Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[Selbourne]

Just now, Gettingwarmer said:

Lovely flukes. Was this an ordinary boat or a RIB boat. 

We were on a high speed solid hull catamaran

Edited February 2 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

Day 31 - Friday 2nd February - Kingstown, St Vincent, Grenadines

 

Another day in paradise although today was Kingstown, St Vincent which I’d already been warned was somewhat removed from the typical Caribbean idyl!

 

I was booked on the Best of St Vincent tour and it was in those mini busses that they use in the Caribbean where there are two seats one side and one the other, with a fold down seat to bridge the gap, but those can’t be used on tours for safety reasons. As I was a solo passenger and 6ft 2 large build bloke, I’d hoped to get one of the single seats, so I was disappointed to see that the first people to get on, a married couple, both sat in solo seats, leaving those of us who were solos having to share. I thought that was quite selfish. A lady sat next to me, and the guide could see that we were a bit squished so offered if I’d like to sit up front next to the driver, which I did. 

 

5 minutes after we left the port the driver had a phone call to say that someone else had turned up for the tour, so we had to head back, pick them up and start again 🙄. Our first stop was a cathedral that was undergoing repairs. At home, churches and cathedrals are often the coldest places in any town, probably due to the stone walls and high ceilings, but in St Vincent’s cathedral it’s just as hot inside as outside!

 

No sooner had we left the cathedral than a medical emergency unfolded. One of the ladies had gashed her leg badly getting back into the minibus. A bit of first aid was applied but quickly deemed inadequate as the view was that stitches were needed, so the hospital was looking likely when someone sensibly suggested that she might be better off back at the medical centre on the ship. Our next stop, the Botanical Gardens, was just 5 minutes away so our driver dropped the rest of us and our guide there and then proceeded to take the injured lady back to the ship. I hope that she is OK. 

 

The Botanical Gardens were interesting and after a guided tour we left for a drive up into the mountains.  Everyone beeps their horn when driving in St Vincent - almost continuously. I couldn’t work out what the code was so basically assumed that you beep for both positive and negative reasons and other times for no reason at all 😂

 

No sooner had we climbed the mountain than we began our descent (still beeping at anything and everything) and stopped for a rum punch at a hotel on the way back which, with my sore throat, was very much appreciated. We returned to the ship on time so my wife and I could go for something to eat for the first time today (we don’t have any breakfast if I’m on morning tours).  Afterwards I offered my wife a tour of Kingstown, or if she’d prefer a visit to the cruise terminal just to set wheel ashore, but she wasn’t at all keen. The previous strategy was therefore agreed where I left my wife on our balcony reading as I went off to explore the town. 

 

For the first time this cruise I seemed to be drawing a bit of unwanted attention. I got as far as the market and then turned back to the ship via the supermarket. The air con in the supermarket was a huge relief from the energy sapping heat outside and a couple of things took my attention. Firstly a couple of small birds flying around inside and secondly they had a stand of large Cadbury’s Dairy milk bars that would be about £5 at home, each selling for a bargain $24.95 😱

 

When I returned to the ship we both went to raffles for our afternoon hot (or cold) beverage. For the first time, I saw exactly what @Mollag had observed about people abusing the free food in there. It’s meant to be one item per customer with a drink purchase. One couple asked for 2 wraps each and some cakes as well. The waiter was in a difficult position, as they never like to say no, but I’d have been very tempted to send them in the direction of the buffet. 

 

As always, we watched the sail out from our balcony (uneventful - no whales or dolphins) until it was well past being dark (it’s still around 25 degrees at night). No pre dinner drinks and tonight we had our second booked visit to the Beach House. My wife had the steak on lava rock, which she really enjoyed. I didn’t enjoy my meal, but this was nothing to do with the food or the Beach House. My sore throat has affected my taste and I had an annoying tendency to keep coughing. We had contemplated sitting outside but it was still hot (25 degrees) and was too busy noisy for us, so we had opted to sit inside in the cooler restaurant. Thankfully we were the only diners in the whole section, so my coughing fits only got on my nerves and my wife’s, nobody else’s!

 

The 10pm theatre show was male vocal group Unity. These singing acts do nothing for me and having been critical of others coughing all through shows I wasn’t going to be hypocritical and do the same myself, so I offered to take my wife and collect her at the end, but she declined. Again, no early night possible with the noise from the band that now plays on the pool deck until 10.45pm each evening. 

 

Tomorrow 🎵 “Ooh, we’re going to Barbados” 🎶 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3 by Selbourne

[Fionboard]

I have been to that beach by ferry. It was very dirty and crowded so got on the next boat back to the ship. There are better beaches on the island, further afield though. 

[FatBoy20]

16 hours ago, david63 said:

I have to say, for me, I am finding the menus somewhat underwhelming!

Welcome to P&O post Covid & cut backs!.

[david63]

9 minutes ago, FatBoy20 said:

Welcome to P&O post Covid & cut backs!.

I have cruised with P&O since Covid so I am well aware of the cutbacks - but the current menus are more cutback than ever.

[Presto2]

5 minutes ago, david63 said:

I have cruised with P&O since Covid so I am well aware of the cutbacks - but the current menus are more cutback than ever.

To be fair we thought the MDR was ok and if you compare it to some 4 star hotels in the UK you have more choice. Perhaps it's us being too easy to please but when compared to the price we paid for the cruise we still think its good value for money.

[Eddie99]

I hope you’ve woken up having seen off that cold Selbourne - you don’t want to feel iffy in this exciting sector of your trip

[Selbourne]

Just now, Eddie99 said:

I hope you’ve woken up having seen off that cold Selbourne - you don’t want to feel iffy in this exciting sector of your trip

Sadly not, but thankfully my wife is still showing no signs of getting it. Now berthed in Barbados facing Arvia and earlier Royal Clipper squeezed in between us. 

[mercury7289]

How is Mrs S  coping with the weather?

 

[TigerB]

Are you parked in one of those pesky positions that requires you to take a short shuttle to the terminal/port shops?

[terrierjohn]

41 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Are you parked in one of those pesky positions that requires you to take a short shuttle to the terminal/port shops?

The turnround ships have always had priority for the inner berths, just visiting ships are always berthed by the sea wall.

[doog442]

Us looking at you😉

[Somerset Cruiser]

6 hours ago, david63 said:

I have cruised with P&O since Covid so I am well aware of the cutbacks - but the current menus are more cutback than ever.

Spent 4 weeks on Iona over Christmas and New year with pretty much the same menus. Have to disagree about cutbacks as I feel the food has improved since we cruised post covid in 2021 and again in 2022. The variety on the Dinner menu is decent and apart from some good meat options I had many fish and vegetarian meals, all of which were very good. I found the lunch menus a bit limited as I tried to avoid the bread and chips. But the Pasta and Curry was always very good. The soup plus the lighter option was often a good choice. 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, mercury7289 said:

How is Mrs S  coping with the weather?

 

Better than I am in all truth. She is enjoying sitting on the balcony reading and the advantage of the balconies on Aurora are that you can always find a bit in the shade. 
 

Miami was the perfect weather for us. Blue sky and sunshine with temperatures in the low 20’s. I pushed my wife for several miles with no difficulty whatsoever and we both really enjoyed it. Now that the temperatures are above 25 degrees, I am finding it much harder work, not helped by not feeling 100%.

 

Neither of us sunbath or even sit in the direct sun, so we will leave the ship still looking anaemic whilst many on here are golden brown already! We don’t tan, we just go red, and there’s a bit of family history on my side of later life skin cancer caused by sun exposure in earlier life that can lay dormant for decades. I had no idea that was even possible! So whilst we are enjoying this one off cruise, we are happier in Northern European temperatures 😂 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

Are you parked in one of those pesky positions that requires you to take a short shuttle to the terminal/port shops?

Quite close to the terminal but a very narrow walking route along the pier that’s a challenge with a wheelchair. Terminal absolutely heaving with people. More in my daily report…..

[WestonOne]

We are going on this trip next year, so a few questions, if you don't mind.

 

I usually join the on-board choir, but for most trips they can only fit in around 8 practices on a 14-18 day trip.  On a world cruise, because it is in segments, they pretty much treat the choir as say 4 or 5 back to back small trips.  But the grand tour, no one joins along the way, so they could try something more ambitious. Do you know if they do?

The same applies to other activities.

 

Then there is the problem with menus restarting.  I assume you get the same menu on a 14 day cycle or thereabouts.  Is that right?

 

Finally, things like loyalty awards.  We are at Caribbean but I expect you still only get one 'fine dining'experience, rather than one every 20 days or so.  Do you know?

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, WestonOne said:

We are going on this trip next year, so a few questions, if you don't mind.

 

I usually join the on-board choir, but for most trips they can only fit in around 8 practices on a 14-18 day trip.  On a world cruise, because it is in segments, they pretty much treat the choir as say 4 or 5 back to back small trips.  But the grand tour, no one joins along the way, so they could try something more ambitious. Do you know if they do?

The same applies to other activities.

 

Then there is the problem with menus restarting.  I assume you get the same menu on a 14 day cycle or thereabouts.  Is that right?

 

Finally, things like loyalty awards.  We are at Caribbean but I expect you still only get one 'fine dining'experience, rather than one every 20 days or so.  Do you know?

If you mean the loyalty lunch, then yes there is normally only one in a 14nt plus cruise.

[WestonOne]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

If you mean the loyalty lunch, then yes there is normally only one in a 14nt plus cruise.

Yes.  So the question is whether you still only get one on a 65 day cruise.  

 

It would not surprise me at all if you only get the one, whereas on a world cruise you get one per segment, I think

Edited February 3 by WestonOne

[WestonOne]

On the business of the 'Welcome.on Board" reception, the current loyalty document says it is a buffet.

[Selbourne]

Just now, Somerset Cruiser said:

Spent 4 weeks on Iona over Christmas and New year with pretty much the same menus. Have to disagree about cutbacks as I feel the food has improved since we cruised post covid in 2021 and again in 2022. The variety on the Dinner menu is decent and apart from some good meat options I had many fish and vegetarian meals, all of which were very good. I found the lunch menus a bit limited as I tried to avoid the bread and chips. But the Pasta and Curry was always very good. The soup plus the lighter option was often a good choice. 

It varies a lot by ship though. We thought that the MDR food was great on Iona, Britannia and Ventura (all last year). It’s been less good on Aurora. We always find something that we are happy to order for dinner, although the grand descriptions often fall way short of what is delivered to the table. The biggest issue for me is flavourless sauces and gravies and the fact that it’s green beens with everything!

 

We’ve just discussed it and would say that about 20% of the evening meals have been good, around 10% have been poor and the remaining 70% have been mediocre. 
 

MDR lunches haven’t been great on any of the ships but, again, have been slightly worse on Aurora. The curries are generally good but don’t appear every day and the remainder is quite repetitive. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, WestonOne said:

We are going on this trip next year, so a few questions, if you don't mind.

 

I usually join the on-board choir, but for most trips they can only fit in around 8 practices on a 14-18 day trip.  On a world cruise, because it is in segments, they pretty much treat the choir as say 4 or 5 back to back small trips.  But the grand tour, no one joins along the way, so they could try something more ambitious. Do you know if they do?

The same applies to other activities.

 

Then there is the problem with menus restarting.  I assume you get the same menu on a 14 day cycle or thereabouts.  Is that right?

 

Finally, things like loyalty awards.  We are at Caribbean but I expect you still only get one 'fine dining'experience, rather than one every 20 days or so.  Do you know?

Although this cruise was only ever sold as a 65 nighter (as far as I know) there are 3 segments. The first ended on 26th Jan. The next one is something like 20th Feb. The passenger choir did a theatre performance at the end of the first ‘segment’ and new members were encouraged to join thereafter. Same with Ukelele classes. 
 

We don’t think that the menus repeat in total. You see the same items but not the same total menu (if that makes sense). We are still seeing items appear that we are sure we haven’t seen before, and that’s after 30 days!

 

As for Caribbean lunch, I don’t know the answer. We had our Caribbean lunch very early on in the cruise. I assumed that this was either because there would be others later in the cruise or because they wanted to get it out of the way. Judging by the complete lack of officer interaction or recognition during the lunch, I suspect that it may be the latter!

[jh1809]

19 minutes ago, WestonOne said:

On the business of the 'Welcome.on Board" reception, the current loyalty document says it is a buffet.

"Buffet" and "calm oasis" are not compatible things in my experience.

[Selbourne]

Just now, WestonOne said:

Yes.  So the question is whether you still only get one on a 65 day cruise.  

 

It would not surprise me at all if you only get the one, whereas on a world cruise you get one per segment, I think

It seems to vary by ship and even sometimes by cruise! On Britannia and Ventura last year we had a very good waiter served lunch, which was a nice start to the cruise. On Iona it was a buffet. Quite a nice one, but not as good as a served lunch. On Aurora we had the old fashioned third rate buffet that they used to do on all ships pre Covid, yet on previous Aurora cruises I believe it had been a waiter served lunch.
 

There are (I believe) around 1,000 higher loyalty tier passengers on this cruise, so they decided that this was too many to do it properly, so it would be better to give their most loyal customers a below par welcome lunch having just subjected them to a very poor boarding experience, where priority boarding counted for nothing as almost everyone was entitled to it! Not that I’m still harbouring a grudge about how poor our embarkation experience was, you understand 😂 ! 

[twotravellersLondon]

On 2/2/2024 at 9:11 PM, Selbourne said:

 

 

 

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! You must be so, so, so pleased! Can't thank you enough for sharing!

[david63]

On the point of "segments" is it actually segments or the fact that you have to pay your account every four weeks - which I have experienced on longer cruises.

 

As far as menus go there is always some/lot of repetition on longer cruises and the longer the cruise the more repetition as there is basically, on most ships, a two week rotating menu.

Edited February 3 by david63