R303, "In Search of the Northern Lights" March 2023 part 1

[kaymar]

Four years since our last cruise, our first cruise on Aurora started promisingly enough. After a three-stage, 9 hour journey, and despite long queues for security,we passed through Mayflower terminal smoothly enough, with some excellent assistance from the staff there. It was noticeable that no mention was made of Covid, no certification was required and at no stage were we even asked if we had a negative test. Is coronavirus really a thing of the past? We shall see!

Expecting a bit of "weather" in the North Sea in March, we had chosen a mid-ships cabin on B deck. We were able to go straight there, via our Muster Station, and our steward, Wilson, soon appeared, quickly followed by our first suitcase and then the rest of them at five minute intervals.
The cabin was clean and comfortable with lots of storage space and the balcony was quite spacious with a couple of comfortable-enough chairs and a table. Our close friends and regular cruising companions were in the adjacent cabin and Wilson kindly opened the door on our connecting balconies to aid communication.
That first evening and overnight, the sea was indeed a little rough but nothing to cause us any problems and we settled into two sea days to our first port of call

Andalsnes
As is our wont, we had not booked any P&O excursions, on the basis that the four of us can usually do the same sort of thing , only with more flexibility and freedom and less expensively. The first example of this was a scenic rail journey on the Rauma Railway up to the mountain village of Donbas where it joins the main line to Oslo. It was only a short, 400m walk from the ship to the railway station and we had pre-booked tickets via VY, the State railway, for 9.30 am.
As promised, a lovely scenic, hour-long trip on a comfortable train with the bonus of a good Wi-fi connections, which is more than could be said for the ship, where it was non-existent throughout. There was actually nothing at Donbas when we got there but as the ship was due to sail late afternoon we had booked to return in about an hour and in fact the train sat in the station for that time, then did the return journey. Just perfect timing for a breath of extremely fresh mountain air and a coffee.
The evening cruise out of Aldasnes took us back along the Romsdalsfjord. After dinner we sat on our balcony and enjoyed the spectacular scenery, a literal example of "chilling out". We had, of course, brought along pretty much every article of warm clothing we possessed and, after a while, were wearing most of them. Got some lovely photos, though.

Tromso

After another day at sea we arrived in the fishing port of Tromso during the morning. Doing our own thing again, we had booked an evening Tromso Lapland - Sami Experience. They had arrange to pick us up at the Raddison Blu Hotel, which happened to be the place where the shuttle buses dropped off. We took the opportunity to go into town to get our bearings and had a coffee at a charming, somewhat Bohemian coffee shop just across the road from the hotel, before returning to the ship.
We took the evening shuttle back into town and were met punctually by our courier. Three others joined us and the seven of us boarded the coach at 6p.m.for the half-hour journey to the Sami camp. The road was packed snow with high drifts on each road, but the driver could well have been on the M6 for all the allowances he made. He explained on arrival that he had soft tyres with inset spikes, as did most vehicles on those roads.

We were met at the Sami camp by our two brightly-dressed guides and their c200 reindeer, four of which were harnessed into two-man sleighs for our ride. After a brief introduction, we donned their thick, thermal winter suits and set off on our gentle ride though the crisp white snow, surrounded by the silence of the mountains.
Reindeer Sledding is an important part of the experience as the oldest known form of transport in the north, and central part of the Sami culture. The sledding takes place as a "raid" where each reindeer and sled are bound together in a row with the lead reindeer in the front. The declared aim was to become better acquainted with the Sami culture and join the pleasant and fun Reindeer Sledding and look out for the Northern Lights at the same time. That bit didn't happen!

Afterwards, we sat for a while around a blazing log fire, chatting to the guides. The Sami are the indigenous people of the North and our Sami guide wanted us to get to know his culture better, both past, present and future, through tasting some typical Sami food, seeing and learning about Sami artifacts and hearing stories and the joik (traditional Sami song). The reindeer stew (can't remember what he actually called it) was pleasant enough and certainly welcome.
The coach picked us up at 9.30, dropped us at the cruise terminal and we were back on board by 10.30, reflecting on a hugely memorable trip and what turned out to be the highlight of our cruise experience.

I'll leave it there for now, and then come back to our next two ports of call and maybe some general thoughts on Aurora (not the borealis!).

[Onelife]

Hi Kaymar,

I don’t normally read many cruise reviews as I get very jealous…not a nice trait I know. I have to say I have enjoyed your review thus far as it is quite informative and a bit different from the normal cruise destination reports…keep them coming.

[kaymar]

Well, just for you, Onelife, part 2.

Alta

I suppose the main purpose of this cruise, as its name suggested, was to see the Northern Lights and if you were going to see them anywhere, it had to be from Alta which bills itself as "The city of the Northern Lights". It was another day's sail from Tromso and, half way there it started to snow. We arrived on Thursday afternoon in a blizzard and a few hardy souls fought their way to the shuttle buses into town, soon to return with the report that there's nothing there except a couple of supermarkets. Presumably some excursions left but, true to form we were not on them.

Again we had made a private booking with a local company, Glod Explorers. Their sales pitch was along the lines of :-

After picking up our guests from their hotels, we head straight to GLØD headquarters for a briefing. We will also serve the Soup of the Evening. If you need some warmer clothes, we can arrange this too. By the way, all our guides speak English and one can even guide in German.
After the briefing, we set off on our Northern Lights hunt! To optimize our chances of experiencing the Northern Lights, we head to areas with little or no light pollution. We use new and well-equipped VW Caravelle 4 motion minibuses as we travel in search of an area with starry sky and good views.
If the weather conditions in Alta are poor, we head elsewhere. This may mean a drive of up to 200 km, either along the coast, fjords or in the inland of Finnmark. We make regular stops to check the conditions and, if conditions permit, take photos. We then gladly continue in search of new, exciting and nice locations, either to find new photo subjects or – if the conditions are challenging – clear weather. With more than 10 years’ experience as Aurora chasers, we found the Northern Lights on more than 90% of our departures last season.
We will serve snacks and hot chocolate during the tour.

All sounds pretty good, eh? In reality, of course, 90% success = 10% failure. It continued to snow heavily all afternoon. Again, agreed pick-up was maybe 400m from the ship, at 8p.m.. Somewhat reluctantly, we fought our way there, past the crew at the bottom of the gangway who were amusing themselves building snowmen and igloos to protect them from the Arctic conditions. Sure enough, a very pleasant young lady arrived promptly in the promised VW and cheerfully told us that there was no chance of seeing the lights from Alta, but that, after the promised briefing and some fish soup, we would set off and drive towards Finland, hoping for a break in the cloud cover. Chances? "Well, we cannot give guarantees but we have to be back before 1a.m. so we will drive as far as we can and do our best".
Kath and I said "thank you very much and good luck" and fought our way back to the ship, kicking over the crew's snowmen on the way (we didn't really), removed several inches of outer clothing and headed for the Crow's Nest for a nightcap. Our friends, Peter and Jacky stuck it out, as did another couple who had made the same booking. We did not hear them come back on board but got their report the next morning.

Sure enough, the young lady had driven them safely towards Finland, stopping from time to time to clear the windscreen of packed snow when the wipers gave up the unequal struggle. They could barely see out of the vehicle, let alone see any lights in the sky, the hot chocolate did not materialise and toilet facilities were as nature intended, if you were brave enough to try in -20deg with snow blowing sideways. Eventually, she gave up and drove them back, luckily following a snow plough most of the way, and they made it by 12.30 am. Well, at least they tried.

It was still snowing heavily on Friday morning, so we saw nothing at all of Alta and in the afternoon cast off for another two days at sea. Predictably, the skies cleared and the chances of seeing some action in the skies were predicted to be improving, Bravely, foolishly maybe, I volunteered to don all my Arctic gear again and sit out on the balcony to await the show and take some stunning pictures. I even chanced removing my super gloves (bought specially a few days ago in Aldasnes) to press the shutter from time to time as apparently the camera can see more than the naked eye. Sure enough, I got a few shots of a hint of green light in the Northern sky, almost 10% as good as the pictures we had seen a couple of weeks previously taken from all over the U.K.!

I gave up around midnight. The other three had failed to take over the vigil and were long since tucked up in bed. I gradually thawed out and turned in also. A repeat the following evening was even less successful, if that is possible, but I basked in the knowledge that on this occasion, at least I had tried.

Stavanger
A pretty little town which appeared to be closed when we arrived on a bright, sunny Monday morning. Things started moving by about 10 am, though, and we had a little wander round town, had a coffee, took some pictures and bought a few pressies to take home, including some trolls for the grandchildren. In the afternoon, Peter and I strolled around the quay and enjoyed a local beer sitting outside in the sun, then we were off again on our last leg to Southampton.

[Onelife]

Thanks, Kaymar…another enjoyable read…shame you didn’t get to see the lightshow you were hoping for but your recollections of freezing out on your balcony will make excellent dinner party conversation, Indeed after a few drinks you may find that your 10% sightings turn into 50%... just a word of warning though… if you get to the point where you tell them that you saw a snowman sitting on top of the Bridge it might be time to pour the coffee.

Thanks for the report.

[Manoverboard]

Dog sleighs, hot chocolate, snow blizzards albeit sans Northern Lights ... WOW.

What boring things did we do after reading your excellent report. Well, we ate our wild salmon bake and put a few more logs on the log burner. Not as good as yours but at least we were warm

[kaymar]

Part 3

The ship

Our last six cruises have been on Arcadia and we were ready for a change. Inevitably it took us a while to get used to Aurora - “do we turn left or right, is it up or down” - but as we began to find our way around we liked most of the ship just as much as Arcadia.

Dining options
As ever, the self service Horizon was best avoided as far as possible. Our first breakfast visit at about 9 am involved long queues, cold, greasy bacon, congealed fried eggs and cold, brittle toast. It was less busy at 7.30 the second day but the offering was no better.
On the other hand, the Medina restaurant was much more civilised. This is the Freedom dining venue in the evening but serves breakfast in the morning and a limited, light lunch menu and this became very much our venue of choice. A very pleasant dining room, friendly welcome, good service and freshly cooked, well presented food.

The Alexandria is the club dining restaurant and does not open during the day. We found service here to be faultless – quick and cheerful despite the waiters now also covering wine. On that topic, they no longer kept for you any unfinished wine bottles, but asked you to take them away and bring them back tomorrow. Better, then, not to leave any!
We had no issue with portion size but have to say that quality had slipped considerably since our last cruise some five years ago. For the first three days, at least one of us found their choice of main course to be verging on the inedible – lamb, pork and chicken. To be fair, the waiters were concerned and offered to bring us an alternative, but it wasn’t worth the trouble. Mainly, though, the offerings were acceptable and we remember three occasions on which the food could be described as good, two of these on the formal nights. So, 25% good, 65% average, 10% poor would be our experience. Cost cutting, presumably.

We had one dinner in Sindhu, celebrating a “special” birthday. The food was good and the service OK but there was no-one there to welcome us and the Manager?, a bit of a preening peacock, concentrated on what were probably his regular customers, ignoring the rest. We enjoyed it but were not tempted to return.
The Beach House is no more than an area of the cafeteria sectioned off and serving what appeared to be American-style fast food. Not what we considered to be a select dining option but we didn’t try it so cannot really comment
Similarly, The Glass House is more of a wine bar than a restaurant and again we could see nothing exceptional on the menu which might justify an additional charge. We did, however visit regularly for a late morning coffee.

Public space
There are a good number of lounges, bars, nooks and crannies around the ship but, given that this was a cold weather cruise, few people ventured out on deck for any length of time and consequently inside was inevitably quite crowded. The Crow’s Nest was of course very popular and we noticed an unwelcome tendency amongst a few to “reserve” a favourite window table with books and clothing whilst they went off for a walk or a meal. Unpopular enough with sunbeds, but inside?? Presumably these were pasengers who had no windows in their cabins but still no excuse for such selfishness. We were lucky enough to have a starboard balcony and, sailing North in particular, it was sheltered and sunny and we were able to enjoy a few hours there, suitably clad.

Entertainment.

This cruise was a little out of the ordinary in that there was a high proportion of sea days, on none of which was it at all attractive to go out on deck. In view of this, you might have thought that some effort might have been made to provide more/better daytime entertainment. There was the usual selection of quizzes, card games, dance and craft classes but nothing out of the ordinary. On the contrary, missing from previous cruises were things like cookery demos, wine tastings, port talks or even good guest speakers. For the duration of the cruise we had a Norwegian historian who also provided photography hints and a character actor who had allegedly appeared on Coronation Street, although one of our party who has rarely missed an episode in the last 30 years had never heard of him. Between them, they covered the “guest speaker” slot, each seemingly appearing at least once every day. Again, probably low-cost?

The Headliners dominated the evening entertainment, of course, and were their usual energetic selves. One show in particular had rave reviews but unfortunately we missed it in favour of the fiord sail away from Andalnes. There were a couple of unexceptional singers, but for us, the one star was Ollie Mulkeen, an accomplished entertainer, singer and highly skilled trumpeter. He gave two, completely different performances, one backed by the Aurora orchestra and one by Pulse, the resident band. Both were excellent.

The crew
This was our first cruise since tips have been included in the price but any concerns that we might have had that this would have any adverse effect on service were totally unfounded. The cabin service, restaurant waiters and the rest were as efficient, friendly and helpful as ever. Noticeable by their absence, though, were the officers. Having been used to seeing them around the ship, greeting everyone and chatting with those who wanted to, we saw not one. Maybe it was just us?

Overall impressions
There are usually highs and lows. For us the highs were our two DIY trips, by train and reindeer and the lows were the fall in the quality of the food and the lack of attractive daytime entertainment. The real downer, though, was that within two days of disembarking, all four of us had tested positive for Covid, despite all being fully vaccinated and having avoided it for three years. As I said at the beginning, no attempt was made by P&O to ensure that passengers boarding were virus-free, no mention was ever made of it on board and the only precaution was a good supply of hand gel for those who bothered to use it. Almost two weeks on, we are all still positive having suffered in varying degrees.
Has this put us off cruising? At this early stage I would have to say yes. I think we can accept that a cruise ship is exactly the sort of environment where germs and various viruses can flourish, especially when passengers are confined inside for long periods. We thought long and hard before accepting the risk this time, but unless P&O can prove that they are taking positive steps to try to prevent the spread of this highly contagious disease, we will be holidaying differently in future. Shame to end on such a negative but that might well be our abiding memory of our search (in vain) for the Northern Lights.

[paultheagle]

Thanks kaymar for your cruise review to I enjoyed reading that. I'm glad you sort of enjoyed it it but sorry that you have been out off future cruises because of covid. I hope you can enjoy the Northern Lights sometime in the future.

[kaymar]

Thanks kaymar for your cruise review to I enjoyed reading that. I'm glad you sort of enjoyed it it but sorry that you have been out off future cruises because of covid. I hope you can enjoy the Northern Lights sometime in the future.

Thanks, Paul, and welcome back, asuming that you are the same Palace supporter who disappeared about ten years ago, even if you have lost an "e". Glad you enjoyed my ramblings and never say never, I suppose. Right now, though, we'll be staying put for a while.

[Whynd1]

Thank you for your cruise review.
I also thought long and hard before booking on Iona a last December, my friend and I also went down with covid within days of being back home. Managed to stay clear of it until then. Such a shame.

Lindsey

[kaymar]

Thank you for your cruise review.
I also thought long and hard before booking on Iona a last December, my friend and I also went down with covid within days of being back home. Managed to stay clear of it until then. Such a shame.

Lindsey

Yes, it is a shame, Lindsey, we have always enjoyed our cruises, haven't we? I have just tested negative, so I've survived . My wife is two days behind me (blames me for passing it on!) and is still suffering. Maybe Wales for our next holiday?

[david63]

I did warn you that there was no guarantee of seeing "the lights"

[paultheagle]

Thanks kaymar for your cruise review to I enjoyed reading that. I'm glad you sort of enjoyed it it but sorry that you have been out off future cruises because of covid. I hope you can enjoy the Northern Lights sometime in the future.

Thanks, Paul, and welcome back, asuming that you are the same Palace supporter who disappeared about ten years ago, even if you have lost an "e". Glad you enjoyed my ramblings and never say never, I suppose. Right now, though, we'll be staying put for a while.

Hi kaymar.....yes it's me one of the same.

[Onelife]

Hi Kaymar, the one thing that stands out to me from your excellent cruise review is the bit about the unfinished wine bottles…it really says something about how far P&O standards have dropped when they no longer store unfinished bottles of wine. I haven’t been on a cruise in quite a while but should we in the future only to find people leaving the restaurant with half bottles of wine in hand I think it would be the last cruise we would ever do with P&O

It won’t be long before people shove wine glasses in their pockets and finish off the bottles on the stairwells.

[kaymar]

Yes, an odd one, Keith. We didn't ask why and maybe it was a one-off but one outcome was that we rarely left any. Just another in a longish list of little changes for the worse.

Keith

[kaymar]

Thanks kaymar for your cruise review to I enjoyed reading that. I'm glad you sort of enjoyed it it but sorry that you have been out off future cruises because of covid. I hope you can enjoy the Northern Lights sometime in the future.

Thanks, Paul, and welcome back, asuming that you are the same Palace supporter who disappeared about ten years ago, even if you have lost an "e". Glad you enjoyed my ramblings and never say never, I suppose. Right now, though, we'll be staying put for a while.

Hi kaymar.....yes it's me one of the same.

I see that you are still on the list in your original form, Paul, so there's two of you now! Good to have you both back.

[paultheagle]

Hi kaymar.....yes it's me one of the same.

I see that you are still on the list in your original form, Paul, so there's two of you now! Good to have you both back.

There's three of me actually, I was Bensham33 for a while. (Don't ask it's a long story,)

[Whynd1]

On Iona last December we wondered wondered from the restaurant with an u unfinished bottle of wine. Ended up in Anderson's and finished it there,none of the staff minded and usually provided clean glasses.

It does feel strange wondering around with a wine bottle but we see it more at Warners.

Lindsey

[david63]

There was no problem last year on Britannia with the saving of half drunk bottles of wine from one night to the next, but this was on club dining - perhaps the problem is with Freedom dining

[Onelife]

I would like to back track slightly on what I said in an earlier post…Lindsey could walk out of a restaurant with a bottle on her head and still add to the ambience of the place…just saying

[Ray B]

Re having to take an half finished bottle of wine with you when leaving the MDR, is this a left over from the covid precautions and now becoming the norm?
Or as may be the case, with covid still popping up, the chance of contamination is still why you look after your own bottle.

[Onelife]

Re having to take an half finished bottle of wine with you when leaving the MDR, is this a left over from the covid precautions and now becoming the norm?
Or as may be the case, with covid still popping up, the chance of contamination is still why you look after your own bottle.

That is a possibility Ray but the effectiveness of this measure would largely depend on how may hands had been on the bottle before reaching the table …I would have thought?

[cruisin_duo]

We read this review with interest. This is one of our bucket list cruises, and we were due to go in March 2020, which was of course cancelled. Booked again for 2021, and the cruise was cancelled again. Chose other types of holiday instead, but hopefully we will get there one day.

Great review, thank you.

[Whynd1]

Post by Onelife » 18 Apr 2023 09:30
I would like to back track slightly on what I said in an earlier post…Lindsey could walk out of a restaurant with a bottle on her head and still add to the ambience of the place…just saying :


Oh this made me laugh. My life is so full of stress at the moment, just had to agree to dad carers going in for an hour every morning instead of 30 minutes, he is 95 and very slow. His total monthly care bill is now £1900.
Mum still in her care home at 93 and in the last few months my husband has developed a possible heart valve problem and retina and cataract issues so no driving.

I have managed to book for Warners in July to meet up with my friend but have had to cancel 2 other holidays so I really would love to be able to walk out of Aurora's restaurant with a wine bottle even if it was perched on my head.!!!!

Looking forward to being able to cruise in 2024.

Lindsey

[Onelife]

Post by Onelife » 18 Apr 2023 09:30
I would like to back track slightly on what I said in an earlier post…Lindsey could walk out of a restaurant with a bottle on her head and still add to the ambience of the place…just saying :


Oh this made me laugh. My life is so full of stress at the moment, just had to agree to dad carers going in for an hour every morning instead of 30 minutes, he is 95 and very slow. His total monthly care bill is now £1900.
Mum still in her care home at 93 and in the last few months my husband has developed a possible heart valve problem and retina and cataract issues so no driving.

I have managed to book for Warners in July to meet up with my friend but have had to cancel 2 other holidays so I really would love to be able to walk out of Aurora's restaurant with a wine bottle even if it was perched on my head.!!!!

Looking forward to being able to cruise in 2024.

Lindsey

Hello Lindsey, I think the only thing we can do when the going gets tough is to somehow find a place for a laugh and a smile… from what I have just read about your Mom and Dad it sounds like you are entitled to find that space whether it be on here or walking out of Aurora with one on your head and if you can manage it, one from the next table under your jacket…I can supply tips on how to accomplish this nearer the time.

I would have suggested you try your hand at Warner’s but I’m reluctant to suggest that you do this as I know a few of our members holiday at Warner’s so it could get a little embarrassing without you having learnt my skills

Chin up and keep smiling

Keith

[Ray B]

I would like to back track slightly on what I said in an earlier post…Lindsey could walk out of a restaurant with a bottle on her head and still add to the ambience of the place…just saying

That reminds me of the calls to Antigua. As you entered the cruise port there use to be a Caribbean lady dancing to Reggae music with a pineapple balanced on her head. Sadly she hasn't been there (when we called) for the last few years.
Many cruisers will remember her.