First of six days at sea

Sunset  as we left St Maarten

It was lovely once the other two cruise ships had left St Maarten last night, leaving us the last to leave. If the truth be told, I wasn’t fussed about going out last night. We had been informed slightly late in the day that there was a change of schedule for our departure from St Maarten and we would be leaving 3 hours later than published. This was due to the issues with docking and re-berthing that the ship had to do and quite a lot of people had been stranded on the ship and were therefore late getting off. I thought it might be nice to simply reflect on an amazing day and get a simple room service in. Nope, Nick wanted to be entertained. So recognising that the key to a successful marriage is compromise, we did as Nick wanted! We’d checked out the dinner menu on our way back from our trip and felt it looked ok. And ok it was. This is now the fourth decent meal on the trot in the restaurant. What’s going on? Long may it last.

Villainy on the high seas

Sunrise over the Aida

48 hours without Internet - sorry for the hiatus, but nothing we could do. Warning! There are images of drinking and of elderly people leaping around like lambkins in a high-speed racing yacht in this article. 

We made the mistake of going into the Glass House last night for a glass before dinner. A mistake? Well, because we are so well known there, (can’t think why) all the staff want to talk to us: How was your day? What did you do? Are you going out tomorrow? And of course, we respond with: Did you manage to get some shore leave? How was it? Are you getting off in St Maarten? By the time you’ve done this with half a dozen of the lovely team there, your drink has become warm and you’re thinking you better get to dinner before it congeals! It’s lovely to have that level of attention and they are so friendly that you don’t want to stop that chat happening - it becomes part of the evening’s socialising. 

An active sea day … and a mystery

Sunset over Cartagena as Aurora pivots for takeoff

It never ceases to amaze me how the ship is wielded in and out of port. Yesterday’s manoeuvre was not the most complex but still involved reversing the bulk of Aurora from its berth in Cartagena port, out into the open harbour, turning it sharply to the right as it backed up under the watchful eye of a large tug. Once clear of the jetty, the ship then pivoted around its centre using its side thrusters until it was aligned with the marker buoys that showed the way out to the open sea. At the same time as all this was going on we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset where the sun dropped rapidly behind the skyscrapers and lit the sky with fire. Magical!

Recovering from all the excitement

A lively sea

Like so many other evenings in recent weeks, we were fairly tired even though we had not strayed far from our cabin. The view sailing by all day was just so exciting and I think we were both overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the Panama Canal transit. We showered and went to Anderson’s for a glass of something nice and then on to the restaurant for another fairly mediocre dinner. Neither of us wanted what was on the menu and we felt we were getting dining room fatigue! It’s hard to raise enthusiasm for the food when it’s either overcooked or poorly presented … or both. However, we look to the positives: the plates are always hot (even when you have salad) and the portions are not huge. So, we headed back to our lovely cabin and stargazed on the balcony for some time and then had a read before turning in. 

Here's the itinerary

 

It's a long old trip - 65 nights - but it visits many locations and you can see the full list below.  We leave on 6 January 2023 from Southampton and return there on 12 March 2023.

Check out the video to see how we get there.