Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’m telling myself, and my wife, that everything up until now has been the support act and from the next stop onwards (when we finally reach the Caribbean) it will be the main event!
 

As it happens, neither of us cope well in blisteringly hot weather, but it would be nice to have more dry and sunny days. That’s why Miami was perfect. Dry all day but mid 20s so manageable, even pushing the wheelchair for miles. The forecast isn’t looking great for our first few stops in the Caribbean, but that may well change by the time we get there. 

Remember the BBC weather website will state rainy, even if it's only for an hour or two of the day.

[Selbourne]

Just now, terrierjohn said:

Remember the BBC weather website will state rainy, even if it's only for an hour or two of the day.

I’m fine with that as it hopefully means that it turns out better than we expected, unlike the one the bridge team use that predicts showers when in reality it’s a prolonged monsoon! 😂 

[Megabear2]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’m telling myself, and my wife, that everything up until now has been the support act and from the next stop onwards (when we finally reach the Caribbean) it will be the main event!
 

As it happens, neither of us cope well in blisteringly hot weather, but it would be nice to have more dry and sunny days. That’s why Miami was perfect. Dry all day but mid 20s so manageable, even pushing the wheelchair for miles. The forecast isn’t looking great for our first few stops in the Caribbean, but that may well change by the time we get there. 

El Nino is dropping off with hopes of El Nina taking over.  Unfortunately the cruise lines never tell the customers that anything on the Atlantic and Gulf are very much affected by these two events.  Ironically last year the Canaries passengers were the ones being disappointed.

 

Not sure where you're checking your weather updates but Accuweather and Weather.com tend to be reliable.   Presently they are predicting El Nino waning.

 

Most Caribbean rain will be short sharp outbreaks, often early morning or late afternoon.

 

From other CC threads there have been a few rougher swells around with some winds which have led to one or two ports being missed by several lines, St Kitts and Antigua get some mentions but my experience is this is not unusual in December or January but improves in February.

 

The whole Caribbean has been unusually wet through December/January, we had lots of it over Christmas but it won't be the stuff in New Orleans.

 

The islands to watch out for with rain will be places with high mountain interiors as the afternoon rains come from there, not sure if you go there but places like Dominica is an example.   You would be extremely unlucky to get the sorts of downpours you've had recently on any island in February.  

 

 

 

 

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

[Selbourne]

Day 24 - Friday 26th January 2024 - New Orleans (2nd Day)

 

Apparently there has been no crew shore leave permitted by US authorities since we entered US waters, due to the well publicised ‘jumping ship’ of a number of P&O crew members a few years back. This has been a source of frustration to them, but particularly disappointing for the new crew members for whom seeing the USA was one of their big motivations for signing up for a life on the ocean. I feel really sorry for them as they gaze ashore enviously from the top deck, but in fairness to them they are all being very professional about it. 

 

As yet another miserable day, weather wise, was forecast, we decided to limit our time ashore to the adjacent Riverside Outlet Mall. We are fed up getting drowned! We were a bit late for the MDR breakfast, due to it closing earlier on Aurora than the other ships, so we went to the buffet for breakfast for the first time. It didn’t take long to remind me why I dislike the buffet so much. I’m up and down like a blue arsed fly getting food and drinks because of the absolutely idiotic decision to ban trays. Needless to say we didn’t stay long. 

 

The adjacent Riverside Mall is supposed to be an ‘outlet’ centre, but prices didn’t seem cheap to us at all (probably because sterling is quite weak against foreign currencies these days) and then, of course, you have to factor in that they charge tax on top (whereas U.K. prices include VAT). There is a desk to claim back tax but a) you have to remember to ask for a specific form at each outlet you buy in, b) some outlets didn’t supply the forms, and c) there was a queue to get the tax back. As a combination of all of this we just browsed rather than purchased. 

 

As we hadn’t gone into Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter the previous day (which all the guide books recommend doing) we decided to end our visit with a coffee and beignet in their outlet within the centre. Here’s a top tip. The coffee and beignets that we had in Monty’s on the Square (on the corner of Jackson Square, opposite Cafe du Monde) the previous day were far superior. By a mile in fact. We both agreed that the coffee wasn’t as good in Cafe du Monde and the beignets were just plain, whereas the ones we had in Monty’s had a cinnamon filling that melted like chocolate, were a little less swamped with powdered sugar and also had ‘New Orleans Sprinkles’ on them! If you find yourself in New Orleans, go to Monty’s. The ambiance was far nicer as well. 

 

For the rest of the day we just chilled on the ship until the 5pm sail away. Whilst waiting for Aurora to pull off the berth we marvelled at the skill of the pelicans and other sea birds that could spot a fish in the brown waters of the Mississippi and nab it within a split second! I was able to take a few shots of the New Orleans skyline but, in a stroke of bad luck that just typifies the weather we have had, and continue to have, on this cruise, a huge cloud of mist engulfed the French Quarter as we cruised past. 100 yards beyond it and naturally it cleared 🙄. Transiting down the Mississippi sounds quite glamorous but the reality is somewhat different. The outlying areas of New Orleans are far from attractive. Sparse residential areas abut waste land and industrial areas. It was impossible to tell whether the area hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Katrina, is suffering from industrial decline or both. Either way, scenic it is not. Once clear of New Orleans it’s oil and gas refineries for mile after mile. As it was dark by now all we were seeing was lights. 

 

In an extremely rare informative announcement by our elusive Captain, he told us that there would be some more thunderstorms tomorrow but mid 20s temperature. So more of the same. He also said that our route to Puerto Rico would take us north of Cuba and Dominican Republic. This disappointment me for two reasons. Firstly we are on the port side, and I had anticipated that we would be passing them on our side of the ship (we may be too far from land anyway for all I know). Secondly (and could someone please correct me if I’m wrong here) but if we are north of Cuba and Dominican Republic, doesn’t that mean that we are still in the Atlantic and not the Caribbean? I had assumed that we would be in Caribbean waters in 48 hours time but now think it could still be some time away?

 

At 7pm I popped down to Carmens to listen to Polish violinist Izabella Zebrowska. She gave a good show with a wide vareity of musical styles. Her English is poor (but far better than my Polish) so the patter between tunes was a bit painful. During dinner we had a continuing view of the lights of the oil and gas refineries as we continued down the Mississippi. The theatre show was comedian William Caulfield, but as neither of us find cruise ship comedians to be funny we called it a day. Tomorrow is the first of 3 sea days en route to Puerto Rico.

Edited January 27 by Selbourne

[MellyMoo1989]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Day 24 - Friday 26th January 2024 - New Orleans (2nd Day)

 

Apparently there has been no crew shore leave permitted by US authorities since we entered US waters, due to the well publicised ‘jumping ship’ of a number of P&O crew members a few years back. This has been a source of frustration to them, but particularly disappointing for the new crew members for whom seeing the USA was one of their big motivations for signing up for a life on the ocean. I feel really sorry for them as they gaze ashore enviously from the top deck, but in fairness to them they are all being very professional about it. 

 

As yet another miserable day, weather wise, was forecast, we decided to limit our time ashore to the adjacent Riverside Outlet Mall. We are fed up getting drowned! We were a bit late for the MDR breakfast, due to it closing earlier on Aurora than the other ships, so we went to the buffet for breakfast for the first time. It didn’t take long to remind me why I dislike the buffet so much. I’m up and down like a blue arsed fly getting food and drinks because of the absolutely idiotic decision to ban trays. Needless to say we didn’t stay long. 

 

The adjacent Riverside Mall is supposed to be an ‘outlet’ centre, but prices didn’t seem cheap to us at all (probably because sterling is quite weak against foreign currencies these days) and then, of course, you have to factor in that they charge tax on top (whereas U.K. prices include VAT). There is a desk to claim back tax but a) you have to remember to ask for a specific form at each outlet you buy in, b) some outlets didn’t supply the forms, and c) there was a queue to get the tax back. As a combination of all of this we just browsed rather than purchased. 

 

As we hadn’t gone into Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter the previous day (which all the guide books recommend doing) we decided to end our visit with a coffee and beignet in their outlet within the centre. Here’s a top tip. The coffee and beignets that we had in Monty’s on the Square (on the corner of Jackson Square, opposite Cafe du Monde) the previous day were far superior. By a mile in fact. We both agreed that the coffee wasn’t as good in Cafe du Monde and the beignets were just plain, whereas the ones we had in Monty’s had a cinnamon filling that melted like chocolate, were a little less swamped with powdered sugar and also had ‘New Orleans Sprinkles’ on them! If you find yourself in New Orleans, go to Monty’s. The ambiance was far nicer as well. 

 

For the rest of the day we just chilled on the ship until the 5pm sail away. Whilst waiting for Aurora to pull off the berth we marvelled at the skill of the pelicans and other sea birds that could spot a fish in the brown waters of the Mississippi and nab it within a split second! I was able to take a few shots of the New Orleans skyline but, in a stroke of bad luck that just typifies the weather we have had, and continue to have, on this cruise, a huge cloud of mist engulfed the French Quarter as we cruised past. 100 yards beyond it and naturally it cleared 🙄. Transiting down the Mississippi sounds quite glamorous but the reality is somewhat different. The outlying areas of New Orleans are far from attractive. Sparse residential areas abut waste land and industrial areas. It was impossible to tell whether the area hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Katrina, is suffering from industrial decline or both. Either way, scenic it is not. Once clear of New Orleans it’s oil and gas refineries for mile after mile. As it was dark by now all we were seeing was lights. 

 

In an extremely rare informative announcement by our elusive Captain, he told us that there would be some more thunderstorms tomorrow but mid 20s temperature. So more of the same. He also said that our route to Puerto Rico would take us north of Cuba and Dominican Republic. This disappointment me for two reasons. Firstly we are on the port side, and I had anticipated that we would be passing them on our side of the ship (we may be too far from land anyway for all I know). Secondly (and could someone please correct me if I’m wrong here) but if we are north of Cuba and Dominican Republic, doesn’t that mean that we are still in the Atlantic and not the Caribbean? I had assumed that we would be in Caribbean waters in 48 hours time but now think it could still be some time away?

 

At 7pm I popped down to Carmens to listen to Polish violinist Izabella Zebrowska. She gave a good show with a wide vareity of musical styles. Her English is poor (but far better than my Polish) so the patter between tunes was a bit painful. During dinner we had a continuing view of the lights of the oil and gas refineries as we continued down the Mississippi. The theatre show was comedian William Caulfield, but as neither of us find cruise ship comedians to be funny we called it a day. Tomorrow is the first of 3 sea days en route to Puerto Rico.

Would you like a bit of pastry with your sugar there Selbourne? 😮😮

[Malcolm142]

1. From my past sailing experience perspective it would always be more logical to go on a  route north of Cuba and Dom.Rep.
2. It would add on quite a lot sea miles tracking south.
3. It is more or less a straight line from where you are to San Juan. 

[lancashire_cruisers]

We were on the cruise where some crew jumped ship in NOLA! Such a shame that means that crew now can’t get off as Target was extremely popular with crew members so much so it looked like the shop’s entire stock was making its way back on board 😂

 

I wouldn’t have been happy with that beignet from Cafe du Monde it looks a tad overdone.

[brian1]

Sainsbury raspberry jam doughnut for me😊.

[tring]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 24 - Friday 26th January 2024 - New Orleans (2nd Day)

 

Apparently there has been no crew shore leave permitted by US authorities since we entered US waters, due to the well publicised ‘jumping ship’ of a number of P&O crew members a few years back. This has been a source of frustration to them, but particularly disappointing for the new crew members for whom seeing the USA was one of their big motivations for signing up for a life on the ocean. I feel really sorry for them as they gaze ashore enviously from the top deck, but in fairness to them they are all being very professional about it. 

 

As yet another miserable day, weather wise, was forecast, we decided to limit our time ashore to the adjacent Riverside Outlet Mall. We are fed up getting drowned! We were a bit late for the MDR breakfast, due to it closing earlier on Aurora than the other ships, so we went to the buffet for breakfast for the first time. It didn’t take long to remind me why I dislike the buffet so much. I’m up and down like a blue arsed fly getting food and drinks because of the absolutely idiotic decision to ban trays. Needless to say we didn’t stay long. 

 

The adjacent Riverside Mall is supposed to be an ‘outlet’ centre, but prices didn’t seem cheap to us at all (probably because sterling is quite weak against foreign currencies these days) and then, of course, you have to factor in that they charge tax on top (whereas U.K. prices include VAT). There is a desk to claim back tax but a) you have to remember to ask for a specific form at each outlet you buy in, b) some outlets didn’t supply the forms, and c) there was a queue to get the tax back. As a combination of all of this we just browsed rather than purchased. 

 

As we hadn’t gone into Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter the previous day (which all the guide books recommend doing) we decided to end our visit with a coffee and beignet in their outlet within the centre. Here’s a top tip. The coffee and beignets that we had in Monty’s on the Square (on the corner of Jackson Square, opposite Cafe du Monde) the previous day were far superior. By a mile in fact. We both agreed that the coffee wasn’t as good in Cafe du Monde and the beignets were just plain, whereas the ones we had in Monty’s had a cinnamon filling that melted like chocolate, were a little less swamped with powdered sugar and also had ‘New Orleans Sprinkles’ on them! If you find yourself in New Orleans, go to Monty’s. The ambiance was far nicer as well. 

 

For the rest of the day we just chilled on the ship until the 5pm sail away. Whilst waiting for Aurora to pull off the berth we marvelled at the skill of the pelicans and other sea birds that could spot a fish in the brown waters of the Mississippi and nab it within a split second! I was able to take a few shots of the New Orleans skyline but, in a stroke of bad luck that just typifies the weather we have had, and continue to have, on this cruise, a huge cloud of mist engulfed the French Quarter as we cruised past. 100 yards beyond it and naturally it cleared 🙄. Transiting down the Mississippi sounds quite glamorous but the reality is somewhat different. The outlying areas of New Orleans are far from attractive. Sparse residential areas abut waste land and industrial areas. It was impossible to tell whether the area hasn’t recovered from Hurricane Katrina, is suffering from industrial decline or both. Either way, scenic it is not. Once clear of New Orleans it’s oil and gas refineries for mile after mile. As it was dark by now all we were seeing was lights. 

 

In an extremely rare informative announcement by our elusive Captain, he told us that there would be some more thunderstorms tomorrow but mid 20s temperature. So more of the same. He also said that our route to Puerto Rico would take us north of Cuba and Dominican Republic. This disappointment me for two reasons. Firstly we are on the port side, and I had anticipated that we would be passing them on our side of the ship (we may be too far from land anyway for all I know). Secondly (and could someone please correct me if I’m wrong here) but if we are north of Cuba and Dominican Republic, doesn’t that mean that we are still in the Atlantic and not the Caribbean? I had assumed that we would be in Caribbean waters in 48 hours time but now think it could still be some time away?

 

At 7pm I popped down to Carmens to listen to Polish violinist Izabella Zebrowska. She gave a good show with a wide vareity of musical styles. Her English is poor (but far better than my Polish) so the patter between tunes was a bit painful. During dinner we had a continuing view of the lights of the oil and gas refineries as we continued down the Mississippi. The theatre show was comedian William Caulfield, but as neither of us find cruise ship comedians to be funny we called it a day. Tomorrow is the first of 3 sea days en route to Puerto Rico.

 

We were on Aurora in September to Canada/US.  We had a crew member go AWOL in Boston, our first US port, so no crew, (even the captain), were allowed off in any US port after that. 

 

We were told by crew members it always happens, but usually in New York. They also reckoned the person who went AWOL must have had it all arranged before arriving their, though not even his friends had any incline it might happen.

 

Thanks for your blog, I have not been replying  to the other posts with praise as do not want to lengthen the thread too much but it is excellent.  We are particularly interested in ports which we will be visiting on Ventura next January.  New Orleans is out first US port then, so will be fun.  Took until mid afternoon to clear everyone there last year!   We are hoping to book a walking tour asap after arrival in the hopes that will help, but tours not available yet.  So sorry to hear about your problems in Port Canaveral,  it is surprising just how behind the times the US are.

[Purdey16]

Tring that’s exactly what we will be doing as we’re on the same cruise, I keep checking for the excursions to come out and do something cheap and quick because we want to do our own thing .

[tring]

29 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Tring that’s exactly what we will be doing as we’re on the same cruise, I keep checking for the excursions to come out and do something cheap and quick because we want to do our own thing .

 

Just joined you on the roll call and clicked follow to get notifications of any other posts.

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

@Selbourne your comments about the Mississippi remind me that I did the Natchez river cruise in 1990 while visiting NOLA and was also disappointed that once out of the city it was just oil refineries and industrial sites so it sounds like nothing has changed.

 

Really enjoying reading this but I hope you take the bad weather that seems to be following you out of the Eastern Caribbean before we join Britannia at the end of Feb☔😊

[FangedRose]

6 hours ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

We were on the cruise where some crew jumped ship in NOLA! Such a shame that means that crew now can’t get off as Target was extremely popular with crew members so much so it looked like the shop’s entire stock was making its way back on board 😂

 

I wouldn’t have been happy with that beignet from Cafe du Monde it looks a tad overdone.

It's happened more than once. A crew member jumped ship in Boston (iirc) on a Canada/USA cruise September 2019.

[mrsgoggins]

2 hours ago, Purdey16 said:

Tring that’s exactly what we will be doing as we’re on the same cruise, I keep checking for the excursions to come out and do something cheap and quick because we want to do our own thing .

 

We're on it too 😁

[jh1809]

I'm beginning to think that some powerful sorcerer must have put Aurora under a curse for some reason, the way things have been going! It's a shame that what should have been a memorable cruise for all the right reasons instead seems to be turning into one that you will be eager to forget. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, jh1809 said:

It's a shame that what should have been a memorable cruise for all the right reasons instead seems to be turning into one that you will be eager to forget. 

It’s nowhere near as bad as that.

 

It is true that we have been incredibly unlucky with the weather. 25 days in and the number of days where it’s been nice weather all day can probably still be counted on the fingers of one hand! We seem to be visiting ports on their worst day (weather wise) for the week either side of our call! 
 

Missing Key West was poor, especially as we sat motionless (in calm waters and with no wind) not far from there all day, but hopefully that won’t be an omen about what lies ahead. 

 

The issue with my Kennedy Space Centre tour having to be cancelled was specific to our situation (and the customer service manager not liaising with me, as had been promised) and won’t have affected anyone else. 
 

The dinner table that we weren’t happy with was eventually resolved and we are now happy with where we are. 
 

Service levels amongst the waiters and bar tenders are excellent. Problem resolution, where it involves needing to speak to an officer is very poor though. They just don’t seem to want to engage with those who pay their wages. I’m sorry to say that, given the remoteness of our captain, that attitude may be stemming from the top down. I am typing this in the coffee shop and half earwigging on a conversation between guests on a nearby table. I couldn’t make out what their issue was, but they have requested a meeting with an officer 3 or 4 times and heard nothing (which fits with my experience early cruise). They have given up now and are going to take it up with P&O when they get home. It really shouldn’t be like that. 
 

Most of the issues that we’ve had are now either resolved ( e.g. dining) or behind us (e.g. embarkation, Key West & US immigration) so won’t continue to affect our cruise. Whilst people understandably focus on the problems, I have also mentioned countless positives (daytime entertainment, some of the evening shows etc) that people don’t tend to focus on or comment about so much. 
 

Today equals the longest time that we have ever been on a cruise and, in spite of the issues we have had, we are enjoying it. We do need some better luck with the weather, no more missed ports and a Captain who appreciates that enhancing the cruise experience for his passengers (or giving more fulsome explanations when things go wrong - as they always will) isn’t just a nice thing to do, but part of his job. 

[Selbourne]

Today’s MDR menus. Black tie night tonight and thankfully an enhanced menu, as it should be. If we are going to the trouble of dressing up then the chefs can at least bother to serve us up something decent! Interesting that Marco Pierre White is mentioned for the first time in 3 weeks. I was beginning to wonder if they had parted company with him!

[Selbourne]

 

Day 25 - Saturday 27th January - Sea Day

 

The clocks went forward one hour overnight, but thankfully we managed to wake up in time for breakfast in the MDR. We are pleased to see that Orca (whale and dolphin experts) have joined us for 2 weeks and we were going to go to their 0930 talk, but as that was going to be a rush we decided to go to the 3pm repeat instead. 

 

Having had breakfast and collected the  Britain Today paper, we decided to do a lap of the promenade deck. Yet again, a section was roped off. This is getting quite frustrating. Yesterday afternoon an aft section was roped off. Anyway, as we concluded our part lap we saw a member of Orca staff so I thought I’d ask if we were likely to see anything in the Gulf of Mexico today. Another couple were rather dominating her time with question after question, so it was some time before I could get to her. No sooner had I asked my question than Coral, one of the entertainment team, came tearing through the door and said “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Your talk was meant to start 10 minutes ago”. “No” says the girl from Orca. “My talk is at 0930 and it’s now 0840”. Oh dear, she hadn’t put her watch forward and was still on New Orleans time!

 

As my wife reminded me, this exact same thing happened with another member of Orca on our previous transatlantic! You’d think that a member of the entertainment team might make contact with them the evening that a new person joins and make sure that they know about the clock change? 

 

At 1030 we went to the theatre for another new speaker, Margaret Gilmore, an ex BBC journalist and investigator. Her first talk was on Russian state sponsored assassinations on UK soil (Litvinenko, Salisbury etc). An interesting subject but, in spite of her mentioning that she still has sources in MI6, nothing that she said wasn’t already widely known from the various documentaries and dramas about these cases. It will be interesting to see what other subjects she talks about. 

 

We stayed in the theatre for the 1130 Port Talk on Curacao & Aruba. I do think it’s a shame that the noon announcement from the bridge doesn’t get piped into all venues and the presentations should be paused for them. I like to hear the announcements, but miss more of them than I hear. On a cruise with an elusive captain, who we almost never hear from, this announcement is likely to be the only bit of information that we receive all day about our progress. 

 

Talking of announcements, I’m pleased that the entertainment manager only makes announcements if there is a change to the schedule or an error in Horizon. I find the daily 9 or 10am announcements that you get on some ships to be far too ‘Hi di Hi’ and are utterly pointless as all the information that they give out is in Horizon anyway!

 

One thing that I’ve forgotten to mention in this blog so far is the peculiarities with the lifts. Thankfully, the things that really matter to us (good sized lifts, all in service and good lift etiquette) are all great so far. However, you have to have your wits about you. Where do I start? Firstly, the display screens in each lift car are very frequently incorrect. They often tell you that you are on a completely different floor to the one that you are actually on. Sometimes they count down the floors as if you are going down, when in fact you are going up - and vice versa. Other times they tell you that you are at a floor that the lift you are in doesn’t even go to! In other lifts the screens are correct but the announcements are wrong. Getting out at the wrong floor is therefore a common occurrence. One or two lifts keep saying that the lift is overloaded when there are just one or two people in it (no sarcastic comments please - loads of people have mentioned this 😂 ). On another lift, the floor 11 button stays illuminated, but it won’t stop at floor 11 unless you press it again (as the button jams and stays illuminated, but isn’t active). I’m sure there’s more that I’ve missed, but you get the gist. It’s all a source of amusement to passengers and every lift journey is an adventure and a cause for an amusing conversation, but is possibly another sign of Aurora showing her age. 

 

At 3pm we attended the repeat Orca talk. The presenter was there well ahead of time! Orca are a great addition to any cruise. When we did our USA and Canada cruise in 2018 I would have missed the Beluga whales in the St Lawrence river had our eagle eyed Orca guide not spotted them. 

 

We are enjoying a daily cuppa at Raffles (Costa) which we haven’t bothered with much on previous cruises. The complimentary cake (or sandwich) with each drink is a nice touch. I then decided to go for my route march around the promenade deck but, yet again, it was roped off, this time in two different places. I really do feel that these persistent closures every time minor maintenance work is occurring is overkill. 

 

We decided to go to the Crows Nest for a pre dinner drink. It was back to being very warm in there again, no doubt in part due to the industrial dehumidifier working hard to dry out the wet carpet from the cordoned off area that got wet during the thunderstorm a few nights earlier. 

 

It was the 5th black tie night of the cruise but the first time that Marco Pierre White’s name had adorned the menu. And a rather nice menu it was, well, on paper at least. As a point of interest, there are no amuse bouche served on formal nights on Aurora, which seems very strange when she is arguably a more traditional / formal ship than Britannnia and Ventura, which both serve them, albeit they are now just little drinks, rather than something to eat, so fairly pointless. For starters we both had the Parma ham with shaved Manchego Parado cheese. Mine was lovely. My wife’s had no cheese. Not a shred, so I had to donate half of mine. As is often the case, the food didn’t necessarily live up to the glamorous description. I had the duck which was meant to have a ‘crushed raspberry and chocolate sauce’. Did it hell. It was a most bland and tasteless gravy with no trace of either. My wife had the duo of beef and lamb. She said that the lamb didn’t taste like lamb. I tried it and she was right. More like beef. The beef was overcooked. 

 

I haven’t mentioned the MDR food much during this blog, other than the couple of occasions when it’s been very good, but I’d summarise it as being adequate and nothing more. I appreciate that it’s mass catering and not fine dining, but the MDR food on Aurora is not as good as it was on Britannia, Iona or Ventura, all of which we cruised on last year. 

 

As it was a formal night and I hadn’t enjoyed my main course I asked for a desert and some cheese. This resulted in a bit of a pulled face from our waiter which, I have to say, really irritated me. Long time cruisers will recall that cheese was always an additional course after dessert anyway. Our previous waiters wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. I shall be keeping an eye on that as it will affect the tip I give at the end of the cruise. Our main waiter does seem rather moody and has good days and bad days. Thankfully our assistant waiter is great and we both really like him. Quite a cheeky chappy and far more consistent in his attitude. 

 

At 10pm we went to the theatre to see Dean Stansby, a singer and pianist. It is not often that my wife and I are both in complete agreement about a theatre performer, but we were as one with this one. We both thought he was dreadful. We didn’t like the pitch of his voice and, well, I won’t go on. Thankfully we were at the back and were able to slip out after the first 3 or 4 songs. Needless to say, we won’t be returning for his second show! 

 

In conclusion, I should add that today has been pretty good weather wise. No rain (that I’ve noticed), a pleasant temperature and even some sunshine. Some lucky folk even saw some dolphins! Another sea day tomorrow as we continue our voyage south. 

 

[Danamis]

17 hours ago, FangedRose said:

It's happened more than once. A crew member jumped ship in Boston (iirc) on a Canada/USA cruise September 2019.

 

Yes, we were on that cruise. We felt really sorry for the crew members who had been looking forward to meeting up with family in New York.

[P&O SUE]

Your comment made me laugh Selbourne about the singer! I really thought you were going to say he was fabulous! 
 

I really hope the weather improves for you.

[Selbourne]

Just now, david63 said:

I'm not sure that it is always the US authorities that stop crew going ashore, I believe that sometimes it is the cruise line.

That had crossed my mind as well. I don’t doubt that the US authorities may be being difficult, but after the bother that P&O got into over the crew jumping ship they might not wish to risk a repeat. The crew have been told that even though our next port (Puerto Rico) is US territory, it is anticipated that crew shore leave will be permitted. 

[Winifred 22]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

That had crossed my mind as well. I don’t doubt that the US authorities may be being difficult, but after the bother that P&O got into over the crew jumping ship they might not wish to risk a repeat. The crew have been told that even though our next port (Puerto Rico) is US territory, it is anticipated that crew shore leave will be permitted. 

It will be the US. This ban is imposed on all cruise lines regardless of the nationality of the crew member. This is not new news/  information for the crew and they will have been aware of the restrictions the U S place on crew shore leave. The cruise line can impose restrictions on shore leave. but it’s usually for other reasons. 

[jh1809]

I noticed when I was on Arcadia in August that one or other section of the promenade deck seemed to be roped off more often than not. I wonder whether the apparent increased frequency is because maintenance is taking longer than it used to, perhaps because they have fewer crew members doing it.

[Selbourne]

Just now, jh1809 said:

I noticed when I was on Arcadia in August that one or other section of the promenade deck seemed to be roped off more often than not. I wonder whether the apparent increased frequency is because maintenance is taking longer than it used to, perhaps because they have fewer crew members doing it.

They seem to have the crew numbers on Aurora, but rather than just put cones around the little bit they are painting (or whatever) they now rope off a whole section and pull the tensator barriers across doors to the promenade deck as well. Infuriating and complete overkill IMHO. Health and safety gone mad! We had the same nonsense on Ventura.