Holiday on the Aurora - Instalment One - the ship

Hi Everyone,

Well I thought it was about time that I told you a little more about my holiday. It seems like forever ago now (why is that?) but I'm left with happy memories. I have sooo many photographs to show you, and they seem to be taking forever to edit! I thought that first of all I would show you our ship - the Aurora.

I took the above photograph when we were on an excursion around 'The Rock of Gibraltar', as it was a fantastic vantage point. When you're on the ship you forget how big it actually is, and it's only when you disembark that you realise how massive it really is. The Aurora isn't even the largest ship in the P&O fleet, at the moment they would be the Ventura and Azura (we went on the Ventura three years ago, and it's huge!) The Aurora will hold nearly 2,000 passengers and about 1,200 crew. That's quite a lot! To get an idea on the size of the ship you can see the size of the life boats and windows from the above picture in relation to Joseph and I stood on the dockside!

This is the Riviera pool, one of the adult only pools on the ship. The other pools all welcome children, and there is a pool which is aimed towards children, as well as a infant pool too. This is on the back of the ship and is known as the terrace pool {for obvious reasons!} I loved this area, reading my book on the sun lounger drinking the cocktail {or mocktail if too early!} of the day, having a little dip in the pool when it got too hot. Ahhh, bliss!

Here's another photograph of the terrace pool, taken early one morning when no one was around. Every evening the crew remove all the sun loungers and the decks are washed., then in the morning the loungers are put out again neatly. It's those little attentions to detail that make a holiday special.

I have a thing about order and neatness {you would never tell by looking at my craft room} and lines of steamers don't escape my camera lens! By changing the photograph to sepia, these chairs look as though they could be from the Titanic! OO-er! These were some of the most relaxing chairs available on the cruise and many a time I plonked on one hoping to read my book, awaking an hour later hoping I hadn't been snoring!

Now for some from the interior of the ship, this fantastic stained glass design is in the coffee lounge area. Yes, they have a Costa Coffee on the ship, complete with comfy sofas and such comfy chairs that reminded me of that one from the Cadbury's advert! On the colder of the sail days this was a great place to relax rather than out on the sun loungers! There is also a library where you can complete jigsaws and take out books.

And this is the fantastic sight that meets you in the Atrium as you board the ship. It is four floors tall, and there is a waterfall that falls behind it, the sound is so relaxing!

I know I've shown you the terrace pool already but I just love this photograph of the wake produced by the ship. Did you know, each ship's wake is completely different, no other ship will have a wake like the Aurora. Aren't you glad I imparted that piece of information!

This is our cabin, taken just after our Cabin Steward Karl had prepared it for the evening. Karl was absolutely fantastic, every morning our cabin was prepared to the highest standards, and in the evening, Joseph's bed was pulled down, our curtains closed and lights on, with a chocolate on our pillows. The beds and bedding were to die for...so comfy! Usually Karl would make Joseph smile by doing something funny with his toys, and as you can see it was the turn of the Gibraltar Monkey! When we said goodbye, Joseph had saved all his bedtime choccys for Karl! Bless! The cabins are more than big enough, especially when you are hardly in there!

Here's a couple of pictures of Joseph and I taken in the cabin towards the end of the cruise. I think these were taken on a formal night, hence Joseph in his waistcoat. He couldn't wait to wear his waistcoat and suit. I was so very proud of him!

And here is Joseph with Mathi {left} and Savio {right}, our waiters at dinner every night. Did you know the waiting staff work EVERY day from 8.30am till 11pm with just a few hours off during the day, for nine months! They work so hard and really do make the holiday! This was taken on the last night and it was sad to say goodbye!

Well, that's all for now - I will post more when I have edited the photographs! Thanks for visiting!