Regular Princess cruisers, we chose this cruise on P & O for convenience - a brief journey up to the top of Queensland as a holiday before major surgery. We had cruised just once before on P & O Australia - on Pacific Dawn and said "never again". So we hesitated to go on the Aria. On first appearance the renovations have been good: could not fault the size of the cabin nor the quality of mattress: very good sleeping quality.

What lets P & O Australia down is the appalling quality of food and beverage service. Princess Cruises make passengers feel somewhat special. P & O make you feel they are doing you a favour. I ordered a special diet as a gluten free vegetarian. Basically they did not know what to do and most days I had to have a plain green salad for lunch and vegetables for dinner. The F & B Dept on Aria is poor and of inferior quality. (Mushroom risotto on first instance sounds great but then they put a pork garnish with it).

Hated the idea of the Pantry. Serving staff treat you as if you are queuing for school dinners and very sparce in the servings they give. Not particularly friendly nor polite - and again as if they are doing you a favour serving you. Dirty dishes were left to pile up on tables in the pantry, in the deck and on the main dining room. At breakfast service one day in the main dining room, there were so many dirty dishes on tables that waiters had to put trays down on chairs to serve from. Read more