Food and dining on P&O ships

[terrierjohn]

9 hours ago, Ardennais said:

We missed a show on Iona as dinner service was very very slow, so that could be a reason for missing a show too. 

That will mainly affect the 8:30 show, I cant imagine many people trying to dine before the 6:45 show.

[cjc23]

Are you able to book all MDRs before you embark? my parents cruise next month and not great mobility or tech savvy, so standing in queues or using an app wont be possible. Hoping I can make the bookings for them before they embark.

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, cjc23 said:

Are you able to book all MDRs before you embark? my parents cruise next month and not great mobility or tech savvy, so standing in queues or using an app wont be possible. Hoping I can make the bookings for them before they embark.

A week, or so before they sail they should get an email from P&O informing them that bookings are open. They can then go into cruise personaliser and make bookings for the shows. Of course you can do that for them.

[majortom10]

11 minutes ago, cjc23 said:

Are you able to book all MDRs before you embark? my parents cruise next month and not great mobility or tech savvy, so standing in queues or using an app wont be possible. Hoping I can make the bookings for them before they embark.

Depends on ship as Iona and Arvia operate differently. You couldn't book Iona MDRs before the cruise and if you did want to join the virtual queue it didn't open until 5-15pm otherwise just turn up which never seemed a problem.

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

15 minutes ago, cjc23 said:

Are you able to book all MDRs before you embark? my parents cruise next month and not great mobility or tech savvy, so standing in queues or using an app wont be possible. Hoping I can make the bookings for them before they embark.

What time do they like to eat on a cruise?

[mandymac]

Hi sorry if this has been asked recently but this is a question for anyone who has been on Arvia recently... can you tell me how often they change both the olive grove and six street diner menu's please? i have seen different answers on this.

Thanx in advance for any help

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, mandymac said:

Hi sorry if this has been asked recently but this is a question for anyone who has been on Arvia recently... can you tell me how often they change both the olive grove and six street diner menu's please? i have seen different answers on this.

Thanx in advance for any help

Does the Olive Grove on Iona have 2 menus? We had the same one on ours, but there was about 10 days between the 2 occasions so the menu could have changed back.

[Interestedcruisefan]

18 minutes ago, mandymac said:

Hi sorry if this has been asked recently but this is a question for anyone who has been on Arvia recently... can you tell me how often they change both the olive grove and six street diner menu's please? i have seen different answers on this.

Thanx in advance for any help

We only dined in each one once so can't help with that question

 

Nice change to eat in both of them

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[mandymac]

13 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Does the Olive Grove on Iona have 2 menus? We had the same one on ours, but there was about 10 days between the 2 occasions so the menu could have changed back.

hi yes apparently it does i watched a vlog which said four days but then i read another saying 3 days

 

[mandymac]

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

We only dined in each one once so can't help with that question

 

Nice change to eat in both of them

 

 

 

i like different things of both menus so would like to try and fit them both in.

[majortom10]

On our cruise last week on Iona we dined lunch/ dinner 4 times over both weeks and the menu was the same for the whole fortnight.

[Jennizor]

10 hours ago, majortom10 said:

On our cruise last week on Iona we dined lunch/ dinner 4 times over both weeks and the menu was the same for the whole fortnight.

On our recent cruise on Iona the menu changed regularly each week. It was repeated each week though. That didn’t bother us as we also did speciality dining four times.

[mandymac]

11 hours ago, majortom10 said:

On our cruise last week on Iona we dined lunch/ dinner 4 times over both weeks and the menu was the same for the whole fortnight.

I think Arvia may be different as its classed as an MDR and it isnt opened for lunch on Arvia. But i have watched a Dom and Tom vlog and seen in Emma cruise that they change it and i have also seen the two menus on the vlog but one says three nights the other says four. x

[Interestedcruisefan]

31 minutes ago, mandymac said:

I think Arvia may be different as its classed as an MDR and it isnt opened for lunch on Arvia. But i have watched a Dom and Tom vlog and seen in Emma cruise that they change it and i have also seen the two menus on the vlog but one says three nights the other says four. x

Not sure about olive grove

 

But 6th street  diner is open for lunch on Arvia and you can just do walk ins at lunch time

 

Not sure if lunch time and dinner menu changes

 

We only did lunch there

[mandymac]

37 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Not sure about olive grove

 

But 6th street  diner is open for lunch on Arvia and you can just do walk ins at lunch time

 

Not sure if lunch time and dinner menu changes

 

We only did lunch there

from what i can tell i think they do breakfast/brunch until 2pm and then dinner x

[majortom10]

I perhaps wonder that Olive Grove is being operated differently on Arvia than it is on Iona. On Iona open all day from just before lunch until evening with same menu day/night for the whole 14 days.

[mandymac]

15 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

I perhaps wonder that Olive Grove is being operated differently on Arvia than it is on Iona. On Iona open all day from just before lunch until evening with same menu day/night for the whole 14 days.

Yes its only open for dinner not for lunch unfortunatly.

 

[Sonyar]

We were on Arvia 21/1-4/2. The menu changed each week. There was also a special menu in the Olive Grove on formal nights.

[Presto2]

On 3/20/2023 at 2:32 PM, Denarius said:

It looks like spontaneity on P&O ships is an endangered species, with more and more things having to be booked in advance. In my innocence I thought that the idea of freedom dining was that you could just go down to dine whenever you were ready rather than have to do so at a set time.

They had this system on Celebrity Edge and we booked one of the 4 freedom dining choices before we went. Once on board though we could use their app on our phone to change the bookings there and then. One night we swapped about 30 minutes before dinner for another restaurant and it worked perfectly. Having said that --- the booking app and app in general was brilliant and worked perfectly ................

[davecttr]

Just researching the casual dining options for Arvia and I checked out the Horizon Buffet sample menu. It appears to operate on a 14 day cycle and different choices every day. There is plenty of variety for example every day in the evening there is the Great British Classic, The Carvery with 2 alternatives, Global Favourites, Vegge & Vegan with 2 alternatives,European Rotisserie, American Grill, Asian Stir Fry & Teppenyaki with 2 choices, Middle Eastern and Fish. Plus all the salads etc etc. So plenty of 'foreign' stuff if you wish to stray away from the meat and 2 veg 

 

I know it is a cafeteria but once you find a quiet time you can have a relaxed meal, add in the 6th Street  Diner, the Olive Grove and the Quays and there is no need to go anywhere near a pay for restaurant.

 

I will probably try out Green & Co plus Mizuhana but my old hands don't do chopsticks any more. Plus maybe one visit to the Glass House avoiding the octopus like the plague.

 

Maybe all this is just what P&O aspire to with lots of items 'off' with various excuses.

[happy v]

On 3/20/2023 at 3:46 PM, Selbourne said:

I also agree. It makes a mockery of what Freedom Dining is all about. It appears that this hybrid system on Arvia is in response to a lack of capacity in the MDR. I can’t see how it helps though, other than to push people to the less popular times in order to spread demand more. There are bound to be tables sitting empty, reserved for people who have booked, that could have been used for those just turning up as intended.
 

For a ship that’s advertised as 100% Freedom Dining, it’s a shame that those who wish to use Freedom Dining as intended effectively end up getting ‘what’s left’. 

Selbourne I am on Iona at the minute. I know you are worried about queues in the MDR. Last night I made a booking for Pearl dinning room. It had the longest queue of 14. It was 8.08pm I requested table for 6, no sharing. Table was ready at 8.12pm.

 

 

 

[Selbourne]

55 minutes ago, happy v said:

Selbourne I am on Iona at the minute. I know you are worried about queues in the MDR. Last night I made a booking for Pearl dinning room. It had the longest queue of 14. It was 8.08pm I requested table for 6, no sharing. Table was ready at 8.12pm.

 

 

 

Thanks. That’s kind of you. We are on Iona in August school holidays when there will probably be at least 20% more passengers than at present, but if that’s the situation at present then hopefully it will still be manageable even with the greater numbers. We shall probably just use the MDR on formal night(s). It’s a 7 night cruise so maybe only one formal night? Have a fantastic cruise. 

[happy v]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. That’s kind of you. We are on Iona in August school holidays when there will probably be at least 20% more passengers than at present, but if that’s the situation at present then hopefully it will still be manageable even with the greater numbers. We shall probably just use the MDR on formal night(s). It’s a 7 night cruise so maybe only one formal night? Have a fantastic cruise. 

 Thank you.

This cruise is full. A certain Mr. Barlow is on board.

[Selbourne]

14 minutes ago, happy v said:

 Thank you.

This cruise is full. A certain Mr. Barlow is on board.

As it’s not a peak school holidays cruise, ‘full’ will refer to lower berths which, from memory is 5,200. With upper berths occupied I believe that this number rises to 6,000 😱. I am reassured by your post though. Iona seems to cope far better than Arvia, thanks to the two additional MDRs. 
 

Having been reassured about dining, another thread has just been opened which suggests that the dreaded ‘quarantine zones’ are making a comeback. If it’s not one thing it’s another! Enjoy Gary!

[brian1]

36 minutes ago, happy v said:

 Thank you.

This cruise is full. A certain Mr. Barlow is on board.

Wonder if he orders his own wine.