Megabear2

That's a bit unfair, not many say they hate the multi-generational bit. What is being said is that the standards onboard have been dropped considerably to achieve this. If A&D really are the level of entertainment P&O think the 18-45s want they may be misguided as very few people I know in that age group would even give them house room. Basically they are considered "old hat" by my nieces and nephews. Aiming for the younger people is all well and good but the actual onboard entertainment is way off for them, things like buskers, cover groups of people like Freddie Mercury, Elton John and even Paloma Faith aren't going to cut it as high end entertainment for that age group. Bingo, race nights, karaoke, art gallery talks etc aren't going to amuse an 18 year old either. Seems a bit like the research got hold of a few youngsters from the posh school and assumed the local comprehensive kids like the same things!

Jeepers!

That's interesting. I went there on Azura after the big hurricanes in 2017 changed all the itineraries and found it to be beautiful and natural. I loved the French influence as well and had actually researched how to take a land based holiday there but never made it due to the pandemic. The DinP excursion only works out of season when the actual filming is happening. The shack etc are props built on the beach as temporary structures every year and the police station is an educational storage place in normal times. The local tour operators have permission to place signage on the buildings and sites to try to make it authentic. Like any film set visit it's all down to the individuals' imagination. I'm a sucker for a good film or television set, one of all time favourites is the Inspector Montalbano tour in Sicily. Yes, I know it's very sad.

Is there a list somewhere then? I presume it's not something available to the public but it's always nice to know in advance who's onboard.

As I say, I'll hold judgment until I've tried it. However the OP of this thread is onboard now and it doesn't sound much fun for them. Fingers crossed that P&O can see the problems and ease them as quickly as possible. A summer of miserable cruises whenever they take place really would be bad for all concerned.

We don't actually know that for a fact. The ships are now sailing at or very near capacity whereas before they weren't. I'll let you know!!

Hmm ... Pray do tell what special knowledge I may have to make calls on. I have a husband who will not sail P&O anymore because of our Christmas incident mentioned elsewhere so I'm currently on my own on P&O using up all the FCC. As I said, I've never had any problems dealing with P&O if a matter is genuinely worrying. Maybe that's because I try to be tactful and deal only in facts. Megastar (hoping that you're not being sarcastic here) I am not I'm afraid but I will where necessary fight for the rights of others if I can see an injustice. That doesn't make me any less likely to get the rubbish cabin or be unable to get into a show or whatever, I get the same treatment as most others. As for the magic "P" which has caused you joke about it, I've no idea what it means and to date no one else does either. Meanwhile I just carry on like everyone else.

There are quite a lot on here who've cruised Azura recently. Perhaps another topic based purely on how people found booking the speciality restaurants once onboard might give you an idea? A lot of the general hubbub is about Arvia and Iona so you may find the Azura updates more in line with your requirements. Certainly I cruised a full up Britannia over Christmas and was able to book the speciality restaurants on day 1 including for Christmas day (the app didn't work for us so we used reception) however we had no dining options to book before departure apart from Limelight Club week 1 so the playing field was fairly level.

Yes, know the feeling. No early bookings any more, not prepared to subsidise the latecomers to that extent. My now cancelled and replaced Christmas Arvia cruise has dropped over £1,000 since we booked a month into it going on sale. The cruise lines have treated us for mugs unfortunately so late bookings it is. Lesson learned, my Arvia cruise in May just ticked over £1,000 for me alone, I'm happy with that as I chose it for the extra port as I wasn't interested in overnight in Barcelona.

Interestingly not so much for the remainder of this year. If people will take the inside saver fare these ships too have the bargains. Currently only the two October Aurora sailings are sold out and only 20/7 and 21/12 sailings are carrying the big premium prices. Obviously the difference between saver and select fares remains enormous but realistically the availability is there for the bargain hunter.

You're not alone. As I posted elsewhere in this thread so do 87% of the UK population!

The Norway cruises across the board running into May are especially cheap on a saver. Even a 12 night Arcadia sailing 2 May can offer a deluxe balcony for £1498 for two with a select coming in at an astonishing £1880 per cabin extra! However as discussed elsewhere a lot of these May cruises take in the bank holidays including the Coronation weekend and a lot of in particular older cruisers don't wish to be away and miss that event. What is interesting however is how this year the Azura fly cruises are holding their prices unlike last year when the were slashed. I wonder whether this is because they are offering a far more varied port itinerary unlike their ex Southampton sisters?

No one is attacking you but your enthusiasm for telling others what they should be doing to get your experience will inevitably draw criticism and observations. Your experience on Arvia was for you great, for others it clearly isn't the case. As I said your enthusiasm prompted me to book Arvia and I'm sure it will be good for me too as I'm prepared to be flexible. However also a factor was the ship going to La Spezia on the date I picked and fitting in around already booked land based holidays. Looking at her future repetitive itineraries through 2023/24/25 she won't feature very high on my list going forward unless I'm booking just for a last minute holiday. On Thursday just passed two of my friends have booked Arviacwith their 11 year old daughter for 4 August 2024. They had problems getting a balcony cabin to sleep them with P&O who they booked with direct advising that availability on the summer holiday cruises were already tight - they had tried for 2023 previously and nothing was available due to one of the special offers being cheap children's places. The last minute bargains may well be less now. The inside cabins on Iona for 7 days in the fjords may also become less attractive to many due to the repeat itineraries. Great for bargain hunters like you, but maybe not for everyone. Only time will tell.

I have no children or family nearby, 140 miles to the nearest ones, and for 35 years have accordingly travelled over Christmas by choice paying the premium without quibble as frankly Christmas at home is just like another day. My husband's industry virtually closes down for the period from 23/12 to 3/01 which also meant in our early married life enforced two week Christmas holidays although now he's running his own business it's not enforced but still means it's extremely quiet for us personally. Never until December 2022 have I been disappointed with the holiday my money bought. I guess my point is I quite like being away, be it on a ship or a hotel, in a multi age group over Christmas and I'd quite like it to run smoothly so its memorable for the right reasons. I don't see why I should be expected to expect anything less than the same experience on a 22nd December cruise to a 2nd February 2024.

I'm fully aware of that. What I meant by "out of season" was a cruise outside school holidays and bank holidays. If these cruises were being sold at £999 each they were clearly difficult to fill, weather etc not being relevant. Thousands upon thousands of people go to WDW in July/August because it's when they can holiday but that is "out of season" as far as the Corporation is concerned and gives them a chance to fill rooms that their "normal" clientele prefer not to use.

According to the well know t/a's website Arvia has a total of 2610 passenger staterooms and max capacity 6264 (5204 lower berths). Staterooms include 121 Suites, 1496 Balcony, 174 Oceanviews/Seaviews, 819 Interior cabins. P&O Arvia has a total of 32 studios (single-occupancy cabins) and 55 wheelchair-accessible/handicap cabins (for disabled passengers). If everyone booked the insides and ignored the bulk of the other cabins well over half wouldn't be sold!

Lots of people have been locked into these holidays years in advance they aren't all late bookers enjoying the bargains. The 2025 offerings go on sale in a week or so so perhaps it will impact (along with the itineraries not changing much) on who books and when. One final observation on more seasoned travellers: the wave period this year has apparently been enormous but could that have been it now? Looking at Arcadia and Aurora cruises for this year not many are sold out in lower grade cabins and for the first time in years there seems to be much later availability at reasonable prices.

Yes, lead fares are great. However, and it's a big however, as at this minute that cruise is also offering a saver fare mini conservatory suite at £2998 for two or a select fare of £3998 with £600 obc. A full suite is currently priced at £6908 with the same £600 obc. Not exactly a cheap last minute deal in my opinion and with the same problem to get reservations for restaurants plus of course the OBC can't be used to book pay restaurants before you're onboard.

But you're stating all this based on one out of season cruise which you luckily enjoyed enormously and paid virtually pennies for. Those sailing on the current cruise are not all in the same situation and because they may well have sailed on the rest of the fleet or other cruise lines at peak times expected, rightly, a smooth experience. You also had no app problems (I did on Britannia at Christmas where even the IT staff gave up on trying to get it functioning) so had a smooth run. However if you read the reviews on CC and elsewhere you'll note that it's not always people not being able or not wanting to use the app that's the problem, but that 50% of the time it seems to be failing for whatever reason.

Which totally proves the point. In over 50 cruises on everything from a bunk on a North Sea ferry for a weekender to Amsterdam in the 70's to a suite on Allure of the Seas I've never had any trouble with capacity causing the issues being described in this thread and elsewhere. I am travelling on Arvia with an open mind in the same way I have done for all my holidays. I hope not to be disappointed and at the price I paid which is less than £1,000 for two weeks solo in a double cabin won't have much to complain about if it all goes wrong. However of the thousands on board not everyone will have paid these prices, something that should not be overlooked. Anyone paying the "normal" select fare might expect rather more be they old or young. Yes, I'm slightly older than your mid 50's but not by that much that I would expect to be written off as only going to sail on the older ships or out of peak season and I'm pretty sure that isn't P&O's intention either. Reading the regular posters on here they seem to suggest with their praise for restaurants like Sindhu and Epicurean across the entire fleet that they will use paid for restaurants but what they also seem to be saying is I've paid for a product offering a seated MDR in my fare and I really want to be able to use it as little or as often when I choose without fear I might not get in or have to queue for a couple of hours. It doesn't really sound too much to ask, particularly for those who have paid the higher premium fares for balcony and above cabin grades. Whilst I'm sure many do avoid the school holiday periods and bank holidays for personal reasons there really can't be an excuse to say such and such group shouldn't be able to choose any voyage at any time because the ship cannot cope.

The OP has chosen Azura which has no Limelight Club and offers Sindhu and Epicurean as the only speciality dining along with the Glass House. Dining on Celebrity is subjective. If the OP has been sailing on for instance one of the Edge class ships there is absolutely no comparison in any of P&O's offerings. The new Celebrity ships have four included MDR (if you can call them that as they aren't really) and each offers a different type of food/menu. On top of this the array of speciality and paid for restaurants are unique in many ways and although expensive are often included in deals at the time of booking. Eden and Le Petit Chef are truly unique experiences at sea. I'm assuming a winter fly cruise to the Canaries is being chosen for some winter sun and Azura is clearly going to meet that brief very well.

ICF you were on a Caribbean fly cruise and these historically will differ from an ex Southampton departure. Lots of older passengers can't or choose not to fly so the demographic will always be different on these types of cruise and young people particularly in the last 5 or 6 years have increased enormously on these cruises. There's also been the slashing of prices to ridiculously low levels in the past couple of winter seasons and this coupled with the reluctance of some older people to risk being stranded with covid has also added to their number. I'm someone who does year after year on P&O fly cruises to Barbados, often at Christmas/New Year and the attraction is more or less endless warmth and sun when it's cold at home, every day an island to visit and only a handful of sea days, probably 4 or 5 maximum. If you pick this type of cruise you're much less likely to be bothered about formality in dining rooms than those choosing to sail with more seadays and fewer ports. My experience over the past 12 years on P&O Caribbean fly cruises is that the age of passengers has always been generally lower than on any other cruises I take with the line. Ex Southampton is traditionally chosen by many for itinerary rather than the onboard ship activities, again the older demographic choose the longer more varied cruises on Arcadia and Aurora for exactly that reason - you only have to read of the disappointment at port changes such as the October dropping of Rhodes from Aurora's itinerary to get a feel for this. Mediterranean/Atlantic isles 14 day cruises on Arvia/Iona appear to be offering only 5 or 6 ports of call on most sailings which is leaving a lot of sea days to be filled. As others have said to fill the two ships in term time the older and often non working passenger is going to be needed which appears to be reflected in Terrierjohn and Majortom's observations. You clearly loved Arvia, your blog and enthusiasm helped me decide to give her a go. However in my experience there's a hell of a lot of difference between a 7.30am start for a full 8 hour slog around Florence or the Cinque Terre with coach journeys of a couple of hours each way in the heat of summer than there is an 8.30am start for 8 hours on a catamaran sailing for a lobster lunch on a Caribbean beach. Arriving back after the former you're going to be very much less inclined to want a bunfight or an argument with an app to get a seat for your dinner. You mentioned lots of lovely beach based trips and excursions on your latest cruise and I've no idea what a Mediterranean trip would involve for you or whether you choose mainly relaxed activities there as well, but not many will take the beach option on European cruises choosing cultural destinations and sightseeing instead. Places like Florence, Seville and Rome are the bucket shop destinations and they are a long way from the ports. Tired but happy passengers mostly want to come back and relax with a drink and eat a good meal with someone serving them before being entertained without the hassle of have I got or lost my seat.

I must be missing something here. Surely the two ships were designed for the younger families and as such should be able to cope with school holidays with ease? If they can't cope with the full load including the children then something is going wrong big time and P&O will surely need to see what exactly is causing the issues and make adjustments accordingly. I'm looking forward to trying Arvia and have worked on the assumption it will be an entirely different experience more akin to my sailings on the biggest RC ships. I'm happy to go with the flow and book speciality restaurants before departure but the fact remains that I will not choose the buffet on any P&O ship for my main evening meal as more often than not it is in my experience very limited and repetitive. I've never had to factor that in on any other line I've sailed with, my only other issue with buffets has been on Princess ships where I've found the hot section buffet food to often be cold.

Another factor could be a mismatch of the ship itinerary for the younger age group. There are very few Mediterranean/warm weather 2 week cruises out of Southampton apart from Arvia, a couple on Britannia and Ventura alongside the Discovery cruises on the older two ships. Younger people won't want to do identical repeats of what they did previously whereas older people will happily revisit places just for the warmth. Eventually the new passengers will have sailed to Norway on Iona and the limited Med itineraries on Arvia and move on to other adventures while they're young. How big was the sampling for the target audience for the restaurant offerings that they brought to fruition? Were they totally new to cruising or had some of them experienced the big American lines offerings? Plant based is indeed popular but I can't recall any other "mainstream" cruise line, airline or hotel that has decided to drastically reduce its offering to the bulk of the UK population. Currently it is an extremely small percentage of the population standing at 7.2% following an entirely meat free diet while 86% regularly include meat in their diet with the remainder being pescatarian etc. I'm sure someone clever with figures will be able to tell me how many of Arvia/Iona's passengers will therefore be exclusively plant based. By 2030 the research shows 30% of the UK population will be eating a plant based diet, is this the long end date for P&O planning?

Mizuhana and Green & Co are also very specialized and maybe don't appeal to quite a lot of the passengers, plant based and sushi might be nice once a week as a treat but i suspect probably not to many people's tastes every night.