We chose this cruise as a nice break before catering for a busy family Christmas. It is a while since we have been with P&O our last cruise on Aurora was to the fjords and lofoton island about 3 years ago which we loved. We have recently travelled several times with Princess HAL and celebrity. I know Aurora is due for another refit next year but we found our cabin A205 a mid ships balcony to be clean and comfortable. The only sign of wear was the bathroom sink. The public areas and carpets were kept clean and appeared to be in reasonable condition, and the ship was nicely decorated for Christmas. We have been on Aurora several times but always in the summer and the ship did seem smaller when we were we were unable to use the outside spaces. A bonus for the few people with young children on board was the covers pool which enabled them to swim. The food was reasonably good. The meat dishes were not up to the quality on Princess or Celebrity and were generally cheaper cuts. The portions were also smaller which suited us.

We booked a select fare and so were on freedom dining as we requested, however we had to wait around 45 mins a night for a table for 2 which was a bit frustrating, but we had a pager and went for a drink whilst waiting. We ate twice in Sindu where we had excellent food and service and once in the Glass house where we had a good meal with a beautifully presented steak with prawns. Wine and drinks are reasonable price and much cheaper then other cruise line, and there is no 15 or 20 percent service charge on drinks with P&O, I fact we get an 8 percent discount on our whole bill due to our past cruises with them.

We have seen all the shows before with different groups of headliners some good some really not good so we didn’t bother with them. After other passengers comments on the comedian we gave that a miss too. Read more