AchileLauro

Call me a cynic if you like but I'm rather loath to accept on face value official statistics on covid virus at the moment, especially U.S. statistics.

I think it could be some time before truly accurate data will become available.

We prefer an outside cabin normally but have purposely opted for inside cabins on occasion because of the location on the ship. As we spend so very little time in our cabin anyway we don't mind if an inside cabin is the only option available.

Usually we will opt for a cabin that is close to an exit nearest to a swimming pool. That way we have one very large balcony with a pool and often a bar or eatery near by.

45 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Interesting that you would take a risk for work, but not for pleasure🤔

Why is it interesting - I said essential for work. You don't seem to appreciate that there are some occupations where a degree of personal risk is the norm in order to protect others.

The last cruise that we took was a fly cruise, there is absolutely no way that I would consider getting on an airliner in the foreseeable future unless it was considered essential for work.  However I might consider taking a cruise at some time in the distant future when the covid 19 virus is considered to be  fully under control.

 I don't have any particular faith in what precautions that any cruise line may take. I recall sitting in Andersons on Aurora early one morning watching two female crew members washing down panels in the corridor outside. There had been an outbreak of Norovirus and extra intense cleaning measures were supposed to have been introduced. Well the two crew members were merrily chatting away and merely going through the motions. The rags or wipes that they were using only occasionally touched the walls and were never dipped in the buckets of cleaning solution that was on the floor. it was hardly surprising that it was necessary to fly in a specialist cleaning crew from Southampton a few days later.

35 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

I am not referring to build dates so much as the actual point that as time has gone by the proportion of balcony cabins to ocean view has risen enormously. The most modern cruise ship designs seem to eradicate ocean view completely and this has been a continuous trend in my opinion mainly due to being able to charge a premium on private balcony accommodation. 

 

Regards John

Although Oceana was launched before Aurora I wouldn't say that the one was anymore modern in design than the other, they were simply just designed for quite different markets.

In the last twenty years the demands of the customers/passengers have changed slightly with a much higher demand for balconies, though in many cases to call it a balcony is a bit rich many not being much larger than window boxes. I look at many cruise ships that have been built over the last 20 years and can't help comparing them to floating pigeon lofts, with the complete side of the ship adorned with pigeon boxes. Most of these ships lack elegance of design.

P.S. Having had the benefit of a balcony cabin on one cruise I can't say that it really floated my boat. Personally I would much prefer to save the extra  money for more cruises. Besides that most of the balconies are not very private.

39 minutes ago, wowzz said:

And I wouldn't believe the high price you paid !

Possibly not as high as you may think. Don't forget that jet travel was still pretty much a new thing and that liners were still in regular use.

P.S. I can just pip that mine was 53 years ago, it was a 6 week cruise from Australia to the U.K.

An hour of my remaining life wasted watching that tripe. Not at all informative and certainly not entertaining.

19 hours ago, zap99 said:

With Iona I guess " step on the gas " is quite appropriate 😁

Or perhaps its "Open another bottle". 😁

12 minutes ago, 9is said:

I’m pleased you enjoyed your cruise.  I wish we had your cabin.  Ours was also quiet and dark.  However (going to be as polite as possible) the stains from previous occupants was disgusting. We didn’t have a functioning tap in the bathroom, we had a piece of metal attached by gaffer tape.  As mentioned before P&O refunded us nearly 50% of our cost, this was obviously processed whilst we was still onboard as it was in the post received 2 days after returning home.  I’m sure many people love aurora but not us. 

Sorry to hear that things were so bad. We too have witnessed a few things that have been far from perfect but the worst that we have experienced was on Ventura when a freshly laundered towel was opened to find human feces dried into the towel. We didn't want to make a fuss but felt that it should be reported to reception. We just couldn't believe how uninterested they were, as if it was a regular occurrence that was simply accepted.

15 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I think we were on this cruise.

Heavy snow in Oslo?

The atmosphere on board was excellent and is still one of our favourite ever cruises. 

We have booked a 2021 Christmas Market cruise on Iona. 

Andy 

 

Yes snow in Oslo but if anything it added something to the atmosphere.

19 minutes ago, 9is said:

Only been on aurora once, Christmas 18. Oceana 4 times. For me oceana appears more generally run down in most areas.  Our mini suite on oceana this Christmas was in a real bad way. Still seem to love the ship for some reason, find it very friendly.  Never found it noisy.  Aurora was a very bad experience, P&O agreed with us and gave us nearly 50% of our money back within days of returning.  
 

Our cabin was an inside cabin for 4, 2 adults and 2 children. We have been in many inside cabins so knew space was going to be tight.  It was the condition of the cabin that was a shock. It may have been this particular cruise but we found that their was a lack of atmosphere onboard.  The food was dreadful apart from the very first lunch, Christmas dinner was awful, although oceana wasn't much better.  Only cruise I’ve been happy to leave, normally I’m dragged off kicking and screaming. 
 

We met a higher percentage of children haters on this cruise, those who directly tell us children shouldn’t be on cruise ships.  My personal favourite was the clicky finger man we shared a table with who was in the child hater group.  Laughed quite a lot when a few days later he came out of a children’s carol performance and turned to his wife with a beaming smile, “that’s just made my Christmas”.
 

Thankfully our cruise on aurora the following Easter was cancelled when it went adult only.

We were on Aurora a week or so before you that year (Christmas markets) and have to say that for us it was one of the better cruises. The food we found to be very good and our cabin which was an inside cabin just below the crows nest was simply perfect (dark and quiet).

We wouldn't do a Christmas markets cruise again as while nice to experience we thought that once was enough, though we spoke to many people who seem to book a similar cruise every year as it was their thing. None the less for us it was a very pleasant holiday even if the weather was typical of northern Europe at that time of the year.

Denarius as you've pointed out "one man's meat is another man's poison" so we will have to differ regarding our personal likes and dislikes regarding Aurora and Oceana. I will however concede one point regarding the design of Aurora and that is Champions Bar.

How could they get it so wrong. It's much improved since the refit but still far from great. Why couldn't they have taken a lesson from Oriana and the Lords Tavern. Wouldn't it have been nice to have had a proper theme along with a suitable mural, Ascot for instance or Twickenham. Plus of course a suitable by-pass so that it was self contained and not astride  the M1 through the ship.

Over the years we've met some absolutely fascinating and charming people on cruises, we've also met one or two right old moaners. We refer to them as MOGs (Miserable Old Gits).  Many times we have walked away from the table in the dining room having shared a table with new people and genuinely commented on what a pleasure it was to talk to them.

Unfortunately the last two P&O cruises we have been on we have shared tables (club dining) with couples who could only be described as very strange or who had extremely poor social skills. Hence our decision in future to opt for a table for two or freedom dining so that at least we won't get stuck with unpleasant people every night of the cruise.

In my humble opinion the weather will make a great deal of difference as to how much you enjoy your cruise. The design of Aurora takes into account more the vagaries of the weather for a ship operating out of the U.K. As so many others have said so often before Oceana was designed for short cruises in the Caribbean or in warmer climes and simply doesn't have adequate provision for northern hemisphere weather conditions.

15 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Now you have got me started Janny..😊 

The only thing I would take from Oceana and put on Aurora is Cafe Jardin..

Although the atrium is beautiful, it causes the biggest issue on Oceana for me, which is poor flow of the public areas with everything on top of each other. 

Aurora does not have much of an Atrium, as the space is used for more intimate venues like Andersons and Masquerade. 

Crows nest, tiered stern and possibly the best show bar/dance floor in the fleet in Carmens give Aurora the edge for me. 

The 'feel' between the 2 is a total contrast, Aurora is calm, relaxed and classy where my overriding memory of Oceana is chaos... 

Aurora also feels better kept and gives a feel of a proper liner. 

The cabins are much better, you don't have to climb over the bed to get in it... 

Others love Oceana, including Michelle, but to me, there is no comparison, even before Aurora became adults only. 

Andy 

Pretty much our thoughts on the two ships also. Café Jardin is probably the only thing that we would take from Oceana too but let's not forget that Café Bordeaux on Aurora had a similar role and we actually preferred it.  They haven't done a bad job in replacing it with the glasshouse but we would have preferred if it had been left as it was.

As to the atrium on Oceana, I really don't understand how some folk rave about it, it's simply gaudy and tasteless. As you say its a hinderance to free flow of traffic and to use it to host captain's cocktail parties because there isn't another suitable venue is just plain crazy.

Overall Aurora pervades a much more relaxed and refined atmosphere throughout. Oceana was and remains a ship designed for a slightly different purpose that was pressed into service some years ago and never replaced with something more suited to British based cruises.

Still think that it was a very poor decision to make Aurora adult only, It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't done with virtually no notice whatsoever and cancelling family bookings already made.

There's some quite interesting information on various you tube channels that suggest that the ships that Carnival are willing to dispense with are not necessarily all the older ships. The suitability of the actual ship to sail from certain home ports will come into the equation.  For instance in the U.S. in order to exit certain popular cruise ports the ships must be able to sail under bridges that the larger ships would not be able to pass under.

Another interesting "fact" were the stated % capacity figures given for various classes of ship which indicated that the larger ships were the only ones financially viable carrying reduced passenger numbers. No doubt the bean counters have already had a field day working out the various options open to the corporation. That just leaves us previous customers the fun of speculating on the kill list. Has anyone yet speculated on the possible transfer of ships between the various brands of the corporation.

15 minutes ago, No pager thank you said:

Yes, it will be interesting to see the strategy for 2021/22 on this front as you describe.

 

With families, Marella is often seen as a strong competitor to P&O.  A family of four, with younger children, taking a two week holiday could be spending around £1300 on this and if they budget in advance - the cost is stark.  

 

Marella certainly builds in a premium in to its base price - but not sure this much on average - say £500-600+ per adult, assuming some discounted child fares?

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of Marella, but TUI is a go to beach holiday brand with read across for people branching in to a cruise holiday for the first time.

 

Our last cruise was on Marella Dream in December and it was a very enjoyable holiday, If only the pools had been heated it would have been perfect. The dining arrangements and meals were excellent and the entertainment every bit as good as or even better than some of the acts we have experienced on P&O.

My wife does not drink alcohol and I only drink a couple of glasses of wine or a couple of pints of an evening when on holiday, so we didn't take full advantage of the all inclusive drinks package. Yes it may be an older ship but internally it was far nicer than many of the more glitzy modern ships. It was a lovely relaxing holiday and less formal than we are used to with P&O.

Selling or de-commissioning  Oceana fairly soon has long been on the cards but I wouldn't be totally surprised if P&O also decided to dispose of Aurora too.

It's no good reasoning that they are unlikely to dispose of either because of cruises already booked and paid for, because the company has demonstrated all too frequently in the past that disappointing loyal customers is of little concern to them in the overall run of things.

4 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Aah I loved La Rochelle, very pretty. We ate lunch outside by the harbour, lovely memories. Mussels for hubby and a savoury crepe for me.

Although the port at Lanzarote isn’t very pretty I really enjoyed our day there as we went to the volcanoes.

I forgot about La Rochelle another favourite of ours to be added to our list as too is Marseille.

7 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Iona has left dry dock for her next phase of sea trials.

The trial is over and she's been found guilty of assault to the eyes and sentenced to a minimum of three months home detention. 😀

So many favourite ports that we have visited to choose from but without having to give it a great deal of consideration the following ports immediately spring to mind as being favourites for one reason or another;

Elba

Gibraltar

Lisbon

Funchal

Korcula

Dubrovnic

Venice

Mahon (Menorca)

Cadiz

Bastia (Corsica)

Copenhagen

Tallinn

I suppose our choices will have been influenced by our own personal enjoyment and experiences in each port. Some of these places we have been to several times but they are places we never tire of. No doubt that other people may not have the same likes but we particularly enjoyed them.

There are many other ports that we have enjoyed visiting but once was enough and we would be in no particular rush to re-visit and some ports that we would never want to go to again, one of which that immediately comes to mind is Bari in Italy.

Sydney is one port that I have sailed out of but never into and for very personal reasons would love to sail into one day. New York is one place that that has been mentioned by others as being a favourite but they can keep my share of the place. I've seen it but have no desire to return, though it would be nice to re-visit San Francisco.

2 hours ago, Scratchrat said:

Absolutely! Positivity is the key. We're reopening our high streets next week and hospitality sector hopefully in four weeks time.

 

Yes but you still won't be able to travel more than 5 miles to get there if what the papers are reporting is true (travel restrictions in force until at least the end of August).

That may be O.K. for some who live in and who's lives revolve around the city but would be hopeless for those in live in or who's interests are in more rural areas.

4 hours ago, Scratchrat said:

Obviously it's terrible no matter which side of the pond.

I'm in Cardiff and at least in Wales the lockdown is still fully in force so we're very much safe.

Fully in force but only adhered to by those shall we say that are of a more mature age.☹️

Yes we too come under Wales, I walk the dogs daily and see gangs of youths all congregating together (20+ in a group), neighbours who have held garden parties, others riding around on off-road motor bikes or quads, gangs of cyclists, husband and wife each in their own sports car going for a drive.

I've come to the conclusion that I am the mug for staying at home.

Yes they just about got it right with Al Fresco on Oriana and Café Bordeaux on Aurora.

Not forgetting the terrace bar on Aurora. You can't beat sitting on the terrace on a warm summer's evening having a quiet drink and watching the wake of the ship.

When I previously mentioned a floodable dock at the stern of my dream ship it was pretty much tongue in cheek, but the more I think about it think it the more I think that the idea may have some merit.

Definitely the retractable swimming pool cover/helipad over the rear pool is something that could be explored by marine architects. After all if the ship is to be based in northern waters there can never be enough covered pools on a cruise ship. Not forgetting how often medical emergencies require medivacs and the disruption that can cause because the ship doesn't have that facility.

 I would want the following in my dream ship;

1. A ship that actually looks like a ship not like a block of flats laid on its side.

2. A crows nest lounge at the front of the ship and a second lounge with a view midships overlooking the one pool (Arcadia).

3. At least one swimming pool with a retractable roof. Better still one midships and a second at the stern where the roof would double up as a helipad for medivacs and other emergencies.

4. A proper promenade deck that encircles the ship.

5. A terrace bar at the stern of the ship.

6. A theatre and a cinema.

7. A library similar to the one that was on Aurora.

8. A bar with a proper theme similar to the Lord's Tavern that was on Oriana.

9. No, I repeat No Retreat. All deck spaces will be open to all passengers.

10. Sufficient open deck space for sun loungers without the need to line them up and space them like sardines.

11. Less greasy spoon "restaurants" and fast food bars. Encourage passengers to take advantage of the formal dining rooms where they sit down and eat good food in civilised surroundings.

12. the ship should be no larger than Aurora or Oriana.

13. A floodable stern dock similar H.M.S. Albion where tenders could be launched and recovered.

14. A maximum of 2000 passengers, I could tolerate that many but I would really like the entire ship to just our party. LOL.

15. Tasteful decoration that has some meaning regarding heritage and sea going history.