Arvia K308 - All aboard

[TigerB]

I'm losing my mobile signal so will catch up again when we get to La Coruna.

Night folks

[sandancer]

5 hours ago, TigerB said:

Just eight days after booking and getting a bargain fare, we're on board and eager to get going.

Easy drive down from East Yorkshire, leaving at 07:00 and dropping our bags off at 11:50. Nipped to Asda for a couple of last minute bits, and returned to the terminal and hour before our scheduled check-in time. Waved through and were in the Keel & Cow bar area just twenty minutes later.

I took the advice of others on here and logged onto My Holiday while in the terminal and bagged a couple of 710 club shows.

 

The ship is rammed full. No chance of an upgrade! 

 

Whilst sat in the bar, at 13:45, heard the most obnoxious couple being so rude to a waitress. They walked right up to her, and the woman was right in her face. She said on a loud voice so all around could hear, "Why are we here, and not in our cabin"? The poor lass apologised and tried to direct them to Reception. And again, "I'm asking you, why isn't our cabin ready"? I was about to get up and intervene, but our lass looked straight at me and said, "B, leave it".   What a totally self important #@&# (rhymes with cat); the woman, not our lass.

 

Will check in later, hopefully.

Why would that idiot woman believe that a waitress serving in a bar would know why her cabin was not ready?

[doog442]

It's rammed ? If P&O have filled an early April Med cruise with 5k folk outside of the school hols then they've surely nailed it. 

 

Weather looks semi decent as well, enjoy the cruise. 

[happy v]

4 minutes ago, doog442 said:

It's rammed ? If P&O have filled an early April Med cruise with 5k folk outside of the school hols then they've surely nailed it. 

 

Weather looks semi decent as well, enjoy the cruise. 

Of it is only a week

 It is still school holidays 

[doog442]

1 minute ago, happy v said:

Of it is only a week

 It is still school holidays 

 

Its a 14 day . School hols end today. 

[happy v]

4 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

Its a 14 day . School hols end today. 

Here it is next week

 But not two 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

We've just had our first meal of the cruise; in Green & Co, which we really like.

Excellent meal, really well presented and full of both contrasting and complimentary flavours.

I won't yet, but if folk want me to post pics, just vote. Before we left, one of our daughters said, "Dad, if you post food photos on the WhatsApp group I'm blocking you".🤭

 

Had this tasty little cockertail though...

Please post photos!!!

[doog442]

4 minutes ago, happy v said:

Here it is next week

 But not two 

 

I see but surely no school kiddies on this one as it doesn't come back until 30th

[Technoman2]

We are on it from 30th for 2 weeks so please keep us posted with any tips and photos Tiger B.

Have a great cruise and i hope the sun shines for you and the sea is calm.

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

I see but surely no school kiddies on this one as it doesn't come back until 30th

There will be a percentage of families with school kids willing to pay the fines

 

There  were plenty on Arvia in the Caribbean who were missing a week of school 

[Technoman2]

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

There will be a percentage of families with school kids willing to pay the fines

 

There  were plenty on Arvia in the Caribbean who were missing a week of school 

They are on strike so many days at the moment so whats sauce for the goose😄

[doog442]

13 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

There will be a percentage of families with school kids willing to pay the fines

 

There  were plenty on Arvia in the Caribbean who were missing a week of school 

 

Cheers. 🤣

 

Never happened in my day, well the odd day or two 😉...guilty as charged but I'm not sure a letter for a week would have winged it..

 

 

[Selbourne]

48 minutes ago, doog442 said:

It's rammed ? If P&O have filled an early April Med cruise with 5k folk outside of the school hols then they've surely nailed it. 

 

Weather looks semi decent as well, enjoy the cruise. 

Supply and demand. P&O are offering cruises at extremely low prices, especially on Arvia and Iona, in order to fill the ships. The profit will come from on board spend. 

[doog442]

49 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Supply and demand. P&O are offering cruises at extremely low prices, especially on Arvia and Iona, in order to fill the ships. The profit will come from on board spend. 

 

The on board spend is indeed the golden nugget, filling them first is the objective and they seem to be doing a decent job in enticing the masses to sail through Biscay and back in April🤣.

 

Quite simply prices in the Med have gone nuts, as have flights. People are opting for best value. How many will be repeaters is a different question but the marketing right now seems pretty sound.  

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, doog442 said:

 

The on board spend is indeed the golden nugget, filling them first is the objective and they seem to be doing a decent job in enticing the masses to sail through Biscay and back in April🤣.

 

Quite simply prices in the Med have gone nuts, as have flights. People are opting for best value. How many will be repeaters is a different question but the marketing right now seems pretty sound.  

I think P&Os pricing policy and Britishness must be hurting MSC at present. If their prices keep going down at the same level, they will soon be paying us to cruise.

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think P&Os pricing policy and Britishness must be hurting MSC at present. If their prices keep going down at the same level, they will soon be paying us to cruise.

MSCs USP seems to be their cheap drinks packages. P&O are still miles off in that regard, as their drinks package is overpriced and with far too many restrictions for those who want decent quality drinks.
 

I agree about the cruise prices though. I’ve just nabbed a Britannia cruise for a few months time. It was below my new self imposed ‘P&O price cap’ of £100 per person per night for a balcony cabin and that was for a Select booking. Best of all we got our first choice accessible balcony cabin. Interestingly, when I enquired about the cruise a month or so ago there was no availability for accessible cabins. Yesterday we had a choice of two. The difference seems to be that balance due date has just passed. I suspect that some folk who booked with a tiny deposit may have cancelled, probably due to the cost of living challenges at present?

[daiB]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

MSCs USP seems to be their cheap drinks packages. P&O are still miles off in that regard, as their drinks package is overpriced and with far too many restrictions for those who want decent quality drinks.
 

I agree about the cruise prices though. I’ve just nabbed a Britannia cruise for a few months time. It was below my new self imposed ‘P&O price cap’ of £100 per person per night for a balcony cabin and that was for a Select booking. Best of all we got our first choice accessible balcony cabin. Interestingly, when I enquired about the cruise a month or so ago there was no availability for accessible cabins. Yesterday we had a choice of two. The difference seems to be that balance due date has just passed. I suspect that some folk who booked with a tiny deposit may have cancelled, probably due to the cost of living challenges at present?

I think the restrictions and high price of the drinks package are quite deliberate. British holidaymakers do not have a good reputation with regard to booze. I like to drink but there is no way I would spend enough to justify a package even if my wife drank the same amount as me, which she doesn’t. I know what we spent on booze on the last 2 cruises and it was no where near the price of the package. And I could drink exactly what I want.

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, daiB said:

I think the restrictions and high price of the drinks package are quite deliberate. British holidaymakers do not have a good reputation with regard to booze. I like to drink but there is no way I would spend enough to justify a package even if my wife drank the same amount as me, which she doesn’t. I know what we spent on booze on the last 2 cruises and it was no where near the price of the package. And I could drink exactly what I want.

That’s our view as well. We don’t drink a huge amount and many of the drinks we do like are excluded. If there weren’t all the daft restrictions I might be tempted to give it a go once, but my wife drinks very little now so the rule about both having to buy it would be a show stopper. 

[tring]

6 hours ago, majortom10 said:

The same number that is on your cabin key is also on your boarding pass that you print off and take with you to show at check in.

 

That is nifty, does that mean you can access the onboard app, which you can use to book excursions using OBC?  That is number one on our list for once we are on the ship, but we will not have priority embarkation for our next cruise so would be good to book them in the terminal.

[cruising.mark.uk]

We are on the same cruise, now enjoying very smooth waters and lovely sunshine as we enter the Bay.  We think the interiors of Iona and Arvia are beautifully designed and they are very well executed, with excellent passenger flow.  If this ship is at capacity, it certainly hasn't felt like it so far.  We were on board in less than an hour, having arrived at CPS at 1115 with a boarding time of 1145.  We too were very pleased to see all the chancers who arrived hours in advance of their boarding time being penned into waiting areas in the terminal - perhaps this proves that even on a mega ship, the terminal / staff can board everyone smoothly if they turn up when they are told to?   So far, we have had no difficulty finding seating in bars and lounges and the service everywhere has been very fast. Our cabin is wonderful.  We had a fantastic meal at Olive Grove last evening, after about twenty minutes sipping drinks in the Glass House while we were in a virtual queue.  

[yorkshirephil]

9 hours ago, tring said:

 

That is nifty, does that mean you can access the onboard app, which you can use to book excursions using OBC?  That is number one on our list for once we are on the ship, but we will not have priority embarkation for our next cruise so would be good to book them in the terminal.

You will need to be at the terminal for 07:00, now the cat is out of the bag😁

[majortom10]

9 hours ago, tring said:

 

That is nifty, does that mean you can access the onboard app, which you can use to book excursions using OBC?  That is number one on our list for once we are on the ship, but we will not have priority embarkation for our next cruise so would be good to book them in the terminal.

You won't be able to access P&O website and wi-fi until you get to the terminal and is very hot or miss of you get a signal. You won't be able to access P&O MyHoliday website until you get to the port.

[Britboys]

15 hours ago, Cruise_Rookie_2010 said:

Have a great cruise, you'll really enjoy Arvia, first day is always mental and tempers get frayed when they really shouldn't (it's a holiday after all).

She's a big girl, no worries about getting your steps in.

Blimey - I take it that is Britannia that she is making look small...😱

[Britboys]

12 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Supply and demand. P&O are offering cruises at extremely low prices, especially on Arvia and Iona, in order to fill the ships. The profit will come from on board spend. 

Absolutely - they were virtually giving them away at one point...

[Cruise_Rookie_2010]

Was sorely tempted by the pricing on the med cruise Arvia is currently on, it dropped to under £600 for an inside guarantee. Having just disembarked the T/A from Barbados it would have been lovely to get back on-board, just enough time in-between to get the washing done and re-pack.