P&O "Aurora"

We boarded Aurora as scheduled in Auckland, and are headed for Apia in Western Samoa, Christmas Island in the Gilberts, Oahu, and finally San Francisco. While we try to experience each cruise and ship independently, sometimes we can’t help but to make comparisons.

You are all familiar with the definitions of international Heaven and Hell: Heaven includes English cops, French lovers, Italian cooks and German mechanics. Hell, on the other hand, has English cooks, French mechanics, Italian cops and German lovers. While some may quibble over some of those generalities, we can sum up much of Aurora by reminding all that it is a British ship. So far we’ve eaten beef, pork, lamb, kangaroo, rabbit, veal and venison. Steaks, roasts, chops and patties. And they all tasted the same - tough, dry, and over-cooked. Oh well, can’t have Heaven all the time, I suppose.

Aurora has approximately twice as many passengers (1850) as our previous ship Serenity, but much less variety. So far we’ve met one Croatian and two South Africans. All the others have been members of the British Commonwealth. Last night the comedian asked if there were any Americans in the audience. Out of ~600 audience members one lone fool volunteered - resulting in Phil being the subject of many of the jokes for the next 20 minutes. It was OK, though, as we only understood half of them, anyway. And they were funny!

We spent the day on Apia swimming, snorkeling, and relaxing. The beach was beautiful, but the water cloudy, so no pictures. Western Samoa is a very strict Christian country, and this was Sunday, so we got to see an interesting mix of traditional island and strict Puritanical clothing. Not worth pictures, but we did buy a sarong such as is commonly worn by both men and women,
often in conjunction with a coat and tie.

The following day was tropical dress up night, the only variance from proper dress for dinner. One Aussie and one Yank were the only to exhibit any creativity! Or daring, considering the 25 knot breeze across the open decks.