We picked the ship up in Mumbai, as part of the Grand Asia Adventure, to sail back to Southampton for 23 nights stopping off at various ports along the way.

Firstly getting on the ship in Mumbai - is an experience in itself. Be prepared if you are thinking about doing this. For us on a private tour of India through Audley Travel, we sailed through the luggage inspection and cleared all port checks in 7 minutes, thank goodness we were travelling with Audley travel and not P&O. But those on a pre cruise India tour with P&O waited two hours just to get their luggage checked at the port entrance. Luggage was also stolen while on this tour, including someone's medication. No one was present at the port entrance from P&O and it appeared to be complete mayhem. There were no toilet facilities to use after they were locked once the women passengers started to use them and the men just stood up against the railings, no refreshments to be had and it was very hot at 30c plus. One couple used the printed off luggage tags on their luggage and once sailed discovered their luggage had been put off the ship because these printed off tags were not on their three pieces of luggage. (Supposedly). This is in spite asking several times at the reception desk about the whereabouts of their luggage prior to sailing. The head purser was very rude, unhelpful and patronising and I was stunned listening to this story unfold over the course of the cruise. This couple had to borrow clothes from other passengers and P&O told them to claim from their travel insurance as that is what it is for and although a member of P&O staff had said he had put their luggage off prior to sailing P&O wanted nothing to do with it and accepted no responsibility whatsoever. No apology, nothing - very poor show. This couple did eventually get P&O to fly their luggage from Mumbai to Cairo and get the luggage from Cairo to the Suez Canal where the luggage eventually made it on board with the pilot - however for 8 days they had no luggage etc and this really spoiled their cruise. P&O's offered a small amount of money to spend in the ships shop. A moral to this story persist and keep asking where your luggage is and check the luggage tags and your luggage are present before you get on the ship.

As others have said the ship itself is tired (see cabin review A071) and really in need of a complete refurb / refit. Adonia when next to a Thompson ship looked like the poor relation from the outside, very rusty and uncared for. P&O / Carnival really do need to put in a capital expenditure to update her or sell her on. They charge top dollar to go on this ship and the ship itself is not top dollar. A real shame. Read more