Arvia first impressions…01/10/23

[Shrewsbury on Tour]

Good afternoon to one and all…

 

After much deliberation we decided to stick with our P & O booking. After deciding the positive reviews just about outweigh the negative. Set sail on Sunday. 
Currently docked in Valencia, giving me a minute to type up our first impressions. These are just the thoughts and our opinions about the P&O Arvia, mainly in comparison to our previous cruises with NCL and RC. This cruise was approx 2k cheaper than RC sailing out of Southampton. So there’s always going to be some different experiences. But is it worth the extra £2k. To be honest we are still not sure…..

 

Positives…

Great to sail out of Southampton. So much easier and cheaper. Parked the car Westquay shopping centre, cheap…

The ship is newish. Balcony cabin on deck 14 is great.

Boarding, no problem was due to be 1.30 we were onboard by 12.55..

I believe it’s full and is busy, but avoid certain areas at certain times and you can find a quiet spot away from your cabin.

Bars, got the classic drinks package. Good choice of beer brands etc. 

Food, some of the specialty restaurants have been good. We have not used buffet or MDRs but below were good.
Beach House 

Glass House

Keel and Cow….

The quays is a good concept…and food on the whole is ok…

Towels don’t need to be booked out.

Love the sunset bar on deck 8 with the Ibiza tunes at night.

Entertainment, it’s all down to personal taste. The SAS talk was excellent.

First two ports no problems boarding, buses etc.

Not into the formal nights etc, but there plenty of places for everyone to have a good night.
 

Negatives

Service is just not crisp in comparison to others. Dreadfully slow at times. The staff, though not unhappy are just not as punchy on previous cruises, there is no doubt about this.

The cocktails are just so inconsistent, some being barely drinkable. The frozen cocktails are bulk made, which makes them poor.

Aged old problem with towels on sunbeds!! Aghhn

Bars are not open at the time when they are needed the club house being a great example of this.

Food, buffet standard just nowhere near RCL etc, went up twice, nothing looks good..walked out. It’s a long way off.

Sindhu the most overrated restaurant in the universe… it’s just not good!! The whole fusion thing is tosh, a M&S curry has more flavour!!!!!

Deserts - it’s a cruise ship problem, most are just lumps of gelatinous something. That said the ones in the Keel & Cow were ok.

We are not really into the culture of hail the captain of the ship, we just don’t get it!!! P&O seem really obsessed by this culture.

 

Many folks have helped me on here, so if I can help in anyway. Feel free to ask a question. Won’t have internet for next 24 hours. Personally I don’t won’t to see work emails etc.

 

Will give final thoughts on the 14/10/23

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

[July morning]

Thanks for your comments. Always interested to read others views and look forward to your final thoughts 😊

[Froxfield]

We found the new look Sindhu on Iona less than impressive (and nowhere near as good as the previous Atul Kocha offering on other ships: now long gone). Apart from anything else the portions seemed enormous! Given there are plenty of other good options on Iona and Arvia we are likely to give it a miss in future.

[Rupert2251]

15 hours ago, Shrewsbury on Tour said:

Love the sunset bar on deck 8 with the Ibiza tunes at night.

We had a corner aft suite on deck 15 the week before you. It was horrendous when that DJ kicked in with his rave music. How are people meant to relax with that noise going on? I know he went down at 10pm but 2 hours in the afternoon, then sailaway, then 7 - 10, its too much! By the way the ship sold out of paracetamol....I wonder why? Enjoy the rest of your cruise. 

[zap99]

15 hours ago, Shrewsbury on Tour said:

Good afternoon to one and all…

 

After much deliberation we decided to stick with our P & O booking. After deciding the positive reviews just about outweigh the negative. Set sail on Sunday. 
Currently docked in Valencia, giving me a minute to type up our first impressions. These are just the thoughts and our opinions about the P&O Arvia, mainly in comparison to our previous cruises with NCL and RC. This cruise was approx 2k cheaper than RC sailing out of Southampton. So there’s always going to be some different experiences. But is it worth the extra £2k. To be honest we are still not sure…..

 

Positives…

Great to sail out of Southampton. So much easier and cheaper. Parked the car Westquay shopping centre, cheap…

The ship is newish. Balcony cabin on deck 14 is great.

Boarding, no problem was due to be 1.30 we were onboard by 12.55..

I believe it’s full and is busy, but avoid certain areas at certain times and you can find a quiet spot away from your cabin.

Bars, got the classic drinks package. Good choice of beer brands etc. 

Food, some of the specialty restaurants have been good. We have not used buffet or MDRs but below were good.
Beach House 

Glass House

Keel and Cow….

The quays is a good concept…and food on the whole is ok…

Towels don’t need to be booked out.

Love the sunset bar on deck 8 with the Ibiza tunes at night.

Entertainment, it’s all down to personal taste. The SAS talk was excellent.

First two ports no problems boarding, buses etc.

Not into the formal nights etc, but there plenty of places for everyone to have a good night.
 

Negatives

Service is just not crisp in comparison to others. Dreadfully slow at times. The staff, though not unhappy are just not as punchy on previous cruises, there is no doubt about this.

The cocktails are just so inconsistent, some being barely drinkable. The frozen cocktails are bulk made, which makes them poor.

Aged old problem with towels on sunbeds!! Aghhn

Bars are not open at the time when they are needed the club house being a great example of this.

Food, buffet standard just nowhere near RCL etc, went up twice, nothing looks good..walked out. It’s a long way off.

Sindhu the most overrated restaurant in the universe… it’s just not good!! The whole fusion thing is tosh, a M&S curry has more flavour!!!!!

Deserts - it’s a cruise ship problem, most are just lumps of gelatinous something. That said the ones in the Keel & Cow were ok.

We are not really into the culture of hail the captain of the ship, we just don’t get it!!! P&O seem really obsessed by this culture.

 

Many folks have helped me on here, so if I can help in anyway. Feel free to ask a question. Won’t have internet for next 24 hours. Personally I don’t won’t to see work emails etc.

 

Will give final thoughts on the 14/10/23

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

I think you sum it up well. RC are better, but cost £2k more.

 

[majortom10]

We recently dined in Sindhu on Arvia and had a very enjoyable meal. We have eaten in every Sindhu and agree that they are not as good as when Atul Kochhar was involved but still worth a visit for price paid.

[sandancer]

We didn’t particularly care for Sindhu on Arvia but we are going to try again on Azura next week. I believe it is a different menu so I’m hoping for an improvement on what we ate on Arvia. We really liked the Keel and Cow and the Glasshouse. Not so much the Beach House but again we will give it another go on Azura. 

[davecttr]

Your point about the buffet got me thinking. Given that the food budget is calculated on the number of passengers per day how is that budget allocated between different restaurants? Are the food ingredient costs fully recovered in the pay for restaurants? My recent Arcadia experience was that the food in the buffet was just not as good as the MDR, why not? Is it because that a smaller budget per passenger/day is allocated to the buffet? If so why? After all we all pay the same fare prices and you don't get a lower fare because you eat in the buffet. IMO if the daily budget is the same the quality/quantity of the ingredients should be the same. On my only NCL cruise the buffet choice etc was better than the MDR. I talked with the chef in Arvias buffet and he explained that they have a 14 day menu cycle and try to stick with it as far as possible. The menus were available on the web site for those prepared to look. IMO Arvias salad choices were much better than the sad traditional offerings on Arcadia.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Speaking of food on arvia, my thoughts on what we tried:

 

Buffet: repetitive and sometimes boring.

 

Sindhu, its not an indian like the traditional one in the uk, so dont expect chicken tikka masala. I enjoyed the food tbh, but not worth the extra costs.

 

The beach house. Surprised at the extra charge. Its a mexican really, food was very good but again should it be free?

 

Keel and cow. Fantastic steak loved it wish i went more.

 

The quays. Very disappointed tbh. A fish and chippy a roast dinner or a two choice asian. Very basic and limited menu. Go once and that's it done and dusted. I expected lots of different choices, esp in fusion part.

 

6th Street diner. Lots of hype, finally got booked in..very dissapointed again was average menue and food. Expected to get ribs, lots of burgers, etc. But a doughnut with a chicken strip on top? Lol. 

 

Over all the places we visited were ok but apart from keel and cow nothing exciting to wow me. Mostly just pub/cafeteria food tbh.