Back from Aurora - Eastern Med

[jeanlyon]

6 minutes ago, SeaJane said:

I’ve just looked back through the menus on this cruise and in my opinion it’s a bit misleading to say there was a roast every night in the MDR. Whilst many of the descriptions of the meat described the method of cooking as “roast” the meals were served in various ways with different accompaniments. For example roast potatoes were served only rarely. 
Obviously food is a very personal thing, but as we enjoy a variety of foods we were content with what was on offer and really enjoyed most of the meals. For me it was the starters that were often rather boring. As a fish lover I did miss the lack of always available salmon and prawn cocktail. 

On the night when they had salmon on, guess what the potato was - roast!!  I asked for chips.  One night there was roast beef on the right hand menu, roast pork collar on the left side.  The pan fried chicken which is always on was awful and the sirloin steak was passable.

[Harry Peterson]

I’d keep an eye on Ted Bovis as a potential future CEO - there is a proven track record! 😉

[FatBoy20]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

I wouldn't care if I never had another roast.  Find them very boring.  Interesting to see the always available like P&O used to do.

And the Green Beans have migrated to Fred as well!.

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Bless him

 

I'm sure he's trying his best to do a good job

 

 

Yes, I'm sure he is. At the end of the day, like most things personal taste comes into play. Some of us prefer a more gentle, low key approach and others like a more lively one with a few 'jokes' thrown in. Personally, Ant & Dec have no appeal to me whatsoever but many thousands seem to love them. As with everything, horses for courses.

[lancashire_cruisers]

Just goes to show how different we all are. The Fred Olsen menu looks horrible to me, however I’m glad to hear that everyone had a good time on Aurora.

[SeaJane]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

On the night when they had salmon on, guess what the potato was - roast!!  I asked for chips.  One night there was roast beef on the right hand menu, roast pork collar on the left side.  The pan fried chicken which is always on was awful and the sirloin steak was passable.

I agree that roast potato was an odd thing to put with the salmon, but as you demonstrated it was easy to ask for an alternative if that didn’t suit. I had the chicken on a couple of occasions as did others on our table and found it very good. My husband described the sirloin steak as tender and juicy with a lovely mushroom sauce. I think we’ll have to agree to differ on this Jean! 

[zap99]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

On the night when they had salmon on, guess what the potato was - roast!!  I asked for chips.  One night there was roast beef on the right hand menu, roast pork collar on the left side.  The pan fried chicken which is always on was awful and the sirloin steak was passable.

Most chain restaurants change their menu a few times a year.

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, SeaJane said:

I agree that roast potato was an odd thing to put with the salmon, but as you demonstrated it was easy to ask for an alternative if that didn’t suit. I had the chicken on a couple of occasions as did others on our table and found it very good. My husband described the sirloin steak as tender and juicy with a lovely mushroom sauce. I think we’ll have to agree to differ on this Jean! 

Those long in the tooth will remember the old days, when there was silver service of vegetables. Unfortunately these were invariably chosen to compliment the roast of the day, so you could end up with fish accompanied by roast potatoes and brussels sprouts! At least nowadays the vegetables (usually) compliment the individual dishes.

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Just seen a menu from Fred Olsen - not a roast in sight!  Can't wait for April!!

 

Tuna Ceviche | Pickled ginger, chilli, beansprouts and coriander salad  GF

 

Roasted Romanesco Pepper Arancini | Sweet and sour pepper confit   V

Mushroom Broth | With basil oil   GF

 

Chilled Avocado | Sour cream, chilli    GF  V

 

Spinach Leaf and Shaved Fennel Salad | Toasted croutons and red wine vinegar   V

 

MAIN COURSES

 

Grilled Salmon Fillet | Horseradish mashed potato, sautéed broccoli and citrus zest butter   GF

 

Beetroot and Red Onion Tarte Tatin | With Raspberry dressing   V  VE

 

Linguine Frutti Di Mare | Rich seafood and tomato sauce

 

Braised Oxtail |Green beans and shallots with an intense Port wine jus

 

Soy Glazed Shiitakes | Sesame toasted green vegetables, carrot flan

 

Treat of the Region

Authentic flavours, inspired by our location, please ask your waiter for today’s dish

 

ALWAYS AVAILABLE
EVERY NIGHT THROUGHOUT YOUR CRUISE

Seafood Cocktail | Pickled cucumber, charred lemon

Beef Boullion | Mini vegetable garnish   GF

Caesar Salad | Romaine lettuce, Parmesan shavings, herbed croutons and anchovy

 

Grilled Salmon | Choice of steamed vegetables/ jacket potato/ French fries

 

Grilled Chicken Breast | Choice of steamed vegetables/ jacket potato/ French fries

 

Grilled Rump Steak | Cooked to your liking, choice of steamed vegetables/ jacket potato/ French fries and peppercorn sauce on the side

 

From this menu

 

Starters I would ask for the broth AND arancini

 

Main I would have to choose the standard chicken

 

It's a much better menu for vegetarians and Pescatarians than meat eaters IMO

 

My wife would like it. She's Pescatarian. Me not so much. If Roast was an option that night I would have taken it.

[yorkshirephil]

31 minutes ago, Denarius said:

 At least nowadays the vegetables (usually) compliment the individual dishes.

As long as you like green beans😁

[jh1809]

2 hours ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

Just goes to show how different we all are. The Fred Olsen menu looks horrible to me, however I’m glad to hear that everyone had a good time on Aurora.

I liked the look of the starters on that menu but wasn't impressed by the mains.

[EM35]

On 10/22/2023 at 5:41 PM, 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. 

I'm surprised the Headliners are new - when we were on the Baltic cruise at the end of July they were new onboard then and I always thought the cast did a 6 month stint. 

[jeanlyon]

2 hours ago, SeaJane said:

I agree that roast potato was an odd thing to put with the salmon, but as you demonstrated it was easy to ask for an alternative if that didn’t suit. I had the chicken on a couple of occasions as did others on our table and found it very good. My husband described the sirloin steak as tender and juicy with a lovely mushroom sauce. I think we’ll have to agree to differ on this Jean! 

Maybe unlucky because the guy on our table also had the steak the same night and both were gristly and tough to cut.  Hey ho.

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

I liked the look of the starters on that menu but wasn't impressed by the mains.

Yes, but they have 3 Always Available as well as all those choices.

[tring]

1 hour ago, EM35 said:

I'm surprised the Headliners are new - when we were on the Baltic cruise at the end of July they were new onboard then and I always thought the cast did a 6 month stint. 

 

I thought the Headliners who left Aurora on Oct 3rd, (with us), had been on for much longer than that, I am sure we were told they had been on for a long time - more then 3 months, but I know one of them had joined towards the end of that stint, rather than at the beginning of the stint.  Could it have been that just a couple of them had changed before your cruise?  Is it Aurora you were on then?

 

[jeanlyon]

We had two of the Headliners for the Aurora Vocalists which we enjoyed.  But, if she said Cool and Fabulous once, she said it a thousand times.  I could have throttled her, but she was very sweet and had a wonderful voice.   Our performance was changed slightly by the Force 10 storm and high seas, so we couldn't go on the stage, but we did it anyway, standing in the first 3 rows of seats and hanging on!

[Winifred 22]

7 hours ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

Just goes to show how different we all are. The Fred Olsen menu looks horrible to me, however I’m glad to hear that everyone had a good time on Aurora.

I was thinking the same. I wouldn’t like anything except the always available steak and chicken. 

[Rupert2251]

11 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Maybe unlucky because the guy on our table also had the steak the same night and both were gristly and tough to cut.  Hey ho.

We also found the steak to be gristly and tough on our recent Arvia cruise. And someone needs to show them how to cook a proper roast potato (I'll volunteer).

[Britboys]

3 hours ago, Rupert2251 said:

We also found the steak to be gristly and tough on our recent Arvia cruise. And someone needs to show them how to cook a proper roast potato (I'll volunteer).

It's taken P&O many years to perfect their 'non-roast roast potato'... 😀

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, Britboys said:

It's taken P&O many years to perfect their 'non-roast roast potato'... 😀

I can let you into a secret. I know how they do it. First they roast them as anyone else would but, prior to serving, they sit them in a pan of water for an hour. It gives them that unique texture 😂 

[terrierjohn]

18 minutes ago, Britboys said:

It's taken P&O many years to perfect their 'non-roast roast potato'... 😀

But why are they cut in a hexagon shape, does this enable them to pack more pre frozen ones into the packaging?😮😎

[FangedRose]

16 hours ago, tring said:

 

I thought the Headliners who left Aurora on Oct 3rd, (with us), had been on for much longer than that, I am sure we were told they had been on for a long time - more then 3 months, but I know one of them had joined towards the end of that stint, rather than at the beginning of the stint.  Could it have been that just a couple of them had changed before your cruise?  Is it Aurora you were on then?

 

No, I was on same cruise and we were definitely told that it was a new troupe. They did no shows for the best part of a week and were ropey on their first show but had improved immensely by the end.

[tring]

5 hours ago, FangedRose said:

No, I was on same cruise and we were definitely told that it was a new troupe. They did no shows for the best part of a week and were ropey on their first show but had improved immensely by the end.

 

Since your cruise was late July, it must mean that headliner group were only onboard for about 2.5 months, before they left on 3rd Oct, which is less than I would have expected as well.  Sounds like we were given the wrong info about when they had joined the ship too, although think it came from the Cruise director.

Edited October 24, 2023 by tring

[FangedRose]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

Since your cruise was late July, it must mean that headliner group were only onboard for about 2.5 months, before they left on 3rd Oct, which is less than I would have expected as well.  Sounds like we were given the wrong info about when they had joined the ship too, although think it came from the Cruise director.

Yes it was the Ents Manager. Though I did see a couple of them boarding when I was boarding. I noticed them because there was a few if them together and I remember thinking that it was unusual for a group of youngsters to be on Aurora without family, and then recognised them when they did the first show.

[yorkshirephil]

@pete14. The golf nets were open and in use during Aurora's cruise.