Arcadia thoughts please?

Hi,Am looking at the Arcadia for April 2017 to Venice and Dubrovnik. The saver fares have been introduced and the prices are still a bit steep. Looking at an ED balcony. We like the Britannia very much and have booked for September this year and weren't too keen on the Ventura.We found her a bit shabby although the ship had a nice friendly feel.

Hi,Am looking at the Arcadia for April 2017 to Venice and Dubrovnik. The saver fares have been introduced and the prices are still a bit steep. Looking at an ED balcony. We like the Britannia very much and have booked for September this year and weren't too keen on the Ventura.We found her a bit shabby although the ship had a nice friendly feel.

Arcadia, along with Aurora are our favourite ships.

Looking at the deck plans whichever deck you are on you will have cabins above/below, so that is a good thing.

She had a makeover a year or so (?) ago. So I don't think she will look shabby or anything.

I guess as you are looking at a grade you must be looking at an early saver fare. I always feel that early savers are neither one nor the other..you don't get the choices as you do with select, but equally you don't get the cheap fare as you do with the saver fare

Having said that a cruise to Venice will always be popular. If you wait for the cheaper saver fares to come out you would not be able to pick a grade, just a type (balcony) , and that could be anywhere on the ship, not in such a good position maybe.

Not sure what I would do...maybe bite the bullet and go for the early saver fare. Do they go up/down or stay the same, and if cabins are not selling bring in the saver fares?

We did a shortish cruise on the Arcadia around 2 years ago and really enjoyed her. Food was good, entertainment good and loved the child free ship :D

We've been on Arcadia lots of times, since the refit the presentation of the public rooms is lovely. As far as newness goes you have been rather spoilt on Britannia and realistically the rest of the fleet does show some wear/age. The thing to remember is that even if you spot a few tired areas at first, you soon acclimatise and they become unimportant as you enjoy your cruise. Arcadia is one of our favourite ships and we can't wait to board her in September. In particular I like the fact she has a traditional prom deck, a thermal suite, an Ocean Grill, well proportioned cabins, a crows nest - essentially a little bit of everything. I also love Britannia [emoji4]

Thanks for the replies. There is a substantial difference between the select and saver fare and with the grade of cabin I would be reasonably happy with the location so I wouldn't like to pay the extra, unless I could actually secure an aft cabin. We are on the Britannia in September and I managed to book a suite at a reasonable rate but I kept checking the prices.

We've been on Arcadia lots of times, since the refit the presentation of the public rooms is lovely. As far as newness goes you have been rather spoilt on Britannia and realistically the rest of the fleet does show some wear/age. The thing to remember is that even if you spot a few tired areas at first, you soon acclimatise and they become unimportant as you enjoy your cruise. Arcadia is one of our favourite ships and we can't wait to board her in September. In particular I like the fact she has a traditional prom deck, a thermal suite, an Ocean Grill, well proportioned cabins, a crows nest - essentially a little bit of everything. I also love Britannia [emoji4]

What a wonderful response. :) Totally agree with you.

Arcadia is my favourite ship and we've been on her the most. Possibly the best thing being she is adult only! We've just booked her for next July to Norway again and can't wait.

My husband's favourite is Britannia having been on her last year and this, and she's gorgeous, but does, of course, look beautifully new compared to the others.

We have not sailed with p&o for about 8 years now as we moved out of the country. However we did sail on a number of their ships and really enjoyed our time with them.Arcadia quickly became our favourite ship and we were lucky enough to be able to do a full world cruise on her. We so enjoyed it and never once missed `home` I think we may have done 5 plus cruises on her and enjoyed every one of them.

Have a wonderful voyage and Happy Cruising.

Thanks very much for all the replies.

We are on the same cruise next April and booked a Select Price fare onboard an earlier cruise with balcony cabin which came with a massive £650 onboard spend. The cost was £4758.

I haven't checked the Early Saver fare but it must be a lot cheaper.