Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[Purdey16]

A lovely day for you Selbourne and fantastic pictures, you must be very fit with all the walking and going back out for a second time and getting the most of your visit there, good choice giving that bar a miss😂 , you are giving me some ideas of what to do in Miami and looking forward to your Key West stop , thank you 🙏 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Unfortunately not.  Currently I'm isolating - day 5 - as I have a respiratory virus which has totally knocked me for six, it's not covid thankfully but it has been totally debilitating.

Get well soon MB!

[lancashire_cruisers]

13 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Worlds largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, due to enter service in 7 days time and weighing in at just a smidgeon under a quarter of a million tonnes. On the second photo, taken from South Pointe, if you zoom in you can see the incredible front of her and how she dwarfs the other cruise ship!

 

When we did our 35 nighter on Oriana we were berthed across from Oasis of the Seas in St Maarten and Oriana looked like one of her tenders 😂😂

[Megabear2]

21 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Get well soon MB!

Hopefully I may make one or two ports before it's time to come home.  This has really knocked me for six.  I'm told the New Year cruise before this one was the start of it so its unfortunate.  I had friends onboard over New Year who emailed to say their flight home was full of bad coughing so no doubt the medical team are trying to curtail it.  Surprisingly no official  request to isolate though. I'm just too unwell to even think about leaving the room.

Edited January 21 by Megabear2

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

[TigerB]

Looking at those menus I reckon I would give lunch a miss. For dinner though I would be mostly having the gravadlax and trout.

 

Can I ask a favour of you?  When you get a few minutes can you please take some photos of the bathroom. We are in an outside cabin next year, but would expect it to be the same layout. Thanks, young man👍🏻

[TigerB]

Obviously, I would expect you to first remove your longjohns, drying on the line.😉

[Selbourne]

Just now, TigerB said:

I ask a favour of you?  When you get a few minutes can you please take some photos of the bathroom. We are in an outside cabin next year, but would expect it to be the same layout.

Here you go. My wife says that one issue is that the shower controls are too far from the bench seat and are a real stretch (you can’t see them in the photo but they are behind the shower curtain). 

 

 

Edited January 22 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

Day 19 - Sunday 21st January - Sea Day

 

The first of two sea days between Miami and Key West. I know that it should only take one day, but I’m hoping that the extra day will result in us berthing, as it’s shown as ‘possible tender’ on the itinerary, and my wife cannot get off the ship in tender ports. We are the only ship due in, so there’s no reason for us not to berth (I believe I’ve read that Key West now limit cruise ships to one per day).

 

As a result of having time to kill, we are barely moving at a very sedate 8 knots. Unfortunately we are unlucky with the weather yet again as it’s been force 4 rising to force 6/7 so quite windy and feeling cool, in spite of the supposed 25 degrees. 

 

As with most of the sea days so far this cruise, we managed to fill most of the day. After breakfast we attended the 0930 William Joyce talk on the search for Alien Life (micro organisms rather than intelligent life) in our solar system (tomorrow it’s widened out to the Universe). I was interested to learn that there’s a growing school of thought that the presence of water may not be a critical factor in the presence of life. 

 

At 11am we had a double port talk on St Maarten & Dominica. I didn’t learn anything from this particular talk but, as I’ve said before, it’s great that they are happening. We then did a circuit of the promenade deck but it was a bit windy and not particularly warm. 

 

The MDR lunch menu didn’t appeal, so we went for lunch in the Glasshouse. The team in there are absolutely brilliant, especially Dennis who wins the award as the most enthusiastic staff member on board. He engages superbly with customers and is a great coach for new crew members. He deputises for the manager AJ but really needs to be the permanent number 1 in a P&O Glasshouse. He is a massive asset to P&O and a great brand ambassador. He speaks extremely highly of P&O and I hope that this loyalty is eventually reciprocated. I must fill in one of those service commendation cards on him, as well as Rachel the excellent Medina MDR host. 

 

At 3.30pm we attended the Aurora Vocalists (passenger choir) in the theatre, which is always enjoyable. Their tutor, a very estuary Essex member of the entertainment team, seemed great fun and was clearly much liked by the choir. I managed to fit in a mile on the promenade deck (3.2 laps) before the 3rd Classical piano Recital by Roman Rudnytsky, which was next up in the Playhouse at 5pm. Yet another stunning performance. 

 

A brief rest in our cabin before changing for dinner and heading to Carmens for the Headliners ‘Top of the Billboards’ show. Leaving aside the few pitch issues and the fact that I wish that the people who arrange the songs for these Headliners shows didn’t ‘cruiseify’ the tunes to be different to the originals, this was a high energy performance both for the dancers and the singers. As they are a new troupe, most on their first contract, they are to be congratulated. BTW, is cruiseify a word or did I make it up? If so, I’ll claim it, as I think it reflects what I mean, especially as it sounds like crucify, which those who arrange the songs can sometimes manage to do to some classics 😂 

 

MDR dinner was very good. My wife had the always available steak and it was cooked beautifully. We are so happy that we moved tables. All of our previous issues are resolved and our new waiters are just as helpful as our previous ones. Interestingly, for the first time in over 50 days of cruising across 3 P&O ships since the new ‘extra cost’ MDR menu items were introduced, the menus were on the tables tonight! They have also been put up outside the MDRs adjacent to the daily lunch and dinner menus. Could it be that P&O no longer wish this to be a secret? 😂 

 

To end the day we attended the 10pm ‘A Celebrarion of John Denver’ show by Wayne Denton in the theatre. I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a different format in that the first 5 minutes (at least) was a video about John Denver and it was beginning to feel like a special interest talk rather than a live performance. The performers faux American accent when he talked (which he did a lot) sounded daft, but his singing voice and guitar playing were both good. 

 

Around 5 minutes into the show, someone entered the theatre late in a scooter and proceeded to manoeuvre around. This scooter has a ridiculously loud beeper when it reverses and would match or exceed the volume of reversing beepers on trucks and vans designed to be heard amongst road traffic noise. Consequently, a load of people looked around wondering what it was or if it was an alarm of some description. I know that there are a number of scooter users (or partners of) on this forum, so this is a genuine question - can the volume of these reversing beepers be turned down and, if yes, why do some people have them on so ruddy loud? 

 

We both enjoyed the show but obviously benefitted from not being 100% familiar with John Denver’s voice. When we got into the lift one chap said “that was enjoyable, wasn’t it?” to which a lady replied  “yes, but he didn’t sound anything like John Denver”. What do I know? 😂 Tomorrow more plodding along en-route to Key West and another full day of daytime talks etc. 

Edited January 22 by Selbourne

[zap99]

15 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Todays MDR menus

Still looking OK, but I quite like sirloin.🤣

[Harry Peterson]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Interestingly, for the first time in over 50 days of cruising across 3 P&O ships since the new ‘extra cost’ MDR menu items were introduced, the menus were on the tables tonight! They have also been put up outside the MDRs adjacent to the daily lunch and dinner menus. Could it be that P&O no longer wish this to be a secret? 😂 

Am I alone in thinking this is a seriously concerning development? Isn’t the temptation to downgrade the ‘ordinary’ MDR menus to persuade people to upgrade just too great for the bean counters? Meaning that what I’ve always found to be perfectly acceptable MDR menus are likely to become stripped down versions of their former selves?

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Here you go. My wife says that one issue is that the shower controls are too far from the bench seat and are a real stretch (you can’t see them in the photo but they are behind the shower curtain). 

 

 

It might be better for your wife if you request a shower chair which can be positioned nearer to the controls. We always request a chair which my wife uses at the wash basin, and for the shower.

[pennib]

Good morning Selbourne. Love your reports. Can you give us some idea of the items that are extra charge in the MDR and is it only at dinner?

[Purdey16]

6 minutes ago, pennib said:

Good morning Selbourne. Love your reports. Can you give us some idea of the items that are extra charge in the MDR and is it only at dinner?

I hope you don’t mind be butting in selbourne but I have a photo of the menu that is extra charge items for Pennib saves you taking a picture .

[FatBoy20]

7 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

I hope you don’t mind be butting in selbourne but I have a photo of the menu that is extra charge items for Pennib saves you taking a picture .

Soon it will be Bed & Breakfast & pay for everything else!. Dumming Down or what!.

[Harry Peterson]

15 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

I hope you don’t mind be butting in selbourne but I have a photo of the menu that is extra charge items for Pennib saves you taking a picture .

Thanks. That confirms my fears, because these would once have been standard MDR choices, albeit only occasional.

[pete14]

21 minutes ago, FatBoy20 said:

Soon it will be Bed & Breakfast & pay for everything else!. Dumming Down or what!.

I disagree. This extra ‘pay’ menu increases choice for those who want an occasional upgrade from the normal menu. It is not compulsory.
I agree that the menus have been slimmed down, and would prefer for it not to have happened, but that is possibly down to the need to provide both vegetarian and vegan dishes (suitable for everybody) requiring dedicated meat and fish free spaces to prepare in a galley which has limited space to provide the larger range of previous ‘meat’ option choices as well.

Edited January 22 by pete14

[TigerB]

Great report Selbourne, and thanks for the photos👍🏻

The shower controls are in the same location as they are on Iona and Arvia, and also on Britannia I think, and our lass can just about reach those. The shower seat on the two larger ships is deeper though, so maybe that's why.  It's better with those two ships as the shower head has a stop/start button on it, so I can set the water to flow on the wall and she can control it with the button.

 

I agree, cruiseify seems to sum up the arrangements of tunes to suit a cruise audience.  I think you should continue using it; with your readership it won't be long before it becomes viral. You never know, it may make the OED in a couple of years!😉  Don't lose the e though, as you would then have the name of a German travel agent.

 

Hopefully, you'll be able to dock at Key West tomorrow.  Your clocks will go back another hour after you leave won't they, as you make your way to New Orleans?

[elmsliebev]

On 1/15/2024 at 2:38 PM, Selbourne said:

I am hoping that we don’t encounter any Tiffany stores on this cruise. My wife has form in this regard and I had a narrow escape in Copenhagen last year 😂 

I also have Tiffany form. My husband says I can spot the turquoise sign from at least half a mile away. He's not wrong. 

Very much enjoying your blog, it's made me consider a much longer trip once we are dogless! 

[Clodia]

6 hours ago, Selbourne said:

BTW, is cruiseify a word or did I make it up? If so, I’ll claim it, as I think it reflects what I mean, especially as it sounds like crucify, which those who arrange the songs can sometimes manage to do to some classics 😂 

Brilliant! Definitely a new word , and one I shall use on future cruises!

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Am I alone in thinking this is a seriously concerning development? Isn’t the temptation to downgrade the ‘ordinary’ MDR menus to persuade people to upgrade just too great for the bean counters? Meaning that what I’ve always found to be perfectly acceptable MDR menus are likely to become stripped down versions of their former selves?

This has been on RC for a good few years, but the MDR food is still pretty good. To be honest, at those prices we would probably give it a miss and chose a speciality restaurant instead. It's only food, so not seriously, or even mildly concerned.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, FatBoy20 said:

Soon it will be Bed & Breakfast & pay for everything else!. Dumming Down or what!.

I'll go for the ' what '🤣

[brian1]

1 hour ago, pennib said:

Good morning Selbourne. Love your reports. Can you give us some idea of the items that are extra charge in the MDR and is it only at dinner?

I'd take it all with a pinch of salt.Oh hang on that's extra.

[Solent Richard]

7 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 19 - Sunday 21st January - Sea Day

The first of two sea days between Miami and Key West. I know that it should only take one day, but I’m hoping that the extra day will result in us berthing, as it’s shown as ‘possible tender’ on the itinerary, and my wife cannot get off the ship in tender ports. We are the only ship due in, so there’s no reason for us not to berth (I believe I’ve read that Key West now limit cruise ships to one per day).

Tomorrow more plodding along en-route to Key West and another full day of daytime talks etc. 

Wishing you good luck on the proper berth at Key West @Selbourne . It certainly worked well for us the last time we visited with P&O on Oceana....

 

 

Edited January 22 by Solent Richard

[Solent Richard]

7 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 19 - Sunday 21st January - Sea Day

 

 

Around 5 minutes into the show, someone entered the theatre late in a scooter and proceeded to manoeuvre around. This scooter has a ridiculously loud beeper when it reverses and would match or exceed the volume of reversing beepers on trucks and vans designed to be heard amongst road traffic noise. Consequently, a load of people looked around wondering what it was or if it was an alarm of some description. I know that there are a number of scooter users (or partners of) on this forum, so this is a genuine question - can the volume of these reversing beepers be turned down and, if yes, why do some people have them on so ruddy loud? 

 

 

Or better still, show some consideration for both fellow guests and performing artistes and arrive before the show commences. 😈