P&O Arvia K307 - Not the experience we were expecting

[FamilyCruiserUK]

6 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Only a few days of entertainment seem to be available to book before hand at the moment. You can book speciality dining but obviously can’t use your OBC if you book before you board. You can also book the MDR/Olive Grove/6th Street Diner two weeks before but only on times up to half 6, which suits us as we always eat early. 

Do you have to pay for the dining when you book it? 🤔 Not when you use it? 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Just now, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Do you have to pay for the dining when you book it? 🤔 Not when you use it? 

I think if you book speciality dining that includes an extra cost you may pay before?

 

Such as Limelight Club etc?

 

Others will confirm?

 

But its also cheaper if you do?

 

Again someone will confirm?

[TigerB]

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I think if you book speciality dining that includes an extra cost you may pay before?

 

Such as Limelight Club etc?

 

Others will confirm?

 

But its also cheaper if you do?

 

Again someone will confirm?

 

Yes, for those speciality dining restaurants you are able to book beforehand, you get 20% off, and also your Peninsula discount.

So, Epicurean and Limelight Club, you pay £24 each for the former and 20% off the onboard price for the latter. Then you can use your Peninsula discount too.

If you book Sindhu or Green & Co, for example, you pay £10 each upfront, less any Peninsula discount. When you dine they knock off 20% from your food bill, and then knock off the deposit.

[Son of Anarchy]

30 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Have got arvia booked for aug with the family. Just a quick question for those in the know.

 

Are the swimming pools fresh or salt water?

When are shows and resturants available to book?

 

As for the show/food bookings we just sailed on MSC Virtuosa and you cannot book shows till the day before..so in evening shows would pop up and you book. The speciality shows and main reaturant you have to go to a desk and they can book the date and time you want. The following days planner is not available till the evening before. Annoying as i like to plan ahead (military here) lol.

Shows and restaurants were available to book 2 weeks before our cruise on Arvia (less than a week to go now!).

 

Subject to change - a summary of bookable timings etc re the restaurants:

 

MDRs: 17:30 to 18:30

Chefs Table: 18:00 and 20:00 sittings on formal nights only

6th St Diner: 17:30 - 18:30, though some days seem to only have had slots up to 17:30 from the outset

Olive Grove: Same variations as 6th St Diner

Beach House: 18:00 - 21:30 (not been able to book, possibly due to an IT issue at ether end).  No availability on formal nights

Green St: 12:00 - 21:30

Mizuahana: 12:00 - 21:00.  Most slots appear to be at 1 hour intervals

Sindhu: 18:00 - 21:30

Epicurean: 18:00 - 21:30

Limelight Club: 19:00

 

Keel & Cow and Glass House state enquire on board and all others state no booking required.

 

Blimey, more venues than you can shake a stick at!

 

[Vampiress88]

1 hour ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Have got arvia booked for aug with the family. Just a quick question for those in the know.

 

Are the swimming pools fresh or salt water?

When are shows and resturants available to book?

 

As for the show/food bookings we just sailed on MSC Virtuosa and you cannot book shows till the day before..so in evening shows would pop up and you book. The speciality shows and main reaturant you have to go to a desk and they can book the date and time you want. The following days planner is not available till the evening before. Annoying as i like to plan ahead (military here) lol.

normal pools like at swimming baths. 
virtuosa tasted disgusting and stung the eyes. The kids hated the pools and the kids club on there. 
 

we booked shows and restaurants on the app. Hated having to book the restaurants inside that French place, queued for ages and they still got it wrong. 
 

I like military planning mostly too. 

[Vampiress88]

27 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Yes, for those speciality dining restaurants you are able to book beforehand, you get 20% off, and also your Peninsula discount.

So, Epicurean and Limelight Club, you pay £24 each for the former and 20% off the onboard price for the latter. Then you can use your Peninsula discount too.

If you book Sindhu or Green & Co, for example, you pay £10 each upfront, less any Peninsula discount. When you dine they knock off 20% from your food bill, and then knock off the deposit.

Is that on iona too? 
Doesn’t say anything when I go to book sindhu about 20% off otherwise I might do it now 

[majortom10]

14 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Is that on iona too? 
Doesn’t say anything when I go to book sindhu about 20% off otherwise I might do it now 

We booked Sindhu 2 weeks before boarding and paid £10pp deposit and got 20% discount on the day. This was on Iona in March.

[TigerB]

14 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Is that on iona too? 
Doesn’t say anything when I go to book sindhu about 20% off otherwise I might do it now 

 

Yes, it does; on all the fleet. I don't think it is actually written down anywhere; we only found out by accident when we were Britannia last September and one of the restaurant hosts explained it to us.

[Vampiress88]

On phone to p&o now and they said there is no 20% discount at all. 
 

I would be annoyed if I went to sindhu and didn’t get 20% off for pre booking 

[Vampiress88]

If the p&o advisor is wrong then does it include the beach house 

[Leomins]

5 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

On phone to p&o now and they said there is no 20% discount at all. 
 

I would be annoyed if I went to sindhu and didn’t get 20% off for pre booking 

There was definitely 20% off Iona last March, didn’t prebook the Beach House.

[TigerB]

1 minute ago, Vampiress88 said:

On phone to p&o now and they said there is no 20% discount at all. 
 

I would be annoyed if I went to sindhu and didn’t get 20% off for pre booking 

 

1 minute ago, Vampiress88 said:

If the p&o advisor is wrong then does it include the beach house 

 

We have just been talking about P&O customer services in relation to different emails we've had from different advisors when it comes to an accessibility query we had; there are too many chefs and they are all not on the same page.

 

The advisor is wrong. Perhaps they thought you were talking about getting a 20% discount off the deposit.

I can assure you that, when pre-booking before you board, you do benefit from the 20% discount off your food bill when you dine.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Thanks ll for the answers to pool, shows and food bookings.

 

Annoying we have a large ammount of OBC to use and cant use it before we board for the resturants like on royal. Wil have to wait till day on board to book the resturants and use up the OBC.

 

[smj777]

We're on Arvia for the first time in May. On all our other P&O cruises we have simply turned up to a restaurant to book. Will we still be able to get in or do we need to book before we sail?

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Vampiress88 said:

If the p&o advisor is wrong then does it include the beach house 

The advisor is wrong unless it has changed since 18th March. More than likely P&O advisor is wrong because most haven't got a clue about cruising or the ships they sell cruises on. On many issues they are wrong and that is main reason why I would never book a cruise direct with them. You don't get discount on Beach House because you cannot book pre cruise. Only Epicurean, Sindhu and Limelight you book on advance and get 20% discount.

[majortom10]

10 minutes ago, smj777 said:

We're on Arvia for the first time in May. On all our other P&O cruises we have simply turned up to a restaurant to book. Will we still be able to get in or do we need to book before we sail?

You cannot book MDR or some speciality restaurants in advance on Arvia unless you are prepared to dine early. You either just turn up and hope table a available if not given a pager or you join virtual queue on app and then wander around the ship or go for drink. It buzzes to let you know your table is ready and you have 15 mins to get there or it is released.

[davecttr]

I have 3 Olive Grove, 2 Beach House, 1 Green & Co and 1 6th Street Diner pre bookings for my Arvia cruise next week.

[smj777]

1 minute ago, majortom10 said:

You cannot book MDR or some speciality restaurants in advance on Arvia unless you are prepared to dine early. You either just turn up and hope table a available if not given a pager or you join virtual queue on app and then wander around the ship or go for drink. It buzzes to let you know your table is ready and you have 15 mins to get there or it is released.

 

[smj777]

Thanks, we'll just take our chances as before. We may have had to wait sometimes but usually got into the restaurant we wanted.

[majortom10]

21 minutes ago, davecttr said:

I have 3 Olive Grove, 2 Beach House, 1 Green & Co and 1 6th Street Diner pre bookings for my Arvia cruise next week.

Obviously P&O have different policies for booking pre cruise for Iona and Arvia. Olive Grove and Beach House are not pre bookable on Iona so naturally assumed Arvia would be the same. But obviously P&O don't do things for simplicity.

 

[Vampiress88]

48 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

The advisor is wrong unless it has changed since 18th March. More than likely P&O advisor is wrong because most haven't got a clue about cruising or the ships they sell cruises on. On many issues they are wrong and that is main reason why I would never book a cruise direct with them. You don't get discount on Beach House because you cannot book pre cruise. Only Epicurean, Sindhu and Limelight you book on advance and get 20% discount.

Can prebook on iona for beach house 

[majortom10]

42 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

Can prebook on iona for beach house 

We couldn't on our cruise in March, if it was bookable I would have booked it. We had to wait until we got onboard and did so as soon as we could on embarkation because heard such good reports. As it was IMO was very disappointed and a waste of £9-50pp and thought it was very poor.

[Vampiress88]

24 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We couldn't on our cruise in March, if it was bookable I would have booked it. We had to wait until we got onboard and did so as soon as we could on embarkation because heard such good reports. As it was IMO was very disappointed and a waste of £9-50pp and thought it was very poor.

we loved the beach house menu on Britannia in April last year but didn’t really think the menu was good on iona in November. 
think we might just do mdr and olive grove only this cruise. 

[majortom10]

47 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

we loved the beach house menu on Britannia in April last year but didn’t really think the menu was good on iona in November. 
think we might just do mdr and olive grove only this cruise. 

I havent used Beach House since Ventura maiden cruise whe it was excellent. Having not done any cruises with P&O for over 4 years was keen to try Beach House on Iona after all good reports I had heard. Obviously only our own opinion but we were both thoroughly disappointed, on the other hand Olive was excellent we ate there 3 times.

 

[alpha whiskey]

56 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I havent used Beach House since Ventura maiden cruise whe it was excellent. Having not done any cruises with P&O for over 4 years was keen to try Beach House on Iona after all good reports I had heard. Obviously only our own opinion but we were both thoroughly disappointed, on the other hand Olive was excellent we ate there 3 times.

 

We enjoyed Olive Grove on Iona very much too.

I am hoping Arvia will give us the same experience, but having viewed their Olive Grove menus online they do look very scaled down and limited compared to Iona. We shall see🤞