Arvia K308 - All aboard

[happy v]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I'm not an expert but the lava rock is a very hot block of rock that you cook your steak on. You can cook it to your liking and each slice is hot. I thought the salt block was a block of salt lining the curing chamber. The salt sucks the moisture out to enhance the flavour. I may be wrong, but....🤔

No you are right about the salt cabinet

 The salt block is the same principle as the lava blocks in the Beach House

Have a look at the picture of the menu above 

[TigerB]

Before ordering in the Beach House last night, our lass asked the difference. She was told the salt block is exactly the same as the lava block, hot so it cooks the steak, but with a coating of salt. She didn't fancy that as, when cutting and continuing to cook the slices, she would have found them too salty.

[cruising.mark.uk]

On the subject of steaks, I had the Angus Sirloin in Epicurean last night and it was excellent.  As was the duo of Salmon starter and the cheese board.  Well worth the cost.  Tonight we are back to Sindhu (where the menu seems to be the same as last week) 🙂

[TigerB]

11 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

On the subject of steaks, I had the Angus Sirloin in Epicurean last night and it was excellent.  As was the duo of Salmon starter and the cheese board.  Well worth the cost.  Tonight we are back to Sindhu (where the menu seems to be the same as last week) 🙂

 

I'll be going for the salmon duo tonight, and the Dover sole.

 

In Sindhu, still the one with the lobster thermidor, and monkfish medallions? If so, that's a shame as we expected the next menu to be on by now

[happy v]

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

On the subject of steaks, I had the Angus Sirloin in Epicurean last night and it was excellent.  As was the duo of Salmon starter and the cheese board.  Well worth the cost.  Tonight we are back to Sindhu (where the menu seems to be the same as last week) 🙂

We had the same menu for two weeks in Sindhu. When I questioned it I was told Arvia and Iona only do one menu.

 

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

On the subject of steaks, I had the Angus Sirloin in Epicurean last night and it was excellent.  As was the duo of Salmon starter and the cheese board.  Well worth the cost.  Tonight we are back to Sindhu (where the menu seems to be the same as last week) 🙂

I believe that daiB has said that you can have the cheese board as well as a dessert and there’s no extra cost? Might be a challenge but one that I’m prepared to accept given all the photos that are being posted which are making me quite envious 😂 

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I believe that daiB has said that you can have the cheese board as well as a dessert and there’s no extra cost? Might be a challenge but one that I’m prepared to accept given all the photos that are being posted which are making me quite envious 😂 

 

Well, if that's the game you're going to play....

 

I'm not really into cheese boards, but am all about the desserts, and there are at least two on tonight's menu that I really fancy.  Wish me luck!🤞🐷

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I believe that daiB has said that you can have the cheese board as well as a dessert and there’s no extra cost? Might be a challenge but one that I’m prepared to accept given all the photos that are being posted which are making me quite envious 😂 

 

48 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Well, if that's the game you're going to play....

 

I'm not really into cheese boards, but am all about the desserts, and there are at least two on tonight's menu that I really fancy.  Wish me luck!🤞🐷

I think @daiB was only talking about the MDR but I might be wrong. 

[daiB]

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

 

I think @daiB was only talking about the MDR but I might be wrong. 

Well it is certainly the case in the MDR and always been so. I think they stopped asking as so few took them up.

 

However my post above was about the Epicurean. I asked and the waiter said of course sir. Now I don’t know if I just caught him in a good mood or he recognised me. But as they say in the NE shy bairns get nowt.   🙂 🙂 

Edited April 25, 2023 by daiB

[poppyfield]

I’m on board the same cruise, so far it’s been ok, as you say the ship is full.

we sailed on Iona last year, but due to the restrictions it wasn’t full, so this is our first experience of a ship this size filled to capacity.

a few observations , not criticisms, just how we see it so far, shuttle bus service you now pay for, there and back, organised chaos at Valencia and Marseille , people waiting ages to get on a bus, no problems at Barcelona.
Night time room turn down has gone, no little chocolate either.

With so many on board it’s difficult to book a restaurant, unless you want to eat   at 5 30, the virtual queue is a pain, it’s hard to plan your evening when you’re not sure what time you will eat. We’ve found it better just to go to the restaurant you choose, and as long as you don’t mind sharing a table you can get in.

Shows have been ok although two shows at the headliners we saw last year, Skys the limit and Digital .

Horizon restaurant is mega busy at peak times, we use the Quays restaurant for breakfast, get there before 9 am and it’s fine.

Trips, we’ve done, La Coruna panoramic,  

good value, Valencia panoramic, good value, Marseille panoramic and old town, 

we didn’t enjoy this place is so run down apart from the marina , Barcelona on your own, waste of money, use a taxi or shuttle bus, Barcelona to Montserrat monastery, well worth it.

We are enjoying the cruise, it’s just different with so many people on board.

 

 

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, poppyfield said:

I’m on board the same cruise, so far it’s been ok, as you say the ship is full.

we sailed on Iona last year, but due to the restrictions it wasn’t full, so this is our first experience of a ship this size filled to capacity.

a few observations , not criticisms, just how we see it so far, shuttle bus service you now pay for, there and back, organised chaos at Valencia and Marseille , people waiting ages to get on a bus, no problems at Barcelona.
Night time room turn down has gone, no little chocolate either.

With so many on board it’s difficult to book a restaurant, unless you want to eat   at 5 30, the virtual queue is a pain, it’s hard to plan your evening when you’re not sure what time you will eat. We’ve found it better just to go to the restaurant you choose, and as long as you don’t mind sharing a table you can get in.

Shows have been ok although two shows at the headliners we saw last year, Skys the limit and Digital .

Horizon restaurant is mega busy at peak times, we use the Quays restaurant for breakfast, get there before 9 am and it’s fine.

Trips, we’ve done, La Coruna panoramic,  

good value, Valencia panoramic, good value, Marseille panoramic and old town, 

we didn’t enjoy this place is so run down apart from the marina , Barcelona on your own, waste of money, use a taxi or shuttle bus, Barcelona to Montserrat monastery, well worth it.

We are enjoying the cruise, it’s just different with so many people on board.

 

 

Glad that you are enjoying the cruise. At the risk of sounding pedantic (as I have made this point a few times), the ship will not be full to capacity as you say. P&O will say the ship is full when there are 5,000 to 5,200 passengers, as that’s the lower berths. Whilst there are kids on board, there won’t be 1,000 of them as it’s term time. In summer school holidays there could well be 6,200 on board!

 

Are shuttle buses no longer free for those paying Select fares? I must have missed that change, although come to think of it I don’t recall seeing it mentioned under the Select fare column when I booked last week?

[carlanthony24]

Shuttles have been free for select fare for a while now its on saver you have to pay for. Valencia last month shuttle buses were a problem from the ship but everyone got off at the same time coming back no problem straight on one.

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Glad that you are enjoying the cruise. At the risk of sounding pedantic (as I have made this point a few times), the ship will not be full to capacity as you say. P&O will say the ship is full when there are 5,000 to 5,200 passengers, as that’s the lower berths. Whilst there are kids on board, there won’t be 1,000 of them as it’s term time. In summer school holidays there could well be 6,200 on board!

 

Are shuttle buses no longer free for those paying Select fares? I must have missed that change, although come to think of it I don’t recall seeing it mentioned under the Select fare column when I booked last week?

Select fares still enjoy free shuttles.

[poppyfield]

43 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Glad that you are enjoying the cruise. At the risk of sounding pedantic (as I have made this point a few times), the ship will not be full to capacity as you say. P&O will say the ship is full when there are 5,000 to 5,200 passengers, as that’s the lower berths. Whilst there are kids on board, there won’t be 1,000 of them as it’s term time. In summer school holidays there could well be 6,200 on board!

 

Are shuttle buses no longer free for those paying Select fares? I must have missed that change, although come to think of it I don’t recall seeing it mentioned under the Select fare column when I booked last week?

Sorry I don’t know about the select fairs and shuttle buses, I’m sure you are right about the capacity, pretty sure I’d give it miss then in school holidays,  6,200 on board! my brain would start to melt 😀

[Selbourne]

18 minutes ago, poppyfield said:

6,200 on board! my brain would start to melt 😀

I’ll let you know if mine does 😂 We are on her in August 😱 Enjoy the rest of your cruise

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, carlanthony24 said:

Shuttles have been free for select fare for a while now its on saver you have to pay for. Valencia last month shuttle buses were a problem from the ship but everyone got off at the same time coming back no problem straight on one.

As far as I recall they’ve always been free for those on Select fares and extra cost for those on Savers. The comment that shuttles are now charged for threw me as I thought there’d been a change! 
 

Just checked again and when doing a dummy booking and you get to the two different price columns of Saver and Select, for some reason they no longer list free shuttles amongst the Select fare benefits, which seems a missed opportunity!

[cruising.mark.uk]

6 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

As far as I recall they’ve always been free for those on Select fares and extra cost for those on Savers. The comment that shuttles are now charged for threw me as I thought there’d been a change! 
 

Just checked again and when doing a dummy booking and you get to the two different price columns of Saver and Select, for some reason they no longer list free shuttles amongst the Select fare benefits, which seems a missed opportunity!

They're meant to be charging those on Saver, but seem to have contracted out the process to local companies and the only place on this trip that we've had our card scanned to get on the bus was at Valencia.  We left it until lunchtime to go out at Marseille and Barcelona and no one was scanning any cards on entry to shuttle buses at either location at the time we left or returned to the ship.  

[Megabear2]

I'll be a bit unhappy if I have to start paying for shuttles. I only booked the select on my Arvia cruise because I knew I'd need them.

 

Interesting comment on Marseille about the state of the place - a building collapsed there last week!

[Selbourne]

15 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

They're meant to be charging those on Saver, but seem to have contracted out the process to local companies and the only place on this trip that we've had our card scanned to get on the bus was at Valencia.  We left it until lunchtime to go out at Marseille and Barcelona and no one was scanning any cards on entry to shuttle buses at either location at the time we left or returned to the ship.  

Ah right. So I guess that if those on Savers aren’t being charged every time then they’ve stopped promoting it as a benefit of Select fares 🤷‍♂️

[cruising.mark.uk]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Ah right. So I guess that if those on Savers aren’t being charged every time then they’ve stopped promoting it as a benefit of Select fares 🤷‍♂️

The Horizon for each stop still specifies the charges and says that it's free for those on Select.  But, in practice, those administering the buses don't seem to have the capacity / will to scan cards, so many of those on Saver fares won't have been paying either.

[yorkshirephil]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Ah right. So I guess that if those on Savers aren’t being charged every time then they’ve stopped promoting it as a benefit of Select fares 🤷‍♂️

Bear in mind that in some ports the buses are free as they are supplied by the town/port. 

[majortom10]

When we're on Iona in March when we used the shuttle everyone had their cruise card scanned as they got on the bus in Barcelona and Lisbon. We had booked Select so was not charged I assume that those that weren't Select had the charge added to their onboard account.

[Son of Anarchy]

We used the shuttle bus at Valencia, Marseille and Barca (3 round trips). Our cards were only scanned on the return shuttle at Valencia.  Select fare, so I reckon P & O owe me a free cruise for mis-selling the benefits of Select fare 🤣😇 

[Son of Anarchy]

On a separate issue, the selfish so and so a couple of balconies along from us seems to have stopped smoking on his balcony. 

Had to complain on 3 separate occasions. Last time was Barca day 2.  The deck manager spoke with us in our cabin, offered us a complimentary bottle of wine.  We know the passenger got a letter re smoking on balconies after the first time I fessed him up, so blatantly taking the pish. Don't know what the deck manager said/did this time. 

Wait until tonight/tomorrow to see if he starts up again when he can't be off-loaded 

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

On a separate issue, the selfish so and so a couple of balconies along from us seems to have stopped smoking on his balcony. 

Had to complain on 3 separate occasions. Last time was Barca day 2.  The deck manager spoke with us in our cabin, offered us a complimentary bottle of wine.  We know the passenger got a letter re smoking on balconies after the first time I fessed him up, so blatantly taking the pish. Don't know what the deck manager said/did this time. 

Wait until tonight/tomorrow to see if he starts up again when he can't be off-loaded 

Well done for reporting them. Some people can be so selfish and thoughtless.