9265359

Nope. Never seen an airport make people stand outside until their flight has been called.

And even then it isn't really 'free' as you have to hand them money to get it, and as such it would be better described as a discount.

A tiny bit of rain here last night in Puerto Cruz, but still plenty warm enough to be sat outside in the evening having a drink. And this morning the wind has got up so no swimming in the sea today! It might make Azura's journey up to Madeira tonight a bit 'interesting'.

Do you never park in any sort of car park, let alone a multi-storey car park? Not even to go shopping? If you do then how do you know that a faulty diesel Landrover won't park next you and spontaneously catch fire and taking your car with it? (A faulty diesel Landrover being the cause of both of those multi-storey fires).

It did on the three times it docked when I was on it in December for a couple of weeks, and then when I returned in the new year to stay in Santa Cruz for a month it docked there every time. I only once saw a P&O ship docked on the other side, and that was when Azura was already in the ferry terminal slot. As for taking some duty free onboard, it is far far easier and normally cheaper just to buy it as you leave the UK.

That seems a rather daft move by P&O, as it encourages people not to cancel early in the day but to leave it until the reservation time to see whether they are fit and well and then just not turning up if they are still unwell so disappointing others who might have made use of the empty table. Or alternatively, even thought they are sick they turn up anyway and hang the consequences to anyone else around them.

Yes it was very breezy here in Puerto Cruz in Tenerife yesterday with a lot of white tops on the sea and the waves crashing onto the coast, so I can imagine it was bumpy out at sea. But as you say, all blown over today, and actually a bit too damn hot to be out in the sun, but then I saw the image from my doorbell camera of my post lady delivering some mail, with her in a woolly hat and gloves and thought again. As for coffee, well if P&O ships sold these... (and astonishingly that was only €1.60).

Well a month in Santa Cruz ending with the carnival - and that was crazy! I am no longer able to see Azura on a Friday because I am now in Puerto Cruz for a few weeks, and so another town and a different view, but still some nice warm weather. Plus the carnival is here in town tomorrow, although that means I need to return the hire car tonight because the streets are closed all day.

Do they not want to sell any cruises! Yes I know a TV isn't a high priority for some, but for goodness sake would it be that hard or that expensive to take a few new photos, as otherwise it is pointless doing a refurb if nobody knows about it.

If they have been upgraded then they haven't updated the photos of the cabins on their webpage, as certainly the inside and seaview cabins seem to have rubbish tvs, and even the balcony cabins don't look great - Aurora, Cruise Ship Exclusively for Adults | P&O Cruises (pocruises.com)

Of course they could, but the point was that for most people who are not in environments where they are likely to be infected with noro then it isn't the first thing on their mind when booking - and it isn't as if it is a 'feature' advertised by the cruise lines - Cruise with us and have a great time* *subject to x% chance of you being horribly ill due to contagious noro onboard

Or to be more accurate, it happens in places that people are in close contact with each other, and an awful lot of people are not in those circumstances until they take a cruise.

If you found that interesting then I recommend the drama 'State of Happiness' which is on BBC iPlayer.

Or when I walked past this morning they had a crane lifting pallets of stuff up to the top deck where (iirc) the shuffleboard area is.

And Azura is parked the other way around this week - perhaps the captain was feeling a bit lazy and didn’t fancy reversing into the space so just drove in and said “that will do”…

Well it’s Friday, which means Azura has returned, but it also means that for the next nine days it’s Carnival! All the stages have been built, the ‘puddle’ has been drained, the drinks booths are lining the streets, the security fencing is up, and every evening the streets will be closed to traffic to let the celebrations proceed.

On Aurora with the pathetically small TVs then I am not sure it is worth the hassle of trying to view something on the TV rather than straight from an iPad. As for connecting iPhones or iPads to TVs it isn't as straightforward as connecting an Android phone or tablet, a Windows laptop, or a Chromebook. With the newer iPhones and iPads with USB C connectors then theoretically you can get a USB to HDMI connector / cable, but my experience with anything other than the official Apple cables is that it isn't worth it. With an older iPhone or iPad with a lightning connector then even with the official Apple adapter (which is eye-wateringly expensive) the end result isn't great. The alternative to showing stuff on an iPhone or iPad on a TV is that you use AirPlay but you need either an AirPlay capable TV - and those on Aurora certainly are not - or you need to plug in to the TV an AirPlay receiver. However lots of streaming services don't like you using AirPlay so they block you casting it to the TV, so that won't work. And then as already mentioned, if you are outside the UK now then you can't stream most content from the UK - Netflix is an exception where they will just show you the content licensed for that location - i.e. in Spain you get Spanish content - although lots of that might be the same as UK content. What you can do as an alternative to streaming stuff live is to use the facilities that the BBC iPlayer app and the Netflix app offer to download content and to watch it without an internet connection - although with both there is a time limit they will allow it to stay on the device. There are other solutions to the issue, but this isn't really the place to discuss them.

It is, a very nice change from the cold and damp UK, and when we both stopped working a few years ago I said I was not going to spend another February in the UK - and so far that has held out.

Sunny around 23 to 25c during day and only dropping to around 18c overnight. Now at 6.30pm I am sat on the balcony outside wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt with a glass of wine, and I expect we will be eating dinner out here at 8.30 tonight. And just to add about the 910 bus, it is a wheelchair accessible 'bendy bus' and the food and drink kiosks at the beach have wooden walkways from the road.

This afternoon was spent at Teresitas beach a short bus ride along the coast from Santa Cruz. For anyone on Azura or any other ship calling in Tenerife then it is easy to get to on the 910 bus from the road just outside the cruise terminal - less than 2 euro each way, pay on the bus contactless, a bus every 10 minutes, and just ride it to the end of the line so no way to get lost! The beach is absolutely fabulous, sandy with calm warm water because there is a breakwater a short distance out keeping the Atlantic at bay, and a number of food and drink kiosks that are spread along the length of the beach renting sunbeds and parasols (yes those are needed here) for 6 euro a set of two, and incredibly selling food and drink for no more than the prices in town.

"Go and find" - It isn't as if there is a shortage of them on board and likely you will have passed several on the way to the cabin!

Wouldn't you just stop at the nearest bar on the way to the cabin and ask for a couple of glasses of water? That's what I do when coming back on board or coming back from the gym and am hot and thirsty.

And here is one back in the opposite direction with Azura just peeking around the corner.

Yes and no. Just before Christmas on our cruise we frequently had issues where the toilet wouldn't flush - not a blockage issue, simply no response from pressing the button. Multiple visits from the engineers didn't seem to have much effect, and the ships's management solution seemed to be "here have a lump of OBC" every time - which was repeated so often that it became difficult to spend. During the waits at the reception desk, there didn't seem to be a shortage of other people with similar issues - although they seemed to being fobbed off without the OBC. Throughout the cruise on the section of indoor corridor from the atrium towards the back of the ship past Sindu there had been buckets to catch water dripping from the ceiling - give them the benefit of the doubt that it was from the aircon. However... on the evening before we disembarked the stench in that area made it clear that it was *not* aircon water. It wasn't a mere whiff of something in the air, it was a full on assault on the nostrils with the smell of - well I will stop there. Quite how people continued with their meals in Sindu... And then the following day the sea-doors were closed at each end of that section of corridor with the sound of engineers working hard to resolve whatever the issue was. However on our previous cruise on Azura 18 months or so ago, there were no issues at all. So flip a coin, you might be lucky or you might not be.

If you look closely I am sure you can see me sat on the balcony of my apartment! Another quiet day in the port like yesterday with no cruise ships in, and I don't think anything due until Wednesday with Balmoral and an Aida. Into the third week here in Santa Cruz and another week to go before we head over to Puerto de la Cruz for a few more weeks. The weather out here this year post-Christmas has been fabulous - daytimes constantly low to mid twenties, and warm enough to be sitting outside into late into the evening. Santa Cruz is in the midst of the preparations for the carnival, and those who are lucky enough to be on Azura and in-port on Saturday 17th when the daytime celebrations take place will have an 'interesting' time - we were here a few years ago and the crowds, the drumming, etc. are incredible.