thornegirl

1 minute ago, Jazzytelly said:

presumably that was before the rule changed to over 12, it used to be 17, the same dress code as adults. I am referring to formal nights here. Some 13 to 14 year olds can look 18 and especially 16 and 17 year olds will probably look older. 

This was on Iona last august. Boys were 13 and 15. Can’t remember seeing any children their age wearing jackets. 

9 hours ago, amajaa said:

A lot easier for the girls than the boys on a formal night. Wonder if my grandsons can wear their school blazers but I’m sure they wouldn’t want to. Oh well jackets will probably have to be on the shopping list. 

Our 2 grandsons just wore their school black trousers and a white shirt.  Bought them both a small tie. No need for a jacket for them. 

We were on Arvia at Easter very busy everywhere.  We managed to get in the Olive Grove a couple of times. While we were in there about a third of the restaurant was empty even though there were queues on the app for the restaurant.  We asked the waitress why were tables empty, her reply was they didn’t have enough staff. So there’s the answer. 

We didn't hear any noise from cabin 14741 at all really quiet lovely location have booked the same cabin again.  Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

1 hour ago, cruiseluvva said:

Does anyone know which of these ED grade cabins have the bed next to the window? Or do all of them? Specifically decks 10,11, 12 and 14.

 

Thank you.

We had cabin 14741 on Arvia at Easter, , there are only 8 of these cabins.  Absolutely fabulous cabin, large balcony and very quiet location. 
 

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Any water going over the top of the glass falls harmlessly into the trough designed to catch it, the back of the trough is quite high and about 6 feet beyond the pool. As I said go right to the rail next to the pool and watch what happens, splashes and spillover falls harmlessly into the trough, and it is the recirculated water that causes the spray that sometimes goes over the sloping back of the trough.

I’m sorry I completely disagree we watched the children throwing water over the top , significant amounts landing on the middle two balconies from deck 11 down. Staff were on the deck 11 and  deck 10 with mop and buckets.  That was not spray. 

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

When you're next on board do check the arrangement at the back where any water splashed over falls harmlessly into the trough, and to splash this onto the balconies you would need to hurl the water a good 6 foot to clear the trough.

That's what they were doing, some just splashed on the glass but the majority went over the top.

There were lots of people on their balconies waiting for the sailaway, who saw it all happening.

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Children, or anyone would need to be extremely strong and athletic to splash water out of pool onto any balcony below, the splashing comes when the water in the pool is moving backwards and forwards as the ship pitches. There is a constant outflow from the bottom of the glass/perspex screen at the infinity end of the pool, this normally flows out at a steady rate and falls harmlessly into the trough, but in rough seas the pressure builds as the stern pitches down and the outflow is forced out at higher pressure which then hits the back of the trough and in extreme cases the spray can go over the top of the trough.

So IMHO any splashing is not caused by unruly children or adults, nor with the present system could it be prevented by reducing the pool level.  However if there was no 'outflow" from the base of the pool screen, and circulation of the pool water was effected in the normal manner, then the trough would be perfectly adequate to catch any accidental or deliberate overflow.

I’m sorry but you are incorrect, the ‘kids’ were splashing the water from the infinity pool while we were moored up in Southampton before we left port. They were told off by other passengers but continued to do it while saying sorry!  
 

I did say earlier that an officer narrowly missed a drenching that day but we didn’t see any more water pouring from the pool after embarkation day. 

1 hour ago, Waju said:

Hi, when you arrive at the terminal follow the CPS parking signs and you will be directed into a lane - there will be porters and trollies so you just have to unload your luggage and hand it over - the next time you see it will be at your cabin door.  Just make sure everything you hand over to them is labelled and don't forget to keep hold of your cruise paperwork/passports etc.  Double check you've not left anything and relax into your holiday 🙂  They will then take your car and park it for you.

 

At the end of your cruise you have a couple of options, if you have kids the first one probably won't be an option - you can simply leave your cabin in the morning (usually about 7am) but you have to be able to get ALL of your luggage off yourself in one go.  The easier option is pack you cases the day before and leave them outside your cabin door, they then get collected and laid out in the arrivals hall in deck order, you find your cases, stack them on a trolley and once outside follow the signs for CPS, they will direct you to your car in the car park!  It's all easier then my instructions might suggest!

 

You can keep a smaller case/bag to put in last minute nightwear/toiletries etc and carry that off with you.

 

Enjoy your cruise and remember it's addictive 😎

 

 

There were no porters there to take your baggage over to the hole in the wall when we were on Arvia at Easter.  Also had to search all over for a trolly to put luggage on.  

We are using P4Cruises next time.  

37 minutes ago, GinaS said:

Does anyone know if the quays are open for lunch on embarkation or is the main buffet the only option? Thanks 

Yes the Quays is open on embarkation day. Had the fish and chips 

We were in 14741 on Arvia at Easter and saw the overflow from the pool when kids were throwing water.  Deck 14, 12 balconies didn’t get soaked .  Deck 11,10 and 9 did .  It’s mainly the centre 2 balconies directly under the pool that got soaked.  There was an officer on one of the balconies looking up at the problem who just missed a drenching. This was on the first day,  I think that the kids in the pool were told off by other passengers I heard them shouting for them to stop doing it. Never happened again after that. 

You can email P&O customer services and they will give you a list of the timings for the cruise.  I do that for each cruise that I do. 

My son and soon to be daughter in law were on Iona on 29th April, and she had 3 months and 2 days .  Was told she just made the requirements.  
 

we applied to renew our passports online and had them back within 2 weeks. 

30 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Sindhu was created by Michelin Star Chef Atul Kochhar who was born in India.

Yes and since he parted ways with P&O the food in Sindhu is nowhere near as good. 

2 hours ago, Tan210 said:

May I ask where you are travelling to in August? 

Going to the Norwegian Fjords

We were on the Arvia Easter cruise and they scrutinised our passports.  They didn’t expire until 28/04/24, which included a 6 month extension.  I asked if they would be ok for our August cruise on Aurora they replied no they wouldn’t.  
I called the passport office and asked them the same question, replied not valid .  I then sent passport applications off on the 19th April and received my new passport on 7th May, superb 
I was so worried about not getting the passport back in time but can now pay the balance on time. 

10 hours ago, majortom10 said:

After recently returned from Iona and stood on deck watching children throwing water over the edge and thinking it was hilarious. Also read many reports on cruise forums and Faceache of balconies on aft of ship being constantly wet and unusable because it felt like it was raining all the time. I have couple of days ago changed my aft cabin on Arvia for September to a different cabin and will be doing the same for my cruise in April next week.

We were on Arvia on the Easter cruise in a super deluxe cabin aft on deck 14 and there were children throwing water over the edge.  That was when we were in port at La Coruna, the worst affected balconys were the centre balconys from deck 11 to down deck 9.  There was an officer on the balcony of deck 10 who got soaked by the water.  Never saw water being thrown over after that.  

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Do you know where the drop off point was?

 

Apparently there is a free shuttle provided by the port which does not use  public roads. The pick up point is signposted and about 800 yards from the terminal. The drop off point is about 1400 yards from Vieux Port, again within the port.

 

I would rather use the P&O shuttle as I have a select fare.

No sorry I don’t know where the drop off point was for either the port or P&O shuttles. 

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Arvia berths in Marseille a week on Sunday. Do P&O provide a shuttle service, pay or free, to the city centre? If so where is the drop off/pickup point in the city?

 

I see the port provide a free shuttle but is this in addition to the ships shuttle.

 

I note that there are several ships due to berth there on that Sunday and a free port shuttle won't handle several thousand passengers.

We were in Marseilles yesterday, the P&O shuttle was £5 per person each way. Don’t know how much the children’s prices were. We were told it was a 30 minute transfer to the centre. Lots of people walking off along the road but not sure where they went to. 
There were 2 other ships in with us MSC Seaside and a Costa ship would imagine 15000 passengers in total. 
 

we didn’t get off had a relaxing day onboard. 

We’re also on Arvia at the moment. To put it in context we have cruised on Iona twice, once on the maiden (which was only half capacity) and once last August with all the family.  Not sure how many on the August cruise but quite full. We loved Iona, but we wouldn’t go on Arvia again Don’t like the 6th street diner. The Olive Grove is ok but very limited choice and the menu never changes .  We’ve had a light lunch in Green and co with 3 starters which we shared they were very nice and ate in there 1 evening but didn’t enjoy the mains at all. 
 

Had breakfast in MDR a few times but the food is never hot, so tried the keel and cow for breakfast, that was excellent.  Bacon and egg bap was £2.50 and it was hot. 
 

keel and cow for dinner a couple of times. Would recommend that.  Sindhu once, never again, chefs table once , if I wanted to share a table for 6 I would have asked for a shared table. There was about 2” between the tables. 
 

The staff are lovely as usual but are very busy. You can’t seem to get a rapport with them. Some we recognise from other ships and they say hello. 

we have lots of OBC so we are using that in the pay for restaurants,  

In my opinion the entertainment has been poor, don’t do the headliners , wish the 4 tunes were onboard or Tom Ball who we saw on Iona in August, or Paul Ruck as Eric Clapton. They were all excellent. None of what we have seen comes anywhere near as good as those I’ve mentioned. 

Everyone has their own opinions but our experience on Arvia is we won’t travel on her again, we have to go in school holidays as our daughter is a teacher and we look after the grandkids term time. 

We are enjoying our cruise but are being selective what we are doing. 

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

When we were on Iona last year November, Olive Grove was coming up on the "app" as fully booked after a few days.  One evening we asked the member of staff at the podium outside Olive Grove about that and were told that they had stopped using the "app", but we could book directly with them.  We asked about later than evening (it was about 20:00ish), and went for the pager option.  Buzzer went off in about 15 minutes.  Might be worth speaking with the staff at the podium.

Yes might try that. 

We’re on Arvia at the moment. Agree that booking restaurants is a nightmare. Couldn’t get in either of the MDRs last night about 6.46. 125 in queue for merrdian and 95 for Zenith!  6th street diner is fully booked as well as the olive grove. The best food we have had is at the vegetarian restaurant lovely flavours and well presented. 
 

Spoke to one of the officers who said there are 5900 onboard which includes 800 children. 

We were on Iona last August and I’m sure it wasn’t this busy on there  Hopefully with better weather coming up it won’t feel as crowded with more on the open decks. 
 

It's also the Southampton marathon on the 2nd April, so it will be extremely busy.  Ive checked with P4C and they've got no availability for parking for the Arvia cruise.

35 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I just checked Horizon for embarkation day Sat 11th Feb. The Quays is open from Noon

Oh that's brilliant, thanks for checking.