Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[jh1809]

28 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

Many a true word spoken in jest! 

 

James Camb was convicted of killing a British actress, Gay Gibson, on a voyage from Cape Town to Southampton in 1947. He claimed that they were in a relationship and that she had died during a moment of intimacy... he claimed that he had panicked and disposed of her body through the porthole... Camb was tried, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was never enacted as Parliament was in the process of abolishing the death penalty... the rest is history!

 

But not a very interesting history!

"The sentence was never enacted as Parliament was in the process of abolishing the death penalty..." That surprises me, as quite a few convicted murderers were still being hanged during the 1950s.

[twotravellersLondon]

27 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

"The sentence was never enacted as Parliament was in the process of abolishing the death penalty..." That surprises me, as quite a few convicted murderers were still being hanged during the 1950s.

 

That's probably because the abolition of the death penalty was only "under consideration" at the time of the trial. In was only in the mid 60s that the death penalty for murder in Britain was suspended. The suspension was only made permanent the late 60s... we think.

[Selbourne]

Just now, TigerB said:

 

That looks great.

Did they have beach wheelchairs then, or are you just really really strong?

I think it was probably a man made beach. Firm and impacted until you got to about 10 yards from the water. 

[Goosebear Mum]

Those starters on that latest menu have not one meat/fish option, unless choosing soup. Unacceptable imho to assume everyone will accept veggie food 😞 

[Selbourne]

Day 51 - Thursday 22nd February - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

 

 

Whilst my throat has been getting better, I’m still not right. I get a really annoying tickly cough, which is worse in the evenings, and last night I got congested again which disturbed my sleep. All quite minor in the scheme of things, but downright annoying when these symptoms are now in their fourth week. I can’t imagine that we will ever do a cruise like this again, primarily due to my wife’s worsening condition but, even if we were able to, I think this experience would make me think twice. Much as we love cruises, I am in absolutely in no doubt whatsoever that the chances of getting something like this and it lasting for such a long time are far greater on a cruise ship than elsewhere. 

 

Today was a tender port so unfortunately my wife could not get off the ship. We had a leisurely breakfast and killed time until I had to leave to go ashore for my booked excursion - Cayman Highlights & Turtle Farm. I mentioned the other day that I hate tender ports and today’s experience is a classic example of why.

 

My tour was booked for 12.30pm departure with a request to meet ashore at 12.15pm. Announcements had said that there were no longer queues for tenders and people could proceed ashore at will, so at 11.30am I left the cabin and headed down to board the tender. There was a short queue on deck 5 as there was no tender alongside. We waited and waited and eventually a tender arrived, as evidenced by the exceptionally slow trickle of people getting off it, no doubt delayed embarking the ship due to the security screening. Eventually, at about midday, they let us board the tender, except that once on board we sat there bobbing around for another 15-20 minutes whilst a slow trickle of passengers boarded. When we eventually got going the crossing took just 5-10 minutes but by this stage it was 12.25. As I got off the tender and approached the shore excursion lady I was taken to one of those dreadful Toyota minibuses that they use in the Caribbean to find that I was the last to arrive. They really pack people in those things like sardines and there was just one seat remaining. The chap in front of me asked me if I’d got lost, so I explained that it had taken me just under an hour to get there from the ship. I am guessing that the other passengers had either been ashore earlier looking around the town or a tender had left at around 11.30am just minutes before I arrived. Very embarrassing but not my fault. 

 

When returning to the ship I made a point of sitting on the tender in a place where I would be one of the first off (my plan worked) and I went straight to the excursions desk to cancel my tour at our final tender port. It’s a 9am tour departure and with all the faffing about that’s going to mean having to leave the cabin by 8am latest, possibly earlier, which means having to get my wife out of bed at around 6.30 am so that I can help her get ready, only to leave her sat in her wheelchair. That’s not fair. The whole thing today reminded me why we try to avoid cruises with tender ports, and that’s even without the experience of feeling sick as a dog if the seas are choppy and the tender takes ages to leave the ship or is held at sea waiting for a slot to get people back on the ship, as has happened enough times to be ingrained on my memory. 

 

As for the tour itself it was a bit of a mixed bag. The tour guide / driver was excellent. The first stop was a small factory & shop where they made rum cake and sold it at absolutely extortionate prices. Next we went to Hell, quite literally. Hell is basically an area of spikey black coral where there are some gift shops, a post office (where you can send a postcard from Hell) and lots of free roaming chickens. In fact, that’s the case with the whole island. Chickens roaming about everywhere! Finally we went to the Turtle centre. Quite a big place with hundreds of turtles of varying sizes, many of them huge. Our guide gave us a quick tour around and then we had free time. Questions from my fellow passengers were all around conservation, rescuing them etc etc. I think I was the only one who was aware that it’s also a farm where they breed them for meat, a fact that it is not mentioned but I’d read about and was confirmed by the guide when I quietly asked him!

 

Back in the ship I took my wife to Raffles where we had a cuppa and a snack as we hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in 7 hours (a record on a cruise ship 😂). We then just relaxed until dinner, which was in the Beach House. My Nachos starter was good, but I think they were running low on chorizo, as I had shavings of it rather than the usual chunks. My wife had the pork scratching starter that is her favourite there. For mains my wife had the sticky chicken which didn’t look great when it came but she really enjoyed. I had the burger. It needed more binding ingredients, as it was crumbly like mince beef. I could only eat half of it. For puds my wife had Key Lime Sundae which she liked (once she’d scraped the cream off it) and I had the apple and pecan pie which is in fact a miniscule tart, but I was very full so that was fine. We were both too tired and full to enjoy the Simply Whitney show by Taryn Charles, so we called it a night. Tomorrow Ocho Rio’s in Jamaica. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by Selbourne

[brian1]

Turtle and green bean soup on the menu tonight.

[brian1]

My dad was a postman in Poplar and delivered to this place.Every year they used to give him a few tins of this stuff as a Christmas box It was bloody orrible.

[mrsgoggins]

I quite understand why you feel as you do about tender ports, even though I don't share your feeling despite being a poor sailor myself. In my experience a tender means you are likely to be taken to the centre of where you wish to visit, eg Mykonos (tendered x 2, berthed and 'bused in' x 2), Guernsey, Kotor and Grand Cayman, and we have never yet missed a port despite multiple visits. Just lucky I think.

 

On our first visit to Grand Cayman years ago (on Disney Magic) we hired a car from Avis. We had to ring them and they collected us and took us to the airport where we collected our hire car. It worked well and we were able to see a lot of the island along with Hell, Seven Mile Beach and the highlight, Queen Elizabeth II Botanical gardens. We tend to be early starters and always back hours before departure, so have not experienced great waits, but on another visit to Grand Cayman I remember a lot of disgruntled passengers having to wait for a very long time, in full sun/heat, for a local tender. I believe this is a port where using local tenders is part of the agreement for calling there.

 

Just as you @Selbourne have decided to avoid tender ports, and certainly your wife's disability makes that even more sensible for you, I have decided no more ship's excursions in the Caribbean. I now want to see the vehicle we are travelling in before embarking on any trip. No more being packed uncomfortably into one of those little minibuses - we're too big (tall and not skinny; will say no more 😉) and too old to be putting up with it. 

 

Another good and informative account of your day, so thank you again 💐.

[Cathygh]

We have done a similar tour (not the ship's tour)in Grand Cayman and I agree about the cost of the rum cake. It's much cheaper on other islands. 

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Cathygh said:

We have done a similar tour (not the ship's tour)in Grand Cayman and I agree about the cost of the rum cake. It's much cheaper on other islands. 

The cost of living in the Cayman Islands is extremely high. I can recall in 2014 watching a lady in a supermarket buy a box of 10 fish fingers for a sum I calculated to be around US$15.  I dread to think how much now.

 

This website gives interesting information on cost of living for people considering relocating to live permanently, I find it very interesting to get a rough idea of basic costs when I travel.

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Cayman+Islands&displayCurrency=USD

Edited February 23 by Megabear2

[Cathygh]

12 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The cost of living in the Cayman Islands is extremely high. I can recall in 2014 watching a lady in a supermarket buy a box of 10 fish fingers for a sum I calculated to be around US$15.  I dread to think how much now.

 

This website gives interesting information on cost of living for people considering relocating to live permanently, I find it very interesting to get a rough idea of basic costs when I travel.

 

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Cayman+Islands&displayCurrency=USD

 Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.

[lancashire_cruisers]

Well the Cayman Islands are a tax haven so I wouldn’t expect anything to be cheap. Really jealous that you made it to GC as it was one of the ports we missed on our 35 nighter and it was one I was really looking forward to.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Cathygh said:

 Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.

Did you go to see the offshore registration building with the plaques showing you who had investments?  I found it fascinating to see they'd run out of space!  The tour guide was very proud to show us Mick Jagger and Bono in particular but I was astonished at how many individuals names I recognised and the really interesting one was the Welsh village who were making a protest to the UK government.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/crickhowell-inside-the-welsh-town-that-took-itself-offshore-in-tax-protest-a6752511.html

[Cathygh]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Did you go to see the offshore registration building with the plaques showing you who had investments?  I found it fascinating to see they'd run out of space!  The tour guide was very proud to show us Mick Jagger and Bono in particular but I was astonished at how many individuals names I recognised and the really interesting one was the Welsh village who were making a protest to the UK government.

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/crickhowell-inside-the-welsh-town-that-took-itself-offshore-in-tax-protest-a6752511.html

Wow no I didn't get to see that.Love the story about the Welsh Village!

[Somerset Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Cathygh said:

 Our tour guide told us that many many celebrities own property there as it's very private. She wasn't allowed to tell us who as most of the celebs sign a document to say they want privacy but Elton John hadn't signed it so she could tell us where he lives. So they can afford to pay exhorbitant prices. The guide said the islanders had a better standard of living than on the other islands as their government was not corrupts and did not strip the island's assets. Don't know if that's true. She also told us that crime is low as punishment is severe - you go to prison for littering.

Asset stripping by Governments is not uncommon, selling off social housing, essential services such as gas,electricity, water, postal, telecommunications and even the railways!

[Selbourne]

Just now, lancashire_cruisers said:

Well the Cayman Islands are a tax haven so I wouldn’t expect anything to be cheap. Really jealous that you made it to GC as it was one of the ports we missed on our 35 nighter and it was one I was really looking forward to.

If it makes you feel any better, I felt it was one of the least interesting ports. As it’s so affluent it looks more like Florida than the Caribbean and lacks all the colour. 

[mrsgoggins]

3 hours ago, Cathygh said:

......  - you go to prison for littering.

 

Oh how I wish .......... !

[Fionboard]

GC is a lovely island. Spent a fortnight  at Treasure Island Resort once. Hired a Jeep to get around. Fabulous beaches, stingray city, etc. Visited once on a Celebrity cruise and were lucky to berth there. 

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

GC is a lovely island. Spent a fortnight  at Treasure Island Resort once. Hired a Jeep to get around. Fabulous beaches, stingray city, etc. Visited once on a Celebrity cruise and were lucky to berth there. 

I did not know that GC had any berthing facilities.

Edited February 23 by terrierjohn

[Fionboard]

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I did not know that GC had any berthing facilities.

This was a long time ago. 2011 on Celebrity Constellation, I think. Maybe my memory is a bit hazy! Done so many cruises since then!  

[lancashire_cruisers]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

If it makes you feel any better, I felt it was one of the least interesting ports. As it’s so affluent it looks more like Florida than the Caribbean and lacks all the colour. 

It does a bit but I’d booked an independent tour to swim with the stingrays which was the bit I was disappointed about.

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

 

Edited February 23 by Selbourne

[StopTheWorld]

17 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 51 - Thursday 22nd February - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

 

 

Whilst my throat has been getting better, I’m still not right. I get a really annoying tickly cough, which is worse in the evenings, and last night I got congested again which disturbed my sleep. All quite minor in the scheme of things, but downright annoying when these symptoms are now in their fourth week. I can’t imagine that we will ever do a cruise like this again, primarily due to my wife’s worsening condition but, even if we were able to, I think this experience would make me think twice. Much as we love cruises, I am in absolutely in no doubt whatsoever that the chances of getting something like this and it lasting for such a long time are far greater on a cruise ship than elsewhere. 

 

Today was a tender port so unfortunately my wife could not get off the ship. We had a leisurely breakfast and killed time until I had to leave to go ashore for my booked excursion - Cayman Highlights & Turtle Farm. I mentioned the other day that I hate tender ports and today’s experience is a classic example of why.

 

My tour was booked for 12.30pm departure with a request to meet ashore at 12.15pm. Announcements had said that there were no longer queues for tenders and people could proceed ashore at will, so at 11.30am I left the cabin and headed down to board the tender. There was a short queue on deck 5 as there was no tender alongside. We waited and waited and eventually a tender arrived, as evidenced by the exceptionally slow trickle of people getting off it, no doubt delayed embarking the ship due to the security screening. Eventually, at about midday, they let us board the tender, except that once on board we sat there bobbing around for another 15-20 minutes whilst a slow trickle of passengers boarded. When we eventually got going the crossing took just 5-10 minutes but by this stage it was 12.25. As I got off the tender and approached the shore excursion lady I was taken to one of those dreadful Toyota minibuses that they use in the Caribbean to find that I was the last to arrive. They really pack people in those things like sardines and there was just one seat remaining. The chap in front of me asked me if I’d got lost, so I explained that it had taken me just under an hour to get there from the ship. I am guessing that the other passengers had either been ashore earlier looking around the town or a tender had left at around 11.30am just minutes before I arrived. Very embarrassing but not my fault. 

 

When returning to the ship I made a point of sitting on the tender in a place where I would be one of the first off (my plan worked) and I went straight to the excursions desk to cancel my tour at our final tender port. It’s a 9am tour departure and with all the faffing about that’s going to mean having to leave the cabin by 8am latest, possibly earlier, which means having to get my wife out of bed at around 6.30 am so that I can help her get ready, only to leave her sat in her wheelchair. That’s not fair. The whole thing today reminded me why we try to avoid cruises with tender ports, and that’s even without the experience of feeling sick as a dog if the seas are choppy and the tender takes ages to leave the ship or is held at sea waiting for a slot to get people back on the ship, as has happened enough times to be ingrained on my memory. 

 

As for the tour itself it was a bit of a mixed bag. The tour guide / driver was excellent. The first stop was a small factory & shop where they made rum cake and sold it at absolutely extortionate prices. Next we went to Hell, quite literally. Hell is basically an area of spikey black coral where there are some gift shops, a post office (where you can send a postcard from Hell) and lots of free roaming chickens. In fact, that’s the case with the whole island. Chickens roaming about everywhere! Finally we went to the Turtle centre. Quite a big place with hundreds of turtles of varying sizes, many of them huge. Our guide gave us a quick tour around and then we had free time. Questions from my fellow passengers were all around conservation, rescuing them etc etc. I think I was the only one who was aware that it’s also a farm where they breed them for meat, a fact that it is not mentioned but I’d read about and was confirmed by the guide when I quietly asked him!

 

Back in the ship I took my wife to Raffles where we had a cuppa and a snack as we hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in 7 hours (a record on a cruise ship 😂). We then just relaxed until dinner, which was in the Beach House. My Nachos starter was good, but I think they were running low on chorizo, as I had shavings of it rather than the usual chunks. My wife had the pork scratching starter that is her favourite there. For mains my wife had the sticky chicken which didn’t look great when it came but she really enjoyed. I had the burger. It needed more binding ingredients, as it was crumbly like mince beef. I could only eat half of it. For puds my wife had Key Lime Sundae which she liked (once she’d scraped the cream off it) and I had the apple and pecan pie which is in fact a miniscule tart, but I was very full so that was fine. We were both too tired and full to enjoy the Simply Whitney show by Taryn Charles, so we called it a night. Tomorrow Ocho Rio’s in Jamaica. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi - really enjoying your blog! I’ve booked my first P&O cruise for next year. I’ve read a couple of times that your wife doesn’t eat whilst you are off the ship. Is there no room service? Or do you just not use it and prefer to eat in the restaurants? Thanks ☺️ 

[Selbourne]

Just now, StopTheWorld said:

Hi - really enjoying your blog! I’ve booked my first P&O cruise for next year. I’ve read a couple of times that your wife doesn’t eat whilst you are off the ship. Is there no room service? Or do you just not use it and prefer to eat in the restaurants? Thanks ☺️ 

Yes room service is available but we’ve not used it. My wife and I are very different. She eats to live, whereas I live to eat. She’s happy to skip meals, something that is an alien concept to me 😂

[Mollag]

52 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes room service is available but we’ve not used it. My wife and I are very different. She eats to live, whereas I live to eat. She’s happy to skip meals, something that is an alien concept to me 😂

Tortolas looking doubtful Selbourne I wonder what they’ll blame that on for the insurance letters