Interestedcruisefan

So many new cruisers using Arvia for the first time who then can recommend the value to others Whole new generations of cruisers are being created from people seeing the value on arvia in the Caribbean

I'm thinking of my parents who struggle walking far and don't like things too busy and noisy Would prefer a holiday without too many kids running around (We also enjoyed smaller ship experience on azamara) So yes it's a generalisation and a mistake so I apologise

Potential flight delays were never the complaint that dominated when Maleth was announced MB It was all about flight comfort and no longer being able to pay for premium seats If you remember back? Something you wouldn't need half as much if the planes P and O used offered the same legroom as my Maleth flight. I hope I get the same plane going back. Now the Maleth debate has switched to focus on two flights severely delayed due to technical issues etc? From what I can see? Yes I sympathise for those that faced that. But it's an entirely different debate. Goalposts got moved to still criticise Maleth IMO I sat next to a lady who normally flies business class on my Maleth flight out. She was so relieved at what she found on Maleth compared to what she expected. 2 ladies behind me said they will never take notice of social media again having been dreading flying with Maleth. The "scaremongering" had really worried all three of those ladies. I imagine many many others were also severely worried about the experience on board I personally couldnt believe the legroom and wondered why nobody had been saying how great it was. I walked around to check it wasnt just me Meanwhile my wife kept saying the staff on here are brilliant. She wouldn't even know who we were flying with! Stuff like that she's not interested in The staff were a mixture of French, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese, Maltese. All with personality and smiles. They seemed to enjoy their jobs for sure. Mostly male staff - all were very charming etc. I just warned her to take a puzzle book. Which she's still using now on the ship. 100 per cent comfort was the stick to beat Maleth with when they were announced Now it's become a delayed flight with no compensation paid to date and now a second long delayed flight It's no longer comfort or scaremongering about poor meals or poor service FWIW the meal I had was cottage pie and later a panini My wife had vegetable stew and later a panini All similar to any food on any plane outside of business class The debate has changed IMO Ours was a very happy and I would say surprised and relieved flight Never heard so much laughing and conversation and fun on planes for so long Due to the lack of headphones !! And reclining seats didn't spoil others flights!! Which is why I say "be careful what you wish for!" What we now take for granted as being standard on other planes is not good at all in comparison Comfort wise in standard I give Maleth a 9 Would struggle to give standard in Tui more than a 6 or 7 at best

Yes. It's still incredible value for money compared to other land based holidays And whilst that's the case more people than ever before will continue to choose to enjoy holidays with P and O cruises Some older people will understandably prefer smaller ships and will be prepared to pay more to cruise In them But P and O continue to get more right than wrong IMO

Having technical issues and planes delayed is a different matter and different debate. For all airlines hopefully it's a rarity I do say it again though The plane I flew on with Maleth was way more comfortable and enjoyable to fly on then Tui and Virgin dreamliner and BA I think we give other airlines way too much credit All of a sudden P and O cruisers taking about Tui like it's a great flight experience? Come on guys? Not in standard seats it's not. Nor is Virgin. Nor is BA The Maleth plane we flew on was significantly better in standard seats than all three of those airlines In terms of legroom and comfort Which is a huge benefit on a long flight Have any of you experienced just how bad it is on Tui and Virgin dreamliners in standard when people in front of you recline their seats ? It's almost bizarre what you are left with? Theres no wonder so many people feel they need to pay big money for premium economy The only advantage those 3 airlines have in the cabins IMO is the entertainment but on Maleth everyone brought their own entertainment and actually talked and interacted far more as well Never seen so many word searches and puzzle books and crosswords for so long! Lol Was a breath of fresh air flight in that respect Compared to everyone wearing headphones and watching 2 or 3 movies etc As solos!! Be careful what you wish for!!

Well not only are you paying more for the holiday you are having to pay premium economy to get a comfortable seat? Honestly after recent flights with Tui and Virgin where I had so little legspace in standard and even worse the people in front of me fully reclined their seats to seemingly end up on my lap I was starting to think I needed to pay premium just to get a comfortable journey On Maleth Airbus I was shocked by how much leg room I had I'm just under 6ft. Could stretch my legs fully out and still be 2 or 3 inches from the seat ahead of me. You get nowhere near that legroom on BA in standard? Which was also uncomfortable and uninspiring when we flew with them recently? Also maleth airbus the seats don't recline anywhere near as severely as on the current planes so it doesn't feel like passenger in front of you is impacting you badly when they recline I wish we could get same legroom and some type of seating every time we fly Far less people would feel the need to consider premium seats to get more space I think modern planes have conned us into taking lack of legroom as acceptable and forced way more people to start requiring premium seats or extra legroom seats Sorry the photos are poor and sorry you have to see my legs! But I've never had so much space between my legs and the seat in front for years as I did on Maleth last week The second image I my legs extended. I couldn't get close to the seat in front of me Also didn't feel guilty reclining my own seat like I do on current planes as it doesn't impact the passenger behind like it does on the dreamliners which ridiculously impact those behind Most comfortable long haul flight I can remember in standard seats Staff were also far more laughing and joking and personable than we experienced on Tui and Virgin. Where although we had no complaints with staff the personality seems to have been taken away from them. And it's all robotic. I had to check on Maleth as I genuinely thought we might have been given extra legroom seats by mistake But they were definitely the standard seats everyone had Could never stretch out like that on Tui, Virgin or BA? Without the seat in front being in the way?

You can pay for fast track security and it's not expensive. That helped us bypass a long queue last Friday morning We were terminal 2 with Maleth Checking in with Maleth was surreal. 7 staff on check in with only one flight to check in. We had 5 check in desks without queues to choose from Chalk and cheese from what we faced with Tui and Virgin on recent flights where we we faced 30 mins check in queues when we arrived

When we left the ship this morning it was still saying be back by 8pm Not mentioned anything since We had a great day today jet skiing in Antigua Definitely our favourite island. Stunning. Had to book the Jetski through the ship as they book all the slots I booked direct last year Almost double the price now through the ship and less time on the Jetski! Still amazing though Having a great holiday. 710 at 7pm followed by Epicurean at 8pm tonight As you know we make the most of the big ships. But we can also see the attraction of smaller ships in comparison as well now Green and co was a great meal earlier on last week

We are next week from Barbados to Manchester So who knows what happens then!!

Our Maleth flight out was better than Tui last year Way more leg room. Zero queuing for check in. Staff who seemed to genuinely love being on the plane? Great service. Everybody seemed very happy and surprised Complimentary Bells whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Gordon's gin and wine etc Everybody reading books, crosswords, word search, watching films on iPad's or phones Or actually just chatting to each other People on different rows helping each other with cross words Shame they are now having plane issues again. Lots of laughing and joking all flight. Was like the old days! Way more sociable than when everyone has headphones on I find It hard to find anything on Tui I preferred The amount of leg room was a genuine bonus and surprise

They got told on the tannoy this morning to meet in Headliners theatre at 11.45pm tonight instead of 2.30pm!! Apparently when leaving from Antigua everyone has to leave the ship in the morning and queue to go through an immigration check as well And there were only 2 people doing the immigration checks so that took 90 minutes plus Heard a load of people complaining around the pool earlier on about it all I stayed out of it Didn't want to bring up the fact they might end up stuck in the airport all night!!

Plenty of kids these 2 weeks as one of the weeks is half term And people come for a week with them or do 2 weeks and they are off school for a week. Spoke to a family of 4 doing that on sunbeds next to us yesterday

Just to say we flew out with Maleth last Friday to Barbados We took off about 30 mins late and landed 20 mins late The staff were great. The atmosphere on the plane was great. And the legroom was WAY more than on our recent Virgin and Tui dreamliner flights Wouldn't want to fly with Tui again given the chance And people upto about 6ft2 wouldn't need extra legroom seats on the Airbus planes maleth use. It's like Tui and Virgin must have made legroom bad on dreamliners to force people to pay for expensive upgrades? Could not believe the legroom. In standards seats. I actually had a comfortable long haul flight for once! Will send some photos Way more comfortable than Tui and Virgin dreamliner Honestly

Well Im on arvia now halfway through a 14 night Barbados arrival holiday and never completed the Barbados immigration form (I forgot all about it) as I normally do complete it And was never asked for it nor was it mentioned on the flight Ps flight on Maleth was great. Loads more leg room than on our recent dreamliner flights with Virgin and Tui? And we were in standard seats And the staff were brilliant Would prefer flying with them again next year ahead of Tui given the chance No idea why people rate Tui flights so highly? 2 ladies behind us said they were absolutely dreading the flights due to things they had read on social media and will never take any notice of stuff like that again (Will post more details and some photos in maleth thread when I get time) Getting ready for 710 Club shortly!!

We fly with Maleth to barbados this morning from Manchester at 9.30am So for so good. Flight is boarding on time. And here is a real bonus of flying with maleth: They only have 1 flight out today 7 staff checking cases in. When we arrived only 2 were being used. So ZEROS queues at all to check cases in Compared to 30 mins last year checking in for same cruise with tui from Birmingham So good start so far Maleth!!

We've got vat return to complete again. So that should pass the first 3 to 4 hrs of the flight going out!!

I looked at that compensation chat Does seem that maleth have sent messages now saying they are "processing" the claims Which is better than no reply at all I guess If I'm going to be delayed my preference would be 4hrs1 minute late landing coming back!! Lol

Barbados is also chaotic on departure days The departure lounges/gates nowhere near big enough (or spread out enough_ to cope with the amount of people all leaving the airport together from the cruise at the same time Queues for different planes ending up criss crossing each other and people at the back with no idea which queue they are in And that can't be a Maleth problem AT ALL as that's been happening before Maleth were even asked to help out with supplying planes

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SYNOPSIS dizzyingly beautiful... “I am tired of myself tonight. I should like to be somebody else.” A deal with the devil; eternal youth, for the ultimate price. Golden Globe-winner SARAH SNOOK returns to London in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. Star of Succession, The Dressmaker, Pieces of a Woman and The Master Builder (The Old Vic), Sarah Snook takes on all 26 roles in this gripping, witty and vibrantly contemporary production that breathes new life into Oscar Wilde’s classic tale. This ground-breaking production – adapted and directed by multi award-winning Kip Williams, Artistic Director of the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company – delivers an explosive interplay of live performance and video in an astonishing collision of form. Hailed as a “dizzyingly beautiful tour de force” (The Guardian), experience the theatrical event of the year during its strictly limited run at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket. Limited run – See it first from 6th February 2024.

We've got a nice night ahead hopefully Driving in to the west end for a pre-theatre dinner at Scully St James. A fusion restaurant of Malaysian, Australian and Irish food apparently! With great reviews We've booked two high stool seats overlooking the kitchen so we can see the chefs in action Then we are heading nearby to the Haymarket theatre to see Sarah Snook in a one woman play For anyone who has seen the amazing Netflix series "Succession" - Sarah Snook is the brilliant actress who played "Shiv". This is a 14 week booking she has undertaken in London Performing Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - where she is playing all 26 different roles herself!! Should be really special. She's a proper actress!! Recently won an Emmy to add to her Golden Globe for leading actress role in Succession. And what a challenge for her Can't wait.

Meanwhile we are mid to late 50s and really focussed on using the sanitiser everywhere we could and still caught what everybody else had on azamara

1 formal a week They show the dress code for dining each night on the itinerary when you log on to pre book dining And for entertainment they tell you the options each night and times you can book on the app I've booked every theatre show and a couple of epicurean so far Not bothered about limelight But if I have opportunities to book 710 club will cancel or switch some of those theatre bookings accordingly when we board on Friday The app won't let you double book slots We've chosen Friday to Friday cruise rather than Saturday to Saturday this year to give us more chance to secure 710 club bookings as soon as we board Will add more restaurant bookings once we know where we stand with 710 club bookings

We booked inside saver. We travel Friday on arvia We've got cabin number, have registered credit card and just printed our boarding passes and luggage tags The one thing I've not done yet is upload photos. Wouldn't work from my phone. Might try from laptop nearer the time. The luggage tags have your cabin number on them so they need to allocate to you in advance

Azamara captain said theirs was a mystery illness being tested in labs somewhere