Arcadia - Top of the world cruise June 2005

[johnw2]

My wife and I have just returned from this cruise which we found to be excellent.

The ports of call and scenery were great. Can recommend to anyone who is thinking of taking this cruise.

 

Onboard the Arcadia we found it an easy ship to get around but very disappointed with the atrim. Who designed it? - must have been one of their off days - mauve curtain hanging down - I think not.

 

The reception and shore excursion desks must have been an afterthought down on deck 1 in very small space.

 

We found the food to be excellent - best we have experienced in 15 cruises.

We did sample the Gary Rhodes restaurant but were not very impressed - certainly not worth the £12.50 per person for a 3 course - small portion meal.

We did get a free starter - 1 scallop of a piece of lettuce and a free sorbet in a sherry glass that did not clear the palate.

Beware - cheese and bisuits are part of dessert menu and not a separate course.

 

We could not fault the crew - went out of their way to be of service.

 

Certain areas of the ship have very low ceiling, at a guess about 7'6" in old money and the sofas were not very comfortable. Much of the furniture was dull in colour - needs brightening up.

 

Please to say they have cancelled the £1 charge for morning tea and £2 charge for continental breakfast in the cabin.

 

One serious comment - who arranged to be in Trondheim on a Sunday when everything was closed?

 

Will consider another P & O cruise but probably on a different ship.

[Albannach]

Hi John

We were on the same cruise. You weren't by any chance one of the regulars at the shuffleboard and deck quoits?

I agree with a lot of your comments. I wouldn't rave about the food. It was good but the Meridian restaurant menu began to feel repetitive the second week. You'd need to have very limited taste to survive this on a round the world jaunt. Biscuits and cheese are one of the dessert choices - well yes, officially perhaps, but if you smile sweetly at the waiter he'll probably let you order both. We cheated and smiled sweetly at the head waitress first, then we told the waiter she had said it was OK to order two sweets, have a starter with all the trimmings to make it a main course, and various other expressions of our individuality. None of the idiosyncratic requests from our table drew as much as a raised eyebrow.

I didn't really notice the low ceilings except when I tried the table tennis....

Ports of call - wow! A really good balance between tiny fjord villages and big cities (big in Norwegian terms still feels like human scale). We went to church in Trondheim then gave up and went back to the ship - the only places we could find to eat before 2 pm were Macdonalds and Burger King which were definitely not on our itinerary. The second Sunday we were in Bergen when most things seemed to be open.

This was our first cruise and I would definitely go again. I'd happily book the Arcadia again but probably not next time - no criticism of Arcadia, just to try a different ship.

[LEESRE]

John,

How I agree with you about Arcadian Rhodes, we thought what a let down.

We were five in total and had to have two separate tables, being served 5 mins between each. They said they could only accommodate 4 per serving!!!!!!!

Our meal was cold and had to be sent back, the pork was under cooked still had blood running from it.

We mentioned this to the Maitre D and all he could say was sorry for the inconvenience. Not really interested in our opinion.

Otherwise we enjoyed the ship.

 

Nest time try Celebrity Cruises especially the Millennium and I am sure you will see the difference.

[misspiggy]

why do you feel Celebrity to be better, we are going on Arcadia Nov 05:):)