Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[zap99]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Let's all agree that its P&O fault for not having enough seats in the theatre to cater for all the various disabilities. Even worse not policing it well enough to ensure that everyone knows the correct protocol.

Very sorry John, but I can't agree it's P&O's fault. If I park in a mother and baby space, I could argue that We had a baby and DW is a mother. It's not Tesco's fault that I can't understand what a little picture of a baby buggy means.🤣

[smokey01]

On 1/12/2024 at 3:02 PM, Selbourne said:

Hardly any surprise in that though Jean. For what is effectively a mass catering environment, we feel that the choice is pretty good. We anticipate that the menus will start to repeat in a few weeks time, but rarely has there been a menu where there was only one thing that we would have been happy to order, so we can still achieve variety. Even if we order the same thing as last time, we are still getting far more variety than we have at home!

I’m loving looking at the menu’s. Our last P&O cruise was April 2023 on Arvia where I found I just could not handle not knowing WHEN I could actually get into to the dining room that I subsequently cancelled multiple cruises. I’m now feeling like cruising again. MSC first in April but followed by Britannia July 5th. The menu selection you are showing is very appealing to me, and I feel a little stupid now as in April 2023 I thought the actual meals we ate in the MDR on Arvia were lovely but I just could not handle not knowing when I would dine. So I’m looking forward to Britannia in July with fixed late dining and hopefully these or similar menu choices. I’ve cruised since the early 90’s and know it is not quite the melt in the mouth dining I got then but since covid I have tended to enjoy P&O food over RCL and MSC and the price per cruise is lower so overall a good compromise. 

[carlanthony24]

https://www.portbermudawebcam.com Aurora on webcam 

[jh1809]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Just docking now (0930). The Captain has done really well, as this is earlier than he predicted. Once again, we are all incredibly grateful that he avoided the worst of the weather system. This minor delay is a tiny price to pay and well worth it. 
 

I have just flagged my concern about US immigration, and how my wife can be dealt with if I am on a tour, with reception. They weren’t terribly helpful but at least I’ve flagged it 6 days before we hit the US. I can see this will be an issue. Watch this space! 

Perhaps the excursions desk would be more helpful.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Very sorry John, but I can't agree it's P&O's fault. If I park in a mother and baby space, I could argue that We had a baby and DW is a mother. It's not Tesco's fault that I can't understand what a little picture of a baby buggy means.🤣

Not quite the same, able bodied supermarket customers could probably argue that there are far more blue badge and mother and baby spaces than is necessary.

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, GOQ said:

Perhaps it would be nice if you could ask your wife to contribute a few sentences to your daily report , so we can all see her point of view. 

My wife struggles to type now. Just one of the dozens of issues that blight her life. I refer to her challenges often so as to help prepare others who may be in a similar position. She reads all of my daily updates before I post so as to ensure that they are fair and balanced and cover her views as well as mine. 

[mrsgoggins]

I've just caught up with your thread and I'm still enjoying it. I'll add to my own soon but wanted to tell you that we have had similar conditions to you both with sea conditions and overcast skies.

 

Today is our first full of 'like glass' sailing conditions and with full sun, although being on the starboard side we have yet to get the full benefit in our cabin.

 

The talking non stop in the theatre is very annoying, but so far has only affected us in Tamarind, where we had gone to see a vocalist. A party sitting behind us continued with 'normal voice' conversations throughout. I restrained DH from saying anything because a) it's not the theatre and b) we are very likely to see them again, possibly when dining!

 

We are still at sea and dock in Barbados in the morning (Sunday). I hope you had a good time in Bermuda (we had a boat trip around the fabulous homes near the port there last year) and that you and your wife managed the US Immigration palaver without difficulty.

 

 

 

 

[zap99]

10 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

My wife struggles to type now. Just one of the dozens of issues that blight her life. I refer to her challenges often so as to help prepare others who may be in a similar position. She reads all of my daily updates before I post so as to ensure that they are fair and balanced and cover her views as well as mine. 

No need to explain. Just somebody trying to back track. Please just ignore it and continue your excellent review.

[Selbourne]

I meant to comment on this when I first noticed it in Madeira, but our beloved Aurora is looking quite shabby on the outside. Rust always happens with the salt spray, and the teams are usually very good at keeping on top of it, but on all our cruises on her I’ve never noticed it this bad. When she was alongside in Funchal, Ventura looked in far better shape. Here’s just one example…

Edited January 13 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

A variety of shots from around Bermuda today 

[Interestedcruisefan]

41 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I meant to comment on this when I first noticed it in Madeira, but our beloved Aurora is looking quite shabby on the outside. Rust always happens with the salt spray, and the teams are usually very good at keeping on top of it, but on all our cruises on her I’ve never noticed it this bad. When she was alongside in Funchal, Ventura looked in far better shape. Here’s just one example…

That looks awful

[zap99]

42 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

That looks awful

If I had just swam the Altantic, I would need more touching up than Aurora.🤣

[Purdey16]

When we were on her in December they were painting her but the back end and up the middle, did see if they finished it but if they did it didn’t last long .

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

When we were on her in December they were painting her but the back end and up the middle, did see if they finished it but if they did it didn’t last long .

There’s rust along the sides and back as well. As I said, we noticed it in Madeira, even before the transatlantic. 

[Selbourne]

Day 11 - Saturday 13th January - Bermuda 

 

As mentioned in yesterdays blog we were late arriving and even though we are a small ship and the only cruise ship in Bermuda today, we didn’t berth in Hamilton itself, but at the dockyard which is on the opposite side of the island to the capital. Horizon was showing a revised arrival time of 11am and, as a result, I’d had a letter to say that my 9.30am tour will now be departing at 10.30am 🤔😂

 

As it happened we were alongside and clear to disembark by 10am. We had a brief breakfast in the Medina restaurant prior to me disembarking in order to join the ‘Bermuda Island Drive’ tour. The tour was in a minibus with about 20 or so of us with a driver who also acted as guide. He explained various things about the dockyard area as we drove through it and then maintained a fairly constant commentary throughout the tour. 

 

We drove across the world’s smallest drawbridge (32 inches, opening just enough to allow the mast of a yacht through) and our first stop was a tiny mid 17th century church. Whilst here our guide explained that all the roofs in Bermuda are limestone with a limestone cement over them, painted white. The cement is graduated down in steps and there is a gulley built in which sends rainwater to a holding tank. Houses around the island are a variety of pastel and brighter colours, but all have the obligatory white roof.

 

Next stop was a beach where the sand is supposed to be pink (looked pretty normal sand colour to me, but it wasn’t sunny) and I lost my footing walking down the concrete steps to it but managed to recover and didn’t fall. That could have been a disaster as I would have really injured myself if I’d fallen. The water is a beautiful turquoise colour, even on a dull day. It must be stunning with the sun on it. We next went to Gibbs Lighthouse which is the highest point but, in itself, not that impressive. 

 

We had a 50 minute stop in the capital Hamilton which I have to say was underwhelming. The main drag, Front Street, reminded me of a U.K. seaside resort that has seen better days. The waterfront was OK, but nothing special. The main attraction for people seemed to be the Marks & Spencer store, which occupied the first floor of a department store! There were a few attractive buildings that we passed in the way out of town, en-route to St George, which is a UNESCO world heritage site and was the first capital of the island. This was a much prettier place than Hamilton. 

 

My wife hadn’t been able to come on the tour, so when I returned to the ship we both grabbed something to eat at the poolside grill and then went ashore at 5pm, just to look around the dockyard area. Unfortunately, everything shut at 5pm, so it was a brief walk around and then back on the ship. 

 

At 7pm there was a guy playing a steel pan (steel drum) in Carmens. I love a steel band, but one person on their own, especially when accompanied by recorded music, just didn’t work at all. Dinner was underwhelming again. At 10pm we went to the theatre and saw a local dance group perform a show entitled ’Echoes of Heritage’. It was basically a lot of people stomping around to drum beats whilst dressed in flamboyant costumes. After 15 minutes of repetition we lost interest and went back to our cabin. We leave Bermuda first thing tomorrow and then have 3 sea days before our next stop, which is Nassau in the Bahamas. 

[Purdey16]

Thank you for reminding me of our tour , that’s exactly what we did 22 years ago but stopped at that well known cricket pitch who Viv Richards played, I’m not into cricket so can’t remember 😂 , we too were unimpressed with Hamilton but on the second day we were there we walked all around the dock yard etc and I think the ship left at 2  or 3 .

Very pleased you didn’t fall while out on your trip and it’s a shame the shops were closed for Mrs Selbourne as I think you said your might have dinner shoreside.

[P&O SUE]

15 hours ago, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

@Selbourne you are either more patient or polite than I am when it comes to people talking.  I am more than happy to turn around and ask someone to be quiet and, if that doesn’t work, I can also resort to STFU language.

 

I regularly go to comedy clubs and post pandemic, it seemed like people had forgotten how to watch something in real life.  A few of the acts I saw stopped their shows and told people to either be quiet or leave.

So true! I went to the theatre for the first time in a couple of years last year. This was a musical but I was shocked how much talking was going on in the audience! So rude. Luckily in the musical numbers they were drowned out!

[P&O SUE]

Just had to catch up on a few days Selbourne, sorry for all the notifications you’ll get now with my ‘likes’ 😂

 

Still a great read, thank you.

[david63]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

we didn’t berth in Hamilton itself, but at the dockyard which is on the opposite side of the island to the capital

I think that is the norm these days - we did the same pre Covid on Ventura.

[DamianG]

Thanks for all your updates so far @Selbourne , I know from personal experience how much effort goes into it. Talking of which are you keeping a word count? My Arvia blog last year ran to 25k+ words but I think you are going to eclipse that!

 

Congratulations on breaking your launderette duck! You can now award yourself a white belt with a yellow stripe through the middle. I'm sure I saw someone wearing one of those in the MDR on Arvia on a formal night, not that any staff challenged them about compliance with the dress code. 😁

 

Keep at it, as you have a long journey ahead to become a 5th Dan Master in using onboard launderettes, like myself and @TigerB 😉

 

Wishing you and Lady S smooth sailing, great weather and fantastic ports for the remainder of the cruise.

 

All the best.

 

Damian

[zap99]

12 minutes ago, DamianG said:

Thanks for all your updates so far @Selbourne , I know from personal experience how much effort goes into it. Talking of which are you keeping a word count? My Arvia blog last year ran to 25k+ words but I think you are going to eclipse that!

 

Congratulations on breaking your launderette duck! You can now award yourself a white belt with a yellow stripe through the middle. I'm sure I saw someone wearing one of those in the MDR on Arvia on a formal night, not that any staff challenged them about compliance with the dress code. 😁

 

Keep at it, as you have a long journey ahead to become a 5th Dan Master in using onboard launderettes, like myself and @TigerB 😉

 

Wishing you and Lady S smooth sailing, great weather and fantastic ports for the remainder of the cruise.

 

All the best.

 

Damian

That's a thought. Do Aurora passengers hide little plastic ducks for Selbourne to find ?.

 

[Selbourne]

Just now, zap99 said:

That's a thought. Do Aurora passengers hide little plastic ducks for Selbourne to find ?.

 

Funny you should mention that. Apparently on another site, somebody on this cruise is doing just that. I shall

pass no comment other than to quote what someone else said there in response - “Really? On an adult only ship”. Mercifully I have not come across them myself! 

[david63]

Just now, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. Apparently on another site, somebody on this cruise is doing just that. I shall

pass no comment other than to quote what someone else said there in response - “Really? On an adult only ship”. Mercifully I have not come across them myself! 

It is something that has managed to find its way across the pond - there are of our American "cousins" who are fanatical about it - don't ask me why!

[Selbourne]

Just now, david63 said:

It is something that has managed to find its way across the pond - there are of our American "cousins" who are fanatical about it - don't ask me why!

Ah, that explains it then 😂 

[TigerB]

16 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. Apparently on another site, somebody on this cruise is doing just that. I shall

pass no comment other than to quote what someone else said there in response - “Really? On an adult only ship”. Mercifully I have not come across them myself! 

 

Ah, but have you come across any pineapples yet?😉