Arvia - I read the reviews and didn’t believe them, now I do

[miopyk]

Our first cruise with P&O and we’ve either been extremely unlucky or our expectations were unrealistically high but either way this is the worst cruise we have been on in over 25 years. Some, but far from all of the issues we’ve experienced are highlighted below and while in isolation these would not have normally registered, the accumulated effect has left us pretty unhappy and now of course our senses are heightened to the next one which has made our optimism of improvement evaporate somewhat.

 

Inconsistent service and food quality combined with an app that is sometimes impossible to access has made eating on Arvia a real chore. If you’re going to put technology at the centre of everything you do then please make sure it works and if it fails, provide a backup. Some bookings we made before we left home had disappeared from Arvia’s system after we boarded but we had email confirmations that we had to produce to get in the venue.

 

I’m not joking that some days I’ve spent more than an hour trying to access the app to access our dinner arrangements that evening and I'm reasonably technically competent having worked in this area of IT for more than 25 years. We could of course diarise these elsewhere but that doesn’t help with ad hoc changes or updates and what’s the point of having a diary on the app if you can’t access it. Perhaps they should provide this function on the cabin TV, they already provide on board account details so I can’t see this being any more difficult. 
 

And if you buy the premium WiFi that seems to add further complexity to the app especially if you swap between devices. The whole thing feels a bit flaky and not robust enough. I did complain to reception over the phone about this one evening and he suggested bringing the phone then to resolve the issue. When I asked him to explain over the phone it was effectively a reboot (turn the phone completely off and on again) which actually made me giggle.

 

After a disastrous experience in 6th Street Diner we finally complained about the overall dining situation and while the assistant F&B manager tried to help, in the end he made us feel that we were being unreasonable (and perhaps we were but waiting for more than half an hour for your starters that didn’t turn up and the people next to us who came in after us were tucking into their main courses didn’t feel right somehow) so we have now given up booking our meals and managing reservations on the app and are having to take our chances on an ad hoc basis, yippee. 

The buffet is a bit of a scrum and unfortunately hygiene is not seen as very important. They have people dispensing hand sanitizer in entrances to the main dining rooms but not the buffet. They actually ran out of bacon one morning which resulted in about 20 people blocking the walkway and almost turned to fisticuffs when a fresh batch came out. Not the friendly start you want in the morning generally.

 

We did have a good meal in the beach house but another terrible experience in the 6th Street Diner. They also get the prize for the worst milkshake in the world, long life milk with some vanilla syrup, not whipped and no ice cream, tasted disgusting and they charged us £4.95 for the pleasure. The Quays turns out to be the best place for breakfast if your requirements are relatively simple.

Arvia also gets the prize for the worst  pina coladas in the world, a shot of rum, crushed ice and a slight hint of coconut for £7.95, just awful. 

 

We only met our cabin attendant after 3 days, probably due to getting on the ship late (after 3:30) and then having to attend a mandatory muster drill. We weren’t aware they only service cabins in the morning and we ran out of toilet paper on day 3 (no spare roll) as the cabin hadn’t been cleaned up to that point. Housekeeping were not very responsive or empathetic to our needs but fortunately Arvia has plenty of public bathrooms. Unfortunately there is no information about the cabin services either in the information booklet in the cabin or on the cabin TV. There are however several videos instructing you on accessing and using the app that in our case were less than helpful as none cover any points around failure.
 

Our interactions with the crew have varied considerably, some waiting staff have been great and some have barely wanted to engage with us except to type our order into their tablet and disappear never to be seen again. We both get the feeling that Arvia is poorly run and the staff are generally unmotivated. The one saving grace for this trip though is fortunately we booked the retreat for the duration and the guys here have been absolutely brilliant making every day feel really special. If only the rest of the crew could replicate that then Arvia would be incredible. 
 

I believe there are around 6k customers currently on Arvia and I am in no doubt that the vast majority of them are having a great time and would not recognise the comments above so you can of course take everything I’ve said with a pinch of salt. I have raised these issues with the team on board and directly with corporate management so it will be interesting to hear their thoughts.
 

In summary though at this point in a cruise I’d be thoroughly looking forward to the next week with anticipation but on this one I’m sorry to say I’m only looking forward to getting off at Southampton and sadly for Arvia and P&O we will never be getting back on board again.

 

 

[DamianG]

We experienced significant dining disruptions on our 2023 Arvia cruise and for the first time in over 20 P&O cruises I complained formally once we were back home. My complaint was dealt with very professionally and we received a significant amount of compensation. This year we tried our first non-P&O cruise in over 20 years on MSC Virtuosa and despite a fixed dining arrangement it wasn't much better. We didn't have any problems on Iona in 2022 but the ship wasn't full so it's not really comparable.

 

Although you shouldn't have to I hope that you can work around the issues and have a better 2nd week. 

 

 

 

[TigerB]

@miopyk, I'm sorry to hear that you have not had a good experience thus far. Yes, Arvia has had some poor reviews in the past, particularly in her maiden year, but in general, I think things have improved; granted, not everywhere on the ship.

We were on the cruise before yours and did not experience any problems whatsoever with the My Holiday app (non-app), wherever we were on the ship. That is not to say that we haven't had some problems with it previously. I wholeheartedly agree that it is not being used to its full potential, it does require more functionality; however, with the reputation that P&O's IT department have, I don't see that happening very soon.

Having previously cruised twice on Arvia, our expectations perhaps were not as high as some first time cruisers on her may be; generally, we had really good service throughout the ship from waiting staff, apart from a couple of times; interestingly, one of those occasions was in 6th Street Diner. 

We avoid the cattle market that is the buffet like the plague, partly to avoid actually catching the plague!🤢  We tend to breakfast in the MDR, we prefer that; on this last cruise it was in Zenith and we had the same waiting team throughout. Sometimes that helps, as they become accustomed to your expectations and foibles.

If you want to experience really good service, and food, visit Epicurean for breakfast at least once. It is £8.50 each, but is really good.

I would encourage you also to visit Green and Co. at least once. Excellent service and really good food; even if you are a die-hard carnivore, you could well be surprised.

 

We also had cause to speak with the Asst F&B Manager about an isolated issue. I'll touch more on that in my upcoming full report of the whole cruise but, probably like you, we were made to feel that our expectations were unrealistic, and he was, in my opinion, toeing the company line.

 

On your early problems with your cabin steward, I'm surprised that it took three days for you to meet. In my experience, they always make an effort to speak with guests when they first arrive at their cabins, and work later on their housekeeping duties on the first day. As for your cabin not being cleaned, did you put the magnetic sign on the outside of your cabin door, the one to indicate that you are exploring? The cabin stewards should not enter your cabin unannounced or disturb you unless that is on the door. 

 

I do hope things improve for you in your last week. If yours has the same itinerary as ours, you should be in Alicante on Tuesday; it will be interesting to hear if the captain uses that as an excuse to 'just pop home'.

 

 

[FangedRose]

Further to the cabin steward and cleaning . I've been told a few times by various stewards that unless you put the sign outside your door the stewards are NOT ALLOWED to enter your cabin.

[david63]

16 minutes ago, FangedRose said:

Further to the cabin steward and cleaning . I've been told a few times by various stewards that unless you put the sign outside your door the stewards are NOT ALLOWED to enter your cabin.

Not sure that is 100% true. I have seen cabin stewards knock on the door and if there is no response enter the cabin.

 

They will not try to enter the cabin if the "Do not disturb" sign is on the door but I believe that they are required to at least make contact with passengers every so many days, if for no other reason to ensure that they are not ill/injured.

[Thejuggler]

6000 passengers.  Enough said for me.  No thanks.

[SausPud]

17 minutes ago, Thejuggler said:

6000 passengers.  Enough said for me.  No thanks.

 

I'd take a 6000 passenger ship over a 800 one every day.

Try the mega ships at least once.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Thejuggler said:

6000 passengers.  Enough said for me.  No thanks.

It's all a question of what you want from your cruise, for us as my wife uses a wheelchair, the newer bigger ships are far better than the older ones. Their accessible facilities are far superior, and for older less mobile passengers they have far more bar, dining, entertainment and sunbathing or relaxing options than the smaller ones.

[Cathygh]

Regarding the App/Non App. I have just completed my 3rd Princess Cruise since 2022 and their app is probaby the best at sea. It's not perfect. I read some years ago - 2021 I think-that P&O and Cunrad want thair app to be like the Princess one. So why don't Princess share or at least license the technology to other lines in the Carnival group? It would solve so many issues. Just think- you can check in when you like, pre book dining, excursions etc and see the whole of Horizon before you board as well as check the bad news (on board spend!)

 

Princess have just changed their MDR arrangements. Across 3 MDRs 1 is for can  traditional club dining, (ie 2 sittings shared or not), 2 pre select the same time every night or 3 walk in when you want.

Our preference was for no 2, but we could only get a table for 2 and we like to share. Most nights we went for no 3, but there was no demand for sharing at 7.30 as most Americans eat very early. A couple of times the Walk in Restaurant was busy but they accommodated us in no 1 instead. It's a learning curve for Princess, but I didn't hear a single moan about it.

P&O could do this with out any issues, I think.

 

IMHO it's about time Carnival group shared best practice across all of their lines; they can do this and still maintain the individuality and character of each line.

 

 

 

[grapau27]

7 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Further to the cabin steward and cleaning . I've been told a few times by various stewards that unless you put the sign outside your door the stewards are NOT ALLOWED to enter your cabin.

Our cabin steward on Arvia in June said If we wanted him to clean our cabin to put the sign on our door.

We still left the Do not Disturb sign on our cabin door most of the time.

[mrsgoggins]

2 hours ago, Cathygh said:

 

IMHO it's about time Carnival group shared best practice across all of their lines; they can do this and still maintain the individuality and character of each line.

 

 

Amen to that!  Good post.

[Red Ray]

Certainly not the Arvia I sailed on.

[Winifred 22]

I’ve got friends onboard at the moment and they are loving it. 

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

I’ve got friends onboard at the moment and they are loving it. 

We spent 2 weeks on her In May.  Very enjoyable cruise. Will book on her again without hesitation.

[FangedRose]

8 hours ago, david63 said:

Not sure that is 100% true. I have seen cabin stewards knock on the door and if there is no response enter the cabin.

 

They will not try to enter the cabin if the "Do not disturb" sign is on the door but I believe that they are required to at least make contact with passengers every so many days, if for no other reason to ensure that they are not ill/injured

That's what I've been told more than once. Maybe they have been asked to deliver extra supplies or something? 

As a solo traveller I've wondered how long it would be before somebody would check on me if the worst happened? (One reason why I chose fixed dining 😁, hence I won't be travelling on Arvia or Iona).

[Winifred 22]

7 hours ago, FangedRose said:

That's what I've been told more than once. Maybe they have been asked to deliver extra supplies or something? 

As a solo traveller I've wondered how long it would be before somebody would check on me if the worst happened? (One reason why I chose fixed dining 😁, hence I won't be travelling on Arvia or Iona).

I arrived very late to 2nd fixed dining on QE one night towards the end of a 14 night cruise after a bumpy sea day.  The couples on the adjacent tables with whom I had exchanged small talk with said they were pleased to see me and if I had not turned up were going to ask the Maitre D to get Purser’s Desk to send some to check I was O K as they knew I was on my own and unlike me not to be at dinner on time. Though that was very thoughtful. 

[davecttr]

16 hours ago, FangedRose said:

Further to the cabin steward and cleaning . I've been told a few times by various stewards that unless you put the sign outside your door the stewards are NOT ALLOWED to enter your cabin.

I was told that as well. As a solo cruiser it means if I was taken ill I could lie there for days or even die. I suppose this will end up with solo cruisers being banned from the ships because of 'health and safety ' issues.

[david63]

10 hours ago, Cathygh said:

So why don't Princess share or at least license the technology to other lines in the Carnival group

A lot of the Princess app is tied into the Medallion software which would make it difficult to operate without installing Medallion on all ships which is not going to happen partly due to cost and partly because it is the Princess USP.

 

As an aside I once read that Britannia was built with all the cabling in for Medallion!

[david63]

14 minutes ago, davecttr said:

As a solo cruiser it means if I was taken ill I could lie there for days or even die.

It is not only that but it has been known for passengers to refuse access when they are up to nefarious acts (such as drug smuggling)

[miopyk]

Perhaps we were just unlucky with not seeing our cabin steward on day one but as they seem to be the only source of information regarding the process for servicing the room how does a new customer know what to expect? There is no information anywhere else regarding this so it’s impossible to know.

 

As it happens we’ve been on other cruise lines that use a similar system regarding putting the sticker on the door when you’re out so we did that on day 2 for the 3 hours we were away but the room still wasn’t serviced when we got back in the early afternoon. We assumed they’d come back in the afternoon as that’s been our experience elsewhere but clearly that wasn’t the case. Hence the call for toilet paper in the evening as we’d run out that morning and the less than speedy service from reception.

Again perhaps we’ve been unlucky but this combined with various dining issues we’ve had and the crap app has meant the whole experience has been pretty disappointing. If we had experienced just the cabin and dining issues in a hotel we'd have packed our bags and moved somewhere else several days ago. 

The reaction from on board management was initially very positive but ultimately superficial as certainly in the case of the assistant F&B manager he spent much of the conversation justifying why things were so bad. in my experience if 6th Street Diner was a land based venue I doubt they would still be in business. 
 

As I said above this is our experience and I’m sure the vast majority of passengers currently on board are having a great time so again perhaps we’re just unlucky.

 

I hope the last few days are better but let’s wait an see.

 

 

 

 

[Cathygh]

10 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

Amen to that!  Good post.

Thank you. 

[crompton21]

First it was the removal of bar soap and flannels, now the toilet paper.  I wonder what's next to be removed? How about a timer on the showers to reduce hot water consumption? Perhaps it will soon be possible to pay for an upgrade to ensure that toilet paper is provided😁

[Megabear2]

Having just read this entire thread I'm disappointed to read that the reception and management appear to still be taking the shrug of shoulders attitude to people's problems.  It's now 16 months since I experienced this lack of interest and I'm genuinely surprised that it still continues.  New ships have difficulties but this type of thing should be long past on Arvia. Very disappointing to hear it remains.

 

Mind you I couldn't help but smile with all the praise for Princess.  I assume that not many have been watching the Sun Princess fiasco that’s apparently been ongoing since her first voyage in February. Another very large new vessel from Carnival that seems not to be dealing well with her passenger numbers. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, miopyk said:

Perhaps we were just unlucky with not seeing our cabin steward on day one but as they seem to be the only source of information regarding the process for servicing the room how does a new customer know what to expect? There is no information anywhere else regarding this so it’s impossible to know.

 

As it happens we’ve been on other cruise lines that use a similar system regarding putting the sticker on the door when you’re out so we did that on day 2 for the 3 hours we were away but the room still wasn’t serviced when we got back in the early afternoon. We assumed they’d come back in the afternoon as that’s been our experience elsewhere but clearly that wasn’t the case. Hence the call for toilet paper in the evening as we’d run out that morning and the less than speedy service from reception.

Again perhaps we’ve been unlucky but this combined with various dining issues we’ve had and the crap app has meant the whole experience has been pretty disappointing. If we had experienced just the cabin and dining issues in a hotel we'd have packed our bags and moved somewhere else several days ago. 

The reaction from on board management was initially very positive but ultimately superficial as certainly in the case of the assistant F&B manager he spent much of the conversation justifying why things were so bad. in my experience if 6th Street Diner was a land based venue I doubt they would still be in business. 
 

As I said above this is our experience and I’m sure the vast majority of passengers currently on board are having a great time so again perhaps we’re just unlucky.

 

I hope the last few days are better but let’s wait an see.

 

 

 

 

You have certainly been unlucky, whilst I agree that P&O service is not the best we have never experienced the string of problems that you have outlined. But we have an accessible cabin and usually have a number of things we need to discuss with our cabin steward on embarkation day, which means that I go in search of him if we haven't seen him by sailaway time, and most days he goes out of his way to at least say good morning to us as we head for breakfast.

[Lady Meer]

1 hour ago, crompton21 said:

First it was the removal of bar soap and flannels, now the toilet paper.  I wonder what's next to be removed? How about a timer on the showers to reduce hot water consumption? Perhaps it will soon be possible to pay for an upgrade to ensure that toilet paper is provided😁

Maybe cardboard ‘crockery’ in dining venues 😉!