LOUIS AURA 3rd August 2014 Part 5, the final one

Wednesday 6th August 2014
I woke up to hear the gentle noise of LOUIS AURA’s engines going astern as we approached Marmaris in Turkey at 6.30 a.m. but ignored them and returned to sleep.

Chart for Marmaris

Louis Aura at Marmaris, Turkey

Marmaris Express

It was again incredibly hot out on deck and when we went ashore after breakfast we discovered the temperature was 35ºC, and that was at 9.30 a.m. We wandered into the cool terminal for the free wi-fi just outside, and then enjoyed the rest of the morning in the shade. A salad lunch was followed by a trip to the Bridge for departure from Marmaris at 2.40. The scenery of the surrounding mountains and narrow entrance in and out of the port was beautiful, with the blue sky and calm seas all around us.

Head count

Brass plate on the Bridge

On the Bridge

Heading for that gap

Aft view port side

Starward bell

We thanked the Captain for letting us be on the Bridge for departure, and he then invited us for drinks with him at 7.30 p.m. in his cabin – which he says is ‘special’.

Venus Deck view

Oooh, I may have to change my home page picture...

At 7.15 p.m. we presented ourselves at Reception and were escorted up to Captain Gritzelis’s cabin, which was indeed a great surprise. It reminded me slightly of Nelson’s cabin on VICTORY, as it was probably designed to do. The Captain was happy with it, and told us the story of the first captain on the ship having the work done by his chippie (carpenter) on board. When the then owner of the ship came on board to see it, he was not a happy man and immediately dismissed the Captain for exceeding his duties in having the cabin changed. The cabin has not been altered since, and we subsequently discovered that LOUIS AURA’s sister ship LEISURE WORLD also has a similar cabin so the story may be apocryphal rather than accurate, but it made a wonderful tale!

Captain's Cabin

Captain Kostas Gritzelis in his cabin

We also talked about the company’s change of name, but that LOUIS AURA was not included in that, so then we speculated about the ship that might be acquired at approximately 25,000 tons with some balconies, for use in 2016. After a lively discussion, which I think gave Captain Gritzelis some food for thought, we had to thank and leave him and head for Greek Night dinner in the Restaurant.

This proved to be less disappointing than previous nights, but we did notice that a large party on two nearby tables was able to order non-menu food and one of the Chefs appeared from the kitchens and was warmly greeted by the passengers on those tables. I remembered Greek Night food from LOUIS AURA sailing out of Greece last year, but this was rather different.

Stargazing on a dark deck forward of Venus Bars provided a tranquil and lovely end to a fascinating day on board.

Ships seen: Harika, Louis Aura, King Saron, Aegean Cat, 12 small sailing excursion vessels, and 2 or 3 parasailers as we left Marmaris

I see my companions had added a new heading here in my notebook of
Ships not seen in Rhodes as we sailed nearby, so these are: Queen Elizabeth, Orient Queen II

Further notes added included reference to wine, biscuits and cappuccino but I shall ignore them.

Thursday 7th August 2014
I had to vacate my cabin on this last morning by 7 a.m. so breakfast was early today, as we sailed along towards Limassol on calm seas in the heat.

Up to the Bridge

We went to the Bridge for 8.40 a.m. and were again welcomed by Captain Gritzelis. The view from there is so panoramic and enjoyable, especially as we could see the SALAMIS FILOXENIA in port ahead of us. I had always wondered what she looked like in reality and this was my chance.

Salamis Filoxenia

All the luggage was taken off and then passengers were allowed ashore. I had a Priority label so we were soon off the ship; on the way out I was greeted by Michael the Hotel Manager, who hoped all was well. Our voyage questionnaires have been handed in so he will learn of our disappointment with the food, but the voyage and ship itself has been just as enjoyable as we all hoped. The ports were interesting and Captain Gritzelis made us feel so welcome on his Bridge.

Then it was time for goodbyes to the Staff Captain on the quayside, a short walk past LOUIS AURA and SALAMIS FILOXENIA

Salamis Filoxenia from the quayside

Louis Aura looking aft

and then journeys to Paphos airport for me on my way home to the UK and to Larnaca for my friends and their flights.

Ships seen: Salamis Filoxenia, DP Gezina (the ex Simara Ace), various cargo ships and tugs, and Louis Aura.

I had loved being on LOUIS AURA again and hope she continues to sail for a long time to come.

LOUIS AURA 3rd August 2014

LOUIS AURA

Several months ago a few friends planned to sail on this little liner and I was happy to join them, for a second trip on the ship. The four night cruise was to sail out of Limassol in Cyprus, so it was a long flight of over four hours from the United Kingdom to reach our embarkation port.

Saturday 2nd August 2014
I caught an afternoon flight from the UK to Paphos in Cyprus, and immediately had to set my watch forward two hours to local time. By then it was dark and I was glad to be met by a pre-arranged local taxi driver to go straight to my hotel in Limassol. The air-conditioned taxi was a great relief after the tremendous heat outside. When I arrived at the hotel, it was very disappointing to discover that my friends’ rooms at the hotel had been over-booked and they had been moved to another establishment, some distance away. This was not the welcome and meeting that we were hoping to enjoy!

Sunday 3rd August 2014
Solitary breakfast was pleasant in the air-conditioned breakfast room beside a huge swimming pool. The shade cast by trees and shrubs outside was delightful, and all the smokers seemed to enjoy sitting at the tables there. I could see a Bar beside the pool and a tennis court beyond that. My friends were due to meet me here and I was soon re-packed and ready to head for the sea side with them.

We simply had to walk down the road to reach the glittering sunlit sea and wait for the sight of the LOUIS AURA as she sailed around the distant headland, heading for the port of Limassol. We found a comfortable café right on the water’s edge and happily spent some time there drinking coffee and later having a light lunch before we could head for the new cruise terminal. That was more like the cheerful start to this little trip we wanted!

Cafe on the beach

Check in was easy and we were hardly aware that we were three of the 800 or so anticipated passengers coming on board in mid-afternoon. The first thing I noticed about the ship’s hull was the LOUIS CRUISES logo, along with a red and blue stripe next to it.

The new Louis stripes

On board, my cabin this time is 5111 on Poseidon Deck, a twin berth inside for single use, and with a welcoming plate of fruit on the dressing table.

One side of my twin-berth cabin 5111, Poseidon Deck

Looking towards the door, with bathroom on the left and mirror-fronted wardrobes on the right

I first visited the ship as ORIENT QUEEN in Piraeus in July 2007 after she had been acquired by Abou Merhi Cruises and chartered to Louis Cruises, still as ORIENT QUEEN, and I can still recall my surprise at seeing her distinctive styling with the Venus Bar levels 1 and 2 up on Panoramic Deck.

I remember from my last trip on 14th September 2013 on LOUIS AURA that she had been built as STARWARD in 1968 in Bremerhaven for cruising for Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line; in 1995 she was sold to Festival Cruises and became BOLERO. With the collapse of Festival in 2004 she was laid up before being bought by Abou Merhi Cruises in 2005 and renamed ORIENT QUEEN to sail to ports including Beirut, but that was abandoned and AMC chartered her to Louis Cruises; in fact she sailed again to Beirut under charter to rescue stranded Americans.

My diary back then in September 2013 noted that Louis Cruises had just renamed the ship as LOUIS AURA in keeping with Greek mythology and as their company had become the foremost Ambassador of Hellenic Cruising. I also noted that the ship had a charter to South America over the winter and imagined that this new name of LOUIS AURA would continue to promote the company’s image.

Since then the ship had been chartered by French company Rivages du Monde in Spring 2014, which ran several cruises for passengers from Marseilles, and visited many Baltic ports including Oslo, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg. A maritime journalist friend in Denmark was so delighted to see and visit the ship in Denmark that he wrote a piece about her, and used one of my photographs taken in Patmos, Greece, as an illustration to accompany the article.

Now she is back in Aegean waters and has been sailing out of Limassol from 22nd July on short cruises. Her tonnage is 15,781, with 364 passenger cabins with an 895 maximum passenger capacity, with eight passenger decks, so I was pleased to be on board her again.

Reception and Guest Services, with the central fountain

Lifeboat drill was held and then we prepared to sail. We headed out of Limassol port aided by tug PRINIAS, passing AIDALUNA,

Aidaluna and our tug

and then we saw an unexpected sight rushing towards us: it was a dark-hulled vessel now called DP GEZINA, but which we had last seen in Rotterdam in January (see NORWEGIAN GETAWAY January 2014). I remembered I had first seen and sailed on her in 2008 between Helsingor and Helsinborg in Denmark, when she was called SIMARA ACE.

DP Gezina, ex Simara Ace

Mermaid Restaurant, with a view of two sides of the Swimming Pool in the middle

Looking aft in the Mermaid Restaurant

The Bar in the Restaurant

Dinner was to be served in the Mermaid Restaurant between 7 and 9 p.m. so after a refreshing drink we were about to go to the Restaurant when an announcement was made. It seems that so many people had decided to go in for a meal at 7 p.m. that there was no more room and everyone else was requested to wait until 8.30 p.m. That was a bit of a surprise, as that meant waiting about an hour, but we did so and discovered that rather unappealing buffet food was all that was now available and laid out for us to collect. That was such a disappointment, as I had really enjoyed the food on my last trip on this ship, and had praised it to such an extent that my companions were really looking forward to their first meal.

We had all bought the drinks package so that rather came into use for the rest of the evening, and we were entertained by a band playing under the Venus Deck bar. It was very pleasant sitting in deck chairs under a dark sky, feeling comfortably warm as we sailed along.

Sitting under the stars listening to the Band on Venus Deck

Tomorrow we are due in Rhodes so we are all looking forward to that.

Ships seen: Aidaluna, Louis Aura, catamaran Sea Grace, tug Prinias, DP Gezina (ex Simara Ace)


To be continued....