GOQ

Yes I know, it's great isn't it. 😇😁. A really good option. Slightly OT, on my last Britannia TA arriving at Southampton there were no coach transfers available so I took the train. And I fell over boarding the train, and the rest of the passengers desperately trying to board an already overcrowded train almost walked over my body. That's partly why P&O is such a good option for me, the coach transfers.

Could it possibly be that the Old or Disabled person having maybe travelled 5 or 6 hours by coach or train might be in just a little bit of pain by the time they reach the terminal. And just want to pop a few pain killers and lie down on their comfy P&O bed for a while.

I turn up just as they are opening the theatre doors and there are usually plenty available. I don't think the app has the option of reserving accessible seats. Different ships have designated disability seats in different places. On Britannia there are a batch near the stage and a few right at the back of the theatre. The seats near the stage always had available seats. I can't remember where they are on the other ships.

I had assisted boarding in January, I was checked in at the waiting area and then wheeled upstairs to security.

Exactly, I am of the same opinion. We all get different things out of a cruise and what might seem awful situation to one person another will be quite indifferent to it. One of the reasons I like cruising with P&O is I get to share a table with lots of different people, which I really enjoy. To pay for a meal in a speciality restaurant sat by myself , possibly looking at a wall would be quite ridiculous.

You had me very confused when I read this thread title. I only re-started cruising with P&O, as a Solo, in 2021 after covid had ended. I have just dug out details of a cruise I took on Oceana in 2009 with my late wife: "Your cruise log A day by day log of your cruise" It reads: In command Captain David Perkins "The Log of the cruise is an extract from the Deck Department's logbook on the bridge compiled by the navigating officers" Etc.

I put out some cooked rice out on my bird table. I have just been watching a couple of blackbirds with their 3 kids stealing all the rice as fast as possible and scaring all the sparrows and little birds away. I thought to myself, this is just like a cruise ship buffet and I am like one of the little birds. I get knocked over and my table stolen. Britannia seems like a good balance to me, it seems to be half way between the smaller older ships and the 2 new larger ships. I think I have made a decision, and this applies only to my own situation/opinion of course. I will forget about cruising on Arvia, take a Caribbean cruise every other year on Britannia and alternate with another cruise line for the Caribbean or Asia, or another idea on my bucket list, take a segment of a world cruise with P&O.

On the negative: The venues/facilities on Iona/Arvia are undersized for the amount of passengers. If you need to embark/disembark 5200+ passengers via two gangways you are always going to get delays/congestion. On one occasion it took me over an hour to disembark Iona. On my last Arvia cruise the headliners show was spread across 2 nights, that’s 6 shows to accommodate the demand. Arvia has experienced MDR queuing problems, it seems, because they have removed the 2 smaller MDRs. They have also removed one of the 4 cinema rooms. The cruise experience on the same ship will vary between cruises, so you can’t really take one cruise report as typical. If there is a problem on Iona/Arvia, because of the size, it will probably escalate more rapidly than the smaller ships. During a cruise on Arcadia there was problem with the shuttles at Tromso, I went to disembark and the queue was up the stairs over 2 decks. So I went away and had a snooze, I came back an hour later and the queue had virtually disappeared. A crew member spotted me on a walking stick and put me in a minibus with the wheelchairs. So my opinion went from this is horrible to this is great in an hour. Get a problem with the shuttles on Arvia and you seem to get the problems that Megabear2 has experienced. On the positive: Iona/Arvia are new squeaky clean modern ships, balconies in particular are much cheaper than balconies on the smaller ships. And I think the cabins and bathrooms are really nice and there is a greater choice of activities, places to eat etc. They are good value. On Britannia the app stopped working several times but I didn’t have any problems with the app on Arvia, the only thing which would happen would be that I could easily loose the wifi connection and miss the “Table Ready” notification. So I regularly checked my connection. All the ships have some sort of problem occur during a cruise its just luck. For me: I personally don’t like crowds, but unless I pay 4 times P&O prices it is something I will have to deal with. My strategy on all ships these days is to work out where and at what times everybody else is going and go somewhere else. I would cruise on Iona/Arvia again if the itinerary/price was attractive and if I could believe the ship wouldn’t be at full capacity. Hence my original question, when might be the most likely dates/ itineraries where these ships are at their lowest capacity.

I only asked when might be the best times with the lowest occupancy to cruise the Caribbean (and possibly the Med) might be on Arvia. Thanks for the suggestions, February but avoid the school holidays. How about the Mediterranean on Arvia, any suggestions. For the Caribbean I have already booked Britannia for January 2024, I might just book Arvia for February 2025 and if I still does not suit me alternate my Britannia cruises with Marella or MSC or someone else.

“Why on earth are people still arriving at the theatre before 8pm for it to open the doors for a theatre show that doesnt start til 8.30pm ? If they are - I have absolutely zero time for anybody saying this is anything other than their choice and if there's a queue to actually do that then more fool them The reason they are queuing at 8pm is because they CHOOSE to get their early to get a favourite seat? When all the seats are good anyway?? Unless they need a wheelchair seat (which is an entirely different debate of course) and I think something should be done about that and have said so before” I have a bit of a disability, but I don’t need a wheelchair, it’s rather narrow minded of you to think if you don’t need a wheelchair you are fit and healthy. I used a wheelchair seat once and got dirty looks. I can’t queue for very long and there aren't any chairs on which to sit while queuing, so by turning up as soon as the doors open I only have to queue is only a few minutes. Once I was a bit late arriving at the theatre at 8:10 only to find the queue extended through the casino, after 15 minutes queuing I had to give up and re-book for a later show. THAT is why I arrive at the theatre as soon as the doors open at 8pm. I can’t look up onto the stage I have to look downwards so I have to carefully select my seating position. I have trouble with my balance and try to get a seat before the crowd arrives so I don’t trip or fall. I would rather sit in the theatre for half an hour read a book or play a game on my phone. So from my point of view ALL the seats are NOT good anyway. “Despite the app - the very fact the MDRs still have 2 queues. One for people who can't or don't want to use the app and one for people who do shows that the ship actually do care about those who won't use tech to their advantage and have an answer for them and want to help them.” On my Arvia cruise, yes there were 2 queues as you have written, however there was often only one person processing both queues, sort of defeats the object of having 2 queues. On Britannia, Acadia etc the 2 queues are separate and on opposite sides of the ship. On the theatre door there would be one person per door with a laptop checking your room number, if they could have 2 people checking room numbers it might half the wait times. “People also wait for lifts. We are physically capable so we choose to use the stairs” No I am not capable of using the stairs, I cannot climb much over 1 flight. Oh ICF you seem to have been very lucky with your queuing experiences, I have not.

Maybe I am a bit too critical of my Arvia cruise after all it was only its second cruise and its first transatlantic. The crew would have been brand new to Arvia. However since other ships just do it better I would have thought P&O management could have pre-empted some of these problems. Hopefully if I cruise on Arvia again the bugs will have been sorted out through experience. Britannia has 2 queues for the MDR, pre booked via app on the port side and turn up diners on the starboard. I had the same dining time patterns on Britannia as Arvia yet on Britannia there never seemed to be more than 20 people ahead of me in the queue, I never had to queue very long for the theatre ether. Likewise on Arcadia the app queue on Port side, turn up diners on the Starboard. On Arcadia you got a cinema ticket from the library or reception so never any queuing, why can't Iona/Arvia do the same with the app.

Where did you face queues? Crumbs, you have got to be joking. On that January TA Arvia cruise!!! Everywhere. MDR for dinner always, I used the app to book in before being called, usually 2 queues one for the pre-bookers one for the just turn up people. It really didn't make much difference whether you had booked or not. Theatre, my preference is for the 8:30 show, I usually turn up just before they open the doors, on Arvia there were about 15 or more people queuing there already before 8:00. Once, because the service in the MDR was slow I turned up at 8:10 and the queue was all the way back through the casino, after 15 minutes I gave up, cancelled my booking, went back to my cabin for an hours nap and returned for the late show. This happened a few times. Arvia only has 3 cinema rooms, I usually tried to turn up 30 minutes before the start of the film to get a seat. On the really popular firms the queue would already be spilling out onto the corridor, and again I would give up. Not quite a queue but, I get up early, about 6:30, and go for a walk around the decks while it is quiet. Almost always there were people up there placing towels on sunbeds then later the decks were heaving. However I agree The Quays was a nice experience, just turn up and grab fish and chips or whatever. OK my P&O cruising experience may be limited, I have only travelled on Ventura, Acadia, Britannia, Iona and Arvia, but the Arvia cruise has certainly been the worst for queueing.

Well that's not absolutely true. Cruise lines are taking a hit because of Covid, both in terms of future strategy, profit and planning and having to adjust. I am just very grateful I can go on a few cruises a year without this awful, hassle and worry of Covid, restrictions and cancellations. P&O is less it than it was previously, Marella is less it than it was previously, lets all hope it stabilises and things get back to normal. I am just grateful I am fit enough and have enough in my piggy bank to do all these wonderful cruises.

Oh that's good news. I didn't find any problems with Arcadia but have booked 2 future cruises on Aurora influenced no doubt by the comments on the P&O CC forum and a friend of mine who has a few Aurora cruises to her experience who assures me I will love it.

This is a very good point. I cruise with Marella and P&O. On P&O I have to buy my drinks but they are generally at UK prices and as I bought a few Carnival shares which give me £150 "Spending money" per cruise so that's 2 pints a day for me on a 2 week cruise, which is just about enough. Where Marella are better than P&O is in the breadth of their itineraries, Marella are much more adventurous than P&O, unless you do a world cruise that is.

Before Covid when Marella had 6 ships:- Discovery, Discovery 2, Explorer, Explorer2 , Dream and I think Celebration they did have cruises departing from Southampton and Newcastle. I had a Northern Lights cruise booked from Southampton which was cancelled because of Covid. During Covid Marella disposed of Dream and Celebration and reduced down to 4 ships, so after Covid was over the new itineraries excluded UK departures. As a 5th ship joins Marella this year, Voyager, and maybe if they add a 6th ship to the fleet again maybe they will start sailing from Southampton/Newcastle again.

Thanks for the inspiration thread posters, I will continue reading. On my bucket list I have a Panama canal transit, a Suez Canal transit and a voyage from Australia to somewhere. So looking at segments of P&O world cruises, probably something like: JXZ Southampton to San Francisco. JJL Sydney to HK. JJV Sydney to Singapore. JWX Dubai to Southampton, although there are plenty of alternatives from Marella and MSC for the Suez Canal transit. Thanks

I cruised on Iona to the Canaries in February 2022 and I had nice cabin 11626, the ship was not at full capacity and I enjoyed the cruise. The only problem I had with queuing was when the ship was several hours late docking and everybody elected to self disembark. It took me over an hour of queuing to get off the ship. I cruised on Arvia TA January 2023, I had possibly the worst cabin on the ship 8123, the ship was full and the experience was queue, queue and queue again. There is no way around the fact that venues are undersized for the passenger capacity. But it’s a nice ship. Looking at some recent posts it seems it that it would be best to avoid Arvia summer Mediterranean cruises like the plague, just too many people onboard. I have decided I would like to cruise every year in the Caribbean and my next cruise is on Britannia. Arvia and Britannia have different itineraries, Britannia the ABC islands and Arvia the Dominican Republic. I figure it’s going to get a bit boring if I do the same itinerary every year on Britannia so it might be nice to alternate with Arvia. But can I take the chance? When is Arvia likely to have its lowest occupancy, the least number of people onboard. I am also considering the possibility other non Caribbean Arvia/Iona itineraries with the least number of possible passengers, when/what destinations are likely to have the lowest occupancy, least full ships?

I struggled for a while, often asking fellow passengers for help. On one flight the a lady at the boarding gate at Gatwick noticed I was in pain and boarded me with the "disabled" passengers. So beginning with my last few cruises I now ask for assistance through P&O. Just fill in the form Bertie has given you the link to and email it to P&O. At Southampton they will just wheel you through security helping you with the searching of your hand luggage and onto the ship. At Gatwick at the checking desk they give you the option of assistance though security and boarding the aircraft, you then go to a waiting area. I was told it would be quicker to go through security by myself as having full assistance would take longer. So I went through security and promptly fell into the scanner. So next time I will take full assistance. At the aircraft boarding gate you are escorted to a disabled boarding area where you are first to board the aircraft. It really does help, at this point I am also usually in a bit of pain.

You can buy a hidden disability lanyard from Amazon, it has sunflowers on it and is worded "I have a hidden disability, Please be patient" . If anyone queries this just show them your access card. I need to use a walking stick and often wobble about like a demented Norman Wisdom so it's quite obvious I have a little problem.

I don't really need a wheelchair or a walker as I can walk OK. The problem is standing without any support. I did see a guy once he had a walking stick with a sort of seat attached, so he could flip the seat out and sit on it. Maybe it might be an idea for me to use 2 walking sticks, a bit of balance then. As I wrote above, it's a pity P&O just had some chairs at queuing points that would be a big help. I notice that there are notices on the lifts to please give consideration to passengers with mobility problems, wheelchair seats in the theatre (on Britannia anyway) and reserved tables with a wheelchair sign in the buffet. But able bodied passengers just seem to ignore these signs. On a positive note, I do, sometimes, get offered help with my tray in the buffet.

No doubt many of these people are taking advantage of the "system", but perhaps not all of them are. I often wonder what people think of me getting assistance when possibly they have seen me in the Gym during the cruise. I have structural damage to my back, neck and knees, walking down ramps and stairs is painful but curiously I can use an exercise bike and the rowing machines without problems. I have poor balance with is upset by enclosed spaces and crowds, but I can do sitting down exercises like the weights machines in the Gym. I request assistance going through security type environments because I can fall, but I can walk OK, as long as there are no slopes or stairs involved. Disembarking at Southampton, if I am taking the train I self disembark because I can avoid the balance disturbing crowds, get off early before the mob and use my suitcase on wheels as a walker. If I am taking a coach I get off at my allocated time but don't request assistance because I can walk, as long as no-one else knocks me over.

No doubt many of these people are taking advantage of the "system", but perhaps not all of them are. I often wonder what people think of me getting assistance when possibly they have seen me in the Gym during the cruise. I have structural damage to my back, neck and knees, walking down ramps and stairs is painful but curiously I can use an exercise bike and the rowing machines without problems. I have poor balance with is upset by enclosed spaces and crowds, but I can do sitting down exercises like the weights machines in the Gym. I request assistance going through security type environments because I can fall, but I can walk OK, as long as there are no slopes or stairs involved. Disembarking at Southampton, if I am taking the train I self disembark because I can avoid the balance disturbing crowds, get off early before the mob and use my suitcase on wheels as a walker. If I am taking a coach I get off at my allocated time but don't request assistance because I can walk, as long as no-one else knocks me over.

No doubt many of these people are taking advantage of the "system", but perhaps not all of them are. I often wonder what people think of me getting assistance when possibly they have seen me in the Gym during the cruise. I have structural damage to my back, neck and knees, walking down ramps and stairs is painful but curiously I can use an exercise bike and the rowing machines without problems. I have poor balance with is upset by enclosed spaces and crowds, but I can do sitting down exercises like the weights machines in the Gym. I request assistance going through security type environments because I can fall, but I can walk OK, as long as there are no slopes or stairs involved. Disembarking at Southampton, if I am taking the train I self disembark because I can avoid the balance disturbing crowds, get off early before the mob and use my suitcase on wheels as a walker. If I am taking a coach I get off at my allocated time but don't request assistance because I can walk, as long as no-one else knocks me over.

I have a few arthritic conditions which cause me problems with balance and postural stability, for which I use a walking stick. I can fall and collide with people and fixed objects. After having falls going through security at Barbados and Gatwick I have started asking P&O for assisted boarding, which is really very helpful service. However on board ship we have to queue for the MDR, buffet, theater, cinema and lifts. My the January cruise on Aria was the worst as there were queues for just about everything and it was quite stressful. I frequently chickened out of the queue for the theater, rebooked and visited the late show where the queues were generally shorter. The smaller ships aren’t quite as bad. Queuing for lifts is the worst as there is nothing to hang onto. On my last cruise on Britannia I was actually knocked over by one enthusiastic lady, fortunately the guy standing next to me caught me before I hit the floor. On the plus side sometimes an attractive young lady mighty offer me her arm, but I am too shy for that.😇 It would be nice if P&O just had a few chairs scattered around queuing points. What is your strategy, how do you cope?