Food and dining on P&O ships

[windra06]

3 hours ago, cruisingiscool said:

Does Britannia still have a Grab and Go section?

No it was not available when we were recently on her.

[snaefell]

5 hours ago, FredaFlinstone said:

I'm on Arcadia 23rd November with friends. 2 in each cabin. If I am able to book restaurants can I do it for all 4 of us or do I need to do 2 bookings like I did with the excursions?

Sorry if it seems daft question

Thanks

 

It seems to vary across the fleet but we were on Arcadia back in May & even though the cruise planner origionally said that restaurants would be bookable 2 weeks before departure that never happened,2 weeks from departure that changed to book on board.

[Saddler7]

Currently half way through my 14days in the med on Arvia. NEVER AGAIN!

There are far too many people on this ship for the facilities both dining and entertainment.

The Flexible dining app has been abandoned by the staff. Every time you try to book it says that there are no booking slots available. You have to go to the restaurant and ask for a beeper.then they send you away and you have to wait until there is a tble available. The first couple of nights we only had to wait for around 30 to 40 mins but when we got to the table we ordered starters and mains but had to wait at the table for 45 mins before being served the starter. We were told by the waiter that the galley was overloaded and could not cope. after that we noticed that the wait times for the tables were much longer and that when we got to the table their were only half of the tables occupied. They had obviosly decided to slow down the pressure on the galley. In the horizons self service it was really difficult to find a table. Everyone was trying to eat in there because of the restaurant problems. What a mess.

we will never go on this ship again.

[Fionboard]

43 minutes ago, Saddler7 said:

Currently half way through my 14days in the med on Arvia. NEVER AGAIN!

There are far too many people on this ship for the facilities both dining and entertainment.

The Flexible dining app has been abandoned by the staff. Every time you try to book it says that there are no booking slots available. You have to go to the restaurant and ask for a beeper.then they send you away and you have to wait until there is a tble available. The first couple of nights we only had to wait for around 30 to 40 mins but when we got to the table we ordered starters and mains but had to wait at the table for 45 mins before being served the starter. We were told by the waiter that the galley was overloaded and could not cope. after that we noticed that the wait times for the tables were much longer and that when we got to the table their were only half of the tables occupied. They had obviosly decided to slow down the pressure on the galley. In the horizons self service it was really difficult to find a table. Everyone was trying to eat in there because of the restaurant problems. What a mess.

we will never go on this ship again.

Sorry to hear that. But it was the same on Iona last year. Overcrowding, queues for everything and unhappy crew. And ship was not even full! No wonder they are selling cruises on these two so cheaply. Much better on the smaller ships.  

[majortom10]

12 hours ago, Saddler7 said:

Currently half way through my 14days in the med on Arvia. NEVER AGAIN!

There are far too many people on this ship for the facilities both dining and entertainment.

The Flexible dining app has been abandoned by the staff. Every time you try to book it says that there are no booking slots available. You have to go to the restaurant and ask for a beeper.then they send you away and you have to wait until there is a tble available. The first couple of nights we only had to wait for around 30 to 40 mins but when we got to the table we ordered starters and mains but had to wait at the table for 45 mins before being served the starter. We were told by the waiter that the galley was overloaded and could not cope. after that we noticed that the wait times for the tables were much longer and that when we got to the table their were only half of the tables occupied. They had obviosly decided to slow down the pressure on the galley. In the horizons self service it was really difficult to find a table. Everyone was trying to eat in there because of the restaurant problems. What a mess.

we will never go on this ship again.

Cannot understand the difference between 2 cruises. We disembarked Arvia on 17th September and we had no issues with dining in MDR. I must admit I think it helped that we pre booked 1830hrs for every night pre cruise. The only night when there was a queue was the first night which seems to happen on all ships. Once we were seated the service in the MDR was good with no long waits.y only issue with the ship is the stupidity of keeping theatre doors locked until 30 mins before the show creating unnecessary queues in casino and Brodie's. All this was the totally stupid reason of making people pre book for the theatre which is totally unreasonable. Let people go when they want and if you go late and it's full you miss out, that is the system that has been in operation on P&O for 23 years so why change to this stupid system.

[Selbourne]

33 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Cannot understand the difference between 2 cruises. We disembarked Arvia on 17th September and we had no issues with dining in MDR. I must admit I think it helped that we pre booked 1830hrs for every night pre cruise. The only night when there was a queue was the first night which seems to happen on all ships. Once we were seated the service in the MDR was good with no long waits.y only issue with the ship is the stupidity of keeping theatre doors locked until 30 mins before the show creating unnecessary queues in casino and Brodie's. All this was the totally stupid reason of making people pre book for the theatre which is totally unreasonable. Let people go when they want and if you go late and it's full you miss out, that is the system that has been in operation on P&O for 23 years so why change to this stupid system.

From what I can work out from the countless reports, the issues seem to be less about cruise to cruise and more about when people prefer to dine. It seems that most regular contributors to this forum prefer to eat early, often pre 7pm. I might be mistaken, but I think that most people who like to dine early rarely, if ever, experience issues. Those who prefer to eat later tend to encounter more challenges, as we did on Britannia when the app was clearly abandoned for long periods as the staff couldn’t cope with app users, walk ups and those with pagers all conflicting with one another, so the app was always the first to give. That being said, one of our daughters used the MDR for dinner a couple of times on Iona at peak times and encountered no issues, but there is significantly more MDR capacity on Iona than Arvia, hence why they allow pre-booking for early dining on Arvia in an attempt to ease pressure on peak times. 
 

I agree with your comments about pre booking shows. We pre-booked all the shows on both Britannia and Iona and half the time the staff weren’t even bothering to check people in which made a farce of it. Also, the argument that it allows you to turn up at the last minute knowing that you’ve got a seat doesn’t hold water. They allow those who haven’t booked in from 5-10 minutes before the show starts and some who had pre-booked couldn’t get in when they arrived a few minutes before the show!

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

From what I can work out from the countless reports, the issues seem to be less about cruise to cruise and more about when people prefer to dine. It seems that most regular contributors to this forum prefer to eat early, often pre 7pm. I might be mistaken, but I think that most people who like to dine early rarely, if ever, experience issues. Those who prefer to eat later tend to encounter more challenges, as we did on Britannia when the app was clearly abandoned for long periods as the staff couldn’t cope with app users, walk ups and those with pagers all conflicting with one another, so the app was always the first to give. That being said, one of our daughters used the MDR for dinner a couple of times on Iona at peak times and encountered no issues, but there is significantly more MDR capacity on Iona than Arvia, hence why they allow pre-booking for early dining on Arvia in an attempt to ease pressure on peak times. 
 

I agree with your comments about pre booking shows. We pre-booked all the shows on both Britannia and Iona and half the time the staff weren’t even bothering to check people in which made a farce of it. Also, the argument that it allows you to turn up at the last minute knowing that you’ve got a seat doesn’t hold water. They allow those who haven’t booked in from 5-10 minutes before the show starts and some who had pre-booked couldn’t get in when they arrived a few minutes before the show!

It was never really a problem on the 1030pm on Arvia recently as the theatre me er seemed to be full and surprisingly on Greatest Days show was half empty. Cannot help but think a lot of the problems they seem to be having on Arvia and Iona are self inflicted and totally unnecessary.

[Gettingwarmer]

3 hours ago, majortom10 said:

we had no issues with dining in MDR. I must admit I think it helped that we pre booked 1830hrs for every night pre cruise

Of course this makes a difference. 

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Of course this makes a difference. 

It benefitted us as we were able to go into 710 club for 8-45pm show and then on to see 10-30pm show in the theatre.

[Interestedcruisefan]

I think having a plan of what to do and when to do it clearly helps on board

 

I look at issues others complain about on the bigger ships and shake my head 

 

However, if everyone had my plan and went to the places I prefer on the ship at the same time  as me I guess my plan wouldn't work

 

For example once I've booked theatre I'm not going to be anywhere near that theatre until 10 minutes before the show starts

 

If others want to get there 30 minutes plus before and queue etc etc then it actually helps me arrive when all is calm and easy and pleasant and restful

 

If others prefer Club House and Brodies and the Atrium bars to 710 Club and Crows Nest that's brilliant for me to

[FredaFlinstone]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:55 PM, snaefell said:

It seems to vary across the fleet but we were on Arcadia back in May & even though the cruise planner origionally said that restaurants would be bookable 2 weeks before departure that never happened,2 weeks from departure that changed to book on board.

When they have the Celebration night do they have a special menu in Meridian or do you think I would be better trying to book Ocean Grill maybe?  

[Bill Y]

53 minutes ago, FredaFlinstone said:

When they have the Celebration night do they have a special menu in Meridian or do you think I would be better trying to book Ocean Grill maybe?  

We had not come across celebration nights before this year, one of more formal nights were named as celebration nights, before they used to have black and white nights etc. As others have said P&O no longer appear to push the boat out for formal night menus whether this applies to the two smaller ships we will find out next year.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, FredaFlinstone said:

When they have the Celebration night do they have a special menu in Meridian or do you think I would be better trying to book Ocean Grill maybe?  

There will be an ‘enhanced’ MDR menu but it’s not as good as it used to be. On Britannia in July the Celebration menu that I had (Marco Pierre White) was the weakest meal that I had all fortnight. Arcadia may be better. 

[snaefell]

1 hour ago, FredaFlinstone said:

When they have the Celebration night do they have a special menu in Meridian or do you think I would be better trying to book Ocean Grill maybe?  

In our 19 nights we had one celebration night & 2 formal nights,should have been 3 but the itinerary changed as we went along,on 'posh' nights MPW's name did appear on the menu but I wouldn't say the menu was that special.We

We ate in the Ocean Grill 3 times & Sindhu twice,the worst thing I can say about Sindhu is that we didn't consider it to be as good as the Ocean Grill which was outstanding,especially for the price being asked,to put things in perspective we are booked with Royal Caribbean in April & have booked Jamie's Italian for the second night,that is over £90,I know some people seem happy to pay whatever the cruise lines ask,I'm not one of those people,having tried RCI's steak house Chops in the past,OG was far better at a fraction of the price,dining(& drinking) on P&O is a bargain!(no I don't work for them!)

[FredaFlinstone]

1 hour ago, snaefell said:

In our 19 nights we had one celebration night & 2 formal nights,should have been 3 but the itinerary changed as we went along,on 'posh' nights MPW's name did appear on the menu but I wouldn't say the menu was that special.We

We ate in the Ocean Grill 3 times & Sindhu twice,the worst thing I can say about Sindhu is that we didn't consider it to be as good as the Ocean Grill which was outstanding,especially for the price being asked,to put things in perspective we are booked with Royal Caribbean in April & have booked Jamie's Italian for the second night,that is over £90,I know some people seem happy to pay whatever the cruise lines ask,I'm not one of those people,having tried RCI's steak house Chops in the past,OG was far better at a fraction of the price,dining(& drinking) on P&O is a bargain!(no I don't work for them!)

How much was OG when you were on Arcadia in May?  I have done cruises from Miami and New York and all the speciality restaurants were around the £50 mark .

[snaefell]

21 minutes ago, FredaFlinstone said:

How much was OG when you were on Arcadia in May?  I have done cruises from Miami and New York and all the speciality restaurants were around the £50 mark .

Seems ages ago now but £30 for the two of us sticks in my mind,the quality was superb,the portions generous & on two occasions the service was amazing,on our second visit our main course seemed to get lost somehow,the waiting on crew seemed more upset than us that things had gone wrong!

 

[FredaFlinstone]

3 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Seems ages ago now but £30 for the two of us sticks in my mind,the quality was superb,the portions generous & on two occasions the service was amazing,on our second visit our main course seemed to get lost somehow,the waiting on crew seemed more upset than us that things had gone wrong!

 

Thats great thanks for all your help. 

[snaefell]

1 minute ago, FredaFlinstone said:

Thats great thanks for all your help. 

No probs,my only real bug bear was booking,departure day was my Wife's Birthday so OG on the first night was a must,not being able to book until on board was frustrating,being told it was full when we got on board was annoying,refusing to accept that had the desired effect though,enjoy your cruise!

[zap99]

5 hours ago, snaefell said:

In our 19 nights we had one celebration night & 2 formal nights,should have been 3 but the itinerary changed as we went along,on 'posh' nights MPW's name did appear on the menu but I wouldn't say the menu was that special.We

We ate in the Ocean Grill 3 times & Sindhu twice,the worst thing I can say about Sindhu is that we didn't consider it to be as good as the Ocean Grill which was outstanding,especially for the price being asked,to put things in perspective we are booked with Royal Caribbean in April & have booked Jamie's Italian for the second night,that is over £90,I know some people seem happy to pay whatever the cruise lines ask,I'm not one of those people,having tried RCI's steak house Chops in the past,OG was far better at a fraction of the price,dining(& drinking) on P&O is a bargain!(no I don't work for them!)

Can you not get the 3 night package ?. I think we paid £96 each.

[snaefell]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Can you not get the 3 night package ?. I think we paid £96 each.

Must admit not to have looked,for one I tend to find packages not great value but we hadn't tried OG before so wasn't sure how good it would be,as for Sindhu we hadn't been impressed with our one past experience so basically were only certain of using a speciality restaurant the first night,we were pleasantly surprised!😀

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 9/25/2023 at 12:34 PM, Bill Y said:

We had not come across celebration nights before this year, one of more formal nights were named as celebration nights, before they used to have black and white nights etc. As others have said P&O no longer appear to push the boat out for formal night menus whether this applies to the two smaller ships we will find out next year.

To be honest if I was one of these top chefs putting my name to some of the fare dished up on our March/April cruise to the Caribbean, Mexico and the US I would think pretty long and hard as to whether I wanted to be associated with this food. I do believe that since we first started cruising back in 2002 that the food quality has gone down considerably. During this 35 nighter onboard Ventura I can honestly say that only four evening meals were good. Three at Sindu, excellent and one at the Beech House which was good. The food in the MDR was bland, varied between cold and warm. Desserts that were Rum or Pina Colada infused tasted nothing of either. Custard was thinner than water. One reason put forward was the fact that many of the crew were new recruits. I felt sorry for our main waiter as he spent most nights asking why people on our table had left a lot of the food. Yes I know that cruising is probably cheaper than before but I would rather pay another £10 or £20 per head per day to get better quality food. The same applies to excursions that include meals. They always remind me of coach type tours in the UK where it sometimes seems that a hotel or restaurant that gives the cheapest deal is chosen and again the food is substandard compared with customers who come from off the street to eat.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Marco Pierre White sold out as a chef many many years ago. He was a legendary 3 michelin star chef everybody in the industry looked upto

 

Then for millions of pounds just puts his name to pretty much anything that will pay him too

 

Beware of MPW branded restaurants or food anywhere as a result

 

He's no longer a chef just a TV celebrity

 

The vast majority of chefs cooking the food in his branded restaurants nowadays wouldn't have lasted working with him in his real kitchens more than a few days

 

He famously made Gordon Ramsay cry when he was working under him (or not depending if you believe MPW side of it)

 

Watch til the end of this short clip. It's funny!!

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[davecttr]

We experienced a Marco Pierre White xmas dinner on Oceana a few years ago. My comment was 'pretentious rubbish', the entire table left before the dessert. Contrast this with the xmas dinner at a local country pub which was excellent and what was meant to be hot was HOT.

[Selbourne]

51 minutes ago, davecttr said:

We experienced a Marco Pierre White xmas dinner on Oceana a few years ago. My comment was 'pretentious rubbish', the entire table left before the dessert. Contrast this with the xmas dinner at a local country pub which was excellent and what was meant to be hot was HOT.

I used to like his menus on P&O, but it was the only poor meal I had in the MDR all fortnight on Britannia. There’s a MPW New York Italian diner opened not far from us, which we’ve been to a few times. It’s OK but nothing special. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I used to like his menus on P&O, but it was the only poor meal I had in the MDR all fortnight on Britannia. There’s a MPW New York Italian diner opened not far from us, which we’ve been to a few times. It’s OK but nothing special. 

At the end of the day he just designs the menu and visits occasionally

 

Totally reliant on the chefs employed (in the franchise or location) to cook the food well and the waiting staff to prepare it well

 

Doesn't have MPW's exacting eye checking every course before it leaves the pass etc