P&O Arvia K307 - Not the experience we were expecting

[Gettingwarmer]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Many, many Med hotels, even 5* have restaurants that are ,as you describe, Canteen style.

Yes but that is what you paid for. On P&O you pay for an MDR service. I would pick a hotel with service. 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Gettingwarmer

[alpha whiskey]

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

[zap99]

Just now, Gettingwarmer said:

Yes but that is what you paid for. On P&O you pay for an MDR service. 

Just been discussing our remaining P&O 2023 cruises. We will be eating in Beach house, glass house, MDR and the " Canteen ". We will miss out Sindhu and Epicurian as those menus are getting a bit samey. The MDR 'experience" is not that important to us, but in the Caribbean will probably eat in there over half the time and we will find quite an acceptable meal.

[zap99]

2 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

I wonder if Virgin cruises will last any longer than their space company ?. Not everything he touches turns to gold

[DamianG]

We are due on Arvia this August at a high cost booked when the itineraries were published. For us it was essential to book early in order to include our son on a child fare and to select a suitable cabin for our own personal needs. There is no point in us looking at fares again for this cruise as we know from experience that all the child places will be taken so any deals now would not be appropriate to our requirements. In any case, on every cruise there is always someone who paid more than you and someone who paid less.

 

So coming back to the original posts, thanks @gary_w for sharing your experiences. We had an idea about what to expect and your comments have reinforced them to a certain extent. Whatever happens we won't let anything "ruin" our cruise and hopefully our plans (such as trying to book dinner in the MDR outside the perceived "peak" times) will work out. We are not fans of the buffet either and rarely use them so fingers crossed.

 

Whilst I can see that it was well intended I do think that bulk booking everything pre-cruise has maybe backfired somewhat in terms of bookings not being fulfilled and passengers failing to cancel when they change their mind. On Iona last year we had no issues with the app whatsoever and never had long waits for the MDRs, but as has been already pointed out there may be less availability on Arvia and the ship is likely be near to full capacity (which Iona wasn't when we sailed). Hopefully some of the measures advised by @molecrochip will be well established and successful sooner than later.

[molecrochip]

13 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

Virgin don’t cater for kids who want instant food.

[TigerB]

4 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

I noticed this on another forum:

Arvia Mediterranean 14 nights
Departure Southampton 16 Apr 2023
Arrival Southampton 30 Apr 2023
Stateroom Inside stateroom PF, GUAR
Fare Saver

Total price for 2 £1080

 

Quite some price £540, even for an inside!   Not selling too well?  Wrong demographic?

 

Harry, I don't know whether to thank you or berate you for posting this. Probably the former, though!😉

 

After reading your post a couple of hours ago, I checked our calendar for the next few weeks and showed our lass your post and the calendar. Piqued her interest, it did!

The problem is, we need an accessible cabin; we thought there would be absolutely no way that any such cabins would be available just eight days before cruising.  "Give them a call", says the boss.

 

Long story, short; no accessible PF cabins left.  There were two aft PDs on decks 11 and 12, and three mid-forward PCs on decks 8, 15 and 16; the latter being a little larger than the PDs. Booked there and then at £649 each.

The advisor asked if I had a preference; I did, so she marked deck 15 as a first choice. She then asked if I wanted to pick the actual cabin, as a select fare, for £1000 more. "No thanks, we'll take our chances".

An hour later, when we looked at the Cruise Planner again, the preferred cabin had been allocated to us. Happy days!

 

We cruised on the maiden Transatlantic cruise and initially had a PF, same size as the PC, albeit for one night only; so, we know what to expect, with it being suitable for my wife.

 

Trouble is, she has just said that she will need to get her nails done and hair coloured this week.  So, what was initially a bargain is now starting to cost me!😆

 

 

 

 

[alpha whiskey]

2 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Virgin don’t cater for kids who want instant food.

 

We use all different venues on a ship, and each has their merits for what you fancy at the time. Nothing whatsoever to grumble about from our point of view . Lovely to have such a choice.

However,  just wondered in years to come if there would be a rethink on dining?

Just like some of the speciality restaurants evolve, and change on ships. 

Especially as so many  seem to have negative experiences of the mdr and buffet.

 

Btw, I really enjoy the concept of the Quays on Iona and had no mdr problems either. 

We are on Arvia very soon and I am confident that we will enjoy all she has to offer too.  So far, very much liking the new P&O ships.

 

 

[amajaa]

45 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

What do they have instead then? You have to eat somewhere 

[Gettingwarmer]

8 minutes ago, amajaa said:

What do they have instead then? You have to eat somewhere 

They have several different restaurants at which to dine. 

[alpha whiskey]

5 minutes ago, amajaa said:

What do they have instead then? You have to eat somewhere 

I've not been,  but half looked at cruises when they were going out of Portsmouth. 

Allegedly there are around 20 different restaurants/eateries included in the cruise fare, which did look interesting.

Gave it a swerve in the end and booked Princess, P&O and Celebrity instead, and have been more than happy.

 

[Harry Peterson]

35 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Harry, I don't know whether to thank you or berate you for posting this. Probably the former, though!😉

 

After reading your post a couple of hours ago, I checked our calendar for the next few weeks and showed our lass your post and the calendar. Piqued her interest, it did!

The problem is, we need an accessible cabin; we thought there would be absolutely no way that any such cabins would be available just eight days before cruising.  "Give them a call", says the boss.

 

Long story, short; no accessible PF cabins left.  There were two aft PDs on decks 11 and 12, and three mid-forward PCs on decks 8, 15 and 16; the latter being a little larger than the PDs. Booked there and then at £649 each.

The advisor asked if I had a preference; I did, so she marked deck 15 as a first choice. She then asked if I wanted to pick the actual cabin, as a select fare, for £1000 more. "No thanks, we'll take our chances".

An hour later, when we looked at the Cruise Planner again, the preferred cabin had been allocated to us. Happy days!

 

We cruised on the maiden Transatlantic cruise and initially had a PF, same size as the PC, albeit for one night only; so, we know what to expect, with it being suitable for my wife.

 

Trouble is, she has just said that she will need to get her nails done and hair coloured this week.  So, what was initially a bargain is now starting to cost me!😆

 

 

 

 

Well done!  That’s a bargain in anyone’s book.  Delighted that someone on these forums benefited.

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, Cathygh said:

@molecrochip Do P&O increase the staffing on school holiday cruises? Specifically regarding Iona and Arvia with  full lower and upper berths, there seems to be a problem with long waits for drinks and lack of spaces in the Kids clubs. Whoever decided that you had to book your children in the day before on the app at 10.30 am, when you could be off the ship exploring or on a tour, has no idea what people want to do on holiday or the reality of family life when the kids are up at 6 and you need to get them off the ship for a runaround asap. 

They might have more staff for the clubs. However, when I posted after our February half term cruise on Iona that they were understaffed, someone replied by saying that all the crew berths were full, and that it was therefore fully staffed. We had a great cruise, BUT, we had never before seen tables piled with dirty crockery left uncleared for ages. They would normally clear the tables in the Costa place straight away, but passengers were moving used crockery from one table to another just to have a clear table. 
 

We had no option but to cruise during school holidays at one time as I was still teaching and our children were still in school. The offering should be the same, regardless. 

[TigerB]

15 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Well done!  That’s a bargain in anyone’s book.  Delighted that someone on these forums benefited.

 

We've had some more good news since making the booking...

We each had £500 OBC between us banked for a future cruise; I asked if £250 of that could be applied. We've recently had the email and new booking confirmation to show it has.

I also sent an email asking them to confirm that we were too late to apply shareholder benefit to this cruise. Within two hours we got an updated booking confirmation to show the additional £150 OBC.

So, for the sake of a phone call and two quick questions, we got a bargain cruise and £400 OBC too!😊

 

 So anyway, many thanks Harry for your original post.  Just post your bank details on here (it's safe, I promise) and I'll send you the finder's fee!😉

Edited April 8, 2023 by TigerB

[Denarius]

In the end, surely it all comes down to horses for courses.

To me, a cruise is about visiting interesting places and itinerary is paramount. Subject to that, my priorities are good food, good service and a comfortable cabin. I am not particularly bothered about speciality dining and not in the least bothered about entertainment; my ideal entertainment is intelligent conversation with a glass in my hand. I tend to book early to get the itinerary I want, which in some cases may only be available on a very limited number of cruises. So (Saga excepted) I tend to have to pay full price.

I accept however, that other people may have different priorities. For some the ship is the destination. It is seen as a floating resort hotel complex with a huge choice of dining, entertainment and other diversions. The ports are merely incidental, some passengers may not even get off. Like people fly to the Caribbean for a fortnight at Sandals and rarely if ever leave the complex, because it provides all they need. If the ports do not really matter, there is little to be gained by booking early. The onboard facilities will still be there wherever the ship is located, so it makes economic sense to take advantage of late booking offers.

As I said, horses for courses.

[Harry Peterson]

16 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

We've had some more good news since making the booking...

We each had £500 OBC between us banked for a future cruise; I asked if £250 of that could be applied. We've recently had the email and new booking confirmation to show it has.

I also sent an email asking them to confirm that we were too late to apply shareholder benefit to this cruise. Within two hours we got an updated booking confirmation to show the additional £150 OBC.

So, for the sake of a phone call and two quick questions, we got a bargain cruise and £400 OBC too!😊

 

 So anyway, many thanks Harry for your original post.  Just post your bank details on here (it's safe, I promise) and I'll send you the finder's fee!😉

That’s very kind of you - best spend it on the hair and nails!  

[Vampiress88]

We were on iona in November- so in term time(bad I know) 

but the first day we didn’t go to the kids club bang on the 10am time,more like 10.10 and they were full for that age group. She said due to the amount of staff in the room. 
we were not late again when it mattered. 
risked it when they weren’t too fussed and managed to get in on other days so swings and roundabouts really. 
 

I do think they should change the menus in sindhu and beach house etc and rotate things a bit. It’s going to put me off going to have the same thing really. But I think this with the MDR too. I don’t think there is a good range of choice on the menus and I do feel limited as it’s 4 in 7 for meat dishes.

 

But it doesn’t stop us going back it seems

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. I completely understand why inside cabins appeal for those who cruise in the way that you do. I wish we felt the same as it would save me a small fortune 😂

 

I would hope that you don’t feel attacked, but a little more understanding of the fact that what works for one doesn’t always work for another is all that is asked for 😉 

Definitely. You are always very respectful as well as informative with your posts.

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, alpha whiskey said:

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

Buffet and quays type dining will be there to stay

 

MDR who knows?

 

 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I have no children or family nearby, 140 miles to the nearest ones, and for 35 years have accordingly travelled over Christmas by choice paying the premium without quibble as frankly Christmas at home is just like another day.  My husband's industry virtually closes down for the period from 23/12 to 3/01 which also meant in our early married life enforced two week Christmas holidays although now he's running his own business it's not enforced but still means it's extremely quiet for us personally.  Never until December 2022 have I been disappointed with the holiday my money bought.

 

I guess my point is I quite like being away, be it on a ship or a hotel, in a multi age group over Christmas and I'd quite like it to run smoothly so its memorable for the right reasons.

 

I don't see why I should be expected to expect anything less than the same experience on a 22nd December cruise to a 2nd February 2024. 

But with your knowledge you will have to make those calls I guess megastar 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

Harry, I don't know whether to thank you or berate you for posting this. Probably the former, though!😉

 

After reading your post a couple of hours ago, I checked our calendar for the next few weeks and showed our lass your post and the calendar. Piqued her interest, it did!

The problem is, we need an accessible cabin; we thought there would be absolutely no way that any such cabins would be available just eight days before cruising.  "Give them a call", says the boss.

 

Long story, short; no accessible PF cabins left.  There were two aft PDs on decks 11 and 12, and three mid-forward PCs on decks 8, 15 and 16; the latter being a little larger than the PDs. Booked there and then at £649 each.

The advisor asked if I had a preference; I did, so she marked deck 15 as a first choice. She then asked if I wanted to pick the actual cabin, as a select fare, for £1000 more. "No thanks, we'll take our chances".

An hour later, when we looked at the Cruise Planner again, the preferred cabin had been allocated to us. Happy days!

 

We cruised on the maiden Transatlantic cruise and initially had a PF, same size as the PC, albeit for one night only; so, we know what to expect, with it being suitable for my wife.

 

Trouble is, she has just said that she will need to get her nails done and hair coloured this week.  So, what was initially a bargain is now starting to cost me!😆

 

 

 

 

Great result

 

 

[Megabear2]

23 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

megastar

Hmm ...  Pray do tell what special knowledge I may have to make calls on.  I have a husband who will not sail P&O anymore because of our Christmas incident mentioned elsewhere so I'm currently on my own on P&O using up all the FCC.  

 

As I said, I've never had any problems dealing with P&O if a matter is genuinely worrying. Maybe that's because I try to be tactful and deal only in facts.  Megastar (hoping that you're not being sarcastic here) I am not I'm afraid but I will where necessary fight for the rights of others if I can see an injustice. That doesn't make me any less likely to get the rubbish cabin or be  unable to get into a show or whatever, I get the same treatment as most others.  As for the magic "P" which has caused you joke about it, I've no idea what it means and to date no one else does either. 

 

Meanwhile I just carry on like everyone else.

[TigerB]

8 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Great result

 

Yes, it was!

 

I am not much older than you and, like you, would hope to have thirty more years of cruises in us; but, as my wife's health and mobility will get worse as time moves on, we may be pushing that.  Now that I am retired we can mix in the cruises that we really want to do, and as such have to book as soon as they come out to secure an accessible cabin, with ones that we may be able to book last minute and so get a bargain. If they have an accessible cabin then great, if not, then we won't bother; we've not lost anything and I've not wasted booked annual leave as I would when I was at work.

 

Also like you, we do not have a problem with an inside cabin, especially if it costs us next to nowt. As for the current problems with Arvia, we didn't experience anywhere near what folk are talking about, when we were on her in January.  And if we do then we can be quite pragmatic and, knowing what a bargain we got, take it on the chin.  That doesn't though stop me having sympathy with others that have paid a lot more and expect their experience to be just so.

 

 

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

Harry, I don't know whether to thank you or berate you for posting this. Probably the former, though!😉

 

After reading your post a couple of hours ago, I checked our calendar for the next few weeks and showed our lass your post and the calendar. Piqued her interest, it did!

The problem is, we need an accessible cabin; we thought there would be absolutely no way that any such cabins would be available just eight days before cruising.  "Give them a call", says the boss.

 

Long story, short; no accessible PF cabins left.  There were two aft PDs on decks 11 and 12, and three mid-forward PCs on decks 8, 15 and 16; the latter being a little larger than the PDs. Booked there and then at £649 each.

The advisor asked if I had a preference; I did, so she marked deck 15 as a first choice. She then asked if I wanted to pick the actual cabin, as a select fare, for £1000 more. "No thanks, we'll take our chances".

An hour later, when we looked at the Cruise Planner again, the preferred cabin had been allocated to us. Happy days!

 

We cruised on the maiden Transatlantic cruise and initially had a PF, same size as the PC, albeit for one night only; so, we know what to expect, with it being suitable for my wife.

 

Trouble is, she has just said that she will need to get her nails done and hair coloured this week.  So, what was initially a bargain is now starting to cost me!😆

 

 

 

 

Well done. That’s a brilliant result. It’s very encouraging to hear that even those of us needing an accessible cabin might have a chance with a last minute booking. We are on a wait list for an accessible balcony cabin for the 16 night Aurora cruise in May. I fear that our chances are nil.

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, alpha whiskey said:

Just to put a stick in an ants nest....how long do we think it'll be before the buffet and MDR disappear completely on cruise ships? 

I've not sailed on Virgin, but don't believe they have them.

Cruise ships and buffets are inextricably linked, so I can’t see them going. Whatever people choose to call them, buffets are not for me. It’s not about the food, as that’s fine. When dining on a holiday, I want to be shown to a table and have waiter service. I don’t want to stand in a queue, witnessing some less than hygienic habits of some fellow guests, and then have to search for a table. As my wife is in a wheelchair I have to do that for two, which is doubly unpleasant. The ambiance doesn’t fit with my idea of a relaxing meal either. For all these reasons, I wouldn’t book a hotel that relied solely on buffets for lunch or dinner either.