Selbourne ‘Live’ from Aurora’s 2024 Grand Tour

[DamianG]

On 1/20/2024 at 7:38 PM, Selbourne said:

Please don’t get the false impression that we have a ‘bad’ captain. We don’t. He sounds personable and obviously is extremely competent at being master of the vessel, but quite a few people have

commented on his lack of announcements and useful titbits of information. I’m sure that we can all cite Captain’s who have massively enhanced our cruises with announcements about dolphins, whales, things of interest, things to look out for and when etc. Our favourite was Chris Wells who eventually went on to be Commodore at Cunard. As the most senior representative of the company, I’ve always felt that their role is an awful lot more than the seamanship aspects which, after all, are mostly done by the bridge team anyway! 

 

Chris Wells is brilliant. On one cruise he joined in with ballroom dancing in the Atrium, and invited several lady passengers to partner him. Whilst he was dancing a drunken passenger knocked over the champagne tower, but he just left the crew to sort it out and carried on focusing on his dancing partner. We saw him around the ship a few times and he always had time for a word with us, a true gentleman.

[Snow Hill]

1 hour ago, Goosebear Mum said:

Hi. FYI, Key West is now very very anti cruise ship, they’ve banned all bar the smallest cruise ships, and many cruise companies have stopped going there, even ones with smaller ships than Aurora. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘weather’ was an excuse for Aurora to not dock. Disappointing for you, I really hope ‘it does get better’, but it really is horrible here in the UK, weather wise!  

From what I read the outright ban was overturned by the State Governor, however they now have a maximum of 1300 passengers allowed to come ashore each day, unclear whether that is in total or per ship. Not sure what the number of passengers on the current cruise is, the capacity is almost 1900, which would mean 600 passengers wouldn’t be able to go ashore. 

[Megabear2]

Nieuw Amsterdam was scheduled for Key West today but is currently en route to Miami.

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 21 - Tuesday 23rd January - At Sea (Key West cancelled)

P.S. Can anyone who has done the transit in and out of New Orleans, and watched it, please tell me if the whole journey is interesting with things to see (bearing in mind it’s dark) or is it mostly just fields etc?

We have done NOLA once and from memory part of both transits were in daylight. The return is more interesting since we started in daylight and the early part is through he urban areas then the suburbs.

Probably the most interesting feature was the barges, these generally have multiple loaded barges which I think were pushed by a motorised tug. Quite a few different type of loads, some of which were easier to guess the contents than others.

However the delta part was rather featureless and I dont even think there was much birdlife to view.

[Guest]

On 1/23/2024 at 10:11 AM, Megabear2 said:

Yes we were on Celebrity Beyond over Christmas.  We absolutely loved it. It was my OH's first move away from P&O apart from one Cunard cruise and I'm now informed it's his go to despite the Miami flight.  I've only sailed Edge class ships so the dining arrangements are not really comparable with MDRs on P&O or other ships but I can confirm the quality was high and varied. We were lucky that we had the AI as a promotional add on as the drinks etc were extremely expensive.  I had to take a deep breath at the cost of excursions they sell but we had made our own arrangements so no problem.  Our deal was very reasonably priced but we caught it right.  That said the quality of service, cabin and overall facilities was so high I'd have happily paid more.  As most here know I'm a total devotee of Cunard and love the formality. Celebrity was the total opposite in that regard but Dress to Impress nights seemed well supported.  The P&O experience is still fun and offers a good deal, particularly on speciality restaurants, drinks and excursions but overall we think in future for our special cruises over Christmas, anniversaries etc we will definitely think of Celebrity and Cunard going forward.  I love P&O but my last two voyages - can't count this one really - did not offer the same thrill and well being feeling as my Celebrity and Cunard ones.

 

You might want to ask Presto2 her opinion when she returns from this first Caribbean cruise as she loved her Celebrity trip and will obviously have had a far better Britannia trip than us this time around.

 

I find the Celebrity WiFi and drinks package good value- the cocktails are always fab and they don’t use a measure 😂. In fact I think it is actually cheaper than P&O’s drinks package (and that doesn’t include WiFi!)

 

I think the Beyond is my favourite ship. I’ve done some Solstice class but the Beyond is just another level. 
 

It’s a different product to a P&O cruise. It’s not fair to compare (unless the pricing is the same 😂)

 

I always find the Miami flight a pain, but I do enjoy being in the US for a couple of days to stock up on snacks and medication things we can’t get here. 

[Bill Y]

6 hours ago, Selbourne said:

P.S. Can anyone who has done the transit in and out of New Orleans, and watched it, please tell me if the whole journey is interesting with things to see (bearing in mind it’s dark) or is it mostly just fields etc?

We too sailed up the Mississippi during the dark, the only thing I can remember seeing was a Carnival ship sailing back down, you could not miss it. We sailed out late afternoon, as it was April it was quite pleasant sailing for a couple of hours until the light went,

Edited January 24 by Bill Y

[Cruising Nomads]

Just a note for Selbourne re cab fares.  The cabs used to be able to charge an extra quite substantial fee for entering the cruise port. As this is only just past a set of gates  to the drop off point it seems quite a mark up. It is better to ask for the cab to take you to the Ernest N Morial Conference Centre and walk the short distance. Obviously check out which terminal you are at first.

[paulatsea]

I often wondered why some people in various threads have asked which captains are working - now I know why ! 
Our last cruise on Aurora in December had Captain Love - and he was excellent - came around the bars often and took the time to stop and talk to as many as he could and kept us informed.

 

Hope he takes over soon Selbourne.

 

Thanks again for updates. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, paulatsea said:

I often wondered why some people in various threads have asked which captains are working - now I know why ! 
Our last cruise on Aurora in December had Captain Love - and he was excellent - came around the bars often and took the time to stop and talk to as many as he could and kept us informed.

 

Hope he takes over soon Selbourne.

 

Thanks again for updates. 

From our experience (clearly shared by many others, judging by the comments), an engaging and informative Captain can make a huge difference to the enjoyment of a cruise. I haven’t come across our current Captain (can’t remember his name) or Captain Love before.

 

Unfortunately, Captain Love (who, from reports, seems to fit the bill) only joins us for the return transatlantic, which is a great shame when we have such a port intensive itinerary. 

[showingdiva]

4 hours ago, DamianG said:

 

Chris Wells is brilliant. On one cruise he joined in with ballroom dancing in the Atrium, and invited several lady passengers to partner him. Whilst he was dancing a drunken passenger knocked over the champagne tower, but he just left the crew to sort it out and carried on focusing on his dancing partner. We saw him around the ship a few times and he always had time for a word with us, a true gentleman.

 

I absolutely concur with this.    Lovely man, frequently around the ship, engaging.   I miss the upward inflection at the end of his sentences and his awful attempts at a Welsh accent when passing the coast.   He would also quite often enjoy a late night visit to Kings Court.

 

I hope he's enjoying his retirement.  

 

I've only had one "bad" captain, and by "bad" I mean lack of engagement .. as long as they're qualified, that's all that matters ..  and it was also on a P&O ship.

[Megabear2]

8 minutes ago, showingdiva said:

 

I absolutely concur with this.    Lovely man, frequently around the ship, engaging.   I miss the upward inflection at the end of his sentences and his awful attempts at a Welsh accent when passing the coast.   He would also quite often enjoy a late night visit to Kings Court.

 

I hope he's enjoying his retirement.  

 

I've only had one "bad" captain, and by "bad" I mean lack of engagement .. as long as they're qualified, that's all that matters ..  and it was also on a P&O ship.

Love Chris Wells. Remember being on QM2 transatlantic  searching for and rescuing a lone yachtsman and bringing him safely onboard. A few days later the yachtsman did a Q&A with Captain Wells in the theatre.  Full on about how great he was.  Any questions he asked the audience at the end.  Yes piped up Captain Wells, don't you think it might have been nice to thank my wonderful crew who've just saved your life?  Exit stage left one shame faced  yachtsman...

[Ardennais]

Selbourne - I’m sorry that you’ve experienced so many disappointments and really hope that things improve. Don’t think of the sea days as wasted days! Still better than being at home. 

[Selbourne]

Just now, Ardennais said:

Selbourne - I’m sorry that you’ve experienced so many disappointments and really hope that things improve. Don’t think of the sea days as wasted days! Still better than being at home. 

As I’ve said throughout the blog, the sea days we’ve had prior to yesterday have been the best (entertainment wise) that we’ve had in many years. Pretty much back to how they used to be. This is saying something for me, as I have always been consistent in saying that we cruise for the ports and sea days are just a means to an end, and not something that we particularly look forward to (I realise that we are in a minority with this view). 
 

However, yesterday was frustrating. I’m sure that there was a sound reason why we sat in the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico all day with the engines off (probably to time our crossing to coincide with better sea conditions), but the sea was calm and there was barely any wind,

so it naturally resulted in a lot of debate around the ship as to why we hadn’t docked. As it was an unplanned additional sea day there was very little happening and, for the first time this cruise I was a bit bored. Would I have preferred to have been at home yesterday? Well it came close to be frank, but today it’s onwards and upwards and I am looking forward to us reaching the far side of the Gulf of Mexico this evening. I like seeing oil rigs and gas platforms 🤣 

[Megabear2]

35 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

As I’ve said throughout the blog, the sea days we’ve had prior to yesterday have been the best (entertainment wise) that we’ve had in many years. Pretty much back to how they used to be. This is saying something for me, as I have always been consistent in saying that we cruise for the ports and sea days are just a means to an end, and not something that we particularly look forward to (I realise that we are in a minority with this view). 
 

However, yesterday was frustrating. I’m sure that there was a sound reason why we sat in the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico all day with the engines off (probably to time our crossing to coincide with better sea conditions), but the sea was calm and there was barely any wind,

so it naturally resulted in a lot of debate around the ship as to why we hadn’t docked. As it was an unplanned additional sea day there was very little happening and, for the first time this cruise I was a bit bored. Would I have preferred to have been at home yesterday? Well it came close to be frank, but today it’s onwards and upwards and I am looking forward to us reaching the far side of the Gulf of Mexico this evening. I like seeing oil rigs and gas platforms 🤣 

You were perhaps just unfortunate as your schedule wouldn't allow time for you to return to another Florida port.  My experience on long cruises with set schedules has to date been to idle in an area with clement weather and sea conditions to allow passengers to at least enjoy the outside spaces and I assume this to be fairly standard - others may know better.

 

Although not helpful to you I note that Nieuw Amsterdam berthed in Miami at 11.00Est this morning instead of Key West where she was scheduled for an early morning arrival and late departure.  Considering her current cruise set sail from Fort Lauderdale that's probably a bit of a shock to the Country fans who are on this themed cruise!  Key West is a difficult port, research shows at least 30% of 2023 scheduled cruises didn't make it, I'm sorry you were unlucky on this occasion.

 

I'm sure you will find the oil and gas platforms along the way later today.  You really are being unfortunate with the weather and as Mollag said New Orleans may be challenging tomorrow although the second day is forecast to be better.

 

Once you're into the Caribbean after these somewhat volatile ports your weather at least should massively improve.

 

As for preferring to be at home, nah ... total pants I'm told.  Even moping around here on Britannia spluttering and coughing I've no desire for that yet.  Put it all behind you and think of the better days ahead, you've got very many miles to go yet all filled with wonderful adventures and memories.

 

Edited January 24 by Megabear2

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

 Yes piped up Captain Wells, don't you think it might have been nice to thank my wonderful crew who've just saved your life?  Exit stage left one shame faced  yachtsman...

 

[bbtablet]

7 hours ago, david63 said:

Why is it that some "artists" think that they can improve on perfection?

because they come to realise that they are nothing but a mimic, with nothing to say of their own and think "What kind of a life is this?"

So they put bits of themselves into it by varying the rendition and ending up pleasing no-one!

[brian1]

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Love Chris Wells. Remember being on QM2 transatlantic  searching for and rescuing a lone yachtsman and bringing him safely onboard. A few days later the yachtsman did a Q&A with Captain Wells in the theatre.  Full on about how great he was.  Any questions he asked the audience at the end.  Yes piped up Captain Wells, don't you think it might have been nice to thank my wonderful crew who've just saved your life?  Exit stage left one shame faced  yachtsman...

Bet he had that sinking feeling.

[SeaJane]

@Selbourne thank you for your continued posts I’m enjoying following your progress and so sorry to hear about the poor weather you have experienced.

 

Captain Robson was in charge when we were on Aurora for 19 nights in October and we were very disappointed in his lack of visibility and failure to provide information. He would broadcast as we left a port, but not on sea days and when we experienced 3 days of force 10 and massive seas on the return to Southampton we heard nothing from him. We spoke to a lot of passengers who were inexperienced cruisers and very worried about how the ship would cope with the weather. The Captain could easily have reassured and allayed fears by providing more and better information. Various other captains we have sailed with in the past have made a point of making daily announcements - Robert Camby and Neil Turnbull in particular come to mind.

[middlehaitch]

@Selbourne and Lady Selbourne, I am not sure if this will reach you in time for your journey along the Mississippi. It is a link to a post I saved in a roll call so long ago it was hard to find. 

 

I am following along and enjoying your writings, life on a P&O ship, and the menus with a British bias I would love to experience. 

Cheers, h  

 

[Selbourne]

Just now, middlehaitch said:

@Selbourne and Lady Selbourne, I am not sure if this will reach you in time for your journey along the Mississippi. It is a link to a post I saved in a roll call so long ago it was hard to find. 

 

I am following along and enjoying your writings, life on a P&O ship, and the menus with a British bias I would love to experience. 

Cheers, h  

 

Thank you. That’s very kind of you. I shall be sure to use this to look out for the key sights on our transit out on Friday night. Unfortunately it will be dark very soon after leaving but hopefully we will still get to see some of them. 
 

I’m pleased to hear that you are enjoying the live blog from afar!

[Selbourne]

Day 22 - Wednesday 24th January - At Sea

 

Well it’s now been 3 weeks since we boarded Aurora for this 65 night adventure and I started this live blog. If the number of views and responses are anything to go by, I don’t seem to have bored everyone rigid quite yet, so I guess I’d better plough on 😂 

 

Today is our final (hopefully) sea day in an unplanned continuous run of 4 sea days between Miami and New Orleans, but if you’ve been following the blog you know why that is (and if you haven’t, where have you been?) 😉 

 

The clocks had gone back another hour, so we are now 6 hours behind the UK (which explains why my posts are at such weird times - I’m not an insomniac, it’s the time difference)!

 

With breakfast in the Medina MDR the last few days we haven’t needed a pager for a table for 2. We just get shown straight to a table. We had contemplated attending William Joyce’s final talk (on Ice Volcanoes - never knew there was such a thing) but we didn’t finish breakfast until it was already underway and, unlike some, we don’t like distracting people by arriving mid talk. 

 

There is a ban on using the washing machines in the laundrette for the next 4 days, presumably due to local environmental restrictions. I don’t have a problem with that, but it does seem a bit contradictory that we can’t discharge into the Gulf of Mexico on our inbound route, but we can on the outbound? This, of course, coming from one of the world’s most polluting counties! The other contradiction is that we can still use the ships (paid for) laundry, so we sorted out a bag of ten items for £32 (£28.80 after loyalty discount). We have a lot more to do, but I’m waiting for the next ‘buy one bag, get the second half price’ offer 😂 

 

We did some hand washing in the bathroom of mostly socks and it dawned on me that the laundrette driers wouldn’t be being used, and I was correct, so having hand washed a load I popped it in a drier rather than hanging it all up 👍

 

Although cloudy and a bit misty, the Gulf

of Mexico was warm and humid, so my wife sat on the balcony reading on her Kindle whilst I caught up with the news. I’ve hardly watched the TV at all this cruise, as the picture is just so poor (and the sound just as bad) so I’ve definitely been getting great value out of my £6 a day internet plan. It’s also been great being able to keep in full contact with family and friends, as well as managing our affairs as if we were at home. 

 

At 1130 there was the next port talk in the theatre. This time just the one port - Martinique. We left a bit early to catch the midday announcement (always made by a junior officer) to see if we could glean any info. We are cruising at just under 10 knots and are 120 miles from where we embark the pilot for New Orleans, which is going to mean that we aren’t arriving tonight as we’d hoped and the transit in will be whilst we are asleep 🙄

 

We had lunch in the MDR today. All OK but the ratatouille side order was the highlight. Our waitress had a terrible cough, which rather put me off. Not her fault, obviously, but perhaps not best for her to be serving in the MDR. Afterwards we attended our first art talk of the cruise in Masquerade. This was about the art world post WW2 where the centre of attention moved to New York from Paris, where the N azis had plundered anything of value and confiscated works that they thought were morally corrupt. The irony!

 

It was then time for some exercise walking around the promenade deck, but the temperature was up to at least 25 degrees and the sun was out at last, so it was too hot to do more than a lap pushing the wheelchair. A bit later, when the sun went behind the clouds, I sat out on our balcony for a while. 

 

At 5pm it was Roman Rudnytsky’a final classical piano recital in the Playhouse. He had a well deserved standing ovation at the end. Anyone reading this who is on Arcadia’s world cruise, you are in luck. He is joining you at (I think) Fiji. He plays a lot in the UK. If you ever get the chance, he’s well worth seeing. 

 

When we came out of the concert it was pitch dark. As we returned to our cabin we saw lightning flashes through our balcony doors so went out to watch the tropical storm. There was driving rain so we were getting a bit wet, so moved down to the promenade deck where we were treated to some spectacular lightening and even more spectacular thunder. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a clap of thunder as loud as one of them. It was like a bomb going off! All great fun and one of the joys of cruising in the tropics. One thing that I’ve never seen before was water bubbling up from under the wooden trellis panels that are in front of the doors leading back into the ship. One at the aft was chucking out so much water the promenade deck got flooded and had to be roped off.  

 

We didn’t go for a pre dinner drink,, so went straight to the MDR. We are desperately trying to avoid the folk with coughs, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult as there are so many of them, and unfortunately a couple got in the lift and the chap started coughing. We were both trying to hold our breath until we got out! During dinner they decided to parade the haggis for Burns Night as we are in port tomorrow evening. This was followed by a very laboured and prolonged rendition of a Robbie Burns poem that only those from north of the border could understand. I’m pretty tuned in to Scottish accents and expressions, but this was impenetrable! With our panoramic aft window we could also continue to watch the electrical storm from our table. 

 

After dinner we went to the theatre for the second performance (we didn’t see the first) of ‘Vocal Comedy Entertainer Benjamin Moss’ but the only two accessible seats where a wheelchair users partner can sit adjacent to them were both occupied by non-wheelchair users, so I left my wife in the area in front of the sound booth (where there are no companion seats) and said that I would skip the show and come back for her when it ended. I went out onto the promenade deck to watch the very early stages of our approach to the Mississippi delta. Tomorrow is the first of our two days in New Orleans. Hoping that the weather forecast is wrong as it looks dire for both our days there!

Edited January 25 by Selbourne

[Mollag]

10 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Day 22 - Wednesday 24th January - At Sea

 

Well it’s now been 3 weeks since we boarded Aurora for this 65 night adventure and I started this live blog. If the number of views and responses are anything to go by, I don’t seem to have bored everyone rigid quite yet, so I guess I’d better plough on 😂 

 

Today is our final (hopefully) sea day in an unplanned continuous run of 4 sea days between Miami and New Orleans, but if you’ve been following the blog you know why that is (and if you haven’t, where have you been?) 😉 

 

The clocks had gone back another hour, so we are now 6 hours behind the UK (which explains why my posts are at such weird times - I’m not an insomniac, it’s the time difference)!

 

With breakfast in the Medina MDR the last few days we haven’t needed a pager for a table for 2. We just get shown straight to a table. We had contemplated attending William Joyce’s final talk (on Ice Volcanoes - never knew there was such a thing) but we didn’t finish breakfast until it was already underway and, unlike some, we don’t like distracting people by arriving mid talk. 

 

There is a ban on using the washing machines in the laundrette for the next 4 days, presumably due to local environmental restrictions. I don’t have a problem with that, but it does seem a bit contradictory that we can’t discharge into the Gulf of Mexico on our inbound route, but we can on the outbound? This, of course, coming from one of the world’s most polluting counties! The other contradiction is that we can still use the ships (paid for) laundry, so we sorted out a bag of ten items for £32 (£28.80 after loyalty discount). We have a lot more to do, but I’m waiting for the next ‘buy one bag, get the second half price’ offer 😂 

 

We did some hand washing in the bathroom of mostly socks and it dawned on me that the laundrette driers wouldn’t be being used, and I was correct, so having hand washed a load I popped it in a drier rather than hanging it all up 👍

 

Although cloudy and a bit misty, the Gulf

of Mexico was warm and humid, so my wife sat on the balcony reading on her Kindle whilst I caught up with the news. I’ve hardly watched the TV at all this cruise, as the picture is just so poor (and the sound just as bad) so I’ve definitely been getting great value out of my £6 a day internet plan. It’s also been great being able to keep in full contact with family and friends, as well as managing our affairs as if we were at home. 

 

At 1130 there was the next port talk in the theatre. This time just the one port - Martinique. We left a bit early to catch the midday announcement (always made by a junior officer) to see if we could glean any info. We are cruising at just under 10 knots and are 120 miles from where we embark the pilot for New Orleans, which is going to mean that we aren’t arriving tonight as we’d hoped and the transit in will be whilst we are asleep 🙄

 

We had lunch in the MDR today. All OK but the ratatouille side order was the highlight. Our waitress had a terrible cough, which rather put me off. Not her fault, obviously, but perhaps not best for her to be serving in the MDR. Afterwards we attended our first art talk of the cruise in Masquerade. This was about the art world post WW2 where the centre of attention moved to New York from Paris, where the N azis had plundered anything of value and confiscated works that they thought were morally corrupt. The irony!

 

It was then time for some exercise walking around the promenade deck, but the temperature was up to at least 25 degrees and the sun was out at last, so it was too hot to do more than a lap pushing the wheelchair. A bit later, when the sun went behind the clouds, I sat out on our balcony for a while. 

 

At 5pm it was Roman Rudnytsky’a final classical piano recital in the Playhouse. He had a well deserved standing ovation at the end. Anyone reading this who is on Arcadia’s world cruise, you are in luck. He is joining you at (I think) Fiji. He plays a lot in the UK. If you ever get the chance, he’s well worth seeing. 

 

When we came out of the concert it was pitch dark. As we returned to our cabin we saw lightning flashes through our balcony doors so went out to watch the tropical storm. There was driving rain so we were getting a bit wet, so moved down to the promenade deck where we were treated to some spectacular lightening and even more spectacular thunder. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a clap of thunder as loud as one of them. It was like a bomb going off! All great fun and one of the joys of cruising in the tropics. One thing that I’ve never seen before was water bubbling up from under the wooden trellis panels that are in front of the doors leading back into the ship. One at the aft was chucking out so much water the promenade deck got flooded and had to be roped off.  

 

We didn’t go for a pre dinner drink,, so went straight to the MDR. We are desperately trying to avoid the folk with coughs, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult as there are so many of them, and unfortunately a couple got in the lift and the chap started coughing. We were both trying to hold our breath until we got out! During dinner they decided to parade the haggis for Burns Night as we are in port tomorrow evening. This was followed by a very laboured and prolonged rendition of a Robbie Burns poem that only those from north of the border could understand. I’m pretty tuned in to Scottish accents and expressions, but this was impenetrable! With our panoramic aft window we could also continue to watch the electrical storm from our table. 

 

After dinner we went to the theatre for the second performance (we didn’t see the first) of ‘Vocal Comedy Entertainer Benjamin Moss’ but the only two accessible seats where a wheelchair users partner can sit adjacent to them were both occupied by non-wheelchair users, so I left my wife in the area in front of the sound booth (where there are no companion seats) and said that I would skip the show and come back for her when it ended. I went out onto the promenade deck to watch the very early stages of our approach to the Mississippi delta. Tomorrow is the first of our two days in New Orleans. Hoping that the weather forecast is wrong as it looks dire for both our days there!

There was also a new water feature in the. Crows Nest during the lightning show😂

[Selbourne]

Todays MDR menus

[TigerB]

Not much on either of those that takes my fancy, so like you, it would be Glass House for lunch for us; maybe somewhere else for dinner.

[jh1809]

For once, the basis for the chef's recommendations for dinner is obvious, whereas usually it seems pretty arbitrary.