Our last full day was in the North Sea and then we docked in Southampton.
Our Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora would take us to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
The North Sea and then Southampton . . .
Day 16 Sunday May 28th on the North Sea
There was no more fog overnight in the North Sea and our passage overnight was again smooth.
Looking out from our balcony we could see oil rigs underneath a clear blue sky.
Breakfast again in the Medina restaurant and was a pleasure when compared to the day before. We shared a table with a couple from Australia and a couple who had never cruised before. Once again we were some of the last passengers to leave the restaurant. Out on deck I looked for sea life but instead found myself watching a couple of homing pigeons who were hitching a ride on Aurora’s decks.
The skies were clear but there was a slight sea mist that hampered a clear view out to the horizon. Ships that were passing there in the sea mist.
As this was our last full day onboard we met up with friends to have lunch in the Glass House. The restaurant was not very busy so we could take our time ordering. I had ‘Catch of the Day’ which was haddock (rather than cod). This meal is accompanied by thick cut chips and a pickled egg and was delicious… We all lingered over our final drinks as packing would be the order of the day after lunch.
Windmill farms in the North Sea
Back out on deck Aurora was passing a large windmill farm off the coast of England. Through my zoom lens I could see a ship adding a new windmill to the farm.
Now the sea mist had cleared I could see another cruise ship sailing parallel to Aurora. Apart from that ship I had to make do with taking pictures of the interesting clouds and the
Aurora was clearly using heavy fuel oil.
Dinner was a Waldorf salad, sirloin steak and finally a lemon merangue sundae. We all went to the quiz one last time and didn’t win – again.
and once back in the cabin it was time to put our suitcases out in the corridor.
Day 17 Monday 29th May Southampton
Aurora had slowed for a while in the early morning to take onboard the pilot. Later we docked at the Mayflower terminal at 6.15 am after a quick spin in the basin.
Our cabin was the least cluttered of any morning on this cruise.
As we were scheduled to leave the ship at 9 am and this gave us plenty of time to have one last breakfast in the Medina restaurant. We shared our table once again with the Australian couple and another couple who lived on the South Coast who we had met several cruises ago.
Chatting at breakfast meant that all the chairs were taken in the holding area where we had to wait to disembark. The good news was that we were so late getting there almost immediately we called to leave the ship.
For once all our suitcases were all together in the same row in the ‘hanger’.
After making our way out through the empty Customs Hall we were back at our car and another cruise was over.