Arvia Adventure Begins - May 2023

[Megabear2]

6 hours ago, TigerB said:

Glad to hear things are starting to turn around for you, Megabear. 😀

Have you been to see Pulse yet? When we were on last month they had had a line up change from January; the new female singer has a cracking voice and vocal range, and has a good rapport with the crowd.

The big 70's rollback with Pulse is tonight in the Club. They're on all night so I'm planning on going after the 710 Club finishes at 9.30pm.  I'm having a "night off" tonight as my Lord and master is suitably happy with my submitted work from this week.  Off the leash for the weekend as they say!

[CarlaMarie]

Pleased you are a bit more settled into your cruise now @Megabear2 and having a better experience (minus the cold water from the light!). Hope you have a lovely day in Palma today. 

 

Looking forward to your feedback of the Epicurean last night. It is a shame that there are app issues and queues for dining. You do feel for that young mum with her two children if that was her experience.

 

Everyone's cruise experience differs, but at the moment it does seem primarily dependent on whether the technology works or not and the lack of consistency amongst the fleet.

 

By the way, did you ever receive an email back from Paul Ludlow's office? 

[Megabear2]

I have had an email from my contact, assumedly she has replied on Exec Office's behalf.  I'm to expect a surprise whatever that is, I'll let you know.  I did wonder if the bucket of water was in fact it .....

 

I'm hoping my experience is not atypical.  I am coming at this as someone looking at absolutely every problem I see, hear and experience because I'm so alert to it because of my first three days.  

 

I know we have at least two more CC contributors onboard here at the moment and I'll bet you a pound to a penny they're not seeing or being involved in any of this and hopefully are having a brilliant time.

 

Everyone has a different cruise, same date, same ship.  This is just my story, one I'm going to give Paul Ludlow the full benefit of when I get home!!

[True Devonian]

39 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The big 70's rollback with Pulse is tonight in the Club. They're on all night so I'm planning on going after the 710 Club finishes at 9.30pm.  I'm having a "night off" tonight as my Lord and master is suitably happy with my submitted work from this week.  Off the leash for the weekend as they say!

It is a shame you have to work when you are on a well earned holiday, and with all the issues you have had you just couldn't make it up. I hope you have a better more relaxed day today.

[Technoman2]

Good luck getting a seat in The Clubhouse MB after the 710 club. We struggled getting seats after the 8.30 show at 9.20 in the theatre. This was also the case when comedian was on.

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, Technoman2 said:

Good luck getting a seat in The Clubhouse MB after the 710 club. We struggled getting seats after the 8.30 show at 9.20 in the theatre. This was also the case when comedian was on.

I'll take my shooting stick ... have it with me for ashore in case I need to queue for anything!

[Technoman2]

Maybe thats why its called the Clubhouse , you need a big  stick to beat your way in before everybody else. I have this image in my head now of the Allo Allos series and the old lady banging on the bedroom floor with her stick calling for edith. Hehe

[Pink-belle]

38 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I have had an email from my contact, assumedly she has replied on Exec Office's behalf.  I'm to expect a surprise whatever that is, I'll let you know.  I did wonder if the bucket of water was in fact it .....

 

I'm hoping my experience is not atypical.  I am coming at this as someone looking at absolutely every problem I see, hear and experience because I'm so alert to it because of my first three days.  

 

I know we have at least two more CC contributors onboard here at the moment and I'll bet you a pound to a penny they're not seeing or being involved in any of this and hopefully are having a brilliant time.

 

Everyone has a different cruise, same date, same ship.  This is just my story, one I'm going to give Paul Ludlow the full benefit of when I get home!!

Your comment regarding the bucket of water being the surprise really made me chuckle this morning, thank you for that.

 

I admire your positive spirit, and am enjoying your live from. 

[nellydean]

14 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Excellent. Just as we like it. No late night noise 😂 I went for a late night wander around all the outdoor areas on QM2 and I was the sole person on the top open decks and forward looking viewpoints. Quite a nice, if surreal, experience actually! 

Glad you enjoyed the peace and quiet, but I prefer my cruises to not be quite so Marie Celeste-like in the evenings 😃

[zap99]

16 hours ago, nellydean said:

No, it's just that everyone on Cunard ships is in bed by 10pm! Once, we dared to stay up past midnight and went out on deck on Victoria, only for an anxious-looking security guard asking if we were okay - maybe she thought the quietness of the place had driven us to contemplate jumping overboard😆!

Not just Cunard I understand. DW volunteered at a care home before she retired. She asked one of the Managers " what was your cruise like sandi ?" Just like being back at work.🤣

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I'll take my shooting stick ... have it with me for ashore in case I need to queue for anything!

I'm sure you'll find somewhere to sit with a decent view of the stage, if there's just yourself. There's plenty of stools you can move to a location you like. A lot of the time couples sit around tables for four or six, so I would expect you would get yourself on one of those.

[zap99]

20 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Arvia overtook us last night. On Arcadia. So glad we are on the latter. No problems!

Fast ship that Arvia.🤣

[TigerB]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

Fast ship that Arvia.🤣

Captain Camby is a petrol head, though; so, I'll bet he was a boy racer in his younger days.

[nellydean]

12 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Hi Helen.  Re Arvia apparently on this voyage if you choose to take a pager your average wait is around 1 1/2 hours from 6.30 joining- that's when the app starts taking bookings.  That information is based on at least 10 people telling me that today.  You can book in advance before leaving home for times between 5.30 and 6.30pm after that you will be on the app.  Because I'm already booked for all my dinners I've not used it for dinner.  However I have used it for breakfast and found it very good and quick.

 

Yesterday evening being Celebration Night they apparently shut down giving out pagers at 7.00pm - again just what I have been told by others.  I can confirm I left the Zenith restaurant at 8.15pm yesterday evening and there was no one queuing whereas on other nights there has been so I'm guessing it's correct.  There is a rumour circulating that a young mum with her two kids took a pager at 5.30pm and after an hour returned it because the boys were hungry and restless and she was worried they'd be a disturbance. As a result she ended up in the buffet in her finest with her son's in their psgenoy suits. As I say a rumour but I can confirm seeing a young lady trying to amuse 2 boys around 6.15pm outside the restaurant.

 

There's been mayhem on here today with dining/entertainment bookings being lost from the system - it happened on day 2 the first time and many haven't got them back. Tempers were getting quite flared at the 710 Club for the 8.45pm and more were being refused entry than let in.

 

Personally unless they sort out the reliability issue of the technology I would try to book everything in advance you can and keep a paper copy.  A couple I lunched with today showed me their app which had totally zilch in it and then a sheaf of papers quite clearly showing dining and entertainment reservations.  Even with this they'd been turned away from the show last night being told no seats.  That was completely wrong, I counted 40 seats in my area alone.

 

I'm sorry it's not really positive or clear. Really don't rely on a walk up and hope the app is working on your voyage is my only suggestion. Otherwise book and eat early.

Thanks for taking the time to explain, but it doesn't sound a very good system (at the moment, anyway), can you please tell me when you were able to start booking your dinner times, and if it only applies to the main dining rooms (and paid-for restaurants, obviously), or to all dining venues. It sounds like lots of hassle.

Edited May 19, 2023 by nellydean

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Fast ship that Arvia.🤣

Don't think any of the cruise ships sail fast these days. Too concerned about saving fuel...

[FamilyCruiserUK]

I think p & o like virgin have slightly changed the concept of cruising. Rather then MDRs sitting thousands over two sittings like a lot of older ships, both virgin and P&O want people to dine in different venues. 

However maybe us brits are too ingrained to have dinner at 530pm and in a MDR. 🤷

The old saying "we dont like change". 

But like the OP has said everyones cruise experience is different. 

Hopefully things will get better and you can look back and remember the good times on Arvia. 

[Technoman2]

2 hours ago, nellydean said:

Thanks for taking the time to explain, but it doesn't sound a very good system (at the moment, anyway), can you please tell me when you were able to start booking your dinner times, and if it only applies to the main dining rooms (and paid-for restaurants, obviously), or to all dining venues. It sounds like lots of hassle.

Nelly, you can book your main Dining Room and speciality restaurants 14 days before you travel and in our case even at 6am on that morning we could not book any meal times in the MDRs after 6.15pm and i think the latest you can book in advance is 6.30 . You may get a bit more flexibility if you are prepared to share a table. While we were on the Menu in Olive Grove only changed once and that was on the following Sunday evening so booking in their maybe 3 times is probably enough due to limited choice. Found the service in Zenith to be better than Meridien and yes you do get table cloths. Entertainment can be booked 15 days in advance but things like limelight and 710 i think have to be booked when on the ship. Some have said you can get to book them while waiting to board in the queue using the numbers on your boarding pass as you will not have your room card.

All in all we found the food in MDRs to be fine and much better than on Azura in December.

[Megabear2]

Well my patience has officially expired!  Close to 1.200 people in queue for transfer back to ship.  They've run out if queue room, it's back in the local restaurant.  Mayhem. Not moved for 15 minutes.  Apparently every 15 minutes.

 

MSC- see photo - no queue. Celebrity buses queued no passengers to get on them.

 

Total pants I'm afraid.

[Palaceman]

I'd rather sit at a bar on the sea front with a beer than queue for a bus!!!

[Vampiress88]

14 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Well my patience has officially expired!  Close to 1.200 people in queue for transfer back to ship.  They've run out if queue room, it's back in the local restaurant.  Mayhem. Not moved for 15 minutes.  Apparently every 15 minutes.

 

MSC- see photo - no queue. Celebrity buses queued no passengers to get on them.

 

Total pants I'm afraid.

where are you today? 
it’s all very subjective cos we had an awful queue to get back on an msc ship but not from p&o yet. 
 

sorry your cruise isn’t going great. I was hoping after the issues with the cabin it might have been more smooth sailing 

[Megabear2]

6 minutes ago, Vampiress88 said:

where are you today? 
it’s all very subjective cos we had an awful queue to get back on an msc ship but not from p&o yet. 
 

sorry your cruise isn’t going great. I was hoping after the issues with the cabin it might have been more smooth sailing 

Palma.its embarrassing now.  The queues has doubled back on itself. We've just been visited by Celebrity Edge staff looking if they have any passengers caught up in the mayhem.  I've moved 20 feet since joining the queue, so 37 minutes.

[lincslady]

Palma, Mallorca.

[True Devonian]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Palma.its embarrassing now.  The queues has doubled back on itself. We've just been visited by Celebrity Edge staff looking if they have any passengers caught up in the mayhem.  I've moved 20 feet since joining the queue, so 37 minutes.

This is why we avoid heading back around lunch time or shortly after when a shuttle is required to get back to the ship. Personally, if I encountered a queue like you suggest I would not join it but head back to the nearest cafe/bar and return later when hopefully the queue would be shorter. You seem to be encountering so many problems that you could write a book.

[Megabear2]

2 minutes ago, True Devonian said:

This is why we avoid heading back around lunch time or shortly after when a shuttle is required to get back to the ship. Personally, if I encountered a queue like you suggest I would not join it but head back to the nearest cafe/bar and return later when hopefully the queue would be shorter. You seem to be encountering so many problems that you could write a book.

With some ladies who just rejojned the queue. They've been here 1 1/2 hours! I'm going to find us a taxi.

[CarlaMarie]

28 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

With some ladies who just rejojned the queue. They've been here 1 1/2 hours! I'm going to find us a taxi.

 

I'm so sorry you are all caught up in this. I honestly do not know what is going on. Are there staff there providing water? I dread to think of the queue size to get back on the ship on the dockside.