charlie7

On Aurora now and yes it was very rough last night, the worst I have ever experienced in twenty years of cruising. Hurricane force 12 and captain reported 155mph winds. Vast amounts of water washed in on prom deck and I understand many cabins flooded. We are on F deck outside and at 12:30 am felt and heard an almighty crash and bang and thought our window had come through. It was quite unsettling. Witnessed a lady being thrown off her chair at late dinner, fortunately she was unhurt. The emergency response team were called out to beach house at a similar time. I feel very thankful we were on aurora and no other ship. All in all an excellent cruise

I personally would never cruise on Arcadia again after being on her in May. I and a vast number of passengers succumbed to some virus described as norovirus. This was the first time in almost 20 years of cruising I had ever picked up anything as nasty as this as I am very careful hygiene related. I have my doubts that the virus’s which circulate on Arcadia can be blamed totally on passenger hygiene, more of a concern to me was the wet carpets and foul sewerage smell midship, particularly in the Retreat Room used by the people who enjoyed participating in the ballroom dancing there. Throughout that cruise “deep cleaning” was carried out but they never seem to eradicate the source. I have been on other cruise ships where there have been small “norovirus” outbreaks but these seem to be contained so as not to have an impact on other passengers but something appears amiss with Arcadia.

I am on Arcadia now and oh dear how things have changed from when I first cruised with them almost 20 years ago. They were always my cruise line of choice I have also cruised princess, Cunard and celebrity 20+ cruises in total. I last was on Arcadia in 2014 usually choosing a cruise by destination but I would never ever come on here again and am doubtful if I will come back on p&o. I came down with this sickness in the early hours of the 3rd sea day never having been ill on a ship before. I am fastidious in cleanliness, always anti bacterial wipe the cabin on arrival, avoid the buffet, use paper towels to open the toilet doors and excessively gel. I feel rather than a virus it has been a poisoning. We are on C deck and almost every other cabin had medical centre letters in post trays and room service meals delivered due to confinement. I was confined for 24 hours my husband unusually was fine and he is the one more likely to pick things up. Almost everyone you speak to has had some form of sickness. The Dining room service on freedom dining is terrible which is down to short staff and lack of training. You have to Be prepared for very very long waits and things missing. You don’t even get offered coffee now, but the presentation and variation of food is not bad. We are however determined to make the best of our holiday, the ship is not in bad shape our cabin has new carpets and sofa and there are other signs of new furniture around various venues. The pop up glass house is very nice. We are on our second day in Barcelona as the captain has cancelled villafranche due to not wanting people in close contact in tenders. In summary, poisoning aside, you now get what you pay for with p&o, if you want the more classic cruise experience you need to pay more to other cruise lines.