My Holiday App

[Kittyonions]

We too were on the cruise mentioned by Purplesea and Megabear. On several occasions we waited 2 hours for a table for 5. We were happy to share but that didn’t improve matters. The problem in my opinion is that the 2 smaller dining rooms are only open for a few hours each day, and do not offer an equivalent dining experience to the MDR. For example the limited menu in Olive Grove changed twice weekly , not every day as in the MDR. Also as this was a term time cruise, a large proportion of the passengers were not the younger generation families to which Arvia is supposed to appeal!

[tring]

5 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

I actually meant standing in a queue after joining the app queue and being buzzed your table is ready.  This was happening regularly on Arvia while I was on board. It was a queue after a queue so to speak.  Very few people were allowed in the physical queue at a time. Staff were based in the corridor in an attempt to stop to big a build up.

 

I cannot speak.historically about Oriana etc but certainly in the past six years or so physical queues do occur but most times they have been small.

 

Unless the app fails completely (I see you said it had on your Arcadia cruise) the staff on the ships other than Arvia generally clear the queues quite well in my experience.

 

I have also physically queued on Azura and Britannia, mainly for a table for 2, but never for more than 10 to 15 minutes.  Arvia is nothing like the other P&O ships, not even Iona, and as Purplesea said you are asked to leave the area and go to Anderson's or wait in the area at the end of the corridor with your pager.  There is seating available.

 

All this talk of physical queues has I  believe led Onelung to believe he will be required to stand in a queue on Iona for 60 to 90 minutes every night.  Although I haven't sailed on her I have not seen anything to indicate this is happening in 2023 and do not think he should be unduly worried about such a thing happening. Several on this thread alone have stated how well the app works on Iona and how they did not encounter queues.

  

Again, I do not see how you could be asked to go into Anderson's or anywhere else if you are not actually given a buzzer, which was the problem on Arcadia - they were only given to people asking for a table for two.

 

I have no knowledge of any of the bigger ships and have not said anything about them, other than commenting on your earlier post.  In fact, we are very much in favour of the app, which in our previous experience has ensured freedom dining worked far better than it had before the app was introduced.

 

I had not said the app had failed on Arcadia, but that it was not being used to begin with.  People had been saying for a while before our cruise started, that the app was not being used on Arcadia, though I do not know if it had been used in the past at any time, possibly not.  When we got on he ship, we noticed that the app was saying the virtual queue was full for the first evening, so we assumed it was working for our cruise, thinking that was good, as we had had an excellent experience of it on Aurora last autumn.  We just kept checking back to see if the queue was open whilst we unpacked some more things.  By 9pm we decided it was time to go to the MDR to see what was happening and only then were we told that the app was not being used.  I do not see why we could not have been told it was not working before that, either through the app itself, or perhaps in a letter in our cabin.  The dining room was incredibly busy, even at that time, after 9pm and service was very rushed and brusque, some waiters being quite rude really.  I would say though, that it was because they were so busy and it seems had been since the restaurant opened.  In fact we were told by one of the senior staff why it was so busy. It was because some people had not bothered going into the set first sitting, which they had been allocated, yet had been allowed to go into that freedom dining restaurant, instead of being told they needed to go to the buffet!  The ship had sailed by 5pm, so I do not see why those passengers had not gone into their allocated restaurant and certainly do not see why they should have been allowed into the freedom dining restaurant, unless perhaps they had been given the wrong information about their dining allocation.  We were also told that it may also be the case for the following night, which sounded even more inexplicable from our point of view.  Hence, the reason that dining room was so busy, was purely matter of the senior staff on the door allowing people into there who should not be there.  Again a matter of staff not doing what I would understand to be the normal procedure, i.e. telling people who are not on Freedom Dining, that they should go to the buffet if they do not want to take up their allocated dining in the relevant MDR.  So, combined with the need to queue at busy times throughout the cruise, Freedom Dining is mot working well on Arcadia.

 

I also feel what you said about a queue building up on Arvia of people who have been buzzed, from the virtual queue may well also be staff error.  I would have thought that it is the staff on the door who decide when people should be buzzed from the virtual queue, so if they are being buzzed when they cannot cope with seating people, that again is a fault of the staff.  To me this is sounding more and more about senior staff who are just not doing their job properly, unless there is some automation within the app system that I do not understand.  If it is always the door staff who are not obeying the system, they are not only letting down the passengers, but also the waiting staff, who must be taking the brunt of that, which is such a shame.

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by tring

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, tring said:

  

Again, I do not see how you could be asked to go into Anderson's or anywhere else if you are not actually given a buzzer, which was the problem on Arcadia - they were only given to people asking for a table for two.

 

I have no knowledge of any of the bigger ships and have not said anything about them, other than commenting on your earlier post.  In fact, we are very much in favour of the app, which in our previous experience has ensured freedom dining worked far better than it had before the app was introduced.

 

I had not said the app had failed on Arcadia, but that it was not being used to begin with.  People had been saying for a while before our cruise started, that the app was not being used on Arcadia, though I do not know if it had been used in the past at any time, possibly not.  When we got on he ship, we noticed that the app was saying the virtual queue was full for the first evening, so we assumed it was working for our cruise, thinking that was good, as we had had an excellent experience of it on Aurora last autumn.  We just kept checking back to see if the queue was open whilst we unpacked some more things.  By 9pm we decided it was time to go to the MDR to see what was happening and only then were we told that the app was not being used.  I do not see why we could not have been told it was not working before that, either through the app itself, or perhaps in a letter in our cabin.  The dining room was incredibly busy, even at that time, after 9pm and service was very rushed and brusque, some waiters being quite rude really.  I would say though, that it was because they were so busy and it seems had been since the restaurant opened.  In fact we were told by one of the senior staff why it was so busy. It was because some people had not bothered going into the set first sitting, which they had been allocated, yet had been allowed to go into that freedom dining restaurant, instead of being told they needed to go to the buffet!  The ship had sailed by 5pm, so I do not see why those passengers had not gone into their allocated restaurant and certainly do not see why they should have been allowed into the freedom dining restaurant, unless perhaps they had been given the wrong information about their dining allocation.  We were also told that it may also be the case for the following night, which sounded even more inexplicable from our point of view.  Hence, the reason that dining room was so busy, was purely matter of the senior staff on the door allowing people into there who should not be there.  Again a matter of staff not doing what I would understand to be the normal procedure, i.e. telling people who are not on Freedom Dining, that they should go to the buffet if they do not want to take up their allocated dining in the relevant MDR.  So, combined with the need to queue at busy times throughout the cruise, Freedom Dining is mot working well on Arcadia.

 

I also feel what you said about a queue building up on Arvia of people who have been buzzed, from the virtual queue may well also be staff error.  I would have thought that it is the staff on the door who decide when people should be buzzed from the virtual queue, so if they are being buzzed when they cannot cope with seating people, that again is a fault of the staff.  To me this is sounding more and more about senior staff who are just not doing their job properly, unless there is some automation within the app system that I do not understand.  If it is always the door staff who are not obeying the system, they are not only letting down the passengers, but also the waiting staff, who must be taking the brunt of that, which is such a shame.

 

 

2 hours ago, tring said:

  

Again, I do not see how you could be asked to go into Anderson's or anywhere else if you are not actually given a buzzer, which was the problem on Arcadia - they were only given to people asking for a table for two.

 

I have no knowledge of any of the bigger ships and have not said anything about them, other than commenting on your earlier post.  In fact, we are very much in favour of the app, which in our previous experience has ensured freedom dining worked far better than it had before the app was introduced.

 

I had not said the app had failed on Arcadia, but that it was not being used to begin with.  People had been saying for a while before our cruise started, that the app was not being used on Arcadia, though I do not know if it had been used in the past at any time, possibly not.  When we got on he ship, we noticed that the app was saying the virtual queue was full for the first evening, so we assumed it was working for our cruise, thinking that was good, as we had had an excellent experience of it on Aurora last autumn.  We just kept checking back to see if the queue was open whilst we unpacked some more things.  By 9pm we decided it was time to go to the MDR to see what was happening and only then were we told that the app was not being used.  I do not see why we could not have been told it was not working before that, either through the app itself, or perhaps in a letter in our cabin.  The dining room was incredibly busy, even at that time, after 9pm and service was very rushed and brusque, some waiters being quite rude really.  I would say though, that it was because they were so busy and it seems had been since the restaurant opened.  In fact we were told by one of the senior staff why it was so busy. It was because some people had not bothered going into the set first sitting, which they had been allocated, yet had been allowed to go into that freedom dining restaurant, instead of being told they needed to go to the buffet!  The ship had sailed by 5pm, so I do not see why those passengers had not gone into their allocated restaurant and certainly do not see why they should have been allowed into the freedom dining restaurant, unless perhaps they had been given the wrong information about their dining allocation.  We were also told that it may also be the case for the following night, which sounded even more inexplicable from our point of view.  Hence, the reason that dining room was so busy, was purely matter of the senior staff on the door allowing people into there who should not be there.  Again a matter of staff not doing what I would understand to be the normal procedure, i.e. telling people who are not on Freedom Dining, that they should go to the buffet if they do not want to take up their allocated dining in the relevant MDR.  So, combined with the need to queue at busy times throughout the cruise, Freedom Dining is mot working well on Arcadia.

 

I also feel what you said about a queue building up on Arvia of people who have been buzzed, from the virtual queue may well also be staff error.  I would have thought that it is the staff on the door who decide when people should be buzzed from the virtual queue, so if they are being buzzed when they cannot cope with seating people, that again is a fault of the staff.  To me this is sounding more and more about senior staff who are just not doing their job properly, unless there is some automation within the app system that I do not understand.  If it is always the door staff who are not obeying the system, they are not only letting down the passengers, but also the waiting staff, who must be taking the brunt of that, which is such a shame.

 

Clearly your experience on Arcadia was not pleasant and as I have no knowledge of the ship or its procedures I cannot guess what had gone wrong or not.  I can however say with a fair amount of confidence that P&O executive office have confirmed to me in the last 10 days that Arvia's problems on my own and other cruises are unique to that ship and is down to the number of passengers, seating availability and the app which is not operating as intended on that one ship. 

 

Of course there is no option on Arvia or Iona for anything other than freedom dining which makes them totally different from Arcadia and the others and there is also the large capacity to manage.  It was acknowledged to me that the dining situation on Arvia is not working which is why they are trying the new 50/50 bookable approach to see if it helps with the issues. I was told Iona is mainly working as intended after the smoothing out period. I did not discuss any of the other ships so cannot comment on them.

 

In respect to the senior staff not doing their job properly I do not believe this to be the case on Arvia.  People are turned away nightly if they have no reservation and the app queue shuts down often with 200+ people in it already - again admitted by P&O to me as one of the main complaints they are receiving from returning  guests. These turned away people do end up in either the buffet or the Quays.  Pagers are handed out at the desk for people in the standby queue from 5.30 onwards until it too is closed by volume issues but again i was told this often falls short of the number wanting to dine.  

 

The allowing of prebooking between 5.30 and 6.30pm in freedom dining rooms is something I first encountered on Britannia in 2021 after the restart. At the time I was told it was to encourage the filling of "dead time" for dining room staff, no doubt caused by lower passenger numbers being on-board.  When I mentioned this concept in my call last week I was told there unfortunately is no dead time on Arvia as every single second of capacity is vital to be filled and used. 

 

It was confirmed my observation of early pre booked diners on shared tables lingering is correct and although service is finished, short of physically telling people to leave, the larger tables can in fact show as released for new diners by the app when there are in fact still some people seated there. Apparently the programme is a maximum 2 hours - again not me saying that but my P&O caller.  I can confirm on several occasions my time at the table overran that time. The actual time your meal is "programmed" for is between 1.25 and 1.50 hours. The other 30 minutes or so is apparently for leeway, table clearance and reset.  I found this information very interesting and informative, particularly having seen time and again dinner taking considerably in excess of 1 1/2 hours.

 

My intention in passing the information given to me by P&O was to assist the OP who is travelling on Iona as he stated. His thread title does not mention exclusively Iona and so we have wandered off topic somewhat.  The information I have offered into the general conversation is regarding Arvia alone and may well be irrelevant to the other vessels in the fleet, however it is direct from P&O that they know they have a unique problem on that particular ship and are urgently seeking a resolution.

 

If the information is not helpful in any way that is fine. I'm not going to get bogged down on the merits or otherwise of how things are on different ships or voyages, but hopefully the situation on Arvia in particular will improve sooner rather than later.

 

[Onelung]

Thanks Megabear - "he" is actually a "she" but of course there is no way you could have known this 🙂

[Megabear2]

5 minutes ago, Onelung said:

Thanks Megabear - "he" is actually a "she" but of course there is no way you could have known this 🙂

Sorry!!  

 

I hope you have a great cruise.

[Onelung]

We have a Cunard one on QV  before Ionia so it will be interesting to compare the two.

[HarleySportGlide]

Can you download the app at home before you go

[yorkshirephil]

5 minutes ago, HarleySportGlide said:

Can you download the app at home before you go

You need to be on the ship or close proximity. 

[Bin man]

I downloaded the so called app on Iona in our 2021 cruise .When I went a year later the icon was still on my samsung pad so used it again for 2022 cruise .It's still there at the moment obviously can't use it till our ventura cruise in September but it starts up when we get to the ship and give it boarding details I think . A year is a long time since last cruise .

[tring]

1 hour ago, Bin man said:

I downloaded the so called app on Iona in our 2021 cruise .When I went a year later the icon was still on my samsung pad so used it again for 2022 cruise .It's still there at the moment obviously can't use it till our ventura cruise in September but it starts up when we get to the ship and give it boarding details I think . A year is a long time since last cruise .

 

That is how it worked for us as well between cruises.  It was originally downloaded on a cruise though.

 

 

[Gettingwarmer]

10 hours ago, HarleySportGlide said:

Can you download the app at home before you go

See this. Note link at bottom. 
https://www.pocruises.com/my-holiday?otprrf=https_boards.cruisecritic.co.uk

 

it is not an app but allows you to apply link before you go. 

[Advanced Diver]

On 7/11/2023 at 9:09 PM, HarleySportGlide said:

Can you download the app at home before you go

As Gettingwarmer said there is nothing to download because there is no app. It's a web page on a browser, any browser. Chrome, Firefox, Samsung Internet, Brave, Safari any of them. Just go to myholiday.pocruises.com in the same way you would go to any web page (after setting Flight Mode, then enabling WiFi, then connecting your WiFi to P&O _Cruises_Guest_WiFi)