Just back from Aurora

[simonpjd]

Just back from the Baltic on the lovely Aurora. Ok not as nice as Oriana but still nice.

Ship went into ultra health awareness for last few days after a Norovirus outbreak. Of course no one knows how many people were affected but obviously enough to warrant announcements and everyone being ultra careful. We couldn’t even swap papers for marking the quizzes!

Quickly on this topic our taxi driver at Southampton said Britannia had come in late the previous day after breaking down and she too was riddled with the virus. He also said one of their drivers had caught it when picking up a passenger a couple of days previously and was still off work. 

Back to Aurora. The food in the MDR was very good indeed. P&O seem to have upped their game. No complaints at all. So good in fact that we didn’t bother trying the 3 select restaurants. Well done Aurora. 

Entertainment generally good but they did turn the volume up far too high for a few shows. The RunAround Boys were painfully loud and lots walked out with blood streaming from their lugholes.

Visby. Too windy so Port missed. Instead they arranged Tallin at very short notice. Well done Aurora again. I think you can guess lots of moaners were not happy. ‘I’ve been there and don’t want to go again’ bla bla bla. Sometimes I despair of us Brits. We used to be so much nicer.

For the first time ever we didn’t win a quiz. We are quite good but some seriously fine quizzers on board.

Overall another excellent holiday. 

We are off to Alaska with Princess in September. Brilliant.

This retirement lark has a lot going for it.

[steve333]

9 minutes ago, simonpjd said:

Just back from the Baltic on the lovely Aurora. Ok not as nice as Oriana but still nice.

Ship went into ultra health awareness for last few days after a Norovirus outbreak. Of course no one knows how many people were affected but obviously enough to warrant announcements and everyone being ultra careful. We couldn’t even swap papers for marking the quizzes!

Quickly on this topic our taxi driver at Southampton said Britannia had come in late the previous day after breaking down and she too was riddled with the virus. He also said one of their drivers had caught it when picking up a passenger a couple of days previously and was still off work. 

Back to Aurora. The food in the MDR was very good indeed. P&O seem to have upped their game. No complaints at all. So good in fact that we didn’t bother trying the 3 select restaurants. Well done Aurora. 

Entertainment generally good but they did turn the volume up far too high for a few shows. The RunAround Boys were painfully loud and lots walked out with blood streaming from their lugholes.

Visby. Too windy so Port missed. Instead they arranged Tallin at very short notice. Well done Aurora again. I think you can guess lots of moaners were not happy. ‘I’ve been there and don’t want to go again’ bla bla bla. Sometimes I despair of us Brits. We used to be so much nicer.

For the first time ever we didn’t win a quiz. We are quite good but some seriously fine quizzers on board.

Overall another excellent holiday. 

We are off to Alaska with Princess in September. Brilliant.

This retirement lark has a lot going for it.

Hi,glad you enjoyed your cruise on Aurora,we did the Baltic’s last June with Celebrity and loved it,we are on our first P and O cruise on 1st September on Aurora and although the dreaded Norovirus can affect any cruise line/ship we have been lucky enough not to have had it onboard any of our previous 11 cruises with various cruise lines.How is the ship looking in general after her recent refit?

[Monorail Orange]

Recently on Britannia (3 weeks ago) they stated that gastroenteritis (which can lead to NV) is doing the rounds in the country and that they believe that it was someone who brought it on board with them.

 

It noticed that we did not have to sign a health declaration when boarding. Not that would stop anyone ... but surely that could make someone think twice/make themselves know to the medial department.

 

Anyway...

 

Never been on Aurora, I saw a video just the other day about the changes since her refit. She looks nice, but I worry that she's showing her age (in style). I guess though that she's going to take on the "classic" mantle from Oriana when she retires.

[newtocruise_rj]

I really think norovirus is just luck of the draw. My partner has been on over 10 cruises and never experienced it, whereas I got it on my first ever cruise. Of the two of us I am far more concerned with washing my hands/hygiene in general and I really don't know what else I could have done to prevent it. There weren't any announcements or anything like that so I don't think it was an "outbreak", I think I was just unlucky. Regardless, it didn't ruin the cruise and it clearly didn't put me off cruising. 

 

Glad to hear you had a lovely cruise and enjoyed Aurora. 

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, simonpjd said:

Just back from the Baltic on the lovely Aurora. Ok not as nice as Oriana but still nice.

Ship went into ultra health awareness for last few days after a Norovirus outbreak. Of course no one knows how many people were affected but obviously enough to warrant announcements and everyone being ultra careful. We couldn’t even swap papers for marking the quizzes!

Quickly on this topic our taxi driver at Southampton said Britannia had come in late the previous day after breaking down and she too was riddled with the virus. He also said one of their drivers had caught it when picking up a passenger a couple of days previously and was still off work. 

Back to Aurora. The food in the MDR was very good indeed. P&O seem to have upped their game. No complaints at all. So good in fact that we didn’t bother trying the 3 select restaurants. Well done Aurora. 

Entertainment generally good but they did turn the volume up far too high for a few shows. The RunAround Boys were painfully loud and lots walked out with blood streaming from their lugholes.

Visby. Too windy so Port missed. Instead they arranged Tallin at very short notice. Well done Aurora again. I think you can guess lots of moaners were not happy. ‘I’ve been there and don’t want to go again’ bla bla bla. Sometimes I despair of us Brits. We used to be so much nicer.

For the first time ever we didn’t win a quiz. We are quite good but some seriously fine quizzers on board.

Overall another excellent holiday. 

We are off to Alaska with Princess in September. Brilliant.

This retirement lark has a lot going for it.

Never listen to taxi drivers as they are often if not always wrong. It was widely reported on P&Os Facebook page and also by P&O that Britannia would be late arriving into Southampton and asking people to arrive 6hrs later than the original embarkation time given. Reason for this they had an emergency medivac in Bergen and then had technical issues. So taxi driver was way off the mark saying she was riddled with noro virus and that she had broken down as neither were correct and this how false rumours spread.

[Eglesbrech]

11 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Never listen to taxi drivers as they are often if not always wrong. It was widely reported on P&Os Facebook page and also by P&O that Britannia would be late arriving into Southampton and asking people to arrive 6hrs later than the original embarkation time given. Reason for this they had an emergency medivac in Bergen and then had technical issues. So taxi driver was way off the mark saying she was riddled with noro virus and that she had broken down as neither were correct and this how false rumours spread.

 

Noro is usually only an issue in the winter rather than the summer so I would be very surprised if it was any substantial outbreak on any ship at this time of the year.

 

That said there is a new review here on cc from a passenger about Britannia stating that they were advised to use their own toilet as a result of noro on the ship and this caused issues due to the busy lifts. 1 swallow does not however make a summer.

 

Dai is onboard at the moment so I am sure he can provide some factual information on his return.

 

Taxi drivers are pleasant but they are gossips so one stay case becomes an epidemic - Personally I would not be worrying if I had a cruise soon.

 

 

[simonpjd]

The taxi man had an email from the passenger saying they would be late because the ship had broken down. The email also said there was a lot of norovirus on board. And he actually cancelled their booking as he had another job to do afterwards.

But as somebody says it is just one of those things. We have cruised a lot for over 15 years with lots of different ships, companies and this is the first time we have had the dreaded lurgie on board.

as for Brittania I am sure some one on board will tell all. But enough of that.

 

After the refit Aurora looks a bit spruced. Lots of new carpets. New cabins where the kids stuff used to be. She is a lovely ship. She looks like a ship not a block of flats. Yes if it was up to me I would half the size of the casino and make Champions bar a lot bigger and better. And the Horizon canteen is smaller than most and poorly laid out. The cinema equipment is poor, not a great picture and a bit jerky. These days this stuff is cheap as chips to upgrade and it would really improve the experience. Gosh this sounds like I am a moaner. I am not. I would happily book another Aurora trip anytime. 

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, simonpjd said:

The taxi man had an email from the passenger saying they would be late because the ship had broken down. The email also said there was a lot of norovirus on board. And he actually cancelled their booking as he had another job to do afterwards.

But as somebody says it is just one of those things. We have cruised a lot for over 15 years with lots of different ships, companies and this is the first time we have had the dreaded lurgie on board.

as for Brittania I am sure some one on board will tell all. But enough of that.

 

After the refit Aurora looks a bit spruced. Lots of new carpets. New cabins where the kids stuff used to be. She is a lovely ship. She looks like a ship not a block of flats. Yes if it was up to me I would half the size of the casino and make Champions bar a lot bigger and better. And the Horizon canteen is smaller than most and poorly laid out. The cinema equipment is poor, not a great picture and a bit jerky. These days this stuff is cheap as chips to upgrade and it would really improve the experience. Gosh this sounds like I am a moaner. I am not. I would happily book another Aurora trip anytime. 

You are not a moaner, just stating your experience.

We returned 2 weeks ago and found similar to you.

Aurora is not perfect, but there is something about her that makes us want to return time and again.

The good certainly outweighs the bad in our opinion.

The food and ambience in the mdr was so good we also missed most of the select dining.

Glad you had a great time.

Andy

[Eglesbrech]

36 minutes ago, simonpjd said:

The taxi man had an email from the passenger saying they would be late because the ship had broken down. The email also said there was a lot of norovirus on board. And he actually cancelled their booking as he had another job to do afterwards.

But as somebody says it is just one of those things. We have cruised a lot for over 15 years with lots of different ships, companies and this is the first time we have had the dreaded lurgie on board.

as for Brittania I am sure some one on board will tell all. But enough of that.

 

After the refit Aurora looks a bit spruced. Lots of new carpets. New cabins where the kids stuff used to be. She is a lovely ship. She looks like a ship not a block of flats. Yes if it was up to me I would half the size of the casino and make Champions bar a lot bigger and better. And the Horizon canteen is smaller than most and poorly laid out. The cinema equipment is poor, not a great picture and a bit jerky. These days this stuff is cheap as chips to upgrade and it would really improve the experience. Gosh this sounds like I am a moaner. I am not. I would happily book another Aurora trip anytime. 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise. After reading your post I have just watched a video showing what they did in the refurbished. The carpets look nice and more balcony cabins are always welcome on a small ship like this.

 

The guy narrating it said they had replaced the cinema projectors but it sounds like it has not made much difference to the quality.

 

Re the noro onboard, it sounds like they took all due precautions quickly. I hope no one cheated at the quiz because they had to mark their own😀

[daiB]

No sign of NV now. Not mentioned by those who have stayed on. Everything normal and very enjoyable. Skagen warm and full of holiday makers and cruisers.

 

BTW we ended up with £70. each OBC 

 

Happy Cruising.

[Eglesbrech]

26 minutes ago, daiB said:

No sign of NV now. Not mentioned by those who have stayed on. Everything normal and very enjoyable. Skagen warm and full of holiday makers and cruisers.

 

BTW we ended up with £70. each OBC 

 

Happy Cruising.

That’s comforting to know for anyone going on in the ship in the near future.

 

That’s also a bit more reasonable for obc - even more Anderson’s?

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[P&O SUE]

5 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

Noro is usually only an issue in the winter rather than the summer so I would be very surprised if it was any substantial outbreak on any ship at this time of the year.

 

That said there is a new review here on cc from a passenger about Britannia stating that they were advised to use their own toilet as a result of noro on the ship and this caused issues due to the busy lifts. 1 swallow does not however make a summer.

 

Dai is onboard at the moment so I am sure he can provide some factual information on his return.

 

Taxi drivers are pleasant but they are gossips so one stay case becomes an epidemic - Personally I would not be worrying if I had a cruise soon.

 

 

 

The only cruise I’ve been on that had NV was in June to the Canaries! That was on Azura and the captain was Neil Turnbull, is he still the captain on Aurora? perhaps he is extra cautious and puts in measures early??

[AndyMichelle]

41 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

 

The only cruise I’ve been on that had NV was in June to the Canaries! That was on Azura and the captain was Neil Turnbull, is he still the captain on Aurora? perhaps he is extra cautious and puts in measures early??

Neil Turnbull has just finished on Aurora and after his break I believe he will be on Azura.

As Aurora is now adults only, his children were unable to visit him, hence the change.

Andy

[Ivanhoe road]

On 7/8/2019 at 9:16 AM, simonpjd said:

Just back from the Baltic on the lovely Aurora. Ok not as nice as Oriana but still nice.

Ship went into ultra health awareness for last few days after a Norovirus outbreak. Of course no one knows how many people were affected but obviously enough to warrant announcements and everyone being ultra careful. We couldn’t even swap papers for marking the quizzes!

Quickly on this topic our taxi driver at Southampton said Britannia had come in late the previous day after breaking down and she too was riddled with the virus. He also said one of their drivers had caught it when picking up a passenger a couple of days previously and was still off work. 

Back to Aurora. The food in the MDR was very good indeed. P&O seem to have upped their game. No complaints at all. So good in fact that we didn’t bother trying the 3 select restaurants. Well done Aurora. 

Entertainment generally good but they did turn the volume up far too high for a few shows. The RunAround Boys were painfully loud and lots walked out with blood streaming from their lugholes.

Visby. Too windy so Port missed. Instead they arranged Tallin at very short notice. Well done Aurora again. I think you can guess lots of moaners were not happy. ‘I’ve been there and don’t want to go again’ bla bla bla. Sometimes I despair of us Brits. We used to be so much nicer.

For the first time ever we didn’t win a quiz. We are quite good but some seriously fine quizzers on board.

Overall another excellent holiday. 

We are off to Alaska with Princess in September. Brilliant.

This retirement lark has a lot going for it.

The Runaround boys were billed as Rock ‘n’ Roll. And. Not a direct from West End club singer doing Frank Sinatra. We definitely didn’t see ‘loads’ of people walking out. The sound is controlled from the sound booth

[jeanlyon]

Same thing happened to us.  Couldn't stand the volume.  It was deafening.

[Selbourne]

On 7/8/2019 at 11:20 AM, newtocruise_rj said:

I really think norovirus is just luck of the draw. My partner has been on over 10 cruises and never experienced it, whereas I got it on my first ever cruise. Of the two of us I am far more concerned with washing my hands/hygiene in general and I really don't know what else I could have done to prevent it. There weren't any announcements or anything like that so I don't think it was an "outbreak", I think I was just unlucky. Regardless, it didn't ruin the cruise and it clearly didn't put me off cruising. 

 

Glad to hear you had a lovely cruise and enjoyed Aurora. 

 

I know what you mean, but I don’t think that Norovirus is entirely down to luck of the draw. We have been on 18 cruises including winter cruises and neither of us has ever contracted it, but we don’t use the area where I believe it spreads the most - the buffet. I have lost count of the number of gents I have seen in the toilets on board who leave without washing their hands. A good number of these unhygienic so-and-so’s will be handling the communal tongs in the buffet. Before we knew that the Glasshouse was open for lunch on boarding day our sole use of the buffet was lunch on embarkation. We were usually early boarders and waiting for it to open, so amongst the first people to handle the tongs, but even then I saw several people licking food spills off their hands and then handling more tongs (yuk), adults and kids coughing over food etc etc. This was enough to convince us that it was an area to avoid. Interesting that when there are outbreaks, the buffet is manned and staff serve out the items rather than let passengers handle to tongs, which confirms my theory that it is a major risk area for Norovirus. 

[Selbourne]

On 7/8/2019 at 5:25 PM, daiB said:

No sign of NV now. Not mentioned by those who have stayed on. Everything normal and very enjoyable. Skagen warm and full of holiday makers and cruisers.

 

BTW we ended up with £70. each OBC 

 

Happy Cruising.

 

Pleased to hear that it’s going well Dai. Also pleased to hear that the £20 OBC per person was upped to £70, as this more accurately reflects the loss of the first afternoon on board and the disrupted evening that would ensued for those boarding very late (had they adhered to the ‘please turn up 6 hours later than your boarding time’ request).

 

its a shame that P&O doesn’t exceed expectations first time, preferring to start with the least they feel they can get away with and then succumbing after a battle. Clearly the £20 was upped to £70 after a lot of complaints. They wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Things go wrong in any area of the service sector, sometimes because the company messes up or, as in this case, due to circumstances beyond their control. The best companies put their customers in a good place very quickly, before they’ve even had chance to think about making a compliant. P&O still has a lot to learn in this regard. 

[simonpjd]

Dai

so you went to Skagen. I think us on Aurora doubled the population. I wonder what they thought of the thousands descending on them from Brittania.

BTW nice to see you are still posting away. We used to talk a lot but I am much quieter now. Happy cruising sir.

[Britboys]

Glad to hear you had a good cruise.  I am back on Aurora next year but tomorrow am off to Alaska with Princess 😎

[Monorail Orange]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

 

I know what you mean, but I don’t think that Norovirus is entirely down to luck of the draw. We have been on 18 cruises including winter cruises and neither of us has ever contracted it, but we don’t use the area where I believe it spreads the most - the buffet. I have lost count of the number of gents I have seen in the toilets on board who leave without washing their hands. A good number of these unhygienic so-and-so’s will be handling the communal tongs in the buffet. Before we knew that the Glasshouse was open for lunch on boarding day our sole use of the buffet was lunch on embarkation. We were usually early boarders and waiting for it to open, so amongst the first people to handle the tongs, but even then I saw several people licking food spills off their hands and then handling more tongs (yuk), adults and kids coughing over food etc etc. This was enough to convince us that it was an area to avoid. Interesting that when there are outbreaks, the buffet is manned and staff serve out the items rather than let passengers handle to tongs, which confirms my theory that it is a major risk area for Norovirus. 

Yep, seen that quite a few times. A new one on Briannia recently was someone eating their food whilst going around the buffet.... but with both of their hands full with plates that mean raising the plate of food to their face.
I could not believe what I was seeing.

 

And another thing that I noticed more was people walking around consuming food and drink in public areas - taking ones wine from the bar to the restaurant is fine, but walking from the poolside food outlet down to the atrium with a plate of chips so you can sit there and eat them is a little off IMO.

[Tablelamp]

We had Norovirus on the Arcadia in July and the extra sanitation was amazing.  Sad to say that when the extra sanitising regulations were relaxed they were relaxed with a vengeance.   On a couple of occasions the hand gel at the entrance to the buffet was nowhere to be seen and when I queried this I was told “that side is not open” to which i replied “well I have just come in!”  

 

I do agree, that the volume in the theatre is excessive, I resorted to earplugs.

[Rupert2251]

On 7/11/2019 at 8:39 AM, Selbourne said:

 

I know what you mean, but I don’t think that Norovirus is entirely down to luck of the draw. We have been on 18 cruises including winter cruises and neither of us has ever contracted it, but we don’t use the area where I believe it spreads the most - the buffet. I have lost count of the number of gents I have seen in the toilets on board who leave without washing their hands. A good number of these unhygienic so-and-so’s will be handling the communal tongs in the buffet. Before we knew that the Glasshouse was open for lunch on boarding day our sole use of the buffet was lunch on embarkation. We were usually early boarders and waiting for it to open, so amongst the first people to handle the tongs, but even then I saw several people licking food spills off their hands and then handling more tongs (yuk), adults and kids coughing over food etc etc. This was enough to convince us that it was an area to avoid. Interesting that when there are outbreaks, the buffet is manned and staff serve out the items rather than let passengers handle to tongs, which confirms my theory that it is a major risk area for Norovirus. 

It's not just the men it's the ladies as well ( sorry I had better mention that Rupert is female before anyone gets the wrong end of the stick)! I have seen on more than one occasion ladies? coming out of a cubical and straight out through the door...disgusting!! I personally carry my own sanitizer everywhere with me and always use it before I eat no matter where I am.

[Balernocalling]

Hi there, Could you please tell me who the Captain is for Aurora  and also the Entertainment manager?

Thanks.

[Brayman]

7 minutes ago, Balernocalling said:

Hi there, Could you please tell me who the Captain is for Aurora  and also the Entertainment manager?

Thanks.

David Pembridge and Jon Bartram

 

[Balernocalling]

Thank you for your speedy reply