Adonia - what can you tell me about her?

[Scorpio41]

We've booked to go on the Adonia in May to the Baltic and wonder how to get the most from the ship.

We love the Aurora and enjoy a smaller ship size. I just want to make the most of our time on board so what do to get the best from our cruise on her.

Looking forward to your comments.

[Oliversgrandma]

Adonia is a lovely ship (although we have only cruised twice, once on Adonia and once on QE). We chose her for our first cruise just to test the waters and to see if we liked cruising. We cruised on her on her third P and O cruise so everything was fresh and new looking. We loved the ambience - everyone seemed very friendly. The food, staff etc were great.

 

If you want to book a speciality restaurant (Marco Pierre White's was excellent I recall) then do so as soon as you can pre-cruise as they are often fully booked prior to sailing.

 

Only downsides I can think of - the pool on deck is very small - not much more than a splash pool. The shower room in the cabin was rather small and cramped (but we found the cabin fine).

 

You will probably find your fellow passengers are older than average. Adonia passengers don't seem to want a hectic nightlife!

 

We liked her so much we have booked to go on a four week cruise to the Caribbean/South America next January (sold out within weeks) - so she must be popular.

[gadabout60]

Adonia is my favourite ship so far.

 

Staff are really friendly. Standard balcony cabins are my favourite P&O cabins. Main dining room is lovely - but they don't have freedom dining. The 2 speciality restaurants are good value. Library is the best I have seen.

 

It is smaller than the other P&O ships and doesn't have a theatre ( it has a lounge instead) - that doesn't matter to me.

 

Room service closes at 11pm and buffet at midnight.

 

I guess it depends on what you want from a ship. Destinations apart I like nice food, roomy balcony cabin, cosy bars and good speciality restaurants and so Adonia ticks my boxes. The fact that it can get to some smaller ports is also a plus.

 

Adonia is my first choice P&O ship. (I am in my 50s but don't want a nightclub!!)

[Scorpio41]

Is there an alternative restaurant for breakfast and lunch apart from MDR and the buffet?. ( like Cafe Bordeaux on the Aurora?)

 

Do they rotate the menu in Marco Pierre White's?

 

I've just got to 50 but like a quiet drink after my meal and am not looking for a night club.

 

She's sounding good so far, thank you for your comments.

[Oliversgrandma]

Hello again. When we were on board (June 2011) the menu in the Marco Pierre White restaurant did not change. From memory, there were about three choices for each course (including lobster).

 

No alternative restaurants for buffet/lunch. There are two speciality restaurants (the other one is an Italian one - did not try it) and the main dining room as well as the conservatory buffet restaurant at the stern of the ship (very nice for breakfast overlooking the wake). No other restaurants that I can recall, except for a coffee shop (Raffles).

 

Andersons bar outside the MDR where everyone congregates for pre-dinner drinks is especially nice - it has the ambience of a country house hotel.

[gadabout60]

MPW did have two menus that were rotated - as did Sorrento

[ozscotart]

Adonia is a lovely small ship, several of the things we enjoyed are probably not news to other P&O passengers, we haven't been on any other P&O cruise ships. We liked, in no particular order, our cabin (standard outside), the steam room (free), the food : DH being traditionally Scottish and myself being Australian, I liked the curry at lunchtime, he liked the eggs benedict, there was a good variety of food of both traditional and more exotic cuisines, the smaller size of the ship and the friendliness of both the crew and other passengers (for the most part). We also liked the Italian restaurant.

The itinerary was also good, and why we chose, it, Adonia being a smaller ship can get into more interesting ports.

I would say that the only area where it was a little disappointing was in entertainment, and this is due in part to there not being an adequate theatre on board, and a smaller entertainment staff than other ships. They all worked very hard, but I guess we all have higher expectations now of what a show should be. Perhaps P&O (and some other cruise lines) should give up on trying to stage full scale shows and stick to quality music, speakers, and guest artists to keep people amused.

[Adrift2015]

We are also booked to go to the Baltic on adonia in May 2014. Wondered if you are interested in getting a small group together to do a 2 day tour with Alla Tours in St Petersburg. My sister and husband did their tour a couple of years ago and spoke very highly of Alla Tours

[jeanlyon]

Sounds great. We have pre-registered for 2015.

[debjef123]

Interested to read these comments. Today I booked 15th Nov 2015 Caribbean & Amazon DESPITE less than enthusiastic reviews on CC. Happy with the ship's limitations and keen to give a smaller ship a go (and I'm 'only' 53!). Can't remember the last time I went to a night club so won't miss that, but hoping restaurants and bars meet our expectations and the rust people mention hasn't done serious structural damage by the time we go.:)

[kevinyork]

We were in St Petersburg on Azura two years ago. When we started our excursion in the city we were envious to pass Adonia after a 15 minute drive from the port sitting alongside the river right in the middle of town.

 

 

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[Somerset Cruiser]

We were in St Petersburg on Azura two years ago. When we started our excursion in the city we were envious to pass Adonia after a 15 minute drive from the port sitting alongside the river right in the middle of town.

 

 

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May 2012? if so then we would have happily swopped if you had asked ;)

[debjef123]

We were in St Petersburg on Azura two years ago. When we started our excursion in the city we were envious to pass Adonia after a 15 minute drive from the port sitting alongside the river right in the middle of town.

 

 

Yes, I imagine the Adonia looks pretty dinky compared to the Azura, Ventura etc. We went on the Allure of the Seas a while back and decided things really had got too big, so we're now stepping back in size. Must be an age thing.

[clivep]

We were in St Petersburg on Azura two years ago. When we started our excursion in the city we were envious to pass Adonia after a 15 minute drive from the port sitting alongside the river right in the middle of town.

 

We were expecting to dock in the city on our Adonia cruise last October but unfortunately this was not the case and we docked at the new cruise terminal out of town.

 

The cruise was excellent and we've just booked the May sailing. There's a thread on the Roll Call forum to post info/questions about the cruise.