Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[Dermotsgirl]

6 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I might do a summary on here afterwards along the lines of @Dermotsgirl excellent one ‘P&O cruiser does Saga’ as I found that to be extremely helpful in our deliberations as to whether or not to try them. 

Thanks you @Selbourne , that's kind of you to say. 

 

I can well understand why you feel you might need a break from blogging after 65 nights of it!

 

During my earliest cruises I'd write a daily diary in a notebook, then type it up when I returned home and would then post it online (not on this site). When I got my ipad, I'd type it all on the cruise, then post when I got home.  As most of my cruises were standard length, it didn't seem onerous.  In 2016 I did a 35 night cruise,  and by the end I had had enough of daily reporting. After that, I always did a review when I returned home, and didn't do anymore daily reports. I never regretted doing the reports, as reading them years later, if brings back all sorts of small details that would otherwise have been forgotten. 

 

We nearly went on Cunard in 2021 and 2022, but it didn't happen, and we've gone past wanting to sail with Cunard. But I will be interested to read any after cruise report you may post. 

[Adawn47]

@Selbourne

I've followed your cruise from booking, amendments, additions and upgrades and have enjoyed every minute.

I've enjoyed the photos that took me to places I've never been and the descriptive write ups that had me smiling with delight, and sometimes crying with laughter,  but have also been concerned over your health. I know how time consuming this long blog must have been, and I thank you so much for taking the time to bring us all along with you on your long cruise. I hope the last few days of your cruise will be more relaxed and trouble free.

Fair wnds and following seas.

Avril

[Angel57]

@Selbourne

And a thank you from me too. I’ve really enjoyed waking up every morning to read your daily posts.

Enjoy your last few days on Aurora.

Out of interest would you do another long cruise?

Thanks again.

Gill x

[brian1]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

We have 2 more cruises booked for this year, but both are with Cunard. As I’m not ‘known’ on the Cunard pages I am looking forward to having a break from doing blogs!

If you're club dining you'll love it.Your own dedicated pair of waiters and table.And the MD setting light to your cherries every night.

[Junction2]

@Selbourne

Many thanks from me too. Your daily posts have been so enjoyable, I’m going to miss them. 
I’m on Arcadia in September doing the transatlantic cruise to North America and Canada and that will be a much longer cruise time wise than I’ve done before so reading about how you spent your sea days has been very informative. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, Angel57 said:

@Selbourne

And a thank you from me too. I’ve really enjoyed waking up every morning to read your daily posts.

Enjoy your last few days on Aurora.

Out of interest would you do another long cruise?

Thanks again.

Gill x

Thanks. Probably not, but for several reasons, mostly my wife’s health. Another year or two of deterioration and I fear that it wouldn’t be possible. Other reasons are cost (we got it at a great price which I doubt we could get again, so it’s been great value - I’m not sure that we would have considered it such great value if we’d paid the Select price). Also, we feel that we’ve ticked the box now. The attraction of this cruise was the number of new ports. We will never get that again. A World cruise doesn’t remotely appeal to us - far too many long runs of sea days and not enough time in places that we’d want to see.
 

Never say never, but plenty of people on here have already booked next years 65 nighter and we don’t feel in the slightest bit envious. In fact, I’ve just had an email from our TA announcing a big price drop for that cruise. If word gets out amongst those who have booked whilst on board there will be a lot of unhappy people!

[Selbourne]

Just now, brian1 said:

If you're club dining you'll love it.Your own dedicated pair of waiters and table.And the MD setting light to your cherries every night.

Yes, both Cunard cruises are Club, the concept of which very much appeals to us. We are also looking forward to being on a brand new ship with all that entails, but (hopefully) not the issues that put us off Iona and, by association Arvia.

[Slugsta]

@Junction2 We are on that one too and it will be our longest. Longest thus far is 24 days, also on Arcadia to Canada.

[Waju]

@Selbourne

 

Another thank you from me, I have enjoyed reading your stories with my morning coffee.

 

 

[grapau27]

19 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

 

Day 62 - Monday 4th March - Praia da Vitoria, The Azores
 

We woke in the night to considerable movement and feared that our port call to The Azores might be in jeopardy. However, we managed to get in OK. 

 

We made it to breakfast with 2 minutes to spare and afterwards got our bearings from deck 13. Thankfully this is a port where coaches for excursions and shuttle buses come right up to the ship. Two pleasant surprises. Firstly the shuttle was free, which was handy with us having booked a saver and the excursions are on proper coaches, not those dreadful minibuses that we had to suffer around the Caribbean. We needed a wheelchair accessible shuttle and thankfully one was provided. We only had to wait about 15 minutes which was lucky as it can only take two at a time. 

 

We were dropped by the fire station and walked down Rue da Jesus (the main drag) down to the promenade. Praia da Vitoria was nothing special, but pleasant enough and frankly quite like a British seaside resort, but without the tackiness. We had a wander around for an hour and headed back to the ship, again waiting around 20 minutes for the wheelchair accessible shuttle to return. Chatting to the driver there is almost no crime on the islands and they feel that it is a great place to live. He said that they see the ocean differently to us. They don’t see themselves as isolated, but rather in the middle of a highway that can take them anywhere. Interesting concept, although I feel that the Isle of Wight can be a bit isolated and you can see the mainland from there 😂

 

We managed to get lunch in the MDR prior to me going on my final excursion of the cruise - South Island sights and Angra. The tour started with a long climb up to a viewpoint over a vast area that had been created following volcanic activity in the past. Apparently there are still two active volcanoes on the island (although not actually at risk of eruptions any time soon). Incidentally, I had no idea that the island was hit hard by a major earthquake in 1980 and around one third of the towns had been wiped out, so a lot of the current buildings were built afterward. 

 

We then made our way towards Angra and stopped at Fort Brazile which overlooks the city from afar. To get to the viewpoint the driver had to take the coach thorough a short tunnel with about 6” clearance each side. Finally we made our way down to the city where we had just over an hour to explore. This could either be done independently or with our guide. I opted for independent once she’d shown us where the botanical gardens were. 

 

Angra was a delight. A lovely place with cobbled streets and pavements, buildings with the shallow railed balconies and pastel coloured properties with contrasting coloured window sills. Most of the photos in today’s post are from Angra rather than Praia da Vitoria. I’d bought some Pastel du Nata in a bakery so when I returned to the ship I took my wife to Raffles for a drink to enjoy them with. 

 

As it was our last sail away of the cruise, and the Azores is a major hotspot for whales of all sorts (including Blue, Humpback and Sperm whales) who rest and feed there on the migration north for the summer, we put on jackets and stayed on our balcony until the light had faded. We managed to see…….nothing 😂

 

Dinner in the MDR was quite good. Piri Piri chicken was a first appearance and a nice change. We had considered going to see a new act afterwards called iHoppers, who do 50s and 60s music, but there was already a lot of movement and with the theatre being right at the front we didn’t fancy our dinner going up and down, so we gave it a miss. In his pre departure announcement the Captain warned us that sea conditions will worsen with 4 to 5 meter waves. Good job we found the spare Stugeron on the way down. Tomorrow is the first of our 3 sea days back to Southampton. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great photos.

I hope your last 3 days are relaxing and the sea is calmer than the captain advised.

[Eglesbrech]

Are the Azores worth a visit in your opinion?

[Megabear2]

A big thank you from me too.  As I'm someone who would happily live on a Caribbean island full time, it's been fascinating reading and hearing of your experiences on the islands, particularly the five I've not had the pleasure of visiting so far.  I have greatly enjoyed your reports from tours you took, particularly the amusing and witty observations of some of people you've met along the way. I hope you and Lady S have very many happy memories of your great adventure for many years to come.

[paulatsea]

24 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Are the Azores worth a visit in your opinion?

Yes from me - we stopped there on a transatlantic some years ago - and loved it.

fantastic place.

 

[paulatsea]

4 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Yes from me - we stopped there on a transatlantic some years ago - and loved it.

fantastic place.

 

Read a book called “the pirates daughter” by Robert Girardi and some of it was set in the Azores - so I had always wanted to go there. Love to go back some day.

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Are the Azores worth a visit in your opinion?

Having only been to one island it’s difficult to say. I feel as though I saw the best of the island in one day, so didn’t feel the need for longer. Nice though it was, I wouldn’t feel the need to return. 

[Mickb]

Thank you Selbourne for a very entertaining account of your voyage.

I am in awe at the time and effort that you have put into this very entertaining blog. I do hope that your sore throat improves when you get home.

I am not a fan of P&O following a very unfortunate experience a few years ago and recognise some of the issues we had have still not been overcome. But a cruise is a cruise and I believe it is always better than staying at home. However, these days we prefer Cunard, we are on Queen Anne in October.

[zap99]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. Probably not, but for several reasons, mostly my wife’s health. Another year or two of deterioration and I fear that it wouldn’t be possible. Other reasons are cost (we got it at a great price which I doubt we could get again, so it’s been great value - I’m not sure that we would have considered it such great value if we’d paid the Select price). Also, we feel that we’ve ticked the box now. The attraction of this cruise was the number of new ports. We will never get that again. A World cruise doesn’t remotely appeal to us - far too many long runs of sea days and not enough time in places that we’d want to see.
 

Never say never, but plenty of people on here have already booked next years 65 nighter and we don’t feel in the slightest bit envious. In fact, I’ve just had an email from our TA announcing a big price drop for that cruise. If word gets out amongst those who have booked whilst on board there will be a lot of unhappy people!

Your dedication to ensuring Mrs S's enjoyment Is inspirational. We are taking the next few years travel as it comes. You never know ( said gloomy Zap ).

[yorkshirephil]

3 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Are the Azores worth a visit in your opinion?

I think they are worth visiting, the two islands we have ported at are easy to walk around and very pleasant, there are some nice trips too.

Having been several times I would now prefer the southerly route to Madeira or Canary islands on the Atlantic crossings.

[Selbourne]

Day 63 - Tuesday 5th March - Sea Day

 

Sea conditions didn’t feel any worse this morning, which was a relief. We haven’t had to reach for the Stugeron yet! I handed our steward the final bag of 10 items for the service wash, so as to lessen my workload when we get home. 

 

We got to breakfast comfortably (no clock change last night) so didn’t have to rush for Paul Sticklers 10am talk on ‘The Rillington Place Affair’ in the theatre. Even though I’ve read the book and watched the film, the story still raises eyebrows. 

 

Our cabin steward appeared mid morning with the two suitcases that we couldn’t fit under the bed. We hadn’t asked for them and don’t intend packing until the final afternoon, but I guess he wanted rid of them. Ironically we still have almost as much time left as the entire duration of the next cruise, yet it feels as though we are being told to start packing!

 

Either side of lunch we just lazed in the cabin reading and getting up to date with things for when we get home (the WiFi package paying dividends again). At midday in the Captains announcement it was mentioned that it was currently force 6 but would worsen later. Stugeron still on standby. MDR for lunch, which I didn’t enjoy, other than the summer pudding. It looked good when my wife had it at dinner last night and I’d half joked that I’d have it when it re-appeared for lunch the next day (as many puds do). My prediction had come true! 

 

We considered attending the 3pm Ukulele performance but decide that neither of us was that bothered! We did, however, attend Ben Kearsleys penultimate classical guitar performance in the Playhouse, followed by a cuppa in Raffles (minus the free cake again as too late). 

 

Dinner was in the Beach House and was to be our last (of 5) visits there. Amazingly, I had to send back the nachos starter. Having had it every time we’d been so far this time it was lacking virtually any cheese and the chorizo that I’d paid extra for was nigh on invisible (Ok, the extra cost was just £1 but there’s a principle at stake here). I couldn’t make up my mind what to have for the main course. I always used to have steak but having had such excellent steaks in the Glasshouse I knew that what I would cook myself on a hot stone wouldn’t be as good. In the end I went for the ribs and they were good. I ordered the cheesecake and I’ve still yet to have a decent dessert in the Beach House! My wife liked the look of it so I swapped with her ice cream. We asked for cups of tea to finish, but rather than put the tea bag in the cup and add hot water, as they do in the MDR, the waitress came out with a pot. Now this would be fine, but for the fact that the pot had previously been used for coffee. Anyone whose been to a conference or meeting where tea and coffee are served in flasks will know that unique taste that’s part tea, part coffee 🤢

 

The 10pm show was the well known entertainer Tucker - so well known that neither of us have heard of him, so that was another one to skip. Thankfully, as of when we retired to our cabin, the sea condition didn’t seem any worse than earlier in the day. Tomorrow day 2 of 3 sea days to Southampton. 

Edited March 5 by Selbourne

[BouncingWheel]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

The 10pm show was the well known entertainer Tucker - so well known that neither of us have heard of him

He is well known…. on Iona. He seems to be always on there. To be fair they didn’t say where he was well known.

[david63]

On 3/5/2024 at 4:12 PM, Selbourne said:

We have 2 more cruises booked for this year, but both are with Cunard. As I’m not ‘known’ on the Cunard pages I am looking forward to having a break from doing blogs!

Just hold on a minute - I am od the Cunard pages so sorry but no break is allowed😀

[indiana123]

Selbourne, I'm with  Brian1  with his comments on Cunard Club.  They make you feel very special in the restaurant.  I used my little scooter in the evenings and every time I entered Paolo was there ready to help, and was standing behind my chair.  We never did find out how he knew we were arriving as he couldn't see the corridor.  Club is great.  Its similar to once having a balcony always wanting one,   once Club always wanting Club.

 

I hope they make Lady Selbourne  feel as good and as special as they made me. 

[zap99]

3 hours ago, BouncingWheel said:

He is well known…. on Iona. He seems to be always on there. To be fair they didn’t say where he was well known.

He turns up at Warners. I don't know if they book him, or he just turns up. One to avoid.

[TigerB]

On 2/28/2024 at 8:02 PM, Selbourne said:

So that’s the reason. Arvia’s delivery of green beans went to Aurora, and they are trying to use them up before they go off 😂 I am now on a green bean protest. If I get them I refuse to eat them 😂

You've had Iona's supply too, as I hardly saw any😉

[Selbourne]

Just now, TigerB said:

You've had Iona's supply too, as I hardly saw any😉

I can well believe it. My wife had the hanging speciality seafood kebab in the Beach House last night. What did it come with? Yep. Green beans 🙄😂