Arcadia Review

Arcadia - CLUB 80-130

Review for Spain Cruise on Arcadia
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Arachnid
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2014

My OH and I are in our Mid 50’s and have cruised nine times before, on various cruise lines and Ships including 3 Ships of the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, so we had an Idea of the Age range of the passengers on this Adult Only Ship. How wrong can you be, this cruise made Fred cruises look like a Hen or Stag cruise. The first thing P&O should do on this Ship is re-instate the Childrens area and designate it for the Under 60’s where you can listen to music from the last 4 or 5 decades without being frowned at or ‘TUTTED’ at for enjoying yourself too loudly (by Loud, I mean slightly above a whisper). The entertainment in the bars was provided by 3 Bands (Amethyst Duo, Peters Band and Park Drive), classical guitarists and pianists and the so called entertainments staff providing quizzes and bingo and WII bowling. Amethyst Duo were the only one of the three bands we saw that actually tried to entertain with music not over 70 years old and attempted to get people dancing around their walking sticks and wheelchairs (Of which there was many), Paul the Amethyst Duo guitarist also provided 2 hour long sessions on the history of the electric guitar which was very interesting. Cabin entertainment on the TV was repetitive and boring, I Know I’m on holiday and shouldn’t being watching the telly but sometimes it’s nice to relax. Arcadia does not provide interactive TV or the ability to check your bills, order room service or other facilities offered by Ships far older than this one, when quizzed a member of staff (who shall remain nameless to protect their jobs) told us it was because the company didn’t think the Older Generation that frequent this ship would know how to use it and their attitude of if its not on paper its not real.

We booked on a saver fare so our dining was allocated on board and was not able to be changed, we were allocated 2nd sitting on a table of 8, we have eaten on tables of 8 on previous cruises and do not like them, so we decided to wait until the menu was of sufficient quality before using the Meridian dining room, we never did. We ate in the Belvedere self-service restaurant most evenings with excursions to EAST (where the food and service was exceptional) and the OCEANS GRILL (food and service good) each evening in the Belvedere was themed with a lot of Asian nights, (Understandable) and the food was generally of a good standard. Twice at lunch time I had a cheese burger from the burger place by the main pool, this burger was pre-cooked and then kept in liquid until asked for where it is waved at a griddle and thrown on a bread roll, I thought the first burger had been a mistake which is why I had another a couple of days later, NO just as bad and served by the miserable twins for the second time running. Would I pay an extra £500pp just to be able to pick my dining time (and Cabin), Not a hope, we could have eaten in EAST and OCEANS GRILL every night and still been hugely in credit compared to the normal price.

Our Cabin was a Balcony to the rear of E Deck (deck 4) this was very comfortable, quiet and was kept immaculate by Agnelo our cabin steward, Hugh thanks to him for that.

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