Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

Reports about cruises on Aurora
User avatar

Topic author
melsea
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 576
Joined: February 2013

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#1

Post by melsea »

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

Day 102 Ponta Delgado. 8am - 5.30pm.
Last port of our cruise.
19th April Evening casual

Left at 11.30
Walked along the front going left.
Found a square where there was free wifi of good strength.
Went into a church that had just finished their Sunday service, I was the last one to leave, just as well the man closing up had seen me as he waited for me so I did not get locked in, phew.
In the square where this church was there was a bandstand. I watched a young boy & his Mum or at I think that's who it was because she was taking photos of him while he was feeding the birds, he seem to know to run and then throw the seeds in the air and the birds followed him in flight. It would for good photos although not an easy thing to capture.
Walked back towards ship where I went into a building that was a small shopping centre, there were many members of staff as well as passengers getting connected. I could not work out how they were getting connected so I asked one of the staff to tell me, he seem to know which username to use and the password??. It wasn't until I was leaving the building through a different exit that I found out how they knew. On a glass panelled shop front it had all the information for all to see, I came through a different entrance that did not have this information, a bit silly, someone didn't think of that clearly. A couple of doors down there was a supermarket which another passenger had told me about and in fact when I entered I recognised it as I have been in there before. I was naughty and bought more drinks, crisps & chocolate!!
Dinner at the Beach House our final visit to this marvellous restaurant, its been a busy restaurant all through the cruise.


Day 103. At sea. 1 of 3 homeward bound, boo hoo.
20th April Black Tie, the last one of this cruise.

We got up at just after 9am. We went to the UK face to face immigration inspection which was done very quickly indeed. We then went to the Glass House for our breakfast. Bill didn't stay afterwards as he was still very tired from having had not a lot of sleep last night.
I picked up my competition photos but the one I got runner up with was not in there, apparently they will send it up later.
At 11.15 I went to the talk being given by Terry Brown of which I was a few minutes late. I was late as I had gone to reception to do the future cruise deposit & to put our questionnaire in for our night at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
After the talk I went back to the cabin to continue with the packing which I started a couple of days ago but now this is the main event, Bill had asked our steward to get our cases so we can pack tomorrow.
In the evening before we went to dinner we had a farewell party to go to. At first I was thinking of going to the one in the Crows Nest but I decided at the last minute to go Carmens instead. There were a lot of people there and we found some seats one row up from the front, there were two tub chairs in front of us too. We managed to get drinks quickly and a few minutes later people know Val & Bill turned up and they joined us. It was actually a very little neat meet and we both had good chats with whom we were speaking to, me to Bill, my Bill to Val. Apparently Val is a Magistrate. The Bill I was talking to was telling me he is much older that Val, he mentioned this as I said my Bill was older than me and he commented to Bill the benefits of having younger wives, it raised a chuckle.
It wasn't long before the Captain got up and gave a speech about our farewells and other tit bits of news and numbers of how many of us there were 1808 of which 749 had done the full round trip. There are too some 36 nationalities travelling. With his speech over he was heading to the Crows Nest to do the same thing. We continued our conversations some more and it was just after 8.35 when we started to make our way to dinner. On our way out we saw Marjorie who beckoned us over and ask if we drank G&T, Bill said I did, they gave us a couple of neat Gins in two glasses and Bill took both of them. When we got to the restaurant a table was available, so off we went, it was a good table. We had a nice meal and we both had the Hot oak Salmon which we have had before sometime ago and wanted to have it again, it didn't disappoint. After dinner I went to the show that was featuring the Headliners Theatre Company, the product was We'll Meet Again and not the one they had advertised in the daily Horizon, Boogie Nights. I would not normally have gone to see this show as its not my favourite and its not their best. Well knock me down with a feather, it's an updated version of what we have seen before, although the songs were the same but the costumes were different, looking fresh and the lighting and stage area was better. All around the theatre there were Union Jacks in the air vents at the back of the seats. It became apparent as to why they were there. The finale was getting us to stand up and sing Land of Hope & Glory which was sung with mighty gusto. It was actually a good fitting end to the show.

Day 104. At sea. 2 of 3 ever nearing our final destination.
21st April Smart, Jacket required

I woke up at 7am and Bill was still upstairs in the buffet having left the cabin sometime during the night due to being unable to sleep.
I sorted out the various pieces of paper work that adorned our wall in the cabin and it's now looking rather empty. Once done I had a shower and went in search of Bill.
At around 8.30 I went up to the Horizon Buffet to find Bill. It took a bit longer to find him as he wasn't sat where he usually goes which I don't blame him as the temperature in the buffet is somewhat colder due to the various openings of automatic doors bringing in the cold air that has enveloped us. Once I found him we went back to the cabin. Bill had a shower, it was more for getting himself warm as he was freezing from having sat up in the horizon for a few hours. We then went to the Glass House for a brief breakfast as Bill had already had something to eat up in the Buffet. So he had a plain Omelette & I had a fruit platter with our usual Cranberry Juice no ice and cups of tea. We were this morning in a completely different place to where we normally sit, in fact we have never sat there before, we were round the corner in front of the wall that has a painting. The table had a partial curve seat. From here we can see all the way down the restaurant to where the Captains Lounge is. When we sat down we had the usual attention of having our Cranberry Juice arriving along with the man who pours the tea and brings our own small jug of milk. It wasn't long before we were to have a refill of tea. The same waiter who brought us our tea earlier, poured more tea and then was about to pour milk into our cups, fortunately we stopped him, he realised himself what he was about to do and chuckled and I said its because we are at the wrong table and we are not normally at the one we are sat at, at this moment, it was quite funny. The restaurant soon emptied of passengers and the table next to us had Maureen and Mike, Maureen I know from the art classes. Anyway they left before us even though they sat down after us, she stopped by and we spoke briefly before they went on their way. When we were due to leave we too stopped by tables, the first was where June was sat and she asked why was we sat there, we said all the other tables were being sat in. Shuffled along and we stopped by Val & Bill's table, the very nice couple we chatted with at the farewell do.
Sometime during the day I bumped into Brian & Lorraine and chatted for a while. They told me something very interesting. It seems the guy who had won the final Photography Advanced competition was feeling bad for having won as I had apparently encouraged him to enter, he going to before I stepped in.

Day 105. At sea. English Channel. Our last day before we get off tomorrow!
22nd April

A sunny day but very cold, the sea state is actually quite rough, well very wobbly to say the least.
Breakfast, Glass House,
Guest Talk, Terry Brown Q&A,
Coffee with Jan, very nice chat, she was the lady I met on the Skywalk tour in Costa Rica.
Lunch at 1pm Medina.
In cabin continuing Packing,
4.15 Bingo, did not win but one person did win the £800
Last meal in Medina, seat number 94 by the window, it was not quite dark when we sat down.
Went to a show in Carmens, saw a lady singing Opera. Waited for the second act but when he came on he wasn't very good so left there. Bumped into Marjorie & Jim and said our good byes.
Back to cabin, last bits into cases then they were put outside.

Day 106. Back home.

We got up early and we had breakfast up in the Horizon as this was closer to our cabin and quite frankly I didn't want to get up that early to go to the Medina.
Having got ourselves all ready we headed to our embarkation location of which I can no longer remember where that was. Suffice to say everywhere was busy and when they said when we can now leave there was to say the least a bit of a jam. It was not helped when the mobile assistants were trying to wheel through those in wheel chairs. Why doesn't P&O make it so difficult for themselves & for their paying passengers. They should do one of two things either take wheelchair users off first and stop anyone gathering in these areas. Much nicer for those passengers.Or take them to the lower deck where they can get off at ground level and not have to in the limited area space of where the lift is that only holds at maximum of two wheelchairs. It must be very frustrating for them. The ground gangway was being used for guest & staff to use. Is it such a chore for P&O to use it for the passengers, it's not as if this would take up a lot of time.
After what seemed ages we finally got off the ship and towards the area of our luggage. We had purchased last year a new set of luggage which are a light blue and have four wheels, so us, finding our luggage wasn't going to be as difficult as it has in the past. We found them all with 10 minutes. headed out to get our taxi ride. We rang through before we got of and again when we got outside. At the Queen Elizabeth Terminal it is not the best laid out outside space, so people who were picking passengers up had to wait further outside the terminal until they were told when to come in. We didn't have to wait very long and we were soon going back to the hotel to where our car has sat since Jan 8th. Our car started straight away. Two passengers who also had their car there was not so lucky, we had jump leads so we were able to help them get on their way. In just under two hours we were home. The sun was shining which made our journey a lot nicer. Home was finally the end of our long journey that started 106 days ago and so begun the journey of getting used to being home and returning to some kind of normality and reality which for us was putting on the kettle to make tea, go into the garden and start to open the post that was collected while we were away. I sorted them out for both of us into piles, mine, his, both and junk.
Welcome Home to us..

I hope you have managed to stayed the course reading my ramblings and sorry it took so long.
Next cruise in November doing the Canaries..

User avatar

oldbluefox
Ex Team Member
Posts: 11305
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cumbria

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#2

Post by oldbluefox »

Thanks melsea for sharing your reviews.

User avatar

Dancing Queen
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3819
Joined: January 2013
Location: Derbyshire

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#3

Post by Dancing Queen »

Yes thanks from me too Melsea, do you think you will do another worldie or are you all cruised out for a while ( or at least until November )
Jo


Whynd1
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1832
Joined: February 2013
Location: Gower, Swansea

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#4

Post by Whynd1 »

Many thanks for your reports, they were very enjoyable.


rita17
Third Officer
Third Officer
Posts: 117
Joined: January 2013

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#5

Post by rita17 »

Thank you for your reports, have really enjoyed them and was always looking for the next episode. I think you're so brave with what you do on your own.
Rita

User avatar

Meg 50
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 2266
Joined: January 2013
Location: sarf London

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#6

Post by Meg 50 »

ooooh - is that the end? Shame

I looked forward to each episode!
Meg
x

User avatar

emjay45
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1192
Joined: April 2013
Location: Ellan Vannin

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#7

Post by emjay45 »

Thank you melsea, I feel as if I've enjoyed the cruise twice. :thumbup:


cruisin_duo
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 399
Joined: August 2013

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#8

Post by cruisin_duo »

Thank you once again for the reports - enjoyed reading them.

User avatar

Belle53
Cadet
Cadet
Posts: 84
Joined: May 2013

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#9

Post by Belle53 »

I've loved reading your reports, thank you for taking the time and for giving such a good insight into a world cruise.


Jacknian
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 352
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cambridgeshire

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#10

Post by Jacknian »

Thanks for your reports I've really enjoyed reading about your adventures. Makes me want to do a world cruise too, - What an amazing thing to do, have to wait till we're retired though.

User avatar

Gill W
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 4897
Joined: January 2013
Location: Kent

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#11

Post by Gill W »

Thank you Melsea for your epic reports.

It must be truly amazing to see so much of the world - all those sights and experiences packed into 106 days, and then to come home and reflect on it all.

When you go away for that length of time, do you have someone to come in from time to time and check the house is ok, and what do you do about house insurance?

We are away for 35 nights starting next February, and our house insurance this year allows for the house to be unoccupied for up to 60 days, but I haven't seen policies available for a longer unoccupied period. My friend will be checking the house each week, so that gives me peace of mind about going away for so long.

We probably won't do a whole world cruise, but we may well do a 'leg' if we get on alright for 35 nights away, so I'm interested in the practicalities about leaving the house for so long
Gill

User avatar

Topic author
melsea
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 576
Joined: February 2013

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#12

Post by melsea »

Thank you everyone for your nice words. I never know how my reports will be received. I decided to do something different this time by doing a day to day report as I know lots of people do not get the chance to do this wonderful type of trip. Nor are there those who could not want to be away for so long. I am lucky I can do so and I love it, for me it is a 'holiday' and everything is a wonderful experience be it I have done it before but everyone of our cruises long and short are great to do. So being cruised out is not in the vocabulary. We are always excited about going on a cruise, the whole package for us is the holiday, including the preparations for it, although I don't relish the moments when Visas are needed, especially the awkward ones, China and India, fortunately didn't need those this time round, I get the joy of doing those, I have the patients for it and in a macabre way I enjoy doing it.
Being away does require preparations and thank goodness for the internet, much of what needs doing can be done online. Checking that all direct debits are in place and setting up standing orders for other things. Check that you do not have any payments that are in place that shouldn't be, i.e subscriptions that sometime only come out yearly or even every 3 years! This happened to me twice. Both times I had the red letter saying debt will be referred to someone else. Fortunately on both these occasions it didn't get too painful to deal with and are no longer in place. Unsubscribe to all emails and make note of which ones you may want to renew on your return.
Write down and check wardrobe of want you may want to take with you, this would mainly be for the ladies, if you are anything like me you like your outfits to be kitted out with the right shoes, handbags & jewellery. Also to see if what you had worn on your last cruise is something you like to wear still or that it even fits. When we went on a couple of short cruises last year I did an experiment of making a note of how much of my toiletries did I use. I have in the past taken too much. With this knowledge I did not bring back what I hadn't used, which in the past was too much.
On this world cruise I wrote down in my diary app called 'Day One', what I had worn on each of the days dress codes, this was useful as it tells me what I am not wearing and what items I was wearing a lot. My taste and moods change as time goes on as do trends of what I am buying and wearing. So when I return home I have a wardrobe cull. Everyone has things they no longer wear anymore. I either send it to charity shops or sell on ebay.
Once I have put everything in place I check again & again, sometimes things change without notice.
We had a friend staying at our place this time round but usually a family member would go in and put all our post into a a box.
And so onto the preparation for the next cruise which for us is in November and we also have a Christmas /New Year cruise with a difference to look forward to as well.

Once again I like to thank everyone who took the time to read my reports and that you enjoyed them..

User avatar

Suekersh
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1562
Joined: January 2013
Location: Lancashire

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#13

Post by Suekersh »

Thanks Melsea. I have just finished reading about your experiences. We are getting excited about the new World Cruise brochure due to be released as we are hoping to book either the full world or segments of depending on the itinerary.


Patricia
Able Seaman
Able Seaman
Posts: 3
Joined: October 2015

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#14

Post by Patricia »

Hi Melsea, I have enjoyed reading some of your posts and hope that you can help me with some useful information that I can't find on my cruise personaliser. My daughter and I have booked for the World Cruise on Aurora leaving on 2nd Jan. 2016. We have an inside cabin A129. Is the launderette free to use and is there an ironing board and iron. Are toiletries provided in the cabin for the duration of the cruise or must we bring our own shampoo body wash hand cream etc. Are their enough hangers or do we need to bring extra. I would be so grateful if you can answer these questions and for any other tips or info you think I should know. Many thanks Patricia.


Quizzical Bob
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
Posts: 3951
Joined: January 2013

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#15

Post by Quizzical Bob »

Patricia wrote:
Hi Melsea, I have enjoyed reading some of your posts and hope that you can help me with some useful information that I can't find on my cruise personaliser. My daughter and I have booked for the World Cruise on Aurora leaving on 2nd Jan. 2016. We have an inside cabin A129. Is the launderette free to use and is there an ironing board and iron. Are toiletries provided in the cabin for the duration of the cruise or must we bring our own shampoo body wash hand cream etc. Are their enough hangers or do we need to bring extra. I would be so grateful if you can answer these questions and for any other tips or info you think I should know. Many thanks Patricia.
Hi Patricia, I've not done a full world cruise but the same applies to any that are longer than a couple of weeks. The laundrettes are free but you have to provide your own washing powder which, I believe, is sold in the shop. There are ironing boards and irons and I am told that such places are a hotbed of intrigue and essential if you wish to keep up with the latest gossip. Extra hangers will be provide if you ask your steward, as are extra toiletries when required.

Relax and have a great time :)

User avatar

Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#16

Post by Manoverboard »

TIP 1 ...

Some of the World Cruise excursions are very popular and will sell out by the time you get on board so book any that are ' Must Do ' asap. This is achieved via Cruise Personaliser, an up front payment is however required. :thumbup:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being


Patricia
Able Seaman
Able Seaman
Posts: 3
Joined: October 2015

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#17

Post by Patricia »

Thanks so much for that. We have booked most of our trips (20 so far). Haven't done anything for Shanghai or Singapore thought perhaps we can use the hop on hop off buses for those places. Has anyone does this and are they good or is it better to book organised trips? Patricia

User avatar

Manoverboard
Ex Team Member
Posts: 13014
Joined: January 2013
Location: Dorset

Re: Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 30 The End...

#18

Post by Manoverboard »

No idea about the HoHo option but we enjoyed P&O's 8 hour ' Singapore Heritage ' excursion.

http://www.pocruises.com/cruise-destina ... ia-orient/

Scroll down, click the red dot for Singapore and then select ' view excursions ' / scroll down etc.
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

Return to “Aurora Cruise Reports”