Top Of The World - 2nd July - Aurora

[Bob Fox]

Hi All,

Is anyone going on this trip? would be nice to meet anyone from CC's who may be going.

Bob & Yve (4 crusies so far)

[louise32]

Hi Bob

I am going on this trip and am beside myself with excitement! It's our first cruise, but we are going with my parents who are cruise veterans, and my 16 month old little boy. I understand the childrens facilities are supposed to be second to none on P & O which is one of the reasons we booked with them.

I'm not only excited about the whole cruise thing, but also going right up to the Artic circle - I've been doing loads of research (hence I found this forum) and Spitzbergen looks fascinating!

So - might see you onboard (although I believe there is a near 2000 capacity).

Have a good time!

~ Louise ~

:)

[Bob Fox]

Hi Louise,

Well you will not have to wait long now!! I hope you have a wonderful time on board. It is a great itenary.

We have not been with P & O before, but I am sure their childrens programme is good.


Regards

Bob & Yve

[aclay]

Hi
how was your cruise?
We would be interested in your research findings and advice since we are booked to do this trip on the Sea Princess in June 2005.
Is there a trip report or photos anywhere?
cheers

Aclay

[cheza]

we did this trip 2 years ago, in July, the midnight sun is great within the aritic circle and suprisingly even though it way past midnight you just don't feel tired as the sun is still shining. When you get off the ship at the most northern point (sorry I can't remember the name of the port}, book as early in the day as you can. As far as I could see the ships coaches were the only ones there to take you most northern point, maybe earlier in the day there may have been other alternatives, but we didn't book while well into the cruise and we left the ship at 4pm and had very little time to wonder round the area at the 'top of the world' the highlight of the cruise really. we were lucky with the weather and had sun every day, a little cold on deck in the evenings particularly after midnight. Bergen is a lovely port too, great shopping, lovely park which had a funfair when we were there. Eating off the ship was very exspensive in all the ports.

Have a great time.

Chez
:-)

[aclay]

[quote name='cheza']we did this trip 2 years ago, in July, the midnight sun is great within the aritic circle and suprisingly even though it way past midnight you just don't feel tired as the sun is still shining. When you get off the ship at the most northern point (sorry I can't remember the name of the port}, book as early in the day as you can. As far as I could see the ships coaches were the only ones there to take you most northern point, maybe earlier in the day there may have been other alternatives, but we didn't book while well into the cruise and we left the ship at 4pm and had very little time to wonder round the area at the 'top of the world' the highlight of the cruise really. we were lucky with the weather and had sun every day, a little cold on deck in the evenings particularly after midnight. Bergen is a lovely port too, great shopping, lovely park which had a funfair when we were there. Eating off the ship was very exspensive in all the ports.

Have a great time.

Chez
:-)[/QUOTE]

Good tips. we'll bear them in mind...
How were the seas? Any rough stretches? Is the most Northern Point you refer to on Spitzbergen itself or on the mainland at Honingsvag?
cheers
A

[cheza]

Yes you are correct it was Honingsvag where we docked. It looked very drab and didn't look to have any shops or cafe's, but we could have been behind the 'town' and we didn't get off the ship earlier in the day and walk around so not sure what there was, plus it was a sunday, so we were told that everything would be closed. I really wished we had of walked around instead of lazing around on the ship waiting for our tour. The views from the visitors centre were spectacular and there was lots to do there, but again we didn't see everything as it was very rushed as we were the last tour of the day, so my advice would be to book as soon as you board for this trip. It was fairly cloudy at the top, so we couldn't see very far off into the distance, but we were above the clouds so it looked spectacular.

We did not encounter any rough seas, we went in May, but crossing over to the Norway coast was fairly cold, we were the only people in the outside pool at the back of the ship, and it was freezing once we got out of the water.....

I do feel sorry for the people who should have been on the Aurora round the world cruise, two years ago our cruise on the melenium was cancelled 4 days before we were due to go (thrust bearing problems), celebrity refunded our money and gave us a free cruise, hassle free for us, with our returned money we managed to get on the Aurora again round the med and our free cruise with celebrity we chose to go to Russia last year on the constelation. We have travelled with RC, Celebrity & P&O, out of the 3 P&O is ours favorite, so much so that we have booked another cruise to the Azores and Canary island for August. Hopefully The Aurora will be fully recovered by the time you go.

ENJOY YOURSELVES

Chez
:-)