Arcadia Review

4.0 / 5.0
448 reviews

Absolutely horrid!

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Arcadia
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kkma1387
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jun 2014

To temper what I am about to write, I will start by saying I never write reviews as I am aware that peoples' opinions are varied and what may be excellent to some is terrible to another. I also don't like the idea of complaining for the sake of making a fuss - however our experience on Arcadia visiting the Norwegian fjords was without doubt the worst holiday we have ever had. What I comment upon will undoubtedly cause controversy and probably offence, but I intend this as an accurate reflection of what our experience actually was.

In defence of P&O, their formula works for them and they didn't actually do anything wrong; some of the issues with our holiday were actually outwith their control so it is not actually the abysmal time we had which I object to, more the feeling of being misled by what we would receive, this being our first ever cruise.

Firstly, it seems to have been a mistake opting for an adults only cruise. The lack of children was substituted for a population whose average age was easily in excess of 70 and consequently ALL "entertainment" was aimed at this age group. There was absolutely nothing to do unless you wanted to watch variations on the Royal Variety Performance or play bingo. Trying to negotiate the ship, or worse still disembark at ports, was a nightmare due to the sheer volume of wheelchairs, walking frames and groups of people congregating about lifts and gangplanks. There were at least 20 people onboard with highly complex developmental problems in motorised carriages and although I don't begrudge any of these people enjoying their holidays having to watch people being spoon fed or worse, fed through tubes, at dining tables in the restaurant of an evening was not how I envisaged our cruise from the promotional material received. In many respects we felt like we were trapped on a floating nursing home.

Cabin Review

Tired, in need of decorating and modernising but kept clean and linen refreshed regularly.

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