JDB78

We sailed on Arvia in mid June and ran into the exact same issues. Very nice ship but buffet rugby scrum in the mornings. People reserving sunbeds so all gone by 7am. Stories of people running down to the pool areas at half 5 or 6am. Most of the sunbeds left unattended for hours at a time with no-one monitoring or putting stickers on or anything. Not enough pools and far too small. Personally I'd get rid of the sky dome and open it all out if possible to create more space. Either that open the area forward of the dome up bit - I would imagine that would involve less cabins so no chance of that happening 🤣. Somehow P&O need to find a way of creating more deck space imo.

When I went on Arvia I was surprised how little space is dedicated to pools. Well I suppose deck space in general seeing as though if you weren't up by 5-6am you wouldn't get a sunbed. Certainly not anywhere near the pools. I just don't think it would be feasible to not allow kids in the infinity pools. I mean there's only only 4 - you couldn't really have 400-500+ kids to 1 pool considering the forward one is adult only. Wouldn't be considered family friendly with 3 adult only pools - 4 if you include the swim up bar. Then 1 children's one in the dome

Depends on the ship. I was on Arvia in June. 1st time I haven't taken full formal atire. Both formal nights we ate in the Olive Grove. 1st formal night, you wouldn't even have known it was formal night. Everyone doing their own thing, people eating in the 6th Street Diner, Olive Grove, Horizon and Quays didn't seem to make much effort. 2nd formal night seemed to have a lot wider take up. I think traditional ships where everyone ate in the same restaurant, watched the same shows, drink at the same bars, if you didn't dress up you stood out. Ships like Arvia, younger crowd, people doing their own thing, means a lower compliance - there is a reason why its down to 2.

I think on the 2 cruises I've had with P&O, when I checked in online, it didn't let me complete the process unless I attached a payment card to each passenger even though 1 was a teenager and another aged 7. The 1st cruise I went to reception to remove the card from the children on the 1st day but on the last cruise I just left it. It shouldn't be like that though - surely must be some laws about minors having the ability to run up credit card bills - suppose its similar to stories I've heard with kids online games on tablets and mobile phones.

Am I right in saying Arvia should have been in Marseille today? All OK? My sister mentioned of work colleagues being on board but not heard any news

Without knowing all of the details, I think some people are allowing personal feelings to get in the way of common sense. Obviously everyone's situation is different and I'm sure the staff didn't take the decision lightly. People are referring to people they know or the fact that some people who are registered blind can lead 'normal' lives. None of us were there and we don't know what happened. I'm sure plenty of people would have to been quick to criticise had a serious accident happened after staff had seen previous minor incidents and not took any action. Damned if you do and damned if you dont

This is what I was thinking. We're on Arvia so would imagine no matter what time we arrive, there will be a big queue. Last July we were in a queue for about 45 mins for Ventura in the middle of that heatwave - very uncomfortable to say the least. Will follow the directions for taxi/ drop off then make our way to short stay car park after unloading. Sounds like slightly more inconvenience in exchange for a much quicker experience? Was definitely cheaper for C4P vs CPS. Think it was something like 150 vs 250

Hope someone can help. Only used parking at Southampton once before for P&O, last time was CPS. This time we're with parking4cruises. Was just checking what the difference is in process. From memory last time we waited in quite a long queue, eventually it was our turn, car was photographed, we unpacked and car was taken. Was just checking if the queue we were in was specifically for CPS? If so and you're with P4C instead, where do you head once you get to Southampton? Don't want to get in a queue behind 50 other cars, only to get to the front and the people say you're not with CPS. I know once we unload we head to the short stay car park, but where do we park whilst we unload the car?

To be fair you did say: "I have urged everyone I encounter who's had problems to report them, complain and keep on complaining. I've even given a couple some email addresses I have that not many others have"

Seems like more of the same to me. I only do the non fly cruises. Seems almost exactly the same as 2022, 23 & 24. Noticed Cagliari which have not been to before - but only 1 cruise covering June to September. Price said 1 particular price, clicked on secure your holiday and a different price comes up. Looking at the price, however, I'd say the 2nd price of about £800 more was correct. Are Naples and Sicily off the agenda at the minute? We were booked to visit both for 2020 and then 2021 but have disappeared since the re-start

I thought that would be obvious. They didn't just fly in to do 1 or 2 performances of Grease then go back to Broadway 🤣🤣🤣. The last RC cruise we went on also coincidently had a Grease on. Maybe they just flew in for us too? It had been advertised on the RC website for months in advance. As you've already said RC choose a Broadway show and then run it for x number of weeks and forms part of the cruise experience for that year.

Must admit I do like a late snack. Not much of a daytime eater, usually have a decent breakfast, a light lunch and early dinner. It usually means a bit peckish later on. The portion sizes in the mdr aren't massive and usually with so much walking, it does work up an appetite. It's the people who have a massive breakfast, then a couple of hours later stack their plates high with chips, burgers and hotdogs etc that I don't get. Each to their own I guess.

Tbh I think that argument has been done to death. People have pointed out that the standards and attention to detail are not what they once were - conveniently missing out the fact that the relative price of a P&O cruise is also not what it was either. When you compare the price to inflation or other cruise lines, there's no way you could expect the same experience. Imo, the reasonable conclusion seems to be that you shouldn't really book a cruise on such a large ship that will have such a wide range of people, then complain about the experience. There are obviously the older smaller ships and other cruise lines. I'm sure P&O are trying to charge the most they can to fill the ships, but its just not feasible to both fill them, but keep the class levels as they once were.

Sailing on Arvia in June, on previous cruises on P&O and RC we always opted for traditional dining - 6pm same restaurant, same table etc. Reading that Arvia has 30 bars and restaurants, it's going to be a vastly different experience for us We found the menus in mdrs on Ventura last year quite limited so wouldn't mind trying a few different places. We have 2 children and heard there is one called 6th Street Diner? So that might be an option for 1 or 2 meals. Do places like that get booked up quickly? Can you book restaurants like that in advance? If so how far in advance can you book? Onboard only or possibly 2 weeks before. It's not something we've had to put much thought into in the past and 1st cruise where we've got the freedom to choose, we're on a ship that probably has got the most options

Well it would be ok as far as I'm concerned. Think you could say anyone who is used to those sorts of facilities, you know it's a possibility when you walk in (what you may encounter). As a courtesy keep a towel with you in case someone does object? The difficulty is if facilities can be used by minors. I know on P&O Ventura the changing room where the sauna was is next to the gym where teens (14+) are allowed to enter. I'm not sure if there were separate rules for sauna use, but I often saw teens and teens with their dads in the sauna. If you're talking guaranteed 18+ audience however then don't see why not unless the rules state otherwise? Not for me personally, but live and let live is generally my motto