Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[twotravellersLondon]

22 hours ago, tring said:

 

Or just enjoying themselves.   I think he mentioned there is a stretch of port days (?4) coming up.  I suspect he prefers to make the most of the port days and use the sea days to catch up here.  Would make sense to do that, especially as he is often on tour as well as taking his wife out later on the same day, so very tiring.  He has been spoiling us so far.

 

Hope all is well though.  

 

 

And the answer is...

 

wait for it...

 

Knocked out by a coconut or two 🥥🥥... filled with rum punch. 🍹🍹 They always say that the best parties are those that folk can't remember. 🥴 In this case Selbourne seems to have had a very good time and good luck to both Mr & Mrs S... 😃😃  

 

This thread is one of the best ever of it's type🍹... honest, detailed, informative, well illustrated and just fascinating and enjoyable to read. 👌

[david63]

5 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps not everyone is smart.

Maybe not, but there is nothing to stop them asking if they do not know what something is - I do

[zap99]

1 minute ago, david63 said:

Maybe not, but there is nothing to stop them asking if they do not know what something is - I do

Some of us are like the bloke on the TV advert.

[david63]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Some of us are like the bloke on the TV advert.

Well that's also an option

[Somerset Cruiser]

3 hours ago, pete14 said:

One of my funniest dining moments occurred many years ago in a restaurant in the Lake District. Gravlax of salmon was on the menu as a starter and a more mature in years ‘posh’ lady had ordered it. When the waiter served it to her, she complained quite loudly and bitterly that she couldn’t eat it because it was not cooked. The waiter calmly assured her that Gravlax is cured salmon and shouldn’t be cooked. It was perfectly safe to eat. The lady was having none of this, saying in increasing levels of loudness, that she had eaten in some of the top restaurants in the country and the world and had never been served raw salmon in any of them. The waiter carefully explained again to her that Gravlax is never cooked but that he would happily replace it with another dish from the menu. She demanded the manager should be called and he arrived and explained that the waiter was correct. She failed to accept his assurances as well. Her poor husband seemed to be shrivelling up inside himself in embarrassment whilst this was happening.
 

Of course, we and everybody else, were in awe of this ladies greater knowledge and experience of the culinary world and couldn’t stop ourselves from listening in with increasing amusement. It did bring to mind the Fawlty Towers episode with the lady who was hard of hearing being shown into her room and complaining about the view, (Mrs. Richards?). Of course many people who subsequently ordered the Gravlax (but definitely not me because I wouldn’t dream of it🥴) checked with the waiter whether it was cooked or not before ordering it. 

This reminds me of a recent experience on Iona, a couple on our table both ordered Bread and Butter pudding, while Mr had plenty of sultanas in his Mrs had none, The waiter was summoned and he naturally offered to get her another or an alternative, she wasn't happy and demanded to see the Head Waiter. I'm pleased to say the waiter stood his ground and declined to do so. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, zap99 said:

3 cocktails and no mention of the throat. Perhaps that's the solution.🤣

I have moments when I think my throat might be on the mend and that was one of them (not that I intend to repeat it 🤪) but unfortunately I still have it. 22 days and counting. I’m resigned to the fact that I’m stuck with it until I get home and in a different environment, so if it clears up before then it will be a bonus!

[Selbourne]

Just now, Somerset Cruiser said:

This reminds me of a recent experience on Iona, a couple on our table both ordered Bread and Butter pudding, while Mr had plenty of sultanas in his Mrs had none, The waiter was summoned and he naturally offered to get her another or an alternative, she wasn't happy and demanded to see the Head Waiter. I'm pleased to say the waiter stood his ground and declined to do so. 

We have the opposite experience on here. Our waiter is the one who totally over reacts. I stopped having cheese and biscuits, as the digestives (which are the only biscuits they serve that I like) are always stale. When the assistant waiter (who is great and we have a laugh with) cleared my plate, I showed him that the digestives were so bad that they could be bent without them breaking. 5 minutes later, the waiter appears. We struggle to understand him, but it was a good 5 minutes about the digestives. I just said ‘they just need to keep them in an air tight container’. When we left the table he rushed up again still going on about the ruddy digestives and I’m sure he said that he’d raised it with the Executive Chef 😂

[Selbourne]

Just now, Glitterati said:

Costa Maya can be troublesome for ships to dock in if there are high winds. 
 

It’s also the only port I’ve been to where you can visibly hear and feel the waves crashing into the ship whilst still tied up!

 

You can get some great shots of the waves crashing into the ship!!! 

I’ve visited twice, and each time I’ve had the same experience! Good luck!!!!

 

We are now alongside in Costa Maya. Sea very calm. 

[Kittyonions]

Maybe the Executive Chef has the authority to purchase another packet of Digestives Selbourne. Just a thought! 🙀

[Ranchi]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps not everyone is smart.

 

 

 

Or perhaps they are. Some say it comes from graved lox (buried salmon) and has evolved through grav’d lox to gravalax.  

[FatBoy20]

1 hour ago, Kittyonions said:

Maybe the Executive Chef has the authority to purchase another packet of Digestives Selbourne. Just a thought! 🙀

They hide the Digestives in the Green Bean Shipping Container!.

[Selbourne]

Just now, FatBoy20 said:

They hide the Digestives in the Green Bean Shipping Container!.

My wife had the steak last night. The steak came with chips, a flavourless and watery mushroom sauce and………green beans 🙄😂

[BouncingWheel]

Many of us are happy as Carnival Shareholders. Who’s to say that Carnival aren’t just as happy as Green Bean shareholders. If I could find the company I may invest.

[zap99]

57 minutes ago, Ranchi said:

 

 

 

 

Or perhaps they are. Some say it comes from graved lox (buried salmon) and has evolved through grav’d lox to gravalax.  

Every days a school day. I wondered if it was something to do with stone age cruisers who cut things up with axes made of gravel. For all those interested if you bash a piece of flint in the right way you can get a conchoidal fracture that can be used for arrow , or axe heads. ie gravelaxe. Sven the brave used them for cutting up Salmon in Oslo. ( I made that last bit up.) 🤣

[Mollag]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

My wife had the steak last night. The steak came with chips, a flavourless and watery mushroom sauce and………green beans 🙄😂

I asked for carrots with mine and actually got them not a green bean in sight and agree about the sauce no idea what it was supposed to be🤷‍♂️

[Presto2]

48 minutes ago, Mollag said:

I asked for carrots with mine and actually got them not a green bean in sight and agree about the sauce no idea what it was supposed to be🤷‍♂️

Green bean Puree ??????????

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

 

Edited February 19 by Selbourne

[Goosebear Mum]

I’ve held off commenting about food, but the menus are now way too heavily skewed to vegetarians now, for those of us who eat meat/fish 😞  5 of 7 starters in that dinner menu are vegetarian/vegan, and one of the only two meat starters is a salad!   I personally think they’ve gone too far.  We found it so bad last June when we were on Aurora, we ended up in the buffet each night (which was far better). At least the ‘mains’ are decent on there, but offering Guinea fowl and chicken on the same menu? Basically the same! (I do prefer guinea fowl though)  

[Selbourne]

Just now, Goosebear Mum said:

I’ve held off commenting about food, but the menus are now way too heavily skewed to vegetarians now, for those of us who eat meat/fish 😞  5 of 7 starters in that dinner menu are vegetarian/vegan, and one of the only two meat starters is a salad!   I personally think they’ve gone too far.  We found it so bad last June when we were on Aurora, we ended up in the buffet each night (which was far better). At least the ‘mains’ are decent on there, but offering Guinea fowl and chicken on the same menu? Basically the same! (I do prefer guinea fowl though)  

I was initially pleased to see that we have chicken fajitas tonight, until our assistant waiter told me that the tortillas that come with them are vegan ones. I had those earlier in the cruise and they were absolutely disgusting. Inedible in fact. 
 

I don’t mind repetition and on a cruise of this length you expect it, but things can repeat 2 consecutive days, or just be a very slight variation. Happens a lot with mains and desserts. Smacks of ‘we didn’t use it all up yesterday so we’ll try again today’. 
 

Then you have the added issue that whilst the menus might sound very tempting, what you end up with a lot of the time is a big anti climax and doesn’t live up to the glamorous descriptions. We are still sticking with our assessment that only 20% of MDR meals are ‘good’, 20% are ‘poor’ and 60% are mediocre. I appreciate that it’s mass catering, but if you were served up a lot of these meals in a restaurant at home you wouldn’t be putting the place on your favourites list. It’s a shame as we know that it can be done so much better - including on P&O. As stated, we found the MDR food to be far superior on all the other P&O ships we went on last year (Britannia, Iona and Ventura). 

[mercury7289]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I was initially pleased to see that we have chicken fajitas tonight, until our assistant waiter told me that the tortillas that come with them are vegan ones. I had those earlier in the cruise and they were absolutely disgusting. Inedible in fact. 
 

I don’t mind repetition and on a cruise of this length you expect it, but things can repeat 2 consecutive days, or just be a very slight variation. Happens a lot with mains and desserts. Smacks of ‘we didn’t use it all up yesterday so we’ll try again today’. 
 

Then you have the added issue that whilst the menus might sound very tempting, what you end up with a lot of the time is a big anti climax and doesn’t live up to the glamorous descriptions. We are still sticking with our assessment that only 20% of MDR meals are ‘good’, 20% are ‘poor’ and 60% are mediocre. I appreciate that it’s mass catering, but if you were served up a lot of these meals in a restaurant at home you wouldn’t be putting the place on your favourites list. It’s a shame as we know that it can be done so much better - including on P&O. As stated, we found the MDR food to be far superior on all the other P&O ships we went on last year (Britannia, Iona and Ventura). 

Totally agree with you, it is what we experienced on our December cruise. We were told that it was an experimental set of menu's, and that they had already received a lot of complaints.

[Selbourne]

Day 48 - Monday 19th February - Costa Maya, Mexico

 

We had a good nights sleep, primarily because the air con in our cabin behaved itself for once and we didn’t wake up hot during the night as we often do. The negative aspect of this was that we missed breakfast as last admission is 9am. Had it been 9.30am, as it is on some other P&O ships on port days, we would have been OK. 

 

When we were ready to go ashore we thought that we would get the Britain Yesterday paper and photograph the MDR menus on our way off the ship, but as we left our cabin there was an announcement saying that due to another cruise ship about to berth, disembarkation would be suspended in 10 minutes time. We got caught up with that nonsense in Puerto Rico, when we were held outside the cruise terminal for well over half an hour, so we whizzed off the ship PDQ. 

 

We walked down a long pier to the cruise village that is Costa Maya. This is a large resort style place with a small beach, swimming pools and loads of shops. It’s quite well done but it’s very much like a Disney interpretation of Mexico rather than the real thing. We had decided to try to see proper Mexico and wanted to go to Mahahual which is the nearest town (also a beach resort). This was easier said than done. Costa Maya cruise village has two problems. Firstly, it’s very busy and congested. Secondly it’s like a maze and nigh on impossible to find your way around, so it took ages to find our way out!

 

As we left the terminal we were approached by countless cab drivers, and because we had felt that in most places we had been to the fares were a rip off we ignored them. This turned out to be a mistake as I will explain. As we cleared the cab area we got to a roundabout and there was no sign as to whether the town was left or right. A chap from the ship said that he’d been to the right and there wasn’t anything much down there, so we went left. We then saw a booth with a chap in it who gave us a little map and told us how to get to Mahahual which he described as being a ‘20 minute walk’. Off we went and I’m calling BS on that, because it was more like 45 minutes. Some very kind passengers from the ship who were also walking offered to assist with pushing the wheelchair but I was OK. However, I had foolishly not had anything whatsoever to eat or drink since the night before and didn’t even have water with me. 

 

Eventually we got to Mahahual and thankfully it was worth it. Quite a nice beach resort and far more authentic than the cruise resort, although all the vendors were still as pushy inviting us into the their shops etc. At this point we had discovered from other passengers who had got a cab there that it had only cost them $4 a head! They couldn’t believe that we had walked all the way there! After a good look around we got a cab back. The driver was very good helping me get my wife in and out of the car, so rather than the $8 fare, and because I was so relived not to have had to walk all the way back, I gave him $15 thinking that was still a damned good deal!  Unfortunately, when we got back on the ship I realised that If left my sun hat on the seat in the back of the cab!

 

We were both starving and thirsty so went to the MDR for lunch, which thankfully was one of the better lunches we have had there. After lunch had gone down I decided to go back off the ship and have a better look around the Costa Maya cruise resort, but I think I timed it badly as a mega ship had just arrived and thousands of passengers were streaming off and all going where I was going. As often happens when these huge ships arrive, places get swamped and this was no exception. I had as good a look around as I could and tried to find a sun hat, but they all had Costa Maya or American football or baseball teams on them and neither appealed! In the end, after returning to the ship, having a rest and watching the sail away, I bought a hat from the on board shop!

 

At dinner, I fancied the chicken fajitas but our assistant waiter had put me off by saying that the tortilla wraps were vegan ones. I’d had some tortilla wraps for lunch one day that had been revolting, so I assumed it was those. Anyway, as I didn’t particularly fancy anything else I chose them and was glad I did. The tortilla wraps were actually two tiny things that together wouldn’t have even made one wrap, but they were different to the ones I’d had before and, as a result, were edible. More to the point, the chicken and fillings were lovely, so I ended up enjoying it.  The starter had been pretty good and only the dessert was poor so, overall, not a bad result given how patchy the MDR is. 

 

The 10pm show (a female singer) didn’t appeal so we called it a night. I have an early start tomorrow with an 8am excursion (no idea why it has to leave so damned early when it’s only three and a half hours long). Cozumel will be our last stop in Central America before we commence our second lap of various Caribbean islands. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20 by Selbourne

[P&O SUE]

On the gravlax of salmon debate - I tried it on Ventura last year as I wondered what it was like (but didn’t want to risk paying for it on land!) I didn’t like it 😆

[Goosebear Mum]

On 2/18/2024 at 6:52 PM, david63 said:

Gravdlax, or to be correct Gravlax is salmon.

 

Gravlax is an ‘English’ shortened name of Gravad Lax.  https://sweden.se/culture/food/gravlax 

Gravad lax, or dill-cured salmon,  […] Nowadays dill-cured salmon is a popular delicacy in the English-speaking world too, and English has simply adopted the short version of its name, gravlax

[brian1]

18 hours ago, Selbourne said:

We have the opposite experience on here. Our waiter is the one who totally over reacts. I stopped having cheese and biscuits, as the digestives (which are the only biscuits they serve that I like) are always stale. When the assistant waiter (who is great and we have a laugh with) cleared my plate, I showed him that the digestives were so bad that they could be bent without them breaking. 5 minutes later, the waiter appears. We struggle to understand him, but it was a good 5 minutes about the digestives. I just said ‘they just need to keep them in an air tight container’. When we left the table he rushed up again still going on about the ruddy digestives and I’m sure he said that he’d raised it with the Executive Chef 😂

He sounds a bit crackers to me.

[Snow Hill]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I was initially pleased to see that we have chicken fajitas tonight, until our assistant waiter told me that the tortillas that come with them are vegan ones. I had those earlier in the cruise and they were absolutely disgusting. Inedible in fact. 
 

I don’t mind repetition and on a cruise of this length you expect it, but things can repeat 2 consecutive days, or just be a very slight variation. Happens a lot with mains and desserts. Smacks of ‘we didn’t use it all up yesterday so we’ll try again today’. 
 

Then you have the added issue that whilst the menus might sound very tempting, what you end up with a lot of the time is a big anti climax and doesn’t live up to the glamorous descriptions. We are still sticking with our assessment that only 20% of MDR meals are ‘good’, 20% are ‘poor’ and 60% are mediocre. I appreciate that it’s mass catering, but if you were served up a lot of these meals in a restaurant at home you wouldn’t be putting the place on your favourites list. It’s a shame as we know that it can be done so much better - including on P&O. As stated, we found the MDR food to be far superior on all the other P&O ships we went on last year (Britannia, Iona and Ventura). 

Yes there should be vegan/vegeterian/gluten free options for the courses, but there should also be dare I say the standard version as well, P&O used to do that but seems someone somewhere decided to remove that option. My wife being coeliac I often eaten gluten free options at home it’s easier than preparing two completely separate meals. 
 

Yesterday we wnt out for a meal to a chain restaurant, we both had the same courses, but my wife had the gf version, they looked identical when the arrived apart from the little GF flag on hers, si if land based restaurants can cope day in day out, then P&O with all their resources should be able to do the same.