World Circumnavigation - Sector One

Itinerary: Southampton - Ponta Delgada - St. Lucia - Barbados - Curaçao - Panama Canal - Huatulco - Cabo San Lucas - San Francisco

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I have been planning a big retirement holiday for many years. I didn't know what it was going to be, but a full world circumnavigation was high on the list. Well this was it!! It was my first cruise on P&O. The Aurora is fairly old for a cruise ship, being built in 2000. I joined the P&O forum and the World Cruise was very lively, full of hints and tips and lots of banter. Because of engineering works on the railway I decided to hire a car and drive to Southampton. I booked a Corsa and ended up with a C'eed estate. which meant there was no problem getting my luggage in the car. The journey down was fine, dull and cool, but no problems. I arrived at the hotel at 14.20, but the room wasn't ready, so I filled up the car and when I got back, it still wasn't ready. I was told to go and have a complimentary drink in the bar. While I was drinking my Bombay and tonic, the receptionist came and found me, she brought me my key and said that she'd changed my room. This room had a view of the Queen Elizabeth. At about 17:15 I saw the Oriana sail past and a few minutes later the QE slipped anchor and left. I then went to The Premier Inn, met Barbara, Phil and Yvonne from the form and we walked to the local Wetherspoons to meet Derek and Meg. We ate and went back to our various hotels for the night.

The next morning, my wake call never materialised. After showering etc, I went down to breakfast, then took the car back and strolled to M&S to buy flowers for the cabin. I checked out and took a cab to the terminal. I had to wait about 10 minutes for check in to open. Derek and Meg were first in the queue! A couple of minutes after I arrived, Barbara, Phil and Yvonne arrived. I checked in and went through to departures. 15 or so minutes after that and we were on board. We went straight to the Orangery for lunch. Just before 2 I went to the cabin. One of my bags was in the corridor, so I unpacked that, met my room steward, Sheikh and found a second bag, which I also unpacked. Lifeboat drill, then sailaway, with a few of the forum members and then back to the cabin, where my last two cases had arrived. There was no time to unpack, as it was dinner time. I went to my table. There are 8 of us, all singletons, 4 men and 4 women, all of whom were on their second world cruise. Two of the men had never cruised before. After dinner and the welcome show I unpacked.

The first sea day, I had breakfast and walked a mile immediately afterwards. Then I took part in the individual quiz and the Battle of the Sexes quiz, which is progressive. We were honours even. At midday, we had the Forum meeting in the Uganda Room, where it was nice to finally put faces to names from the forum. Immediately after that I'd organised a cabin crawl and then some of us had lunch. Saw Jimmy James in the theatre after dinner, then a quiz in the Masquerade club and a Syndicate quiz in Vanderbilts. Our Syndicate quiz team is Barbara, Linda and Rob and two ladies who joined us, Rosemary and Veronica. Sea days have fallen into a bit of a pattern, Breakfast, mile walk, individual quiz, battle of the sexes, lunch, deck quoits, dinner, Masquerade quiz, syndicate quiz. Maybe with a show thrown in. In between these things, we meet up or I may spend some time on the permanent jig saw puzzle in the library. The quiz prizes are bottles of wine and we've won two so far.

January 11. Ponta Delgada, Azores. I took an Island tour with wine and cheese tasting. We visited St. Nicholas church in Sete Cidades, then the two lakes, one supposedly blue, the other green. Then a tour and back into Ponta Delgada and on to a hotel, just across from the ship for cheese and wine tasting. Both were good! I then returned to the ship to grab my iPad, so I could post my blogs and send/receive emails. Then it was sailaway at 15:30 with an amateurish Sailaway party. P&O should send a spy on to Royal Caribbean to see how it should be done! During the Sailaway, the Captain announced that the sea was going to be choppy for the next few days and consequently tomorrows Captains Party would be postponed. This evening was our first 60s/70s night. No one else on my table were going to get dressed up, so I decided the hippy outfit could stay in the wardrobe. We've decided that after San Francisco, when we're all on the same table, then we will dress up. Watch this space! Lousy score in Sydicate Quiz .

Force 7/8 on our next sea day, so I couldn't walk my mile as the Promenade deck was closed. I did my washing instead, as this boy knows how to live! Scored 12 in the Individual Quiz, the winner scored 15. The men are getting trounced in the Battle of the Sexes. All the missing staff joined the ship in Ponta Delgada, so Cafe Bordeaux finally opened. We ate lunch there. I had the smallest Croque Monsieur I've ever eaten! Second formal night tonight. Watched the show, Emily Reed, a singer, then did quite well in Masquerade Challenge and lost in the tie break in the Syndicate Quiz.

The days were getting warmer and people were starting to sit out on deck.

January 16. Castries, St. Lucia. The weather was hot and felt great after the cold weather we left behind. I'd been to St. Lucia a few years before, so I decided to go on a trip to the aerial tram, which wasn't built when I was last in the country. The trip was OK, but apart from the rainforest, we only saw a few hummingbirds. I enjoyed it, all the same. After the trip, I just strolled around the town for a while. The evening was designated a tropical night. I bought a tropical shirt from the ships shop. Each dinner setting also had a lei for us to wear. I saw Jonathan Wilkes in the theatre, then went up to the Tropical Party, held by the Riviera Pool. Finally, we lost the Syndicate Quiz.

January 17. Bridgetown, Barbados. Angie and I had visited here less than two years ago and we'd visited all the places I wanted to see. At Christmas 2011, Phai and I went to Egypt. Whilst we were there, we went on a beginners SCUBA dive. So I decided to repeat the exercise in Barbados. I was picked up at the Cruise Terminal and taken to the Hilton. We were kitted out and had a trial run in the pool. Then we went out on the sea and jumped into the water. We swam past 5 small ship wrecks, which is perhaps not a good idea for someone on a world cruise! There were lots of fish, in so many glorious colours. I'm glad I repeated the experience. Unfortunately today, a passenger on the catamaran trip died of a heart attack.

January 19. Willemstadt, Curaçao. We arrived at about 7.30. The weather was sunny and warm, about 26 degrees. I had no trip planned today. Barbara, Rob and Linda, Phil and Yvonne and I just strolled into town and wandered around. we had to walk over the Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, which floats to the side of the river to allow ships through. We just strolled around the town. We had a local beer in the sun. Some parts of the town are a lot like Amsterdam. The others, apart from Barbara and I went back, but we decided to stay on. We went onto the pontoon and it started to close, so we had a ride across the river! On the other side we then just had a stroll on that side, before returning to the ship.

January 21. One of the highlights today. The transit of the Panama Canal. I got up at 6am and was on the very top and front of the ship at 6.30. We were almost at the Gatun Locks. It took us about 1½ hours to complete the passage and pass into Gatun Lake. Whilst I was having lunch, we passed through the Pedro Miguel locks. I went back up to the very front and top of the ship for the passage into the final set of locks, the Miraflores. I watched us enter the locks, then I went down to the Promenade Deck to see us drop down to sea level. We had risen 85 feet to cross the isthmus and then dropped 85 feet back to sea level. Immediately after leaving the locks, we passed under the Bridge of the Americas, with Panama City on our port side. The ship had about a foot of clearance on either side whilst passing through the locks. All in all an amazing day.

January 23. Black and White night. Finally a chance to wear my white dinner jacket. There was lobster on the menu again tonight, but I had vension. For dessert, I only looked at the first item. Cherries Jubilee. Unlike Royal Caribbean P&O still set them alight using brandy. Probably the best meal I've had on board so far. The Karpenters and Jonathan Wilkes in the theatre tonight. Before this, I had been to the spa for a pedicure and manicure. My feet haven't felt this soft since I was about 3! Because of the spa visit, I missed the Chocoholics Tea. Luckily, there will be one each sector.

January 24. Huatulco, México. We arrived early on a nice sunny day. I had booked a white water rafting trip with an outside company. After I'd booked it I realised I'd made a mistake and booked it for yesterday. I didn't get a reply about the mistake, so I waited on the dockside at 9.15 just in case they turned up. They didn't. I then had a look around a fairly boring little town. I only explored Santa Cruz, the area near the dock. When I finally picked up my emails, there was one agreeing to the change of date. It also changed my pick up time. It had been changed to 10am, I read the email at 11am!! There really isn't much in Huatulco, although apparently it will be significantly larger by 2017. I was back on board by midday. Sailway was 15.30, so that must say something about the attractions here!

January 26. Cabo San Lucas, México. Our penultimate port in Sector One. Apparently this is the first time 'in decades' that P&O has visited Cabo. This was the first time I've ever had to tender into a port. I'd booked a whale watching expedition. We got into Cabo and boarded the catamaran. On the way out of the harbour we passed lots of pelicans and sea lions. I was amazed that the sea lions came so far into the harbour. We only travelled a short way from the shore when we saw humpbacks. There appeared to be three and they travelled all around the bay. I saw one breach in the distance. They seemed to roll on their sides and wave their fins in the air. Towards the end of the trip we also saw a grey whale. It was probably the worst of the three whale watching trips I've done, but still well worth the money. I then strolled around the town, had lunch in the Hard Rock cafe (my 21st cafe), and tendered back to the ship. On the way back, I saw two boats, each of which had a sealion hanging on the back, being dragged through the water! They apparently get fed fish.

January 29. San Francisco, USA. The first of our two days in San Francisco, but the final day of Sector One. I was up at 5am to see us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a bit of a an anti-climax to be honest. It was too dark to take photos. Everyone on board had to have a face to face interview with the immigration people. I was through by 7.35. Finally off the ship by 11.05. After checking times with the tour company about tomorrow's tour I walked through Chinatown to Union Square and Market Street. I managed to get everything but one item on my shopping list. Took a cable car back to Fishermans Wharf and strolled back to the ship. After an excellent seafood dinner off board, I went to the Top of the Mark for the great views. I went with Nick, one of the ship's photographers. We came back on a cable car. He took almost 200 photo's.

The sector flew past. I loved every minute of it and as an added bonus, I never saw rain once!

Cabin 147 kb	Sign 127 kb	Statue 176 kb	Loading 192 kb	Sailaway 150 kb	Fireworks 145 kb

Fireworks 150 kb	Statue 124 kb	Funnel 176 kb	Wake 165 kb	Me 181 kb	Me 145 kb

Ship 160 kb	Christmas tree 225 kb	Church 220 kb	Church 170 kb	Christmas tree 204 kb	Blue Lake 163 kb

Green Lake 111 kb	Santiago Lake 208 kb	Green & Blue Lakes 171 kb	Island 141 kb	Cows 148 kb	Ship 135 kb

Ponta Delgada 185 kb	Ponta Delgada 163 kb	Ponta Delgada 205 kb	Formal Night 185 kb	Sculpture 174 kb	Zip liner 264 kb

Forest floor 266 kb	Rainforest 264 kb	Rainforest 267 kb	Spider 207 kb	Heliconium 209 kb	Aerial tram car 277 kb

Humming bird 222 kb	Cabin window 121 kb	Cathedral 201 kb	Ships 146 kb	Me 254 kb	Sunset 143 kb

Ship 173 kb	Me 176 kb	Food packet 154 kb	Sign 165 kb	Church 163 kb	Iguana 222 kb

Building 191 kb	Roof tiles 175 kb	Bridge 166 kb	Buildings 204 kb	Buildings 174 kb	Cabin 138 kb

Gatun Locks 187 kb	This way 211 kb	Gatun Locks 162 kb	Gatun Locks 161 kb	Mule 177 kb	Lock gates 169 kb

Where we are 200 kb	Zuiderdam 161 kb	The lock 183 kb	The lock 160 kb	The Windsor and the Zuiderdam 175 kb	Me 165 kb

Me 177 kb	Centennial Bridge 138 kb	Ice sculpture 160 kb	Miraflores Locks & Bridge of Americas 133 kb	Rowboat 161 kb	Mule 182 kb

Lock gates 181 kb	Bridge of Americas 138 kb	Bridge of Americas 161 kb	Panama City 155 kb	Museum 141 kb	Sign 89 kb

Puzzles 188 kb	Wake 181 kb	The guys 145 kb	The girls 175 kb	Me 143 kb	Huatulco 157 kb

Ship 149 kb	Huatulco 194 kb	Cabin view 141 kb	Me 158 kb	Tenders 196 kb	Rocks 184 kb

Humpback whale 168 kb	Humpback whale 169 kb	Whale & ship 173 kb	Humpback whale 172 kb	Humpback whale 166 kb	Aurora 188 kb

Cabo San Lucas 184 kb	Building 148 kb	Aerial Tramway, St Lucia 1 minute 1 second

Page created 5^th May 2013