Interestedcruisefan

Here's an image that really shows the size of Arvia. Moored next to a Celebrity ship

Here's our photos from when we went to shipwrecked bar in st Kitts.(forgot to post before Was a great day out and cheap excursion as well. 7 Us dollars per person taxi each way. Free sunbeds

Glad you enjoyed it like we did. Yes I had the cherry negroni in 710 club We never did green and co or keel and cow. Couldn't fit them in. Although we did Mizhuana (inside green And co). That was really great!

I think that's a good move And/or booking the MDR for early sitting on celebration nights as I mentioned I assume the queues only start after the first sitting overruns?

I bet you won't hear it. And if you do you may enjoy it. It's fun music!! Have a great time

So we've finished our 14 night Caribbean Cruise from Barbados on Arvia. 18th Feb. Saturday arrival. Flew from Birmingham. We had one of our best holidays ever Here's a summary We paid £1,199 each for an inside cabin (booking saver rate approx 1 month before for 14 nights. We spoke to some people who paid £999 each for 14 nights including flights 2 weeks before) I totally understand people who don't want inside cabins but in terms of value - we've NEVER had such a great value holiday anywhere ever. Simple as that. This was going to be our last Caribbean cruise as we've done the Caribbean several times now and my wife wants to try new places. Previously we have done Caribbean cruises on Azura, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. We've enjoyed all of them but this one was right up there and value wise blew the others away as normally we used to travel Xmas and New Year with the kids. Before coming back we both decided we will book a similar time cruise next year on Arvia as it's just so enjoyable and such a great deal. And we will mix our holidays up at other times of the year and visit new places then. We can't imagine finding a better value, more fun holiday for winter sun. We would have to pay the same or similar for the Canaries!! The highlights of the cruise: The flights - tui dreamliner both ways. Complimentary drinks - spirits before the meal. Wine with the meal. Great planes. Great service. Great info from the captain. No extra charge for cases like when you book flights nowadays elsewhere (negatives 30 mins wait on transfer coach on arriving in Barbados and when leaving as well seems to be the norm). I guess if not you queue elsewhere for longer instead at the cruise terminal and in the airport. The constant food and choice (I'm sure it's not what it once was but it's still amazing in terms of the options and the amount you can eat. Anybody new to cruising can't fail to be impressed). So many options. The paid ones are worth the extra and are very very cheap compared to the outside world holidays we've been on. A fraction of the price you would expect to pay when in the normal world! The bars and cocktails.£6.75 to £8 for a Cocktail is great value. Good quality as well. So much choice. We particularly enjoyed cocktails in the swim up bar on deck 16 (most sea days), the crows nest, Anderson's bar and at sindhu where they do spiced cocktails and you can enjoy without dining. The entertainment. So much choice. 80 per cent of it great quality. The cruise entertainment team were very good quality this cruise. I've discussed many of the shows in more detail elsewhere. If you were inclined you could watch 3 different shows (maybe 4) every night. Not counting pianists! Each night there's literally 6 or 7 different shows happening at the same time. And something for everyone The cabins. Spacious, well designed, everything works. Clean. We had overnight noise issues in ours but were given a complimentary upgrade to a balcony cabin as a result. Without the noise issues we would have been perfectly happy with the original inside cabin. When upgraded we barely used the balcony. Although it's nice to have we can't justify the significant extra cost for us. The gym and fitness classes. 5 star level. Simple as that. A big part of cruising for me. And despite going in the gym daily, spin classes and not using lifts and walking everywhere we could find time to walk I've put on a stone in 14 days. I think it would have been 2 stone without the exercise!! Having 2 breakfasts every day, lunch, snacks and then 3 desserts every night does that to you! Never did find time to try afternoon tea as well!! The staff. Very well trained. Seem to enjoy being there. Always friendly. Can't fault them. Now in 14 days if you go on holiday and go looking for problems you will find several. Simple as that. Not everything will be perfect. On Arvia though there are so many options. So many things to do, places to sit, eat or drink. Shows to watch. Talks or quizzes to attend. if you can't enjoy this holiday and then think of the value you've received then I doubt you could enjoy any holiday. Anyone travelling on her soon. You will find far far more good things than bad things on board. Well done P and O. Well done Arvia. You won us over well and truly and we will be back. Can't wait to see you again!

Would you be in your cabins much between 7pm and 10pm though?

I've just done a Caribbean cruise on Arvia including flights for less than £90 per person per night (2 sharing an inside cabin) If that's not 5 out of 5 for value in terms of measuring any Caribbean holiday then nothing is Anyone paying £170 per person per night on P and O as in that survey is clearly putting other things ahead of value when they book so shouldn't really be asked to comment on value? Arvia in the Caribbean is simply unbeatable value And once you pay that price you shouldn't really be comparing to cruises where people aren't paying £300 per person per night and more It's like comparing chalk and cheese?

Although we weren't impacted I thought I should warn others that Arvia still has issues in MDRs on celebration/formal nights (Both nights we went smart casual to The Quays and Buffet so never saw the problems but a Scottish lady told us about the issues) On Captain's night her and her husband had booked MDR for 8.30pm. They had to queue for 45 mins. At 9.15pm when they got to the front of the queue. They were told they would need to wait another 45 mins or else there are tables available for celebration meal to be served in the buffet for them (This now explains the large number of tables we saw that had dining cloths and table settings ready in the buffet that night. We couldn't understand why anyone would go in there) So it seems they are the overflow. We were in there early so nobody was using them when we were there. But there were many tables set so they must have known they would need them later The lady we spoke to was angry they were left to queue for 45 mins to start with knowing tables wouldn't be available for them. And was not accepting captains night in the buffet nor dining at 10pm. So she went to guest relations to complain and they found her a table in Olive Grove at 9.30pm So just passing it on that on Arvia on the formal nights you may need to book early MDR timeslots to avoid big queues and disappointment later on or maybe book a speciality restaurant that night? MDRs still having problems coping clearly. And the ship clearly know the MDRs can't cope Like I say we were happily oblivious to all of this or I would have told you guys sooner

Another thing to mention is deck 8 sunset bar. Every night they have a loud Ibiza type DJ party outside 7pm to 10pm. It's behind the club house venue. Funnily enough when we went there were as many older passengers there as younger ones!

Forgot to say Anderson's bar on the ship is the place for rum, gin or cocktails. We had a rum flight and huge choice of gins and rums and cocktails

Back home safely now On Friday we paid 5 us dollars each for short transfer to Boatyard beach (The boatyard sunbeds were actually full) A beach guy called Justin got us a pair next door with umbrella for 15 us dollars. That included a rum punch or soft drink each at lobster live bar/restaurant Same guy recommended a boat trip to Snorkel to see a shipwreck and swim with turtles. They delivered both and it was only 25 us dollars each. Lasted about 75 mins in total. You don't go far at all but both the shipwreck and swimming with turtles was great. We also saw a stingray and some huge fish that looked like sharks but they promised before we got in don't panic they aren't sharks!! Lol Great easy day out in Barbados. You could actually walk to the boatyard beach from the ship. About 25 mins walk. Plenty of taxis waiting to take people back to cruise ships Cheap shore excursion regardless. You won't need to look far to get the snorkel excursion once on the beach

We went to Oistins on Friday night Really great experience. I would say 50 per cent locals there and 50 per cent cruise holidaymakers and tourists Loud music. Great locally cooked fish Arvia was offering excursions for 27 us dollars return but they are were sold out We went with another couple and paid 10 us dollars taxi each way. It takes about 45 mins due to traffic We left the ship at 5.30pm arrived at 6.15pm and was already very busy They have a craft market there as well Here's something really important to watch out for: All the food and drink is priced saying dollars. But it's Barbados dollars. And you can pay half the barbados dollar price with US dollars instead I imagine there are many occasions tourists don't realise and pay double what they need The goto fish is sold as "dolphin'" it's actually mai mai or something like that We paid 35 Barbados dollars for that (17.5 Us dollars) Lobster tail with rice was 80 Barbados dollars (40 US dollars) It was a bucket list experience going there for us and a great day to end the holiday I suggest when doing independent transfers with taxi drivers on cruises. Agree the us dollar price there and back. Agree your meeting point. Pay half when you get there and half when they pick up. They all seemed happy with that all cruise. Some places like Boatyard beach in Barbados taxis are readily available to come back so you just pay transfer out. Which was 5 us dollars each for us You could walk it in 25 minutes (Boatyard beach that is) oistins isn't walkable

Great post. I've cruised on them all. And enjoyed them all. Arvia right up there with best cruises we've ever done. We will be booking again

I've seen TV type adverts with Nicole promoting P and O cruises whilst walking through the ship already I assume shes replacing Rob Brydon in their promotional campaign She sure adds some glamour to the adverts!!

It always used to be But not showing in any filters for me still?

If it's the second week of your cruise you may need to book once you are on board We were able to book pre boarding ourselves

Will try again Works for me for the forum. But not showing as a cruise line to filter for finding dates either in popular cruise lines or all cruise lines

Dame Jessica Ennis would feel unlucky to miss out in the past (I think she's a Dame now)

By which time they will likely be paying someone else It's a commercial deal. Both sides will need to make it worthwhile I'm sure shes earning a small fortune from it!!

Or is it just my phone?

Last night we watched ODY-C in headliners theatre An International Group who many of you must have seen if you've cruised in the last 18 months on P and O? 2 guys from Switzerland and Germany 2 Girls From Sweden and Lincoln They were saying they've pretty much lived on P and O ships for the last 18 months and just switch between them with just a couple days off between contracts Great show, great voices. Once again perfect for a Cruise ship crowd. 5 star hotels cannot come close to trying to compete with cruise ships when it comes to the quality of entertainers they can bring in

I'm always looking at the pics of Darcey on P and O ships?? Normally near the toilets??

However, asking Nicole to put her mark and name on skydome shows suggests her involvement more relevant. Becoming Godmother the natural add on as part of the commercial deal

We had a great day in St Kitts a couple of days ago With another couple we met we had a taxi transfer to the beach where "shipwrecked" bar is (I had seen this bar recommended). It was actually a mini bus taxi and 6 Germans joined us from their ship. We paid 7 us dollars per person each way - so very cheap. We actually paid an extra 3 us dollars each on way back and the driver provided a 60 minute mini tour for us. The beach was good. One of the expensive ships was moored out to sea and was tendering guests to a beach we could see in the distance. Think that was Frigate beach which that ship had taken over for the day (we know that as a couple we had spoken to later were denied access to that beach) We bought a bucket with 6 bottles of caribe beer and ice for 15 us dollars at shipwrecked bar. Did some snorkelling. Most of the fish were under a platform that people could sunbathe on not far out to sea. Nice day out. We moored next to Celebrity constellation. When I looked across to it from our balcony in the morning it looked quite big. When we saw it from a distance Arvia made it look tiny. Carnival and a German ship were also in port.