Aurora Entertainment
Evening entertainment is held in ether the Curzon Theatre or Carmen's lounge (sometimes even in both) and is geared to an elderly audience, which makes sense if seniors make up the majority of the passenger list.
Aurora has its own song and dance troupe, and their shows were interspersed between other rather hit-and-miss singers, as well as groups and comedians who came and went throughout the long voyage. The variety ensured there was always something fresh for passengers onboard for the full three months.
There were as many as three lectures during the day as well as French and Spanish lessons, dancing, whist and bridge classes, art auctions and bingo.
Aurora has more than its fair share of bars and lounges, of which Champions was arguably the liveliest -- but still very quiet. Anderson's mimics a country house with its comfy chairs and sofas and Charlie's is a small piano bar. The Crows' Nest is a big lounge in a prime position at front of the ship, but was dead after dinner. Masquerade, the nightclub, was empty unless there was a quiz evening.
I did a great excursion to the back waters of Kerala in India, but generally the outings offered were unexciting if well organised and not too expensive -- although no one was too impressed at paying £31 ($62) each for the "Kuala Lumpur on Your Own" trip and not even getting a map to help them around town.
Aurora Public Rooms
Aurora has a lot of outside deck space -- which makes the ship ideal for long voyages -- and enough inside rooms to provide a busy programme of activities, from foreign language and dance classes to lectures and art auctions.
The main public areas are on Decks 6, 7 and 8, where you'll find the library, cinema (which doubles as a lecture room by day), an under-used casino and Vanderbilt's -- used for the hugely popular bridge and whist. There's an Internet cafe on Deck 13; the slow connection was a favourite moan.
Aurora Spa & Fitness
The Oasis Spa has a sauna and steam room, which are free to use, and has a full menu of massages, facials, body wraps and scrubs. There is also a selection of men's treatments, a nail bar and hairdressing salon.
One-hour treatments cost from £60 ($114), but there are regular special offers, especially on port days, to help fill the time slots. I had a sports massage and reflexology -- £30 ($57) for 30 minutes -- and while they were good, I've had better.
The gym is one floor down and is small. There are just eight running machines, five cycles, four step machines, as well as weights and two rowing machines -- the latter on the exercise floor so they had to moved aside every time there was a class.
Classes were held every afternoon on sea days, with Pilates in the morning at a £5 ($9.50) per person charge.
