Any news on Arvia maiden voyage

[Devonport D]

Anyone blogging from Arvia?

 

Pros/Cons/Service entertainment etc

[amajaa]

Reading other social media the main problem seems to be with the MDRs or lack of them , there are 4 on Iona but they have used two of them for speciality restaurants on Arvia. Two MDRs for over 5000 passengers does not work. 
It seems Christmas Dinner was horrendous with some including families with very young children not eating till 11 o’clock. Apparently there were tears and arguments, it was so bad that the Captain put out an announcement the next day apologising saying it wasn’t up to P & Os standards. 

It appears Iona wasn’t much better with the same sort of problems and they had two extra MDRs there.

[Devonport D]

Great Start

[jeanlyon]

There was also apparently a fight in the MDR, but didn't hear any more about it.

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

There was also apparently a fight in the MDR, but didn't hear any more about it.

Were clowns involved?

 

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Were clowns involved?

 

Not Coco, but mime artists apparently,  nobody could understand the reason why.🤔

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

but mime artists apparently,  nobody could understand the reason why.🤔

They kept that quiet

[zap99]

12 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

They kept that quiet

That's why Jean didn't hear any more about it.

[Presto2]

Every ship's maiden cruise seems to be hit with issues of some kind as things settle, so can only imagine the pressure it has put on the crew to have a lot of families etc for a Christmas break.

 

If the info about just 2 MDRs is right, it does seem limited in terms of space for the number of passengers. It will be interesting to read the reviews when she returns back to Southampton.

[jeanlyon]

But you know what,, the maidens shouldn't be hit with these problems.  Forget the fight, but queueing for hours for dinner and then eating at 11.15 pm is just not on.

[carlanthony24]

Problems with MDR at Xmas others have said their is no problems. Always mixed opinions. Sorry Jean baring in mind its a new ship. First proper Christmas with nearly full ships lack of staff that most of the hospitality industry is suffering from. We don't know if people were going early to their times being told to come back when it is their time and just refusing.

 

Maiden voyages will always have teething problems same when the ship is going into dry dock or comes out. 

 

WiFI being another problem but to be honest don't know why people complain about it when what ever ship you go on its a problem and plenty of topics on it. 

 

People said a women broken her ankle/s in a lift that dropped so many floors and had to be airlifted. Conflicting reports on how many floors it was.  

 

Lets not forget people saying about staff being abused which is very uncalled for. People saying the Captain couldn't care but the Captain who is in operation at the minute is one of the best so I find it hard to believe especially since he's quite strict on things.

Edited December 28, 2022 by carlanthony24

[itf]

There's a journalist on twitter fishing around for a negative article certainly. 

 

[itf]

Archive link to article in Times - https://archive.vn/EHfwT

Edited December 28, 2022 by itf

[carlanthony24]

people will do anything just for compo

[Simonthesailor]

Well, onboard the maiden cruise of Iona (to Iona) there were similar difficulties with booking for the restaurants and often we were queuing to join a queue to book. My memory is much time wasted on a voyage which was not full trying to work the booking system. There were many frustrated guests. If reports are to be believed no lessons have been learnt. Not good for P&O.

I hope Iona at least has it sorted as I have risked a further trip …

[Chrish2]

4 hours ago, amajaa said:

Reading other social media the main problem seems to be with the MDRs or lack of them , there are 4 on Iona but they have used two of them for speciality restaurants on Arvia. Two MDRs for over 5000 passengers does not work. 

 

I don't think its the case every cover was been crammed into two MDRs. My understanding having read comments is for Christmas Day was that MDR service/menu was been operated at least 5 restaurant dining locations with passengers allocated a table and time at one of these locations.

* Meridian

* Zenith

* 6th Street Diner

* Olive Grove

* Chefs Table

 

I've not see any comment on if Green & Co operated as speciality ... I know a few people who would find that very appealing, nor any reports on Sindhu.  I did however see it reported that Epicurean did still run speciality with guests been able to book tables at 15 min intervals.

 

As such the only credence I give to the 2 MDRs comments is maybe

 i) the layout results in a different cover density ratio, and/or

 ii) staff switching to a more traditional menu in some locations caused unexpected issues.

 

Anything else is really not attributable the the 2 MDRs situation but a more general failure better attributable to the new ship/first voyage/teams working for the first time etc.

 

In my experience P&O are rather notorious about keeping details underwraps. I do think the passengers on this Christmas/NY holiday are owed more details than P&O usually come forward with. After-all it wasn't any evening meal that standards was under par for, it was Christmas Dinner. And It wasn't just one table, it was many tables.

 

Now the question really is how much can be recovered before NYE meal? My suspicion is NYE will from a stats perspective run slightly smoother but guest perception will be about the same as Christmas day. Furthermore my hunch is any blanket OBS will be after NYE to prevent the goodwill generated been washed away very quickly by any negative events on NYE.

[devonuk]

7 hours ago, Chrish2 said:

 

I don't think its the case every cover was been crammed into two MDRs. My understanding having read comments is for Christmas Day was that MDR service/menu was been operated at least 5 restaurant dining locations with passengers allocated a table and time at one of these locations.

* Meridian

* Zenith

* 6th Street Diner

* Olive Grove

* Chefs Table

 

I've not see any comment on if Green & Co operated as speciality ... I know a few people who would find that very appealing, nor any reports on Sindhu.  I did however see it reported that Epicurean did still run speciality with guests been able to book tables at 15 min intervals.

 

As such the only credence I give to the 2 MDRs comments is maybe

 i) the layout results in a different cover density ratio, and/or

 ii) staff switching to a more traditional menu in some locations caused unexpected issues.

 

Anything else is really not attributable the the 2 MDRs situation but a more general failure better attributable to the new ship/first voyage/teams working for the first time etc.

 

In my experience P&O are rather notorious about keeping details underwraps. I do think the passengers on this Christmas/NY holiday are owed more details than P&O usually come forward with. After-all it wasn't any evening meal that standards was under par for, it was Christmas Dinner. And It wasn't just one table, it was many tables.

 

Now the question really is how much can be recovered before NYE meal? My suspicion is NYE will from a stats perspective run slightly smoother but guest perception will be about the same as Christmas day. Furthermore my hunch is any blanket OBS will be after NYE to prevent the goodwill generated been washed away very quickly by any negative events on NYE.

I have sailed on the Iona twice now and I really did not like the Pearl and Coral restaurants, preferring the Opal and Aqua venues, mainly due the intimacy of the surroundings. 
Therefore when I cruise on the Arvia next week I’ll be hoping that the Zenith and Meridian are a step up from the Iona venues! Failing that there’s the Quays and the new ‘roast’ option 😃

[Interestedcruisefan]

12 hours ago, Chrish2 said:

 

I don't think its the case every cover was been crammed into two MDRs. My understanding having read comments is for Christmas Day was that MDR service/menu was been operated at least 5 restaurant dining locations with passengers allocated a table and time at one of these locations.

* Meridian

* Zenith

* 6th Street Diner

* Olive Grove

* Chefs Table

 

I've not see any comment on if Green & Co operated as speciality ... I know a few people who would find that very appealing, nor any reports on Sindhu.  I did however see it reported that Epicurean did still run speciality with guests been able to book tables at 15 min intervals.

 

As such the only credence I give to the 2 MDRs comments is maybe

 i) the layout results in a different cover density ratio, and/or

 ii) staff switching to a more traditional menu in some locations caused unexpected issues.

 

Anything else is really not attributable the the 2 MDRs situation but a more general failure better attributable to the new ship/first voyage/teams working for the first time etc.

 

In my experience P&O are rather notorious about keeping details underwraps. I do think the passengers on this Christmas/NY holiday are owed more details than P&O usually come forward with. After-all it wasn't any evening meal that standards was under par for, it was Christmas Dinner. And It wasn't just one table, it was many tables.

 

Now the question really is how much can be recovered before NYE meal? My suspicion is NYE will from a stats perspective run slightly smoother but guest perception will be about the same as Christmas day. Furthermore my hunch is any blanket OBS will be after NYE to prevent the goodwill generated been washed away very quickly by any negative events on NYE.

Xmas menu likely had more courses than normal

 

Could well have been a kitchen issue getting the courses out quick enough to turn tables round on time

 

We work at big events in big venues in London and across the UK which involve upto 1200 guests served 3 or 4 course dinners

 

Almost every issue we've faced with slow service have come as a result of issues in the kitchen leading to big knock on effects front of house

 

I hazard an educated guess kitchen issues were significantly involved in the long delays

 

Power outages etc can have huge knock on effects all day

 

The kitchen only needs to go down for 30 mins on a busy day and you take hours to recover and pick up the pieces. Chaos and carnage all day

 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Interestedcruisefan

[Host Sharon]

Passengers’ Christmas Day ‘ruined’ on P&O cruise | News | The Times

[amajaa]

6 hours ago, devonuk said:

I have sailed on the Iona twice now and I really did not like the Pearl and Coral restaurants, preferring the Opal and Aqua venues, mainly due the intimacy of the surroundings. 
Therefore when I cruise on the Arvia next week I’ll be hoping that the Zenith and Meridian are a step up from the Iona venues! Failing that there’s the Quays and the new ‘roast’ option 😃

Although Christmas Dinner did seem to generate lots of negative reports,  before Christmas Day there were reports of not being able to get into the MDR because there is only 2 of them. 
We are on Arvia in April so I hope we manage to get in and at a reasonable time as for medical reasons I can’t eat late. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by amajaa

[Gettingwarmer]

Is it because the people do not want to eat at the new American Diner or Sushi type restaurants and they are empty and the MDRs are overflowing. 

[davecttr]

30 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Is it because the people do not want to eat at the new American Diner or Sushi type restaurants and they are empty and the MDRs are overflowing. 

Are the American Diner and the relocated Olive Grove free restaurants? If not the MDR capacity has been reduced. I guess they want to increase the onboard spend at the same time as adding more dining options.

[TigerB]

28 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Are the American Diner and the relocated Olive Grove free restaurants? 

Yes, they are; although I do believe a couple of dishes in the Olive Grove may carry a surcharge.

Other included dining options are the three in the Quays - Roast, Fusion and Hook, Line & Vinegar.

[Host Sharon]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Are the American Diner and the relocated Olive Grove free restaurants? If not the MDR capacity has been reduced. I guess they want to increase the onboard spend at the same time as adding more dining options.

It may be included in your fare (rather than free) but to me the American Diner looks like a works canteen and certainly not somewhere I would wish to eat Christmas dinner.

[carlanthony24]

14 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

It may be included in your fare (rather than free) but to me the American Diner looks like a works canteen and certainly not somewhere I would wish to eat Christmas dinner.

Maybe not Christmas dinner but pictures of the food people have posted it looks very good. One person said it was worth it