not advertised, it is open for lunch on embarkation day and well worth using in order to avoid the hubbub of the buffet or the unimpressive priority boarders lunch. We always have lunch there after embarkation and get to know the manager and team (as we are usually the only passengers in there!) who always give us exemplary service thereafter. The food is excellent, as is the choice of wines, although the wine flights (3 different wines) have been drastically reduced in choice since the concept was launched. We much prefer the Glasshouse on Aurora to those on the bigger ships where their atrium locations make them noisy, very busy and difficult to get a table at peak times. 

 

Whilst we love Sindhu on all the other P&O ships, we dislike the one on Aurora. It is alongside the small congested atrium and the coffee shop (which extends in to it during the day), with no sound screening separating it. It isn’t as nicely furnished as on the other ships. As a result it is very noisy (one time we could barely hear each other speak when a group of passengers stood outside laughing and joking for ages) and lacks the discrete and upmarket ambiance of the other Sindhu restaurants. We have also found the service to be poor compared to the exemplary service given in the Glasshouse and Beach House. Over several cruises we have found that the staff don’t seem to enjoy working in there and seem quite miserable. As a result, we have stopped using it for dinner, but a few months ago we had a couple of ‘Tiffin’ lunches in there. Whilst the service remained poor, the food was good. 

 

Sadly, there is no fine dining restaurant on Aurora. I was hoping that this would be rectified in the 2019 refit, but sadly not. The Epicurean on Britannia is our favourite restaurant in the entire P&O fleet. 

[annieuk]

We too would love to see an Epicurean on Aurora - would have thought it was an ideal ship for it.  We, unlike many others don't like the Beach Club - we don't like the menu, apart from the lava steak which is good.  We like the Glasshouse very much, a very good, wide choice of menu - you can just have a lunch snack there or a full meal.  Sometimes on Aurora it seemed understaffed but we enjoyed the evenings we spent there.  We were on the 65 night circumnavigation of South America so it was good to have somewhere else other than the MDR to eat.  We did eat once in the buffet in the evening but don't like the atmosphere and do like to be served in the evening.  We are not lovers of Indian food so only went to Sindhu once and while the food is beautifully served and presented it's just not to our taste.  We sound very fussy but we're honestly not!  Sindhu didn't seem to be very full on many evenings and the staff were often trying to sell special offers.  We first went on Aurora just before the end of Cafe Bordeaux which we really enjoyed but it didn't make any money - enough said!

[Brayman]

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Like others, we much prefer the Glasshouse, but the OP was asking specifically about the Beach House on Aurora.

 

Could those who think it would be possible to dine outside in the Beach House on Aurora please confirm if they have ever done so? It’s not like the buffet, where you can select your food and sit where you like - indoors or outdoors. Tables are laid and it’s waiter service and on all our cruises on Aurora, where we have dined in the Beach House around a dozen times (including warm weather cruises) I have never seen an area outside laid up for Beach House customers. 

 

As I have said, I am quite prepared to be corrected, but I fear that the OP may be being mislead as, like tartanexile81, I don’t believe that this is an option on Aurora. It’s worth noting that if indeed this is an option (on Caribbean cruises, maybe?) the port side of the outside area on this aft deck is a smoking area, so this would deter us from dining outside in this area, even if it were possible, as you would still smell the fumes. 

 

We have done three cruises (Baltic, Canaries, Med) on Aurora and on each one have dined outside twice per cruise at the Beach House and never inside. They use the area on the starboard side of the Pennant Bar. The tables are laid up each evening and I would definitely recommend booking. We tend to choose the evenings when we have a sail out from an interesting port, eg Stockholm or Naples.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Brayman
legibility

[jeanlyon]

1 hour ago, annieuk said:

We too would love to see an Epicurean on Aurora - would have thought it was an ideal ship for it.  We, unlike many others don't like the Beach Club - we don't like the menu, apart from the lava steak which is good.  We like the Glasshouse very much, a very good, wide choice of menu - you can just have a lunch snack there or a full meal.  Sometimes on Aurora it seemed understaffed but we enjoyed the evenings we spent there.  We were on the 65 night circumnavigation of South America so it was good to have somewhere else other than the MDR to eat.  We did eat once in the buffet in the evening but don't like the atmosphere and do like to be served in the evening.  We are not lovers of Indian food so only went to Sindhu once and while the food is beautifully served and presented it's just not to our taste.  We sound very fussy but we're honestly not!  Sindhu didn't seem to be very full on many evenings and the staff were often trying to sell special offers.  We first went on Aurora just before the end of Cafe Bordeaux which we really enjoyed but it didn't make any money - enough said!

I have looked at the Beach House menu a few times with my husband and we just don't like the menu.  Can get steak anywhere.  Used to love the Sorrento on Oriana for really good Italian food.  We were sorry when that went.  American food leaves me cold.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Brayman said:

 

We have done three cruises (Baltic, Canaries, Med) on Aurora and on each one have dined outside twice per cruise at the Beach House and never inside. They use the area on the starboard side of the Pennant Bar. The tables are laid up each evening and I would definitely recommend booking. We tend to choose the evenings when we have a sail out from an interesting port, eg Stockholm or Naples.

Many thanks for confirming. Strange, as we have done a few warm weather cruises on Aurora and never noticed the outdoor area being used. As I’ve said, we wouldn’t use it for fear of smells from the smoking area, but it’s great that the facility exists for those who aren’t bothered by such things. 

[Selbourne]

54 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I have looked at the Beach House menu a few times with my husband and we just don't like the menu.  Can get steak anywhere.  Used to love the Sorrento on Oriana for really good Italian food.  We were sorry when that went.  American food leaves me cold.

It’s true that you can get ‘steak’ of some description anywhere Jean, but the fillet served on hot lava stone is quite unlike any of the steaks served in any of the other restaurants, including the Glasshouse. It’s melt in the mouth, not the chewy stuff served in the MDR. If you do enjoy steak, it’s worth a visit for that alone!

[annieuk]

Just to clarify we have dined both inside and out at the Beach House on Aurora, can't remember exactly where we were at the time.  Obviously if it was a cold area cruise - eg the Christmas Markets cruise, one wouldn't wish to dine outside!

[groovechick]

We've also dined in the outside area of the Beach House on Aurora and as Brayman says, it's located to one side of the Pennant Bar. Very pleasant indeed. No smoking smells whatsoever. 

@galeforce9, our first experience of the Beach House was on Britannia and we loved it, We did not enjoy the experience on Aurora anywhere near as much. The new Tex-Mex style menu was not so much to our taste as the previous menu. It may also just have been the kitchen/waiting staff on the day, but there were several issues with our booking and meal and we ended up being given a bottle of wine as an apology.

[jeanlyon]

We have fillet steak at home.  It's funny, but when going out I like foreign food a lot more than basic UK or US food.  Italian, Indian, Thai etc.  Actually I have had very good steak in the MDR a couple of times.  But that's usually when I don't like the rest of the menu.  Now if that makes me sound fussy, it's not that, but I am not big for roasts and every night it seems to be roast beef, roast lamb, turkey, when I would love say a chicken dish in a sauce or similar.  They are very big for English meat dishes which I find boring.

Edited December 23, 2018 by jeanlyon

[gadabout60]

The food in the MDR in Aurora seems to me to be of better standard than before but still too much fish for my personal taste

we have eaten in the Glass House a few times and in my opinion it’s miles better than the Beach House

think they have some new staff though as whilst they are all lovely and friendly some of them don’t know much about the menu

 

[Daftlad]

My experiences with the Beach House venues on Azura, Ventura, Britannia and Oceana, sadly not Aurora, have generally been very positive.

My last experience was marred somewhat by the presence of a large family group consisting adults and children age range 4 to 8 years. Put simply the parents were at one end of the table arrangement and the youngsters at the other and the youngsters became unruly. 

Myself and my wife were not the only patrons a bit put out by this and the change in atmosphere from a less intrusive experience to more like the buffet at peak time.

I mentioned about maybe introducing a minimum age requirement when asked for feedback, but do not know if this is being considered.

[BrianI]

Aurora will be adult only from May so this problem will go away.

Brian

[philsuarez]

Have just eaten in Beach House and Glass House on board Aurora. Food was excellent in both although service was a little slow in Glass House. Top notch in Beach House.