Arcadia cancellations!

[jeanlyon]

Friend of mine sailed on one of the ships.  Said it was awful.  Surly staff, poor food.  But maybe this new company learnt from that and it will be good.  It will be interesting to hear first reports.

[yorkshirephil]

1 minute ago, jeanlyon said:

Friend of mine sailed on one of the ships.  Said it was awful.  Surly staff, poor food.  But maybe this new company learnt from that and it will be good.  It will be interesting to hear first reports.

We cruised with CMV several times and never had any problems with staff or food, the ships were old and I always thought of Marco Polo as being like a pair of comfy old slippers but they were friendly and had lots of good vibes. As with all cruise lines they didn't suit everyone but they were a budget cruise line and IMHO delivered great cruises at an affordable price. I am looking forward to cruising with Ambassador as they will deliver the small ship cruises to places others don't.

[paulatsea]

1 minute ago, yorkshirephil said:

We cruised with CMV several times and never had any problems with staff or food, the ships were old and I always thought of Marco Polo as being like a pair of comfy old slippers but they were friendly and had lots of good vibes. As with all cruise lines they didn't suit everyone but they were a budget cruise line and IMHO delivered great cruises at an affordable price. I am looking forward to cruising with Ambassador as they will deliver the small ship cruises to places others don't.

Me too

[Son of Anarchy]

We had a good mini cruise on Marco Polo.  A friend's sister and bil did a round trip Caribbean cruise, and went back for more.

[yorkshirephil]

2 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

We had a good mini cruise on Marco Polo.  A friend's sister and bil did a round trip Caribbean cruise, and went back for more.

We did a round trip Caribbean and went to two islands we had never heard of, great cruise.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Friend of mine sailed on one of the ships.  Said it was awful.  Surly staff, poor food.  But maybe this new company learnt from that and it will be good.  It will be interesting to hear first reports.

I sailed on CMV's Marco Polo in 2018 Jean and had a lovely cruise. Food was fine and service very good. I find that if you engage staff and smile, you generally get the same back and certainly did on Marco Polo.

[Dermotsgirl]

I liked CMV. We sailed on both Magellan and Columbus, and really enjoyed  the cruises. I wasn’t keen on the layout of Magellan, but really liked Columbus. We did a lunch and afternoon entertainment trip to see Marco Polo - now that was a ship with character! 
 

I have some reservations about Ambassador, however.  Last time I looked they were not ABTA bonded, and that spooked me a bit. 

[yorkshirephil]

Just now, Dermotsgirl said:

I liked CMV. We sailed on both Magellan and Columbus, and really enjoyed  the cruises. I wasn’t keen on the layout of Magellan, but really liked Columbus. We did a lunch and afternoon entertainment trip to see Marco Polo - now that was a ship with character! 
 

I have some reservations about Ambassador, however.  Last time I looked they were not ABTA bonded, and that spooked me a bit. 

I read somewhere that they had applied for ABTA bonding, however you are right to be cautious, a new cruise line with debts in a covid society is going to have a risk factor, probably above and beyond other cruise companies,

[jeanlyon]

25 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I sailed on CMV's Marco Polo in 2018 Jean and had a lovely cruise. Food was fine and service very good. I find that if you engage staff and smile, you generally get the same back and certainly did on Marco Polo.

Yes I remember you told me that before and as I wasn't there, can't comment.  It was our friend who was on board Marco Polo.  She hated it, but we are all different.

[Britboys]

15 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I liked CMV. We sailed on both Magellan and Columbus, and really enjoyed  the cruises. I wasn’t keen on the layout of Magellan, but really liked Columbus. We did a lunch and afternoon entertainment trip to see Marco Polo - now that was a ship with character! 
 

I have some reservations about Ambassador, however.  Last time I looked they were not ABTA bonded, and that spooked me a bit. 

Apparently Ambassador work with something called Trust Protect. This means that all monies paid to Ambassador sit in an independent Trust until your sailing date. This means that should they go insolvent, you get all your money back from the Trust. I had an email from Trust Protect after booking my cruise with Ambassador.

[Ardennais]

We also a great cruise on Marco Polo. 

[Mancgas1]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

We cruised with CMV several times and never had any problems with staff or food, the ships were old and I always thought of Marco Polo as being like a pair of comfy old slippers but they were friendly and had lots of good vibes. As with all cruise lines they didn't suit everyone but they were a budget cruise line and IMHO delivered great cruises at an affordable price. I am looking forward to cruising with Ambassador as they will deliver the small ship cruises to places others don't.

Same here - our first few cruises were with CMV and were superb, intimate and extraordinary value. Indeed on next cruise staff often ran up to us and shouted “Hello Ian’s and Sarah! Welcome back” Cracking value for money (we did 10 nights in Norway for £295 each late availability once and 14 nights in Baltic for £999). Sure some people didn’t like it, often prefaced by “No where near as good as Princess/ Celebrity/ QE2….” But if you went into them knowing you’d often paid less than a travelodge nightly rate you were absolutely amazed at quality of food, staff and particularly entertainment’. If the re- born business is half as good then a lot of people will have great cheap cruises. But if you prefer PandO Princess Celebrity or QEII levels I’d possibly give them a miss, or at least go with an open mind that some aspects won’t be as good but make best of the great bits !

[Mancgas1]

We were on Oriana the day the sale was announced and it wasn’t a place you wanted to be. Staff who had spent whole careers on their crying eyes out. Certainly hope PandO are not as stupid as to sell all smaller ships. People like us would pay a premium not to have to spend our holidays on a ship 500m long with 5000 ship mates 😂. If they do sell hopefully an enlightened firm buy them(or make new smaller ships) to meet clear demand; not to mention lower passenger numbers and more space per person equals lower potential infection rates!

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Apparently Ambassador work with something called Trust Protect. This means that all monies paid to Ambassador sit in an independent Trust until your sailing date. This means that should they go insolvent, you get all your money back from the Trust. I had an email from Trust Protect after booking my cruise with Ambassador.

Isn't that what Crystal used!

[Britboys]

52 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Isn't that what Crystal used!

Apart from knowing Crystal went bust I don't have any knowledge of their situation.

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Apart from knowing Crystal went bust I don't have any knowledge of their situation.

Crystal ceased trading because their owner Genting Hong Kong went bust, I have no idea if Trust Protect enabled passengers to get their money back.

[Dermotsgirl]

If Ambassador went belly up while there was a cruise in progress, what I wonder is how people would be repatriated, without ABTA stepping in 

[Britboys]

14 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

If Ambassador went belly up while there was a cruise in progress, what I wonder is how people would be repatriated, without ABTA stepping in 

Trust Protect will fund repatriation according to their website...

 

https://trustprotects.me/the-protection/

 

 

[Selbourne]

Whilst we haven’t cruised with CMV, we did overnight stays on Marco Polo when she was in Bristol and on Magellan when she was in Tilbury. We toured the whole ship at our leisure, including viewing all cabin types (show cabins open), drank in the bars, had dinner on board (preceded by complimentary drinks in a lounge) , attended a show, slept on board overnight and enjoyed breakfast the next morning. 
 

I would say that service levels were even slightly better than P&O (and bar one butler, we’ve never had any complaints with service on P&O ships), entertainment was comparable and food was on a par with P&O, maybe even marginally better. We stayed in a Suite on Magellan which was very nice and I’ll try to post a photo of the suite and the canapés which were 1,000 times better than the P&O offerings!

 

The most noticeable difference was that where you have a predominance of Indian staff on P&O, CMV had quite a lot of Eastern European staff. Some appeared a little surly, but most were fine. If we don’t like Iona when we go on her next year and Aurora eventually disappears, we would certainly consider Ambassador. 

[jeanlyon]

Interesting to hear that some of the Eastern European staff were surly.  That's what my friend said.  Mind you, there is nothing to touch Indian, Philippino etc. staff.  They smile no matter what and sometimes I can't bear the way the odd passenger speaks to them. In fact I once said something!

[jeanlyon]

Just had a look at their website and the only cruises doing the Med  are with the Black Sea.  Don't think they will be going there somehow.  Good prices though.

[indiana123]

We are on  the first longish cruise, 11 nights, round Britain.  IF the worst should happen and they went bust mid cruise....we would just jump on a train to London, and go home.

Edited April 17, 2022 by indiana123

[majortom10]

Dont care what any TA said or cruise line I would never book with either unless they were ABTA bonded. Words are all well and good but as many have found out this last couple of years you at least have legal protection if ABTA are involved.

[Lyndylou57]

On 4/8/2022 at 6:03 PM, Danamis said:

We have Arcadia booked for the Round Britain one in July. Don't know what to think?

So do we, fingers crossed!

[Selbourne]

37 minutes ago, indiana123 said:

We are on  the first longish cruise, 11 nights, round Britain.  IF the worst should happen and they went bust mid cruise....we would just jump on a train to London, and go home.

Just one of the many advantages of a Round Britain cruise! We must do one someday.