Arcadia J313 - Another Review

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Peter D
Second Officer
Second Officer
Posts: 361
Joined: February 2013
Location: NE Wales

Arcadia J313 - Another Review

#1

Post by Peter D »

Arcadia– J313 - Belgium& Holland - 21– 25 September 2013

Well, only a 4 day cruise but really enjoyed it.

Our second time on Arcadia, the first time was 2008 and it was our very first cruise, cannot believe it has been 5 years.

The drive down on Friday went smoothly, and we arrived at Premier North at about 3:30pm for an overnight stay. Because of the boat show we decided to leave early Saturday morning for the 6 mile trip and very glad we did, it took us 40 mins. Still arrived at Ocean Terminal at 11:45 and were on board and having a spot of lunch by 12:10, much prefer cruise check into airport.

What can I say about Arcadia, except for a bigger Aquarius deck, new pictures on the walls since the last time we were on, nothing seems to have changed. More on Arcadia later.

Places we visited.

Bruges: because it was a Sunday we opted to take the P&O Bruges on Your Own Excursion. On boarding the coach everyone was given a small box of Belgium chocolates, nice touch, and a map of the city. The drive up was smooth with a talk from our coach guide explain a little history of Belgium, where we would be dropped, time for pick up and places to visit. We parked close to the railway station and after a short walk we were left to our own devices.

Bruges is a beautiful city and there is so much to see, it really needs a few days to cover everything, but we did our best in our time there. We were given a list of places to see and things to do and we managed most of it. We started with a canal ride, boy they cram you in. The tour takes about 30 mins and starts and ends where you get on. After this we walked around the city taking in many of the sites, but declined the climb up the belfry tower due to the queues.

On the food side, stated with a Hot Chocolate made with real chocolates, found 2be Beer Wall, just off Burg, beers from 3.5% to 9%, stuck to the 4% Bruges White beer, followed this a little later with Pomme frites, chips to you and me, & Mayo and of course bought a couple of boxes of chocolates. Now ladies, every other shop is a chocolate shop so there is no need to buy straight away.

We returned to our meeting place and our guide not hang around, left the meeting place dead on time, no head count until we got back to the bus, luckily everyone was there. The trip back was just has informative.

Other than that, definitely worth another visit.

Amsterdam: I did not get up for the sail through the lock gates so cannot comment on the sail up the canal. We berthed in the new cruise terminal close, still a 20 min walk away, to the city.

On leaving the terminal there were tourist information guides to assist you with maps, purchasing tickets for canal, trams, museums etc, and any other queries you had. We purchased the canal tour €13, reduced from €15, more on this later.

The walk into the city is easy, one straight road that leads to the rear of central station, make your way to the front and everything is linked to there, trams, canal tours, hop-on buses to name a few. Most of these go from the far side of the station, so just keep walking. Decided to do the canal tour first and after some searching found the correct operator, now there are about 6 different canal tour stations and the prices are displayed quite plainly, €13, for the cruise we were on was a bargain, €15 at the stop, however, there are canal tours from €8.50. Our tour had commentary in various languages including English but do not know if the others do the same.

The canal tour is an excellent way of seeing the city and without giving too much away was really enjoyable.

After the tour we walked into the city and visited a few of the sites. Amsterdam is very spread out and you need good walking shoes. Again, lunch in town, this time in the Amsterdam museum and after a while we made our way back to Arcadia. We decided to give the red light district a miss, feet too tired.

My view on Amsterdam; as mentioned, it is well spread out so plan what you want to see. If you are shocked easily, stay on board ship, some shops, even in the main areas, openly display all kinds of dress-wear and bits and pieces.

After seeing Bruges and seeing a clean and visitor friendly city I was expecting something similar in Amsterdam. However, rubbish floating in the canals, there are tram lines everywhere spoiling views of some beautiful architecture, dark streets, bikes stacked all over the place making the place look untidy, not what I expected. On the whole I thought Amsterdam to be dirty and not a patch on Bruges.

Other than that not keen on a further visit.

Arcadia: as mentioned embarkation was quick and easy. At 2pm sharp the announcement came that all the rooms were ready and we could make our way to them, this we duly did. We opted for an outside, G52 an unobstructed outside cabin, never been this low in a ship before, however, the room was spacious, but well presented, clean and tidy. The cabin has 3 wardrobes, 2 full length & 1 shelved with a safe, a dressing unit with the fridge and a little storage cabinet, TV on top of this unit. 2 bedside tables and a small settee and oval table. Bathroom is compact but adequate with a bath and shower and plenty of storage. The window was large and gave good views outside. The cabin is ideally located for reception and of course embarking/disembarking for ports of call. Our cabin steward Osram introduced himself and said if there was anything he could assist with just ask.

Last year on Oriana were had our first outside cabin and we said then it would not be our last. Although, whilst there was nothing wrong with the cabin, because it was so low down inthe ship if we ever came back to Arcadia again we would opt for something a little higher up.

4pm sharp the alarms rang and we proceeded to Deck 3 Muster Station B for our safety brief, on the all clear we dropped off our jackets in the cabin and made our way to the Aquarius deck for our sail-away. The sail-away was excellent, one of the best we have had from Southampton, lots of singing, flag waving and the occasional glass or two of champagne.

6pm came around so quickly, we got ready and went to the Spinnaker for a pre-dinner drink, and at 6:30 sharp we made our way to the restaurant, Meridian, upper floor, table 156, our dining companions, Carole & Richard, Nigel & Sonya and Chris, there should have been 2 others but they did not turn up for the whole cruise. Our waiters were Wilson and Shirwen and when the wine waiter came over I could not believe it, it was Donna, our very first wine waiter from 2008, I recognised her straight away and we had a good chat. This meal and all the other meals were excellent and the service was of the standard we had on our first cruise, faultless. The only downside was whilst P&O web site forecast the dress codes as, casual, formal, casual, casual. We actually did – casual, casual, casual, formal, yes that's right, formal for our final sea day, whatever idiot thought of that needed shooting. The main cases need to be outside by 8pm with the rest as soon after as possible and they have a Formal evening on the last night. We were first sitting not too bad but the ones on second sitting!! Really made for a dull final night knowing you had to get out of your formal attire, dress codes were not relaxed in the bar/entertainment areas, and your cases packed.

We took in a couple of shows and the Headliners were very good. The group Academy Duo were good and the comedian John Martin’s show was excellent, although there was nearly an argument partway through his show. There was a couple sat directly in front of us and whilst the husband was laughing all she could do was tut, quite loudly, ok some of the jokes were, let us put it adult style, but there was no foul language and the innuendos were very subtle. This tutting went on for about 15 mins and in the end the gent in front of the couple turned around and said ‘can you please be quiet, you do not have to sit here, if you do not like it just leave’ at which point she gave one big sigh and shut up for the rest of the show.

On the last day I attended a talk by John Martin on Operation Anthropoid – The assassination of Reinhard Herdrick. If you like history this is a fascinating lecture and well worth listen to. It is however strange to have a comedian give a lecture on a serious subject.

Due to the cruise being only 4 days we did not go to any of the Speciality restaurants but stayed in the Meridian for our meals. I did notice that Arcadia Rhodes was now Ocean Grill; I know it has been a while now, but I still prefer the Rhodes restaurants.

I mentioned that Arcadia has not really changed, she is now needs a lick of paint, some of her bar seating is worn and she is looking tired and is most probably looking forward to her refit later on.

The weather for the whole of the cruise was excellent and quite warm at times so no complaints there.

Disembarkation was very quick. We had just sat down on deck 3, 7:50am, to await our disembarkation call when in came one of the crew who said, everything is now ready and if you wish to make your way to the Atrium you can leave the ship. We were off the ship, cases collected, car collected, clear of Southampton and on the A36 heading for Salisbury by 8:15am, very slick and the best we have ever had.

One new thing, no customer feedback form at the end of the cruise. This arrived by e-mail the afternoon we arrived home. Is this the new thing, less paperwork?

Overall

We both felt that this was a good 4 day cruise and we had a great time. We enjoyed the destinations, especially Bruges and would recommend this cruise to anyone.
Regards

Peter


Whynd1
First Officer
First Officer
Posts: 1832
Joined: February 2013
Location: Gower, Swansea

Re: Arcadia J313 - Another Review

#2

Post by Whynd1 »

Hi Peter

I was on this with a friend and we really enjoyed both Bruges and Amsterdam.
Re the formal evening we had also used the P and O web site which explained one casual, formal and then 2 casual. On this basis my friend e mailed the spa to make a hair appointment for the formal evening and we booked champagne and canapes. We noticed on the horizon newspaper that the formal evening had been changed so went to enquire at reception. I mentioned that the web site should be updated where possible to reflect changes made to these evenings and he asked me to fill in a complaint form, he also very kindly changed our hair booking with the salon and rang throught o ask for the canapes to be delivered on the last night .

Whilst changes will inevitably happen at the last min, most people we spoke to about it agreed with you - what a silly night to have it with bags having to be packed and put out . P and O are encouraging passengers to use the web site for information then it should all be correct.

Anyway we had a lovely time and will be be booking another short cruise when we can fit one in, am off on the Oceana in November with friends so looking forward to that.

Lindsey

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Capt Black
Senior Second Officer
Senior Second Officer
Posts: 516
Joined: January 2013
Location: Sarfend

Re: Arcadia J313 - Another Review

#3

Post by Capt Black »

Thank you for this review. Looking forward even more to our first trip on Arcadia next month. :)

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oldbluefox
Ex Team Member
Posts: 11305
Joined: January 2013
Location: Cumbria

Re: Arcadia J313 - Another Review

#4

Post by oldbluefox »

Thank you for a very comprehensive review. :clap:

I enjoyed reading it but fancy having a formal on your last night. Whatever were they thinking?

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