Arvia Adventure Begins - May 2023

[kermchem]

If you look on vesselfinder.com then the Celebrity and MSC ships are berthed much closer to the town than Arvia. Shorter turn around for the buses, and are more of their passengers walking?

[Yorkypete]

26 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

With all due respect to Arvia. The ship herself has zero impact on how a queue of passengers is managed in Palma

 

This is entirely logistics miles away from the ship

 

Blame P and O but not Arvia

The fault lies with both P&O and the people who allowed the ship to berth against the rules. Firstly if only 50% of people wnts ashore 20 buses for over 2,500 people is obviously nowhere near enough. Arvia should not even be in the port as the rules stipulate only 1 ship with over 5000 capacity are allowed at once so someone has slipped up. I can see Paima further restricting cruise passenger numbers in the future as it causes havoc in the town and to locals.

[Megabear2]

We are out where the gas fuelled ships are. I noticed this morning everything is gas fuelled bere unlike further down.  Anyone know if had a top up?

 

Yes, Captain Camby apologised but noticeably it was everyone other than P&OS fault.

 

Nice suggestion about the OBC, sadly I just saw a big grey elephant holding a feather fly by!

[carlanthony24]

4 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

The fault lies with both P&O and the people who allowed the ship to berth against the rules. Firstly if only 50% of people wnts ashore 20 buses for over 2,500 people is obviously nowhere near enough. Arvia should not even be in the port as the rules stipulate only 1 ship with over 5000 capacity are allowed at once so someone has slipped up. I can see Paima further restricting cruise passenger numbers in the future as it causes havoc in the town and to locals.

Not P&O fault for being allowed to berth though I believe a number of us said their hands are tied if the port does not cancel and P&O does then they have to fork out a lot of compensation they could go to an alternative island again this would not please people etc etc.

 

Even though Intercruises say P&O only booked 20 did they try to order more and get denied and let MSC have more since it’s a turn around port. We shell never know? This was a thought by someone on another site.

Edited May 19, 2023 by carlanthony24

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

The fault lies with both P&O and the people who allowed the ship to berth against the rules. Firstly if only 50% of people wnts ashore 20 buses for over 2,500 people is obviously nowhere near enough. Arvia should not even be in the port as the rules stipulate only 1 ship with over 5000 capacity are allowed at once so someone has slipped up. I can see Paima further restricting cruise passenger numbers in the future as it causes havoc in the town and to locals.

I spoke to MSC staff. Their ship is classed at 4,800 if upper berths aren't in use. They aren't sailing full, neither is Edge she has only just over 2,000 onboard.  I asked if I could have a room, but the Celebrity lady said looking at our queue I'd probably need the rest of the day to get my luggage from Arvia so sadly not!

[Interestedcruisefan]

29 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

You're not the one queuing on here ICF.  Arvia IS built for queuing, she has wide corridors and funnel zones in the same way as Walt Disney World and the largest Royal Caribbean ships.  The difference is with WDW they're interactive to take your mind off the queue and on the RC ships the crowds are managed so well you very rarely see a queue.

 

It's not an insult to say Arvia is built for queuing, the lanes are there specifically for that purpose, the problem is P&O aren't managing them onboard but are making the queues more obvious by their failure.

You've lost me?

 

Where are the queues you are talking about?

 

 I thought we were talking about queues in Palma?

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

We are out where the gas fuelled ships are. I noticed this morning everything is gas fuelled bere unlike further down.  Anyone know if had a top up?

 

Yes, Captain Camby apologised but noticeably it was everyone other than P&OS fault.

 

Nice suggestion about the OBC, sadly I just saw a big grey elephant holding a feather fly by!

Who or what did he blame?

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Not P&O fault for being allowed to berth though I believe a number of us said their hands are tied if the port does not cancel and P&O does then they have to fork out a lot of compensation they could go to an alternative island again this would not please people etc etc. Even though Intercruises say P&O only booked 20 did they try to order more and get denied and let MSC have more since it’s a turn around port. We shell never know?

The MSC coaches were from a differeuprovider.  Super sleuth checked absolutely EVERYTHING.  😀😀😀

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

You've lost me?

 

Where are the queues you are talking about?

 

 I thought we were talking about queues in Palma?

There's queues all over the ship for virtually everywhere. The app failed day 2 and loads lost all their dinner and entertainment bookings.  I'm lucky on that. Queues start 30 minutes before every theatre show, no just walk up with your cabin number. This ship is full and I mean really full.

[davecttr]

We had shuttle chaos in Valencia a few weeks ago plus P&O did not mention the free port shuttle for the 1.5 mile walk to the port gate & terminal. Those who were going to the beach would have appreciated that. Later in Marseille we had loads of shuttle buses.

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

The MSC coaches were from a differeuprovider.  Super sleuth checked absolutely EVERYTHING.  😀😀😀

Did you check how much MSC were charging for their buses?  On our January cruise with them, they were charging 10 or 15 E each way for shuttles in many ports.  At those prices, they could afford to have many more buses than P&O.  Or P&O could put up their charges to match, which would probably reduce demand and thus queues.  So, I sense this might be a bit of a swings and roundabouts problem.

[davecttr]

With a LOT of select cruisers aboard they may well have taken many cruises with P&O, are the older generation who a survey has found do not spend much on board and probably don't go on many excursions. So for them it is go on the free shuttle early and be back in time for lunch. No they won't spend ashore, after all as a lady said loudly on one of my previous cruises. 'lets try the MDR, I don't like any of this foreign muck'. It was Spanish theme night in the buffet 🙄

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, davecttr said:

With a LOT of select cruisers aboard they may well have taken many cruises with P&O, are the older generation who a survey has found do not spend much on board and probably don't go on many excursions. So for them it is go on the free shuttle early and be back in time for lunch. No they won't spend ashore, after all as a lady said loudly on one of my previous cruises. 'lets try the MDR, I don't like any of this foreign muck'. It was Spanish theme night in the buffet 🙄

When we are on Majorca we will do our own thing and go to Soller. Bus to the station is only 2 Euro.

[carlanthony24]

12 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Did you check how much MSC were charging for their buses?  On our January cruise with them, they were charging 10 or 15 E each way for shuttles in many ports.  At those prices, they could afford to have many more buses than P&O.  Or P&O could put up their charges to match, which would probably reduce demand and thus queues.  So, I sense this might be a bit of a swings and roundabouts problem.

Just searched apparently back in 2019 

 

[carlanthony24]

17 minutes ago, davecttr said:

We had shuttle chaos in Valencia a few weeks ago plus P&O did not mention the free port shuttle for the 1.5 mile walk to the port gate & terminal. Those who were going to the beach would have appreciated that. Later in Marseille we had loads of shuttle buses.

We was never told about the port shuttle but found where they dropped us off quite a nice area even though protests were going on. I guess if P&O did mention they would not get much custom?

Edited May 19, 2023 by carlanthony24

[cruising.mark.uk]

5 minutes ago, carlanthony24 said:

Just searched apparently back in 2019 

 

We were on MSC in Jan this year, northern Europe and Canaries.  Some examples (per person): Hamburg 18E, Le Havre 11E, Rotterdam 13E, Arrecife 8E.

[Megabear2]

19 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Did you check how much MSC were charging for their buses?  On our January cruise with them, they were charging 10 or 15 E each way for shuttles in many ports.  At those prices, they could afford to have many more buses than P&O.  Or P&O could put up their charges to match, which would probably reduce demand and thus queues.  So, I sense this might be a bit of a swings and roundabouts problem.

Regardless of whether there was a charge they had a shuttle.  I have a select fare which is apparently including the shuttle. Because of the chaos nobody paid on the shuttles back.

 

It's no use defending the indefensible, charge or not on MSC and celebrity those who wanted a shuttle got it.  

 

[cruising.mark.uk]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It's no use defending the indefensible, charge or not on MSC and celebrity those who wanted a shuttle got it.  

 

Unless I misread your earlier posts, you got a shuttle, but you had to wait for it.  

[CarlaMarie]

I live at a cruise port of call and when ships come in we have local coaches as well as those coming from all over the area to meet the demand that the cruise lines have requested. The agents are the best judges on these things, and as they said P&O didn't order enough then clearly they didn't.  

 

P&O advertise that the shuttle is available and that it is free for select passengers. Therefore it should provide what it is advertising and selling, by that I mean enough for the number of passengers it is carrying to get them back and forth in a reasonable amount of time. A 2+ hour wait to get back on a shuttle and being asked not to get off the ship due to congestion you really cannot defend. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by CarlaMarie

[Jazzytelly]

Interestingly I just asked my Son how they got on in La Spezia on Arvia and whether there were any complaints about the shuttle buses. He said they had no trouble in any of the ports and never heard any complaints ref shuttle. Sounds to me like this particular cruise was just unfortunate that everyone decided to head back to ship at the same time instead of it being spaced out.
I can’t speak for myself as we have never ever queued for a shuttle in 15 years of cruising but we normally go out early and come back at lunch time ish. 

[cruising.mark.uk]

3 minutes ago, Jazzytelly said:

 Sounds to me like this particular cruise was just unfortunate that everyone decided to head back to ship at the same time instead of it being spaced out.
 

I agree.  We were on Arvia in April.  We queued for about 30 minutes for the shuttle at Valencia, but no more than 5 or 10 minutes anywhere else.  

 

If there are 6000 pax on Arvia and we assume, for the sake of argument that 1000 pax will not get off and 1000 will be on ship tours, that might mean 4000 using the shuttle.  Return trip = 8000 journeys.   With 20 shuttles at 50 pax each they can move 1000 at a time.  So, if the passengers spaced their journey times out over an 8 hr port stop and each shuttle did one return journey per hour they would have more than enough capacity to move everyone.  But, of course, passengers don't spread their journeys equally.  So, at peak times there will be queues and longer waits. 

[Megabear2]

16 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I agree.  We were on Arvia in April.  We queued for about 30 minutes for the shuttle at Valencia, but no more than 5 or 10 minutes anywhere else.  

 

If there are 6000 pax on Arvia and we assume, for the sake of argument that 1000 pax will not get off and 1000 will be on ship tours, that might mean 4000 using the shuttle.  Return trip = 8000 journeys.   With 20 shuttles at 50 pax each they can move 1000 at a time.  So, if the passengers spaced their journey times out over an 8 hr port stop and each shuttle did one return journey per hour they would have more than enough capacity to move everyone.  But, of course, passengers don't spread their journeys equally.  So, at peak times there will be queues and longer waits. 

unfortunately they couldn't space their journeys. The ship asked them not leave at approx 9.45 and debating did not recommence until noon.  I'm told 3 announcement were made to ask people not to go due a build up and a ferry loading next to the ship.

 

That certainly did not help.

[Dermotsgirl]

15 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I agree.  We were on Arvia in April.  We queued for about 30 minutes for the shuttle at Valencia, but no more than 5 or 10 minutes anywhere else.  

 

If there are 6000 pax on Arvia and we assume, for the sake of argument that 1000 pax will not get off and 1000 will be on ship tours, that might mean 4000 using the shuttle.  Return trip = 8000 journeys.   With 20 shuttles at 50 pax each they can move 1000 at a time.  So, if the passengers spaced their journey times out over an 8 hr port stop and each shuttle did one return journey per hour they would have more than enough capacity to move everyone.  But, of course, passengers don't spread their journeys equally.  So, at peak times there will be queues and longer waits. 

I think everybody understands that queues happen at peak times.

 

However, from what I’ve read here and from other sources an 1hr 30 minute to 2 hours wait in the sun, particularly when there are many elderly passengers and other people who have problems standing for long periods of time, is not really acceptable, is it? 
 

I hope P&O are learning from today’s events 

[Megabear2]

34 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Unless I misread your earlier posts, you got a shuttle, but you had to wait for it.  

Yes, and yes 2 hours 10 minutes.  I got a taxi for some elderly ladies who found it too much. Unfortunately the driver would not take 4.

 

If you really believe that's acceptable you have much lower expectations than I I'm afraid.

 

Clearly P&O didn't think it acceptable either as there has been a mass apology.

[Megabear2]

35 minutes ago, Jazzytelly said:

Interestingly I just asked my Son how they got on in La Spezia on Arvia and whether there were any complaints about the shuttle buses. He said they had no trouble in any of the ports and never heard any complaints ref shuttle. Sounds to me like this particular cruise was just unfortunate that everyone decided to head back to ship at the same time instead of it being spaced out.
I can’t speak for myself as we have never ever queued for a shuttle in 15 years of cruising but we normally go out early and come back at lunch time ish. 

I'm sorry but the relevance of La Spezia in this matter escapes me. We are in Palma.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Megabear2