P & O and Arcadia

[iamwhatiamnot]

Thanks iamwhatiamnot for your reply your rewiew sounds most promising , im sure we ll have a great time , problem is its 15 months to wait , i wanna go now sounds so good lol. Did you find the Arcadia really bland and uninviting like we did? we found it really hard to take any pictures around the ship.

We went on the queen Mary 2 last november and i really expected the same standards and wow factor, we got home and thats all we spoke about for months . this time we ve got nothing to say , well positive that is. Thanks again excitment has returned.

 

Hi Antigua

 

Did we find Arcadia really bland and uninviting - That must be the biggest under statement. There was no atmosphere to her and to be quite honest come 11pm and you were hard pressed to find someone that was breathing. We don't do quizzes, ballroom dancing and bingo. They really could have had a 60's, 70's dancing in the Palladium come 11 pm each night which I really think would have gone down really well. People of all ages like the music from these two decades and like a bit of a boogie.

 

Electra never really took off and I feel that that was due in part to position and layout of the nightclub.

 

15 months will go really quickly and I really hope you have a fantastic time. I don't know your age group but we are closer to 60 than we would like but we are deffinitely not ready for the cocoa and slippers at 11 pm while on holiday. On Sun Princess we rarely got to bed before 3am as the nightclub was excellent. All the off duty staff and officers used to go down there and join in with the general holiday atmosphere. Also in all the bars they had a open tab account system whereby you just signed one bill at the end of your visit to that particular bar. Much more convenient than signing for each drink as it came. We are now suffering from writters cramp.

 

Kind regards

 

iamwhatiamnot

 

Joanne & Peter

[Vampire Parrot]

James i do hope i didn t come across as rude or abnotchious i was just looking at what seemed like inside knowledge, i do apologise for this and my spelling lol.

 

No, you didn't come across as the slightest bit rude :)

 

I guess that some of the knowledge I do have counts as "inside" knowledge.... by talking with officers and crew it's possible to learn a lot... and that has led to a few private tours of some crew-only areas of ships. (But, alas, not to the Bridge or Engine rooms...)

 

Electra never really took off and I feel that that was due in part to position and layout of the nightclub.

 

Alas, that was mostly true on cruise J625 as well. Last year, I cruised twice on the Zuiderdam, which has the same layout as the Arcadia. On the first cruise, the Zuiderdam nightclub was fantastic because there was a convention on board which included a very lively group of Hollywood actors, but on the second Zuiderdam cruise, the nightclub was completely and utterly dead.

 

You are right, the location of the nightclub certainly doesn't help! You'd never just stumble across it....

 

James

[daiB]

No, you didn't come across as the slightest bit rude :)

 

I guess that some of the knowledge I do have counts as "inside" knowledge.... by talking with officers and crew it's possible to learn a lot... and that has led to a few private tours of some crew-only areas of ships. (But, alas, not to the Bridge or Engine rooms...)

 

 

 

Alas, that was mostly true on cruise J625 as well. Last year, I cruised twice on the Zuiderdam, which has the same layout as the Arcadia. On the first cruise, the Zuiderdam nightclub was fantastic because there was a convention on board which included a very lively group of Hollywood actors, but on the second Zuiderdam cruise, the nightclub was completely and utterly dead.

 

You are right, the location of the nightclub certainly doesn't help! You'd never just stumble across it....

 

James

 

 

Hi James we were on J625 as well and had a wonderful time. See my review.

 

You certainly have to look for Electra. There were a few nights when there was enough people in there for a good time.

 

My wife was always in after the second show and we were often the last ones in.

 

One positive, however you do not hear the music as you go past and it does not disturb others. Also with Arcadia being all adult the music being played is more mature head banging stuff. At New Year on Aurora the disco was taken over by 15 to 19 year olds.

 

I have followed this thread with interest and find it interesting how people can have such different experiences in such a short time. I do not recognise the ship from the tales of woe which have been expressed.

 

We had a fantastic time, an excellent table good 'hot' food and excellent service and the majority of staff were very pleasant, even the croupiers smiled as they took my money.

 

 

Happy Cruising

 

:) :) :) :)

[antigua]

Hi Antigua

 

Did we find Arcadia really bland and uninviting - That must be the biggest under statement. There was no atmosphere to her and to be quite honest come 11pm and you were hard pressed to find someone that was breathing. We don't do quizzes, ballroom dancing and bingo. They really could have had a 60's, 70's dancing in the Palladium come 11 pm each night which I really think would have gone down really well. People of all ages like the music from these two decades and like a bit of a boogie.

 

Electra never really took off and I feel that that was due in part to position and layout of the nightclub.

 

15 months will go really quickly and I really hope you have a fantastic time. I don't know your age group but we are closer to 60 than we would like but we are deffinitely not ready for the cocoa and slippers at 11 pm while on holiday. On Sun Princess we rarely got to bed before 3am as the nightclub was excellent. All the off duty staff and officers used to go down there and join in with the general holiday atmosphere. Also in all the bars they had a open tab account system whereby you just signed one bill at the end of your visit to that particular bar. Much more convenient than signing for each drink as it came. We are now suffering from writters cramp.

 

Kind regards

 

iamwhatiamnot

 

Joanne & Peter

Hi Joanne and Peter, i feel quite sad that my impressions have been negative , we tried really hard not to feel like this after our bad start , us being the ones that were delayed from Gatwick , i really didnt want to spoil the rest of our holiday. We were on second sitting and allways watched the shows , and allways went with an open mind , i never thought id enjoy Bobby Crush , but you know i found his first show fantastic. Im a non smoker so i found `The Pub` a bit on the smoky side , we went in there early evening which was fine , but i assume as the evening went on the smoke built up.

We did try the disco once but were the only ones in there , were never really sure what time it opened, we did go to the deck party one evening but i think it ended 12.15 so didnt really get in the mood of things after the second show.

Our ages are 46 and 57 me being the younger lol. 15 months is a long wait but we`ve 4 other holidays booked before thats both on land and sea , one being a cruise with thompsons , im not expecting too much , and its all inclusive , maybe we ll be presently surprised. Hope you enjoy some good future holidays , i ll never let a bad experiance put me off , i live work for my holidays, not sure in what order. Take Care.

[Vampire Parrot]

Hi Dai,

 

You and I met on J625 at the :D CC meeting!

 

Pat (my better half) and myself also had a truly fantastic time, and we'll sail on the Arcadia again, probably in 2 years time (if she's still with P&O). Next year, we're going to try the Aurora... because so many people on the Arcadia kept teling me "well, she's not the Aurora!". Maybe Pat and myself will be telling folks on the Aurora "well, she's not the Arcadia" ;)

 

We didn't enjoy all of the entertainment on the Arcadia, for example Paul Da Vinci, Les Bryan and Victor Michael could have sent us to sleep. That's no reflection on them, it's just that they aren't the kind of entertainer we enjoy.

 

On the other hand, the Arcadia theatre company and Stu Francis were highly entertaining. Stu Francis's jokes were so bad they were brilliant, and the way he referred to the cruise director (Nigel) had me in stiches!

 

We always found plenty to do when at sea, whether it be go and see a show or talk, dance, listen to music, have a drink, play cards, watch the ocean, chat with newly-made friends, play deck quoits, write the diary, eat (mustn't forget eating!), take photographs around the ship, gamble (or, more usually, watch others gamble!), browse the shop, listen to a recital, go for a swm.... perhaps 7 days at sea isn't enough? :D

 

James

[libra-sue]

I have read that they are replacing the balcony furniture - white plasric with no cushions (as cushions removed since balcony fire on princess) with ''teak furniture with royal blue cushions, once the sprinklers were installed. Did you see this new furniture?

 

I enjoyed all meals on Arcadia in May , including AR and Orchid. We had the sitting we requested - 2nd- but booked 1 year in advance and it was confirmed. If you were wait-listed then it would not be such a surprise to see you were unlucky - but i read that you did get your preference on the 2nd week.

 

I have also read that balconies on arcadia are quite spacious compared to other ships of similar grades and prices, so surprised you said they were small.

 

I'm back on Arcadia in June 07, and had no complaints from our cruise - even invited to a captains cocktail party and chief exec's.

 

Sue

[Janey]

Hi LibraSue. we were on this cruise too and got a completely different impression. Our stateroom was big (CA), the balcony massive with teak furniture with blue cushions and we got 2nd sitting cos we booked well in advance. Don't see how you can book late and expect everything to be hunky dorey. We even thought the food was OK in the Belvedere so must be easily pleased. Too shattered at 23:00 to appreciate any entertainment so a couple of drinks in the stateroom and a read and then to sleep! We are off again NEXT December, couldn't find a better ship for the money with premium seats from our local airport. Maybe we will even go again before then.