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Ancient Glories and sunshine in November! |
| Reviewed By: Brinsmead, Stony Stratford on 2nd Dec 2008 |
| Cruise Line: P&O Cruises |
Times cruised before: 10+ |
| Cruise Ship: Aurora |
Sailed:
November,
2008 |
| Destination: Mediterranean |
Age: 56-65 |
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This cruise was well named, "Ancient Glories" and each port included something with a historic content for those who wished to pursue the theme. This, too, was followed up in the Port lectures and talks and with the visiting speakers ... there was a stimulating talk on Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar (to fit with our call at Gibralter) and Andrew Killian, a guest speaker, really lived up to his topic, "Shakespeare Lives" with an entertaining and enlightening series of talks on the Bard of Avon. There was alos a history of Concord which we did not attend but which was reported as being very interesting.
Despite some rather rough seas (well it was November so, probably, only to be expected!) 'Aurora' rode the storms bravely if, at times, somewhat noisily - she is a ship that creaks, we find, but, generally, is very stable in bad weather. We had excellent weather at all of our ports of call and only met a little rain and dullness at our final call, Lisbon.
Libya had been one of the expected ports of call when the cruise was first advertised but, due to political considerations, P and O decided to replace this port with a call at Cagliari, Sardinia. This was disappointing (although we were given plenty of notice and good reasons) as, we understand, some other cruise lines are still calling there. Nevertheless, quite unexpectedly, Cagliari turned out to be a good substitute even if the weather was cooler than we might have expected in Libya.
"Aurora" is a comfy and friendly ship and the ever-smiling staff (a constant with P and O) go out of their way to keep guests happy. We felt that the food in Club Dining was slightly less good than we had experienced on the same ship in July of this year but this may have been because there was a different Executive Chef on board and, maybe, his ideas were not so much to our taste. Dining in the new Marco Pierre Whyte Cafe Bordeaux was a delightful experience both at lunch-time, when there was no supplement, and in the evening when there was. The supplement, however, was a reaonable £4.99 (even cheaper if one chose to dine very early!) and was worth every penny for the more relaxed service and the cooked-to-order food. We did wonder if making this into a "named" bistro would have affected it and it has, but for the better - it was good before but is excellent now.
Captain Ian Hutley (who is leaving "Aurora" to join Ocean Village in Australia) is an excellent captain who keeps passengers informed of what is going on and who will be very much missed when he moves on.
We chose this cruise because of the calls in to Egypt and the organisation of getting some 1200 pasengers from Port Said to Cairo and around the various sites went like clock-work (as did most of the other excursions at other ports). Whilst some of the excursions appear to be expensive at first glance, they are generally well conducted and are a safe and comfortable alternative for people who do not feel able or who do not wish to go off under their own steam. Egypt fully lived up to all our expectations and we would love to visit again.
The worst port of call, from our point of view, was Gibralter which we feel is not the most interesting of ports unless one is of a military bent and, so-called duty-free shopping there is not the bargain it used to be years ago!
All in all, this was a most excellent cruise and we were sorry to leave the ship at Southampton and look forward to re-joining her in the near future.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Club Dining - mainly - food good but less good than on previous cruise in same ship in July | | Entertainment | n/a |
| We only went to one of the shows and felt that the standard was not up to the standard of shows of years ago.
We did not fancy any of the cabaret artistes so did not go | | Shore Excursions | |
| Cairo, the pyramids and Sakkara | | Staff | |
| All P and O staff are, almost without expection, helpful and pleasant | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| Enough for us | | Cabins | |
| | Overall Rating | |
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