jessybell

To the lady who said “quoits” not onboard anymore…..well they are on Arvia as is shuffleboard and crazy golf!

No-one is saying us oldies cannot cope with technology…..my point is that we spent ages booking dining and shows on the app and then found it to either crashed or telling us nothing available. This isn’t how I want to spend my time onboard……a lot of people were just booking everything even if they didn’t use their reservations. This resulted in queues everywhere.

I didn’t make my comments to claim compensation…..I just wanted to share our opinion of the ship. Everyone is different …….my comments stem from 45 years of cruising,,..mostly with P&O…..I know the world is changing….but is it always for the best? We love Arcadia but were let down by a very disappointing 2022 Christmas cruise…….and several friends had an awful World Cruise on there this year. Another complaint is the decision not to give out port guides…….I suggested they could put one on the cabin tv……..have always found them handy.

Just had first….and last…..cruise on Arvia. We are in our 70’s and fairly computer literate. What is all this booking on an app about…..I don’t want to spend my holiday trying to book restaurants and shows……almost impossible sometimes. I expect a cruise ship to have a library and a card room……I expect dress codes to be followed..or why bother having them…..I would like drink mats on the tables in the bars…having to put up with wet tables and dripping glasses is not pleasant. Sorry P&O you are going to lose your older clientele….we spoke to many people who feel the same……back to Fred Olsen for us after 40 years of being P&O customers. Oh I forgot to mention…….the queues…….everywhere queues!

Let’s hope things are sorted out. We are on Arvia in a couple of weeks….not been on one of these huge ships before, but as it is new hopefully there won’t be any major problems.

Good friends of ours were on there. I have seen the letter sent to CEO……..lots of concerns re handling of norovirus and Covid onboard too. We were on Arcadia for 2022 Xmas cruise and the problems had started then.

93 passengers who were on Arcadia World Cruise 2023 have made formal complaints about cleanliness and many other problems whilst on board. We had problems on Arcadia on 2022 Xmas cruise…..seems P&O standards are dropping and they don’t respond to complaints.

Never again. Most disappointing Xmas cruise….food poor….Xmas dinner a joke…..leaks everywhere. Poor entertainment. We have done several cruises on Arcadia in past including a World Cruise…..such a shame the standards have dropped so much. Fred Olsen here we come.

Looking forward to the African Adventure in November…..not been on Bolette but have enjoyed long cruises on Black Watch and Balmoral so hoping this will be as good.

Red Ray…..we have been customers of P&O since Canberra days. I did not put my experience on Arcadia recently as a “hater” it was more to inform future cruisers on there what it was like for us. We have done several long voyages on Arcadia in the past with no complaints. We were just so disappointed this time. I truly hope P&O will listen to all the complaints made onboard and bring the ship back to the standard it was.

We had buckets in the pub on Queen Victoria all the way from UK to Australia….8 years ago.

Re moving outside activities indoors…….not saying shuffleboard or quoits but when we had bad weather on a Cunard voyage they cleared half the area by the indoor pool and put on some activities like Baggo and indoor skittles…….Arcadia’s entertainment team should have thought outside the box. Fred does plenty of indoor activities such as carpet bowls and they also gave an indoor shuffleboard table on one ship……..

Wish you a great cruise Red Ray but don’t say you haven’t been warned………

Friends are currently on the World Cruise (we cancelled this earlier in year as weren’t sure we would need to wear masks) and they endorse everything I have said plus there is norovirus aboard and they had to abort call to Bahamas as the ship wasn’t allowed to dock. Pleased we are not on it but it’s a shame for all those who have paid lots of money to be on there.

Very very disappointed with Arcadia Christmas cruise 2022. Apart from bad weather which you can’t blame P&O for, the food was average with much smaller portions than we have had on there before, the daytime entertainment was lousy with no alternatives for the outside deck sports they kept advertising and couldn’t put on as the weather was bad, there were buckets everywhere collecting leaks, many toilets did not work and the ship just felt as iif it needed a major update. We have travelled the world on Arcadia so we know how it should have been. My OH says he will not go on P&O again as apart from all above there were many cutbacks such as no photographers onboard, no mints with after-dinner coffee, no toiletries in bathroom except for shower gel etc etc. Shame as we have been P&O customers since 1978…

Whilst agreeing with many of the comments made, the one thing nobody seems to have mentioned is the life aboard a Fred ship. We love joining in deck games and play cards. We have made many good friends over the years through the social life onboard which in our opinion is much better than on other cruise lines…we find Fred definitely more friendlier…having done short and long cruises on most of the major cruise lines. We loved Black Watch and also are fond of Balmoral…..

Everyone has been mentioning the competition with P&O Cunard etc but the one cruise line we have continually gone back to for an excellent week away is Marella……all inclusive, great food and entertainment and very friendly crew.. We love Fred….are booked on the African and Indian Ocean Adventure….but agree there are many downsides to their operations…….hopefully by the time Nov 2023 comes around things might be sorted and our cruise will be as enjoyable as all the other long ones we have done on Fred.

think I saw that Princess Cruises are changing their pre-embarkation covid test policy. If they are saying expensive tests not necessary, why can’t P&O…all under same umbrella!

We too have a special occasion…started off looking at terrace cabins but have decided on a window cabin as quite honestly there is so much going on on a Fred cruise that we find we are hardly in the cabin. Amazing itinerary…….can’t wait.

Who is booked on this?