Arcadia Jottings

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

44 minutes ago, wowzz said:

You are eating early !

Will I get some if I eat later? 👍

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

17 minutes ago, howmuch! said:

Sounds like a boiler suit and spanners would be more appropriate

Good one, I love it 😂👍

[PRINCESSTHE BEST]

31 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

I’m currently on Sky Princess and although the ship is in excellent condition, I wouldn’t have to try too hard for a few (relatively minor) complaints, but your comments on Arcadia Wowzz, fill me with trepidation since it’s our first cruise on her next month (Baltic!). My preference is always Celebrity (reinforced on this Sky Princess cruise) but Arcadia was doing a longer itinerary and went to additional places we wanted to visit.

 

I’ll work on my ‘positive thinking/first world’ problem mindset rather than the ‘the Arcadia cruise was definitely not cheap’ mantra that keeps popping up when I read the reports 😉

Glad you’re having a great time on the Sky Princess. We’re going on the Enchanted Princess in July so it will be interesting to compare with P&O 

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, yorkshirephil said:

 

So the balcony is out of bounds for the whole day really? Very bad. 

[wowzz]

Back from Sindhu. 

Walked around all the bars - everywhere totally dead. Our cabin is freezing cold, like the rest of the ship.

Drinking wine in bed.

Only another 7 days and we will be home ! 

[terrierjohn]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Was the lack of Stilton “because of Covid”? 😂 

....or the high winds?🤔

[terrierjohn]

14 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Back from Sindhu. 

Walked around all the bars - everywhere totally dead. Our cabin is freezing cold, like the rest of the ship.

Drinking wine in bed.

Only another 7 days and we will be home ! 

A cold cabin would be horrendous for me, I like ar least 21 deg C or I would be even more cantankerous than usual.

Edited April 3, 2022 by terrierjohn

[Britboys]

17 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

A cold cabin would be horrendous for me, I like ar least 21 deg C or I would be even more cantankerous than usual.

Saying nothing... 😉😁

[davecttr]

3 hours ago, howmuch! said:

Sounds like a boiler suit and spanners would be more appropriate

Brilliant idea - Last of the Summer Wine night. Wrinkled stockings, wellies and oily boiler suits welcome.

[snaefell]

Our last cruise was October 2019 on Royal Caribbean 's Quantum Of The Seas,she looked pretty near immaculate inside & out & were quite amazed that when we left her in Singapore she was staying there for a major refurb as she was 5 years old,she had obviously been well looked after & curiously enough,due to Covid,she is still there!

We are booked on Arcadia in May 2023,reading this thread I hope she is finished by then,I have my doubts,really don't want to get my boiler suit dirty!

[Harry Peterson]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

Back from Sindhu. 

Walked around all the bars - everywhere totally dead. Our cabin is freezing cold, like the rest of the ship.

Drinking wine in bed.

Only another 7 days and we will be home ! 

Wowzz, this whole cruise sounds more like a prison sentence than a luxury holiday. Have P&O offered any sensible compensation offers yet? Such as an entirely free replacement cruise on a fully functional cruise ship?

[wowzz]

31 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Wowzz, this whole cruise sounds more like a prison sentence than a luxury holiday. Have P&O offered any sensible compensation offers yet? Such as an entirely free replacement cruise on a fully functional cruise ship?

To be fair Harry, the cruise is not a disaster.

The issue I think, is that after all this time our expectations were that the ship would be in tip top shape. But that is not the case, which is disappointing. Surely the balconies could have been swabbed down in the month prior to returning to service, and new deck furniture ordered months ago ?

The impression is that P&O suddenly decided to return Arcadia to service at two weeks notice. Having engineers working on plumbing, lifts and air conditioning shows s lack of planning.

The low number of pax obviously affects the on board atmosphere.

Hopefully the weather is now improving, and that will lift our spirits !

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

To be fair Harry, the cruise is not a disaster.

The issue I think, is that after all this time our expectations were that the ship would be in tip top shape. But that is not the case, which is disappointing. Surely the balconies could have been swabbed down in the month prior to returning to service, and new deck furniture ordered months ago ?

The impression is that P&O suddenly decided to return Arcadia to service at two weeks notice. Having engineers working on plumbing, lifts and air conditioning shows s lack of planning.

The low number of pax obviously affects the on board atmosphere.

Hopefully the weather is now improving, and that will lift our spirits !

 

 

Good to hear that Wowzz. Looks at least like a warm day ahead where you are, with some sunshine this afternoon perhaps - enjoy the food, the wine and a change of scenery!

[snaefell]

IMO pretty unforgivable having a vessel return to cruising in that state,given the time they have been free of passengers making sure they were in top condition surely isn't too much to expect.

[Danamis]

37 minutes ago, snaefell said:

IMO pretty unforgivable having a vessel return to cruising in that state,given the time they have been free of passengers making sure they were in top condition surely isn't too much to expect.

We are due on there in July. I hope these issues have been resolved by then. We are already worried that our cabins will be moved as they have been for upcoming Ventura cruise. Paying for Select fare was a waste of time for us.

[wowzz]

Interesting that certain posters on another social forum take umbrage if you make the slightest negative comment. They would be happy in a rowing boat if it was run by P&O.

As long as the P&O loyalists out there accept poor standards, there is little incentive for P&O to up their game.

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Interesting that certain posters on another social forum take umbrage if you make the slightest negative comment. They would be happy in a rowing boat if it was run by P&O.

As long as the P&O loyalists out there accept poor standards, there is little incentive for P&O to up their game.

Lets see what happens when some of them actually go on a cruise.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Interesting that certain posters on another social forum take umbrage if you make the slightest negative comment. 

To be fair, we have a couple of participants on this forum who behave in the same way Wowzz. Any criticism is often met with a sarcastic comment, even though the site is called Cruise Critic. 🤔

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, snaefell said:

IMO pretty unforgivable having a vessel return to cruising in that state,given the time they have been free of passengers making sure they were in top condition surely isn't too much to expect.

+1

[wowzz]

19 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Lets see what happens when some of them actually go on a cruise.

But they are on this cruise ! Different standards

[Selbourne]

A year or two before Covid turned the world upside down, we went on two cruises in quick succession on Aurora that flanked a refit. On the first cruise (the last before the refit officially commenced) we were talking to one of the senior crew about the work and were told that 50 tradespeople were actually already on board doing some work. In all honesty, we wouldn’t have known had they not told us. When we disembarked there were hundreds more tradespeople waiting to commence work. 
 

Fast forward a few weeks and we were back on board for the first post-refit cruise. In all honesty, the only changes that we noticed were new carpets, new chairs in some public areas and the truly dreadful cabin TV’s had been replaced by slightly larger (but still dreadful) TV’s. However, some workmen remained on board as some work was apparently outstanding. Once again, we wouldn’t have known had we not been told.
 

So, the moral of this story is that P&O does have a well rehearsed way of dealing with refits that can be done without impacting on the cruise experience, but clearly something has gone wrong in the case of the latest refit on Arcadia. 
 

 

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

To be fair, we have a couple of participants on this forum who behave in the same way Wowzz. Any criticism is often met with a sarcastic comment, even though the site is called Cruise Critic. 🤔

True about the name but some just constantly criticize never give a balanced view.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Bazrat said:

True about the name but some just constantly criticize never give a balanced view.

The balance depends on the poster, I know you consider me to be one who regularly criticises P&O, which I accept, but they do have positives:-

They sail from Southampton

They are generally cheaper than competition, especially at launch.

Their food is reasonably comparable to competition

Their entertainment is similar

They have a range of ships to choose from.

BUT, their customer service sucks, and this tends to trump a lot of the above for many people.

[Bazrat]

8 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

The balance depends on the poster, I know you consider me to be one who regularly criticises P&O, which I accept, but they do have positives:-

They sail from Southampton

They are generally cheaper than competition, especially at launch.

Their food is reasonably comparable to competition

Their entertainment is similar

They have a range of ships to choose from.

BUT, their customer service sucks, and this tends to trump a lot of the above for many people.

I have no problem with some of the criticism aimed at P&O  I just wish for balance, to read some post's from some on here you wander if it's worth cruising with P&O because they never mention the positive's, but as a regular poster said this is cruise critic so obviously you should only mention the negatives.

[Harry Peterson]

11 hours ago, Bazrat said:

True about the name but some just constantly criticize never give a balanced view.

But are you not one of those failing to give a balanced view?

Edited April 5, 2022 by Harry Peterson