Day 6 - Tuesday 13th January 2015 - At sea

Day 6 - Tuesday 13th January 2015 - At sea

This morning someone refused to get out of bed for stretch class, so I did a bit of cycling at the gym and then did the stretches without him! On the way back to the room I saw they were doing free massage tasters, so of course I had one - lovely! Will be on the lookout for special offers at the spa later in the cruise!

We had breakfast together, then I went line dancing while JL went to listen to his sixties speaker, this time talking about England winning the World Cup. We then met in the theatre for the next talk by Sue Holderness (Marlene!), which this time was an educational talk about how sailors first learnt to measure their position at sea. Did you know that the watch that Del Boy and Rodney find in their garage which they sell to finally become millionaires is a real (fabled) watch? We learnt the story of the man who designed the first clock which would also measure position at sea, and the trials and tribulations he went through before finally winning a prize at age 88 for having being the first person to invent this. The watch in Only Fools and Horses was his 6th model (the first few being a lot larger, and on display at the maritime museum in Greenwich). It was a fascinating talk. Afterwards Jean-Louis joined the queue to have his photo taken with her :-)

After lunch/ Internet/ reading, we went to a workshop by the magician we saw last night where he showed us how to do some simple tricks (but we had to take the magician's secret oath so we can't share I'm afraid!) It was very cool.

Jean-Louis then went off to table tennis (where he got to the semi final, but found it a bit tricky as the balls were flying everywhere in the sea breeze!). I went to try a new class - tap dancing! This is obviously a popular cruise thing, as many passengers had brought their own tap shoes with them! I tried doing it in my trainers which was not a great success, as my feet did not want to 'shuffle', they wanted to stick to the floor! But I had good fun anyway! Apparently there are only about 6 different steps to learn in tap, and we did 3 yesterday so I'll be an expert in no time!

At 5.00 I headed back to the gym for a Fab Abs class (which I can definitely feel today!), and then got ready for the evening's formal dinner. After eating (where I was presented with FOUR Quorn burgers - they are obviously trying to make up for not giving me any for the first few days!), I rushed JL off to have a formal photo done (much to his disgust!). We had 5 taken in different locations, so hopefully there will at least one good one! 

We then went to the main show, which was the Headliners theatre group doing a dance extravaganza - this features "traditional" dances from different countries, including a carnival dance, Irish dancing, tango, jiving, and the cancan! It was great fun :-)

Day 5 - Monday 12th January 2015 - Madeira

Day 5 - Monday 12th January 2015 - Madeira

Our first day on land - how very exciting! We got up nice and early to watch the sail in to the town of Funchal in Madeira (well, as best we could in the dark!). Even from where the ship docked it looked like a beautiful island so we were excited about the day ahead. First stop - the gym - not to do any exercise but to weigh ourselves! (Any of you who followed our exploits last time may remember that the scales don't work when at sea, so you can only use them when the ship is moored, and we did this regularly - 3 months stuck in a place with unlimited free food is a dangerous concept, especially as we only have one set of clothes!) We then had breakfast and set off ashore.

We got our first proper look at the Aurora from the outside, which is always an exciting moment as it makes you realise quite how huge these vessels are! We wandered through the small cruise terminal, and boarded our coach for today's excursion - Cable Car and Monte Palace Gardens. Once everyone was on board we had an introduction by our guide to some of the history of Madeira, then drove to the first stop - the cable car entrance. The ride takes 15 minutes, from sea level up to the end point at the village of Monte - 560metres high. The views on the way up were incredible - the pretty town houses, gardens and terraces growing vegetables, bridges and tunnels, with the sea and our ship in the distance. There were quite a number of Santa Claus characters climbing up balconies still around!

At the top we admired the view for a few minutes and then set off for a guided tour around the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens. This is a large park built around the 18th century Monte Palace, with a huge variety of plants, flowers and trees, winding pathways, ponds of koi fish, beautiful painted tile panels, peacocks and swans, and gardens with different themes from different countries - the Japanese and Chinese gardens were particularly beautiful. There are also 2 onsite museums - one with a variety of stone sculptures from Zimbabwe, and another with a large collection of minerals and gemstones. During the tour we walked down through the gardens, finishing at the bottom at the terrace cafe with breathtaking views and a free glass of Madeira wine (which tastes a little like Banyuls - but not as nice of course!) which you could accompany by a piece of cake if wished (I wished!).  It was then time for the journey back up to the top... JL looked longingly at the golf buggy which could be taken for guests with significant mobility difficulties, but was very brave and joined the rest of us in the steep walk! Luckily there were various stops to view the palace and hear about the different plant life.

At the top we had a short walk to find our coach, past Monte village (which, like the cafe, still had its Christmas decorations up!) My favourite were the Christmas trees made by local school children of different recycled materials. There was also a small marketplace where I bought my first magnet to start my new collection! 

We also saw one of Madeira's most unique tourist attractions - the toboggans! These are made of wicker and fit 2 or 3 people sat inside. They are then pulled downhill by ropes, along the steep roads, round multiple sharp bends, reaching speeds of up to 30mph, by two men whose only method of braking is the soles of their special boots! It was not part of our tour which I was quite thankful for as it looked rather scary!

Once back on the coach, we rode along the narrow windy streets to a nearby lookout point - Pico do Barcelos. This offered incredible views over the bay, the surrounding hills, and the town of Funchal down below. After a few photos it was time to make our way back to the town. We took advantage of the drop off point in the town to have a wander round. Funchal is beautiful with lush parks, and many interesting buildings including the cathedral, several highly decorative banks, and statues of famous people in Madeira's history - such as Cristiano Ronaldo who was born here. We had a lovely walk around, and had a look in a few shops for an orange juice squeezer (sadly not to be!), before heading back along the harbour to the ship.

We had a light late lunch, then I had a lovely chat on the phone to my family before we went back to the restaurant for something I had been eagerly waiting for - my first afternoon tea!!!! Just as beautiful as I'd expected - mini sandwiches, crumpets, scones, teacakes, pastries, and a selection of teas and coffees. Not wanting to spoil our dinner we were very restrained (plus I know it's there every day if I want it - for free!). Delicious!

It was then time for sailaway so we went back up on deck where the sun was shining brightly and a few people had started using the swimming pool already! We watched the ship sail out, then made our way to the Crows Nest (which is a beautiful piano bar at the front of the ship) to have a cocktail (mocktail for me!) while we watched the sunset. Unfortunately the sun decided to disappear into the haze at the last minute but it was still a lovely experience!

We had a slightly later dinner than normal (as we were still full of afternoon tea!) and you will be pleased to know my Quorn arrived like clockwork - hurray! We then went to the theatre for the evening show - a magician called Matthew Mcgurk who was very impressive - my favourite trick involved him tying up one of the ship's crew, hiding her in a curtain, then her emerging 10 seconds later wearing a dinner jacket under the ropes - I'm still puzzling over how it was done! A fascinating end to a fascinating day!

Day 4 - Sunday 11th January 2015

Day 4  - Sunday 11th January 2015

(I just had to check my previous day's blog to see what day and date we are up to - I'm 4 days into the holiday and already have no concept of time!)

So Sunday was our last day on board before our first port of call (Madeira). By this point the sea was beautifully calm and we had settled in well to life on board. We started the day by walking round the ship's deck a few times with only minimal moaning by JL, then did another stretch class. We had a light breakfast (the food at lunch and dinner is much nicer than the breakfast food, so we are trying to save our appetites for later in the day!) I don't like the concentrated orange juice which you can get for free on board, and am most unwilling to pay £2 per day for the freshly squeezed orange juice you can buy, so today I came up with a cunning plan - make my own! The oranges are free as past of the buffet so today JL and I brought a couple back to the room and used all our muscles to squeeze out just enough for me to swallow my vitamins with! Much nicer than the concentrated stuff - but I wonder how long we'll be bothered to do it... (Mum, I can hear you groaning now saying "she spent all this money to go on a cruise and she won't pay £2 for a glass of orange juice..."!)

10.00 is my now regular line dancing time - I'm getting quite good at it! Jean-Louis meanwhile went to a talk about the Rolling Stones - he even said he learnt a few things! Then it was the port talk about what will be our second stop off - St Vincent in the Cape Verde Islands. I think the lady doing the presentation wanted everyone to stay on board that day as she spent her whole talk warning people that it was shabby/ poor/ barren/ unsafe/ not much to do there... I wonder if people in the past have complained and so she wanted to warn people that it's not a luxury island.  I think it looks fascinating and I am determined to have a wonderful day when we go there despite her warnings! 

After lunch (scrummy as usual!) I came back to the room to write my blog and have a little snooze, and JL went to find a quiet spot to read. After our daily Internet time, I went to a Legs Bums and Tums class and guess who was there? None other than Marlene! What a claim to fame! :-)

We had an early dinner again so we could squeeze in 2 different shows in the evening - first the ship's theatre group doing a Queen tribute show - it was AMAZING! They packed so many hits into 45 minutes. The men in the room particularly liked the girls' costumes! We went from here to the second show which was a guy called Andrew Skrimshire who plays the cello (apparently he has worked for the BBC and played for the queen!). He was very talented and played a mix of classics and more modern pieces. My favourite was a medley from West Side Story.

We headed back to the room to sort out what we needed to take ashore in Madeira - but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for that one! 

Day 3 - Saturday 10th January 2015

Day 3 - Saturday 10th January 2015

Much calmer sea today thank goodness! From rough on Friday, to sea breezes and beautiful blue sky in 24 hours! So no excuses this morning for not getting up for the 8.00 walking class. Except for the fact that it was cold and windy outside! But not to be deterred, we went to the gym and used some of the equipment there for 30 mins (JL got to try out the cool virtual reality bike!) We then did our first 'stretch and mobility' class of the trip - where we discovered that JL does not have a great deal of mobility! But he tried very hard!

We decided to try the main restaurant for breakfast today, but discovered that the wait times were considerable, so we will be back at the buffet tomorrow. At least I got an omelette out of the experience!

We then set off in different directions - JL to watch a talk about the Beatles, and me to my new favourite cruise activity - line dancing!!! I had never done it before and wondered how good I would be as I'm not very coordinated, but they were easing everyone in gently and it was fab! The biggest challenge is keeping to the flow of the moves while trying not to fall over as the ship moves! Great fun! 

From here we met up in the theatre to see a talk by Sue Holderness, who is better known as Marlene from Only Fools and Horses. She spoke about her acting career, and of course showed a number of clips from the show. She's very well spoken in real life and looks exactly the same age as she did in the show 30 years ago!

Next off to another yummy lunch in the main restaurant, and then we headed our separate ways again - me to write my blog, get my Facebook fix, and have a little snooze, and Jean-Louis first to watch a couple of premiership games on the big screen, and then to read in one of the ship's lounges.

It was the first formal night tonight, so I didn't have time for the scheduled afternoon exercise class, but was very good and did a workout routine in my cabin (thanks Lindsay S for the website!!), then got myself ready in my posh frock while JL moaned about needing help doing up his bow tie! 

There had been a bit of confusion about my box of Quorn which we had been reassured by the agent in Southampton was onboard somewhere... So this evening I was served some home made Quorn sausages which looked interesting to say the least! We had been asked by our head waiter to bring along the emails we had sent/ received regarding the Quorn, and he took it to show the restaurant manager and the head of food stores. JL was getting agitated by this point and was in serious danger of not enjoying his lobster dinner. Luckily a few minutes later the head waiter came back to us to say they had found the box and that from tomorrow I could take my pick of dry frozen tasteless Quorn products - yippee!! Around the same time the waiter came over and asked JL if he would like a second lobster! (Lobster being the third of 5 courses in the special Marco Pierre White menu)  I've never seen his mood change so quickly! :-)

We went from here to another classical piano recital which was just as lovely as the previous night's, and then to the larger theatre for the main show of the evening - a duo called The Opera Boys. They were, as you can probably guess, opera singers, but aimed to bring opera to the masses with a lot of humour alongside it. They were great fun, and sang beautifully, with pieces ranging from classical opera, to Angels by Robbie Williams, and Bring Him Home from Les Mis. Wonderful.

Then off to bed ready for another jam packed day tomorrow!

Day 2 - Friday 9th January 2015

Day Two - Friday 9th January 2015

I had set the alarm for 7am so we could get up and walk a mile round the decks. The alarm went off, I turned it off, and went right back to sleep. We had spent the night tossing and turning, trying not to roll out of bed, and waking up worrying about the creaks and bangs the ship was making in the force 8 winds. And it was no better when we finally got up at 9.00ish. But we weren't worried, we're seasoned travellers now, right...?

We gobbled down some breakfast in the buffet restaurant and then made our way to the theatre for the port talk on Madeira, which will be our first port of call in 3 days time. The presentation was very interesting, and it looks like a beautiful place with lots to do. But the theatre is at the very front of the ship and the waves were big, so it felt rather like sitting in a fairground ride for an hour. By the end I was feeling so queasy I abandoned the other activities I'd been planning, went back to the cabin, put on my seasickness bands, took a pill, and lay down on the sofa! Where I stayed for most of the day, dozing and watching the sea through the balcony window.  I did at least get to try out the in room wifi for the first time which thankfully worked perfectly from my iPad (I'd been handed a leaflet at the Internet cafe warning of all sorts of potential problems for iPad users)!

Jean-Louis was slightly less of a wimp and went to explore the ship, looking for quiet places to relax and read, and investigating the casino - which sadly no longer does the poker championships he so enjoyed on our last cruise. He also went to a talk about the swinging sixties. He kindly brought my lunch to me in the cabin (a bread roll!). The pool is not yet open due to the temperatures/ sea state so he was a bit lost!

By 5.00 I was feeling a little more human and so got up, had a cup of tea, and dressed for our first semi-formal evening. We went and joined the queue outside the restaurant at 5.45 so we could be guaranteed a table for two by the window! Dinner was good, but the Quorn Fillet I had requested the night before turned out to be some sort of mash of Quorn mince with vegetables - apparently the head waiter had not understood about my special box of Quorn that should be onboard somewhere! It was interesting.... Hopefully they will have located it for tonight!

At 7.15 we went to the Playhouse which is a medium sized theatre/ cinema, where there was a classical pianist playing. This was the first of several concerts he will be doing onboard and was most enjoyable. We debated going to watch a singer at the larger theatre at 8.30 but in the end opted for an early night after our sleepless night the evening before! Thankfully the waves seemed to be calming down by this point...

Day One - Thursday 8th January 2015

Day 1 - Thursday 8th January 2015

The day has finally arrived! My parents very kindly drove us to Southampton, and after a tearful goodbye we went to check in. This was much improved on last time - a nice new terminal with seats to wait until your given check in number was called. We got our first glimpses of the ship from the waiting room and it looked just as beautiful so we had imagined! Then after relinquishing our passports, handing over a credit card, and confirming we did not have any tropical diseases, we were off through security and onto the Aurora. 

First stop - lunch (as it was about 2.00 by now and Jean-Louis' stomach was rumbling!). As it was the first day there was just a buffet lunch provided, but we were served whatever we wanted by a team of staff. I got my first bemused smiles as I requested just 1 piece of tomato, 2 pieces of cucumber, and the bits of hard boiled egg with no yolk from the salad bar! Plus some yummy bread and rice and then some chocolate cake. I'm going to be just fine for food I can tell!

By this point our room was ready so we went to check it out. It is wonderful! It's a lovely size, with plenty of storage space for clothes (phew!), a nice sofa/ living area, enough room to store my mountain of toiletries in the bathroom, and a gorgeous balcony which I'm sure we will use a lot when we are well away from British weather/ waters!

We then set off to get some very important things sorted. First to check the restaurant had received notice of my supply of Quorn (they had - hurrah!). Then to book up our final shore excursions - there were places luckily available for all of them. Then to reception to check about keeping our 2 larger suitcases on board when we leave in San Francisco... When we asked, the reception staff member looked at us blankly and said "I'm sorry, that is not possible"!!!! After watching JL go red in the face and me hyperventilate for around 10 seconds he grinned and went "just kidding!" I'm not sure if I wanted to kiss him or punch him! Final stop was the Internet cafe, where I was given instructions to get my 1000 minute package (with 100 minutes free since I booked on the first day - yay!) That should last me til Australia at least! We also had a sneaky peek at the gym which looks amazing, and picked up the program of exercise classes. The fitness instructor this time is female and very good looking - Jean-Louis showed an interest in personal training for the first time ever!! He also rather liked the look of the exercise bike where he can play a computer game at the same time! Watch this space...

By this point it was nearing 5.00 so we had to come back to the cabin to collect our life jackets ready for our muster drill. They sounded the (very loud) alarms and we assembled in our designated area, checked we could put on the jackets and that we had a working light and whistle, then returned to our rooms past the lifeboats. Hopefully that's the first and last time we have to do it!

We then went on deck to watch the sail away. There was a brass band playing on the dock and fireworks as we sailed out of the harbour.  Luckily it was not too cold/ windy so we stayed out for a while.

Two of our suitcases had by now arrived to I set to work unpacking, once again proving to JL that I was right in packing some extra coat hangers! By the time I had unpacked all the evening clothes it was time for dinner.  But first we went to collect our free welcome drink to thank us for being regular P&O cruisers! This cruise we have chosen to do something called Freedom Dining where you can show up to the restaurant at any point between 6.00 and 9.00 for dinner. We hope this will be more convenient to fit around day excursions and evening entertainment. It means if we are lucky then we will get a table for 2, but otherwise may have to share/ wait. Tonight we ended up on a table for 8 with a bunch of nice people. We had a nice meal and sorted out the Quorn situation for tomorrow.

We then headed to the theatre (a fabulous venue) for the evening's Welcome Aboard show. It had a few song and dance numbers but was mainly a presentation of the entertainment and activities that would be onboard over the next few weeks. I am thinking of trying line dancing! We were also introduced to a lady who would be doing a few comedy shows who we realised eventually was Marlene from Only Fools and Horses!!

Back to the room to finish unpacking, which Jean-Louis did in no time, while I was up until about 11.30 finishing off and reading all the various documents we'd been given about the ship and the cruise! The ship had started creaking and rolling a bit by this point so I was glad to eventually lie down in my very comfy new bed!

JL: From the bridge: "Due to the prevailing weather conditions and sea state, Aurora is experiencing a certain degree of movement"...  Yeah, right!  How about: "it's rough!!!"  Fortunately we are sailing South in the Bay of Biscay away from the storm.  Conditions should be back to normal by tomorrow.  First bit of excellent news: there are no kids onboard!  And,miracle of miracles, Emma may not be the youngest on board as we have spotted a few 30 something which brings the average age down from 74 on Arcadia four years ago to around 66 which makes me one of the youngest onboard!   Finally, which do you prefer?  The good news or the bad news?  Good news first: as I was going to bed last night, I found a bible in one of the drawers, so all is well!   The bad news is: the captain of the ship is Italian; should I, and 2000 other people, be worried?

3 days to go!

Nearly there! Emma's mum and dad are taking us to Southampton on Thursday, we set sail that evening, and Emma will write an update on here on Friday with our first impressions of the ship.