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Login Experience the timeless elegance of Aurora. This adults-only ship exudes classic cruising with a modern twist; with its stunning atrium and refined design, you can indulge in relaxing afternoons, explore destinations, and appreciate the art of leisurely cruising. From relaxing on the sun-drenched Lido deck to enjoying British afternoon tea or exploring extraordinary itineraries, unforgettable adventures await on Aurora.
ABOUT US Retired mid-sixties couple. We have done many cruises previously with a number of different lines but no cruise had exceeded two weeks. Not only were we going to an alien part of the world we were going away for far longer than we had ever done so before. We had not previously sailed on the Aurora. ABOUT THE SHIP It is the smallest and oldest (built 2000) but the fastest in the P&O fleet. It nevertheless has all the main significant facilities of the newer and much larger ships in the fleet. It is on a more human scale than the larger ones and this seemed important to many fellow passengers. It is until Christmas 2026 and adults only ship but it is hard to see anything on the vessel that would make it an attractive option for children or teenagers. Many passengers appreciated it being adults only. The public rooms are in really good condition. As has been reported in other reviews, externally there is corrosion to paintwork giving rise to observations it is a rust bucket. Rest assured the structure is not corroded. On this cruise, the deck team was constantly chipping paint off, banging, painting, making lots of noise and closing off sections of the promenade deck with no regard to passenger amenity. It seems there is a large backlog of maintenance and this is being addressed ahead of the needs of passengers. One night, the water supply to the ship was closed down for maintenance but instead of being reconnected at 6am the following morning this did not happen until 10am by which time many cruisers had had their daily toilet movements but there was no water to wash with thereafter. This gave rise to concern a norovirus outbreak would occur. This did not happen which is testament to the collective good hygiene of passengers but P&O really should not put passengers in this position. The Ship is powered by diesel and it is certainly a floating polluter. EMBARKATION/DISEMBARKATION Southampton cruise is both busy and tucked away. If driving as we did allow an extra hour over and above what Google Maps advises to get to the Port. Traffic congestion in the city is something else. Embarkation was slow and queueing was the name of the game. We disembarked ourselves which entailed taking our luggage off rather than having the ship collect it and take it to the baggage hall. This worked very well for us and enabled us to leave the ship in a relaxed manner ahead of the throngs. On leaving the Port though we immediately hit heavy traffic and it was a slow trek to the motorway. We used CPS for parking and found it professional and efficient including moving our vehicle to the disembarkation terminal that differed from the embarkation terminal. FELLOW PASSENGERS The average age was about seventy-five years. This was probably skewed upwards by the cruise duration. They comprised a real mix of retirees. Some used the ship almost as alternative to a care home, some to see a fascinating part of the world and some to visit the supermarkets of South America and the Caribbean to stock up on alcohol, crisps and chocolate. Passengers broadly fell into two categories traditional cruisers that had clocked umpteen cruises over the years and nouveau cruisers that had come up through the ranks of Blackpool/Butlins/Tattoo Parlour/Benidorm and latterly cruising. The cliques mixed well but were divided by their evening socialising venue of choice with traditional cruisers predominantly frequenting Andersons and nouveau cruisers Champions. Passengers were almost entirely British save for a smattering of Northern Europeans and Americans. THE ITINERARY Essentially, the cruise fell into two parts: circumnavigation of South America and visits to a few Caribbean islands. No comment will be made about the latter because a Caribbean cruise is anticipated to be very familiar to readers. In the case of the former, the calls were exceptional in interest and cultural terms. We won’t go into detail as it is cruisers themselves to discover these places but they are very much worth doing so. Check Wikipedia and see what rocks your boat and do and/or visit it! In every port, the Ship offers many varied excursions. Beware, these are very expensive. In port, if passengers can get into groups taxis will take them to the very same places as the P&O excursion for a much lower price. Indeed, by purchasing an esim that gives data coverage in the ports they can be explored by public transport (usually) a bus with the assistance of Google Maps for very little cost. In Port Stanley, a hop on hop off bus (£20) will take passengers around the town and then out to Yorke Bay from where Gentoo Penguins can be seen. Three of the ports required tendering which was a tedious, slow process especially returning from Port Stanley where we had to wait for an hour in the rain without shelter. P&O only utilised three or four of the dozen life boats for this purpose which was inadequate but there may be good reason why more boats weren’t used. INSURANCE P&O make it a condition of sailing that passengers must have appropriate travel insurance this adds to the cost of the cruise and may indeed add significantly to the overall price. In our opinion, P&O is right to have this condition of passage. At virtually every port, if not every port, there was at least one ambulance to take away a passenger requiring medical treatment. Indeed, an unscheduled call had to be made in Chile to evacuate an ill passenger. Such treatment could be financially ruinous for uninsured passengers. We were talking to one passenger than required anti-biotics and a saline infusion and she said the cost of that was nearly £1,000. Medical insurance is vital for trips of this nature. FOOD On any cruise this is a significant consideration more so on one of seventy-five nights. For convenience, we took breakfast at the Horizon buffet. This was standard cruise breakfast fayre that got very boring very quickly but that would apply to any cruise line’s breakfast buffet. English breakfast was welcome but we only ate this about once a week not least because finding the HP sauce was as difficult as hitting the jackpot on slot machine! We had two specific criticisms of P&O Breakfast food: the muffins tasted as if they had been baked two days before they were served and the toast because it was so thin and had been toasted an hour before service had the texture and taste of cardboard. Again, for convenience, we mostly had luncheon at the Horizon buffet. As with all cruise line’s buffets the food was at best lukewarm. Many offerings consisted of the previous night’s unwanted main courses and every day there was at least one curry (a good way to recycle leftovers). There was also a lot of repetition. Sometimes, we had a cheeseburger at the Lido Grill and they were generally decent but for a period of days burgers were not offered only mutton curry! It would appear there was a surplus left over from the crew mess. At night we dined in the Alexandria Restaurant this was of a much better standard than the Horizon buffet and we were very well taken care of by our waiter and assistant waiter. The food here is served on a two-week cycle so that too got repetitious. The menu was surprising. Starters were predominantly vegan/vegetarian with perhaps on fish option and a pate. Soups also fell into the no meat category and were usually cream of or curried cheap vegetable i.e. butternut squash, celeriac, cauliflower. No meaty soups whatsoever. The main courses were also heavily weighted to vegan/vegetarian/curry options but the fish option was always good and a sirloin steak or chicken breast was available every night. Overall, the menu was disappointing. We are non-Indian eating carnivores so we struggled. Also, we did not on our table see anyone ordering the vegetarian/vegan options. What is going on P&O? There are three ‘pay for’ restaurants. Firstly, Sindu this does exclusively Indian food and was mostly empty save for on occasions for Ship’s officers and staff. This is unsurprising because the Ship is awash with Indian food so why pay extra? About once a week, the Horizon buffet for dinner had an Indian night. Indian food was available every lunchtime and in the main dining areas at night. The ship was sailing from Southampton not Chennai! Secondly, the Glass House: we ate there one night the experience took over three and a half hours the lamb cutlets for starters were grossly overcooked, the beef for main was akin to shoe leather and portion sizes were generally small. Interestingly, Ship staff that came after us were finished before us; make of that what you want. We did not repeat the experience. The third option is the Beach House which is an area of the Horizon buffet; after our experience at the Glass House, we did not chance that! ALCOHOL The prices of beers and spirits in the Ship’s bars was reasonable. There didn’t appear to be very many passengers using the drinks package. This is not surprising bearing in mind the length of the cruise and the quantity of alcohol that would have to be consumed to even break even. The Ship’s wine was expensive. The Ship had a few days when a bottle of spirits could be purchased in the Duty-Free store for consumption in guests’ cabins which we had not seen before. Alcohol purchased ashore was meant to be surrendered on going back on board. This was not enforced by the security staff so many passengers brought on and consumed wine and spirits purchased at port calls. STAYING CONNECTED Being away for so long we wanted to remain connected our home life for many reasons. We therefore purchased P&O wi-fi for the cruise duration. This was very expensive. P&O promised “high speed connection”. This claim is a complete dishonest representation. The wi-fi is painfully slow. Wi-fi tests were carried out at various times during the cruise including when docked at Southampton on return. These consistently measured a download speed of around 2.5 mps and an upload speed of 3mps. The tests concluded “your internet connection is very slow”. For comparison, a high-speed connection as promised, is around 100+mps. Beware of this false marketing claim. For low data users a better option is to use a Red Bull esim. P&O considers itself moral guardians for wi-fi users blocking many websites for its own reasons. My husband was livid access to the Racing Post was blocked. This is somewhat hypocritical since P&O operates a casino on the Ship! Wi-fi was usually available in ports of call but it was reported that this could be slow and patchy on account of the volume of passengers utilising it. WEATHER Passengers need attire for all seasons. It was cold on embarkation and eventually got progressively warmer until the equator was reached and then progressively cooler. It may have been the middle of summer in Port Stanley and Punta Arenas but it was still damn cold. Then the weather started warming again and stayed pleasantly warm through the Caribbean and on to Porta Delgado thereafter back to the cold. We were most unlucky in Buzios and Rio Janeiro where it rained almost continuously. There can be no guarantees with the weather! The Ship sailed by the Bay of Biscay twice and around Cape Horn all notorious for stormy sailing but throughout the cruise, the Ship hardly rocked or rolled at all and overall, it was a very placid sailing. LAUNDRY With the best will in the world, nobody is going to bring enough clothing to last seventy-five nights without having it laundered. The Ship provided a laundry service but this was pricey. Most passengers utilised the Ship’s laundrettes at no cost save for detergent. These got very busy especially before and after port days when they were closed for washing on account of port regulations. We heard stories of tensions/arguments in the laundrettes but we encountered none of that and found that by doing our laundry in the evenings machines and dryers were readily available. On walking past our nearby laundrette during some daytimes it was clearly very busy. The dryers were excellent. EXERCISE Many passengers on sea days wanted to exercise either by walking around the promenade deck or using the Ship’s gymnasium. As mentioned earlier, walking the deck was frustrated by maintenance works. The gymnasium is small and when we wanted to use it, we found it monopolised by the Ship’s crew which is just not satisfactory. GUEST SERVICES Have you ever heard the phrase “as much use as a chocolate teapot”? This is Guest Services on a good day. Fortunately, we had few causes to visit. We left the cabin without the entry card so went to Guest Services for a temporary card. This was extremely protracted and eventually Guest Services said it could not provide one and it was calling cabin services for someone to meet us at the cabin and give access. We also visited regarding the slow wi-fi. Initially, the attendant denied the wi-fi being slow but when independent test results were shown advised fast wi-fi was not offered. When show the P&O marketing he then referred to terms and conditions whereby service speed could not be guaranteed. This was a most frustrating process listening to someone forever changing his position. Another passenger though fared much worse than we did. He told us his wife could not join the Ship at Southampton for personal reasons and when the ship sailed, he was contacted by Guest Services enquiring of her whereabouts. During the conservation he was advised she could the Ship at a later port. The guest reconfirmed this some days later at the desk. The guest’s wife advised she could join at Aruba. The guest once again asked Guest Services if this was OK and was advised in the affirmative. Acting in good faith on this information, the guest’s wife booked a flight and incurred other incidental costs in making arrangements to join the ship. A couple of days before Aruba the guest was called to the Guest Services desk and advised Southampton said she could not join at Aruba but perhaps in Barbados. When Guest Services were told their advice had resulted in major abortive costs being occurred the attendant allegedly shrugged her shoulders and said “sorry about that”. We do not know how that passenger kept his cool with the shoddy, costly treatment they received form Guest Services. ENTERTAINMENT Keeping 1,800 or so passengers entertained for almost eleven weeks is a daunting undertaking. We consider P&O exceeded the challenge and should be proud of itself in doing so. There were shows every evening, daytime lectures, music recitals, quizzes, crafts, language lessons, cards, lessons, a variety of exercise classes, dance classes, to name but a few of the goings on. To keep nouveau cruisers happy, live soccer matches were screened too. Lecturers and entertainers joined and left the Ship at most ports. Graham Gooch was one such and very entertaining lecturer as was Lesley Joseph. Sue Pollard another. Entertainers included contestants on reality shows that achieved their lifetime aspiration to be a cruise ship singer and a few entertainers such as Tommy Cannon that perhaps should not have been used. The resident entertainers were a mixed bag. The busker was awful and it was pitiful watching him show up at a venue and clearing it within five minutes save for a handful of folks. It must have been really dispiriting for him. One cannot imagine his contract being renewed. The resident showband Pulse were OK except when the male vocalist took the mic, his voice is not good. The pianist and trio in the Crows Nest were good. There was a troupe of dancers/vocalists that did some shows. Sadly, their abilities did not match their egos and they performed as karaoke singers with dancing. This though is not unusual for cruise ship theatre companies. Still, it gives young people an opportunity to see the world. We did some quizzes and could not fail to note that one of the quiz hosts had an obsession with Harry Potter and we found this bizarre perhaps one day he will grow up? ACCOMMODATION We had an inside cabin. It was perhaps a little dated the climate control worked well and we no issues with the shower or water temperature. Our one slight niggle was that the two beds joined together to make a king size bed were not of the same height resulting in a ridge where they met. Room service was unobtrusive and efficient. OFFICERS/STAFF/CREW The crew were very polite and friendly; not so much staff and officers that were full of their self-importance. We have never been on a cruise where we saw so many staff in passenger bars and restaurants so frequently. It made us wonder if they saw themselves as passengers rather than P&O employees? Having said that, save for them having priority at bars and restaurants, their presence did not cause us or seemingly any other passengers’ inconvenience. VERDICT This cruise is highly recommended. It provides the opportunity to escape the worse of the British winter, to see unique and fascinating places, to be entertained and dined. It is overall good value for money. Not everything was perfect but it never will be over such a duration. We may even book a future South American Grand Tour.
From inside cabins to balcony cabins and luxurious suites, you will find a room for every budget and taste.
All cabins are air-conditioned and well designed, to give you as much space as possible and to help you relax into your surroundings. Many feature balconies to give you additional outside space. All feature Egyptian cotton sheets, free tea & coffee making facilities, refrigerator, hairdryer, safe, in-cabin television and good sized en-suite bathrooms with toiletries pack. You will also enjoy the services of a personal cabin steward who will look after your every need, and can enjoy room service from early morning until late evening at no extra cost.
A feast for the senses
Discover a culinary journey like no other. From elegant dining at Anderson's to the vibrant atmosphere of The Beach House, there's something to suit every taste bud. Sip on expertly selected wines at The Glass House, or enjoy casual drinks with ocean views at the Crows Nest. With a diverse range of dining and drinking options, every sip or bite on Aurora is an adventure waiting to be discovered.
Included restaurants - With so many delicious dining options already included in your holiday price, you'll be spoilt for choice at any time of the day.
Speciality restaurants - Indulge yourself in an extra-special culinary crusade - with exquisite menus and exceptional service - for a little extra.
A world of entertainment
Day or night, Aurora promises unforgettable entertainment to suit everyone. Indulge in dazzling performances at the Curzon Theatre, catch a film at the Playhouse Cinema, or sway to live music in Carmen's show lounge. For thrill-seekers wanting to try their luck, the casino awaits. For the more cultured and curious, there's an art gallery, library and a host of talks and classes to discover.
Make the night your own
Sometimes on holiday, planning your evening can be a bit of a challenge. What’s worth seeing and doing? Are you staying in the right part of town? Is it a taxi ride away? On a P&O Cruises holiday you can find your perfect night, every night. Be as spontaneous as you like whether it’s an intimate drink or a celebration with friends, a night to get glammed up or keep it casual; the choice is yours…
Entertainment for all
With all-inclusive shows, live music, comedy, and SO much more, there's something for everyone aboard a P&O Cruises holiday. Fill your sea days with exciting cruise ship entertainment—from dazzling productions and gameshows to blockbuster movies and casinos.
Take the time to recharge your batteries or stay active. Whether you want to take things slow or push the tempo, Aurora offers a range of options to help you feel your best throughout your cruise. Unwind with rejuvenating treatments at the Oasis Spa & Salon, or stay active in the well-equipped gym, in an invigorating fitness class or on the sports court.
Spa and Wellbeing
Find your on-board sanctuary in the Oasis Spa, a haven of pampering and relaxation. Melt away into a blissful world of me-time. Choose from the most exclusive spa therapies, rejuvenating facials and massages, pick-me-up nail treatments, and feel-good hair styling. There’s plenty for those who want to stay active, too, from a high-tech gym and fitness classes to swimming pools and sports courts.
Sports, Games and Fitness on Board
There's an energising activity for everyone on board a P&O Cruises holiday. From sports courts and fun-filled deck games to state-of-the-art gyms and invigorating fitness classes, discover the perfect way to work up a sweat and have fun.
Please note: Aurora is exclusively for adults.
