After the experience of a tiny crew cabin on Britannia, Matt (who does the bookings for Aurora) promised he’d get us something better for this cruise – either a guest cabin or an officer’s cabin – and the same for Paul Stickler. So we decided to go…
Both our spouses are joining us because we’re going to lots of places: Germany, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark. And Southampton. As we’re both going, we take the car across: Paul has arranged for us to park on a mate’s drive and we can do a bit of shopping on our return. Since Brexit fully kicked in, importing stuff to France from England has become too expensive – TOPS even had to pay €12 to receive a birthday card from Blighty recently.
After a night chez Stickler, we await a taxi to take us down to Southampton, but it’s late and when it arrives it’s not big enough to take us all, so the driver heads off to find a bigger one. Paul is not impressed, but we are quickly processed at the information desk when we get there and are allowed to by-pass the security queue and go to crew boarding. Sure enough, we have officers’ cabins which appear to be a great improvement. Paul and I go down to the Ents Office to confirm our talks and say hello to Micky the production manager who I think is the best in the fleet. We then wait for the bags to arrive, but they don’t. At 10pm, I phone the Ents Office, and whoever’s there tells me to go to Reception. There I discover my case just standing there, and after a few phone calls the rest are discovered. I ring Ents again to tell them of the problem, and Whoever’s There tells me they forgot to put the new instructions (“Go and find your luggage yourself”) in our welcome letter. Another consequence of reverting to crew cabins – administratively we are neither crew nor guests it seems. Anyway, all set to start with two sea days.
But we don’t sleep…not only is the bed quite narrow, the air con is operating at Force 7, and worst of all, the noise. We discover we are directly below the galley, and throughout the night there’s banging and clattering and trolleys being wheeled over our heads. I mention it to the Entertainment Manager and he says he knows about the noise as he’s been moved to an officer’s cabin as well. Looks like we have to grin and bear it – Aurora is full. However, POTS manages to half cover the air con with a wet towel and some magnets.
Paul goes first at 1100 and the theatre is full – he always gets a big audience but I’ve never seen a full house for the first talk. I’m on at 1515 and it’s about two thirds full, but it seems to go well. Same on the second day which Paul soldiers through despite having fallen out of bed and hurt himself quite a bit. Hard floors in crew cabins. He advises us he has constructed a barrier to stop this happening again but won’t let us see it.
The ports are really nice and we have an overnight in Helsinki so we get a combined HOHO bus and boat ticket, and the four of us have a really nice evening meal ashore, but it was really expensive. Tallin was more touristy than we expected, but Klaipeda was a lot more attractive than we thought when we were there last, mainly because it was pouring with rain last time and the weather is perfect now.
A few questions after each talk and the audience seemed genuinely interested, though I was a bit surprised to be chastised by a lady who was incensed that I had mispronounced Klaipeda. Hey ho.
TOPS wanted to see the Headliners so I went along, I confess for the first time. She was very impressed with the dancers, and also with the classical pianist who played several times in the Playhouse. We tended to eat in the Glass House rather than the dining room – I was going to say the menu in the dining room was a bit repetitive, but I did have eight Thai beef salads during the cruise. Maurice Grumbleweed (né Lee) joined the ship late on – I hadn’t seen him since a cruise to Canada a couple of years ago but he claimed to remember me, so we had a bit of a chat. All his material is new – he does a weekly gig in Harrogate so he’s always thinking up new gags: he’s 78 now but can’t give up performing. Even when he’s not on stage.
Back in Southampton and we did some shopping before catching the overnight back to Cherbourg. I was quite looking forward to this – a brand new LPG ferry and I’d booked a Club cabin. We’re not having much luck with cabins though – just a basic cabin. I went to Reception to complain they’d given us a bog standard cabin, but the stern lady behind the counter pointed out it was a club cabin as there was tea and coffee provided as well as a bottle of water. At least it was quiet.
Back home to find all was well and the dog and cat had been well looked after by the two American housesitters we got from Trusted Housesitters. Always a gamble but it seems to work. Overall POTS enjoyed the port days but wasn’t impressed with the cabin, to put it mildly. However, she’s due to travel halfway across France next week to collect a new Hungarian Vizsla puppy so she’ll spend a lot of time with him.
And the big news – Paul Stickler had his PhD viva the day after we got back (TOPS and I had given him a practice run through on board) and he PASSED! With just a few corrections to do, so it’ll be Dr Stickler in a few weeks. He’s now moved on from Law/History research to particle physics.
Queen Mary 2 across to New York next month. Cunard are flying me back to Paris which is nice but as it’s a Sunday there are no flights or trains back home – I have to overnight in Paris. But at least I know I’m in the same cabin as last time, and it’s got a big bed and it’s quiet. After that Queen Anne in October. The chap who books Queen Victoria has also been on and says they can fly me to and from French airports to pick up cruises, so it looks like I’m going to get a few Cunard gigs in 2025. Well, as I keep on saying, someone has to do it…
thehairypsychologist 