Arcadia-Ocean Village

[Ray B]

A sorry looking Arcadia, beached and in the process of being dismantled, is shown on the Facebook page of,
PO Arcadia this is the life.
It brings back wonderful memories of our first ever cruise in 1998 and subsequent cruises on her. A friendly ship with exceptional service. Silver service type dinning, wedding anniversary gatherings with the Captain, free ice cream, tea trolley on the prom and lots more that we now mourn, cruising was a special occasion for many.
Our first cruise on her was a 12 night cruise to the Canary Islands meeting lovely people with whom we have cruised with a few times and still keep in touch.
Arcadia, R. I. P.

[Kendhni]

I remember her well having sailed on her as Ocean Village.
A fantastic cruising concept that unfortunately was discontinued too soon and never allowed to show its full potential.

[Manoverboard]

We cruised the Caribbean in the old Arcadia c 2000 in an outside almost unobstructed cabin, the second time was in a suite doing a b2b in the beautiful Greek Islands in her guise as Ocean Village.

R I P Arcadia, good memories

[Whynd1]

Did my first ever cruise on her.

[Mervyn and Trish]

On our first cruise on Oriana we passed her in the Bay of Biscay going the other with much tooting of horns.

[Stephen]

Oriana was also our first cruise Merv back in 2006. Fond and not so fond memories. One being sea sick for two days.

[david63]

Exactly 20 years today we were on the "old" Arcadia - I remember it well, we were all watching 9/11 unfold on the cabin TV

[Jan Rosser]

Cruised on Arcadia in 2002 - it was the Golden Jubilee of the Queen’s accession to the throne. We had gifts and parties and those were the days when the band played on the quayside as we sailed away - how lucky we were to experience that. Not sure the crew were so keen on picking up the streamers we were given to throw on sailaway I have friends who regularly sailed on her when she became Ocean Village and loved the informality on board. What a sad end for the ship

[Gill W]

I sailed on her as recently as 2019 as CMV's Columbus.
I really enjoyed the 2 cruises I did on this ship, and she still had plenty of life in her.

A very sad end

[Ranchi]

Did a few cruises on Arcadia and really enjoyed them. The cabins were a generous size and for me it was a first for both a safe and a walk in wardrobe ( definitely disappointed by that! Hanging rail would have been a better description.) There was a lovely turquoise bar - it’s name escapes me and a rather dangerous looking suspended artwork in the central atrium area. Many passengers spent ages staring at the artwork trying to decide if it moved. Deck quoits were played at the stern and it was a good area to play- except for the two courts that were obstructed by support pillars.
The Crow’s Nest equivalent was an unusual space with a ramp up from the deck. Rumour had it that it had originally been designed as a two deck high venue but it was discovered that there were no views for those on the lower deck (perhaps apocryphal.)
We had a few incidents on her of note. One day travelling at speed in the Med the ship made a sharp turn to starboard and the ship heeled over…& continued to heel to a worrying degree. The ship was soon brought under control. Apparently the auto pilot had malfunctioned. Another incident was when we sailed through a field of water spouts. Fascinating but impossible to film as my camera just misted up as I brought it out from the a/c cabin onto the humid deck. Finally we were ‘buzzed’ by French ( or was it Spanish?) C130s. The bridge announced that the aircraft were exercising near us and it was an experience to see a aircraft of that size pay her respects by flying past at almost sea level.