ARVIA K417 review

[kevboy]

Just back from Med cruise on Arvia K417. Unfortunately the majority of my views are less than favourable but I hasten to add that some are my own fault. I had a Mini conservatory suite 8.309. This was an accessible cabin and classed as being obstructed by a hot tub on the deck.

Having been on Ventura in May I was well used to the My Holiday app for booking dining venues and times and knowing that the chargeable venues were only available to book 2 weeks before the cruise and that main dining could only be booked from 5-45 pm each night. Upon boarding Arvia I discovered that practically all dining slots had been booked in advance and I really struggled to find a slot anywhere.This even applied to breakfast slots in the MDR`s. I don`t know when this change occurred but I fell foul of this change. 

 

With regard to my cabin, The conservatory suites on deck 8 ( promenade) are not a problem with passing walkers/ Joggers due to glass being opaque. However, it also meant that when sitting on your balcony you couldn`t see a thing beneath the hand rail. The obstructed view caused by the hot tub was also not really a problem although the noise emanating from them was horrendous. This was due to occupants needing raised voices to overcome the noise caused by the pumping bubbling equipment. The main culprits were teenagers who were completely oblivious to the foul language they  were shouting at at each other.My actual cabin was only partially accessible; the door was normal width so my mobility scooter had to be collapsed and folded to get it in. A small parking area had been created in the cabin by reducing the bathroom accordingly. This was the smallest bathroom that I have ever encountered in my cruising experience of over 30 cruises on 5 cruise lines. Despite the shower area only being normal size and hand rails being provided it was almost impossible to dry yourself in the bathroom due to such a confined area.My wife has no mobility issues but had to leave the bathroom in order to dry herself. Any person of a large size would not be able to manage. The Conservatory, whilst pretty, was not very much used. However, it would be perfect for children if it had a TV.

 

The lack of waiters around the bar areas was a serious problem creating queues to give your order to someone who passed it on to the bar staff. This practice resulted in you queueing twice and causing congestion while waiting for your drink. How much more civilised was it to sit and be waited on. Congestion was also caused on deck 6 around eating venues with queueing for admittance.

 

Lifts were a problem caused by several being out of use and passengers not adhering to protocol. Getting into an ascending lift when you want to descend causes unnecessary queueing. Many people were getting into lifts just to make sure that they were in one! they openly joked that they didn`t mind going up in order to come back down. Another issue was the reluctance to create space for other passengers to get in by refusing to move backwards. Many lifts were actually less than halve full but nobody else could get in. One final thing about lifts, I lost count of the number of  food baskets and drinks glasses being left in the lifts. Such a bad practice but I suspect teenagers were responsible. The high number of teenagers behaving badly around the ship gives all teenagers an unfairly bad name. If we choose to cruise during school holidays we expect a high number of children so it is foreseeable.

 

Now that all my moaning is out of the way, overall I enjoyed my cruise. The crew were friendly and eager to please although a few more would be helpful. The shows and entertainment were of a good standard with the performers in the theatre working particularly hard. Food and dining venues of a very good standard.The  Arial Artists in the Atrium were fantastic to watch. Most passengers were keen to keep infection at bay by hand washing and cleansing and overall the passengers on this cruise were helpful, friendly,polite and considerate. There were a good few passengers with serious disabilities and it really was a pleasure to see the consideration given to them.  The embarkation was marred slightly by the huge queue of people arriving too early. Disembarking was flawless. We were called from our assembly area at exactly the time we were told. Everyone had an exact time to within 5 minutes rather than a full venue exiting at once. Well done P&O for this initiative. However, nobody checked your ticket so as to be expected, several people ignored the time slots and disembarked out of turn.The ship was very clean throughout and it was nice to see stair guides each evening helping passengers to find their way. Also nice to see hosts and hostesses outside theatre at start and end of shows - a touch of bygone times. Being nostalgic I miss the chef`s parade and the baked Alaska at the end of the cruise, and whatever happened to the ice and butter carvings we used to see? My first cruise was on Canberra following the Falklands war.In those days we had a brass Band at every embarkation with streamers on the Promenade Deck.  Pound for pound, cruising with P&O still represents fantastic value for money. 

 

  

[TigerB]

Thanks for the review.👍🏻

 

I noticed very recently that they have extended the times for which you can pre-book in the MDRs before you sail.  As far as I can recall, you used to be able to pre-book up to 18:00; last week, tables up to 18:30 were available when reservations opened, but they were all gone the next day.

It's also good that you can now pre-book for Olive Grove and 6th Street Diner, whereas both were only available to book once onboard for our previous cruises on Arvia.

 

 

 

What gave you the impression that you were in an accessible cabin or, as you later state, a partially accessible cabin?

 

To be clear to anyone reading this review, thinking it was an adapted cabin, and being put off by the description of the bathroom...

 

          all accessible and partially adapted cabins on Arvia and Iona have fully accessible large bathrooms (wet rooms).  The only partially adapted cabins on both ships are the inside ones, which were redesignated as such after Iona's first season.  The only adapted cabins on deck 8 of Arvia and Iona are 8330 and 8332, neither of which are conservatory cabins.  

 

 

@kevboy, did the fact that your cabin had a storage area for a mobility scooter and rails in the bathroom give you the impression that it was a partially adapted cabin?  Those features do not make it so.

Edited September 3 by TigerB

[TigerB]

Further to the above, I have just discovered that P&O have changed their descriptions of some cabins, and now have a cabin type that is called 'ambulant accessible'; 8309 is one such cabin. So @kevboy, I now realise why you write that it was an accessible cabin, albeit not suitable for a full-time wheelchair user.  Sorry for giving the impression that you were mistaken, which was not my intention.

 

[Whittleblue]

The opening times for the virtual queue (for MDR) seem to vary by ship. Brittany’s in May it was 17;45. Arvia a month ago was 18:30. I assume it’s because the later has no set dining times.