Back from Aurora - Eastern Med

[jeanlyon]

Just back from Aurora 19 night Eastern Med.  Staff as always were a delight.  I found in general the food was mediocre, better on Black Tie nights, but got bored with the Roast this and Roast that.  Even when I chose the salmon, guess what, roast potato with it.  So I swapped to chips that night.   The Entertainment Manager was just like Ted Bovis from HiDi HI and we all thought he was dreadful.

 

The Captain seemed nice although we never saw him about the ship and after his broadcast the day before Gibraltar when we were told we could not dock there due to Force 10 winds, we never heard from him again.  So we had 3 days at sea in Force 10 with huge seas and not a word from him.  It calmed down last night as we got into the Western Approaches.

 

All in all, we have had a great time with a very good Table for 8, but the food is definitely not like it was.  I knew that from other people's posts on here.  It will be interesting to compare it with Fred O in April.  We have booked Arcadia for October 2024 with a rather nice amount of OBC and parking.

 

I will await comments from Mystical Mother who was also on board.

[Interestedcruisefan]

20 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Just back from Aurora 19 night Eastern Med.  Staff as always were a delight.  I found in general the food was mediocre, better on Black Tie nights, but got bored with the Roast this and Roast that.  Even when I chose the salmon, guess what, roast potato with it.  So I swapped to chips that night.   The Entertainment Manager was just like Ted Bovis from HiDi HI and we all thought he was dreadful.

 

The Captain seemed nice although we never saw him about the ship and after his broadcast the day before Gibraltar when we were told we could not dock there due to Force 10 winds, we never heard from him again.  So we had 3 days at sea in Force 10 with huge seas and not a word from him.  It calmed down last night as we got into the Western Approaches.

 

All in all, we have had a great time with a very good Table for 8, but the food is definitely not like it was.  I knew that from other people's posts on here.  It will be interesting to compare it with Fred O in April.  We have booked Arcadia for October 2024 with a rather nice amount of OBC and parking.

 

I will await comments from Mystical Mother who was also on board.

I know a couple who enjoyed a Fred Olsen cruise last year despite having a nightmare couple (snobby) on their shared table. They  also said it  was great value. 

 

You are in a great position to compare to P and O.

 

 

 

 

[Selbourne]

Pleased to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise Jean, in spite of the mediocre food, and welcome back. 
 

As we are now booked to go on Aurora in January, can I ask you a few questions please?

 

Dining - You were obviously in Club dining. Is the MyHoliday app being used to book the MDR for breakfast, lunch and (if on Freedom dining) dinner, or is the app not used for the MDRs at all, and it’s just a case of turning up and entering immediately or getting a pager (I.e. the ‘old’ way)?

 

Wine - Have they reverted to holding unfinished bottles of wine in the MDR for your next visit?

 

Guest Speakers - did you have a few different speakers, or just one throughout? Were they any good?

 

Apart from the food not being as good, any other noticeable differences to the pre-Covid Aurora?

 

Many thanks

[jeanlyon]

17 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Pleased to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise Jean, in spite of the mediocre food, and welcome back. 
 

As we are now booked to go on Aurora in January, can I ask you a few questions please?

 

Dining - You were obviously in Club dining. Is the MyHoliday app being used to book the MDR for breakfast, lunch and (if on Freedom dining) dinner, or is the app not used for the MDRs at all, and it’s just a case of turning up and entering immediately or getting a pager (I.e. the ‘old’ way)?

 

Wine - Have they reverted to holding unfinished bottles of wine in the MDR for your next visit?

 

Guest Speakers - did you have a few different speakers, or just one throughout? Were they any good?

 

Apart from the food not being as good, any other noticeable differences to the pre-Covid Aurora?

 

Many thanks

They did not use the My Holiday app for the MDR.  We were on fixed second sitting, so you just go to your table.  People had pagers for Tables for 2 on Freedom.

 

Yes our wine was kept for us.  It's not done now on Freedom though, only for First & Second sitting.

 

We had 2 different speakers.  My husband went to them, but I didn't.

 

My problem with the food is that it's just British roast this and that.  However, last night I had Sweet & Sour chicken with stir fried veg and rice and it was lovely.  The other problem is the "always available" as it used to be called is now part of the menu, so for instance, there would be.  Sea bream, pan friend chicken (very boring), sirloin steak, roast pork collar??, and then three veg options.  Not good.  Starters weren't bad though.

 

Other thing missing, is no canapes in Andersons and no little biscuits in a jar in the Crows Nest.

 

I didn't miss the evening turndown at all, in fact I preferred it.

 

One thing that hasn't changed is the volume in the theatre.  We went to the Vinylettes (Motown).  They were 3 extremely talented ladies with good voices, but I saw the show with my fingers in my ears.  Do they think we are all deaf?  

Edited October 22, 2023 by jeanlyon

[Selbourne]

Thanks Jean. We are on second sitting on Ventura next week, so I’ll be interested to see if they allow unfinished bottles of wine to be kept for the next visit. 
 

We also noticed the previously ‘always available’ items being used to pad out the menu (as opposed to just being stated at the bottom, as they used to be) but, thankfully, I like roasts on cruise ships so I always found something that I was happy with!

 

We don’t miss the evening turndown either!

Edited October 22, 2023 by Selbourne

[yorkshirephil]

We are now back from this cruise after an extremely good disembarkation and drive home. This was our first time on Aurora and the first time we have booked a balcony. We really enjoyed the cruise, apart from the last 4 days where it was quite rough at times we had brilliant weather. We had a table for 6 on first sitting, The food was generally good, there were odd occasions where we may have picked something different in hindsight but no complaints from us. I felt the shows and guest entertainers were average overall, but we had seen all but one of the shows before and several of the guests. We met some great people as usual, for whatever reasons we missed Jean but did meet up with @SeaJane and @Astrajet on the first sea day, but never met again during the rest of the cruise.

 

I agree with Jean that Ted Bovis was pretty hopeless. We thought the ship needed a bit of tidying up in places and certainly needed painting outside, however she is a lovely ship and I get why people like her. 

We re-booked our 2025 Iona cruise while onboard to take advantage of the 10% discount and triple OBC then use the original deposit to book a new cruise which we expected to lose. I have to say I was impressed with the ladies on the future cruise desk who came across as very knowledgeable and professional. They worked very hard and the desk was open from 08:00-20:00 after the new brochure was revealed.

 

 

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

We are now back from this cruise after an extremely good disembarkation and drive home. This was our first time on Aurora and the first time we have booked a balcony. We really enjoyed the cruise, apart from the last 4 days where it was quite rough at times we had brilliant weather. We had a table for 6 on first sitting, The food was generally good, there were odd occasions where we may have picked something different in hindsight but no complaints from us. I felt the shows and guest entertainers were average overall, but we had seen all but one of the shows before and several of the guests. We met some great people as usual, for whatever reasons we missed Jean but did meet up with @SeaJane and @Astrajet on the first sea day, but never met again during the rest of the cruise.

 

I agree with Jean that Ted Bovis was pretty hopeless. We thought the ship needed a bit of tidying up in places and certainly needed painting outside, however she is a lovely ship and I get why people like her. 

We re-booked our 2025 Iona cruise while onboard to take advantage of the 10% discount and triple OBC then use the original deposit to book a new cruise which we expected to lose. I have to say I was impressed with the ladies on the future cruise desk who came across as very knowledgeable and professional. They worked very hard and the desk was open from 08:00-20:00 after the new brochure was revealed.

 

 

Absolutely agree re Cruise Sales desk.  Really good.

[SeaJane]

7 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

We are now back from this cruise after an extremely good disembarkation and drive home. This was our first time on Aurora and the first time we have booked a balcony. We really enjoyed the cruise, apart from the last 4 days where it was quite rough at times we had brilliant weather. We had a table for 6 on first sitting, The food was generally good, there were odd occasions where we may have picked something different in hindsight but no complaints from us. I felt the shows and guest entertainers were average overall, but we had seen all but one of the shows before and several of the guests. We met some great people as usual, for whatever reasons we missed Jean but did meet up with @SeaJane and @Astrajet on the first sea day, but never met again during the rest of the cruise.

 

I agree with Jean that Ted Bovis was pretty hopeless. We thought the ship needed a bit of tidying up in places and certainly needed painting outside, however she is a lovely ship and I get why people like her. 

We re-booked our 2025 Iona cruise while onboard to take advantage of the 10% discount and triple OBC then use the original deposit to book a new cruise which we expected to lose. I have to say I was impressed with the ladies on the future cruise desk who came across as very knowledgeable and professional. They worked very hard and the desk was open from 08:00-20:00 after the new brochure was revealed.

 

 

We really enjoyed the cruise too. The staff were incredible and all seemed very happy inspite of how hard they work. We were fortunate to have fabulous weather for the first 2 weeks and we met lots of lovely people.

We felt the food was good overall although the menu choice has certainly reduced from what it was. On the occasions when I was less happy with my meal it was usually that I had made the wrong menu choice! Everything was always well cooked and presented and hot which is a big improvement on our Ventura experience in May! The waiters were happy to bring extra or make adjustments as requested. It’s the changed MDR lunchtime menu that I often struggle with, but that was also the case in 2019. 

We also found the Entertainment Manager hopeless. However we did enjoy some very good performances from the RKs, the Vinylettes, Tom Ball and Neil Lockwood. Apparently the Headliners were new and we didn’t think they were very impressive although thankfully they didn’t do many shows in the theatre. 

The Captain was certainly conspicuous by his absence during the storm! The weather was really horrific and in our opinion he should have given further updates and reassurances. We have sailed in similar weather on previous occasions, but we came across others who were quite concerned especially when glasses and bottles were smashing. 

 

There were three different speakers onboard and although we didn’t attend any of them others found them enjoyable and informative.

Aurora remains our favourite ship and we are booked on her again for 2025. 

[jeanlyon]

8 minutes ago, SeaJane said:

We really enjoyed the cruise too. The staff were incredible and all seemed very happy inspite of how hard they work. We were fortunate to have fabulous weather for the first 2 weeks and we met lots of lovely people.

We felt the food was good overall although the menu choice has certainly reduced from what it was. On the occasions when I was less happy with my meal it was usually that I had made the wrong menu choice! Everything was always well cooked and presented and hot which is a big improvement on our Ventura experience in May! The waiters were happy to bring extra or make adjustments as requested. It’s the changed MDR lunchtime menu that I often struggle with, but that was also the case in 2019. 

We also found the Entertainment Manager hopeless. However we did enjoy some very good performances from the RKs, the Vinylettes, Tom Ball and Neil Lockwood. Apparently the Headliners were new and we didn’t think they were very impressive although thankfully they didn’t do many shows in the theatre. 

The Captain was certainly conspicuous by his absence during the storm! The weather was really horrific and in our opinion he should have given further updates and reassurances. We have sailed in similar weather on previous occasions, but we came across others who were quite concerned especially when glasses and bottles were smashing. 

 

There were three different speakers onboard and although we didn’t attend any of them others found them enjoyable and informative.

Aurora remains our favourite ship and we are booked on her again for 2025. 

Yes, plates and bottles crashing to the floor in the Horizon buffet certainly unnerved some!

[bobstheboy]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

We are now back from this cruise after an extremely good disembarkation and drive home. This was our first time on Aurora and the first time we have booked a balcony. We really enjoyed the cruise, apart from the last 4 days where it was quite rough at times we had brilliant weather. We had a table for 6 on first sitting, The food was generally good, there were odd occasions where we may have picked something different in hindsight but no complaints from us. I felt the shows and guest entertainers were average overall, but we had seen all but one of the shows before and several of the guests. We met some great people as usual, for whatever reasons we missed Jean but did meet up with @SeaJane and @Astrajet on the first sea day, but never met again during the rest of the cruise.

 

I agree with Jean that Ted Bovis was pretty hopeless. We thought the ship needed a bit of tidying up in places and certainly needed painting outside, however she is a lovely ship and I get why people like her. 

We re-booked our 2025 Iona cruise while onboard to take advantage of the 10% discount and triple OBC then use the original deposit to book a new cruise which we expected to lose. I have to say I was impressed with the ladies on the future cruise desk who came across as very knowledgeable and professional. They worked very hard and the desk was open from 08:00-20:00 after the new brochure was revealed.

 

 

Interested to read they are still giving onboard deals on future cruises. I am hoping to get a deal onboard Azura in January.

[jeanlyon]

16 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Interested to read they are still giving onboard deals on future cruises. I am hoping to get a deal onboard Azura in January.

Booked an inside on arcadia for October 2024, got £520 OBC and parking.  Never had that before.

[tring]

We left the ship before this cruise and can confirm Headliners went home with us, so brand new ones boarded then.  The previous group were excellent, but obviously well rehearsed. 

 

We were in freedom dining and could get a table straight away if went down before about 6.30pm.  Sometimes we turned up at busy times (after 7pm) and given a buzzer, being told about half an hour, but normally got buzzed within 10 mins.  If sharing, we could always just walk in.  Lunch was just walk in whenever we went, though we did see some people with buzzers at one stage.  We found the food good with a reasonable selection for dinner and most lunch times, but that is entirely personal choice, so I quite understand views will vary about food.  Service good at the majority of times, certainly far better than Arcadia in June.

 

We also preferred the lack of evening turn down as no need to tidy the cabin, move things off bed etc.  Again possibly a personal choice.  Our cabin steward was excellent.

 

[jh1809]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Pleased to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise Jean, in spite of the mediocre food, and welcome back. 
 

As we are now booked to go on Aurora in January, can I ask you a few questions please?

 

Dining - You were obviously in Club dining. Is the MyHoliday app being used to book the MDR for breakfast, lunch and (if on Freedom dining) dinner, or is the app not used for the MDRs at all, and it’s just a case of turning up and entering immediately or getting a pager (I.e. the ‘old’ way)?

 

Wine - Have they reverted to holding unfinished bottles of wine in the MDR for your next visit?

 

Guest Speakers - did you have a few different speakers, or just one throughout? Were they any good?

 

Apart from the food not being as good, any other noticeable differences to the pre-Covid Aurora?

 

Many thanks

A couple of things from my Arcadia cruise in August which should be equally applicable to Aurora. I noticed that it's no more expensive to buy wine by the glass than by the bottle. The cost for a 175ml glass is always very close to a quarter of the cost of a 750ml bottle of the same wine, and similarly for a 250ml glass it's very close to a third of the cost of a bottle. So whether they will keep a bottle for you to use over several nights isn't a major issue apart from convenience.

 

I think for those of us who are primarily meat eaters, the main reason for the reduction in choice is the increased number of fish and vegetarian/vegan options nowadays. I suppose that reflects the increased number of vegetarians, vegans and pescitarians these days, though I suspect that's less the case in the age bracket that Aurora and Arcadia tend to attract. P&O probably lack the flexibility to balance those ships' menus differently from those for the rest of the fleet, though. 

[bobstheboy]

28 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Booked an inside on arcadia for October 2024, got £520 OBC and parking.  Never had that before.

I got a great deal on Arvia for Jan 25 on Iona. Seems they are trying to reward current cruisers with good offers to book again.

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, jh1809 said:

A couple of things from my Arcadia cruise in August which should be equally applicable to Aurora. I noticed that it's no more expensive to buy wine by the glass than by the bottle. The cost for a 175ml glass is always very close to a quarter of the cost of a 750ml bottle of the same wine, and similarly for a 250ml glass it's very close to a third of the cost of a bottle. So whether they will keep a bottle for you to use over several nights isn't a major issue apart from convenience.

 

I think for those of us who are primarily meat eaters, the main reason for the reduction in choice is the increased number of fish and vegetarian/vegan options nowadays. I suppose that reflects the increased number of vegetarians, vegans and pescitarians these days, though I suspect that's less the case in the age bracket that Aurora and Arcadia tend to attract. P&O probably lack the flexibility to balance those ships' menus differently from those for the rest of the fleet, though. 

Not sure there are any more fish dishes, in fact generally less, salmon was always an option, now that's gone. As far as veggie options, I always thought these were handled via a special menu, so they never interfered with omnivore choice,  now there are always 2 on the menu, so that makes omnivore choice far worse than it used to be.

[Purdey16]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise jeanlyon and yorkshirephil , we are on Aurora 1st December and I’m looking to book the epicurean and the beach house, just wondering if you had a meal in these two restaurants and what you actually thought as it’s been 20 years since I was on her and I think a few things have changed 😁

[jeanlyon]

There is no epicurean on Aurora.  There is the Beach House and I just hate the menu.  There is also Sindhu which we didn't try or the Glass House.  Frankly we went to the buffet one evening when the others on our table were at the Beach House and we had really excellent food.

[Selbourne]

13 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

A couple of things from my Arcadia cruise in August which should be equally applicable to Aurora. I noticed that it's no more expensive to buy wine by the glass than by the bottle. The cost for a 175ml glass is always very close to a quarter of the cost of a 750ml bottle of the same wine, and similarly for a 250ml glass it's very close to a third of the cost of a bottle. So whether they will keep a bottle for you to use over several nights isn't a major issue apart from convenience.

 

I think for those of us who are primarily meat eaters, the main reason for the reduction in choice is the increased number of fish and vegetarian/vegan options nowadays. I suppose that reflects the increased number of vegetarians, vegans and pescitarians these days, though I suspect that's less the case in the age bracket that Aurora and Arcadia tend to attract. P&O probably lack the flexibility to balance those ships' menus differently from those for the rest of the fleet, though. 

Yes, we noticed on Britannia and Iona this summer that it was no more expensive to buy wine by the glass (when available) but it’s far more about convenience for us. I like to have a bottle of white and a bottle of red on the go, as I will often have white with a starter and sometimes switch to red for a main course. My wife drinks very little alcohol nowadays due to her condition, and a very small glass is often adequate for her. She will rarely order by the glass as she doesn’t always want that much. Whilst in the main the drinks waiters brought the glasses of wine fairly quickly, I only ever ordered a wine for the main course, as it sometimes didn’t arrive until I was already eating the starter (or had even finished it). 
 

I can’t help but wonder if the abolition of wine waiters in the MDRs is a cost cutting measure that may have backfired, as we certainly spend less on wine now than we used to!

[Purdey16]

Selbourne we too have one red and one white bottle of wine on the go and mix and match to what ever we fancy drinking at the time , we always had the bottles waiting for us on the table on Arcadia and if we finished one bottle that evening we would always order another one for the following night ready, hate having to wait for my wine when we want it just before our starters .

[jh1809]

8 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes, we noticed on Britannia and Iona this summer that it was no more expensive to buy wine by the glass (when available) but it’s far more about convenience for us. I like to have a bottle of white and a bottle of red on the go, as I will often have white with a starter and sometimes switch to red for a main course. My wife drinks very little alcohol nowadays due to her condition, and a very small glass is often adequate for her. She will rarely order by the glass as she doesn’t always want that much. Whilst in the main the drinks waiters brought the glasses of wine fairly quickly, I only ever ordered a wine for the main course, as it sometimes didn’t arrive until I was already eating the starter (or had even finished it). 
 

I can’t help but wonder if the abolition of wine waiters in the MDRs is a cost cutting measure that may have backfired, as we certainly spend less on wine now than we used to!

I was probably lucky with my table waiter, as my glass always arrived very promptly. And I only like red, so wanting a different wine for the starter and main course wasn't an issue for me. I liked the freedom that buying by the glass gave me to try lots of different wines over the course of the cruise. It also helped me to be good and not have more than one glass with my meal. 🙂

[Selbourne]

4 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Glad you enjoyed your cruise jeanlyon and yorkshirephil , we are on Aurora 1st December and I’m looking to book the epicurean and the beach house, just wondering if you had a meal in these two restaurants and what you actually thought as it’s been 20 years since I was on her and I think a few things have changed 😁

We haven’t been on Aurora since a few months before Covid, but feedback from then would be as follows;

 

Epicurean - as stated, there isn’t one. This is the biggest negative about Aurora IMHO. We love the ship, but always wish that there was a fine dining restaurant on board. 
 

Beach House - we like the Beach House on Aurora as it’s not as big and noisy as on some of the newer ships. The steaks on lava rock are just superb and the hanging kebabs are excellent too. The starters aren’t brilliant (I like the Nachos with chorizo though) and the puds are poor, but the mains are so big that it’s not a big issue. 
 

Sindhu - The food is OK but we don’t like the location on Aurora, as it’s around the atrium in an area that is used as an overspill for the coffee shop during the day. They used to do ‘Tiffin’ lunches on sea days, which were excellent, but whether or not they’ve stopped since Covid I don’t know (perhaps those who’ve just disembarked can advise?)
 

Glasshouse - This is a bit of a hidden gem on Aurora, as it’s in a dedicated area off a very quiet corridor with next to no passing traffic, so it’s far nicer than the Glasshouses that surround the atriums on other ships. We love it for lunch (when it’s usually very quiet) but it’s very popular for dinner. 

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, Purdey16 said:

Selbourne we too have one red and one white bottle of wine on the go and mix and match to what ever we fancy drinking at the time , we always had the bottles waiting for us on the table on Arcadia and if we finished one bottle that evening we would always order another one for the following night ready, hate having to wait for my wine when we want it just before our starters .

Glad it’s not just us then! We are on Ventura next week and in Club dining for the first time since Freedom was introduced, so I’m hoping that we can have a bottle of each on the go. We’ve got a chunk of OBC to work through 😂 

[jeanlyon]

we realized fairly early on this cruise that the house wine, white, rose or red, was actually very good, so together with our discount a bottle was £17.95.  We had a large glass in Andersons and then had a red and white on the table for the cruise.  Every other day, we needed to order another one or two!  On the last night, we knew we only had a tiny bit of white on the table, so we ordered a bottle in Andersons and then took it to dinner.  Perfect.   For anybody interested.  We usually have a large glass in Andersons or Crows Nest and then bottles on the table.  This cruise was 19 nights and our spend was £462.  Now on 2 nights, we were invited to other people's cabins, so you could add another £30 to that spend.  It makes the package just a no-no for us.    We don't do excursions or soft drinks if that helps.

[Purdey16]

Well enjoy Ventura next week we have to wait until January 2025 then 35 nights on her 

[yorkshirephil]

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

We haven’t been on Aurora since a few months before Covid, but feedback from then would be as follows
 

Sindhu - The food is OK but we don’t like the location on Aurora, as it’s around the atrium in an area that is used as an overspill for the coffee shop during the day. They used to do ‘Tiffin’ lunches on sea days, which were excellent, but whether or not they’ve stopped since Covid I don’t know (perhaps those who’ve just disembarked can advise?)
 

They did Tiffin at lunch plus other lunch menu's, we used to have coffee and cake in costa coffee shop usually between 12:30-14:00 and saw quite a few people in Sindhu at that time, we were approached several times by staff with lunch menu's while sat having coffee. I think some of the things affected by covid are now getting back to what we thought of as normal.

They did Tiffin at lunch plus other lunch menu's, we used to have coffee and cake in costa coffee shop usually between 12:30-14:00 and saw quite a few people in Sindhu at that time, we were approached several times by staff with lunch menu's while sat having coffee. I think some of the things affected by covid are now getting back to what we thought of as normal.

Edited October 22, 2023 by yorkshirephil