Megabear2

There are only two adults ships though. Actually tye "smaller" ships we discussed, ie Ventura and Azura have always been family along with Britannia and people of all ages like the mix. Personally I love Britannia, a bit of everything. I'm a bit worried about the Beond comments - we are on her at Christmas as we moved from Arvia. Celebrity ships are out of Europe and US are normally boisterous good fun with a great mix, that's why we booked on. Might be interesting ...

Warm weather Mediterranean. La Coruna, Marseille, Cadiz, Palma, La Spezia, Barcelona with 8 seadays. It's her "normal" summer schedule, sometime no La Spezia is an overnight Barcelona instead. Unfortunately the weather was not as expected lots of wind, rain, showers on seadays. A couple of nice warm days ashore. The roof only opened once. Lots of miserable people understandably as they were expecting lots of sunshine which didn't materialise. Ropes, golf etc closed most seadays, Retreat closed as its front of ship and wind issues. That was mine, others obviously different. When the sun did come out not a seat in sight as everyone wanted one!

That's a whole different question. You are assuming everyone is anti kids, I haven't seen anyone say that. I have no children or grandchildren, I do however have a myriad of nieces, nephews and godchildren and as such like the company of children. There are very few bad children but unfortunately there are plenty of bad parents who " have rights" and want to do just as they want with no rules. The rules aren't to spoil fun, they're to prevent accidents, people can and do get seriously injured, even crippled people landing on them in a pool. The entitled parent would soon shout if their offspring was injured by someone and perhaps should consider that before shouting everyone is against our kids.

I'm sure that in the Caribbean last year Moley mentioned there were reduced numbers of passengers due to being unable to source flights so that may have been an effect. Certainly the cruises after Christmas on neither ship were showing as sold out at any point. Britannia has a known sunbed situation on seadays due to her odd layout and lack of shade and yet at Christmas last year it was noticeable you could find sunbeds far easier than normal so I'm guessing the lack of full capacity may well have been there as well, particularly as it was Christmas. Your observation about The Retreat is one very well made but not for dodging the kids, more to guarantee a seat, particularly in the shade! I recall the chessboard. I actually got a seat there on one of the non wet days but it was very blustery. Even then it was a busy place but as we were going in and out of squalls I ended up being there alone until the heavens opened and I went inside the skydome on that level - that's where I managed to get a seat and the water cascaded in all over us when we were chatting and having a coffee. It was probably drier outside! I walked a lot around the ship too. Being a solo and interested in taking a perspective on her due to being booked on her for a cruise with my OH I wanted to really see how she worked and what was on offer. You could say I wanted to look for problems - probably a fair point. The trouble was the "problems" were so obvious it probably looked like I was over egging them. I tend when I'm alone to literally be the observer and think now how would that affect so and so, or that group. I guess I am the true critic! So yes, I did notice things like the types of seating, where they were and who was using them. The seating in the Skydome at pool level for instance was all the chairs. Makes sense, big screen, events at night easy to clear etc. Absolutely dreadful though on a cold blowy seaday when families need to keep the kids amused and use the area as a type of local swimming baths with food and drink on tap. Not a hope in hell of a seat there after 8.30am never mind trying to watch the films, take part in the quiz etc. The problem is ICF Arvia is indeed the "sunshine" ship, great in sunny climes no doubt, but stick over 5,000 people on her with 8 seadays some which will be blustery and even damp and she isn't really that good for it. I do not believe Arvia is alone on the lack of outside seating. Unfortunately P&O in my experience have a very low ration for outside seating to passengers (can't speak for the two babies) and always rather "crammed them in" with sunbeds in rows with very small areas between them. Come the pandemic they had to space things out more, suddenly very noticeably people were having even more troubles finding sunbeds, seats. I'd hesitate a guess the number crunchers might have overlooked some of that for Arvia. Put people on a ship in hot climates, particularly Brits (and Germans for that matter) and a very large number "camp" on seats all day and no one moves off until late afternoon hence "no seats". Yes there might be a couple on deck 8 at any one point but not much use if you're on 16 or 17 as by the time you've wandered down they're gone. First seaday I searched for an hour, not knowing where I was going and finally nabbed one on the cold windy side of the promenade as a somewhat frozen gent left. So yes, I can confidently see why no seats is now a common complaint. Caribbean will hopefully be different, much warmer, more ports less seadays = happy shiny people.

Err ... I think that's Andy said! "Sunbeds" and Arvia is something of an anachronism. A very large number of the seats/beds whatever you want to call them are actually not beds, they're an odd design of reclining chairs - a good 50% from my observations. Traditional real "sunbeds" are therefore in pretty short supply particularly around the small infinity pools, in fairness there are more in the front section around in the adults only areas. I've mentioned this before. Most of the seating on the promenade deck is this "chair" hybrid. I struggled to get a seat anywhere other than on one of these hybrids on the few dry seadays on my May cruise. On port days returning around 3.00pm I could get a sunbed at the front near the adult only pool but certainly nowhere actually around it, and finding more than one available would be a challenge, luckily being alone I was okay. So ...

Now this is really a big one!

I thought you said you like chocolate, that's not chocolate ....

Cunard were excellent for us. Still getting nowhere with P&O. Our problem is not so much now the walking stick more the query of what is intermittent use with fibromyalgia, that's from the other hidden disabilities box and is why the form is being queried. The guy at Cunard is medically trained so although both emailed/called for details from this box Cunard understand the illness varies day to day and P&O don't.

Just for you. I remember how shocked I was when I saw this and drank regularly. I believe it was based on Carnival ships menus so obviously different lines, different calories. I recall the bartender on Allure of the Seas telling me had s drink with over 1,100 calories once. Here is the list of the calorific content of those delicious drinks… Mai Tai – a typical one can ‘cost’ as much as 620 calories as it is made from white rum, dark rum, orange curacao, lime juice and orange syrup! Frozen Margarita – anything from 500-700 calories! Piña colada – that evocative drink reminiscent of balmy nights is surely delicious. Its calorie count depends on size but could get close to 600 calories! Mud Slide – a slippery 556 calories! Long Island Iced Tea – (the classic demonstration of how multiple spirits adds up to a calorie-rich drink) 430 calories at least! Bahama Mama – tastes like it sounds but you’ll drink 350 calories! Sex on the Beach – (go on, you’ve always wanted to try it but never dared to ask) … will tot up to 330 calories! All of which make the more typical Vodka & Tonic or Gin & Tonic quite ‘cheap’ at about 150 calories a time! Oh, and remember a rule of thumb calculation would tell you that men should consume no more than around 2,500 calories and women 2000 calories a day…depending on how active you are, of course!

Sorry to hear that. People queue through the night to bag their seats in PE and it doesn't help that every single plane for that day from all airports goes live at the same time. Now we have extra planes for Arvia the queue to get in is even longer as there's more flights as well. On average I try to get in dead on 00:00 but I never secure my seats until around 2.30am. This year I was lucky and made it shortly after 1.00am. It's a wonderful money spinner for P&O though! Enjoy your cruise.

Happens frequently every year. Perhaps you should tell this on the Maleth link. Hope you continue to have a great time. Look forward to more reviews and if you have time about the islands. How are the swimming pools and swim up bar ? Assume not a lot of kids so all okay?

In premium economy?

Unless you're in PE, then certainly flap if you want to be seated together, particularly in a rwo set.

Or some silk knickers ...

Why email it's limited of not, wouldn't that border on false advertising?

I followed the link and got £692.30pp for the deluxe, is that a discount? Once in my basket I then had my loyalty discount removed as well.

00.00 saturday, ie the Friday night. You'll get an email link to remind you.

No idea but the "Limited availability per cruise" caught my eye which is why I asked if it's a special deal or are they normally limited for sale and if so why? Perhaps someone who uses it might be able to clarify for me? Re wifi I've already bought it yo take advantage of all my discounts and the 15% special offer. Quite good value this time.

Well there's an irony. I've just had an email on drinks package discount! Is this the standard offering or a Black Friday Deal - I've had one for that already telling me I'll get a fabulous offer tomorrow!! Book your drinks package C Limited availability per cruise Dear Mrs X, did you know, you can add more reasons to say ‘cheers’ to your holiday with one of our drinks packages? And if you book now, you’ll get even better value than you do when booking on board. For a fixed price per person, per day, our packages offer you a range of drinks to suit your taste. From Pepsi to refresh you by the pool and Costa Coffee to perk up your afternoons, to luscious wines that complement each meal and sundowners to toast the end of another amazing day, there’s a thirst quencher for every occasion. BOOK NOW »

I think they'll be doing escape room and stuff. They spend most of their time with their daughter as she was adopted and a very much wanted late arrival after years of failed IVF. I mentioned the teens club for the evening and that seems popular with all three.

On the issue of accidents before a cruise you have to complete the form a minimum of 14 days before departure as per the website. Not sure what you do after that, probably have to call for permission and if told no go claim on insurance if you can. I think we have a fairly recent thread of someone with a broken arm having to do just that.

No prizes for which one then. Hopefully the nice people over here will cheer you up and the bonus is Graham's back with food and drink and Kalos has the jokes back on track.

Yes but 8 seadays out of 14. Arvia has only 6 ports or 5 plus an overnight on her schedules. Mine was also Mediterranean but this season seems to have been either tons of rain and wind or burnt to a frazzle!

Yes I know. The husband is very good with IT and organised so he will be okay on that - he's taking notes! At the end of the day it had to be August and it was Arvia or Anthem at over £7,000 for two less days. I genuinely think they'll like a lot Arvia offers, particularly by not geing stuffy or over expensive. I've told them why it's not for me, we discussed it warts and all, but all agreed the positives outweigh the negative in their case. They have one of the cabins with a big balcony, pools etc not really vital for them. They will like the promenade seating.. As you know it's very hard to choose something in August at a reasonable cost - their daughter was £199. Last year they did WDW Florida for the second time and although unhappy with the expense compared to the previous time managed the app and IT stuff fine. I've just got my fingers crossed they're lucky with the weather and then hopefully the "over zealous" may be a little less so and as a result everyone can be chilled.

Thank him very much. I'm glad you have such lovely company while you're under the weather. I hope you feel better very soon.