P&O Aurora - What can you tell me

I am also just back from Aurora and had the pleasure of meeting both Selbourne and Ehg with their lovely partners too.

 

Aurora is not to everyone's liking as she is now considered a smaller ship and has a more traditional decor. I love her and also Oriana (my favourite by a small margin). As well as the various positive points already mentioned, I would also say she has one of the most friendly crews too. So many staff smile and say hello - even if they are on the staircases polishing the rails! The service was excellent, almost without exception.

 

Feel free to ask any specific questions.

It was lovely to meet you too and I also managed to meet Selbourne and his wife too on the last night who were also dining at The Beach House. Didn't we have a great cruise? [emoji3]

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Ehg

Totally!

Fantastic cruise and fantastic ship. I have submitted a brief review which does contain balanced feedback (food and service excellent, entertainment patchy, some challenges for those with wheelchairs etc), but overall I have entitled the review 'Cruising as it should be', which gives a clue to my summary. It's not gone 'live' yet but I will post a link to it on this thread when it does.

It was lovely to meet a few fellow Cruise Critic contributors. Interesting to compare notes on mobility challenges with mercury7289. Amusing that Ehg hunted me down in the Beach House (enjoyed our brief chat and glad you like my posts!). Had a lovely long chat with Britboys as we surveyed the scene in Skagen from deck 13 - a really nice guy who has similar tastes to us. It felt like a real community at sea, and I'm really glad that we have two cruises booked on Aurora for next year. Going on Britannia (for the 3rd time) in a few months. Have enjoyed her before, but hope it won't be a let down after our fantastic cruise on Aurora.

My review has been published at last

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=579382&et_cid=2861228&et_rid=134107201&et_referrer=Boards

My review has been published at last

 

http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=579382&et_cid=2861228&et_rid=134107201&et_referrer=Boards

Thank you for your review and glad you had a great cruise. What was it about Sindhu that you didn't like was it the location or the menu?

Mandy

Thank you for your review and glad you had a great cruise. What was it about Sindhu that you didn't like was it the location or the menu?

Mandy

On Britannia and Ventura, Sindhu is a dedicated restaurant, well screened from other areas, and with a pleasant ambiance. On Aurora, it is part of the coffee shop and used as such during the day. During the evening, when it is used as Sindhu, it is completely open to the atrium and lacks any distinctness. It doesn't feel like a proper restaurant. The atrium on Aurora is very small and gets congested. When we were dining, there were a few large groups of passengers who were chatting, laughing and joking immediately adjacent to Sindhu. I don't want to sound like an old misery, but it was very intrusive and my wife and I couldn't hear each other speak.

We loved the old menu but found the items that we tried from the new menu to be very disappointing. Both starters were mediocre (the old spicy beef wrap was gorgeous, the new version nowhere near as nice) and I ordered a Lamb Bhuna Massalla that was very dry with no sauce and little flavour. I mentioned this to the restaurant manager who appeared with some more, but it was still dry. I can't remember the last time I left an Indian meal virtually uneaten. There was no further follow up, but he was pre-occupied with a group of senior ships crew dining in the restaurant. I don't begrudge them doing so, but I do find it a bit irritating (on all P&O ships) when waiting staff prioritise ships crew over passengers in Select dining restaurants - something I notice quite often.

I appreciate that this all sounds terribly negative and would like to stress that we had a fabulous cruise and the food and service was a real highlight. But, oddly, we had a complete reverse experience of Britannia, where we had found the Main Dining Room (Freedom Dining) to be disappointing (food average, service impersonal and rushed) but all Select dining venues superb. On Aurora, the MDR was fantastic. Food and service were exemplary and, aside from the superb Glass House (where we had a lovely lunch a number of times), we had our best meals in the MDR. The Beach House was great from a service perspective but the new menu again disappointed. I had a starter called Hush Puppies that was a Jalapeño pepper based dish that was bone dry. The ribs are now 2 odd and almost identical flavours, compared to the 3 very different ones (including lamb and peanut variants) on the old menu, which were superb on Britannia.

Thanks for your review Selbourne, I enjoyed reading it.

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Thanks for the info on Sindhu. We shall take a look before booking. We are only going for 7 days so may give it a miss this time which is no big deal as we like the dufferent curries that they serve lunchtime in MDR.

122 nights on Aurora. I guess you think we like her!

What can you tell me about P&O Aurora

 

 

Have 2 cruises booked on her, one in 2018 and one in 2019 and to be honest I dont really know much about Aurora, It was the itineraries that drew me to her !!

MV Aurora is a cruise ship of the P&O Cruises fleet. The ship was built by Meyer Werft at their shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. At over 76,000 tonnes, Aurora is the sixth largest of eight ships currently in service with P&O Cruises. Wikipedia

Length: 270 m

Yard number: 640

Capacity: 1,878 passengers (regular); 1,950 passengers (maximum)

Crew: 850

Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)

Cost: $375 million

The galley fills the centre of Deck B from just forward of the aft lifts to about half way to the mid-ship lifts. The noise isn't continuous, but can occur at any time. I guess it may not disturb some people, but it certainly did my wife and me.

Guess I had better take some earplugs then, as my cabin is right here B232 mini suite. Good job my husband is deaf in one ear. With two young male adult sons I am used to broken nights sleep! Thanks for the warning.

The galley fills the centre of Deck B from just forward of the aft lifts to about half way to the mid-ship lifts. The noise isn't continuous, but can occur at any time. I guess it may not disturb some people, but it certainly did my wife and me.

I have to say that my husband and I have had a few mini-Suites and Suites at this point and never heard a thing!

Cruisefan, thanks for starting this thread, I was kind of wondering the same thing myself. From reading your Flybe thread I think we are on the same cruise next June.

Thanks also to everyone for the useful comments.

A big thank you to every one for their comments

I must say Aurora is the one ship in the fleet that I know the least about but she does seem a very popular ship for Cruise Critic members

Zoe Sproodle - The cruise I`m booked on in R809 - Norway Iceland and Ireland on Saturday 16th June 2018 to Saturday 30th June 2018 - My 4th trip to Norway with P&O, first time to Iceland and first time cruising to Ireland, where I have been MANY times previously = At the time of writing this we have 1 year to go !!!

A big thank you to every one for their comments

 

I must say Aurora is the one ship in the fleet that I know the least about but she does seem a very popular ship for Cruise Critic members

 

Zoe Sproodle - The cruise I`m booked on in R809 - Norway Iceland and Ireland on Saturday 16th June 2018 to Saturday 30th June 2018 - My 4th trip to Norway with P&O, first time to Iceland and first time cruising to Ireland, where I have been MANY times previously = At the time of writing this we have 1 year to go !!!

We are on the same one then. I chose that specifically because it was Aurora at a time that suited and really wanted to try her.

It was the itinerary for me plus I hadnt been on Aurora before

I`ve cruised to Flaam on Azura in 2012... Iceland is new to me and like I said I`ve been to Ireland MANY times but have never cruised there

Just got to figure out how to pay for it now as I`m going to Alaska on Star Princess in May 2018, If it wasnt for that Star Princess cruise the Aurora cruise would be paid for by now !!

After much deliberation, I have had reason to cancel this cruise on Aurora - To say I`m gutted is a true understatement

I would however like to say a huge big massive thank you to everyone for commenting on this thread and hope that each comment has brought back some great memories of Aurora to those of you that have sailed on her

I do plan to go to Iceland but think it may have to be in 2019, we shall see what P&O have that interests me when the new brochure is out in September, maybe it will be on Aurora who knows...

Roll on September !!

ZoeSproodle - Have a fantastic time - I want to hear allllllllll about it when you get back !! x