Selbourne

What a relief. From the opening comments of your post I thought that some disaster had befallen you. What a lovely surprise (again). Our kids have said that they are always happy to join us on our cruises …… as long as we pay 🤔🤔

Todays MDR menus

🤞😂

Many thanks. We are now in Antigua which is our last Caribbean port. Having cancelled my excursion a few days ago I am now done with those ruddy mini-buses 👍. At least I hope so…… Do I recall that you did the ‘South Island Sights and Angra’ tour in Praia da Vitoria on your way back? If so, do you recall if it was a proper coach? 🤞

Day 55 - Monday 26th February - Basseterre, St Kitts Another ‘interesting’ day in the Caribbean! We had docked in St Kitts very early in the morning. After breakfast I was booked on the St Kitts Scenic Railway excursion but it was due to leave at 10am so there was no rush. There had been some heavy rain whilst we were at breakfast and as we returned to the cabin there was a small rainbow alongside the ship. We could see the entire rainbow and it made quite a sight. The photo doesn’t really do it justice. The scenic railway was a very popular trip which probably a good 150 passengers had booked to go on. We were loaded onto the now infamous minibuses and were taken the long way around the island to the pick up point. The driver & guide Kirk was very funny. One chap asked if we could stop at a restroom. Kirk replied that he would pull up somewhere so that the guy could go behind a tree (which he did)! As he stopped he warned the guy to be careful as “we have monkeys and they like to grab bananas”. The passengers wife piped up “Oh, he’ll be alright. He’s only got a small one” 😱 That must surely be grounds for divorce 😂 I have mentioned before that many of the stops on these tours have been tenuous at best. Well today took the record. We stopped and remained in the minibus whilst Kirk said he had something to show us. It was a water stand pipe. He gave us a demonstration of how it worked. When he got back in we then had a detailed account of the fact that the government is gradually removing the levers from them, making them key operated only for farmers. Fascinating 🤔 At this point Kirk received a call to say that there was a problem with the train and we would be delayed, so we then had time to kill. This enabled us to stop briefly to see a couple of other stand pipes, as well as semi derelict houses. When we were on Grand Cayman, my lasting memory was the hundreds of chickens we saw roaming around everywhere. St Kitts has the same (and sheep and goats) but the thing that struck me most was the scrap cars everywhere. We must have seen hundreds. When a car meets its end it’s just abandoned in verges or outside peoples houses. Kirk covered this as well. The government is going to start fining people if they don’t dispose of them environmentally. Good luck on that one! The train was meant to leave at 11am and when we arrived at the pick up point at around this time we were told it would be around half an hour late. This turned into an hour and finally the train turned up at around 1220. Profuse apologies from our host for the delay (apparently a pin had come out holding a rail in place) and we were off. It’s a double decker train with open sided seating on the top and an air conditioned saloon underneath. I went for the air conditioned saloon. The views weren’t quite as good but it was a pleasant temperature. The 18 mile trip lasts 1hr 45 mins, during which time there was some dubious ‘traditional dancing’ (two teenagers with a ghetto blaster, angling for tips), an informative live commentary and free drinks (rum punch etc). Having learnt the hard way in Honduras, I disciplined myself to one rum punch but in reality I only took 2 or 3 sips of it. Two reasons. The first was that my sore throat is fine much of the time now, but alcohol causes me real discomfort within minutes. Secondly, it tasted horrible 😂. For my second drink I had a Virgin Colada which was far better. After 10 minutes we stopped abruptly. We were at the spot where the rail had separated and it happened again! Thankfully the engineers were all still there with their equipment so we were on our way within 10 minutes. In truth I’ve been on far more scenic train journeys in the UK, but it was still a good experience. When we got back on the minibus it was very apparent that a number of my fellow passengers had partaken of one or two too many rum punches. We arrived back at the port 1hr 45 minutes late (pretty good going for a 3 hour tour) and my wife was beginning to get quite concerned where I was, but obviously the problems were entirely out of P&Os control and “all part of the experience” 😂 In every single port in the Caribbean we have been told to take photo ID (passport or driving licence ashore), yet we have never been asked to show it anywhere - until today. Utterly pointless. It just caused queues and delays and the checks were not conducted properly anyway. What do they do with the people who didn’t have any photo ID? My guess is they let them through anyway as the ships have their own security! Whilst I was queuing a very elderly couple in front of me were both struggling to stand, not through infirmity but (through their own admission) too many rum punches 😂 When I eventually got back to the ship we dashed up to the Lido deck for a quick lunch and then I took my wife ashore. Arvia was also in port, so the Port Xante cruise terminal was very busy. There was a karaoke bar in the middle where a succession of people who thought they could sing, but couldn’t, were belting out one song after another. Why is it that the only people who get up and sing at those places are all tone deaf? It reminded me of the Eric Morecombe line “all the right notes, but just not in the right order”. It was truly excruciating. There were also people in various states of inebriation around the edges ‘dancing’. A very unkind and deeply insensitive person prone to sweeping generalisations might have said that this could have been the sort of place that was attracting Arvia passengers who were perhaps partaking of the drinks package, but thankfully that’s not the sort of thought that would ever cross my mind 🤔😂 Prior to looking around the cruise port we went into the town, which isn’t much but is another authentic place. I had a note to see the Circus (clock tower) and Independence Square. Both were only a short distance from the cruise port so that didn’t take long. One thing that we thought was lovely was that all the school kids were walking home and they are obviously told that tourists are the life blood of the island and to be respectful to them. As they passed us they all smiled and said “Good afternoon”. Can you imagine school kids at home doing that? I got brownie points from Lady Selbourne because she only wanted one thing from the shops and, amidst all the shops selling the usual tourist tat, booze and bright clothing, I managed to find it - Hairspray 😂 (no, they don’t sell it on the ship). Talking of hair, my number 3 & 2 clipper cut has lasted well and may even get me home, where I can do it myself for nothing 😂 Back on the ship we went to Raffles for a drink and as we were departing the Captain announced we were leaving and that indeed he was himself leaving us tomorrow and a new Captain is taking us back to Blighty as planned. Nothing against the guy, he seems very pleasant, but he has been the most uncommunicative Captain that we have ever had in almost 30 years of cruising. I genuinely believe that he needs reminding that being Master of the vessel is not just about the seamanship side of it (which, in all honesty, the majority of which is done by the bridge team anyway), but is also about enhancing the passenger experience with useful nuggets and by being visible. He has done neither. I wish him well, but for a Grand Tour such as this, which is a huge adventure, we drew the short straw. I shall be sure to feed back on this if I ever get the chance on a feedback survey and I hope that many of my fellow passengers do the same, as I’ve heard enough of them commenting on it! Sail away was nice and peaceful, as we were thankfully spared a band on the top open deck. A few honks were exchanged between us and Arvia (we were the first to leave - I don’t think we had any stragglers in the karaoke bar 😉) and we sat on the balcony well past darkness as it was still so warm and lovely and quiet other than the relaxing noise of the ship cutting through the water. We’ve had very few pre dinner drinks since my throat issue, so next stop was the MDR for dinner. Another hit and miss experience but mostly miss unfortunately. My leek soup starter was very watery and was quite insipid. My wife enjoyed her cauliflower tabbouleh salad. I had roast beef and had two really thick slices cooked exactly as I’d asked. However the Yorkshire pudding was like cardboard and tasted like it had been cooked a few days ago. The usual barrel shaped spud and a few overcooked root veg with a flavourless gravy. My wife had lasagne and said that she thought it was nigh on impossible to mess up a lasagne but they had managed it. I asked what was wrong with it and she said that the pasta was ‘gluey’. She left 90% of it. I had rhubarb and ginger crumble, which was fine, but their custard (or sauce Anglaise) is always dreadful (it manages to be both runny and lumpy at the same time and flavourless) so I asked for ‘Honey Combe’ (as they call it) ice cream instead. My wife had just the ice cream. The 10pm show was Jayne Middleton’s second show, also as Annie Lennox. I looked her up after her first performance as I just knew that she was putting on a very bad Scottish accent and, sure enough, she’s from Stoke on Trent 😂. Why do some tribute artists think they have to talk like the artist as well as sing like them? They almost never do it well and sound silly. Anyway, thankfully this girl has a great singing voice. The second show wasn’t as good as the first. She’d done many of the big Annie Lennox & Eurythmics hits in the first show. There were a few more this time but she also did some covers that Annie Lennox apparently did but that I was unaware of. Tomorrow is Antigua, which is our last Caribbean port before we start the long drag home via the Azores.

It’s a complete mix of both. Wear what you are comfortable in. You will be fine.

We always said that about 4 weeks would be our maximum. We are now towards the end of week 8 and still coping. It’s also good training should we ever have to go into an old folks home 😂

I wondered what he was up to now (see top right corner of windscreen). First bikes, then bendy-busses and now cruise pier shuttles in St Kitts. Well I guess the weather is better 😂

Your time will come (not wanting to wish your life away) 😂

Today’s MDR menus.

There are obviously some problems at present that they can’t fix mid cruise. Hopefully it will have been in and out of Southampton enough times by then to fix them - unless it’s now beyond economical repair, which I doubt.

She has always been our favourite too, and this is the first of our eight cruises on her where we’ve noticed so many air con issues, but this is our first cruise on her since late 2019 and we both feel that she’s starting to show her age a bit now

Cabin wise I think we’ve been unlucky. We are by the forward lifts (which is a hot area - as are the midships ones) and the corridor outside our cabin is hot also. I suspect there’s an issue in our area. If your cabin is OK the cruise wouldn’t be affected too much. Everyone comments on how hot the lifts are but you aren’t in them for long. The Crows Nest and Library were unbearable for a number of days early on but that’s now fixed. The Playhouse has varied between hot and cold but seems to have settled down now. The theatre has always been good and the Glasshouse and the pub have always been very cool (some of the older passengers complain that they are too cold 🙄). The fixed dining MDR is mostly OK, although our area right at the back is unfortunately a bit warmer. Not a major issue though. The freedom MDR has always been nicely cooled. The Beach House was really hot on our first visit but better on our last two visits. Same with Sindhu. As for the bed, we are in an accessible cabin. It may be the beds in those are lower. Premier Inn do the same, assuming that disabled people want lower beds when often the opposite is the case! Hopefully this more detailed explanation might help you decide whether or not it would be an issue for you.

The Saver fares can, and do, re-appear but obviously it depends on a lot of factors such as availability, demand and movement through upgrades. The prices of them can change as well. To use our current cruise (Aurora Grand Tour 65 nights) as an example; We booked a Saver fare around a week after balance due date. We paid a lot less than the Saver price shown on the P&O website as we were told it was a ‘Late Saver’. The day after we booked the price dropped by £2k and was less than half the Select fare! I managed to get the £2k refunded but that’s incidental! The term ‘Late Saver’ never appeared on the website. It still just said Saver, but the price had dropped This late Saver disappeared after a week or so and only Select fares remained, however, some weeks later they re-appeared. This happened several more times during the period up until departure but every time the Saver re-appeared it was at the lowest price that we had paid. EDIT - I didn’t see that you had managed to book until after I posted. Well done!

Day 54 - Sunday 25th February - Tortola, British Virgin Islands. One big advantage of a later arrival into port is that you see the scenery on the way in (the light is usually fading by the time we leave in the evenings). Today this meant lovely views of Peter Island and others during our approach to Tortola. The winds of the past few days had kept temperatures to quite a pleasant level, but today it’s very warm and humid again. As we only have three more days in the Caribbean before we head north towards home, this will please everyone, especially the sun worshippers (of which there are many). Although the ships tracking websites had us arriving into Tortola at 0645, this must have been our original time and didn’t update based upon our delayed departure from Jamaica. We actually dropped anchor at around 1000. The aim was for a tender operation until 1pm when it would be suspended. Tenders would be hoisted back on board and then we would dock in time for us to go ashore at 3pm. (Note - the reality was that tendering stopped at 1.45pm and we couldn’t get off until 3.30pm) As it was a port day there was nothing happening on the ship of interest, so we just chilled on the balcony and in the cabin between breakfast and lunch. We’ve given up on the laundry offer ever appearing again (it’s only appeared once in 54 days) so we put in another bag of 10 items. It all adds up, but I’m determined not to have much more than a normal weeks washing and ironing to do when we get home, as we’ve got a lot on from our first week back. I’ve enjoyed having the internet package (heavily discounted) as it’s enabled me to keep up to date with the news (the TV being almost unwatchable), family, friends and managing our life in general. So much so that I’ve booked it for our two future (Cunard) cruises whilst we’ve been on here, under their Valentines 28% discount offer. Works out at about a tenner a day versus the £6 a day on here, but they are both only 14 nighters. As we dropped anchor we could see Norwegian Sky and Valiant Lady on the cruise pier. I appreciate that looks are subjective, but I think that these new Virgin ships look great (Edit - from the front they do. I saw the back when we got off - pig ugly like the back of Iona and Arvia 😂). The silver grey is a nice change from the usual white and even the Virgin red doesn’t seem to make it look naff. I suspect that there would be a lot of red on the inside as well though, and that would be a no no 😂 After lunch we waited in the cabin and balcony until informed that we could go ashore. During this time I called reception to say that our cabin air con has packed up yet again. Not a breath of air coming out of either vent (one actually feels warm) and I swear that our cabin is around 25 degrees even with the control on the very lowest setting (as it’s been all cruise). We certainly couldn’t sleep in this temperature. Once ashore we walked through the cruise pier area. Some of the shops were closed with it being a Sunday, and those that were open were the usual tourist stuff that’s of no interest to us whatsoever. There were some bars blasting out loud music and one was deafening, but was full of young locals so is obviously the ‘in’ place. Most passengers didn’t venture far from here but we did quite a walk around the town. Away from the cruise port it’s one of those ‘authentic’ places that I quite like. The proper Caribbean rather than the sanitised one for tourists. There were no real ‘sights’ to speak of (I couldn’t find the small botanical garden and my wife felt we had gone far enough off the beaten track as it was), so we found our way back to the ship. Our cabin was still sweltering (even with the curtains having been left closed) and nobody had been, which was disappointing. Another call to reception. I would be wary of booking another cruise in very warm climates on Aurora. The air con system as it is just simply isn’t up to the job. We went to Raffles for a drink and when we had returned there was a card to say that engineers had been to fix the ventilation. Well we have a very slight puff of cooler air now but it’s still pathetic. I think the cabin just feels marginally cooler because it’s getting dark. It needs to drop another good few degrees to make it bearable for sleeping. Not impressed. I managed to finish the 600 plus page book I’d borrowed from the library, so returned it and spent some time looking to see if anything else took my interest. It didn’t, but it was nice to spend some time in a place with properly working air con (the irony is that earlier in the cruise the library and Crows Nest were both unbearably hot, so they can fix that but not our cabin. Our departure from Tortola is intentionally late so we were still in port when we went for dinner at 8pm. It was all on board by 8.30pm and for once we got going fairly soon afterwards, which was good as we could watch our nighttime departure from our dinner table. After dinner my wife wanted to see the second performance of the 3 guys who make up the US vocal group Legacy, as we hadn’t seen their first show. It wasn’t really my thing but it was an energetic and professional performance and my wife said she enjoyed most of it. Tomorrow we are in St Kitts.

Todays MDR menus

They are dire. However, the one in the Glasshouse is very good, not that we want to go there after a meal in the MDR!

Our main waiter on Aurora currently would have a fit. On the odd occasion that we’ve asked for something over and above (like one cheese plate to share after a dessert) we get a stare as if to say “you greedy @#%”. I feel like reminding him that when we first started cruising with P&O every dinner was a starter, followed by soup, main course, dessert and then cheese to finish. Always 5 courses and promoted as such. You declined courses if you didn’t want them, rather than having to ask for favours as you do now. To be fair, 99% of waiters don’t bat an eyelid, but this one has a knack of making us feel uncomfortable. Thankfully the assistant waiter is lovely and he does most of the work.

Thoroughly enjoyed him earlier on our cruise.

Great report and very amusing as always. The photo of the amuse bouche reminded me that we had them (well, tiny little drinks rather than proper amuse bouche) on all formal nights on Britannia, Iona and Ventura, but haven’t had them once on Aurora. Odd when you’d think that Aurora would be the more formal ship. Also, the formal night dress codes doesn’t apply in any of the speciality restaurants on Aurora, including Sindhu.

I’ve seen plenty of machetes in use for the coconut / rum punch vendors, but it wasn’t those that I was referring to. I can recall seeing at least 3 people on different occasions walking along with them nowhere near forests or tourist stops. I’m sure that they were for legitimate reasons, but it just raised an eyebrow when at home that would make the local news 😂

You need to give more than 2 days notice in order to receive a refund, so yesterday (Saturday) I cancelled a tour for Tuesday. As you say there was a 10% admin fee (charged to your on board account) but you receive a 100% refund back to your credit card. With the previous cancellation, when I explained the reason why I was cancelling they waived the 10% admin fee. All very straightforward other than the fact that you have to go to the short excursions desk and can’t cancel them online or via MyHoliday.

Day 53 - Saturday 24th February - Sea Day We both had a decent nights sleep, which was helpful as the clocks had gone forward, so we are now 4 hours behind the UK. In spite of the shorter night we still managed to get to the MDR in good time for breakfast. Our first activity of the day was Paul Stickler’s second true crime talk on ‘The Mysterious death of Sir Harry Oakes’. This was as interesting and enjoyable as his first talk. The only thing that I didn’t like was that he very much leaves the outcome up in the air, asking the audience to decide. He has researched these historic crimes in great detail, so I would like to know what his assessment is. That was the consensus view in the lift afterwards as well 😂. Maybe before he starts his next talk he will tell us what he thinks, but I’m not sure he will. That’s going to bug me, but they are great lectures otherwise. We had an hour or so in the cabin before lunch, during which time the Captain came on the airwaves for the 12pm announcement. We knew that there must be some news as he never does them. They are always delegated to junior bridge officers. Anyway, we will now be two and a half hours late into Tortola as we will make up a phenomenal 30 minutes of the 3 hour delay leaving Jamaica 🤔. Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining. Tortola was always meant to be a port that we were alongside in. It was never even a ‘possible tender’ port. We were therefore disappointed to discover mid cruise that it had become a tender port. Now, due to our late arrival, we will be tendering for the first 4 or 5 hours only and then the ship will move onto a berth once a Norwegian cruise ship departs. This is great news as it means that I will now be able to take my wife ashore as originally planned. We will also be in port into the evening to make up for the lost time in the morning. Thankfully, I had already cancelled my excursion in Tortolla after my tender experience in Grand Cayman, because that trip has now been moved to the afternoon, would necessitate me using a tender to join the tour and would also result in my trip ashore with my wife being too late in the day, especially as the tours are always late back. With all that stress removed we are now free to do as we please as soon as we are alongside. After lunch we attended a talk by Ivy Partridge titled Beach Boys vs The Beetles in the theatre. This is the lady who does the Ukelele lessons, which I could have been tempted to do had they not been at 9am each day which is when we have breakfast. She’s very enthusiastic, but we both felt that she wasn’t a good speaker. It was a combination of very obviously reading from a script and constantly asking the audience for shows of hands as to which tracks they liked most and whether they owned them on vinyl. Quite a lazy approach and not really a presentation, but the music clips from these two iconic groups still made it a pleasant 45 minute interlude. We stayed in the theatre for the port talk on Antigua. Lynn our port presenter has been excellent. St John’s looks quite a nice place so I decided to cancel my excursion there as well. I’ve had enough of those ruddy awful Toyota minibuses that all the islands use and result in people being crammed in like sardines. They aren’t built for tall people. Also, some of the tours I’ve been on have been a bit weak, so I thought I’d cancel whilst I could still get a refund (which I’ve already received). We returned to the cabin briefly before going for a drink at Raffles, during which time we noticed that the toilet wouldn’t flush. This is relevant as will become clear later, but I reported it to reception. After a relaxing drink and read in Raffles we went to the Playhouse for the final performance of Jeremy Huw Williams (Welsh baritone singer) and Giordano Ferla (pianist). Neither of us enjoyed the first performance as we didn’t take to him and the music wasn’t to our liking, but he had said that by his final performance he usually played to full houses with people sat on the stairs and my wife wanted to see if that was true. Needless to say, it wasn’t. I counted about 50 people in a venue that seats over 200. It was 45 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back, but there was an amusing part. He was half way through a song when all of a sudden “Bing Bong. Ladies and Gentlemen. Please be aware that the vacuum system that operates your cabin toilets is currently not working. This is because somebody has put something down their toilet and blocked the system”. Of course, it couldn’t possibly be that the toilet system is getting as knackered as the air conditioning system, it’s the passengers fault. To be fair, that’s probably the more likely reason, but it was quite an accusing tone. Anyway, to be fair to Jeremy Huw Williams he handled it in a very amusing way as it must have really thrown him. I then did 4 laps of the promenade deck. I set out from the outset of this cruise to try to do 10 laps every sea day, but this 4 week cold has sapped some of my energy, so I’ve fallen woefully short. Hopefully I can do more of this on the long drag back to Southampton, as long as the seas aren’t too rough. It was another black tie night with a decent looking menu. I have mentioned several times that grand sounding menus are often followed by underwhelming food, but tonight’s meal was very good. We both had the same three courses. The beetroot smoked salmon starter, whilst tiny, was very nice. Beef Wellington for mains. We both ordered them medium- rare in the knowledge that they’d arrive medium and we were spot on. Two minor down points were the fact that the obligatory green beens were served (at least they go with this meal) and the supposed Madeira jus had at best had the cap of the Madeira wafted over it. As Ricky Tomlinson would say, Madeira my @rse 😂. The trifle Wally Ladd was a nice end to the meal (and definitely had some sherry in it). To end the evening we went to the theatre to see Jayne Middleton as Annie Lennox. I had a degree of apprehension about this, as I love Annie Lennox’s voice and feared that a cruise ship singer might massacre some great songs, but this girl was great. Absolutely none of the usual tricks that the poor ones use, such as changing the high notes or getting the audience to sing the bits that they can’t. She got every song pretty much pitch perfect and as per the original version. The one thing that I wasn’t convinced about was her speaking voice. I think she was trying to impersonate Annie Lennox’s speaking voice as well but it was like no Scottish accent I’ve ever heard. I remember having to leave an Adele tribute once when the singer also tried to impersonate Adele in the strongest cockney accent possible and it completely ruined an otherwise good performance. Thankfully Jayne Middleton did very little talking between tracks and let her fantastic singing voice speak for itself. The funny accent permeated one song though, which every time the line was sung sounded all the world like “who’s that ‘heel’, running around with you”? 😂 My favourite Annie Lennox track (Why?) was partly ruined by two cretinous audience members who decided to leave half way through it and started having a full blown conversation as they did, but I was hugely impressed that she even played the piano whilst singing that track. The backing vocals and some of the music was pre recorded, but she was accompanied by Pulse who were also great. Sadly we’ve had to avoid Pulse all this cruise as the female vocalist is dreadful, so it was nice to hear the musicians on their own as they are clearly excellent. So a great evening. Tomorrow is Tortola.

Funny you should mention that. On several tours I’ve seen locals walking along with machetes. If that happened in the UK armed Police would arrive and the person could be looking at 6 months custody!

Tortola Update The Captain has just announced that we will be two and a half hours late into Tortola (we are cruising at 20-21 knots) but there is thankfully some good news at last. Tortola was never advertised as a tender port, not even a possible tender, so we were disappointed to discover during the cruise that it had changed to be a tender port. Apparently a Norwegian ship is leaving at lunchtime, so we will be tendering for the first 4 hours or so and then we will move alongside at a berth. This means that my wife will now be able to go ashore and also that we have no more tender ports this cruise, both of which are great news. We will also be staying in port until later to make up for the later arrival.