Not looking forward to our cruise on Arcadia

[zoomjones]

Have just booked onto Arcadia for the Med Medley next May 5th. Really looking forward to it, despite the many reviews I've read.

 

From what I can gather most negative comments seem to have come from experienced cruisers with high standards who are at odds with the atmosphere, decor and sometimes the service. My mindset is open minded and to me the whole concept sounds wonderful. On the whole the excellent pics I've seen of the ship really appeal to us (we like the modern styling), our standards are relaxed casual and we got the cruise for a good price and I reckon it will provide good value for money so any minor discrepancies in service we'll overlook. As for the atmosphere well that's really what you make it I think! We certainly won't be drawing negative comparisons or tolerating any, enough, move on lets just enjoy this particular cruise for what it is! :-)

 

We're both in our early 30's and the age of others really doesn't bother us! We'll make the most of it regardless!

 

Can't wait.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

I have often thought about going on a P & O cruise, have docked many times next to a P & O ship so have met many many folk who have sailed with them, As a younger cruiser with no kids and having done Cunard and others I thought I would give Princess a go that was 5 cruises back I have another three planned for the next few years. May be I will go on P& O one day but for just now I have found a cruise line that provides a nice mix, pools for tots, teen only bits on the decks, adults only areas kids clubs etc. Dance lessons for those who are into that stuff. etc

 

Would I cancel if this is your very first cruise yes, you can still have a very good cruise, however if you would like to be with others your own age for dinner for going on trips etc then I would swap to a Princess cruise's as sister companies I would not accept any charges for doing so.

 

I have been on mixed tables etc and people leave to go to a show, or film etc, when the table is of a close age group you find you do more things together. Same with tours etc I have been invited to join groups etc because we were of the same age.

 

Now there are many completely mad OAPs out there who are up for anything and are great fun to be with, but to be fare to them there views tastes etc are not the same as some one 40 years younger, but they also have a great deal to tell you, the chances are they have been there done that so you take your choice.

 

yours Shogun

[daiB]

Have just booked onto Arcadia for the Med Medley next May 5th. Really looking forward to it, despite the many reviews I've read.

 

From what I can gather most negative comments seem to have come from experienced cruisers with high standards who are at odds with the atmosphere, decor and sometimes the service. My mindset is open minded and to me the whole concept sounds wonderful. On the whole the excellent pics I've seen of the ship really appeal to us (we like the modern styling), our standards are relaxed casual and we got the cruise for a good price and I reckon it will provide good value for money so any minor discrepancies in service we'll overlook. As for the atmosphere well that's really what you make it I think! We certainly won't be drawing negative comparisons or tolerating any, enough, move on lets just enjoy this particular cruise for what it is! :-)

 

We're both in our early 30's and the age of others really doesn't bother us! We'll make the most of it regardless!

 

Can't wait.

 

 

Arcadia is a lovely ship and is becoming more and more appreciated. The negative comments are becoming fewer and fewer. Those which do surface are those repeated from some time ago.

 

If you go on your cruise with a positive attitude (why this would not be the case I would not know) then you will have a great time.

 

Please read my report on this site and look at out photo site. The atmosphere on our cruise J625 was great and we had a wonderful time, as did the 20 year olds on our table.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/555974958ybzcIZ

[MrSofty]

Dear fellow Cruisers (to be!)

 

There are many views and opinions expressed in this thread so no doubbt you are totally bewildered. Problem is that in general the older members will tell you how wonderful Arcadia is and the younger will tell you the opposite. I did Arcadia once, I'm in my 40s. I'm not a raver, I like to relax, play cards, do quizes, drink cocktails, have good conversations etc. Even so, I will never travel on Arcadia again. The average age group was 60s, 70s 80s. There's a review of the ship on this website that describes it as an old folks home at sea and that's how I found it. That said the people on my dining table were full of character and very funny despite (or because of) their mature years.

The ship is a ship at the end of the day, they pretty much all offer the same facilities. The atmosphere is what makes the difference. Older people are flocking to the Arcadia because its nice and new and child-free. That's just fine and dandy but for me personally I'll stick with Aurora and Oriana.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE - P&O are scrapping (or at least selling off) ARCADIA because it has received so many bad repsonses. That's all you really need to know.

 

As to whether to cancel and book Aurora / Orianna, that depends on the deal you got. Booking early saves you £100s so don't lose out too much.

Being in your 20s, you will definitely enjoy the atmosphere better on Aurora / Orianna. Both are fun, average ages are 20s-50s, very lively and upbeat, lots of fun. Aurora has that extra bit of formality and elegance which I love, so if you love dressing up, being glam and glitzy and understated at the same time then Aurora is for you.

 

Stick with P&O, they're the best !

[daiB]

Dear fellow Cruisers (to be!)

 

There are many views and opinions expressed in this thread so no doubbt you are totally bewildered. Problem is that in general the older members will tell you how wonderful Arcadia is and the younger will tell you the opposite. I did Arcadia once, I'm in my 40s. I'm not a raver, I like to relax, play cards, do quizes, drink cocktails, have good conversations etc. Even so, I will never travel on Arcadia again. The average age group was 60s, 70s 80s. There's a review of the ship on this website that describes it as an old folks home at sea and that's how I found it. That said the people on my dining table were full of character and very funny despite (or because of) their mature years.

The ship is a ship at the end of the day, they pretty much all offer the same facilities. The atmosphere is what makes the difference. Older people are flocking to the Arcadia because its nice and new and child-free. That's just fine and dandy but for me personally I'll stick with Aurora and Oriana.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE - P&O are scrapping (or at least selling off) ARCADIA because it has received so many bad repsonses. That's all you really need to know.

 

As to whether to cancel and book Aurora / Orianna, that depends on the deal you got. Booking early saves you £100s so don't lose out too much.

Being in your 20s, you will definitely enjoy the atmosphere better on Aurora / Orianna. Both are fun, average ages are 20s-50s, very lively and upbeat, lots of fun. Aurora has that extra bit of formality and elegance which I love, so if you love dressing up, being glam and glitzy and understated at the same time then Aurora is for you.

 

Stick with P&O, they're the best !

 

 

Sir,

 

The latest information we have had would say you are wrong!

 

Totaly wrong and you should not continue to say what you have about Arcadia and P & O.

[Glenndale]

It seems a bit harsh to say that he must stop saying what he has about Arcadia, surely as long as it is not libellous he is entitled to state his opinion.

We all have different opinions and should be free to express them with regards to the various ships.

As to whether or not Arcadia is leaving the fleet this is merely a matter of conjecture – unless you are on the board at P&O or privy to inside information, and I would say small talk at the Captain’s cocktail party does not fall into the latter category, it is unwise to state that someone is ‘totaly (sic) wrong’.

Personally, Arcadia did not live up to my expectations, but nevertheless I enjoyed the holiday. It is all to do with your state of mind and how you approach life.

Whether or not we would cruise on Arcadia again would depend on the itinerary and price.

We would certainly block book Arcadia Rhodes for all non formal nights as we found the food in the Meridian restaurant variable to say the least, but then again that is merely our opinion.

As to the décor I must say it took understated to a new level!

Dirty brown mock wood in the dining room did not improve the ambience (together with the bright green muster station signs).:rolleyes:

[terrierjohn]

Only just come back to the P&O message board now they have a dedicated UK page, so it's interesting to catch up. We had our only P&O cruise (so far) on Arcadia in Jan/06 and I have to admit that my review here on CC was not particularly complementary. However my main complaints were with the interior design and the many bottlenecks thus created not with the passenger age profile, which I found quite varied, even if weighted towards the older age groups, which probably applies to cruising in general. We found the dining options to be high quality, we even enjoyed the buffet, once we found where each food station was located.

When making a review you can only compare a ship with other similar ones that you have experienced, and in our case these were Coral & Island Princess, and Arcadia did not compare well, in our opinion, but I would be happy to cruise on her again, if the itineray and price were right.

After our next 3 cruises (see below) we will have a much broader view and maybe we will be happy to try Arcadia again.

[haggis]

Hi Terrier John,

I believe the Gemini was the old Crown Jewell which Cunard had chartered from Crown Cruises, one of three ships. She was our first modern cruise ship we ever sailed. Our first three cruises was on the Cunard Countess. I would love to know how she has worn over the years, we saw her sister in the Ffiords, the Braemar this year and she looked glorious,

Jimmy

[terrierjohn]

Hi Terrier John,

I believe the Gemini was the old Crown Jewell which Cunard had chartered from Crown Cruises, one of three ships. She was our first modern cruise ship we ever sailed. Our first three cruises was on the Cunard Countess. I would love to know how she has worn over the years, we saw her sister in the Ffiords, the Braemar this year and she looked glorious,

Jimmy

Jimmy, like you Gemini was our first experience of a modern, purpose built, cruise ship and whilst she is only small she is, as they say, perfectly formed. It's a few years ago now but she was in fine fettle and we had a very enjoyable cruise on her.

It's interesting that Gemini now has 404 cabins and can accomodate up to 900 pax whilst Braemar only has 368 with maximum pax of 800, also interesting that "Choosing cruising", categorises Braemar as Superior but Gemini only as Standard. I am, however, expecting the Tahitian Princess to offer a more upscale experience.

Getting back to this thread my view is that Gemini was much better designed than Arcadia, with no annoying bottlenecks walking through the public areas, and we especially enjoyed the alfresco part of the buffet restaurant, a feature that the designers of modern superliners ought to consider incorporating into more ships.

[haggis]

Thanks for replying to my query Terrierjohn. Regarding her status as 'Standard', I would imagine that the extra 100 passengers she carries will bring her into that category. I believe thats it worked out on weight/crew/passenger ratio. She's well promoted in the UK but she only does short cruises (less than 14 days) and its a long way to go to do less than a fortnight.

Jimmy

[Janey]

Hullo Haggis, we too have sailed on the Cunard Countess and loved being on her. She is now based in Athens after several refits and sails round the Greek Islands on 7 night cruises. She is called the Olympic Countess or something like that. We were in Rhodes 3 yrs ago and saw her but didn't recognise her, she is white with a blue funnel. If you type in Cunard Countess on the Search box on your home page you should find her.

[haggis]

Hello Janey,

Latest update I have on the Countess is that she has moved on again and is now owned by a German holiday company. She's been renamed ' Lily Marlene'. Theres a thread on ' Whatever happened to .. titled Cunard Countess.

Jimmy

[Brian Raine]

Kindlychap. If you think the Arcadia is brash and vulgar get on a Costa ship, ostensibly the Fortuna, you will need to wear dark glasses all the time.

[Britcruiser81]

Hi, just wanted to respond to this. I am a regular cruiser at only 25 years of age, and always have a great time. I have been twice already with P&O and found the ages to be very mixed, espically in the Caribbean. The flights are quite long so you do tend to have the 'young at hearters' who are there to enjoy themselves. Many of the people I have met over the years on cruises are 40-50's and let me tell you - they have more stamina than me! You won't be the only people in the nightclub so don't worry, I think this tends to be the voyages that leave from Southampton that you have been getting the negative comments on.

We leave on the 12th Jan, so I'll let you know what it is like.

[Lancastrian]

We have been on all the P and O ships many times (except Artemis) and Arcadia is now our favourite. It's a great mix of modern and traditional. There was a good span of all ages onboard when we did the Baltic cruise last year. We had a fabulous time and can't wait to get back on board her again asap.

[Crystal Clear]

Just come back from the Caribbean after two weeks on the Arcadia.

Yes it is an older clientele average age on the cruise 67 years, this was told to us by one of the Ents Staff.

But having said that the majority of people were lovely.

You will naturally gravitate to people of your own age group, in fact when we booked we were asked our ages so that we could be placed on a table with similiar age group, we're early 40's.

In some respects the people we met on board made the cruise and holiday for us

Ship is excellent, the art is fantastic.

Sailaways parties from the ports are a laugh and in response to an earlier post, even doing the conga around the deck.

This was our first cruise thoroughly enjoyed it but cruising is not really my style of holiday. But I wouldn't e able o say that if I hadn't had tried. Certainly wouldn't cancel just because of other people's perspectives. Go and find out yourself and enjoy your well desrved holiday !1

[Barbarella]

Dear Cruiser20,

 

You will have a great time, believe me. We are in our late 40s and were on Arcadia last October doing the canaries cruise out of Southampton.

 

Being out of Southampton and child free we obviously realised that the age group would be higher than we are normally used to but in the end, we had the best cruise experience ever.

 

Our table of 8 people were all of the same age group (our officer told us that when planning tables, they mix by age) and we met up with 3 other couples, two younger than us and one couple older than us and what a ball the 8 of us had.

 

The Rising Sun pub was our usual meeting place, we had cocktail parties in our respective cabins (ours being aft with a huge balcony) and ended up in the disco area every night. Word spread and most nights, the parties were really heaving with the crew joining in and have a wonderful time.

 

The food was glorious and for us, it was the best cruise ever. We have been with Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival - all child friendly ships.

 

Arcadia without the little ones is far, far superior and much more classy.

 

I am sure you will have a wonderful time and as everybody else says, go and enjoy.

 

We are back on Arcadia early August doing the Med and yes have got our huge balcony on the aft again, so are already planning our cocktail parties.

 

One of the couples we met are also booked so it should be a wow and one of the younger couples are doing the Arcadia Med in May as they also had such a great time.

 

Try it and see - how can you comment before you have tried it out yourself.

 

Regards,

Babs

[daiB]

Dear Cruiser20,

 

You will have a great time, believe me. We are in our late 40s and were on Arcadia last October doing the canaries cruise out of Southampton.

 

Being out of Southampton and child free we obviously realised that the age group would be higher than we are normally used to but in the end, we had the best cruise experience ever.

 

Our table of 8 people were all of the same age group (our officer told us that when planning tables, they mix by age) and we met up with 3 other couples, two younger than us and one couple older than us and what a ball the 8 of us had.

 

The Rising Sun pub was our usual meeting place, we had cocktail parties in our respective cabins (ours being aft with a huge balcony) and ended up in the disco area every night. Word spread and most nights, the parties were really heaving with the crew joining in and have a wonderful time.

 

The food was glorious and for us, it was the best cruise ever. We have been with Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival - all child friendly ships.

 

Arcadia without the little ones is far, far superior and much more classy.

 

I am sure you will have a wonderful time and as everybody else says, go and enjoy.

 

We are back on Arcadia early August doing the Med and yes have got our huge balcony on the aft again, so are already planning our cocktail parties.

 

One of the couples we met are also booked so it should be a wow and one of the younger couples are doing the Arcadia Med in May as they also had such a great time.

 

Try it and see - how can you comment before you have tried it out yourself.

 

Regards,

Babs

 

 

Yes those stern balconies are excellent for cocktail parties and if you have a corner suite even better, with the butler doing his thing and the sun setting as the ship ship sails on. Our experiance is in the Caribbean but I am sure it would be better in the summer in the Med or in the Fjords.

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

[Barbarella]

Dear DaiB,

 

Wish I could view your photos but access denied at the office. Will need to access from home account.

 

yes we think Arcadia has the best aft/stern cabins and it has spoiled us now. Funny, when we decided to go back on her this year, again opting to go from Southampton so not having the hassle of flying (and added bonus -being able to take on so much more luggage - a lady who loves her shoes:p , the most important thing when choosing which particular cruise was making sure we could get an aft balcon - that came first!!!!!!

 

Last year we had E184 which was one of the back middle four so also had extended cabin space - I beleive it was 336 square feet in all and this time we are on D184 which we have been told has 370 square feet in total so very happy bunnies.

 

It was so great that we never went up to the pool area during the day. Why when you can have your own music, chilled champers from your own fridge, room service and most of all, your own personal area - just loved it and 14 nights going round the med in August will be brill.

 

We also thing ARcadia is much classier than other ships we have been on the dress code of the guests is very well adhered to - 4 formal nights and so much elegance afloat.

 

After the american ships, it is so nice not to be charged 15% service charge on each and every drink you buy as well - our final bill was a great surprise - it seemed so cheap and we do like our drinkippos when on hols.

 

Can't wait to view your piccies and come back to you on these.

 

With kind regards,

Babs