Product Description

Non-fiction but reads like a story - similar style to Carol Drinkwater's Olive Farm books. 220 pages. Account of cruise on P and O Cruises ship Aurora into the Mediterranean, and includes a short trip up the Nile. From checking in your luggage at Southampton to disembarkation two weeks later, you'll experience the delights of this most relaxing of holidays. If you're new to cruising you'll be amazed at some of the things that happen; if you're an 'old hand' this book will bring back many happy memories - humorous and entertaining and informative. Readers have said they felt they were on the cruise with me.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251266 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 230 pages

The Portunus Club Magazine - Issue 10
Join Carlton on board Aurora; includes tour below stairs. This may whet your appetite for exploring new destinations.

From the Publisher
Self-published because publishers couldn't be sure of their print runs. They were obviously unaware of the million plus people who took cruises from the UK in 2005 - cruising is the fastest growing holiday market. Over 1,000 copies sold to date April 06 since publication November 05.Written in an easy, chatty style - you feel as though Patricia is talking to you personally.

From the Author
Great fun to write, it reveals my enthusiasm for cruising - I know from feedback received that men as well as women are enjoying it - several have urged me to finish the second in the series Pollywogs and Shellbacks Go Tropical which will be on QE2 and go across the Equator to Cape Town, Mauritius, St Helena etc. If you've never cruised, this will give you a genuine picture - if you've been on Aurora, it will bring back happy memories for you, or why not give it to a friend and run the risk of increasing the ever growing numbers who go cruising - thus making it even more difficult to get a cabin on the ship and cruise you decide to book!

Customer Reviews

Great thoughts of Aurora
Having just been on our first cruise aboard Aurora it was great getting home and having time to read this book - which was bought on board Aurora! - and be able to make connections between the ship and the book - just some great memories and cleverly written by author - Looking forward to reading 'going tropical' and waiting for the next book due out this year!

Ghastly, smug glimpse into the cruising life
As a keen cruiser I hoped this book would encapsulate my feelings about cruising and reflect the experiences that I share with friends and family. Instead I got a ghastly, smug glimpse into the cruising life from the perspective of someone who is completely unable to convey any excitement or wonder about these magnificent holidays.

The writing was travelogue crossed with holiday brochure and saw fit to linger on the really thrilling aspects of cruising (such as registering your credit card or how to put on your baggage labels) with constant threats of 'more about that, later', whilst ignoring description of the activities, facilities and people which make the sea life so magical. Apart from the occasional name dropping (Captain This and Captain That), endless cocktail parties and afternoon naps, virtually nothing was described, although the author constantly entreatied her readers that she liked sea days best (although there seems to be no description explaining exactly how she enjoyed her sea days).

The visits to the ports were incidental. Only one P&O arranged trip was described, with the author dismissing the rest as 'we've been to these ports so many times that it's not worth seeing anything'. There was also big jarring places where the author suddenly starts describing trips taken on other holidays 20 years ago that bear no relation to the Aurora or modern cruising.

The whole book felt amateurish and coy, as if the author wrote it all during a 2 week cruise as her 'project'. It all seemed rather boastful, the writer showing off about the number of cruising experiences she had, and didn't draw the reader into the exciting world of cruising at all.

If you want to really know what it feels like to cruise, please pick up a travel brochure and see what the experts say.

Great Read!
Been reading this lately, a fantastic book. Follows Carlton's love of cruising onboard Aurora. (Yes, she's the one who famously did laps round the Isle of Wight).

She describes what to do at the Mediterranean Ports at which her cruise stopped as well as a below the decks tour.

Felt just like an extened voyage report, although I did find the middle few chapters a bit boring in describing a previous river cruise along the Nile as well as the temples and Pyramids of Egypt.

Made me look forwrad to my cruise aboard Aurora later in the year.