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Gnoelj

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Everything posted by Gnoelj

  1. During the pandemic, I looked up a lot on what kills virus, and not. I was surprised at the findings. It's not entirely true that Sanitizers does not kill virus. Actually, from what I learnt, it KILLS CORONAVIRUS. However, it does not kill Norovirus. The best way to get rid of both Coronavirus and Norovirus is to wash your hands properly, about 20-30 seconds. While I was on the Arvia a couple of months, the majority of people did not wash their hands nor use the sanitizer. Not only that, they were coughing loudly and with "full force", some even coughed in my direction while I was carrying food to the table. I had to get rid of the food and start plating all over again. Do other passengers on other cruise lines do that? I guess some did. I was on Azamara before the P&O cruise and some passengers did that too unfortunately (coughing without covering themselves etc and not using santizers nor washing hands, etc) . Still on food hygiene, I noticed in the buffet on Arvia, some of the "cleaned" plates and bowls were not always that cleaned. Some had traces of old food still stuck to them.
  2. Something else which put us off the cruise, and it is not P&O's fault at all, was that there were so many people coughing out loudly without covering their mouths, etc. This happened so often, we could have heard about two dozen "coughers" every hour! Imagine carrying your tray of food in the buffet and someone coughed onto your food. It happened to us. Would you like your food to be so respectfully treated? You are right if you say it could happen in any cruise, but it would happen more frequently in larger cruises merely by the larger number of passengers. We hope we haven't upset anyone with our comments. You have every right to disagree and we respect that.
  3. If the Arvia is for the youngsters, how come the majority of the passengers appear to be "oldies"? Have they all chosen the wrong ship as well?
  4. It was not the first cruise we had with P&O, it was the third. The first one, on Aurora from Rio to Valparaiso was excellent. The food was good and there were so many activities, including in the evenings. We remembered that after dinner (no booking no queues), we were moving from one show to another show and then yet to another. During the day, when not in port for excursions, there were art and Spanish classes, etc. It was so much fun. Our second cruise was on the Ventura. That was a bit disappointment too unfortunately, but that was mainly due to the poor quality of the food (I lost a few pounds AFTER the cruise!) On the Ventura, I chatted with the Maitre D' who recognised me from the previous cruise when she was on the Aurora. She indicated then the quality of cooking on P&O was coming down because of cutbacks. On the Arvia,we weren't banking on "haute cuisine" but we were hoping at least the standard of entertainment and cabin comfort would be better as it is a bigger ship (more passengers, higher entertainment budget, new ship more comfortable, etc) .Unfortunately, we found that to be the opposite, The choice of music of the majority of the singers seems to be that which attract young people in the 20's and early 30's, not the more mature ones in their 50's or older.
  5. Following a post by @Technoman2 giving his review about Arvia K309 cruise.... ,...... that "triggered" us to write about our experience on Arvia on the previous cruise K308 as some of his comments about his experience seems similar to ours (others maybe not) I know some P&O passengers and fans may disagree with us, that's fine, but our views seem to reflect that of some passengers we spoke to on our cruise. THE GOOD POINTS *Cabin Bathroom was spacious and clean. *Zennith Restaurant manager was very helpful and friendly *The last night "last minute" replacement show in the Headliners Theatre ,a repertoire of songs by Ben Ian Gordon , was superb. *Staff were generally hardworking but some seemed too shy to say "hello" or "goodmorning" *Ship was clean. *No touch doors into public toilets was a plus *The Crows Nest was a nice "sanctuary" for a quiet read. *Wash basins and handwash stations in many areas. *Regular announcements by the Captain who said he comes to meet and speak to passengers for hours (we didn't see him personally but we don't have any reason to doubt his word). *Transfer buses from ship to port entrances were relatively good, although in Marseille, there was yet another long queue under the sun.That wasn't too bad, really, you have to accept to queue a bit sometimes, we are not some presidents or kings! *Breakfast sausages were not so good, but their "wild boar" sausages, available on some days were great. Also, their scrambled eggs at breakfast was still being kept runny, not hardened as in some buffets. AND NOW, THE NOT-SO-GOOD POINTS P&O cutbacks were evident, and new booking and queuing arrangements at the cost to the passengers were not really acceptable. You just seem to queue everywhere. It started with the first day, when the queue to speak to the receptionist was as long as the queue to wait for entry into the main dining room (Zennith) and the Headliner Theatre. It's also queue in most other places too. EMBARKATION Embarkation was rather "chaotic". As we had not stapler our baggage tag, upon arrival in Southampton Ocean Terminal, we were asked to look for someone who would be sitting in a little desk. When he showed up, he found his stapler did not work. He had to call to get a replacement. As there was a huge queue, we suggested he used the handwritten one. Didn't know why he did not do it before I suggested it even though the queue was getting longer and longer. Then, we were passed from one baggage handler to another to hand in our suitcases. THEATRE & ENTERTAINMENT Headliner Theatre entertainment quality and availability were reduced compared to a few years ago. We had to book to see a stage show in the theatre. and most times were already booked almost on the first day. Plus shows are limited to only one show per passenger.That's fine if you have different shows different nights. They repeated the shows over several days, and since we were not even allowed to see the repeat shows, we just sat in the cabin on sea days getting really bored. Even if you had booked your "slot" for the show, you are not given a seat, so you have to wait more than 30 mins before that to get a decent seat. Most of the theatre shows were pretty not that inspiring anyway. Choice of songs mostly for those in their 20's or 30's (but passenger profile on our cruise appeared a lot older). So bad was one when the group of singers asked the audience to stand up and clapped, only about 20 out of 700 stood up. Before the show could end, the audience was already rushing out of the theatre! The best show was because the Gary Barlow Take That show was cancelled as a performer was injured, and they had to have a replacement show. This came in the form of singer Ben Ian Gordon . With his powerful voice, his versatility, and his excellent choice of songs, that brought the audience to their feet at the end of show. It was fabulous MEALS The main restaurant needs booking for your meal and even after that you still queue, and you may have to wait up to 30 mins before the doors open because others were already there. If you don't book, you'd queue in a different line and you'd get in slower by up to ten times. Food, even on special Marco Pierre White nights, were not "special". We had been informed by some passengers that they did not experience such ridiculous queuing on Iona which they had been. However, they did say that when they sailed on Iona, it was only about half full. Food in the Horizon buffet very repetitive. The salads were practically the same every day during lunch and dinner throughout the entire cruise. They were also not dressed, and they lack any imagination. Only exception was during one meal when they had a Ceaser Salad behind the glass counter but you have to ask for it as it had to be done for you individually. Hams and meats felt as if they have been in the fridge for little too long. They had about 9-12(?) different kinds of little cakes which they take out a choice of 4 at each meal but they seemed boring after 2 weeks. Quality ingredients like marzipan, ground almonds or nuts appeared to be missing. For their version Tiramisu(?), we couldn't detect the TiaMaria However, the Horizon have pouring cream if you ask. And if the custard is too weak for you, add yourself a knob of butter to "enrichen" it! We wish the ice-cream served weren't melting almost every evening they were available. STAFF SERVICE STANDARD Unfortunately some staff a behaved like "Little Napoleons". For example, at the Zennith Restaurant had asked to speak to a manager for help with our booking as the head waitress refused to help, she just just snubbed us and spoke to another passenger . (On the other hand the restaurant manager, when we managed to find him ourself and managed to speak to him,he was very professional helpful and friendly ) .Other staff gave incorrect information. For example, in the second last night, we called reception to asked to borrow a weighing machine for our luggage. She said they did not have it on board, that they only had it for their Caribbean cruises and not our Mediterranean cruise. However, when we went down personally to reception to ask for it, the receptionist managed to get us one. At the beginning of the cruise,when we called reception, it went on for about 45 mins (?) or so until it got cut off! CABIN Our balcony Cabin on deck 15 and the width of the room seemed narrow relative to cabins in other ships we have been on.The interior designer probably has to "slot" the table into the sofa to make some room. Also due to the narrowness of the room, it appears the beds may be shorter than normal. My partner, who is only 5ft10in, when he slept, his feet was jutting out at the bottom of the bed! The bed cover also did not even cover the whole body. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who experienced that. An English couple from the Southampton Area had the same experience too with their beds. SUMMARY And on and on it goes. Before we went on the K308 cruise, we had wanted to book future cruises with P&O, We had pinpointed the 21 day cruise to Norway and Iceland, and another 21 day Transatlantic cruise. However, just after a few days on the Arvia,that changed our minds and we haven't booked any future cruises with them. We will cruise with other cruise lines for the time being. As for P&O we would wait and see if their standard would come back up in the future. After leaving the ship, in Southampton Airport, we met a Scottish couple who seemed to agree with many of our views and experience with the Arvia, and we had a good few minutes "moan" to get it off our chests! Like us, they indicated they won't be returning to P&O in a hurry.
  6. I am afraid it is still NOT CLEAR That webpage indeed mentioned that "Azamara does not require a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding " If that is truly the case, how come the cruise document which came in our email inbox today said JUST THE OPPOSITE.?The document said; "Guests are required to provide a negative COVID-19 test upon embarkation." So which one is it? Both of them cannot be right. Now, do you see the confusion?
  7. We are taking the Azamara Journey from Pireaus to Lisbon on 19th November, 2022, and we are still rather confused whether there is a requirement to take a Covid test prior to embarkation. According to the cruise documents which arrived today, it appears that it is required. However, we checked discussions on the CruiseCritic board including a thread with the heading "Testing for Cruises Embarking in Athens" and some members who were on Azamara cruises which started in Pireaus indicated that Covid test requirement has been dropped. One of the cruisers, CruiseCritic Board discussion member @Cpristash mentioned : "Just received a call from my cruise broker at 5:00 p.m….TESTING NO LONGER REQUIRED!!,!!,!, on the Journey/Athens! BEST.NEWS.EVER!!!!" We wish we could have AZAMARA to make it clear to us what is REALLY the current situation. It is confusing. As we have only very limited time in Athens, we would rather spend the time enjoy doing some sight-seeing than spending time looking for a Covid Test Centre, unless it is absolutely necessary. We were wondering if @HOST JAZZBEAU , or any AZAMARA official (or indeed anyone else ) who is reading this can help us and let us know please? This information would be so helpful not just to us, but also to other passengers going on future AZ cruises boarding in Pireaus, and who are reading this thread.
  8. They have actually shown and put the name "Venice" on their route map for the cruise on their website. If it is just "optimism" or "marketing", isn't that somewhat MISLEADING, or worse MIS-SELLING? We hope not as we have very high regard for this company. It would be good if the marketing people at Azamara be a bit more upfront and let potential customers know the situation,so that they can make the decision themselves whether to book cruise with them or not.
  9. We are in Edinburgh too. When we learnt that Azamara cruises leaves from Ravenna/Porto Corsini rather then from Venice, and when we checked how awkward it is getting to Ravenna/Porto Corsini from Edinburgh, we decided not to book any cruises with Azamara which starts/ends in Ravenna/Porto Corsini. However, we checked their 2023 cruises and it appears that Azamara cruises may be going back to servicing Venice rather than Ravenna. I know this is not confirmed but I just wondered if this has something to do with their fully breaking off with Royal Caribbean early next year, so Azmara will have the independence of sailing from Venice. After all, the tonnage of their "R" class ships are small enough to qualify using the original port in Venice, aren't they?
  10. We had wanted to book some cruises on Azamara from Venice in 2022, but when we found that all their cruises which were originally starting from, or ending in, Venice have been moved to Ravenna, we had decided not to book any. However, on their website, I just noticed that Azamara is offering a "7 night Croatia Intensive Voyage" ( https://www.azamara.co.uk/voyage/jr07m558/7-night-croatia-intensive-voyage ) in April 2023. And this time, it indicates the cruise is starting and ending in Venice. Does anyone know if Azamara is moving its services back from Ravenna to Venice next year? If so, that would be good news.
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