Review of P&O Arcadia 7-night Fjord’s Adventure Cruise 30 July 2006

[floridakeith]

This was a cruise from Southampton to Eidfjord, Flam, Olden and Bergen with a day at sea on the first and last days. It was our second cruise with P&O, our previous one two years ago was on Oceana to the Canary Islands. Arcadia seems to have had some very mixed reviews from P&O regulars but we went with an open mind as we have so far enjoyed experiencing nine different cruise lines and eighteen ships. Arcadia was our second adults-only ship, the first being Saga Ruby earlier this year. Ruby’s passengers probably averaged over 70 years of age and we decided after that we prefer a more mixed age group. Arcadia had a really good spread of ages from a group on the next table at dinner celebrating a 21st birthday, and many others in their 20’s and upwards. We were in an OE grade inside cabin number B10 on Bermuda Deck number 7 and paid £770 each ($1,463 at 1.90).

Plus Points:

The décor of our cabin was beige walls with green furnishings and looked rather luxurious with its LCD flat screen TV. It was also one of the quietest cabins we have ever had.

The public room décor primarily in beige, brown and other earth tones with 3,000 pieces of artwork and sculptures commissioned from British artists made for a very stylish ship in a contemporary way, somewhat similar to some of Celebrity’s Millennium Class ships.

With only 1,950 passengers on this 83,000-ton Vista Class ship it is very spacious and lots of windows make the public areas very light.

Captain Steve Burgoine, the Cruise Director Neil Oliver, and the officers and crew was happy, smiling, efficient and willing to oblige at all times. Our cabin stewardess was Bernadeth from the Philippines and our waiter Alberto and his assistant Joaquim were from India.

The Belvedere buffet selection for breakfast and lunch was better than we had experienced on Oceana but still not up to the standard of US lines such as Celebrity and Holland America.

We had some delightful companions on our first sitting dinner table.

The choice of food at dinner was better on the first few nights than on the last few, just as we had found on Oceana. On three occasions my wife and I had the alternative option of steak and it was exceptionally tender. Salmon or chicken was also available every night. Overall quality was good rather than outstanding.

The Lido pool has a retractable glass roof that is very useful if the weather isn’t kind however the non-adjustable sun loungers around the pool were very uncomfortable. Those by the other pool and on the higher deck were adjustable.

Some drink prices were lower than on US cruise lines. For example Beringer White Zinfandel that was £18 ($34.20) on Legend of the Seas earlier this year was £15.75 ($29.92) on Arcadia. A glass of house wine is £2.55 ($4.85), half a litre carafe £7.15 ($13.58) and a litre carafe £14 ($26.60). A 330ml can of coke was £1.10 (2.09), Whisky and Gin started at £ 2 ($3.80) the cocktail of the day was £2.50 ($4.75), draught beer £2.25 ($4.27), lager £1.85 ($3.51) and speciality coffees such as a Latte £1.45 ($2.75). These prices include gratuities, unlike US lines that add 15%. Moreover if you have sailed with P&O before and are a member of the Portunus Club you get 5% or more off all on board spend, reducing drinks prices even further.

While we didn’t use it, internet pricing is quite low starting at 30 pence ($0.57) per minute for ad-hoc use reducing to 16 pence ($0.30) if you buy 100 minutes. Most public lounges are wireless access zones.

The shows were of a good standard. The three production shows were Best of the West End, The Knights of Rock and Roll and Le Cirque Arcadia. Bobby Knutt was a very popular comedian who did two shows, and the other two shows were singer Carlo Paul Santana and illusionists The Twins.

The port presentations were excellent and not exclusively shopping talks as on many US cruise lines.

Embarkation and disembarkation were very efficient. We embarked within 15 minutes of arriving at the check in desk line and were disembarked and in our car in the car park only 25 minutes after we were called at 8.35am.

Minus Points: - So few they seem very minor:

The three-level Atrium seems poorly decorated making it seem even smaller than it is. In particular a curtain blocks the view from one side of the piano bar to the other which is annoying when people enjoying the music quiz from the non-smoking starboard side of the ship can’t see the pianist..

We felt that the other musicians on board were not very well balanced, and never found one to our tastes but that is a personal thing.

The Ports:

Eidfjord in Hardangerfjord was our first stop and the only one where we did a ships tour to the Sysen Dam and Voringsfoss Waterfall. We could not have done this on our own at anything like the same price as there are few taxis in these small places and they are very expensive.

Next was Flam in Sognefjord. It is very easy to go on the Flam railway on your own as we did. A return ticket to Myrdal is 275 Norwegian Krone, about £25 ($47.50). The scenery from the train is outstanding but there is very little at Myrdal apart from the station. We had a leisurely coffee in the station café and a stroll in the meadows before catching the next train back to Flam. Flam has quite a few shops to explore but things are generally very expensive.

Olden is in Nordfjord. There we enjoyed a walk into the village to explore the old local church dating from 1759, the shops and have a coffee.

Bergen is very easy to do your own thing. We walked along the harbour to the historic Bryggen area then took a one-hour Troll Train tour of the city for only 100 Krone (about £9 or $17) each. It was right by the Fish Market, which we explored on our return and the Funicular is just up the street to get a fabulous view of the city from the top for only 70 Krone (about £6.50 or $12).

In summary we had beautifully sunny weather all week and the scenery is fabulous. We enjoyed Arcadia and would happily sail on her again.

[aussiedisneyfan]

Thanks for the interesting review.

[Have a Good Trip]

floridakeith,

 

Glad you enjoyed your Arcadia cruise.

 

Thanks for the review - and the comments about the Norway visits (Flam, Olden & Bergen) - most useful for us next year on Aurora

[cruiseluvva]

Thank you for taking the time to review. I'm glad you liked Arcadia...she's our favourite ship.

[karmac]

Thanks for the review floridakeith. I really envy you. It has always been my dream to do a cruise of the Fjords.

 

Karen

[kool kruiser]

Thanks for a really informative review. We are considering this cruise in 2007 and have a small query, I note that on some evenings the itinerary says that there is evening cruising in a fjord. As the ship generally leaves port around 6 or 7pm, I wonder whether it is best to eat first or second sitting. I note that the op was on first sitting and wonder whether he was able to see the spectular scenery on the evening fjord cruise bys.

Any advice would be much appreciated

[Host Walt]

Thanks for a really informative review. We are considering this cruise in 2007 and have a small query, I note that on some evenings the itinerary says that there is evening cruising in a fjord. As the ship generally leaves port around 6 or 7pm, I wonder whether it is best to eat first or second sitting. I note that the op was on first sitting and wonder whether he was able to see the spectular scenery on the evening fjord cruise bys.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Although we haven't cruised the fjords we have visited Norway in late June when the light is wonderful in the evening. Sunsets were after 11:00pm and first light is around 3:00am.

 

But as for your question, I'll let floridakeith reply as to his actual experiences.

[floridakeith]

Thanks for a really informative review. We are considering this cruise in 2007 and have a small query, I note that on some evenings the itinerary says that there is evening cruising in a fjord. As the ship generally leaves port around 6 or 7pm, I wonder whether it is best to eat first or second sitting. I note that the op was on first sitting and wonder whether he was able to see the spectular scenery on the evening fjord cruise bys.

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

We were really surprised by the length of the fjords which says a lot about my lack of research prior to the trip. The first port was Eidfjord which is over 120 miles from the North Sea! So we sailed for about 6 hours before we were back in the North Sea. While the fjords to Flam and Olden aren't quite as long again it still took hours to exit them. So each of those nights we enjoyed tremendous scenery whether we were in the dining room having dinner (we were on first sitting) or afterwards from the promenade or in the lounges. Despite our cruise being at the beginning of August we enjoyed long sunny days so it was around 9pm before dusk arrived. Even then it was still clear enough to enjoy the sight of the twinkling lights of villages along the fjord. We also happened to have bright moon light so the final passage into the North Sea from each fjord was also very picturesque. As you can tell we were captivated by the fjords and plan to return to do a North Cape trip. We prefer first sitting for dinner but admittedly we were towards the back of the dining room and enjoyed views out of three sides. Maybe if we hadn't enjoyed all those windows we might have missed out on first sitting.

[happy cruzer]

do you have any suggestions for someone booking from the US? I have looked at some of the P&O itineraries and at the ships and I am very interested. But when I try do to pricing online most places want you to call or just provide an email address. I don't mind doing that but I need a way to establish a baseline price to know what to expect and to know what is a good deal. I use two of the biggie online services to do that on the big cruise lines that cater to the US.

 

So how do you go about booking P&O from the US?

 

I loved your review and am so glad you had good weather.

 

Hope all your cruises are that good!

[floridakeith]

do you have any suggestions for someone booking from the US? I have looked at some of the P&O itineraries and at the ships and I am very interested. But when I try do to pricing online most places want you to call or just provide an email address. I don't mind doing that but I need a way to establish a baseline price to know what to expect and to know what is a good deal. I use two of the biggie online services to do that on the big cruise lines that cater to the US.

 

So how do you go about booking P&O from the US?

 

I loved your review and am so glad you had good weather.

 

Hope all your cruises are that good!

 

Pleased the review was helpful. As I spend the summer in the UK I book my P&O cruises in the UK. I don't know if they handle US bookings though I don't see why not. Try www.savensail.co.uk who are a specialist cruise agency I have used very satisfactorily. They have detailed pricings (in pounds of course) on their web site for P&O cruises. Just put P&O, Europe and any ship in their search engine trying June, July and August which are the popular months for Norway and it pulls up all the options on their ships. That should enable you to establish pricing options. By the way specialist agents typically offer an additional 10% off the P&O price so you save money booking through them.

 

A recent newsletter I received from P&O said that they now offer a 5% discount if you book online. Their web site is www.pocruises.com but it says that only UK residents can book online. However the P&O website says that US residents can book directly with P&O as follows thopugh this involves an overseas call: For Euro Med bookings please phone :00 11 44 2380 523419 or try e-mailing

overseas.reservations@pocruises.com

 

Hope that helps.

[happy cruzer]

Thanks, I just needed a good place to get started. We love to go to London because of the good air fares so that would make it easy to take a cruise out of the UK.

 

Thanks,