P&O Cruises
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1st & Last Cruise - not good for us
After 2 years of saving (by my partner) a 2 week cruise around the Med on Arvia was something we both were looking forawrd to. This is our review & others may not agree but we met others who were of the same opion as us. Good Points: 1. Arriving was great, the off loading of baggage, collection of our car and the process to enter the Arvia was all very smooth & brilliantly organised. 2. Cabin nice with a balcony which was very much used during our 2 weeks (more on that later). 3. The ship was very well presented and everything looked clean & tidy (to say she had only been in for a few hours - credit to all the staff aboard. 4. Overall the staff were amazing from cabin cleaners (Mark on deck 11 was so so helpful), restaurant staff from the front of house to the waiters attending to your needs, the cleaning staff who never stop but always have a very polite greeting when your passing. 5. The disembarkation/embarkation staff were fast & efficient especially when were docked unexpectedly in Gibraltar. 6. The 'Behind the Scenes' tour was well worth the £75 each finished off with a glass of bubbly & canopes. 7. Black Tie nights are very very good & this tradition should be kept as long as possible, its rarely that the Men outshine the women in dress. Bad Points: 1. Baggage took an age to arrive at our cabin so much so we went to collect it ourselves as there was not enough staff to distributre in a timely manner, this prevented use missing the leaving Southampton departure party. 2. We were informed that if we took 'freedom dining' we could freely dine where & when we wanted but this was not the case (a) you are ruled by the app that takes over your life whilst onboard & adds to the lack of enjoyment of being on a holiday. (b) when questioning the reception staff they informed me twice that they had no idea what this 'freedom dining' was and because the ship was busy & the app should be used:( :( :( 3. The balcony we has was a great asset but unfortunately there were toe nails & long dark hair residues on the balcony of which i washed away to the edges as i didn't want to bother the deck cleaning staff (still there after 2 weeks). The bacony was also used far to much as you could not get a deck chair/bed on the promenade deck due to people hogging bed at 7 in the morning (mainly portside), not return for the next 4-6 hours because they had a bed on the starboard side of the boat where the sun was. This is supposed to be monitored but lack of staff to commit to this task where not available - it was like being in a resort with European guests who come from a country starting with G. The only real space was on your own balcony which then isolated you from getting involved with other activities (that all appeared to be over subscribed too). 4. Only having access to water as a free was a blessing but i expect this will become a paid for item in the near future (tea & coffee available in restuarants - Horizon primarliy), we did expect at least maybe some diluted juice but like most things on Ariva -it all has a price tag attached. 5. Food is average to say the least (think visiting grandma's) unless you pay & then it can be hit & miss. Sindu was a prime example, 1 evening was very good the week after i choose the lamb starter (bad) & main course & both were the Worst meals I had had in years. I was informed that main course lamb was fatty but it was so so disgusting that i would not even serve this to my dog, the waiter did explain & when he saw I wasn't satified with it he did offer to give me something else but at the point i just wanted to get out of there. 8. There is a very distinct lack of personal service at bars as a man will come and take your order on his tablet (ensuring they have your money) and then you can stand at the bar for 15 minutes waiting for it only to find its been sat at the other side of the bar left by the bar person (who has No Idea who ordered what, this happened a few time but primarliy in the SkyDome bar. 9. Kids - everywhere, we bought new swimming attire to enjoy the pools (more like paddling pools) but not once could we enjoy as there where children everywhere even the infinity pools had become child day acre centres. We booked the period 8-22 Jun 25 as chilrden where suppose to still be at school. 1 parent told me that because their child has a full attendance card they were able to take her out of school, the child was 8. Lastly: when you arrive at Southampton your informed that you can have 2 choices of disembakation, leave luggage outside the night before or Express which is clever word for - Take it Off Yourselves, which we did & were glad to get off. This was our very first cruise & unfortunately will be our LAST. There are good things but the boat was overcrowded, expensive (after paying thousands to get on the boat) far too many children & who on earth wants to walk around a hotel for 2to3 days (sea days)????