Arcadia Review

Not the best cruise that we have been on

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Arcadia
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grjbyfleet
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2014

I would like to start with embarkation. Parking was very organised and we got into the terminal within 20 minutes of arriving. It was another 20 minutes before we got our boarding cards. This could be improved in two ways. Have a TV showing which colour cards should queue, and numbers over the desks, such as you get the post office. This is minor detail but I believe it would speed things up.

Once aboard the ship it took three crew members to tell me which deck I should go to for my room. To avoid confusion for future clients, the letter of you room, i.e. D53 in my case, the first letter shows the deck you are on. In the lift “D” stands for Dominica desk 5. This should save you some hassle.

We had a “Deluxe balcony cabin”. The room was fine. It was large, and plenty of shelving and hangers to meet our needs. The beds where high in that you could put all of you bangs under it, and not loose storage space in the wardrobe. It was a family room, so there was a sofa bed, regular queen sized bed, and a drop down bed in the ceiling. We only used the queen sized bed but we did find a design error in the room. As the ceiling bed was over our bed there were no ceiling lights present, nor were there any end table lights. There were lights present but they were hiding behind the pillows. The headboard was only about 1 foot high with a light on top of it. It was a cylinder with the light in the middle. The only way to use it, was if you read your book with your head on the mattress. Not very comfortable.

Cabin Review

We had a “Deluxe balcony cabin”. The room was fine. It was large, and plenty of shelving and hangers to meet our needs. The beds where high in that you could put all of you bangs under it, and not loose storage space in the wardrobe. It was a family room, so there was a sofa bed, regular queen sized bed, and a drop down bed in the ceiling. We only used the queen sized bed but we did find a design error in the room. As the ceiling bed was over our bed there were no ceiling lights present, nor were there any end table lights. There were lights present but they were hiding behind the pillows. The headboard was only about 1 foot high with a light on top of it. It was a cylinder with the light in the middle. The only way to use it, was if you read your book with your head on the mattress. Not very comfortable. When I pay for a “Deluxe Balcony” I would expect a 180 degree view from it. If this is not the case I would expect it to state “partially obstructed” which would reduce the price of the cabin. This not the case with P&O. It is only if a life boat is in front of your stateroom would it be classed as obstructed or partially obstructed. For those booking with P&O on Arcadia please be aware of the following on Deck 5/Dominica deck mid ship. The first and last cabins on Desk 5 are obstructed in my opinion. On “Arcadia” the “Mid ship section goes in about 20 feet from the front/aft cabins due to its design. Where it goes in the first balcony is at 45 degrees to the other cabins on deck 5. My cabin balcony looked at the balcony on my left not out to sea (on the left). I can see straight ahead, but when coming into Venice you cannot see what is coming from the right until it is upon you. Looking down was a cabin with a 15 foot balcony, and following that was the life boats. I do not know why but the length of the cabin from with glass door to the railing is about 2 feet shorter that the cabins above, i.e. light blocked from above. We also found the 2nd design fault. The balcony furniture could only go face to face, as there was no way to have the chairs face outwards. The entrance to the balcony was not a sliding door, but an actual door that opened outwards. Due to the balcony furniture it was very difficult to open the door to the balcony due to the furniture being in the way.

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