Arcadia - Trip 25th January New Orleans

[KimmyUK]

Has anyone else just returned from this nightmare of a cruise. Many people seemed to be discussing this cruise as being one of the worse, (even regular P&O cruisers). It started badly with the ship breaking down and not being able to sail from New Orleans on the 26th January - and it had been in port for a few days - and it just went from bad to worse. Also the entertainment was dire!! Is there anyone else who felt this was the case or was I just imagining everyone complaining. We sat at a table with 3 other couples. One couple had been on the Arcadia twice before and said that the standard had dropped in all areas. Joined the spa and even that broke down. One minute too cold and then far too hot!!

What does everyone else think?

[james_19742000]

Hi Kimmy,

 

My parents have just returned from this cruise, totally disappointed and said the same as you, disaster from start to finish, whilst they said the ship was nice, the atmosphere on it was poor, dinner on most evenings was sub-standard, several evenings it was sent back, the problems at the start really put it off to a bad start, people complaining about Key West being missed, why not miss another port of call maybe??

 

They took the option offered via a local travel agent of direct flights from our local airport Exeter, plane delayed by 3 hours flying out, it stopped at Manchester and sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half for refueliing, so all in all got to the ship very late.

 

Then on the return trip the plane was diverted to Gatwick so spent 4 hours returning to Exeter via coach, plane returning was running late anyway, so to be diverted just made things worse.

 

All in all, very disappointed, they have cruised with P&O for about 20 years at least once a year, they have one booked in Novemebr and a 5 week world cruise section for January 2009, the 2009 has now been cancelled, they say they just cant take the risk now!

 

They are sending a letter to P&O, will be interesting how they get on, are you sending a letter as well???

 

Will keep you posted of any updates if you are interested??

 

Regards James

[KimmyUK]

Hi James,

Yes, I am sending a letter but had to deal with an excursion first that went totally wrong. Don't want to bore you with details but the glossy brochure didn't live up to the real thing and I feel its a case of misrepresentation.

My parents persuaded us to go on P&O after having cruised with Princess and Holland America. I'm going to complain about entertainment too as well as the food - green roast lamb without the mint sauce!!! The Cruise Director was boo'd off the stage and what about quizzes at 11.45pm of an evening - what a bore!!!

Will keep in touch and hope that everyone complains - but does one want credit to go on another cruise - not with P & O for us.

My parents are off on another P & O cruise 16th April and have one booked for September too. They are getting quite concerned.

[Barbarella]

Oh dear what a shame. I have saield on Arcadia twice and do love her but do have to admit that within the timeframe of 10 months from when we first sailed on her (Oct 2006) to when we sailed her again (Aug. 2007) we also did notice a decline in the standard of the crew, service and food as well.

 

Could not comment on the entertainment as we never have been to any shows on the 10 cruises that we have done as we always seem to find plenty to do to entertain ourselves and don't enjoy sitting in a theatre with hords of others so cannot comment on the standard of the acts.

 

As somebody else on another site as said, it could be that P & O are taking all the good staff off Arcadia ready for Ventura - that would be a shame as Arcadia is still P & O's flagship at the moment but yes, have to admit the service has declined from our last visit, so much so, we have opted to give P & O a miss for a while and spend our money with another cruiseline when we decide to go again- most probably 2009.

 

Do hope for others out there sailing with P & O later this year that things improve.

 

With kind regards,

Barbarella

[BandBlady]

We came off Arcadia in New Orleans(25th Jan).Cannot believe what I am reading in previous posts .We had a wonderfull time all 6 couples in our company loved it .Food was superb .Our Aft balcony was great .Ship looked good Captain ate in all the restuarants.Maybe the fact that we had cruise in Dec2006 and some off the crew remembered us and went out of their way to look after us made it all the more special.

Looking forward to Ventura in April:)

[LibraLass41]

The problems with flights to and from the ship are hardly Arcadias fault and happen on all ships. There was a nightmare flight on a Emerald Princess cruise, so I'm disregarding that .

 

I have read some other good reports this year of Arcadia, so as someone who has just paid her cruise bill of £4,000 pounds for a Arcadia cruise in 12 weeks time, I will form my own opinions, but do agree the entertainment can be repetitive , I went to the shows every night in May 06 and June 07 on Arcadia, and most were the same the 2nd cruise, hoping a few changes this year, as we do like being entertained in the evenings after dinner.

 

It sounds like you had engine problems which caused the spa problems too, and I am sorry it ruined your cruise Kimmy. Please write to pando and list all your complaints and let us know the outcome. Things will only improve if people highlight the problems.

 

Sue

[KimmyUK]

We came off Arcadia in New Orleans(25th Jan).Cannot believe what I am reading in previous posts .We had a wonderfull time all 6 couples in our company loved it .Food was superb .Our Aft balcony was great .Ship looked good Captain ate in all the restuarants.Maybe the fact that we had cruise in Dec2006 and some off the crew remembered us and went out of their way to look after us made it all the more special.

Looking forward to Ventura in April:)

 

We, being two couples, were in aft cabins also. Didn't you hear the noise the ship made moving from the original berth the night of 25th January? Yes, I saw the Captain eat in the Meridian too but I must emphasise that we had good waiters too, Prakash and Sunil in particular. Not their fault we were dished up green roast lamb without any mint sauce.

Also what did you think of the Caribbean night menu - banana wrapped in smoked streaky bacon with a sweet and sour sauce? I think lunch was far superior - the chefs weren't too busy then!!!

[KimmyUK]

Sue,

It is my intention to tidy up my letter to P & O this week. I think 4 pages is far too long for anyone to read. Re the entertainment, its not fun for us, in particular, to go to the Crow's Nest for a quiz at 11.45pm. 2nd sitting dinner was being called at 8.45pm and by the time the waiters had got round to asking us what we wanted we were leaving the restaurant at 11.20pm - we went into the Rising Sun a few nights but there were quizzes in there some nights too and as we don't smoke we got a little fed up with that. As you say, you must make your own opinion and you may fair with a far better crowd that we had. With regard to our flights, Thomas Cook, we checked in at 9.00am for a noon flight and it was empty - thought we were the first to check in - silly us - people had been trying to get seats and check their luggage in at 5.00am. Anyway, chatted up the guy from Thomas Cook and we ended up with 2 extra seats each - sometimes it pays to be late.

[james_19742000]

The problems with flights to and from the ship are hardly Arcadias fault and happen on all ships. There was a nightmare flight on a Emerald Princess cruise, so I'm disregarding that .

 

You are right to say to disregard that, but when the cruise has been of a sub-standard nature, the problems to the flights are an added pain, had the cruise been very good then you can overlook problems with flights etc, but when teh cruise was poor, then you end up looking at the whole holiday as a whole.

 

My parents are very easy going people, my Father works in the travel and tourism industry so for him to complain things must have been bad.

 

The plane was diverted for operational reasons as the plane was needed at Gatwick, and not Exeter, so really defeats the object of paying a premium to fly from your local airport doesnt it? If they had wanted to of flown from Gatwick they would have paid a lower fare and travelled up and back in the car and had the comfort of a hotel stay the night before the flight.

 

So when all of these things get added to the whole equation then it all adds into the holiday.

 

My parents could not complain about the service from the waiters etc etc, but apparently towards the end of the cruise even the waiters were embarrased to be serving the food that they were, my parents table companions were all excellent and they had some enjoyable evenings, but could of been so much better had the food been to a decent standard........ chicken breast served with OXO cube gravy doesnt exactly sound like the excellent food you are promised does it....!

 

I know it will be interesting to see how you get on Kimmy so please do keep in touch, I will let you know what my parents outcome is as well.

 

Regards James

[daiB]

You are right to say to disregard that, but when the cruise has been of a sub-standard nature, the problems to the flights are an added pain, had the cruise been very good then you can overlook problems with flights etc, but when teh cruise was poor, then you end up looking at the whole holiday as a whole.

 

My parents are very easy going people, my Father works in the travel and tourism industry so for him to complain things must have been bad.

 

The plane was diverted for operational reasons as the plane was needed at Gatwick, and not Exeter, so really defeats the object of paying a premium to fly from your local airport doesnt it? If they had wanted to of flown from Gatwick they would have paid a lower fare and travelled up and back in the car and had the comfort of a hotel stay the night before the flight.

 

So when all of these things get added to the whole equation then it all adds into the holiday.

 

My parents could not complain about the service from the waiters etc etc, but apparently towards the end of the cruise even the waiters were embarrased to be serving the food that they were, my parents table companions were all excellent and they had some enjoyable evenings, but could of been so much better had the food been to a decent standard........ chicken breast served with OXO cube gravy doesnt exactly sound like the excellent food you are promised does it....!

 

I know it will be interesting to see how you get on Kimmy so please do keep in touch, I will let you know what my parents outcome is as well.

 

Regards James

 

 

First a correction.

 

You do not pay extra for premium to fly from your local airport.

 

Did the gravey boat come labled OXO.

 

I have looked on other boards and can find no other complants, everyone cruising on Arcadia over the past month or so said it was fine including the food.

 

I just get the impression that the cruise got off to a bad start and some people then start to pick fault with everything.

 

I still do not know what green roast lamb is?????

 

 

We have saided with P&O 10 times and have never had a bad meal, and have never heard a comment from anyone on our table about one.

 

 

 

 

:):)Happy Cruising:):)

 

 

 

 

:cool:

 

 

 

Dai

[annieuk]

I'm beginning to wonder whether I was on the same cruise. Yes it was a nuisance about the delay in New Orleans. However, the Captain kept us fully briefed as to what was happening on the Saturday and the Sunday. On Monday we had letters from the Executive Purser saying that each passenger was to be given £100 in compensation. I don't know what more anyone could expect.

 

Yes it was annoying we could not land in Key West but it certainly did not spoil the whole cruise for us.

 

As far as the food was concerned, again I feel we must have been eating in a different restaurant. We were 2nd sitting and we enjoyed lingering over our coffee but had we wished we could have been out of the restuarant by just after 10p.m. There was one meal of roast beef when we felt the meat was not as tender as it could have been but other than that we had no complaints. On two occasions when I did not fancy anything from the main menu I had a grilled steak which came just as I had ordered it and was excellent. We did not notice any Oxo Gravy or anything like it. We certainly had lamb one night, it wasn't green and we had mint sauce served with it. Several of the desserts we thought were excellent, better than some restaurants. Perhaps it depended what you chose. The standard of the food was as good as we have had on Oceana and Oriana in the past.

 

We went to several of the shows, not all. We thought Gary Gladding was a good CD and were not there when apparently he was booed. The standard of the Theatre Company we thought better than when we were on Oceana last year.

 

It all goes to show that two people can be on the same cruise and have a completely different experience. We had not been on Arcadia before and really enjoyed sampling a different ship. She would not be our number one favourite ship but we would certainly travel on her again if we fancied the itinerary. So to people who are thinking of going on Arcadia do not be put off by a few people's bad comments. We spoke to different people at breakfast and lunch each day and other than some people's disappointment at missing Key West, we did not hear any other complaints, certainly not about the food.

 

Annie:)