Reviewer: John Henry from New York City.
Cruise Line: Marine Link Tours.
Ship: Aurora Explorer.
Destination: British Columbia.
# of Nights: 5.
Departure Date & Ports: August 2016.
OVERALL RATING: 5 out of 5 stars.
Have you been on a small ship cruise before? Yes.
Review: Better than the brochure! This was a case where the brochure for our ship understated its appeal.
My wife and I both being on the far side of 75 years, we were a little apprehensive of the part that warned steep stairways between decks, which passengers had to use if they wanted to reach the dining room and bridge deck. We shouldn’t have worried; both of us easily negotiated our ascents and descents.
After we read on the ship’s web site that the staterooms were, as one passenger’s appraisal put it, “tiny,” we were concerned about whether we would find our stateroom — albeit one of the three deluxe ones — too cramped. Here again, we needn’t have worried. There must have been five feet between our two parallel single beds.
Another fear before our trip was that we would encounter stiff competition to use the washbasins, toilets and showers that we had to share with other passengers, because none of the staterooms have those facilities. Neither of us ever had to wait to use them.
Because cell phone reception was problematic and there were, of course, no daily newspapers, our trip provided a perfect opportunity to read the books we had brought aboard. Over six days and five nights, I finished one and read most of another. My wife probably finished three.
When we weren’t reading or eating, we were taking in the fabulous unspoiled scenery, sometimes using the binoculars provided to each stateroom. They were particularly useful for viewing the whales, seals and sea lions we encountered.
We usually had one daily shore excursion consisting of a brief walk on one of the small sparsely populated islands that we visited.
It’s a measure of the appeal of the ship and its itinerary that three other couples on our trip were aboard to celebrate milestone wedding anniversaries — two of them each marking 50 years of marriage and one of them, 55 years.
Three of the 11 passengers were Canadian and the rest were American. Most of our fellow travelers said they hoped to repeat the trip with their children or grandchildren. They’d better book early. Word is spreading about this gem of a cruise.
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