Arvia 21 January - 04 February 2023

[Donnek]

I recently had a 14 night break in the Caribbean, sailing with P&O on the Arvia. The new ship is wonderful for many reasons, a variety of restaurants, plenty to keep you entertained on sea days. The new domed area has night time entertainment but it can be chilly when the dome is left open. The nights we watched shows in this area we had to wrap up to stay warm. There is also a three screened cinema with a good selection of films.

I personally had three areas of annoyance. First, the platform for booking things on the ship such as entertainment, certain restaurants was called Myholiday. For me this actually spoilt my holiday, many of the shows were fully booked such as the 710 club and the limelight. I tried on numerous occasions to get into the Sindhu restaurant and failed. So I never got to do what I wanted to do due to the poor performance of this booking system. Was help coming from the staff on the ship, no.

Secondly the meat being served in many of the areas was tough and chewy which indicates old meat. I did send a number of meals back for this reason. Chicken for some reason seemed to be the main culprit.

Third point. On the sea days the sun beds were being grabbed by the sun worshippers at 6:30am and not showing up until later on in the morning. I went on deck most days 8.15 ish and not a sun bed to be found. Company policy was muted but it definitely wasn't enforced.

[Stephen]

Welcome to the forum Donnek

Regarding booking entertainment and restaurants. The reason you may have found it difficult to access these was because these can be booked before the cruise in the passenger 'My P&O Cruises' account. Popular shows and speciality restaurants can get booked up prior to boarding, or once passengers board very quickly, which I what i suspect has happened on this occasion.

As for the other two items you mention, a quiet word to the head waiter regarding your disappointment with the meat would have been my first port of call. Sunbeds, argh, that old one and something I feel will never change even though it is supposed to be enforced.

[Ray B]

Always been able to get sun beds so long as you don't want to be pool side or small popular decks. Bed hogging is one of the big moaning topics and will persist so long as selfish passengers have no regard to other passengers and those who abide to the rules. . Until properly policed it will just carry on.
Don't let it play on you, just find another area and enjoy.

[oldbluefox]

Last time we were on Aurora we found the theatre was fully booked almost continually although more often than not there was ample room once inside. I did query this with one of the entertainment team and was told there was a glitch in the app (whoever would have thought it!! ). We were told to check with Reception.
Therefore I would not trust what the app says too much.

[Stephen]

We had the same thing when we were on board the same cruise as you Foxy. When I asked the person at the stage entrance about it he said there were still seats available and booked us in.

He also said the problem was probably due to someone overloading the system with multiple booking attempts. Your name was mentioned

[oldbluefox]

Well that's what Onelife told me to do. He said Stephen said it would be alright.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Welcome to the forum Donnek.

I'm glad that in the main you had a good time.

Of the three things you mention, when we were on Iona, the sister ship, we had no problem with booking shows in the main theatre. But we didn't try the Limelight or 710. They are, of course, much smaller venues, which is part of their appeal. As such there is no way, even across several days, they can accommodate everyone on the ship. I suspect booking them will always be a bit of a lottery. Similar problem with Sindhu I fear. It's frustrating but I actually don't think there is a solution.

Tough meat could be old. Or more likely overcooked. Very easy with chicken. Especially when cooking for 5000 passrngers. Disappointing but a word with the Head Waiter is the best way ahead. As they get feedback and experience of the new ship hopefully over time that will improve.

And yes the sunbeds. We're not sunworshippers and are happy to laze in the air on our own balcony. But it is annoying. Especially when you just need a bed by the pool for a few minutes to dry off and warm up after a swim. There can never be enough sunbeds for all the passengers on a mass market ship, but it would be a lot easier without selfish people hogging them and I agree P&O should rigorously enforced the occupancy guidelines. When they've spent a while going to retrieve their removed belongings from wherever the crew have taken them the hoggers would soon learn. (To my mind that should be as far away from the sunbeds and inconvenient for them as possible!)

[Onelife]

Hi Donnek, there are a lot more experienced cruisers than me on this forum but as I’m never short of an opinion I would like to throw this into the discussion… Bigger ships, more passengers, more pay as you go specialty restaurants, more pay as you go show venues = more disappointed cruisers…welcome to the all none inclusive style of cruising.

[Ray B]

Good point OL.

[towny44]

Hi Donnek, there are a lot more experienced cruisers than me on this forum but as I’m never short of an opinion I would like to throw this into the discussion… Bigger ships, more passengers, more pay as you go specialty restaurants, more pay as you go show venues = more disappointed cruisers…welcome to the all none inclusive style of cruising.

I suppose there is some truth in that, but on the bigger ships there is more of everything and a lot of it is included,, and new cruisers wont realise how non inclusive it's become, and thcey are P&Os bread and butter for tomorrow.