Arcadia's Bar Menus

[Cruise Puss]

Hi,

 

Has anyone got up to date photos of Arcadia's bar menus? We haven't been on her for a while, and we want to know if they are the same as Iona's or not.

 

Many thanks.

CP

 

[Fionboard]

17 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

Hi,

 

Has anyone got up to date photos of Arcadia's bar menus? We haven't been on her for a while, and we want to know if they are the same as Iona's or not.

 

Many thanks.

CP

 

On Arcadia in a couple of weeks and hope drink selection is  still as good as it was in August. Currently on Iona. where choice is  very limited (but then everything on Iona is limited)! 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

On Arcadia in a couple of weeks and hope drink selection is  still as good as it was in August. Currently on Iona. where choice is  very limited (but then everything on Iona is limited)! 

You do seem to have it in for poor Iona, but you do seem to keep going back, I wonder why?

[GOQ]

4 hours ago, Fionboard said:

On Arcadia in a couple of weeks and hope drink selection is  still as good as it was in August. Currently on Iona. where choice is  very limited (but then everything on Iona is limited)! 

From a beer point of view there were far more draught beer real ales available on Iona. Arcadia had a good stock , but they were mainly bottled beers. No draught IPA on Arcadia... awful 😉

 

Just my opinion .

[Cruise Puss]

4 hours ago, Fionboard said:

On Arcadia in a couple of weeks and hope drink selection is  still as good as it was in August. Currently on Iona. where choice is  very limited (but then everything on Iona is limited)! 

It would be extremely helpful if you could let us know. ☺️

 

Having been on Iona's Maiden, and just gotten off her last week, and having been travelling with P&O for over 20 yrs, we have to agree with you regarding the drinks.

 

The drinks menus on Iona are extremely limited. You can only have a very limited selection of cocktails, that are different in every single bar, and not one of those cocktails are what you would normally get on any bar menu around the World.

 

Where are the Margaritas, or Martinis made with whatever gin you would like.  Usual cocktails like a Rusty Nail, Cosmo, Godfather, Mint Julep, Manhattan, Negroni, Old Fashioned.... the list is huge! None of these exist or are available, unless you are prepared to pay for individual ingredients, which would cost quite a lot of money.

 

We are not sure why P&O have done this, but it is a HUGE mistake.  It puts us off travelling on Iona again frankly, which is why we are hoping that the old drinks menus are still available on Arcadia. ☺️

[Cruise Puss]

12 minutes ago, GOQ said:

From a beer point of view there were far more draught beer real ales available on Iona. Arcadia had a good stock , but they were mainly bottled beers. No draught IPA on Arcadia... awful 😉

 

Just my opinion .

That is very true. The beer selection is better, but the cocktail list is, quite frankly, abysmal.

[Britboys]

How very odd. I would have thought that cocktails would be popular with the younger demographic P&O are trying to attract with the new ships. Maybe they are assuming all the men will drink beer or JD and all the women will drink Prosecco...🤔

[Fionboard]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

You do seem to have it in for poor Iona, but you do seem to keep going back, I wonder why?

Wrong. My first cruise on Iona, actually. Very cheap fill in cruise before Xmas and New Year on Arcadia but never again. Each to their own. 

[Cruise Puss]

31 minutes ago, Britboys said:

How very odd. I would have thought that cocktails would be popular with the younger demographic P&O are trying to attract with the new ships. Maybe they are assuming all the men will drink beer or JD and all the women will drink Prosecco...🤔

Quite. This does seem to be the way they are thinking.

 

It would not surprise me if they are being run by a load of youngsters that sit around a table and come up with these ridiculous ideas.

 

They have, however, seem to have sorted the 710 Club out. You now have to book via the website 'app' rather than just turning up. This works very well, although all the performances do get booked up fast (apart from the one at 12:15am!) so you do need to get in there fast. ☺️

 

I will say that Iona is a lovely ship with some gorgeously designed areas and, if it wasn't for the dreadful drinks menus, we would most definitely go back on her regularly.

 

I would recommend trying her to see for yourself. ☺️

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Cruise Puss said:

I would recommend trying her to see for yourself. 

The only way P&O would get me on Iona (or Arvia) would be with a free cruise - and complimentary drinks package...😂. Nothing about the new ships appeal to me I am afraid. Just not me.

[Cruise Puss]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

The only way P&O would get me on Iona (or Arvia) would be with a free cruise - and complimentary drinks package...😂. Nothing about the new ships appeal to me I am afraid. Just not me.

Quite understand. Big ships are not for everyone. ☺️

[9265359]

6 hours ago, Britboys said:

How very odd. I would have thought that cocktails would be popular with the younger demographic P&O are trying to attract with the new ships.

 

They do plenty of cocktails, they are just their own inventions and not the tried and trusted ones you would expect.

 

 I assume they do this for two reasons.

 

You can never say ‘that wasn’t made correctly’ because you have no idea what it should taste like, so if the staff mess it up it there are no complaints 

 

There are plenty of people who will order something new or different, and offering a menu of drinks they have never heard of drives sales.

[terrierjohn]

13 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

They do plenty of cocktails, they are just their own inventions and not the tried and trusted ones you would expect.

 

 I assume they do this for two reasons.

 

You can never say ‘that wasn’t made correctly’ because you have no idea what it should taste like, so if the staff mess it up it there are no complaints 

 

There are plenty of people who will order something new or different, and offering a menu of drinks they have never heard of drives sales.

I didn't realise a Pina Colada or Rum Punch were exclusive to P&O?

[Cruise Puss]

35 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

They do plenty of cocktails, they are just their own inventions and not the tried and trusted ones you would expect.

 

 I assume they do this for two reasons.

 

You can never say ‘that wasn’t made correctly’ because you have no idea what it should taste like, so if the staff mess it up it there are no complaints 

 

There are plenty of people who will order something new or different, and offering a menu of drinks they have never heard of drives sales.

Any organisation that wishes to appeal to a large audience, which I presume P&O are (or certainly have been for the last 20+ yrs) need to offer a large range of well known cocktails. They are certainly not doing so on Iona.

 

There is nothing wrong with doing unusual cocktails in individual bars. There IS something wrong with not offering a full range of well known cocktails.

 

We witnessed numerous people coming to the bar and asking for a well known cocktail, only to be told they could not do it. Not only was the passenger frustrated, but you could tell so were the bar staff.

 

P&O have got it wrong. They need to realise this and change things.

[9265359]

26 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I didn't realise a Pina Colada or Rum Punch were exclusive to P&O?

But most of the bars don’t serve those - and plenty were complaining the (pre-made) Pina Colada was disgusting.

 

3 minutes ago, Cruise Puss said:

P&O have got it wrong. They need to realise this and change things.

They won’t.

 

If the bar doesn’t serve what someone wants, then 99.9% of the time they will just order something else.

[Cruise Puss]

3 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

But most of the bars don’t serve those - and plenty were complaining the (pre-made) Pina Colada was disgusting.

 

They won’t.

 

If the bar doesn’t serve what someone wants, then 99.9% of the time they will just order something else.

Unfortunately you are correct.

[Cruise Puss]

4 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

But most of the bars don’t serve those - and plenty were complaining the (pre-made) Pina Colada was disgusting.

 

They won’t.

 

If the bar doesn’t serve what someone wants, then 99.9% of the time they will just order something else.

Princess is the answer..... 😁

[Cruise Puss]

5 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

But most of the bars don’t serve those - and plenty were complaining the (pre-made) Pina Colada was disgusting.

 

They won’t.

 

If the bar doesn’t serve what someone wants, then 99.9% of the time they will just order something else.

Princess is the answer..... 😁

[9265359]

14 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

Princess is the answer..... 😁

 

Or drink something else than the cocktails.

[zap99]

15 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

Any organisation that wishes to appeal to a large audience, which I presume P&O are (or certainly have been for the last 20+ yrs) need to offer a large range of well known cocktails. They are certainly not doing so on Iona.

 

There is nothing wrong with doing unusual cocktails in individual bars. There IS something wrong with not offering a full range of well known cocktails.

 

We witnessed numerous people coming to the bar and asking for a well known cocktail, only to be told they could not do it. Not only was the passenger frustrated, but you could tell so were the bar staff.

 

P&O have got it wrong. They need to realise this and change things.

Perhaps for folk who don't drink cocktails don't really care. We have been on 4 P&O cruises and 2 others since lockdown ended and haven't noticed any lack of cocktails.

[Cruise Puss]

On 12/3/2022 at 12:32 PM, zap99 said:

Perhaps for folk who don't drink cocktails don't really care. We have been on 4 P&O cruises and 2 others since lockdown ended and haven't noticed any lack of cocktails.

Passengers should not be restricted in what they can drink on holiday. In 20+ yrs P&O have offered a reasonable, admittedly not extensive, list of cocktails. Why on earth do they think they can change it now?!

When more and more people are travelling the World this is NOT sensible thinking.

I thought choice was the modern buzz word!

The cocktails on Iona are certainly not giving passengers a wealth of choices.

 

[zap99]

12 hours ago, Cruise Puss said:

Passengers should not be restricted in what they can drink on holiday. In 20+ yrs P&O have offered a reasonable, admittedly not extensive, list of cocktails. Why on earth do they think they can change it now?!

When more and more people are travelling the World this is NOT sensible thinking.

I thought choice was the modern buzz word!

The cocktails on Iona are certainly not giving passengers a wealth of choices.

 

I commented on the post that inferred that not having a particular cocktail was important. Not to me it isn't. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by zap99