AURORA R808 - BALTIC TREASURES
8 - 21 June

Travel / Embarkation

Travelled by Eavesway coach from the North West. No problems, coach and passengers punctual. We arrived at Southampton at 2.45 and moved swiftly through the departure lounge at the Mayflower Terminal. Luggage arrived in cabin just over one hour later which was excellent service.

Cabin

Inside on C deck near front of ship - clean, very quiet.

Food / Service

Had dinner in the Medina Restaurant on First sitting at a table for 8. Waiters really pleasant but service slow some nights. Two dining companions who had sailed on Aurora before said the food wasn’t up to its usual standard and I must admit I didn‘t think it was as good as Oceana or Arcadia. Everyone agreed that the food in the Orangery was excellent in the evening with a wide variety of hot/cold food. Everyone on our table dined there at least once having checked what was on in the Medina first and deciding there was a much better choice in the Orangery and we all had great meals.

I didn’t use Café Bordeaux or the Pennant Grill so cannot comment. Informed by lots of people that the Sidewalk Café made fish & chips to order at lunchtime and they were excellent.

PORTS OF CALL

Copenhagan Stockholm Tallin St. Petersburg Helsinki Travemunde Kalundborg Kristiansand

I won’t go into detail except to say that it was an excellent itinerary and, apart from Kalundborg, I found them all interesting and would do the same cruise again. There was a hop on/off tour bus at the port in Copenhagen which you could pay for in Euros and a similar bus in Stockholm near the shuttle drop off point which could be paid for in £ or Euros. Also a lot of the towns/cities had a tram service. Pleasantly surprised by Travemunde in Germany which is a lovely clean seaside port, with excellent shopping, very reasonable prices, and pleasant walks around the town and beyond.


Entertainment

Comedian - Barnaby Instrumentalist - Robin Good Vocalists - Craig Leach & Linda Radford Pianist - Bobby Crush Classical Pianist - Stephen De Pledge Guest Speakers - Les Evans (Concorde Pilot) & Edwina Currie
+ Headliners Theatre Company

I thought the comedian was fantastic, clean old fashioned humour and never stopped laughing. Craig Leach was good, easy to listen to with a variety of songs. Saw Linda Radford on first night only. I believe she performed a Doris Day tribute later in the cruise but I didn’t see it. Robin Good wasn’t to my liking but others seemed to enjoy him. Didn’t see Bobby Crush or Classical Pianist so cannot comment. Didn’t think the Headliners shows were that good compared to Arcadia last year - but that‘s just my opinion.

Les Evans gave four talks. He was very informative although the questions asked by the audience were too technical for me. Edwina Currie gave one talk only (well two - one to each dinner sitting). She focused on her time in office and the attributes required of a Cabinet Minister. Questions were invited from the audience and she did say that the previous sitting had heavy political questions and we were free to ask anything, personal or lighthearted. Unfortunately the questions were dominated by men of mature years who asked boring, political questions some of which weren’t even relevant to her party. As a consequence she lost my interest and the majority of people around me. It would have been far better had questions been submitted first and the Cruise Director had asked them.

Dress code

On formal evenings around 90% wore a DJ and Ladies wear varied from sparkly tops with trousers/skirt to cocktail dresses/evening gowns. On informal evenings all the men on our table wore a jacket, open shirt and no tie. On casual nights most men wore short sleeve open/polo shirt and some men/women wore jeans. There was a notice in the Orangery every night to say that the dress code was casual.

Weather

Very good for Scandinavia and the Baltic. We only had one day of rain - Kristiansand in Norway on the next to last day. The sun shone most days and, although there was a biting wind sometimes, you could find a sheltered spot that took the edge off it. Unfortunately it was too cold to sit on deck late evening.


Disembarkation

Two passengers were over two hours late for the coach and P&O wouldn’t let us leave without them. Personally I think there should be more announcements on the ship prior to departure day about disembarkation procedures and the Eavesway drivers on the way to Southampton should stress the importance of having the right disembarkation card and punctuality - or be prepared to be left behind.

Overall views on Aurora

Likes: Tiered aft decks; Crows Nest; Andersons Bar; Orangery
Dislikes: Casino (resembled a dodgy amusement arcade); Champions Bar (squashed into a corner with poor seating)

Enjoyable holiday and would definitely do the same itinerary again.