Arvia set sail for Christmas Maiden voyage

[Ray B]

A bad experience anywhere always makes fodder for the media and so Arvia was well and truly the big story. Christmas day for some but not all passengers was, according to reports, a total disaster over the Christmas day dinner service. P&O blamed their I.t connectivity.
Reports of lost bookings and dinner for some being served at 11pm after a long wait..
Problems aside, was it a good idea to call it maiden voyage and to sail over the festive period knowing the expectations of passengers would be very high. In the past a few shake down cruises to try and sort out any gremlins prior to the maiden voyage was met by an outcry by those who booked the maiden as they were not the first to sail. A case maybe of you just can't win. A new ship needs time to bed in, and, until it sails with an operating passenger load, only then can the smooth running and problems be truly observed and honed.
It attracted bad publicity for P&O but on the positive side, glowing reports about the ship and the public areas helped to show off the potential in the future for cruisers.

[david63]

Christmas day for some but not all passengers was, according to reports, a total disaster over the Christmas day dinner service.

Nothing new there - on my one and only Christmas cruise Christmas dinner was a shambles and that was on a long established ship (Arcadia)

was it a good idea to call it maiden voyage and to sail over the festive period knowing the expectations of passengers would be very high

No

[Stephen]

Rather them than me. Organised chaos y the sound of things.

I’d better up my compo form quoter as there may be a rush job on.

Arvia cruise ship queues spoilt Christmas, passengers say https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-h ... e-64120526

[Onelife]

I don’t know if this already happens but perhaps a reduced fare should be considered for maiden cruises, especially considering the expected teething problems?

[david63]

I don’t know if this already happens but perhaps a reduced fare should be considered for maiden cruises

Actually it is the opposite - maiden cruises attract a higher price.

[screwy]

Some people are never happy.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We've done two maidens and both ran smoothly.

Actually most people on this cruise didn't book or pay for a Maiden Cruise. That was earlier but was cancelled because the ship was delivered late. Some had bookings transferred but for others it was cancelled if they couldn't make the later date. I notice the Beeb missed that. Should I tell them?

[CaroleF]

I'm surprised that neither the BBC nor Sky have any mention of this Arvia cruise on their website but there are several headlines competing at the moment, especially as there's just been an announcement of the death of former Pope Benedict. Solent in my area are usually very quick to broadcast any news of cruise ships but I haven't heard anything about Arvia yet. Just for my own information I assume people who have booked cruises on Arcadia or Aurora and have booked Club Dining, assuming it's still called that and on any ship that still has the two different dinings, Club or Freedom, don't have to do this business of using the app to book a table. Is this correct? In over 30 cruises with P&O I've only once not got the sitting and size of table I booked. Just for interests sake for those who have cruised for quite a few years with P&O, this was on Arcadia back in 2008. We had booked our usual 2nd sitting table of 8. When we boarded we found that we'd been allocated a table for 2. We saw the Restaurant Manager and he told us to see him at breakfast the next morning, which we did. He said he would see what he could do, to go and have breakfast and come back. When we did he said he could change us to a table of 8 as there were passengers who'd asked for two and been given 8. He did say that he thought he ought to warn us that it was an Officer's table - in the days when such things existed - and that the Officer had a rather individual sense of humour. We were intrigued and said we thought we could cope. The Officer turned out to be James Cusick which will mean something to some of you. He did certainly have an individual sense of humour but we've never laughed so much on a cruise. I could tell lots of stories about what he got up to, all harmless but suffice it to say that James laughed the loudest at his own jokes, a lovely man, don't know if he's still around.

Carole

[Mervyn and Trish]

I've always thought Freedom Dining was a bit of a con that, as on this occasion, doesn't always do what it says on the tin. People new to cruising particularly actually believe it means you can eat when you want, with whom you want, where you want. Which is okay if everyone else doesn't want the same. When we were on Iona it worked well, partly because we were happy to eat early with our grandchildren and that was only choice on offer when booking. If we wanted later we'd have been on virtual or real queues. And when the IT fails, as Arvia found, chaos ensues.

We're currently in Madeira on dry land. Effectively we have Freedom Dining here as restaurant capacity well exceeds demand. Not so on cruise ships. It works better on Iona and Arvia (usually) because they're designed for it. Less so on the older ships that were built on the assumption every table would be used twice in a planned way. For us on those ships we'll be sticking to Club Dining for as long as it's available so we have the surety of knowing our table is ready for us.

[towny44]

For me advance bookings really should not figure alongside freedom dining, they lead to unused tables waiting for pre booked guests, while queues build up outside the restaurant.
But I do understand that some people will want a fixed time slot, even if this is not the same each night. However unless the cruise ship has excess staff and flexible dining facilities, then I cannot see how these 2 options can coexist.

[Mervyn and Trish]

On Iona they only hold any booking advanced or on virtual queue, for 15 mins. When we were on we never saw any actual queue.

Clearly it went badly wrong on Arvia. Maybe sheer volume of people trying to join virtual quueues at the same time.

I think if I'd been P&O I'd have suspended the Freedom systems for Christmas Dinner and allocated everyone a table for one of two sittings in one of the MDRs, giving priority of choice to Select Booking passengers, with the option of turn up anytime and take your chance in the buffet.

[poole boy]

we have just returned from Arcadia xmas cruise and can honestly say we really enjoyed ourselves we had a table for 8 first sitting and it worked very well christmas day and boxing day had really full entertainment arranged for every body and we really enjoyed the ship and felt at home unlike Iona on a cruise 8 weeks ago were a full ship made most people we spoke to say they would not go on anything so big again are feelings as well
one of the pipes froze up in Oslo then burst open when we left for amsterdam but the 3 plumbers on board worked really hard to get everything working again in just over 24 hours in fact we enjoyed this cruise so much we booked Aurora xmas cruise for next xmas and are really looking forward to it.
ps nearly forgot to say we were 4 late leaving southampton as the beer for our ship was delivered to Arivia and had to be brought back to arcadia before we could sail

[Ray B]

Wow, loading the beer on the wrong ship, so glad you got that sorted, Stephen has only a limited stock of claim forms left.
It's nice to see you had a wonderful Christmas on the good ship Arcadia, we've always had great times on her too but sailed all the time in the summer/autumn periods.
Poole boy, a passenger has complained on the Arcadia Facebook site that they were not given vouchers for the complementary drink and being informed by reception that they do not give them out any more. My last cruise in April they were still in the cabin for sail away. Could you update us if this is correct.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We got them on Iona in August.

One sign of the times here in Funchal. P&O always used to get the prime berth for New Year and the fireworks. Marella has it tonight. Highest bidder? Both P&O and Cunard anchored out in the bay.

[Whynd1]

Had vouchers for complimentary drink in our cabin on Iona 10th December.

Also had our half bottle of champagne for Baltic tier.
We had the loyalty welcome on board buffet as well.


Lindsey

[poole boy]

ray b
well we had the vouchers waiting in our cabin for us as usual and as we had to leave Amsterdam early in the morning owing to the bad weather we were given another 2 vouchers as was every one else on the ship to keep us happy

[david63]

On the ships with both Club and Freedom dining it was (don't know if it still is the case) that on both Christmas day and New Year's Eve Freedom dining was suspended and if you were a Freedom diner you had to book either first or second sitting.

Both P&O and Cunard anchored out in the bay.

I believe that there are two reasons for that - firstly there is a better view of the fireworks and secondly they can make a quicker getaway after the fireworks.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Aurora made a getaway so fast that her passengers never actually came ashore. She arrived after 10 last night and is gone by this morning.

At least QV had a day in port before retiring to anchor.

I agree the view out there is good but when we did it on Oriana years back she had the end berth on the harbour arm which i think was even better. Front row, dress circle, with fireworks behind on cargo ships out on the bay as well as all round in front.

It was well worth our investment in a stay and dinner at the CR7 Hotel last night. Great dinner, fabulous roof top grandstand view. And an understanding of the hangover potential from the open bar after, with breakfast today served from 9am to 3pm!

[poole boy]

for got to say that p&o have now stopped giving you a free bottle of water in your fridge according to our stewart penny pinching again

[Ray B]

I am thinking that maybe the moaning cruiser had not attained the required number of nights to qualify for the sail away drinks, but having seen it mentioned in the Horizon thought he had missed out.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Some peopke just like to be unhappy.

When we did New Year on Oriana in Madeira years ago the Captain, a little indiscreetly, filled us in on the drill. We were on the prime berth in the harbour and were booked to be there until 23.59, leaving before the fireworks started and avoiding another day's port fees. The pilot cane aboard about 23.30, took one look at the harbour, now alive with small boats awaiting the fireworks, and declared it unsafe to move. He then settled down to enjoy the fireworks from the bridge with the Captain. There may or may not have been hospitality involved. By about 00.30 the fireworks had ended, the small boats returned to port and the pilot declared it safe to depart.

[oldbluefox]

Aurora made a getaway so fast that her passengers never actually came ashore. She arrived after 10 last night and is gone by this morning.

We have friends on Aurora and the excuse reason given was that it was too rough to tender.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It doesn't look too rough to tender to me, but to be fair I ain't the Captain and he's had more experience than me! Mind you if they'd forked out for a berth, like what Marella did......