D708p 16th to 23rd June

Reports about cruises on Adonia

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Whynd1
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D708p 16th to 23rd June

#1

Post by Whynd1 »

I will do a proper report over the weekend.
But suffice to say the title of my report should read

You can't have it because we haven't got it.

Lindsey

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qbman1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#2

Post by qbman1 »

I hope they'll order some more in for next month then !!

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Jan Rosser
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#3

Post by Jan Rosser »

Oh dear Lindsey that doesn't sound good :o
Janis

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Meg 50
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#4

Post by Meg 50 »

beds? wine? spinach?

some missing items are more ominous than others.....


looking forward to hearing the gory details
Meg
x

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oldbluefox
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#5

Post by oldbluefox »

There's a prize for the first person to guess what it is.............

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Meg 50
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#6

Post by Meg 50 »

oldbluefox wrote: 23 Jun 2017, 16:43
There's a prize for the first person to guess what it is.............
ooo goody!

but judging by Lindsey's OP - there's gonna be a few
Meg
x

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Meg 50
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#7

Post by Meg 50 »

a particular brand of Gin?

Brie?

Stella ?
Meg
x


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Whynd1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#8

Post by Whynd1 »

Well for a start none of the it systems have been patched through to P and O so you could purchase things but nobody has obc showing on their accounts or the gift packages. Gratuties weren't showing either and this did not get fixed until Wednesday afternoon. I had opted out of auto tipping and on checking my account found they had put it on.
A lot of cabins were not fully prepared and a lot of passengers had things missing, things appeared as the cruise went by.
But the main thing was that they had left Miami with only 10% of their stores order and had had a really rough crossing. Lots of new staff for the ship and the service at dinner was slow especially the first two nights.
In the glass house no Olly Smith wines, no rose, in ocean grill restaurant when ordering wine the wine waiter who was most apologetic said upon giving me the wine list all those with a circle round are unavailable, we have not received them, and there were a lot.
As the cruise went on the few stocks they had were dimishing, no cider, no speckled hen, the only red wine left was cabernet sauvignon. It was easier to ask what they didn't save rather than what you would have liked to order.

They even ran out of champagne at the sail away. Certain food items were also unavailable.

I enjoyed the cruise but it was a shambles and they were totally unprepared which is odd as they had had six months to prepare for Adonia returning from America. Where was Captain Sarah we only saw here at the drinks party. Obviously keeping a low profile.
Disembarkation advice only arrived yesterday at 3 pm .

Lindsey


colin parry
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#9

Post by colin parry »

This reminds me of the arrival of Oceania in 2003 when it was handed over from Princess. The first cruise was fairly shambolic and it put us of travelling on Oceania again. I would have thought P & O would have remembered that . Fortunately my cruise on Adonia ( a ship which I have enjoyed previously on a number of occasions) is not until 25th August.

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david63
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#10

Post by david63 »

Well they have another two weeks to get it sorted.


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Whynd1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#11

Post by Whynd1 »

Certain food items were also not available, gammon on the breakfast menu, the melon hadn't come up from the stores. You had to laugh but in the end it got a little irritating. The lido cafe was shut.
They played loud music by the pool nearly all day and had a live band, the only quiet area outside was the prom deck, which I used a lot.
The library was well stocked with lots of new books.

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qbman1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#12

Post by qbman1 »

Whynd1 wrote: 23 Jun 2017, 18:05
Well for a start none of the it systems have been patched through to P and O so you could purchase things but nobody has obc showing on their accounts or the gift packages. Gratuties weren't showing either and this did not get fixed until Wednesday afternoon. I had opted out of auto tipping and on checking my account found they had put it on.
A lot of cabins were not fully prepared and a lot of passengers had things missing, things appeared as the cruise went by.
But the main thing was that they had left Miami with only 10% of their stores order and had had a really rough crossing. Lots of new staff for the ship and the service at dinner was slow especially the first two nights.
In the glass house no Olly Smith wines, no rose, in ocean grill restaurant when ordering wine the wine waiter who was most apologetic said upon giving me the wine list all those with a circle round are unavailable, we have not received them, and there were a lot.
As the cruise went on the few stocks they had were dimishing, no cider, no speckled hen, the only red wine left was cabernet sauvignon. It was easier to ask what they didn't save rather than what you would have liked to order.

They even ran out of champagne at the sail away. Certain food items were also unavailable.

I enjoyed the cruise but it was a shambles and they were totally unprepared which is odd as they had had six months to prepare for Adonia returning from America. Where was Captain Sarah we only saw here at the drinks party. Obviously keeping a low profile.
Disembarkation advice only arrived yesterday at 3 pm .

Lindsey
What a shame, Lindsey. Same old story, though. Due to financial pressures, cruise lines never allow enough time for a proper turnaround, whether it be a re-fit or a ship returning to the fleet as in this case. It does seem odd that the stores were so low, though, as they had 2 days in Portland and a full day in Southampton to stock her up. Clearly some bright spark didn't get the order to the distributors in time. Let's hope they had a full re-stock this week for the current Iceland jolly. It should not be beyond the wit of man to stock a ship of that size in 3 days bearing in mind they can replenish the likes of Britannia in a day!!

So far as your comments about Cap'n Sarah are concerned, that is exactly what we have always found. She just does not appear to like mingling with her adoring public. I find it odd that some people on here have commented how friendly and outgoing she is but, on 3 cruises with her, we have only seen her at the obligatory functions and, on the rare occasions you see her out and about around the ship, she has her head down and marching as quickly as possible to wherever she is going to avoid contact with the public!! I wonder whether she is simply shy?


cruisin_duo
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#13

Post by cruisin_duo »

I too travelled on this cruise with an older friend, and like Lindsey we experienced the problems with wine, and some other drinks, although in our case it was the white wine. However, we did enjoy the cruise, and found the crew to be attentive, friendly and those we encountered very experienced in their roles. We did have a table for two, so our dining experience was very efficient. The cabin steward kept our cabin immaculate, and it was obvious that this cabin had recently been refurbished, and we liked the decor. Our wine waiter was superb, and went searching all over the ship for our preferred wine, but had very good suggestions for alternative wines we could try, and was happy for us to try a wine before purchasing the whole bottle.

We loved the itinerary, and the weather was very sunny, and I loved St Peter Port. The last really small ship I was on was Artemis, and I found Adonia to be as friendly - crew and passengers. We struck up many conversations with people around the ship, and everyone was so friendly. We only saw the Captain once at the cocktail party when she gave a short presentation on what Adonia has been doing before she came back to the fleet.

I would travel on Adonia again if the price and itinerary were right, but like Lindsey I was surprised that the ship did not seem to be fully stocked before she set sail.

I will endeavour to complete a more detailed review, and rate the balcony cabin we had.


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Whynd1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#14

Post by Whynd1 »

Quick report as it was only a weeks cruise and have already mentioned some issues.

Good sized inside cabin C10 but bathroom very small and I'm not large but struggled with the small shower. Initially the bathroom was not stocked properly but various items appeared as the week went on. The blue pool towels were in an overhead shelf at the top of the tv cabinet, I couldn't see these as I am 5ft high and they were pushed out of sight.

The weather was very warm temps reached approx. 35 degrees in Bordeaux and in St Peter Port at this time of year its usually 19 degrees and the day we were there it was 29 degrees. It was slightly misty in Honfleur which made it nice to walk around.

When we reached Bordeaux it was nearly 4pm by the time we were allowed off and with the extreme heat we chose to stay on board. The following morning we had an excursion on a trolley train through the vineyards and a stop in St Emillion, a lovely tour.

We did the gin tasting excursion in St Peter Port, and had a very informative tour of the island followed by the gin tasting another excellent excursion.

We tried the glasshouse on board, the food was okay nothing to rave home about but sadly no house wines so had to up in price. Also went to the Ocean grill, excellent service and good food apart from the crème brulee which was curdled, they did offer to bring something else but we were quite tired by then. Again the wine waiter was most apologetic but all those wines on the menu with a circle around were not available, but we managed to find something again more expensive.

I cant really decide if the Adonia is the right for me, I felt it would be as I really dislike the large ships. It was okay for the week wouldn't like to do a really cruise on her as felt there were not enough spaces to sit an relax that were quietish. All the time it was loud music by the only pool area and live bands and also in Andersons music playing quite loudly and upon asking the bar staff to turn it down slightly was told they couldnt they had to check with the entertainments team, you couldn't hear other people chatting to you.

I did enjoy the weeks break away however.
The one big bug bear however was the intercruise journey down to Southampton which was a complete nightmare. We left Swansea at 8.45 am and didn't reach Southampton till 3.20 pm. we were the last ones on board, they had combined passengers for the Azura and Adonia and had far too many pick ups, which involved going right into the centre of Cardiff and Bristol and our driver got lost going through Cardiff. Also the driver was mixing all the cases together until it was pointed out to him he had two ships that day. His reply was he had to get up early to take us and we could report him if we wished, not very professional, the journey back was like chalk and cheese.

Lindsey

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Stephen
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#15

Post by Stephen »

Whynd1 wrote: 23 Jun 2017, 18:05
Well for a start none of the it systems have been patched through to P and O so you could purchase things but nobody has obc showing on their accounts or the gift packages. Gratuties weren't showing either and this did not get fixed until Wednesday afternoon. I had opted out of auto tipping and on checking my account found they had put it on.
A lot of cabins were not fully prepared and a lot of passengers had things missing, things appeared as the cruise went by.
But the main thing was that they had left Miami with only 10% of their stores order and had had a really rough crossing. Lots of new staff for the ship and the service at dinner was slow especially the first two nights.
In the glass house no Olly Smith wines, no rose, in ocean grill restaurant when ordering wine the wine waiter who was most apologetic said upon giving me the wine list all those with a circle round are unavailable, we have not received them, and there were a lot.
As the cruise went on the few stocks they had were dimishing, no cider, no speckled hen, the only red wine left was cabernet sauvignon. It was easier to ask what they didn't save rather than what you would have liked to order.

They even ran out of champagne at the sail away. Certain food items were also unavailable.

I enjoyed the cruise but it was a shambles and they were totally unprepared which is odd as they had had six months to prepare for Adonia returning from America. Where was Captain Sarah we only saw here at the drinks party. Obviously keeping a low profile.
Disembarkation advice only arrived yesterday at 3 pm .

Lindsey
I have plenty of compo forms if you would like some.....I think. Let me just check, oh yes, your in luck, a fresh crate load arrived this morning :thumbup:

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Jan Rosser
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#16

Post by Jan Rosser »

Thanks for posting your report Lindsey - what a shame your experience was not what it should have been - seems P&O dropped a bit of a clanger with so much 'missing". I sailed on the old Artemis and really enjoyed it but haven't tried Adonia yet - just not sure that it would be for me. I had a similar experience with Intercruises coaches and would not travel with them again - similar experience picking up for two ships - completely overloaded on return trip - the pick up points are not as convenient for me either. I have booked Eavesway to take me to Southampton in July and taken the OBC instead. However my son and family are travelling by Intercruises from up north and they have super buses and for them (a family of four) they are better off taking the free coach travel.
Janis

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GillD46
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#17

Post by GillD46 »

Oh Lindsey it sounds dreadful, and not at all acceptable.
Gill


Topic author
Whynd1
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#18

Post by Whynd1 »

I have e mailed P and O. I am not looking for compo, but would like them to explain why in this day and age they were so under prepared for the cruise.

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GillD46
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Re: D708p 16th to 23rd June

#19

Post by GillD46 »

Quite right.
Gill

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