Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[AndyMichelle]

38 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 

Today’s MDR menus

 

Now there's a problem.. My choice on both menus would be pie... 

Is it acceptable to 'double pie' 😊

Thanks for posting the menus Selborne, we have been playing along. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

Just now, AndyMichelle said:

Is it acceptable to 'double pie' 😊

Certainly, but be aware that they can’t make pastry topped pies. You get a disc of balsa wood. The potato topped ones are usually good though 😂 

[Eddie99]

What is the home-cooked meal you are most looking forward to when you get back Selbourne?  There must be something you have missed whilst you’ve been board

[Selbourne]

Just now, Eddie99 said:

What is the home-cooked meal you are most looking forward to when you get back Selbourne?  There must be something you have missed whilst you’ve been board

Hmm. Now that’s a difficult one. Possibly a toss up between beans on toast with marmite on the toast (could probably get that on here but the toast is rubbish and the beans won’t be Heinz 😂), and the curries that I make, all of which I enjoy far more than anything they serve up in Sindhu 😂

[cruising.mark.uk]

18 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

 beans on toast with marmite on the toast 

I take it that will be green beans on toast, as you'll probably have to wean yourself off them gently after 65 days.

[Selbourne]

Just now, cruising.mark.uk said:

I take it that will be green beans on toast, as you'll probably have to wean yourself off them gently after 65 days.

Absolutely not. They are banned 😂

[FatBoy20]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

Today’s MDR menus

 

Cod for Lunch, Cod for Dinner, Pie for Lunch, Pie for Dinner plenty of variety then!.

[smokey01]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

Today’s MDR menus

 

I so look forward to your menu postings. I can always pick something (and I’m a fussy non fish eater) even though I know what you say that they don’t always live up to expectations, but since covid having sailed RCL, MSC and Princess I always preferred the MDR meals on Iona/Arvia over the other cruise lines. I look forward to Britannia in July where thankfully we are second sitting confirmed and not having to deal with the dine whenever they can fit us in as we had on Arvia on our last P&O cruise.

[Selbourne]

 

Day 60 - Saturday 2nd March - Sea Day

 

I’m almost frightened to say this, but my sore throat has virtually gone. I still have a bit of a tickle from time to time, but the antibiotics that G Mighty of Antigua gave me have hopefully done the trick. I just hope that I won’t get re-infected by all the people still coughing vigorously on this ship!

 

We were in good time for our usual light breakfast in the MDR (I can still count on one hand the number of cooked breakfasts I’ve had in 60 days) and then after photographing the MDR menus and picking up our Britain Yesterday paper (which really was very much yesterdays news - or even the day before yesterday) we went to the theatre. Paul Tickler’s crime talk today was called ‘The Corner Shop Killings’. Like many people, we are really enjoying his talks. 

 

We then killed time in the cabin reading and catching up on emails, with family, the news etc. The sea state hasn’t yet worsened, as I’d feared it would. It’s hovering between force 4 and 5, which is nothing, but there is definite movement which we haven’t tended to notice on Aurora below force 6 or 7 previously. 

 

Lunch in the MDR was another very mixed bag. I had a sushi starter that was excellent and I really enjoyed it. For the main course we both had ‘steamed cod fillet with carrot and peas and lemon parsley sauce’. Well the cod may well have been steamed at one stage, but it had then sat under a heat lamp as it was bone dry, so much so that the edges were crispy. I don’t know what it is about sauces on this ship, but they can’t even make a lemon sauce that tastes of lemon. I’ve heard a number of passengers liken the MDR meals to school dinners, which I’ve felt has been too extreme, but this meal (in both appearance and taste) would not have been out of place in a mediocre works canteen. Oh well, it was Rhubarb and ginger crumble for dessert and I’ve had those before and they are good, especially if you avoid the lumpy and flavourless custard and opt for ice cream, which is what we both did. The first problem was that they had run out of vanilla ice cream. That seemed odd, but the alternative was rum and raisin which is my favourite, so no issue there. Anyway, we could not believe what we were presented with. 2 crumbles without any crumble! Well, to be 100% precise, about a teaspoon full of crumble had been sprinkled over the top but had sunk into the fruit. So it was basically hot fruit compote. I never usually do this, and probably have only done so less than a handful of times in many hundreds of meals in ships MDRs, but I sent it back. Sadly there were no crumbles left with crumble, so I just had the ice cream. 

 

At 3pm there was a Crew Talent Show in the theatre. These afternoon crew shows have been very enjoyable, so we happily went. It was a full house with people standing. At the start of the show the entertainment manager came on to the stage and I have to say that I really disagreed with something he said. He started with the usual bit about bigging up the staff and stressing that this wasn’t their day job and they were away from home for long periods, all of which is true and absolutely fine. He then asked that when we get a feedback survey for the cruise, please would we all score the entertainment performances 10 out of 10. He was deadly serious, it wasn’t a tongue in cheek comment, and he repeated the request again. I know that many of us will have worked in environments where customer feedback is critical, but such feedback is only ever relevant when people answer honestly. You should never coerce or pressure people, or make them feel as though they are letting people down unless you give the top scores. In one fell swoop, this chap has now rendered all the feedback on the shows irrelevant. If everyone does as he says then the acts that genuinely were 10/10 won’t stand out and, more importantly, the poor ones will keep coming back. It really smacked of desperation and I wondered if he’s under some sort of pressure. Many of us have had cabin stewards who tell us that unless we score them at least 9/10 they will get into trouble. I for one will always be 100% honest with my feedback and just as I will happily give 10/10 for those acts that genuinely deserve it, I also have no qualms about scoring 1/10 for a really bad act (in truth, none have been that bad, but some would be 5 or less, whereas others have been comfortably 8 or above). 

 

Now that rant is over I shall turn to the crew talent show itself and, as always, give my unbiased and independent assessment of it. I have to say that it was brilliant! It started with an Indian waiter singing a song, mostly in his mother tongue but with some lines in English, that was called ‘You are my Soniya’. In truth, the guy didn’t have a good singing voice, but 10/10 for effort and what made it enjoyable was his Michael Jackson style dance routine that accompanied the song. I’m not sure that he meant it to be, but it was really funny. At this point I suspect that most people were thinking the same as me. This is going to be a bit like the auditions in Britain’s Got Talent where most are ropey at best, but amusing as a result. How wrong I was. Next up was a young Filipino waiter who sang ‘My Way’. He was brilliant and got a standing ovation. Thinking that we must have seen the best, next up was another young Filipino waiter who sang ‘The Writings on the Wall by Samantha Smith’. Now that’s a damned hard song to sing, as it requires an enormous vocal range. Well to continue the BGT analogy, this was a Susan Boyle moment. He was even better than the previous guy. He absolutely smashed it. What a talent. Next up a duet by 2 Filipino staff of Cruisin, by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. I felt quite sorry for them having to follow the previous 2 guys, but they did really well, as did Dave, the art director, who sang two songs whilst playing the guitar. Finally, we had a beautiful light dance routine (in the dark to music whilst spinning coloured lights) by the young Finnish finance manager who dedicated it as a tribute to her Dad who had died a few years ago whilst she was at sea. In conclusion, I enjoyed that show more than several of the professional acts and I don’t need to be told by the entertainment manager how to score it. It was a clear 10/10 on its own merits. 

 

I had noticed in Horizon that the Beach House tonight was an Italian menu. I have a vague recollection that someone had mentioned this on another thread re another ship, but I’ve never come across it before and it hadn’t been advertised. Anyway, it was sold out. When we were having lunch, the Sindhu manager had come over to us to say hello and I asked him about it. He said he would try to sort us out with a reservation, which was kind of him. I hadn’t heard anything by 4pm so decided to pop up to the Beach House and enquire. Luckily the waitress who was there setting up for tonight kindly gave me a reservation.

 

My wife didn’t fancy a cuppa this afternoon but I did, so I flew solo to Raffles. The place was rammed with people playing games. As discussed before, I think that’s fair enough if they are buying drinks as well, but they weren’t. I do think it’s a bit selfish occupying a table in the coffee shop for ages just playing games when customers are looking for tables in order to consume drinks, especially when there is a perfectly good games room 20 yards away. Anyway, I managed to get a table right over by Sindhu. 

 

Dinner was in the Beach House with the Italian menu. We were really glad that we did this, especially as it was unexpected. We both had garlic prawns to start which were excellent. Real whoppers. For mains my wife had the chicken wrapped in Parma ham (which she enjoyed) and I had the lasagne, which was quite different from the MDR lasagne but very enjoyable. The weak point (as is always the case in the Beach House) was dessert. We both had something different and neither was good. None the less a very enjoyable (and different) experience from the usual offerings in the Beach House. 

 

To end the day we went to Maurice Grumbleweed’s final performance. My wife wasn’t keen but came as she wasn’t tired. In the first couple of minutes of his show he tripped on something and fell over flat on his back. The stage manager and technician rushed on to the stage to help him up and, as the true professional that he is, he handled it brilliantly, made light of it and referenced it in a few gags later. He’s no spring chicken at 75, but he looks in very good shape so hopefully he didn’t injure himself at all. His show was like his first one. Clips of songs interspersed with one liners, most of which were pretty funny (he laughs at them a lot as well 😂). I think his act would struggle on one of the newer ships with much younger audiences, but with the average age on Aurora being about the same as him he was ideal for this cruise. Tomorrow is our last sea day before the Azores. 

 

[Purdey16]

Sounds like you had a good day Selbourne, I seem to always miss the crew talent show , usually we forget about it or it clashes with something else but will certainly keep a watch out for it in October cruise if one is going on .

Thanks for letting us know that sometimes a different theme may pop up in the beach house menu sounds good and unexpected to have something different.

Most importantly I’m pleased to know that your long suffering sore throat is almost gone and just a tickle left now , it must be all the cooler weather you’re experiencing coming back to the uk 😁 so that signals no more hot holidays 😂😂 I’m only kidding, I’m pleased how things are going for you both.

[david63]

7 hours ago, Selbourne said:

He then asked that when we get a feedback survey for the cruise, please would we all score the entertainment performances 10 out of 10. He was deadly serious, it wasn’t a tongue in cheek comment, and he repeated the request again

To me that type of comment will have the opposite effect - I will tend to mark lower than I would if the "request" had not been made.

[Selbourne]

I’ve just notice that auto correct has attributed ‘The writings on the wall’ song to ‘Samantha’ Smith when it’s of course ‘Sam’ Smith (unless he’s going by the name Samantha at present) 🙄😂

[brian1]

20 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve just notice that auto correct has attributed ‘The writings on the wall’ song to ‘Samantha’ Smith when it’s of course ‘Sam’ Smith (unless he’s going by the name Samantha at present) 🙄😂

He says he's gender neutral,no worries.

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, david63 said:

To me that type of comment will have the opposite effect - I will tend to mark lower than I would if the "request" had not been made.

I understand the sentiment completely and I think many will react like you if they feel manipulated or pressurised.
 

I would however still speak as I found if that means 10 out of 10 or 1 out of 10. I would also leave feedback about this type of comment being inappropriate (and annoying).

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, david63 said:

To me that type of comment will have the opposite effect - I will tend to mark lower than I would if the "request" had not been made.

Yes, it certainly wound me up and I know that I felt exactly like that when a cabin steward said it to me once. Hopefully our current steward won’t feel the need to say it. He will be getting 10/10 anyway as he’s been brilliant. 
 

There will never be a time, especially on a cruise of this length, where all acts are worthy of 10/10 and I shall be making the point in the comments sections that the entertainment scores are likely to be artificially inflated for this cruise as a result of the entertainment managers request. 
 

Personally, I will take great pains to score everything completely honestly, including each of the entertainment acts that we’ve seen. One or two will get 10/10 on their own merits. A number, including the Headliners, will also get very high scores. However, one or two acts were really poor and that has to be fed back honestly if the feedback is to be at all meaningful. 
 

One advantage of having to use the lift all the time is that after each show we have ‘travelled’ with a bunch of people all giving an immediate post show assessment, and I know that almost all of the views that I have expressed have been shared by others. Two comments that stick in my mind were during a Pulse performance when we left early as it was so bad, and a woman got in the lift with us and said “I love that song and she’s absolutely murdering it”. Also last night there was still lots of discussion around the ship about how good the talent show had been and most agreed that it had been better than some of the professional acts we’d seen!

[Eglesbrech]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve heard a number of passengers liken the MDR meals to school dinners, which I’ve felt has been too extreme, but this meal (in both appearance and taste) would not have been out of place in a mediocre works canteen.

I’ll be honest I felt the food on our last P&O cruise sometimes resembled a mediocre works canteen.

 

I have been following the excellent live (and livish) blogs from you and others on here recently because I really enjoy them but in also to see what the food is currently like.

Edited March 3 by Eglesbrech
Typo

[brian1]

In a hotel in America I left a 10% tip.The following night we got a note saying "we expect a 20% tip in the USA" so I left 5%.

[StopTheWorld]

2 minutes ago, brian1 said:

In a hotel in America I left a 10% tip.The following night we got a note saying "we expect a 20% tip in the USA" so I left 5%.

That’s exactly what I would have done!

 

We took a taxi in San Francisco last year-  a very short distance back to the cruise terminal. There was a queue of people waiting for a taxi at the terminal, so the driver would have had no delay in getting another passenger. 
The meter said $10. I gave him $11. He said “is that it?” rather angrily. I apologised, took the $11 back, handed him $10 and made a quick exit. 
The tipping culture is getting out of hand in USA! 

[Selbourne]

Today’s MDR menus plus, for those who might be interested, the Italian menu from the Beach House last night. Apparently there’s a menu A and menu B for that as well and this is menu B which is the more popular one (so we are told). 

 

 

Edited March 3 by Selbourne

[zap99]

21 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Now there's a problem.. My choice on both menus would be pie... 

Is it acceptable to 'double pie' 😊

Thanks for posting the menus Selborne, we have been playing along. 

Andy 

Is sreak and kidney pie in suet pastry a pie, or a pudding?

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’ve just notice that auto correct has attributed ‘The writings on the wall’ song to ‘Samantha’ Smith when it’s of course ‘Sam’ Smith (unless he’s going by the name Samantha at present) 🙄😂

That only matters if you order a pint of Sam Smiths.It might identify as laaarger.

[zap99]

20 hours ago, FatBoy20 said:

Cod for Lunch, Cod for Dinner, Pie for Lunch, Pie for Dinner plenty of variety then!.

I have been quite impressed with the variety. We are having lunch at pizza express.  They only change the menu every couple of months. Only as an excuse to put the prices up.

Edited March 3 by zap99

[zap99]

2 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

I’ll be honest I felt the food on our last P&O cruise sometimes resembled a mediocre works canteen.

 

I have been following the excellent live (and livish) blogs from you and others on here recently because I really enjoy them but in also to see what the food is currently like.

Are there still such things as ' works canteens '?. Mediocre or otherwise.

[david63]

14 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We are having lunch at pizza express.  They only change the menu every couple of months.

But in fairness Pizza Express will have very few, if any, customers eating there twice a day for 10 weeks

[FatBoy20]

41 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Today’s MDR menus plus, for those who might be interested, the Italian menu from the Beach House last night. Apparently there’s a menu A and menu B for that as well and this is menu B which is the more popular one (so we are told). 

 

 

And now Mixed Fish @ Lunchtime & Dinner!. Still plenty of variety two days running!. Certainly not well thought out Menus.