Fitzplumbago

I’ve spotted a couple so far… On the ‘grown ups’ ship Arcadia soon, so will have a hunt for more to see if the rumours are true… They are usually accompanied by a message “Hidden by the Bloggs family, please take home and keep, or re-hide on another ship” or something similar. I have never hidden one myself, but thinking of hiding one onboard a Cunard (or should I say Canard?) ship… That’ll blow people’s minds! 😝

The picture I included was taken from one of the port/starboard infinity whirlpools on deck 18. That said, I have no idea if the aft pool issue has been rectified. I'd have thought lessons would be learnt from Iona, but with P&O maybe not!

I was also going to mention that there were staff with testing kits and chlorine constantly looking after the hot tubs during the day. Personally I would imagine there being a far higher risk of becoming ill through eating on the ship! Anyway, becoming a little off topic with talk of hot tub hygiene. I just wanted to mention one small benefit (for some) of Arvia (and Iona) over the other ships as a consideration when booking. Personally I enjoy cruising on any of the P&O ships 😊

I do as most folk do. Relax and watch the world go by. As I've had muscle problems over the past couple of years, a little hydrotherapy does me well too. Plus on Arvia you have the added bonus of infinity views (I'm hoping I have attached the photo correctly) ! As for the extra 16, it simply makes it much easier to find an empty one!

I am looking at those cruises too. Having just been on Arvia, she is a fab ship with plenty of things to do, places to eat... and, importantly to me, 16 more whirlpools than Britannia! However, the latter does have the more appealing itinerary. I have a dilemma though. I am due on a short cruise at the beginning of June, so still within the 'introductory offer' period. All being well, I could book on board with lower deposit and higher inboard spend. But the risk being that lower grades sell out, or they simply put the prices up beforehand. Decisions...

Personally, I find formal wear a little uncomfortable to wear. But I do enjoy the traditional ‘experience’, which is what I believe to be the reason the formal nights exist today. My DJ and trousers cost the princely sum of £23, but I don’t feel as though I look out of place! One day, the experience may cease to be, but I still see many people enjoying themselves on these nights. In fact, the wait for the restaurant on these nights seems to be longer than others. Most rebellious person I’ve seen on a formal night was a gentleman wearing a Beatles t-shirt… It was black and white with the zebra crossing design though, so partially observed the requirements!

Not just P&O. I had the same with Cunard (a Carnival UK thing maybe?), being moved cabin the week before sailing. I tend to chose my balcony cabin based on noise levels and much prefer being sandwiched between cabin decks, rather than being close to any venue. I was ‘upgraded’ to beneath the promenade deck to a cabin with an interconnecting door, so completely the opposite to what I had booked in regards to noise. It seems as though ships are implementing the covid isolation cabins ‘off the cuff’, rather than to a set plan…

As others have said, just make sure your phone is connected to a non maritime network before switching roaming on, and always switch back off after use to be on the safe side. I was actually surprised how well roaming worked for me in Norway. Be careful though as one of the local networks is Telenor, which is fine for roaming , but has the same name as the ship’s maritime network, Telenor Maritime. I find that as long as I can see land from the ship and am near that side, I can usually manually hunt for land signal and switch over from the maritime network. But that is usually to satisfy my wanting to identify nearby ships! 🤓

Another minor Arvia fire reported a few days ago… From CruiseMapper… P&O UK's newest cruise ship Arvia suffers minor fire at Meyer Werft's Papenburg yard

I booked an Iona cruise whilst onboard Arcadia a couple of weeks ago…. 7 days in 2024 for £749 in a balcony cabin (not the dreaded deck 😎 + £220 pp OBC… Currently £849 + £165 pp OBC, so still #winning for the time being!

On recent cruises… Straight to your muster station as soon as you board… It only takes a minute now… They basically scan you in, explain that is your muster point and request that you watch the safety video on your cabin TV before the ship departs. Simples.

I was on the recent Arcadia cruise to the fjords and an extra £75 pp OBC was added without any prior email notification.

My comment was made in jest, since I would expect fire to be detected in a so called incinerator room! Always best to be made aware of potential hazards, despite what time the announcements are made… Although I’m sure there would have been some moans and groans about it…

I always felt that the front of the Grand Class ships look like the shape of a toilet bowl. They even have the gap between the seat and the rim… Once you see it, you can’t un-see it! Fantastic place to watch the ship depart port though, if a little breezy… I agree that it really doesn’t matter what their image is as long as you enjoy the experience on board .. To stay mildly within topic… I was on the sister ship Iona’s second maiden season voyage to the Scottish isles, and at roughly 3am a message was transmitted into the cabins… A fire had been detected by a heat sensor in the incinerator room… I don’t know if that was supposed to be some kind of joke!

That OBC would certainly already have been eaten up at the point it was added to my account! It only equates to roughly 2-3 drinks per person, per day. I’m sure many people would have already accrued that on their accounts, which would be discounted at the end of the cruise. That could roughly be a £250K loss, judging by the number of cabins , so not exactly nothing, even though it’s a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) for Carnival.