Adonia - not quite what she seems

[sesh]

I have just back off the Adonia from the Norwegian fjords, and I will try to write a full review in the fullness off time - BUT I thought I'd share a little bit of information about the vessel.

 

1) The food standard was excellent and the service was excellent.

2) The Headliners company (5 of them) were very good bearing in mind the vessel has no stage/production facilities/ etc - so anyone wanting broadway shows, choose another ship.

3) The lounges and public spaces are generally well kept, however despite P&O telling us of a refit, you can see very worn carpet, chars, coverings, etc - which belies that fact the ship had a hard life under Princess.

4) The cabins were distinctly 2 star (and this just did not apply to our cabin) . Simply if P&O consider that state of the cabins to be a representation of their brand then they are in trouble and here is why;

 

The carpets were 3 different shades of filth.

Wardrobe/cupboard doors did not fit or shut properly.

Stained towels / bed linen.

Things that should have been bolted/screwed down weren't

Mould around the basin.

Staining in the basin.

Mould around the shower tray.

Mould on the shower cabin wall panel.

Drains that do not drain properly in the shower tray (leading to flooding in the bathroom if you are not careful [or of the ship rolls too much] .. )

Return mechanisms on the doors rusted badly.

A general lack of 'deep' cleanliness in a lot of the cabins (we are not just talking dust here, we are talking ingrained dirt).

A huge hollow where the underlay has gone awol outside cabin C084 (the floor appears to move as there is no support there).

Oh and to top it off - the vessel had a plumbing problem which lead to no cold water for a few hours, but once fixed they did not tell you that you needed to run the cold tap to remove the brown tainted water out of your system (not nice when cleaning your teeth).

Bent/damaged wall panels in cabins / passageways, etc.

 

 

Like I said this wasn't just limited to one cabin (several people we chatted to also commented that the cabins were in a less than perfect condition).

Will try and post some pictures of the ship at a later date (both good and bad).

 

Apart from that would say that we had a wonderful time (as Norway was simply stunning) but if this had been a Carib or Med cruise I would have been sorely annoyed at the state of certain areas of the ship.

 

 

 

OK - we have a resolution from P&O.

 

They responded to each of my observations - some of their responses didn't really hold water (mainly the technical stuff I raised) but the tone of their letter was that of being concerned that the cruise was not up to the our expectation.

 

They have; on their own initiative (i.e. we did not ask for in our letter); given a fairly good credit for our next cruise booking.

 

So despite the issues raised I have to congratulate P&O for taking our letter seriously and for responding in a customer centric manner.

[shoreham01]

Thats good to hear. Excellent customer service from them, however the cabin should never have been sold fit for use in that state in the first place.

[kevinyork]

Thanks for the update. Glad they have given you compensation by way of a cruise credit. Hope letters such as your make them sort these teething issues out.

[LibraLass41]

OK - we have a resolution from P&O.

 

They responded to each of my observations - some of their responses didn't really hold water (mainly the technical stuff I raised) but the tone of their letter was that of being concerned that the cruise was not up to the our expectation.

 

They have; on their own initiative (i.e. we did not ask for in our letter); given a fairly good credit for our next cruise booking.

 

So despite the issues raised I have to congratulate P&O for taking our letter seriously and for responding in a customer centric manner.

 

Good you deserve it, I hope your next cabin is nicer- try Azura lovely and NEW,

If I had a hotel room like that I would expect conpensation and a cabin is NO DIFFERENT it is a very expensive holiday and those who are so blindly loyal to P&O who say they hate compensation chasers are sad really. There is a world out there, there are better cruiselines and better hotels land based, no-one should accept dirty tatty rooms/cabins when paying thousands of pounds on a holiday. FULL STOP.

 

Up your game P&O, there are a lot of cruiseships waiting to be filled, and a lot of cruise lines waiting to take your customers...

[terrierjohn]

Quite apart from the maintenance issue, from your photos there would appear to be a cleaning issue as well. That cabin looks disgusting and I would feel just as disappointed as you.

 

I hope you get a satisfactory response from P&O.

 

I quite agree, I would have been asking housekeeping to find me a better Steward who would ensure that mould, ingrained dirt and stained carpets were deep cleaned, and that fresh clean linen was provided.

 

The tired hinges and badly fitting cupboard doors are not something that is likely to be sorted until the cabin is re-fitted, but I would have requested a move to a better cabin, if available.

[Morethanafrequentcruiser]

Hey!

Sad to hear about your cabin.. I was on the same cruise as you and on the cruise before (Eastern Med & Norway) both absolutely fantastic cruises and a fantastic ship.

Luckily I didn't have any of the problems that you had with your cabin at all, actually I had two cabins A57 and B66. Both were absolutely spotless, and actually compared to the cabins I stayed in on the Artemis, were larger (Artemis cabins were narrow), had more storage, better bathroom, and cleaner!

I was actually really impressed with the Adonia after all the negative reviews about tiny showers, poor entertainment and the like...

Obviously the one thing they need to improve on is the upkeep of cabins as having a room that was in the state that yours was in compared to the one that mine was in is a bit worrying!!

To everyone reading this though, don't let it put you off the Adonia.. The ports that it goes to because it is so much smaller are amazing.. Visiting the north cape was incredible, and getting into the tiny ports such as hvar and Sadat in Croatia was really nice too!! The staff too are absolutely fantastic, the captain was a very pleasant man with a fantastic sense of humour, and I think he really led his crew by example, they were all happy and obviously really enjoying their time onboard. And when your bar waiter comes up and asks you whether you would like your usual.. Well that's the cherry on top.