Ardennais

What about the men?

It’s nice having drawers for paperwork, medication, jewellery etc. Makes the place look tidier too. We must have been lucky - never heard drawers being opened and shut!

I know that this is Arvia, and we were on Iona, but the only point on which I would disagree with you is ‘more cleverly designed’ cabins. The decor was nice and fresh, but our balcony cabin on Iona was quite narrow. Very little room at the bottom of the bed. Also a tiny bedside unit next to the wardrobe which meant that it was a real tight squeeze when trying to access the wardrobes. Silly not to have drawers too. Bathroom had a proper shower cubicle but no shaver point! That’s rather silly too.

I get all the marketing e-mails and the e-mails with the countdown to the cruises, but no survey. Makes me wonder whether they really want any useful feedback!

I’m on holiday, and want quality time with my family rather than share with others. Lunch time and buffet, no problem sharing, but not dinner.

We weren’t sure before our cruise on Iona but it was wonderful. In fact, I’m now thinking that the next few cruises we have booked are going to be rather sedate! Still not sure whether we would do the Fjords on Iona though.

We didn’t get one either and I check my spam folder carefully.

My children are in their 20s and had never heard of her either!

Who? Never heard of her.

But the point I’m making is that lots of people around here use cash instead of cards. They don’t want to bank their cash at all so it’s not a problem. It’s a form of circular economy. The cash is legally earned, but might not be accounted for! I’m not saying it’s right but to provide some context, a good proportion of rural folk don’t have personal pensions and many are still working well over the official retirement age - through choice more often than not.

You’re right, banks are few and far between. However people don’t actually want to deposit cash, they keep it to purchase other things. Lots of people use cash in the local supermarket and petrol station. Cash isn’t seen as a problem, but as something quite desirable!

I don’t see it as a problem, just a nice opportunity to relax and transition from work to holiday mode before the exploring begins!

Sounds horrendous. As you say, everything is visible and I could see people sitting at the dressing table.

True. I love the sea days out of Southampton!

Unlikely if the crew quarters are already full!

Well that was the case a few weeks ago and I definitely think they needed more staff. Service was very slow and as I mentioned before, tables were not being cleared for ages. Still had a great cruise though!

I don’t think you’ll change people’s ways of doing things around here! They keep huge sums in cash to pay for other things in cash.

VAT doesn’t come into it at all. Just a very traditional way of doing business I guess. And as I said, people tend to know each other and can trust each other.

Common practice around here to pay significant amounts in cash for cars, implements, tools, timber, etc. mind you, people usually know each other. Not saying it’s right, but it’s very common.

Deck 8 recently on Iona. There is no way that I would want to stay in these cabins!

We could never justify having a drinks package. We had £200 OBC on Iona week before last and only spent £225 - and that included 6 x £2.50 room service delivery for breakfast and some ice cream in Ripples. Spending on drinks was around £180 for both of us for a week.

Arvia sounds amazing! The only difference I see to Iona is that you say tables are cleared quickly which definitely wasn’t the case during the half term cruise. Is Arvia full at the moment? How many children?

We also had the spiel and were expecting a leisurely experience. However, we asked for more bread as the main course was slow arriving and the bread never turned up, so really not such a fine dining experience!

Good to know. I also noticed that there were many empty tables in both the Epicurean and Olive Grove and concluded that they had been left deliberately empty due to staff shortages.

You might enjoy it! We loved Iona last week, but the next 3 cruises booked are Britannia, Arcadia and Aurora. I’m already thinking that there’s going to be less of a buzz on those.