Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

Reports about cruises on Aurora

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CaroleF
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Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#1

Post by CaroleF »

We had a great time! I was initially a little nervous as I was going to be using a scooter for the first time. (Looks as though a knee replacement will be happening at some point in the New Year.) As I scooted through the doors of the Mayflower Terminal I went very slowly and did manage, at that point not to run in to anyone. We had mini suite and a boarding time of 12.30 and as we only live about 20 minutes from the port all was very quick. We arrived about 12 noon. The staff first checked that my scooter was on their list - it was - and we were then directed up the slope to the lounge. We were then sent straight to a check in desk and then to wait in the section roped off for Caribbean level and above passengers plus Suite and Mini Suite passengers. This comprised more comfortable chairs and offers of tea or coffee - I didn't have coffee, too concerned I may have to go to the loo if I did. John had some and said it was good - more than can be said of the coffee on Aurora but more of that later.

It was probably about 20 minutes that we were directed to go to Security. I didn't have to get off my scooter for the security thing but was swiped over while I was seated. We were then directed to the Alexandria Restaurant for canapes and drinks. We thought the food was good, there was a vast selection of hot and cold canapes - the hot mini Cornish Pasties were delicious. Then there were a selection of dessert things. The drink flowed and the waiters kept coming round with bottles to top up glasses which I don't remember seeing before. There was an announcement in the Restaurant at about 1pm saying the Suites and Mini Suites were ready. We finished eating and then went to find our cabin. We had been in an Aurora Mini Suite before so knew what it was like. They are really lovely and very spacious.

When we arrived at the cabin all three of our cases were there which we thought was very good going. I'd packed everything on wire hangers so it didn't take long transferring things to the wardrobes. The muster drill was at 4pm I think and we had to go to Carmens which was 3 decks below so I was able to walk. My scooter folded up and went in one of the wardrobes. Oh yes I had fun going into and out of a lift. There must be an easy way to do it but if you go in forwards then it's difficult to see when you have to reverse out and if you go in backwards you have to make sure you have enough room to back in and then do it without running into anyone! It was a close run thing but John managed to guide me to ensure that I didn't go over anyone's toes. As Aurora is not a huge ship I was able to get around on the ship without the scooter and just use a walking stick - I felt about 90! And I'm not!

I won't go into all the detail of the cruise but will mention some aspects. The food in the Main Dining Room - we were in Alexandria - was excellent. The new menu was in place and there were certainly some things new to us. The Always Available things were still there. I had the Sirloin Steak on a few occasions and it was always served exactly as I asked and was very tender. One of the new things in the Dessert Menu was an Sundae. There were a variety of different flavours. I had a Caramel Nut one - served in a tall glass, not as huge as a Knickerbocker Glory - which had Caramel Nut ice cream, Caramel Sauce, Nuts and Whipped Cream! Delicious. There was a Strawberry one and a Lemon Cheesecake one. We went to the Caribbean lunch and were sat on the same table as the Hotel Manager and she said that it was amazing at how popular the Sundaes were proving to be.

We were on Club Dining on a table of 8 second sitting and met some very nice people and we all got on very well. The waiters were excellent and once they realised John had a liking for some ice cream with whichever dessert he chose it appeared every evening - the rest of the table soon caught on and several bowls of ice cream appeared! There was also Stilton with Port served each evening and was very popular.

We had breakfast in the Medina Restaurant every morning. I don't like the buffet restaurant and walking round the buffet with a stick wasn't what I wanted. We tended to ask for a table for 2 each morning as it meant I could rest my stick easily without tripping other people up. The Maitre 'd was very kind and tried to sit us near the entrance when he could. Breakfast was much as usual, the toast was crisp but not hot. My one big gripe with P&O is the coffee. P&O Coffee is disgusting - it can't be called coffee. Sometimes at breakfast it was better than others. It was the only time I had coffee, didn't have it for lunch or after dinner in the evening. There was a thread on Cruise Critic recently about the awful coffee on P&O but I don't suppose it will change. I don't drink tea very often and really enjoy coffee so had a few visits to the Costa outlet in Raffles. I have a Nespresso at home and I found if I ordered a Double Espresso with a jug of hot milk it came close to the coffee I like.

For lunch, things varied. We did go to the buffet on occasions - John likes it and if he was lateish back from an excursion then we would go up there. The layout since the refit is certainly better and some of the food is better. I still wasn't impressed with the cold offerings. They seem to have done away with Jacket Potatoes which is a pity. I was very strict with myself and didn't opt for the chips with my salad! The desserts tend to still be of the creamy variety so didn't often have one of those.
At tea time John often went up to the buffet and returned with a couple of sandwiches and a small cake - as we didn't eat until 8.30 this little treat was welcome.

Christmas: When we boarded there were no Christmas Decorations in evidence. On the second day things started to appear. A crew had boarded in Southampton apparently to do all the Christmas Decorations. There were lovely trees, mostly decorated with gold and silver, and occasionally some red. There were garlands all over the staircases of the atrium, twinkling with white lights. It all looked very lovely and festive. There were trees in the restaurants and decorations on the windows. I think all the decorations put everyone in a very festive, friendly mood.

Entertainment: I can't say an awful lot about this as we only went to two shows. We saw the two girl violinists, Elektra. We had seen them before and they are very good. We also went to what I think is a new Headliners show, Fantasy - A musical ghost story. This was a story about a young couple who inherited an old disused warehouse and were considering selling it for development. Then some dancers appeared and it became apparent that they were ghosts who only appeared at night and did their dancing. The music was 70s/80s things like YMCA, not my sort of music but they performed it well.

John went and saw a classical pianist one evening, before dinner and thought he was excellent. The talks on the tour were based around mostly military/naval happenings which didn't have general appeal to all passengers but that's how it goes. We went to the Syndicate Quiz one evening, six of us from our table. We didn't win but we didn't disgrace ourselves either. Does anyone know what the crime of Embracery is? No, none of us did either, nor did any other table, nor did my daughter who is a Criminal Barrister! It's the crime of trying to influence a jury.

One thing we did notice was how good the service in general was and in particular the bars. In the past I have been trying to order a coffee and had to wait quite a time. This time, particularly in Raffles, there were several waiters who were very efficient. When walking along the corridors every steward we passed said Good Morning, or afternoon or whatever. I found when walking round the ship using my stick people were very helpful. We went to the Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party, the Caribbean Lunch and the Peninsular Cocktail Party. The Captain - Andrew Hall - is certainly a people person, very friendly and seen about the ship chatting to passengers. Christopher Edgington was aboard too but didn't say anything at the Welcome Aboard Party. The Caribbean Lunch was excellent with lovely food and drink was plentiful. At the Peninsular Party canapes were in evidence and the Captain told us about the people on board who had done the most cruises - 68!

Ports: We stopped at Hamburg, Copenhagen, Amsterdam overnight, Oslo and Zeebrugge. I went ashore at Hamburg, probably not the best place to use my scooter for the first time ashore. We caught the Shuttle Bus into the city. Unfortunately there was a G8 ministers talk on so some roads were blocked off and there were lots of police around. So we weren't dropped as near to the Christmas Market as we could have been. In order to get to the nearest Christmas Market we had to cross at least 3 wide, main roads and I found this very scary on my scooter. It was also freezing cold - my knees got very cold! We went round the Christmas Market which was lovely, very festive. After that I opted to go back to the ship. John did think of going back ashore after lunch but the weather started to close in and it got very foggy so he decided not to!

My knee was getting very painful and in the end I decided that I wouldn't go ashore, particularly as the weather tended to be a bit foggy, in some cases very foggy. It was very pleasant being on the ship - no stairs to worry about, no cooking, shopping to think about. John went on several tours and enjoyed them all - including the Ice Bar in Oslo.

Disembarkation went very smoothly. Although I hadn't asked for assistance we were given a time of 8.30 to disembark and had to go to Vanderbilts to wait. One thing that has changed since we were on board is that although passengers are asked to be out of their cabin by 8am it now says that we can leave our hand luggage on the settee or chair after 8am while we have breakfast and then return to collect them before going to whichever place we have been instructed to go to wait for disembarking. This all seemed to work very well. Announcements for disembarking are only made in each individual lounge telling people they are free to disembark. We were off early and it was all very orderly. As we live so near we were home by about 9.30am!

So overall we had a lovely cruise, yes my knee condition made things more difficult for me but I was still able to enjoy it. Aurora is probably our favourite ship - along with Adonia. We are on Ventura in January - the Christmas Markets Cruise was an extra for me to celebrate my birthday - and I think I'll have to use my scooter on board as the distances are so much greater. We haven't been on Ventura before but we have had several cruises on Azura so know more or less what the layout is like. Hopefully we will be able to book another cruise on Adonia once my knee has been sorted but this Aurora cruise was a lovely beginning to Christmas.

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GillD46
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Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales

Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#2

Post by GillD46 »

I am so glad taking your scooter worked for you, and will continue to do so until after surgery. It sounds as though you enjoyed your cruise and I agree that a pre Christmas trip can be very enjoyable indeed.

Thanks for sharing your experience.
Gill

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Jan Rosser
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Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#3

Post by Jan Rosser »

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us - glad to hear you managed not to run over too many feet :lol: I do like Aurora - I've booked to go on her in the summer with my family. Funnily enough it's my son's favourite ship - we are going to the Med but taking in Venice and Croatia which he hasn't visited before.
Janis

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Kenmo1
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Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#4

Post by Kenmo1 »

CaroleF wrote:
We haven't been on Ventura before but we have had several cruises on Azura so know more or less what the layout is like. Hopefully we will be able to book another cruise on Adonia once my knee has been sorted but this Aurora cruise was a lovely beginning to Christmas.
Thanks for the interesting report, Carole and I'm glad things went well with the scooter.

We have just got off Ventura's Festive Cruise to the Canary Islands and we enjoyed it more than last year's Christmas Cruise on Oceana. Admittedly the weather this time was much calmer but we were also very impressed with the food (lamb shank the first night, beef wellington the next evening), the service and the Christmas decorations which started being put up after our visit to Madeira where they obviously took on a group of 'holiday decorators' and they did a superb job. Like you, I enjoyed quite a few sundaes as an alternative dessert.

I'm sure you will enjoy Ventura.

Maureen
Last edited by Kenmo1 on 19 Dec 2016, 12:39, edited 1 time in total.

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Manoverboard
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Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#5

Post by Manoverboard »

Everybody should do a Christmas Markets cruise ... thanks for sharing yours :thumbup:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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qbman1
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Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#6

Post by qbman1 »

Manoverboard wrote:
Everybody should do a Christmas Markets cruise ... thanks for sharing yours :thumbup:
Not sure that is entirely correct. What if you are not that keen on Christmas and even less keen on markets ?

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Manoverboard
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Re: Aurora Report of Christmas Markets Cruise

#7

Post by Manoverboard »

qbman1 wrote:
Manoverboard wrote:
Everybody should do a Christmas Markets cruise ... thanks for sharing yours :thumbup:
Not sure that is entirely correct. What if you are not that keen on Christmas and even less keen on markets ?
I share that view to an extent but the ' German Market ' experience will add a new dimension to an old chestnut :lol:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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