Selbourne

Yes, it certainly wound me up and I know that I felt exactly like that when a cabin steward said it to me once. Hopefully our current steward won’t feel the need to say it. He will be getting 10/10 anyway as he’s been brilliant. There will never be a time, especially on a cruise of this length, where all acts are worthy of 10/10 and I shall be making the point in the comments sections that the entertainment scores are likely to be artificially inflated for this cruise as a result of the entertainment managers request. Personally, I will take great pains to score everything completely honestly, including each of the entertainment acts that we’ve seen. One or two will get 10/10 on their own merits. A number, including the Headliners, will also get very high scores. However, one or two acts were really poor and that has to be fed back honestly if the feedback is to be at all meaningful. One advantage of having to use the lift all the time is that after each show we have ‘travelled’ with a bunch of people all giving an immediate post show assessment, and I know that almost all of the views that I have expressed have been shared by others. Two comments that stick in my mind were during a Pulse performance when we left early as it was so bad, and a woman got in the lift with us and said “I love that song and she’s absolutely murdering it”. Also last night there was still lots of discussion around the ship about how good the talent show had been and most agreed that it had been better than some of the professional acts we’d seen!

I’ve just notice that auto correct has attributed ‘The writings on the wall’ song to ‘Samantha’ Smith when it’s of course ‘Sam’ Smith (unless he’s going by the name Samantha at present) 🙄😂

Day 60 - Saturday 2nd March - Sea Day I’m almost frightened to say this, but my sore throat has virtually gone. I still have a bit of a tickle from time to time, but the antibiotics that G Mighty of Antigua gave me have hopefully done the trick. I just hope that I won’t get re-infected by all the people still coughing vigorously on this ship! We were in good time for our usual light breakfast in the MDR (I can still count on one hand the number of cooked breakfasts I’ve had in 60 days) and then after photographing the MDR menus and picking up our Britain Yesterday paper (which really was very much yesterdays news - or even the day before yesterday) we went to the theatre. Paul Tickler’s crime talk today was called ‘The Corner Shop Killings’. Like many people, we are really enjoying his talks. We then killed time in the cabin reading and catching up on emails, with family, the news etc. The sea state hasn’t yet worsened, as I’d feared it would. It’s hovering between force 4 and 5, which is nothing, but there is definite movement which we haven’t tended to notice on Aurora below force 6 or 7 previously. Lunch in the MDR was another very mixed bag. I had a sushi starter that was excellent and I really enjoyed it. For the main course we both had ‘steamed cod fillet with carrot and peas and lemon parsley sauce’. Well the cod may well have been steamed at one stage, but it had then sat under a heat lamp as it was bone dry, so much so that the edges were crispy. I don’t know what it is about sauces on this ship, but they can’t even make a lemon sauce that tastes of lemon. I’ve heard a number of passengers liken the MDR meals to school dinners, which I’ve felt has been too extreme, but this meal (in both appearance and taste) would not have been out of place in a mediocre works canteen. Oh well, it was Rhubarb and ginger crumble for dessert and I’ve had those before and they are good, especially if you avoid the lumpy and flavourless custard and opt for ice cream, which is what we both did. The first problem was that they had run out of vanilla ice cream. That seemed odd, but the alternative was rum and raisin which is my favourite, so no issue there. Anyway, we could not believe what we were presented with. 2 crumbles without any crumble! Well, to be 100% precise, about a teaspoon full of crumble had been sprinkled over the top but had sunk into the fruit. So it was basically hot fruit compote. I never usually do this, and probably have only done so less than a handful of times in many hundreds of meals in ships MDRs, but I sent it back. Sadly there were no crumbles left with crumble, so I just had the ice cream. At 3pm there was a Crew Talent Show in the theatre. These afternoon crew shows have been very enjoyable, so we happily went. It was a full house with people standing. At the start of the show the entertainment manager came on to the stage and I have to say that I really disagreed with something he said. He started with the usual bit about bigging up the staff and stressing that this wasn’t their day job and they were away from home for long periods, all of which is true and absolutely fine. He then asked that when we get a feedback survey for the cruise, please would we all score the entertainment performances 10 out of 10. He was deadly serious, it wasn’t a tongue in cheek comment, and he repeated the request again. I know that many of us will have worked in environments where customer feedback is critical, but such feedback is only ever relevant when people answer honestly. You should never coerce or pressure people, or make them feel as though they are letting people down unless you give the top scores. In one fell swoop, this chap has now rendered all the feedback on the shows irrelevant. If everyone does as he says then the acts that genuinely were 10/10 won’t stand out and, more importantly, the poor ones will keep coming back. It really smacked of desperation and I wondered if he’s under some sort of pressure. Many of us have had cabin stewards who tell us that unless we score them at least 9/10 they will get into trouble. I for one will always be 100% honest with my feedback and just as I will happily give 10/10 for those acts that genuinely deserve it, I also have no qualms about scoring 1/10 for a really bad act (in truth, none have been that bad, but some would be 5 or less, whereas others have been comfortably 8 or above). Now that rant is over I shall turn to the crew talent show itself and, as always, give my unbiased and independent assessment of it. I have to say that it was brilliant! It started with an Indian waiter singing a song, mostly in his mother tongue but with some lines in English, that was called ‘You are my Soniya’. In truth, the guy didn’t have a good singing voice, but 10/10 for effort and what made it enjoyable was his Michael Jackson style dance routine that accompanied the song. I’m not sure that he meant it to be, but it was really funny. At this point I suspect that most people were thinking the same as me. This is going to be a bit like the auditions in Britain’s Got Talent where most are ropey at best, but amusing as a result. How wrong I was. Next up was a young Filipino waiter who sang ‘My Way’. He was brilliant and got a standing ovation. Thinking that we must have seen the best, next up was another young Filipino waiter who sang ‘The Writings on the Wall by Samantha Smith’. Now that’s a damned hard song to sing, as it requires an enormous vocal range. Well to continue the BGT analogy, this was a Susan Boyle moment. He was even better than the previous guy. He absolutely smashed it. What a talent. Next up a duet by 2 Filipino staff of Cruisin, by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. I felt quite sorry for them having to follow the previous 2 guys, but they did really well, as did Dave, the art director, who sang two songs whilst playing the guitar. Finally, we had a beautiful light dance routine (in the dark to music whilst spinning coloured lights) by the young Finnish finance manager who dedicated it as a tribute to her Dad who had died a few years ago whilst she was at sea. In conclusion, I enjoyed that show more than several of the professional acts and I don’t need to be told by the entertainment manager how to score it. It was a clear 10/10 on its own merits. I had noticed in Horizon that the Beach House tonight was an Italian menu. I have a vague recollection that someone had mentioned this on another thread re another ship, but I’ve never come across it before and it hadn’t been advertised. Anyway, it was sold out. When we were having lunch, the Sindhu manager had come over to us to say hello and I asked him about it. He said he would try to sort us out with a reservation, which was kind of him. I hadn’t heard anything by 4pm so decided to pop up to the Beach House and enquire. Luckily the waitress who was there setting up for tonight kindly gave me a reservation. My wife didn’t fancy a cuppa this afternoon but I did, so I flew solo to Raffles. The place was rammed with people playing games. As discussed before, I think that’s fair enough if they are buying drinks as well, but they weren’t. I do think it’s a bit selfish occupying a table in the coffee shop for ages just playing games when customers are looking for tables in order to consume drinks, especially when there is a perfectly good games room 20 yards away. Anyway, I managed to get a table right over by Sindhu. Dinner was in the Beach House with the Italian menu. We were really glad that we did this, especially as it was unexpected. We both had garlic prawns to start which were excellent. Real whoppers. For mains my wife had the chicken wrapped in Parma ham (which she enjoyed) and I had the lasagne, which was quite different from the MDR lasagne but very enjoyable. The weak point (as is always the case in the Beach House) was dessert. We both had something different and neither was good. None the less a very enjoyable (and different) experience from the usual offerings in the Beach House. To end the day we went to Maurice Grumbleweed’s final performance. My wife wasn’t keen but came as she wasn’t tired. In the first couple of minutes of his show he tripped on something and fell over flat on his back. The stage manager and technician rushed on to the stage to help him up and, as the true professional that he is, he handled it brilliantly, made light of it and referenced it in a few gags later. He’s no spring chicken at 75, but he looks in very good shape so hopefully he didn’t injure himself at all. His show was like his first one. Clips of songs interspersed with one liners, most of which were pretty funny (he laughs at them a lot as well 😂). I think his act would struggle on one of the newer ships with much younger audiences, but with the average age on Aurora being about the same as him he was ideal for this cruise. Tomorrow is our last sea day before the Azores.

In the (good?) old days, when launch prices were never bettered, I just used to book at launch and then pretty much forget about it. From time to time I might take a glance and sometimes prices were way more than we’d paid (sometimes double the price or more) and other times fairly close but, as I say, never lower. Now that world is no more, I’ll admit to being quite sad in that I make a long list of potential cruises that might be of interest and note down the net price (cruise fare minus OBC) at launch and then every few months, especially if there’s a new promotion, check the prices again. I do this for both P&O and Cunard. Thats how I know that OBC is often a tool used to balance a select fare that can vary enormously. I can also confirm that I have seen plenty of times when the Select price, minus the OBC, has worked out the same as (and, believe it or not, very occasionally less than) the Saver fare. I’ve always booked Select as cabin choice is critical, but I’ve learned over the last year that the time to grab a bargain is around a week after balance due date, when Late Savers kick in. I think it was probably because we wanted an accessible balcony cabin, but we were even told during the booking process (but before confirming the booking) which specific cabin we were getting, which took the usual Saver risk away (other than dining choice, but we ended up with our first choice anyway). Rather than worry too much about the fluctuations, nowadays I tend to set a maximum price that I’ll pay per night and if I can achieve that I’m happy to book, in the knowledge that even if the price drops it won’t be by very much.

Absolutely not. They are banned 😂

Hmm. Now that’s a difficult one. Possibly a toss up between beans on toast with marmite on the toast (could probably get that on here but the toast is rubbish and the beans won’t be Heinz 😂), and the curries that I make, all of which I enjoy far more than anything they serve up in Sindhu 😂

As others have said, it isn’t a gift. When you get OBC you have usually paid more for the cruise in order to get your ‘free’ OBC. It’s mostly a marketing ploy to make people think they are getting a bargain when often they are not. To take a made up (but fairly accurate) example; Cruise fare £2,000 pp with no OBC Next promotion £250 OBC but price has gone up to £2,250 Next promotion Double OBC, now £500, but price is now £2,500 Next promotion - Price drop - Cruise reduced by £500 to £2,000, but no OBC As you can see, the ‘net’ cost (cruise cost minus OBC) is the same in all examples! Now, of course, net prices don’t remain the same, but this is usually more to do with supply and demand and time before sailing, rather than OBC deals but, as you have worked out, if you get loyalty discount, it’s better to get a cheaper cruise price with no (or low) OBC. Then, of course, there’s the whole issue of Select (with OBC) versus Saver (without). We are on a 65 night cruise at present. I’ve overheard a number of obviously Select passengers talking about having over £1,000 OBC. We didn’t get any ‘free’ OBC (other than shareholder benefit) but we saved over £10k by booking a Saver fare, plus we’ve had 10% discount on all our on board spend. Doesn’t take more than a second to work out which is the better deal!

Certainly, but be aware that they can’t make pastry topped pies. You get a disc of balsa wood. The potato topped ones are usually good though 😂

Today’s MDR menus

Day 59 - Friday 1st March - Sea Day Having had a poor nights sleep the previous night, I was relieved not to have had a repeat last night. My throat was a lot better, but I’ve learned to manage my expectations as just when I think I’m over the worst it comes back as bad as ever! The clocks had changed, so we had a bit of rush with breakfast, partly because last entry is 0930 but also because we wanted to attend Paul Stickler’s 1000 theatre talk - The Telephone Call Conspiracy. Another excellent and very interesting true crime talk. Two things we have noticed with the theatre over the past few days. Having been nice and cool in there for the whole duration of the cruise, over the last few days it’s seemed far less so. The seat back vents are still working but it’s now starting to feel a bit stuffy. Secondly, the level of coughing amongst the audience has really picked up. It’s like a cough chorus, or a co-cough-eny (read that aloud if you don’t get it) 😂. The weather has now changed. There has been rain, wind and lower temperatures (still 22 degrees though). Most importantly, in spite of the Captains prediction that we would have calm seas all the way to the Azores, we now have noticeable movement. Not enough to make you feel bad, but if it’s like this only half way to the Azore’s it will probably get worse. In our cabin there’s a very regular ‘wobble’ where the ship makes rapid left/right movements in less than a second. I’ve never understood the physics of how something so huge can wobble so rapidly 😂 Before and after lunch we relaxed in our cabin. Lunch was in the MDR. I had lasagne and remembered that I’d had it at lunch before and enjoyed it, even though the one that my wife had been given a few nights back for dinner had been poor. I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed it. We almost forgot Ben Kearsley’s second guitar performance in the Playhouse at 5pm but made it in good time, unlike the couple who arrived late, sat next to me and the woman then proceeded to fidget constantly 🙄. Afterwards we went for our afternoon cuppa in Raffles but we were too late for the freebie cakes 🙁 After our previous nights dinner in Sindhu we were back in the MDR for a St David’s Day themed menu. I had all the Welsh recommendations other than the starter and enjoyed it all. My wife opted for the Signature dish main course (fillet steak) which is the first time that either of us have tried it this cruise. When it came it looked bigger than I recall from Ventura and my wife really enjoyed it (even though she couldn’t manage it all). Afterwards she was asked to fill in a feedback form on it. She said that it was very well cooked and nicely presented, but the menu was unlikely to become popular if it never changes (which it doesn’t). The 10pm show was a Headliner’s performance - Applause. Whilst we’ve seen this show countless times (including less than 4 weeks ago on this cruise) it’s probably my favourite show as it has a long Les Miserables segment in it and is 100% songs rather than a cheesy story line, so we went again and enjoyed it even more than the first time. This troupe of Headliners were apparently mostly brand new to P&O at the start of this cruise and, as my wife said as we were leaving, they seem to have really got into their stride. Some of them are incredibly young as well, yet carry their roles very well. They had a very well deserved standing ovation at the end. Thankfully, the theatre was back to being a nice cool temperature again. Yet another sea day tomorrow (4th of 5 to the Azores). By the amount of movement this evening I fear it’s going to be a rocky one!

Day 58 - Thursday 29th February - Sea Day I had a really bad nights sleep as my throat was hurting more than usual and it was giving me earache as well. I took some paracetamol and thankfully it seemed to ease it. After breakfast we went to Paul Stickler’s true crime talk, this time called ‘The Green Bicycle Murder’. Another very interesting talk. Nothing else appealed before lunch, which we had in the MDR. We both had a cheese and tomato panini that lacked sufficient filling so was tasteless. The chips that came with it were fabulous though. Much better than the chips they serve in the evenings for some reason and even better than the ones they serve in the Glasshouse and Beach House (which always seem slightly undercooked). After lunch there was a second music talk by Ivy Partridge entitled ‘Hello Adele, This is your song Elton’. We discussed whether to go and agreed that we wouldn’t, as we hadn’t been to impressed with her first talk, and thought that the second would follow the same format. At 3pm we went to the theatre for a staged game show called Liars Club, which is Call My Bluff (which they can’t use for trademark reasons). One team was headed by the Captain, who we’ve now seen and heard more in 2 days than we saw our last one in 55 days. It wasn’t as good as the radio play the day before but still a welcome and enjoyable interlude on a sea day and full marks to those who participated. After our afternoon cuppa in Raffles we made a gift purchase in the shop before just resting in the cabin until dinner, during which time I watched the port presentation on the Azores which we’d missed on our diddy TV. Dinner tonight was in Sindhu. This was our last of 4 visits there this cruise. For starters my wife had tiger prawns (which she enjoyed) and I had beef pepper fry (which I didn’t). In years gone by this was ground beef in a tasty sauce, but now it’s dry and doesn’t work IMHO. For mains we both had the lobster and seafood biryani. The lobster was gorgeous. My wife liked the biryani rice more than I did. Neither of us liked the paneer and pea side dish (the vegetable curry we had last time was much better). For dessert we both had Kulfi, which we enjoyed. My wife said that it was the best meal of the 4 we’ve had in there. I still prefer the lunchtime MDR curries (that are also free) 😂 We didn’t finish until just after 10pm so didn’t go see the new acoustic / vocal duo ‘Into the Dark’ in the theatre, but we weren’t overly bothered. If we hear that they were good we’ll go to their 2nd performance. The clocks go forward another hour tonight so we will be 2 hrs behind the UK.

No.

We are currently on Aurora in an accessible balcony cabin. We have 3 UK sockets above the dressing table and one wall mounted one. We always bring a 4 point extension socket as it’s easier.

Todays MDR menus

Day 57 - Wednesday 28th February - Sea Day We coped well with the first of our 3 clock changes en-route to the Azores and managed to get to breakfast at around 9am. This was just as well as we wanted to get to Paul Stickler’s next crime talk ‘The Fatal Secrets of Lord Erroll’. For reasons unknown, this had been scheduled for 10am, rather than the usual (and more convenient) 10.30am, meaning that there was then a 45 minute gap between the talk and the following port presentation. As I feared, he didn’t tell us what his thoughts had been on the previous 2 cases. I’ve heard a number of people say that they wish he would, as he does rather leave it up in the air. I overheard 2 chaps chatting in the run up to the presentation and they were saying this as well, so clearly a lot of people think the same. We usually stay in the theatre for the port talk as there is usually only a 15 minute gap between the talk and the port presentation, but as today there was 45 minutes to kill we went back to the cabin. Unfortunately we then lost track of time and only remembered the Azores port talk once it was half way through, so we ended up missing it 🙄 The midday announcement was made by our new Captain, which was a nice change as the previous one delegated it. MDR for lunch and I had cottage pie which I enjoyed, but I left the green beans (in the menu as ‘seasonal vegetables’) untouched by way of a protest 😂 After lunch we attended an art talk entitled ‘The World of Banksy’ in Masquerade. After the usual ‘is there nothing else on?’ comment from the art manager (which he says every time) it was a good talk. At 3pm we went to the theatre for what was called ‘Radio Play’. This was a comedy & musical ‘who dunnit’ that was read by various members of the entertainments team and officers, including the Deputy Captain and Hotel General Manager. This was very different from the usual daytime entertainment stuff and was good fun. All credit to the officers and crew who participated, as I’m sure that they were well out of their comfort zones. Our now daily pilgrimage to Raffles for an afternoon cuppa was followed by the first performance of our new classical artist Ben Kearsley who is a guitarist. We were spoilt with our first guest musician, the outstanding pianist, so the harpist and singer that followed were a bit of an anti climax in comparison, but normal service had resumed with this chap. He was great and the mix of music was spot on to cover all tastes. We shall definitely go to all his performances. I managed to do 3 laps of the promenade deck afterwards (as a token gesture really) whilst my wife read on the balcony. We then got in our formal gear early as there was a Peninsular drinks reception in the Crows Nest. Neither of us like the plonk that they serve at these events, but it was an opportunity to hear from (and see) our new Captain, Simon Love. He comes over so much better than the previous one and seems more invested in the passengers. It’s a great shame that we haven’t had him throughout our entire voyage. MDR dinner was pretty good for both of us. My lamb was very fatty but I could trim it all off easily and, best of all, no green beans for either of us 😂 The 10pm show was Maurice Grumbleweed. Now we could both remember the Grumbleweeds by name only. We couldn’t recall anything about them at all and Wikipedia didn’t help much. My wife reckoned they might have been similar to the Wurzles? We agreed that if it was rubbish one of us would nudge the other and we’d slip out (an advantage of having to sit at the back). It was basically a light entertainment show of songs and gags. After the first few minutes I thought that a nudge would not be too long away, but my wife could see me laughing at some of the gags so she held back. In the end we stayed for the whole show and enjoyed it (me more than my wife). At times I wasn’t sure what was funniest - the gag or the look from my wife that said “I can’t believe that you found that funny” 😂. Another sea day tomorrow.

I think that I forgot to post todays MDR menus earlier

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 😂

Definitely. There’s also the issue of the enormous food price inflation. I bet they are spending more now to offer less! It would be an exaggeration to say we have been inundated (or bean inundated 😂), but they are definitely the most prolific vegetable used. I had cottage pie for lunch, which was meant to come with ‘seasonal vegetables’. They turned out to be a spoonful of cabbage and green beans. If you have the always available steak in the evening it comes with green beans. I now try to look for meals that aren’t likely to have them, but even then I fail at times 😂. I agree that comments about food are always subjective (as is everything on a cruise in all honesty, including entertainment). I always make that point at the outset of every review I have ever done. I have heard a few people say that a lot of people are commenting that the food isn’t great, but they think it’s fine. I’ve heard far more be critical though. It’s what you’re used to I guess, but all I can say is that, odd meals aside, we had no issues with the MDR food on Britannia, Iona or Ventura last year. It’s noticeably weaker on Aurora at present though. I really wish that we had an Epicurean and an Olive Grove restaurant on here!

I have never seen so many jewellery shops as there are in the Caribbean ports, especially ‘Diamonds International’ who are everywhere. Thankfully Lady S won’t even look at anything that’s not from Tiffany and we’ve only seen one of their shops this whole cruise and it was ‘Opening Soon’ 👍😅 I can’t imagine that there’s one in the Azores 🙏😂

That’s exactly what we did last year and they all loved it (first cruise for both our daughters partners). Thankfully we only have two. That’s costly enough 😂

I’ve never seen his name mentioned anywhere and he’s not on the photo board on deck 5. Odd because some of them, like Trevor Glass, used to have their names on the menu. When I asked earlier on in the cruise I think I was told that it was an Indian chap known as Ronnie, but don’t hold me to that.

Well we are on Queen Anne in May but being a brand new ship I would hope that the air con would at least work properly!

Interesting. It comes in 250mg and 500mg tablets and G Mighty gave me 5 x 500mg tablets with instructions to take 2 yesterday and then 1 for each of the next 3 days. Seems a very short period, but then the dosage is high, so who knows. No improvement this morning, although I guess that would have been a bit optimistic!