Arcadia - Any ideas what she's up to?

[Pippa04]

I was on a sector of Artemis's last World cruise. A few of us were stood talking to a delegation from the new owners when a slamming door resulted in a large section of ceiling and tiles falling on our heads!

[snaefell]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

But that would entail changing an existing cruise with existing bookings being cancelled. Which I would guess would be a very negative PR action.

There is plenty of negative PR already/still after what happened with Adonia & Oriana!

[Megabear2]

Just received an email with my personalised latest offer.  Book 19 nights or more on the adult only ships and get between £350 and £500 extra OBC.  Obviously still keen to sell cabins.

[paulatsea]

4 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Just received an email with my personalised latest offer.  Book 19 nights or more on the adult only ships and get between £350 and £500 extra OBC.  Obviously still keen to sell cabins.

Megabear - do you get these offers due to loyalty ? How does this work ? is it a code you enter  ?
I am Atlantic tier and haven’t seen this.

 

thanks.

[LondonLad60]

3 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Don't think they did that with either Adonia or Oriana from memory.

I don't know about Oriana as I wasn't affected by its sale, but I'm pretty certain they didn't with Adonia.

[Selbourne]

4 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Don't think they did that with either Adonia or Oriana from memory.

Now I might be wrong as it was a few years ago, but I’m pretty sure that when Adonia and Oriana were announced as being sold we were sent a targeted offer for the last few cruises on both. From memory, the prices were exceptionally good and we were frustrated that we couldn’t take up the offer as we were both still working at the time.
 

Oriana holds a special place in our hearts as we did our first cruise on her in 1996. Sadly, we never cruised on Adonia but did a ships tour of her just before the sale was announced and we thought she was a fabulous ship, which made it all the more frustrating that we couldn’t take up the offer. 

 

Come the inevitable day that P&O parts company with Aurora we may endeavour to do one last cruise on her, as we have had more cruises on Aurora than any other P&O ship, but we wouldn’t rush back to Arcadia. I know that she’s a firm favourite of many P&O regulars but she wasn’t for us. 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Selbourne

[Gettingwarmer]

There was a targeted offer for Adonia when she was brought back from Princess trading under the Fathom name travelling to Cuba. They were very good prices. She was sold soon afterwards. 

[Adawn47]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Just received an email with my personalised latest offer.  Book 19 nights or more on the adult only ships and get between £350 and £500 extra OBC.  Obviously still keen to sell cabins.

Is that per cabin or pp?

Avril

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Just received an email with my personalised latest offer.  Book 19 nights or more on the adult only ships and get between £350 and £500 extra OBC.  Obviously still keen to sell cabins.

I’ve lost count of how many offers I’ve had from P&O over the past few months. Still not tempted to book though. 

[SteveH2508]

4 hours ago, Son of Anarchy said:

If driving on the day, it's about 20 minutes from the M25. 

Direct train service from Fenchurch Street to Tilbury Town, then an included bus service to the terminal, or a cab ride that's shorter than Southampton

 

Not much about nearby if wanting to stay the night before though.

There is usually an Ambassador-run coach direct from Victoria coach station on the day of the cruise as well.

[Megabear2]

35 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Is that per cabin or pp?

Avril

Pp.  Its valid on any advertised cruise over 19 nights on either ship.  I'm very tempted ...

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, paulatsea said:

Megabear - do you get these offers due to loyalty ? How does this work ? is it a code you enter  ?
I am Atlantic tier and haven’t seen this.

 

thanks.

I'm not sure on what basis I get them other than I'm always looking on their website.  I get a personalised code which is attached to my P&O account so when I log in it is already there and applies automatically when I book a qualifying cruise. I've been getting them for a few years now, at first I thought they wanted to lure me back onboard but as I have 6 P&O cruises currently booked I don't think that is relevant.

 

I get them every couple of months.  I also get them for Cunard but they're less frequent, probably every six months or so.

 

 

[snaefell]

5 hours ago, SteveH2508 said:

There is usually an Ambassador-run coach direct from Victoria coach station on the day of the cruise as well.

I have had emails from a couple of companies recently advertising coach connections to/from Ambassador cruises at Tilbury so it is more accessible now.

[purplesea]

22 minutes ago, snaefell said:

I have had emails from a couple of companies recently advertising coach connections to/from Ambassador cruises at Tilbury so it is more accessible now.

I did read at some point that we would be able to pick a coach up from Plymouth, but I can't find it now!🙄 

Plymouth is about 2 hours away in the train.

[Selbourne]

41 minutes ago, purplesea said:

I did read at some point that we would be able to pick a coach up from Plymouth, but I can't find it now!🙄 

Plymouth is about 2 hours away in the train.

Plymouth to Tilbury by train, allowing for the cross London transfer from Paddington to Fenchurch Street, is at least 5 hours each way I’m afraid. 

[kalos]

8 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Plymouth to Tilbury by train, allowing for the cross London transfer from Paddington to Fenchurch Street, is at least 5 hours each way I’m afraid. 

 

Regarding the ship ,I found this review informative about onboard ..  https://youtu.be/JZxTzMdql7o

 

[purplesea]

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Plymouth to Tilbury by train, allowing for the cross London transfer from Paddington to Fenchurch Street, is at least 5 hours each way I’m afraid. 

Found it! Ambassador are offering return coaches from  Plymouth to Tilbury for certain sailings on Ambience

 

.https://www.ambassadorcruiseline.com/site/assets/files/2037/ambassador_regional_coaches.pdf

 

Getting a coach from Plymouth, despite the journey time is a lot easier than trapsing across London with luggage. Anywhere we go from here e.g. Gatwick, Southampton, London is over 5 hours!

[Britboys]

On 5/22/2022 at 11:12 AM, arlowood said:

Changed days then I fear.

Our first cruise with P&O was on the Artemis back in 2007. (21 nights round the Med with a stop in Libya of all places). We did a follow-up repositioning cruise on her in 2009 I recall.

 

P&O announced that they were selling Artemis and advertised a farewell cruise in 2011. I believe that sold out within 3 or 4 hours.

We were lucky enough to bag a cabin on that cruise and had a great time. Some of the new owners (Phoenix Riesen) joined that cruise towards the end. Essentially planning how they were going to refit the ship.

We were told on the quiet that everything was being scrapped by the new owners, so any P&O branded merchandise was almost being given away near the end of the cruise. I think we picked up 2 dressing gowns for £5 IIRC.

If P&O are considering selling Arcadia or Aurora then they could turn it into an advantage by running cruises with a final "Farewell" cruise like they did with Artemis. I'm sure some would pay a premium to be on that final cruise.

I think it is indeed changed days since then but also, iirc, in 2007 they were probably only launching new seasons about a year ahead whereas now it is two+ years ahead. I have no doubt that P&O and Carnival Corp are even more commercially-minded now than they were then.

[BouncingWheel]

On 5/22/2022 at 3:27 PM, Selbourne said:

Come the inevitable day that P&O parts company with Aurora we may endeavour to do one last cruise on her, as we have had more cruises on Aurora than any other P&O ship,

That would be our thoughts too but it could be that Ambassador picks her up and as long they keep the purple to the outside and not the inside then I would move across. My wife loves purple so would probably accept the inside too but you have to draw the line somewhere🤣

 

Aurora begins with A so they could keep the name too if allowed as that seems to be their pattern so far.

Edited May 23, 2022 by BouncingWheel

[snaefell]

30 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

That would be our thoughts too but it could be that Ambassador picks her up and as long they keep the purple to the outside and not the inside then I would move across. My wife loves purple so would probably accept the inside too but you have to draw the line somewhere🤣

 

Not a Prince fan then!?😎😎

 

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, BouncingWheel said:

That would be our thoughts too but it could be that Ambassador picks her up and as long they keep the purple to the outside and not the inside then I would move across. My wife loves purple so would probably accept the inside too but you have to draw the line somewhere🤣

 

Aurora begins with A so they could keep the name too if allowed as that seems to be their pattern so far.

Pretty unlikely that P&O/Carnival would sell her to another line offering ex-uk departures and even less likely that they would allow a buyer to keep using the name.

[BouncingWheel]

1 hour ago, snaefell said:

 

Rags baby hurrah - the kind you buy in a 2nd hand store

[BouncingWheel]

11 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Pretty unlikely that P&O/Carnival would sell her to another line offering ex-uk departures and even less likely that they would allow a buyer to keep using the name.

I'm sure P&O wouldn't care if the money was right.

[sandancer]

Arcadia is no longer berthed at the Port of Tyne. 

[kalos]

13 minutes ago, sandancer said:

Arcadia is no longer berthed at the Port of Tyne.