Some weekend reading folks
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Tuesday 13 February - Manta Ecuador
It took a while for the Captain to dock the ship as we crept into port avoiding the many fishing vessels.
The main subject of conversation at breakfast was the dreadful act from last night ‘The Totties’. Thank goodness we gave it a miss. There has been so many dreadful Cabaret acts on this cruise but apparently these top the list by a long way. They managed to clear a good percentage of the audience with many leaving within the first few minutes. Where do P & O dig these ‘never even has beens’ up. Stephani Parker the Diva in Carmens the Show Lounge got the thumbs up but she was too loud and in the wrong venue, she should have been in the theatre according to popular opinion.
Shrove Tuesday and not a pancake insight at breakfast. Glancing at the Horizon showed that there was a Pancake Parlour from noon until 2 p.m. - great planning when 3/4 of the ship would be on shore . Surely this should have been organised for 3 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. to coincide with afternoon tea.
This is the Tuna Capital of the world with many canning factories located here. It is called Ecuador as it is located less than 0.5 of a degree south of the equator. To be honest the port area is a bit of a dump and the town itself not much better.
The port had laid on a shuttle bus to a Mall close by which was also opposite the huge beach, on to the local craft market then completed the loop back at the ship.
Our main intention was to get some fast wi-fi to sort Garry’s ipad problem out but despite the wi-fi at the mall working fine for me, it still would not accept Garry’s password. The local shop selling Apple products put him onto a faster signal but still no luck.
We wandered over to the beach area and took our life in our hands crossing the very busy road. It was a public holiday and the beach was packed with locals. We were looking for a particular restaurant which had been recommended on Trip Advisor when we heard Denise shout out Sue! from a local bar which turned out to be the one we were looking for. She had chosen it because the seats looked comfortable.
We ordered a beer for me and coke for Garry who was still not feeling 100% . It had excellent wi-fi and Garry managed to sort his ipad out. I checked out the lunch menu. My intention was to have a tuna steak in the tuna capital of the world. No such luck it wasn’t even mentioned on the menu, other than in croquettes as a starter. Plenty of other fish but no tuna. I settled on a seafood kebab which was delicious. Not as huge as last nights one in the Beach House but fresh and cooked to perfection. I didn’t rate the fried plantain that came with it but the fish kebab on its own was plenty for lunch. Garry ordered the tuna croquettes and I sampled one of those but I was pleased with what I had ordered.
Fed & watered (well beered) we took our life in our hands again and crossed the busy road back to the shuttle bus to go to the craft market. Our men were so busy talking that they hadn’t realised we had got separated crossing the road. Luckily a friendly policeman stopped the traffic to allow us to catch up with them.
The Panama Hat originated in Ecuador in Montecristi and they are still made there today. They got the name Panama because the workmen building the Panama Canal all wore them. The craft market was full of them and our guide had told us how to spot the good ones from the rubbish. I bought one, as did Brian. There were lots of brightly coloured jewellery about and souvenir stalls. It had a nice feel to it with lots of upmarket stalls. We bought some local coffee beans and other souvenirs, but Garry had had enough as it was extremely hot and humid so we made our way back to the shuttle bus and the ship.
We met Denise and Brian for dinner and had our usual table with the best waiters, Christian and Jesse, along with the best wine waiter, Wilson. Enrich, one the food & Beverage officers, came by our table to chat and I told him that the best bit of this ship was the food and ambience at dinner.
The evening entertainment was Kenny Martyn's second show playing his clarinet, a dance date in Carmens but Garry still isn’t well enough for the dance floor, we couldn’t even go to the cinema as they had put a classical concert in there with a piano playing duo.
Tomorrow is a Sea Day before we start transiting the Panama Canal on Thursday.
Wednesday 14 February - Sea Day to Panama Canal.
Valentines Day started very cloudy and breezy but still very warm. We had Room Service Breakfast who also supplied a large Ice bucket for our bottle of Pink Champagne. Garry was feeling much better after a good nights sleep as his cough, although not gone completely, is much improved.
Butler duties can now recommence, starting this morning with the washing. I did a bit of ironing then went onto the aft deck to see if the sun was going to burn off the clouds.
I had a lazy sea day reading.
The Manager Cruise special voucher had arrived which allowed the purchase of duty free alcohol for in cabin drinking. I checked our stocks which were quite healthy and decided not to bother queuing for a bottle of gin, which I will get cheaper in the Caribbean. I am sure I can eek out the 1/2 bottle left until then.
The gym ladies had been to reception to complain about the Dancercise class clashing with the stretch class but I noticed this had still not been moved from its 9:15 slot. Their complaints obviously fell on deaf ears.
The port talk today was on Martinique which, as we have two days to fill here, I should have gone to listen to. I will catch up with it later on the in cabin TV. I prefer to be in the fresh air rather than in the theatre with everyone coughing and spluttering around me. There are no signs that the ships illness is abating as it is passed on to other passengers. I have been very lucky not to succumb so far and I think the vast amount of whisky I have drunk has helped that. In yesterday’s Horizon there was a message reminding everyone to use handkerchiefs or hands to cover their mouths when coughing. It really shouldn’t be necessary to give everyone this advice but the amount of people you see not covering their mouth is frightening.
The afternoon entertainment in Carmens was the Totties. I guess that having contracted them for 2 shows they had to use them some where. I had intended to go to see if they were as bad as people had made out but didn’t. Denise did, and fed back that you couldn’t get into Carmens as everyone stood by the door ready for a quick getaway. After 5 minutes the back had cleared again. To be fair I did speak to a lady at the gym who had enjoyed it, but then spoke to many more who hadn’t.
It was our 11th formal night of the cruise and unusually for a Valentines night on the ship it wasn’t Red & White night, but as most regular cruises had presumed it would be, that was the predominant colour worn. Perhaps we don’t need an entertainment team at all and the passengers could make their own cruise up.
The evening entertainment was Stephani Parker who was in the Curzon performing Whitney Houston numbers. In parts she was excellent but far too American for a predominately British ship. She virtually started preaching and tried to get everyone up standing by coming down from the stage and shaking hands then pulling them up off the seat. She really should have been told by the entertainment team that the Brits are different and, whilst in Las Vegas it goes down a storm, her act tonight went down like a lead balloon. Such a shame because when she toned it down she had a great voice.
Valentines Black Tie Ball was held in Carmens and although we had planned to go for a while Garry just wasn’t up to it.
Tomorrow we transit the Panama Canal.
Thursday 15 February - Panama Canal Transit.
It was an early start as the pilot boarded at 6 a.m. but I did do the early morning exercise class. This is the only gym of the fleet where you do not have a view outside. By the time I returned to the cabin the transit had commenced and we had sailed under the Bridge Of the Americas. Last year on Arcadia we transited East to West , and this year it is West to East. It is 11 years since we first transited the Panama Canal and then it was also West to East.
There was a commentary from the Bridge throughout the transit and the twitchers were out in force on the aft deck. It was a beautiful sunny day with a sea breeze to keep the temperatures bearable. We could see a huge container ship transiting the new part of the Panama Canal which opened in 2015. The original canal opened in August 1914.
The 1 st set of locks were the Miraflores which has two chambers and is near the port of Balboa, where Aurora was raised 54 ft to allow us to sail into the Miraflores man-made lake, followed by the single chamber lock called Pedro Miguel where Aurora was lifted 31 ft, the height of the Gatun Lake. We passed under the Centennial Bridge then onwards through the Galliard Cut to the massive Gatun Lake just in time for lunch.
There was a BBQ on deck which meant that there was no Grab & Go salads. I didn’t want the BBQ - as past experience of the BBQ has been long queues for luke warm food - or the dreaded buffet, so I opted for room service. There is a charge for this, but so worth it as I couldn’t be bothered to get dressed to go down to the dining room for lunch. We opened a bottle of Rose wine and enjoyed the views before going back onto the aft deck for the final part of the transit.
The final stage was the three chamber Gatun lock which lowered Aurora 85 ft to the level of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The pilot departed Aurora around 5 p.m. when the Captain announced that we were through the Canal with just the usual few bumps and scrapes. I only felt one of them. The cost of the transit for Aurora was $399,000 .
During dinner the sea got very rough just as the Captain had warned it would. Aurora was moving about a lot, juddering and lurching.
The entertainment in the theatre was the resident group Caravan who are excellent and I would have liked to go and listen to them, but the theatre is right at the front of the ship where the ship was moving the most so we gave it a miss.
Tomorrow we are in Cartagena, Columbia which is a new port for us.
), here's the missing day :
Out of the two forums and two Facebook groups that's following Sue's blogs, you were the only one to spot the missing day 