Megabear2

Hi Helen. Re Arvia apparently on this voyage if you choose to take a pager your average wait is around 1 1/2 hours from 6.30 joining- that's when the app starts taking bookings. That information is based on at least 10 people telling me that today. You can book in advance before leaving home for times between 5.30 and 6.30pm after that you will be on the app. Because I'm already booked for all my dinners I've not used it for dinner. However I have used it for breakfast and found it very good and quick. Yesterday evening being Celebration Night they apparently shut down giving out pagers at 7.00pm - again just what I have been told by others. I can confirm I left the Zenith restaurant at 8.15pm yesterday evening and there was no one queuing whereas on other nights there has been so I'm guessing it's correct. There is a rumour circulating that a young mum with her two kids took a pager at 5.30pm and after an hour returned it because the boys were hungry and restless and she was worried they'd be a disturbance. As a result she ended up in the buffet in her finest with her son's in their psgenoy suits. As I say a rumour but I can confirm seeing a young lady trying to amuse 2 boys around 6.15pm outside the restaurant. There's been mayhem on here today with dining/entertainment bookings being lost from the system - it happened on day 2 the first time and many haven't got them back. Tempers were getting quite flared at the 710 Club for the 8.45pm and more were being refused entry than let in. Personally unless they sort out the reliability issue of the technology I would try to book everything in advance you can and keep a paper copy. A couple I lunched with today showed me their app which had totally zilch in it and then a sheaf of papers quite clearly showing dining and entertainment reservations. Even with this they'd been turned away from the show last night being told no seats. That was completely wrong, I counted 40 seats in my area alone. I'm sorry it's not really positive or clear. Really don't rely on a walk up and hope the app is working on your voyage is my only suggestion. Otherwise book and eat early.

If you go transatlantic on QM2 you can quite often go star gazing every night with an astronomer. He brings a telescope and it's generally amazing on a clear night. If you're lucky enough to get a clear crisp calm winter night it's absolutely magical.

Spot the deliberate mistake in the attached which has just arrived ....

Well the joys of Arvia communication just keep on giving! The one and only excursion I booked was for La Spezia to visit Andrea Bocelli's home and his vineyard, although massively expensive at £305 to me a real highlight and partly the reason I chose an Arvia cruise calling at La Spezia. I know obviously there's always a risk you won't get somewhere, and particularly with the current devastation in Northern Italy I've half been expecting to not even call there. However on returning to my room I have had a notification from my bank informing me of a return of funds from P&O. There's no note from the ship tour office, no notification in the app and when I called to check I've just been informed they know nothing about it. To top this all of tours in the app show availability but if I try to reserve a place it says not available. So are we going to Italy or not I asked? Yes of course we are ... Left hand, right hand? I'm off to my Epicurean dinner and on to the elusive 710 Club after. To quote my operatic hero "Time to Say Goodbye"?

Good afternoon to those still with me! A few observations from yesterday and then on later to today's trials and tribulations!!! I'm really trying hard to be upbeat folks, particularly in light of the first time cruisers who are reading the other negative thread on the other side. Yesterday, my own "first day" so to speak was very pleasant. I finally got to see the upper decks rather than the deck 7 reception and it was warm and sunny. Personal observations from those areas, we all have different views, so don't take them as gospel! 1. The three outside pools are way too small for the ship. I'm a swimmer, not particularly good and the one I tried took 3 small breaststroke pulls from one end to the other. The two panoramic pools are filled to the brim with children, including a couple of small babies. I cannot find any other pool they could use but understand there is a splash zone. For me as a 5'7" woman I felt it would be dangerous for me to try to swim in these pools with the little ones. 2. The front pool as mentioned earlier is now designated Adults Only, a good move. However again it was full to the brim, this time with adults just standing having a chat. Finding anywhere to sit in any form of sun was nigh on impossible when I wandered by at 2.00pm. There were some shaded seating areas which were free and quite pleasant. 3. Celebration Night dining. Following the useful information from folk who have travelled Arvia I booked before leaving home all my dining including Zenith (I like tablecloths!) for formal night. Having not been to the restaurant before I went early, around 17.55 to check the lie of the land. The not booked line wasn't too bad to start with but from my seat in the photo gallery I watched it build. At 18.13 I entered, walked straight pass the queue to the reservation desk and seated on a nice table of 6 exactly 18.17. A friendly waiter arrived in seconds - he'd served some of my companion the night before - some friendly jokes and our orders were taken. This gala menu was vastly superior to the one offered on Britannia in December, very good choice including lobster, prawns and fillet beef amongst the normal veggie options and also a chicken dish and the always on steak. I had the full Marco menu just to try it for size etc. First course crab was small but extremely tasty and as a starter set the tone. The soup was also good. The main course came with the lobster and prawns wrapped in pastry accompanied by vegetables and a cream potato. To me it was large. More importantly it was extremely tasty and hot. My table companions who had the fillet were equally impressed, the one person with chicken a little disappointed as he found it dry. As the food was fairly substantial I chose the ice cream to finish but the sweets my companions had looked good and they all seemed pleased. OverallI I'd say this was a very good meal, well presented hot and tasty. 4. Dress. As I said elsewhere everyone seemed to have made an effort. Those I saw casually dressed were smart in the required areas, certainly no shorts or vests in sight. Most if the little ones looked absolutely lovely in pretty party dresses and mini me dad suits, I loved them! 5. Photographers. As you'd expect with all this finery, they were out in force. It was annoying they shut the stairs in the atrium all night so you were forced to go back through the lift area for the stairs if you wanted to move through. The central atrium "dance floor" area was also commandeered for queuing and staging. Not a deal breaker but annoying if you were trying to move through to another venue. 6. Amber Lounge/Atrium. As to be expected this area was rammed with people mainly because of the photographs being taken. Seating was at a premium. After visiting the theatre I sat for 20 minutes with.my free drink voucher but no waiters came near nor by. Those I saw looked heavily laden and harassed. After the 20 minutes I have up and retired to my room as I had some work to catch up on. 7. The theatre. I had visited there on nights 1 and 2 and been impressed. Those acts were musical and a comedian. Tonight was a production show with the Headliners. I thought it was great fun, extremely high tech and very entertaining. It tried hard to appeal to everyone and seemed to hit the mark with most who were there. However there's one thing to note about this theatre: the high tech specification means it's loud and I me an VERY loud. Looking around I saw some older folk putting tissues in their ears!! Noise as you will have gathered, is something I'm sensitive to. The theatre however did not trouble me, it was comparable noise to going to an indoor music venue however I could see how it would difficult for some people, particularly anyone with hearing aids or problems. For my part I loved it however, just sad I'm not allowed to book the same this twice (It's on again tonight,). 8. You are now talking to a Pointless celebrity ! In the Club House they ran a version called Less is More - clearly a copyright situation. With 3 couples volunteering a fourth was needed or the competition couldn't take place so myself and another solo lady said we would make up the numbers. As big outsiders we expected it to be short lived but luck was on our side with questions on Shakespeare, Elvis, David Beckham and premier league football. Sometimes it's helpful to know a load of drivel amongst the works of the Bard!! I'm.now in possession of a large book of gold stickers, is hoped for a medal like Princess gave me last year but hey I'm a winner so what the heck!! So there we have yesterday in detail. I'm off to the spa now and will return with today's exploits in glorious Technicolor later. For those who are staying with me THAT will be interesting!

I understand checked suits with waistcoats are the in thing at present with the under 40's - they lok great with the brown shoes. Arvia Celebration Night last night most people were dressed splendidly and in particular the younger folk had made a real effort with their children dressed in beautiful party dresses and suits. Most pleasing. We had a colourful group in saris but the standout moment for me were the two Japanese couples in full national dress with the ladies in astonishingly beautiful kimonos with hair pins around a foot long holding their hair up.

As I said above I checked the link too and in fairness neither statement of you is correct or incorrect either! Sounds stupid? Yes, but then so is this protracted he said, I said argument that you seem determined to proliferate. The fact is everyone is not looking for the same thing. Landon90 is stating pure facts based on his requirement that the cheap price is all he's looking for when he books; you're looking at a different angle - selection of room type offering exact requirements and quality - and the rest of us are walking the tightrope somewhere inbetween! The interesting fact remains that many of these headline grabbing prices are big bargains if the dice falls your way and you get for instance the clear view balcony not the one with the lifeboat immediately outside. Yorkypete, I know you love the casino yourself. It might now be a good time to admit that some are more willing to gamble than you are on this particular issue and if the wheel is fixed in the house's favour (P&O) then it's for the individual to decide if he wants to play or not. You've made your choice some time ago, let others make theirs without interference. We all learn, be we make a mistake or not. We should remember while going down this rabbit hole that there are actually people coming here to garner advice for maybe their first ever cruise. Ironically most commentators on this thread (myself included) normally wouldn't touch the saver fare with a barge pole and yet here we all are shouting the odds about who's right and who's wrong on P&O's headline price.

I'm sure you will love it. Come back and tell us all about it when you return. It's refreshing to hear views from new people. Some of us have been around a long time and the thrill of that first cruise is in the distant past. Have a great time.

That was good, as you'll appreciate though a lot of those balconies are completely blocked. If I'm booking select I deliberately check the view on the CC check obstructed views thread it's very helpful. However if it's a saver you are of course relying on P&OS choice and some are unfortunately totally blocked.

Hello Jane. Thank you for thinking of me. Been a very nice uneventful day today, very normal in fact. Just returned to the lovely quiet cabin a short time ago to catch up on some work stuff for my husband but had a lovely dinner for Celebration Night (lobster and prawns made a surprise reappearance) and then went to watch the Digital show in the theatre. I've finally got round to booking my spa for tomorrow so plan more relaxation. Captain Camby's report is for stiff breezes tomorrow with showers so it seemed the ideal thing to do. It's amazing how much difference being in a quiet location and being able to relax has made. If it carries on like today I might even forget the first three days. Will give an update tomorrow but all in all it's been a good day. (P.s. I've had a reply from one of my contacts to ask if they're looking after me properly now and to say a surprise is on it's way later this week to cheer me up)

Please don't be put off. Everyone has their own opinions and a lot are comparing things from years ago. Britannia is a lovely ship, one of my favourites. I'm sure you will have a great time.

I've just read all this with great interest after being bitten on the rear end by the cheap fare fly. In no way taking sides but I followed the link out of interest and the saver fare is currently at £1698 and is a fully obstructed balcony while the clear one is £1958. The select fare would take it to £3084 with £480 obc. Knowing Britannia very well the obstructed balconies are as described fully obstructed and of course they are very narrow so you might as well be inside. I also note that most of these extremely reduced fares are on what I would call "cold weather" itineraries and we go back to what I said many months ago, all the cruise lines are offering a vast number of cruises up that way from the UK so there may well be an over supply. Up until two weeks ago (not been checking since as I've been away) the average difference between a saver and select fare balcony has been hovering around the £1,000 to £1,200 mark.

Modelled on me ... a baby elephant!

If you're prepared to take the inside saver fare virtually every 2023 14 night P&O cruise is under £1,000pp at present. Arvia balconies, again saver, are around £1,100 to £1200pp. If you're wanting different itineraries and a selection of cabins the price rises substantially. Many don't care where they are or what room they have, then they can get terrific bargains this year. Remember though it was mentioned that this year was exceptional because they planned on 70% occupancy so have the 30% bonus they can play with. No guarantee it will last and 2024 and 2025 prices are certainly substantially higher at first look.

Depends what grade of cabin you take. We paid just short of £8,000 for two for Britannia last Christmas and it was an extremely disappointing experience so much so that we cancelled our already booked Christmas 2023 cruise.

Sadly not me. They look really sweet, we could have had a teddy bear picnic. Actually the bear has been very quiet on this cruise and spent most of the past few days in angry mode, ears back and growling while peaking out of the top of my backpack. Today, he was delighted to have a wander round and meet people. Travelling with a bear has great advantages you know, everyone seems to loves them. A great icebreaker, it's one of the reasons I get chatting to so many people, they're very intrigued why a lady of my age carries a teddy bear around. We just had tea in the Atrium and he didn't get a cake or even a marmalade sandwich like his distant cousin from Peru. However i've just come back to the room and found we have a visitor, not seen one of these on P&O in years.

I found it this afternoon and can confirm there are now proper notices. Very popular it seems. I liked the chairs in the shade as well. The round wooden pod seating was very pleasant and well used.

I was originally allocated after booking the cabin no. 4247 - booked 31.3.2023 allocated 03.04.23, upgraded 06.04.23. You are correct, when I booked I could only select an area, I chose forward inside then as I say they allocated 4247. I now have the one next door.

Yes there are. Deck 15 aft balconies. They gave me one to sleep in on the second night. There's a bank of about 10 each side. No one in them though - they had to check before they let me go there to sleep.

Seems a totally reasonable suggestion but I doubt it's going to be taken onboard. I'm sure many would be happy with that. Unfortunately most I've had contact with say they aren't keen on the ship. I'm sitting with a lovely family of 20 at the moment, their second cruise after Ventura 7 years ago. They're disappointed after waiting 14 months for this holiday. Nothing to do with noise in their case but they are encountering balcony smoking and general issues including kids on the dance floor at 11.00pm during the silent disco and inability to book tables near each other as a large group.

A very good.morning! Normality has thankfully returned. The new cabin is exceptionally quiet, slept like a log without even a creak. Woke this morning refreshed and ready to face the new day. Pottered about unpacking a few bits - don't laugh but I am reluctant to unpack everything just in case! Anyway decided I was hungry so jumped in the shower quickly and thought I'd look at the app for a breakfast in MDR. Meridian showed a queue of 30 so I thought join that one. Started dressing, one leg in the trousers and the phone went off - your table's ready. That was exactly 3 minutes. There I am front of the ship not even knowing where the restaurant is. Okay I'm on my way I have 15 minutes. Arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Had a nice sharing table for 8, a lovely crowd. There were some seving problems all round but.mine arrived unscathed. People were missing items, the guy next to me got no sausage or tomato.on.his order and the promised delivery arrived when his plate was clear. Wrong toast for others, only one poached egg when two were ordered. The staff were apologetic and everyone took it in good part. There are clearly some service issues in there. I noticed the not booked line was quite long, this was 8.45. Overall I found Meridian with quite low ceilings which made it loud and echo filled too big. No refills of coffee arrived for anyone on the table either. The staff looked pressured The good news. We transited the rough weather fine and this.morning is gloriously sunny and warm with a very nice light breeze. Beautiful just what I needed. I've decanted to deck 18 and have a sunbed just back from the pool. There is a row of seats facing the ocean in front which will offer a little shade later on. I'm not planning on moving for a while with my trusty kindle in hand. Relaxation will be the order of the day. There's a very small pool, I can see this might be a problem with kids, it's actually minute three pulls and I'm down the length. The one two decks down is slightly bigger but already rammed with no beds or chairs in sight. It's black tie.night. I'm thankfully booked for Zenith.at 6.30 as my breakfast dining companions are unable to reserve anywhere so are going to try the queue later. One of them was on the cruise before last (He loves the ship) but said it was a giant.bunfight the last time. Sounds interesting... Time to chill. Have a great day everyone.

The luggage has arrived. Time for bed. Thanks for keeping my spirits up. A new day tomorrow and hopefully a second chance.

It's not the cabin that's frustrating it's the constant not turning up at prearranged meetings, the wait in your cabin, the we have a solution oh no we don't, the shrug of the shoulders that these unnecessary appointments and waits have cost me two days of my holiday. And sadly I'm certainly not alone. Reception have a list with 30 names on it, I was shown it yesterday when I queried why the man next to me had been given a cabin in front of me, mind you I think that was because he presented the entire family in their nightwear at 1.00am. Fact is they've admitted to me and others they know there's a noise issue but HO keep selling the cabins leaving them no way out.

If you don't like it nothing to be lost in asking. You don't say how many of you travelling, they may have thought if you were a family you would like it. I once had the same happen on an MSC cruise on the Divina. As I was travelling alone I would have rattled around like a lone coffee bean in a tin. I asked at reception if they could swap me with someone else in a balcony and on sailing got the call to say a family would love the swap.

They didn't and I did!!!! After going back down at 7.05pm I was told if I left the cabin area they wouldn't be able to move me tonight. I cancelled the meal in Green & Co via reception and went back to the room. At 8.00pm I got a call to say go and eat and then come back to reception. As I'd now not eaten since 6.15pm yesterday apart from my ice cream ashore I headed to the Quays for fish and chips. A man with one leg came to sit with me and have a chat (no it isn't a joke and has relevance below). Transpired he was on his first cruise having travelled from Cornwall. His booking had been made via a reputable travel agent and he had a deck 16 semi disability friendly cabin - he was riding in some very smart buggy thing but very nifty at transferring on a crutch. Anyway his agent had done all the necessary paperwork and disability forms and he arrived at Southampton to board and there his problems began. The check in staff called a health and safety man in stating they weren't going to let him board because he wouldn't be able to have a 4 man lift in the event of an emergency because everyone was allocated and as a late booking they could only source one handler for him. I don't understand this jargon but I know many of you will know what it all means. My new friend was taking the cruise as his house was being ripped to pieces to make adjustments following his leg loss so couldn't go home. H&S man arrived and after 1 1/2 hours of discussion told him he'd have to prove he could walk up and down the stairs by actually doing so in front of them. He then had to use his crutch and go up and down a dozen steps three times while they watched. This all sounded pretty astonishing to me but he assured me it happened. Having completed his "exercise" the H&S man said well you look pretty nifty so I'll stamp you okay to board. He's happy to be here, likes his cabin but hates the buffet as no staff help him and he relies on fellow passengers for help with drinks etc - no trays of course. Hearing all this made me feel quite humble about the noise. Anyway after an hour I returned to reception and said any news. And miracle of miracles there was! A new cabin, inside deck 4 forward. Very strangely its next door to my original non upgraded one. Couple of more hiccups - I'm locked out of my old room and all my worldly possessions are in there but I've been in the new room which is quiet and had no men in it. So now I'm waiting for my worldly goods to be brought to me by the deck staff. They may not get here until after 11.00pm as they're apparently on other duties around the ship. Luckily I have my phone and handbag with valuables with me but I can't do much else but wait. The television works here as well, the last one didn't for some reason. Salvation might be coming with tomorrow a new dawn in the Atlantic ocean with gale force winds and a heavy swell. I can confirm that Arvia moves a lot compared with Britannia, Azura and Queen Victoria all of which I've had the foremost inside cabin on before. It's a good job I love the movement which is why I booked forward to start with.