snaefell

On Arcadia back in May/June breakfast saw the buffet packed as the dining room finished too early,nobody wanted to be up that early when on Holiday!

12 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Tbf it can't help premium economy guests

 

But as I said the food and drink options seem good. Staff have got good reviews.

 

Thats half the battle won for the rest of us!

 

Ps that reminds me from our return flights to Montego Bay with Tui recently

 

Don't air stewards and stewardesses work so so hard??

 

Pretty much non stop for 10 hrs ish. Maybe a very short break in the middle 

 

They don't get tips but if anyone on your holidays works harder than them I would be amazed. 

 

They must walk miles and miles each flight dealing  with every sort of the question and problem you can imagine

 

All the time trying to smile and be pleasant etc

 

Hats off to cabin crew!!

 

From me

Certainly agree there,glad your flight turned out to be a pleasant experience after all the speculation!

22 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Sorry hadn't realised that was your post I'd seen already

 

Yep all seems ok and the food pics look good for plane food. Will take a couple of good books and some entertainment. Probably do vat return again on the way as well!! Lol

 

And I had only booked standard seats so no complaints from me

 

 

The cynic in me thinks your positive report isn't half going to disappoint some posters!😂😂

We were on Arcadia in May/June,two days into the cruise we were told of an outbreak of Gastric Enteritus(just know I have spelt that wrong!),for the rest of the cruise the crew served on the buffet(although some chose to help themselves & some chose to dodge the handwashing),we missed our Villefrance stop as a consequence,spending a night in Barcelona instead,no compulsory disambiguation but finding your way around the ship with many areas closed off for deep cleaning was a challenge!

Reports on the progress fighting the problem were confusing,but like Covid(!),our Intercruise coach left with reduced n numbers due to one passenger being one of 4 transferred to hospital that morning.

No complaints about Arcadia,loved the ship,we saw buckets twice for short periods during the 19 nights,no smells,no cold rooms,have booked her again for May 2025.

34 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Ouch.  I'm too mean to even pay what Ocean Grill and Sindhu charge!

I agree to some extent,the prices RIC charge just show that when they are on a cruise some people seem willing to pay whatever silly prices the cruise lines want to charge.

Almost all the RIC shore excursion prices are well into 3 figures too,some are sold out,another offer I can refuse!😎

We have booked PE with Virgin from Manchester to New York in April 2024 for a TA,that was an extra £750,bit different to a flight we had in 1989 from Manchester to Honolulu with Hawaiian Airlines,a 20 hour trip which cost £60 for First Class,those were the days!😎

Completely agree with the comments on Ocean Grill & Sindhu,my feelings are further endorsed by being reminded what great value for money they are.

We are booked on a Royal Caribbean cruise in April & are flatly refusing to book their Steak House option,Chops,we tried it on our last RIC cruise,the food & service were really good but the portions were rather meagre,they are priced at £90+,over 3 times the price of Arcadia's Ocean Grill,looks like we will be seeing a lot of Anthem Of The Seas' buffet!

7 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Have to say we flew to Montego bay and back on dreamliners last month with tui. In economy.

 

Although Ive always loved these planes

 

The legroom was worse than I've ever remembered and I've realised how bad it is now when people recline their seats in front of you. It's really intrusive. I'm only 5ft11 ish.

 

I don't think we should be allowed to recline the seats on dreamliners tbh

 

Both the outward and return flight I couldn't get really comfortable even on the dreamliner 

 

I don't know if anything  has changed on them?

 

This was 3-3-3 configuration by the way

 

So maybe that's changed from 2-4-2 from other dreamliners I've been on before?

 

 

On the Etihad Dreamliner we flew to Bejing in economy in 2019 my 6' 4" meant that my knees were up against the back of the seat in front of me meaning she couldn't recline her seat. ..not a happy bunny!😕😕

I remember flying Manchester to Orlando with Monarch on a 757,with a single aisle & either the drinks trolley,the food trolley or the duty free trolley blocking the aisle getting around was fun...not!

In 2019 we did a repo cruise on Quantum from China to Singapore,she was heading into drydock for a month(I think) for a Refurb which developed 'a bit',due to the pandemic she ended up staying in Singapore for a couple of years!

The repo cruise was superb,no food shortage or quality problems,couldn't believe she needed that much work as she looked almost like new,she obviously had been well looked after.

7 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Reading the Feefo reviews which are trickling through for the Britannia t/a, something clearly did go amiss before boarding.  Example (my bold emphasis):

 

"We to our dismay were booked on a MALETH AERO flight when most other clients on Manchester flights were with TUI. The flight was appalling, boarding passes were changed at the last minute and were duplicated on the flight causing major problems for the crew onboard the flight. The plane was old, discomfort on old seats was awful and cleanliness of the plane left much to be desired. This in particular was a massive reduction in the standards by P&O and to ask was this perfect is unbelievable."

The discomfort on old seats comment made me smile,IME seats on aircraft in the old days had far more padding than modern ones,we flew on new Etihad Dreamliners to & from the Far East a few years ago,2 8+ hour flights in each direction on flimsy plastic seats with hardly any paddin g,we were in pain for days after!

It wasn't just the room itself which didn't feel right for us,we had been used to the guy on the piano on Britannia which for us gave a nice relaxed ambiance,on Arcadia it wasn't bad one night we were there & there was a busker on but other nights there was a band on who were quite loud & really changed the whole feel of the room.

On 10/28/2023 at 11:34 AM, Denarius said:

I first visited the USA in 1982, well before the visa waiver programme was introduced. In those days you needed a non resident visa for which you applied by post, sending your passport which was duly returned with a visa stamped in it. I was granted an indefinate visa valid for multiple entries even if the passport in which it was stamped had expired; all I needed to do was present the old passport with the current one. Then came the attack on the twin towers and all such visas were revoked.....

We first visited the USA in 1980 & became regular visitors & we too had the Visa stamped in our passports,when the passports expired I asked if we could have the new passports stamped & was told that if we thought we needed a Visa somebody at Immigration would 'smell a rat' & you would likely be detained/delayed!

Sorry to change the subject back to alcohol but depending on what you drink it may be cheaper to buy it on board!

We drink Jamesons Irish falling over water,a litre is currently normally £33 in our local supermarkets,sometimes down to £25,when we were on Arcadia in May we could ring room service & get one delivered to our cabin for £20!! 

Just now, Cathygh said:

On the other ships Glass House is a wine bar/ tapas type place. On Arcadia they use one of the bars on deck 3 as a pop up, ie it's not permanent.

I can't say about the lobster, I had duck which was wonderful.

My Wife had the Lobster twice,enjoyed it but the jury was/is out on whether or not it was worth it,the Lamb Cutlets were amazing though!

We sailed on Britannia the first year she was in service,at the time these forums were full of people complaining about her size & how they wouldn't go on anything that big,here we are years on & Britannia seems to have many fans & when you see her next to Iona or Arvia she looks small.

For us we liked her eventually,found her a bit dark & gloomy inside with some questionable,IMO,artwork,not the easiest to navigate but the Crows Nest is wonderful & Brodies is a wonderful room spoilt by the fact that there nearly always seemed to be Bingo,Pub Quizzes or Kareoke going on,all of which we hate!

We had a 19 night cruise on Arcadia earlier this year & loved her,I had read so many bad reviews on here making reference to her age mostly & wondered what the hell we would find but we loved the ship,we have travelled on many ferries at least as old if not older & didn't really notice anything age related,loved our balcony cabin,thought the Pub was a wonderful place to be,something about the Crows Nest that really didn't hit the spot for some reason & yes there is a shortage of places to eat but it wasn't a problem for us,made more so maybe by the fact that the food & service we received in the Ocean Grill was so good,probably the best we have ever had at sea,Sindhu wasn't far behind,perhaps the biggest problem with a small ship is that it isn't that easy to get away from people wining about nothing apart from the fact that it seemed to keep them happy!

I have seen pictures of the Atrium area on Arvia & Iona & think it looks awful,a bit like an airport/shopping mall food court,not something that attracts me to either of them.

Just to show that I am not entirely against big ships IMO the best ship we have travelled on by some way was RCI's Quantum Of The Seas,a beautiful ship,quirky artwork,always seemed light & airy wherever you went & despite being full never seemed crowded. .

We are booked on her sister ship Anthem OTS in April next year & Arcadia the following April just to mix it up a bit!  

Thanks again guys,the cruise I am looking at is for May 2025 & I see there are limited 'C' deck cabins available already,obviously popular,cheers guys!

Many thanks for your replies guys,looks like C deck is definately the place to head for,now my Wife just has to make up her mind!

Thinking of booking a cruise on Azura,grateful of any suggestions,hints or tips for choosing a balcony cabin(standard or deluxe),hoping they aren't as small as the one we had on Britannia some years ago,cheers guys!

10 hours ago, Lindypops said:

Thanks for the info that is reassuring.

i did see on another message that there is a flight at 9.30 and ours is at 11.35 

 

 

It takes a lot of flights to fill a cruise ship!

Smokeybandit,thanks for being very helpful,much appreciated,to all the others thanks for giving people a few laughs guys!😁

I can imagine this has been asked before but I can't see it anywhere,can you take alcohol on board at the start of the cruise please guys?

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps they are more demanding than ' take it or leave it '.

The destinations we went to made it more than worth it!😎

1 hour ago, Cash123 said:

This sounds like the airline we did a gatwick to Orlando in the early 2000's, it was plain white and we had seats upstairs where the in flight entertainment was a screen they pulled down between the aisle and you had to duck under it to go to the toilet, im sure it was Travel City Direct. What i remember most was the plane shaking when it was taking off 🙂

Travel City Direct now that is a blast from the past,quite forgotten about them.

There were so many old aircraft being used on charter flights back then,really didn't care as long as we got there,seems like people these days aren't such a hardy bunch!😁

29 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I don't think we have ever booked a holiday and didn't know the airline.

It was quite the norm,New airlines seemed to spring up each year to serve the summer package deals,some better than others!

One of the best I remember was from Manchester to Orlando one year where we got front row seats downstairs on a 747,because of the curve of the nose the view was amazing,especially at take off & landing,the Jumbo was plain white on the outside.

The food was often so bad doing without was a blessing!