After reading reviews of the Aurora, I wondered if we were on a different Aurora. I was so busy with activities, I couldn't fit them all in a day whereas my husband was quite content to sit and read or just watch the horizon - and he saw many things I was sorry to miss. We found our cabin to be clean (as was the entire ship) and comfortable and our steward was a lovely friendly man. We didn't have a balcony, but always found somewhere to sit on deck - much more sociable. We even enjoyed our meals, I can't recall one complaint. Our table companions have become friends and when we were in Sydney twelve months later when Aurora was there, we happened to run into our table steward who recognised us and greeted us by name. We even enjoyed the entertainment - a couple were not so good, but we laughed them off. The Pursers were competent as were those who organised the shore excursions. And we loved dressing up for formal nights. The Cruise Director and his crew were great fun and talented. The bar staff were alert, friendly and always remembered our tastes - we also looked forward to chatting to them. We even enjoyed the 'sea days' - we often wondered why people went on a cruise and then complained about sea days. Isn't that what it is all about! We are looking forward to our next cruise on Aurora in 2015.