Sleeptastic

Porters were at Mayflower Terminal 3 weeks ago unloading vehicles and taking your luggage for you. 

26 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks for the review and how nice to read that you had such an enjoyable cruise. Our recent Britannia cruise was also much better than we had expected, given all the reviews that I had read before we went!
 

Good to hear that the ability to leave unfinished bottles of wine for your next dinner has returned (on Arcadia at least). Do you know if this was for both fixed and freedom dining rooms?

 

No idea I’m afraid although I didn’t see anyone walking around the ship with half empty bottles post dinner.

Returned home earlier from a fabulous 19 night cruise on Arcadia.  This is our 1st on her since 2018 (ish) and our 2nd since Covid (we were on Ventura last year). Seeing a few queries re Arcadia recently on here I hope my observations/comments are useful

We had a great holiday and, to be honest, after the comments I saw on CC last year I wasn’t expecting it to even happen!  With regular talk of her being sold and thoughts that her time with P&O apparently coming to an end.  We felt she was in great shape (better than Ventura last year). Gone were the sewage smells we encountered on the Promenade Deck on our last cruise and there were no obvious drainage issues unlike our last cruise.

Staff levels were much improved vs our 2022 cruise and seemed to be back to normal (if not even increased staffing), no waiting at all to order drinks in bars or around the pool at any time of the day.  There was 1 Afternoon Tea held in the MDR and on a sea day there was a pop up Glass House in 1 of the bars.

We thought the food was very good with minimal repetition, unlike last year.  We no longer had to take our unfinished wine bottles away with us post dinner, any unfinished ones were on our table waiting for us for our next evening meal.  The waiters took the wine/drinks order and they were swiftly delivered by the bar staff.  This seemed to work much better than previously when on numerous occasions we were half way through our main course before the drinks arrived and ordering a port at the end of the meal was simple as the waiters were so much more available than the previous wine waiters used to be.

I’ve seen comments on here about the temperature on Arcadia and, as a result, took a number of pashminas with me for the evening.  These stayed in my case as they weren’t needed, we didn’t find the temperature cool in any way of an evening.  

Staff seemed to be very happy and I didn’t pass 1 that didn’t acknowledge me with a smile and a greeting.  There was a group of cleaners constantly working hard, sanitising bannisters, cleaning windows etc alongside the constant painting/varnishing that you always see.  I also spotted some new carpets being laid. 

The light in the vanity area of the cabin wasn’t working on the 1st night and we mentioned it to our steward when we saw him on our way to dinner, by 10 am the next morning this had been rectified.  

We would always turn up at Southampton for 12ish regardless of our embarkation time but reading comments on here about them being stricter with ‘people like us’ we dropped our cases when we arrived and nipped to a local hotel for lunch and then got back to the terminal for our designated arrival time. We got straight through check in and security with no hold ups and our cases were waiting for us in our cabin when we arrived so we will definitely go down this route next time, it was much more civilised!

Hopefully this answers some of the queries that I’ve seen pop up on her over the last few months and puts paid any concerns anyone may have of travelling on her.  If you only have half the experience that we had on her then you’re in for a great time!

Hi

Does anyone know when the next Refurb of Arcadia is planned

Thanks

Just dug out the letter from the captain (25th September) which stated ‘……. You are required to wear a Face Mask that covers your nose and mouth when moving around indoors on board…..’  From memory this arrived in our cabins shortly after the announcement that he made earlier on the same day. Hope this gives you the info you needed..

Excursions on the Ventura cruise that arrived back in Southampton today were cancelled by the port authorities in the Canaries due to the weather (lots of rain last weekend as a result of a storm nearby). It had nothing to do with COVID.  Excursions were in operation post the bad weather.  Members of staff were reminding people to wear masks so it definitely wasn’t optional but agree with the earlier post that passengers were wearing masks within minutes of it being requested and that anyone not having one on was due to them forgetting rather than not wanting to do their bit.

Thanks all. Yeah, realise that it’s impossible to guess what the situation is going to be like in September but as the deposit is soon due I was just hoping for a view on the current situation and peoples experiences from their recent trips so we can make a decision whether we’re happy to go ahead or not. Completely get that things may well change between now and then. 

We’re due to do a Canary Island cruise with my parents in September on Ventura. This will be our 1st since COVID. My parents don’t fly and are concerned about being asked to leave the ship if they test positive and worried about how they would get home.  My understanding is that once we are on ship we won’t need to be tested and, therefore wonder how P&O would know if anyone has tested positive. Can anyone advise if this is a reasonable thought process and, whether P&O may be likely to do random testing if, for example, there is an outbreak of COVID on the ship and if this is the case would we be asked to leave mid way through the cruise  if we did indeed test positive.  Thanks for your help!

Hello, I mentioned this on the Cruise Refunds thread, so apologies if you are reading this twice.  
 
The announcement of mandatory 14 day quarantine renders fly cruises impractical, crew and passengers included.  This is being introduced from 8 June, reviewable every three weeks.  The current announcement says by air, train and ferry.  It does not explicitly mention cruise ships but on the basis that this form of travel was effectively banned first, that is probably just omission not deliberate, unless the to be published guidance days otherwise.  
 
You would think that this alone would force cruise companies to re-evaluate if August cruises are even potentially viable.  This might be what the TA was getting at?

I’ve just been on the phone to a well know cruise TA to cancel my cruise at the end of August as my balance is due this week and we have decided that whatever the situation at the time that we won’t want to travel.  We were more than happy to accept the FCC for the deposit we had paid  but want to cancel before the balance is due as we didn’t want to commit to paying the full balance knowing that we wont be travelling regardless of the incentives if we cancel at a later stage.  As the TA balance is due a week before the ‘official’ balance due date from P&O they asked me if I wanted to wait another week to see if there are anymore announcements from P&O next week before making a final decision.  I maybe over thinking this but I’m wondering if they know something that we don’t and that another announcement from P&O is due within the next week.

Selbourne I am one of the people who 'stupidly' sit at the end of the row.  I am a fit and healthy looking 43 year old and yet I have a health problem that means I have to sometimes urgently get back to the cabin.  I will always happily move aside to let people get to seats in the row but by sitting on the end of the row it means that if and when I need to get out I can do so easily, quickly and without disturbing anyone.  Might be worth taking a few moments to consider why people choose to do certain things before labelling them in such a way.

A recent edition of the Daily Mail included a special P&O supplement featuring Iona. It stated that Iona would be P&Os first ship dedicated to freedom dining, implying that club dining would not be available. Should this be the case I would expect it to be extended to the rest of the fleet in the not too distant future.

Why?

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I believe you can buy a card which gives you 20 (I think) soft drinks. Think you save approx 10%. You can use it anytime during the cruise and you just buy another card once you’ve used your allocation on the 1st one.

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Book it! Who cares if you can’t get off, if there are stag and hen parties onboard and if it represents good value for money or not! It’s a cruise and there’s nothing nicer. Go for it and enjoy the good food, good entertainment and the luxury of being on a cruise ship.

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We’ve stayed in A30. Great cabin! Easy access to everything and we didn’t experience any noise from the deck above. We’re likely to do another cruise on Arcadia shortly and would book the same cabin without hesitation. Enjoy!!!

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If I had this decision to make I would go with Ventura as most schools won’t have broken up. Added benefit of retractable roof just in case weather isn’t great everyday, also larger balconies. We also don’t have kids and have sailed on Ventura outside of school holidays and saw very few children. We wouldn’t risk a cruise during the school holidays on any ‘Non-Adult Only’ ship so the Britannia cruise wouldn’t be an option for us.

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We've just arrived home from a fab cruise on Arcadia today. We didn't have any issues with toilets however, my parents, who were on A Deck Starboard had issues with their toilets for a couple of days in the 1st week. They were told a number of cabins were affected in their 'zone' and had been caused by people flushing hand towels down the toilets in the Public Areas. This resulted in hand towels being removed from toilets so hand dryers had to be used. All cabins were sent reminders of what should/shouldn't be flushed down the toilets. Even after the problem seemed to resolved there was a stinky smell on Promenade Deck Mid Ships where, surprisingly, people would still choose to sit?!?

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We did B2B cruises last year and received slippers at the start of both cruises.

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Can anyone tell me which brand the toiletries are in the balcony cabins on Arcadia

Thanks!

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Yes we have done. Although have spoken people on tables for 2 who haven't.

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Any idea if Thomas Sabo products are sold in the shops on Arcadia ? And/or in Gibraltar and, if so, where?

Thanks in advance!

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We've had a table for 2 allocated on both Ventura and Oceana. Waiters have always been superb. There is always the option to talk to others in the restaurants if you want to (sometimes it's quite nice not to have to!!)

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Hi. Does anyone know which draught lager is served in the Crows Nest on Arcadia?

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