Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
-
Topic author - First Officer
- Posts: 1562
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Final Sea Day and Disembarkation.
I think I prefer the one Sea day after the final port, then disembarkation. There wasn’t time to get downhearted about the cruise being at an end.
Girish our fabulous steward made our cabin up early and had delivered the case he had kept for us yesterday day evening.
We spent the morning packing and sorting everything out we needed for the evening and travelling home before having lunch in the main dining room.
I called into the shops for a final purchase and bought the last sessions bingo tickets. The advertised jackpot was standing at approx £1600.
Maureen and I went down early expecting it to be busy. Mo went for the coffee and I went to get the seats. It was heaving and certainly not the best venue for the final days Bingo.
There must have been well over 200 passengers in there and the majority had the full book tickets costing £15 the 3 book tickets cost £10 each so they had taken in the region of 25K just on this session. The Jackpot this morning was £1400 which wasn’t won and this afternoons was £1700. The smaller prizes in total were around £500. A very nice profit for P & O.
M was just one number off winning one of the smaller prizes but we were no where near for the jackpot win which was won by one very lucky person outright.
B & M came round for pre dinner drinks and we finished off another bottle of Gin.
Final dinner of the cruise and we said our goodbyes to our waiters and other restaurant staff who had looked after us so well over the past 6 weeks.
The 4 Tunes had got on board in La Coruna and entertained us in the theatre. There were fantastic and the best entertainment of the whole cruise.
We said our goodbyes to B & M as our next cruise together isn’t until May 2020 and we have been allocated the Globe for disembarkation and they have been allocated the Meridian Restaurant.
Disembarkation was only slightly delayed because of the amount of luggage as it was a 4 week cruise. As Garry’s back still wasn’t great we enlisted the help of a porter who very quickly located our 7 pieces of luggage. The sniffer dogs and customs were out in force and the dog was very interested in the case with tobacco in it. We were not over the customs limit and the officer and the officer accepted our answer when asked how much we had.
Steve our taxi driver was waiting for us and we were soon on our way to collect the car, albeit by a diversion as a vehicle had hit a pillar at the dock and it was deemed unsafe for traffic to pass through the normal exit.
It was a good journey and we were home just before 2 p.m.
Another great cruise made extra special when our cruising friends surprised us in the Priority embarkation lunch, after keeping it a secret for nearly 2 years. The crew and officers were very friendly and Arcadia is a ‘Happy Ship’.
We now we have a busy few weeks before we once again head off back to Southampton to join Oriana for the Christmas and New Year cruise to Madeira and the Canary Islands followed by another trip to the Caribbean.
I think I prefer the one Sea day after the final port, then disembarkation. There wasn’t time to get downhearted about the cruise being at an end.
Girish our fabulous steward made our cabin up early and had delivered the case he had kept for us yesterday day evening.
We spent the morning packing and sorting everything out we needed for the evening and travelling home before having lunch in the main dining room.
I called into the shops for a final purchase and bought the last sessions bingo tickets. The advertised jackpot was standing at approx £1600.
Maureen and I went down early expecting it to be busy. Mo went for the coffee and I went to get the seats. It was heaving and certainly not the best venue for the final days Bingo.
There must have been well over 200 passengers in there and the majority had the full book tickets costing £15 the 3 book tickets cost £10 each so they had taken in the region of 25K just on this session. The Jackpot this morning was £1400 which wasn’t won and this afternoons was £1700. The smaller prizes in total were around £500. A very nice profit for P & O.
M was just one number off winning one of the smaller prizes but we were no where near for the jackpot win which was won by one very lucky person outright.
B & M came round for pre dinner drinks and we finished off another bottle of Gin.
Final dinner of the cruise and we said our goodbyes to our waiters and other restaurant staff who had looked after us so well over the past 6 weeks.
The 4 Tunes had got on board in La Coruna and entertained us in the theatre. There were fantastic and the best entertainment of the whole cruise.
We said our goodbyes to B & M as our next cruise together isn’t until May 2020 and we have been allocated the Globe for disembarkation and they have been allocated the Meridian Restaurant.
Disembarkation was only slightly delayed because of the amount of luggage as it was a 4 week cruise. As Garry’s back still wasn’t great we enlisted the help of a porter who very quickly located our 7 pieces of luggage. The sniffer dogs and customs were out in force and the dog was very interested in the case with tobacco in it. We were not over the customs limit and the officer and the officer accepted our answer when asked how much we had.
Steve our taxi driver was waiting for us and we were soon on our way to collect the car, albeit by a diversion as a vehicle had hit a pillar at the dock and it was deemed unsafe for traffic to pass through the normal exit.
It was a good journey and we were home just before 2 p.m.
Another great cruise made extra special when our cruising friends surprised us in the Priority embarkation lunch, after keeping it a secret for nearly 2 years. The crew and officers were very friendly and Arcadia is a ‘Happy Ship’.
We now we have a busy few weeks before we once again head off back to Southampton to join Oriana for the Christmas and New Year cruise to Madeira and the Canary Islands followed by another trip to the Caribbean.
-
- First Officer
- Posts: 1963
- Joined: January 2013
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Thanks for another excellent review, Sue. Looking forward to the next one.
Maureen
Maureen
-
Topic author - First Officer
- Posts: 1562
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
This should of course read 2.5KSuekersh wrote: ↑17 Nov 2018, 20:50Final Sea Day and Disembarkation.
There must have been well over 200 passengers in there and the majority had the full book tickets costing £15 the 3 book tickets cost £10 each so they had taken in the region of 25K just on this session. [/s][/highlight][/highlight]The Jackpot this morning was £1400 which wasn’t won and this afternoons was £1700. The smaller prizes in total were around £500. A very nice profit for P & O.
M was just one number off winning one of the smaller prizes but we were no where near for the jackpot win which was won by one very lucky person outright.
-
- Ex Team Member
- Posts: 11354
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Cumbria
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
A good read Sue. Thank you
-
- Second Officer
- Posts: 234
- Joined: January 2013
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Thanks so much Sue for your great reports.
I am looking forward to your next adventure, and I am very happy that I don't have too long to wait!!
Best wishes
I am looking forward to your next adventure, and I am very happy that I don't have too long to wait!!
Best wishes
-
- Senior First Officer
- Posts: 3364
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Gower Peninsula, South Wales
-
- First Officer
- Posts: 1963
- Joined: January 2013
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Sue, I expect you have now seen on the Arcadia facebook page that 3 Dutch nationals on the Arcadia were arrested in La Coruna for smuggling 17 kilos of cocaine. I should imagine that is why the sniffer dogs and customs officer were also out in force in Southampton as well just in case anyone else was smuggling drugs.
Maureen
-
- Senior First Officer
- Posts: 4897
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Kent
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9436
- Joined: January 2012
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Wouldn't be the first time!
-
- Senior First Officer
- Posts: 3951
- Joined: January 2013
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
I was told that the dogs do a complete circuit of the luggage in the hall before the passengers are allowed near it. There is more intense treatment for Caribbean cruises.
-
- Able Seaman
- Posts: 1
- Joined: November 2018
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Really interesting reports as ever Sue - I love reading about yours and Garry's adventures!
Can I ask a quick question if you don't mind? We're on Arcadia next year and have seen the new regs regarding taking alcohol on board. Am I right in thinking that you can take 1 ltr per person on board when embarking in Southampton, and then anything you buy in port will be taken off you and stored? If that is correct, it seems a shame as we are used to picking up a bottle of wine in port to have in our cabin. Did you happen to notice if they were sticking to this rigidly at all?
Can I ask a quick question if you don't mind? We're on Arcadia next year and have seen the new regs regarding taking alcohol on board. Am I right in thinking that you can take 1 ltr per person on board when embarking in Southampton, and then anything you buy in port will be taken off you and stored? If that is correct, it seems a shame as we are used to picking up a bottle of wine in port to have in our cabin. Did you happen to notice if they were sticking to this rigidly at all?
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 9436
- Joined: January 2012
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
I was on Arcadia immediately before Sue and at no time did I see any alcohol being taken from passengers when they were boarding at any of the ports of call. This may have been because nobody was bringing any alcohol back at the time I was re-boarding or that the crew were no enforcing this rule on our cruise.Prosecco Queen wrote: ↑19 Nov 2018, 14:14Really interesting reports as ever Sue - I love reading about yours and Garry's adventures!
Can I ask a quick question if you don't mind? We're on Arcadia next year and have seen the new regs regarding taking alcohol on board. Am I right in thinking that you can take 1 ltr per person on board when embarking in Southampton, and then anything you buy in port will be taken off you and stored? If that is correct, it seems a shame as we are used to picking up a bottle of wine in port to have in our cabin. Did you happen to notice if they were sticking to this rigidly at all?
-
- First Officer
- Posts: 1840
- Joined: June 2014
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Thankyou Sue for your report, as usually I read it all Hope Gary's back is on the mend.
-
- Second Officer
- Posts: 400
- Joined: August 2013
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Welcome home Sue.
Enjoyed reading your reports, and look forward to hearing about your next adventures.
Thank you for posting.
Enjoyed reading your reports, and look forward to hearing about your next adventures.
Thank you for posting.
-
- First Officer
- Posts: 1839
- Joined: February 2013
- Location: Gower, Swansea
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
They enforced it on our Aurora cruise.
Lindsey
Lindsey
-
- Senior First Officer
- Posts: 2270
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: sarf London
-
Topic author - First Officer
- Posts: 1562
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Hi, we found the security for bottles were out in force in the Caribbean but in the Med not as strict although there was always a table there. Sometimes the security check is done in the terminal building so as long as you are not obviously carrying drink on board there wasn’t a problem. In Cueta our final port of the first cruise there was a note in the Horizon saying anything brought on board in Cueta would be treated as souvenirs I.e. no bottles needed to be handed in.Prosecco Queen wrote: ↑19 Nov 2018, 14:14Really interesting reports as ever Sue - I love reading about yours and Garry's adventures!
Can I ask a quick question if you don't mind? We're on Arcadia next year and have seen the new regs regarding taking alcohol on board. Am I right in thinking that you can take 1 ltr per person on board when embarking in Southampton, and then anything you buy in port will be taken off you and stored? If that is correct, it seems a shame as we are used to picking up a bottle of wine in port to have in our cabin. Did you happen to notice if they were sticking to this rigidly at all?
On the Caribbean cruise by the time of the final port La Coruna all booze collected in and the booze purchased from the duty free shop had been given back so once again no check was done for booze.
I did speak to one lady who was on the Caribbean cruise and she told me she had brought 8 bottles on board at different ports and was never asked to hand them in.
Sue
-
Topic author - First Officer
- Posts: 1562
- Joined: January 2013
- Location: Lancashire
Re: Sue Kersh Arcadia Cruises
Yes I saw this yesterday. I do wonder if P & O had know about the drugs and that was why our port was changed from Praia Vittoria to La Coruna as they would be in a better position to deal with them than the small Azores Island. For the drug smugglers it must have been to good an opportunity to miss docking in mainland Europe.Kenmo1 wrote: ↑18 Nov 2018, 17:17
Sue, I expect you have now seen on the Arcadia facebook page that 3 Dutch nationals on the Arcadia were arrested in La Coruna for smuggling 17 kilos of cocaine. I should imagine that is why the sniffer dogs and customs officer were also out in force in Southampton as well just in case anyone else was smuggling drugs.
Maureen