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Bon Voyage Bazzaw

Kiwi Kruzer

By Kiwi Kruzer,
in P&O Cruises ( Australia )

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Southampton Cruiser

Southampton Cruiser

Posted
Posted
ORIANA

AURORA,

 

Why?

Built by P&O before they were Carnivalised

 

Lord Sterling...

(call me Geoffrey)

insisted that P&O needed new a new fleet,

and ordered and built ships that could traverse the world

 

and not look like floating blocks of apartments.

 

both ships have become classic Ocean Liners.

 

 

Completely agree. When they started to brand them, I was a little worried they'd dump Aurora somewhere. After all, they let her go what would have been 5 years between refits if they hadn't brought it forward 4 months to December 2008 (cancelling my cruises in the process). Artemis returned still with the P&O lettering so it was obvious she would be off as soon as they got a decent offer. So I was delighted she had a brand on her side.

 

But watching Arcadia arriving or sailing in the dark, she has the look of those two when the funnels' actually lit. She does fit in well with the P&O brand and when I was on, there was a great atmosphere. Unfortunately you can tell she's a cookie cutter whereas at least Oriana and Aurora were thought out properly, taking influence from the past.

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bazzaw

bazzaw

Posted
Posted

G'day all

 

First time I have been able to access the Boards for a long time - and actually log in. Have found a free Wifi point here in Auckland. I am now in the Arcadia's Crows nest - trying to get my wife to order me another "Spitfire" beer while I type this.

 

I am sorry that I haven't been able to either make any comment on this thread - or answer your comments in my blog. But, as you know , I am not one who is short of words so you will hear plenty from me when we get home. I am VERY pleased and happy for those of you who have gotten some enjoyment from my blog and hope that all your wishes may come true for you. As the movie title says "It's a wonderful world" and we all owe it too ourselves to take advantage of our good fortune (ie being born in Australia) and to enjoy our World as much as we can.

 

Barry

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MMDown Under Holiday Sharing Rare

MMDown Under

Posted
Posted
G'day all

 

First time I have been able to access the Boards for a long time - and actually log in. Have found a free Wifi point here in Auckland. I am now in the Arcadia's Crows nest - trying to get my wife to order me another "Spitfire" beer while I type this.

 

I am sorry that I haven't been able to either make any comment on this thread - or answer your comments in my blog. But, as you know , I am not one who is short of words so you will hear plenty from me when we get home. I am VERY pleased and happy for those of you who have gotten some enjoyment from my blog and hope that all your wishes may come true for you. As the movie title says "It's a wonderful world" and we all owe it too ourselves to take advantage of our good fortune (ie being born in Australia) and to enjoy our World as much as we can.

 

Barry

 

Thanks for sharing your World Cruise with us, Barry. It has been a wonderful journey.

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Witchymob

Witchymob

Posted
Posted

I can't believe it is nearly time for Barry to return to OZ, the place has gone to rack and ruin without you Barry! Hope your home has not been affected by any of the terrible weather over east. Have really enjoyed your Blog, can we look forward to comments on QM2? Hopefully one day will follow in your footsteps. I am also following Aurora's blog but that is an official one so while the info on the ports is very interesting it is great to get the passenger point of view. Keep up the good work Barry.

Sheila

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Kiwi Kruzer

Kiwi Kruzer

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I think Barry and Christine are disembarking in Brisbane so they will be home on Tuesday.

 

It has been great following their trip on line.:)

 

 

Gives them one week to unpack ,

do the laundry,

then repack

and head off to Sydney

to board QM2.:):)

 

 

Way to go Barry...:D

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bazzaw

bazzaw

Posted
Posted

G'day all

 

Have been home for a few hours now - our place is in much better condition than I expected. Was expecting the garden to be a JUNGLE - but the friends who have been staying here on and off have kept it nice. Won't have much to do now until we get back from NZ (again!!)

 

Am feeling quite tired - I think I almost jumped overboard last night, and would have if any kind of delays had been announced. In spite of a fantastic adventure, 101 days is a long time to be away from home, :) The tiredness is not like that which you experience after a long air flight - more like that which you get after a VERY large meal, and you just have to go away and lie down in a dark room for a while to digest all you have eaten!!! It is going to take some time to digest all we have experienced over the past 3 months. :D

 

Will be back on these Boards in the not too distant future.

 

Barry

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macca46

macca46

Posted
Posted
G'day all

 

Have been home for a few hours now - our place is in much better condition than I expected. Was expecting the garden to be a JUNGLE - but the friends who have been staying here on and off have kept it nice. Won't have much to do now until we get back from NZ (again!!)

 

Am feeling quite tired - I think I almost jumped overboard last night, and would have if any kind of delays had been announced. In spite of a fantastic adventure, 101 days is a long time to be away from home, :) The tiredness is not like that which you experience after a long air flight - more like that which you get after a VERY large meal, and you just have to go away and lie down in a dark room for a while to digest all you have eaten!!! It is going to take some time to digest all we have experienced over the past 3 months. :D

 

Will be back on these Boards in the not too distant future.

 

Barry

 

Welcome home Barry, I hoped you enjoyed your Cruise.

I have followed your blog with great interest as we had the last leg from Sydney to Brissy.

 

 

Ian

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macca46

macca46

Posted
Posted
How was the cruise Ian?

and .........

What did you think of Arcadia?

 

We enjoyed it David.

 

The positives

The Ship was a lot newer than any other Ship we have traveled on so everything looked in so much better condition and upkeep.

The Staff were great and very friendly (except the DJ)

The Drink prices were great the best value we have seen and a good selection.

 

The not as good

It rained for most of the trip, cant really help that though :)

 

The food did not offer as much selection or change of menu as other ships.

The Menu caters a lot for British tastes which although understandable is a bit unfortunate for others.

The Waiters in the Dinning room are on your elbow every two minutes which I find more annoying than good service.

The indoor pool area is VERY hot when the roof is closed almost a sauna with a heavy chlorine smell, we could not sit in there, walking through was bad enough.

The whole Ship was several degrees to warm and made wearing a jacket a bit uncomfortable.

The entertainment was limited and more for the older set both in the day and at night in the Palladium

 

Summary.

Mainly suited to older people from the UK, good experience for us for a couple of days maybe even a week would have been ok.

 

 

Ian

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macca46

macca46

Posted
Posted

I should just clarify something, my opinions in the above post are just that, my opinion and everyone sees things differently.

We are in our early and mid forties so we either holiday with our two younger children and look for a family based cruise on say the Pacific Dawn or in this case it was a couple of days get away from the kids.

I was aware we would be in the younger side of the people on board before we booked, it was just well priced and a good chance to experience another side of Cruising.

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bazzaw

bazzaw

Posted
Posted

Hi Ian

 

Agree with most everything you said. Although a newer ship, did you notice the amount of creaking and groaning that the ship does? - have never heard such a noisy ship. It sounds like all the wall panels are not fixed in any way, but move around as the ship flexes. The Crows Nest is particularly bad - sounding a bit like I would expect an old wooden sailing ship to sound! ;) They had classical music up there (pianists)

 

Barry

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