Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[Fionboard]

Remember walking back to the hotel on St Lucia one night. Asked if we wanted to buy a carved item. It was dark, he had a machete, we did not want one. We bought one! 

[Selbourne]

Just now, Fionboard said:

Remember walking back to the hotel on St Lucia one night. Asked if we wanted to buy a carved item. It was dark, he had a machete, we did not want one. We bought one! 

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

[Megabear2]

13 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

They are used to cut the way into forests for agricultural workers, unlike here where we have no legitimate use for them!

[twotravellersLondon]

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Taj Mahal shopping centre

 

Another really great post that brought back memories of when we were in Ocho Rio’s a few years ago.

 

We took an excursion to Strawberry Hill where Bob Marley hung out after the attempt on his life. (It's now a rather expensive watering hole where the super-hyped "Gods" of the music world, such as Madonna, hang out with their entourages.)

 

The busses were exactly as you describe them, so were the prices and the lateness of the return to the ship... and we did use the "James Bond Pier!"

 

We visited the Taj Mahal shopping centre... where we were encouraged to haggle for... diamonds!  Not on our shopping list that day!

 

However... hindsight is a wonderful thing... and we're left with very happy memories. Thanks so much for reigniting our interest.

[tring]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

There's also a lot of pride in these churches which are often the centre of village life.  In Barbados for instance there's traditionally a rum shack immediately next door to the church to facilitate celebration after the services.  Most of the "traditional" islands have a very high percentage of church goers.

 

Yes I am also aware the church is important over there, the districts still being known as the parishes and named as such.  It is lovely to see the local ladies all dressed up for church with their hats. 

[twotravellersLondon]

7 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

There's also a lot of pride in these churches which are often the centre of village life.  In Barbados for instance there's traditionally a rum shack immediately next door to the church to facilitate celebration after the services.  Most of the "traditional" islands have a very high percentage of church goers.

 

That's just so true. An excellent post!

 

It's the sense of community, the sense of history, the sense of belonging, the sense of who people are that so important. `these circles, parishes, communities... where people were baptised and became members of the church, where they were confirmed in the faith, where there met their partners, were marries, presented their children in from of their friends, the community and the congregation for baptism and invited the love of God and the support of the assembled folks was and is immensely important. Funerals are also Immensely important... a change to say goodbye to long time friends with the surety that folks will meet again on the day that the trumpet will sound.

 

Many of us, but certainly not all of us, live in a world that we just don't understand the intricate and complex interrelationship between people/faith/culture & history.

 

In so many places, as our friends in the Caribbean will testify, churches and parishes are an integral part of who people, families and communities are... and have always been.

 

In our opinion, it's quite a privilege for a casual tourist to be offered an insight.

 

 

 

[Selbourne]

Day 53 - Saturday 24th February - Sea

Day

 

We both had a decent nights sleep, which was helpful as the clocks had gone forward, so we are now 4 hours behind the UK. In spite of the shorter night we still managed to get to the MDR in good time for breakfast. 

 

Our first activity of the day was Paul Stickler’s second true crime talk on ‘The Mysterious death of Sir Harry Oakes’. This was as interesting and enjoyable as his first talk. The only thing that I didn’t like was that he very much leaves the outcome up in the air, asking the audience to decide. He has researched these historic crimes in great detail, so I would like to know what his assessment is. That was the consensus view in the lift afterwards as well 😂. Maybe before he starts his next talk he will tell us what he thinks, but I’m not sure he will. That’s going to bug me, but they are great lectures otherwise. 

 

We had an hour or so in the cabin before lunch, during which time the Captain came on the airwaves for the 12pm announcement. We knew that there must be some news as he never does them. They are always delegated to junior bridge officers. Anyway, we will now be two and a half hours late into Tortola as we will make up a phenomenal 30 minutes of the 3 hour delay leaving Jamaica 🤔. Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining. Tortola was always meant to be a port that we were alongside in. It was never even a ‘possible tender’ port. We were therefore disappointed to discover mid cruise that it had become a tender port. Now, due to our late arrival, we will be tendering for the first 4 or 5 hours only and then the ship will move onto a berth once a Norwegian cruise ship departs. This is great news as it means that I will now be able to take my wife ashore as originally planned. We will also be in port into the evening to make up for the lost time in the morning.

 

Thankfully, I had already cancelled my excursion in Tortolla after my tender experience in Grand Cayman, because that trip has now been moved to the afternoon, would necessitate me using a tender to join the tour and would also result in my trip ashore with my wife being too late in the day, especially as the tours are always late back. With all that stress removed we are now free to do as we please as soon as we are alongside. 

 

After lunch we attended a talk by Ivy Partridge titled Beach Boys vs The Beetles in the theatre. This is the lady who does the Ukelele lessons, which I could have been tempted to do had they not been at 9am each day which is when we have breakfast. She’s very enthusiastic, but we both felt that she wasn’t a good speaker. It was a combination of very obviously reading from a script and constantly asking the audience for shows of hands as to which tracks they liked most and whether they owned them on vinyl. Quite a lazy approach and not really a presentation, but the music clips from these two iconic groups still made it a pleasant 45 minute interlude. 

 

We stayed in the theatre for the port talk on Antigua. Lynn our port presenter has been excellent. St John’s looks quite a nice place so I decided to cancel my excursion there as well. I’ve had enough of those ruddy awful Toyota minibuses that all the islands use and result in people being crammed in like sardines. They aren’t built for tall people. Also, some of the tours I’ve been on have been a bit weak, so I thought I’d cancel whilst I could still get a refund (which I’ve already received). 

 

We returned to the cabin briefly before going for a drink at Raffles, during which time we noticed that the toilet wouldn’t flush. This is relevant as will become clear later, but I reported it to reception. 

 

After a relaxing drink and read in Raffles we went to the Playhouse for the final performance of Jeremy Huw Williams (Welsh baritone singer) and Giordano Ferla (pianist). Neither of us enjoyed the first performance as we didn’t take to him and the music wasn’t to our liking, but he had said that by his final performance he usually played to full houses with people sat on the stairs and my wife wanted to see if that was true. Needless to say, it wasn’t. I counted about 50 people in a venue that seats over 200. It was 45 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back, but there was an amusing part. He was half way through a song when all of a sudden “Bing Bong. Ladies and Gentlemen. Please be aware that the vacuum system that operates your cabin toilets is currently not working. This is because somebody has put something down their toilet and blocked the system”. Of course, it couldn’t possibly be that the toilet system is getting as knackered as the air conditioning system, it’s the passengers fault. To be fair, that’s probably the more likely reason, but it was quite an accusing tone. Anyway, to be fair to Jeremy Huw Williams he handled it in a very amusing way as it must have really thrown him. 

 

I then did 4 laps of the promenade deck. I set out from the outset of this cruise to try to do 10 laps every sea day, but this 4 week cold has sapped some of my energy, so I’ve fallen woefully short. Hopefully I can do more of this on the long drag back to Southampton, as long as the seas aren’t too rough. 

 

It was another black tie night with a decent looking menu. I have mentioned several times that grand sounding menus are often followed by underwhelming food, but tonight’s meal was very good. We both had the same three courses. The beetroot smoked salmon starter, whilst tiny, was very nice. Beef Wellington for mains. We both ordered them medium- rare in the knowledge that they’d arrive medium and we were spot on. Two minor down points were the fact that the obligatory green beens were served (at least they go with this meal) and the supposed Madeira jus had at best had the cap of the Madeira wafted over it. As Ricky Tomlinson would say, Madeira my @rse 😂. The trifle Wally Ladd was a nice end to the meal (and definitely had some sherry in it). 

 

To end the evening we went to the theatre to see Jayne Middleton as Annie Lennox. I had a degree of apprehension about this, as I love Annie Lennox’s voice and feared that a cruise ship singer might massacre some great songs, but this girl was great. Absolutely none of the usual tricks that the poor ones use, such as changing the high notes or getting the audience to sing the bits that they can’t. She got every song pretty much pitch perfect and as per the original version. The one thing that I wasn’t convinced about was her speaking voice. I think she was trying to impersonate Annie Lennox’s speaking voice as well but it was like no Scottish accent I’ve ever heard. I remember having to leave an Adele tribute once when the singer also tried to impersonate Adele in the strongest cockney accent possible and it completely ruined an otherwise good performance. Thankfully Jayne Middleton did very little talking between tracks and let her fantastic singing voice speak for itself. The funny accent permeated one song though, which every time the line was sung sounded all the world like “who’s that ‘heel’, running around with you”? 😂 My favourite Annie Lennox track (Why?) was partly ruined by two cretinous audience members who decided to leave half way through it and started having a full blown conversation as they did, but I was hugely impressed that she even played the piano whilst singing that track. 

 

The backing vocals and some of the music was pre recorded, but she was accompanied by Pulse who were also great. Sadly we’ve had to avoid Pulse all this cruise as the female vocalist is dreadful, so it was nice to hear the musicians on their own as they are clearly excellent. So a great evening. Tomorrow is Tortola. 

Edited February 25 by Selbourne

[Fionboard]

12 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

 

12 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

Unfortunately, it does happen here quite frequently in our cities. 

[Malcolm142]

Selbourne. You have mentioned that you have cancelled two excursions recently and the timing seemed to me that you gave less than the  three days notice which is required to get a refund (less 10% admin). Did you get the refund on them both.

I ask as we might be in a position where we need to cancel a Northern lights excursion in March because of the weather 

[zap99]

16 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

In the UK they don't make rum punch at the roadside for tooorists.

[Selbourne]

Just now, Malcolm142 said:

Selbourne. You have mentioned that you have cancelled two excursions recently and the timing seemed to me that you gave less than the  three days notice which is required to get a refund (less 10% admin). Did you get the refund on them both.

I ask as we might be in a position where we need to cancel a Northern lights excursion in March because of the weather 

You need to give more than 2 days notice in order to receive a refund, so yesterday (Saturday) I cancelled a tour for Tuesday. As you say there was a 10% admin fee (charged to your on board account) but you receive a 100% refund back to your credit card. With the previous cancellation, when I explained the reason why I was cancelling they waived the 10% admin fee. All very straightforward other than the fact that you have to go to the short excursions desk and can’t cancel them online or via MyHoliday. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, zap99 said:

In the UK they don't make rum punch at the roadside for tooorists.

I’ve seen plenty of machetes in use for the coconut / rum punch vendors, but it wasn’t those that I was referring to. I can recall seeing at least 3 people on different occasions walking along with them nowhere near forests or tourist stops. I’m sure that they were for legitimate reasons, but it just raised an eyebrow when at home that would make the local news 😂

[brian1]

38 minutes ago, zap99 said:

In the UK they don't make rum punch at the roadside for tooorists.

There's a few punch ups by the roadside in the UK.

[Megabear2]

44 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve seen plenty of machetes in use for the coconut / rum punch vendors, but it wasn’t those that I was referring to. I can recall seeing at least 3 people on different occasions walking along with them nowhere near forests or tourist stops. I’m sure that they were for legitimate reasons, but it just raised an eyebrow when at home that would make the local news 😂

On a lot of the islands the agricultural workers live nearer the coast but work inland.  Many walk miles to their employment as they have no car and access by public transport is not possible due to the state of the inland roads - I'm sure you have encountered many of these on your excursions (I recall you mentioning horn tooting which is a staple of inland driving to make people aware of larger vehicles which may mot be visible)! The machetes as tools of the trade are carried to and from work.

 

In Jamaica we had a lovely pool attendant who slept on a sunbed in the pool house and walked four hours home on Saturday night to sing at his family church and take his wages to his family, then walking back on Sunday evening.  He explained no buses can go into the centre due to the forests but there are villages up there.

Edited February 25 by Megabear2

[grapau27]

On 2/24/2024 at 3:44 AM, Selbourne said:

Day 52 - Friday 23rd February - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

 

 

A very odd day in Jamaica. As a Carnival ship managed to damage the cruise pier a few weeks ago, and has apparently put it out of action for a year, we berthed at Reynold’s Pier, which the locals call the James Bond pier. It’s an industrial berth that was used in two James Bond films as the baddies lair. The local economy is going to take a big hit, as this pier can only take smaller ships (and maybe only one at a time?) so all the biggies are being rescheduled to either Falmouth or Montego Bay. The locals aren’t at all happy. 

 

I was booked on a ‘Panorama of Ocho Rio’s’ tour and it was on one of those awful Toyota minibuses that seem to be as prevalent around the Caribbean as the wild chickens are on Grand Cayman. I got in the front seat which, due to there being no door, involves a degree of contortion and dexterity to get in and out of that thankfully I can still just about manage (at a push). 

 

As we left Ocho Rio’s we climbed up through Fern Gully, which is a steep sided gully that was originally a river that got diverted as a result of an earthquake. Even though I was in the front seat it was difficult to see out as the minibus had a tinted band that covered almost the top half of the windscreen and it wasn’t well applied so distorted the view. Anyway, as we were climbing the gully, I noticed the greenery start to move at the side of the road and all of a sudden a person on stilts, absolutely covered in greenery (from their head to the bottom of the stilts), just ‘walked’ out into our path. As if this was perfectly natural, our driver just slowed down and then drove around him. A little further up the gully there was another leaf covered manned stall and our guide said that he was ‘Jack in the box’ and the chap on stilts was ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. They are apparently ‘tourist attractions’ (code for beggars). 

 

We weaved our way through some quite poor looking areas and then got to an affluent area where various music stars own properties and then stopped at a viewpoint (Shaw Park Ridge) that overlooks Ocho Rio’s. On our way back down the hill another chap dressed all in black walked out in front of the minibus and brought us to a halt. He then proceeded to do about a dozen backward flips down the middle of the road. I should at this stage say that Marijuana in ‘small doses for personal use’ is legal in Jamaica and I was beginning to wonder if I had inadvertently taken some. Anyway, it was another beggar who managed to get a few dollars from the more benevolent passengers on the minibus. 

 

We then stopped at an extremely average church (St Johns Anglican Church) with a very shabby graveyard. I have no idea why so many shore excursions on various islands do this. The average village church in the U.K. is more impressive than 90% of these. After that we stopped at the Taj Mahal shopping centre (yes, you read that correctly). Lots of shops all selling similar things - tourist tat, t-shirts, booze, cigars, jewellery etc. The prices all look astronomical to me, probably as Sterling is weak against the US dollar. Maybe the prices are more appealing to our US cousins. 

 

Next we headed out of town for a slightly pointless drive through the heavily congested village of St Ann’s (it’s Jamaica Day today so everywhere was busy), which included driving in and out of the hospital car park (I’m not making this up for effect BTW). The final stop was an outdoor eating area where they cook vast quantities of Jerk Chicken and pork. Again, I’ve no idea why. It smelt nice but wouldn’t get a food hygiene rating at home!

 

Back to the ship just 20 minutes late which seems to be better than most excursions. BTW, If booking tours don’t plan on doing two in a day. Chances are your first tour will be late back. They don’t even seem to be aware of the scheduled return times! 

 

As the tour was late back we had missed lunch in the MDR so went for a burger at the Lido Grill. The service up there is poor but the burgers are OK and are a quick way to fill a gap. 

 

We were scheduled to have a relatively short day in Jamaica with an ‘all on board’ time of 4.30pm. Then we had the added challenge that wheelchair users could not get on and off the ship between midday and 2pm due to the tides (when only stepped access from deck 5 would be available). However, by the time we had grabbed some lunch the level step free access from deck 4 had been reinstated, so we headed ashore. 

 

Thankfully, although we were further out of town than the usual cruise pier, the walk into town was very good and wheelchair friendly. It was a tiny bit more tricky in places once we got into the centre, but still better than most of the places we have visited. On the way back to the ship we had a look around Island Village, a nicely landscaped shopping and leisure area. 

 

Having returned to the ship in good time for the early departure, at 5pm the Captain announced that we would be delayed in our departure due to a delivery of provisions having arrived late. As a result, people could go ashore for another 2 hours if they wished. I doubt that many did. He also said that this would mean that we would be a few hours late arriving into Tortola in 2 days time as a result. We ended up leaving at around 8pm. 

 

Clearly there is a tight budget on fuel costs, as the journey is apparently about 720 miles and we have 36 hours to do it if we are to arrive on time. That would mean travelling at 20 knots, which is well below Auroras designed operating speed of 25 knots. I wondered if the Captain would do the same as he did with Bermuda, when he patted himself on the back for getting us there just marginally late when we had made a big diversion to avoid the worst of a storm system. However, he said that there would be a communication about the impact of our delayed arrival on shore excursions, so maybe not. 

 

At 7pm we went to Carmen’s for a Headliners performance called ‘Up all night’.  As those who cruise a lot will know, there can be big variations in the quality of the Headliners troupes. We’ve seen a few excellent ones and some quite poor ones. In all honesty, the troupe that we have is very good and it’s frankly amazing that the vast majority of them are on their very first contact with P&O. In the spirit of complete honesty, the male singers are let down a bit by one of their number being quite weak, but the female singers and the dancers are all excellent. 

 

Dinner was mediocre. We both had jerk chicken. I wasn’t terribly keen but it was a welcome change from the usual fodder. My wife enjoyed hers. My dessert was dreadful. I struggle to think of more than a handful of MDR desserts that I have really enjoyed. 

 

The 10pm show was vocal group ‘Legacy’ but we were both quite tired so didn’t go. Tomorrow is a sea day as we progress towards Tortola. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice photos.

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

 

Edited February 25 by Selbourne

[david63]

The menus are starting to look a bit repetitive

[Selbourne]

 

Day 54 - Sunday 25th February - Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
 

One big advantage of a later arrival into port is that you see the scenery on the way in (the light is usually fading by the time we leave in the evenings). Today this meant lovely views of Peter Island and others during our approach to Tortola. 

 

The winds of the past few days had kept temperatures to quite a pleasant level, but today it’s very warm and humid again. As we only have three more days in the Caribbean before we head north towards home, this will please everyone, especially the sun worshippers (of which there are many). 

 

Although the ships tracking websites had us arriving into Tortola at 0645, this must have been our original time and didn’t update based upon our delayed departure from Jamaica. We actually dropped anchor at around 1000. The aim was for a tender operation until 1pm when it would be suspended. Tenders would be hoisted back on board and then we would dock in time for us to go ashore at 3pm. (Note - the reality was that tendering stopped at 1.45pm and we couldn’t get off until 3.30pm)

 

As it was a port day there was nothing happening on the ship of interest, so we just chilled on the balcony and in the cabin between breakfast and lunch. We’ve given up on the laundry offer ever appearing again (it’s only appeared once in 54 days) so we put in another bag of 10 items. It all adds up, but I’m determined not to have much more than a normal weeks washing and ironing to do when we get home, as we’ve got a lot on from our first week back. 

 

I’ve enjoyed having the internet package (heavily discounted) as it’s enabled me to keep up to date with the news (the TV being almost unwatchable), family, friends and managing our life in general. So much so that I’ve booked it for our two future (Cunard) cruises whilst we’ve been on here, under their Valentines 28% discount offer. Works out at about a tenner a day versus the £6 a day on here, but they are both only 14 nighters. 

 

As we dropped anchor we could see Norwegian Sky and Valiant Lady on the cruise pier. I appreciate that looks are subjective, but I think that these new Virgin ships look great (Edit - from the front they do. I saw the back when we got off - pig ugly like the back of Iona and Arvia 😂).  The silver grey is a nice change from the usual white and even the Virgin red doesn’t seem to make it look naff. I suspect that there would be a lot of red on the inside as well though, and that would be a no no 😂

 

After lunch we waited in the cabin and balcony until informed that we could go ashore. During this time I called reception to say that our cabin air con has packed up yet again. Not a breath of air coming out of either vent (one actually feels warm) and I swear that our cabin is around 25 degrees even with the control on the very lowest setting (as it’s been all cruise). We certainly couldn’t sleep in this temperature. 

 

Once ashore we walked through the cruise pier area. Some of the shops were closed with it being a Sunday, and those that were open were the usual tourist stuff that’s of no interest to us whatsoever. There were some bars blasting out loud music and one was deafening, but was full of young locals so is obviously the ‘in’ place. Most passengers didn’t venture far from here but we did quite a walk around the town. Away from the cruise port it’s one of those ‘authentic’ places that I quite like. The proper Caribbean rather than the sanitised one for tourists. There were no real ‘sights’ to speak of (I couldn’t find the small botanical garden and my wife felt we had gone far enough off the beaten track as it was), so we found our way back to the ship. 

 

Our cabin was still sweltering (even with the curtains having been left closed) and nobody had been, which was disappointing. Another call to reception. I would be wary of booking another cruise in very warm climates on Aurora. The air con system as it is just simply isn’t up to the job. We went to Raffles for a drink and when we had returned there was a card to say that engineers had been to fix the ventilation. Well we have a very slight puff of cooler air now but it’s still pathetic. I think the cabin just feels marginally cooler because it’s getting dark. It needs to drop another good few degrees to make it bearable for sleeping. Not impressed. 

 

I managed to finish the 600 plus page book I’d borrowed from the library, so returned it and spent some time looking to see if anything else took my interest. It didn’t, but it was nice to spend some time in a place with properly working air con (the irony is that earlier in the cruise the library and Crows Nest were both unbearably hot, so they can fix that but not our cabin. 

 

Our departure from Tortola is intentionally late so we were still in port when we went for dinner at 8pm. It was all on board by 8.30pm and for once we got going fairly soon afterwards, which was good as we could watch our nighttime departure from our dinner table. After dinner my wife wanted to see the second performance of the 3 guys who make up the US vocal group Legacy, as we hadn’t seen their first show. It wasn’t really my thing but it was an energetic and professional performance and my wife said she enjoyed most of it. Tomorrow we are in St Kitts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 26 by Selbourne

[mrsgoggins]

Thank you yet again. I currently have 3 P&O cruises in the pipeline (over 2 years) but your reports have made me discount ever trying Aurora on 2 counts; the a/c problems you have had that they seem unable to fix, and also the low beds. Both of those things would have a big impact on any cruise for me so I am very grateful to you, even though I realise that not all cabins are likely to be as affected as yours has been.

 

I agree about the appearance of the Virgin ships at the back, really ugly! 

[jh1809]

2 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

Thank you yet again. I currently have 3 P&O cruises in the pipeline (over 2 years) but your reports have made me discount ever trying Aurora on 2 counts; the a/c problems you have had that they seem unable to fix, and also the low beds. Both of those things would have a big impact on any cruise for me so I am very grateful to you, even though I realise that not all cabins are likely to be as affected as yours has been.

 

I agree about the appearance of the Virgin ships at the back, really ugly! 

Regarding the air con, I don't recall any problems either in my cabin or in any of the public rooms on my trip to the Caribbean on Aurora just over a year ago, so it's either a recent problem or Selbourne has just been unlucky. Fingers crossed that it will be fixed before too much longer. I'm on her in May on a Baltic cruise, so even if they can't fix it it's unlikely to be a major problem for that cruise.

[Fionboard]

2 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

Regarding the air con, I don't recall any problems either in my cabin or in any of the public rooms on my trip to the Caribbean on Aurora just over a year ago, so it's either a recent problem or Selbourne has just been unlucky. Fingers crossed that it will be fixed before too much longer. I'm on her in May on a Baltic cruise, so even if they can't fix it it's unlikely to be a major problem for that cruise.

I am on her in a couple of weeks to the Arctic, so heating is more important for me!  Am also on the May Baltic one, which was unseasonably hot last year! Hope they sort this out. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, mrsgoggins said:

Thank you yet again. I currently have 3 P&O cruises in the pipeline (over 2 years) but your reports have made me discount ever trying Aurora on 2 counts; the a/c problems you have had that they seem unable to fix, and also the low beds. Both of those things would have a big impact on any cruise for me so I am very grateful to you, even though I realise that not all cabins are likely to be as affected as yours has been.

 

I agree about the appearance of the Virgin ships at the back, really ugly! 

Cabin wise I think we’ve been unlucky. We are by the forward lifts (which is a hot area - as are the midships ones) and the corridor outside our cabin is hot also. I suspect there’s an issue in our area. 
 

If your cabin is OK the cruise wouldn’t be affected too much. Everyone comments on how hot the lifts are but you aren’t in them for long. The Crows Nest and Library were unbearable for a number of days early on but that’s now fixed. The Playhouse has varied between hot and cold but seems to have settled down now. The theatre has always been good and the Glasshouse and the pub have always been very cool (some of the older passengers complain that they are too cold 🙄). The fixed dining MDR is mostly OK, although our area right at the back is unfortunately a bit warmer. Not a major issue though. The freedom MDR has always been nicely cooled. The Beach House was really hot on our first visit but better on our last two visits. Same with Sindhu. 
 

As for the bed, we are in an accessible cabin. It may be the beds in those are lower. Premier Inn do the same, assuming that disabled people want lower beds when often the opposite is the case!

 

Hopefully this more detailed explanation might help you decide whether or not it would be an issue for you. 

[Goosebear Mum]

When we were on her in 2016/17 to the Caribbean, the air con in our cabin (B191 - I keep records on OneNote!) was very poor to unusable, when it was really hot outside.  I was new to cruising, so didn’t think of ‘asking to have it fixed’ as I just assumed all cabin air con was poor…  Now I wish I had!  
 

I have to say even on all our subsequent 5 cruises on her, the only one where I felt the air con was good, was last year to the Baltic, cabin B245.  Not sure whether it would have been as good though at Caribbean temperatures! 
 

edit, not sure how hot the lifts were, as we don’t use them

Edited February 26 by Goosebear Mum

[tring]

1 hour ago, jh1809 said:

Regarding the air con, I don't recall any problems either in my cabin or in any of the public rooms on my trip to the Caribbean on Aurora just over a year ago, so it's either a recent problem or Selbourne has just been unlucky. Fingers crossed that it will be fixed before too much longer. I'm on her in May on a Baltic cruise, so even if they can't fix it it's unlikely to be a major problem for that cruise.

 

I suspect your cruise was the Nov 2022 one which we did.  I agree no problems at all with the a/C and we had really good weather for most of that.  We were also on Aurora for a one week Spain and Portugal cruise last August, followed by a 30 night Canada/US and no problems again.  I hope it is sorted by late April when we are on her again, but the Med in May should not be that warm.  She is the best ship left in the fleet in our opinion, so hope it can be sorted and quickly for you @Selbourne.

 

All our cabins were by the midship lifts.

 

Edited February 26 by tring

[Selbourne]

Just now, tring said:

She is the best ship left in the fleet in our opinion, so hope it can be sorted and quickly for you @Selbourne.

She has always been our favourite too, and this is the first of our eight cruises on her where we’ve noticed so many air con issues, but this is our first cruise on her since late 2019 and we both feel that she’s starting to show her age a bit now