Son of Bare

Oh, I thought it might be earlier than that. Two per year and the last one was October.

Anyone know when this might be?

That 'other berth' that you experienced on Britannia is imo, one of the best places to park a cruise ship in Europe.

If Aurora wins, you could select a standard balcony of your choice after checking the deck plans and then make a cheeky offer for a balcony deluxe cabin when that opportunity arises. If you are not bothered whereabouts on B deck you are, that would be the cheapest way of securing a deluxe balcony and you'd still have the safety net of a standard balcony cabin, location chosen by you.

We spent 30 nights in a standard balcony portside on Aurora on Lido deck on a recent trip to US and Canada. Excellent views, sailing into and out of NY for example. Also very good for access to the riviera and cystal (coveted) pools. My wife swam every day in the riviera, prefering it, while I kept a watching brief from a jacuzzi. Access into and out of the front stairwell area and where the cabins are situated from the open deck is interesting. It is on starboard side and the vast majority of px use it, but there is also an emergency exit on portside which tends to be used by bridge officers, the odd smoker (one of the two areas where smoking is allowed is portside riviera bar, this is not a problem if sat on a portside balcony cabin as the riviera bar area is surrounded by perspex preventing forward movement of smoke), and the odd px in portside a cabin. Generally, if you've not experienced Aurora before, our main grip was sound insulation or lack of it between cabins. She's an older ship and allowance needs to be made for that.

One of the issues is people don't 'saunter' anywhere anymore. Everyone has to be there as early as. Something I've never understood. Fair enough I suppose if you are in a privileged tier that gets you a lunch that you sufficiently prioritise to want to arrive at a time to attend. I don't understand why gaining the odd hour over a 7/14/35 night cruise is considered so important for so many people that they feel cheated if they are given a later check in time than they prefer. I'd rather leave home at a sensible time and saunter on in my own time in the knowledge there's a fair chance my cabin will be ready and wairing for me.

Not quite the case. We chose not to pay extra to pick our seats, but we still expected to be sat together or across an aisle though as has happened previously. Those people we were sat next to were as surprised at the situation as we were, but as I rather sarcastically said, it wasn't a problem we managed it. I agree with you, as said, it's a ridiculous position for the OP to be put in by PO. Regards carrying evidence, absolutely, though I'm a bit non plussed that anyone who chooses to carry a phone does not have it on their person at all times, especially when travelling to a point of departure for a holiday with what that could potentially entail.

Not trying to prove anything. As soon as I saw your headline figure of over 100k spent with PO I naturally compared it to our own spend. We are both Carribean tier members having mostly used balconies, spending a reasonable amount onboard, with excursions, select restaurants and bar bill and have only just gone past 50k. I found the discrepancy startling but then we've not bought from the gallery or paid for anyone else.

To play devils advocate here. I find it interesting that by your own admission you have spent over 100k with PO but are not yet in Carribean tier (or above). If wifey has only done 'a couple more cruises' than you, a combined total of not much more than 400 nights seems a reasonable assumption? Do the maths and that equates to a minmum of £500 per cabin pn (at todays prices). That's mostly Suite territory which have early embarkation anyhow. And the further back you first cruised, the lower the average per cabin pn cost would be.... #confused. I do however agree that it's ridiculous that a couple sharing the same cabin would be expected to board at different times. As an aside, on a recent Azura fly cruise from Valletta, my wife and I were not sat together for the flight (we didn't pay the surcharge to choose our seats). She was several rows behind me. This was not what we were expecting. It was difficult ordeal... we've only been together for 44 years, but we managed to get through it. 🤣

I think the key to this is when px are told that a process starts at 6.30 am, it's not compulsory that you get there at 6 30am. Far too many people want/need to be at the head of a queue and when it then doesn't start moving they get fidgety. If you were on an excursion organised by PO that left at say 8.30 o'clock, that was in fact was your free ticket for a lie in. They would not have gone without you providing you were present somewhere in the queue 30 mins beforehand

Immigration was, for us, a doddle. The queue we joined didn't stretch beyond the ladies immediately outside of Carmen's. Ten minutes max until we hit US soil. One thing I've learned over the years, never be the 1st in a PO queue. The entertainment is, by and large, aimed at the retired generation. So yes, plenty of crooning, songs from musicals, 60's and 70's. There's a busker, at least there has been on our last three PO cruises, this one was imo, awful. Insipid. (I'm sure he's a very nice guy). Ditto the lady who tinkled the ivories in the Crows nest and other venues throughout the cruise. We have noticed that when we go to a major US port, PO put a local turn on in the theatre and they are usually way better than the in house offerings. On this occasion 'call me Paul' had the New York Collective entertaining us together with a fantastic tap dancer who goes by the name AC Lincoln. He was on strings. Together with our trip to Birdland a real highlight of the cruise. Regards PO excursions, I would add Cape Spear from St John's as a recommendation. Furthest point east in the North Americas. A kind of Dunmore Head in reverse. When in NY we ventured as far as Harlem, I wouldn't recommend that if you are of a nervous disposition, but we didn't have a problem with central NY. Every town and city has their colourful characters, the most entertaining we stumbled across was a guy in St Johns. Oh, and yellow taxis are cheaper than Uber 😉

That fact simply strengthens my point and weakens any argument that it should be put down to an 'accident'.

Equally culpable, equally at fault. The fact that this type if incident apparently happens regularly should also be viewed as disconcerting at best. Steps should already have been put in place to eradicate the problem, and if mega cruise ships regularly break their lines and literally nothing can be done to prevent this from continuing to happen, its obvious that they have been built too big for purpose.

I have to agree with this. I doubt anyone would be excusing PO/the captain if for whatever reason one of the fleet went down. That's an extreme example, but I doubt there would be any mitigating factors in the minds of observers allowing those responsible for that event off the hook, so why is it any different for this incident? Because this is a 'minor event' which allows the observer to retain the 'accidents happen' mentality...

With human nature as it is, that'll be some queue at reception.