Arcadia Review

4.0 / 5.0
448 reviews

Arcadia - Northern Europe

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Arcadia

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Sail Date: Jul 2007

Arcadia cruising We sailed from Southampton on Sunday 22 July 2007 with the P&O Arcadia on their 13 day cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. It was our second cruise and our first with P&O and Arcadia. In 2006, we cruised with Celebrity Cruises Millennium Class vessel 'Constellation' on their Baltic Capitals tour. We hope that this resume will help others to decide for themselves whether to try the Arcadia and to give some help to others who perhaps have never cruised before and are wondering if it is for them. Finally, we hope that it will give a balanced and helpful insight into the Norwegian Fjord cruise and particularly the P&O version. The booking procedure was very straightforward and everything arrived on time and exactly as described. Extra discounts were available by shopping around. The P&O website gave basic information on a good website and we waited with anticipation for the Excursion booking portal to become available. This opened several days before the printed book came through the post so if you are particularly keen on any excursion and want to ensure that you obtain a place, I would recommend using the P&O Excursion website. However there seems to be plenty of room on most excursions on this trip and bookings were still available for many excursions right up to the evening before docking at any port. In this part of the world, the weather is a particularly important feature and although we were very fortunate in the weather throughout the cruise, we would have been pretty frustrated if we had paid pre-booked £50 a head in England to see nothing but clouds on a scenic trip of mountains and fjords. We booked with the Eavesway coach service from Preston at £66 a head return and this proved to be a very efficient and comfortable service. There were two comfort breaks with a stop for lunch at the junction of the M42 and M40. There were two drivers who took the driving in turn and were very helpful with loading luggage. There are no reserved seat numbers but we had no problem in finding four seats together and after about 5 ½ hours, we arrived in Southampton Docks at 2.30pm with plenty of time and feeling relaxed. At the Docks, we took our hand luggage ourselves and the heavy luggage was left to the drivers and port staff and we never saw or handled any of the suitcases from Preston Bus Station until they arrived in our cabins within minutes of us arriving in the cabins ourselves. An excellent service and to be recommended. Southampton Dock Terminal is efficient if rather unglamorous. We were processed very quickly and it really helped having pre-registered our details on the P&O website. All that was left to do was to swipe our passports and our credit card and we were given our security card that was to allow us access to and from the ship at every port and to act as our on board credit card for purchases to be billed against and paid for in sterling at the end of the cruise. From the time that we arrived on the coach to the time that we were in our cabins was no more than 30 minutes and the longest queue was 6 people in front for the x-ray security machine. A wonderful improvement on airport queues! We boarded Arcadia with excitement and must admit to being a little disappointed at the initial lack of impact. There was no 'Wow' factor at all and most of the welcome party was security staff. On Constellation, we had arrived in the main Atrium with its massive staircase and were greeted by an officer, passed to a steward who helped us find our cabin and introduced us by name to our cabin steward. On Arcadia, we arrived amongst the lifeboats, entered by a small doorway, were not greeted and had to find our own way to the cabin. This is not as easy as it sounds because the Arcadia has a bizarre but very British way of labelling its decks. Deck numbers start at the bottom and work upwards but with a confusing bottom deck called A Deck. However they also like to letter their decks and couple these letters with names of countries and continents from past P&O glory days. Guess which way the letters start!! That's right - the alphabet starts from the top accommodation deck and works downwards. So A (Australia) deck is near the top and is numbered 8 and the lowest accommodation deck is G (Grenada)Deck which is number 1 Deck. You get used to it in time but the arrival on board should be improved upon as first impressions really do count - and especially so if one is mentally comparing with previous ships and cruise-lines. However the welcome from the cabin steward was both genuine and warm. He was charming, helpful and quietly efficient. He had obviously been well selected and trained and was for ever attentive. Practically all the front line staff on Arcadia are from India. Their English is good and they are the most charming people. Smart, attentive, harmonious, well trained and supervised, they are a real credit to themselves and also the years of association with P&O. We certainly felt more at home on Arcadia than Constellation where we found that the language skills were much poorer and the staff came from all over the world - although the staff were just as well trained. The cabin itself is of a good proportion and well equipped. Although P&O say that the cabin is equipped with 240 volt British style socket, this is being slightly economical with the truth. There is such a socket but only the one. Other voltages and socket shapes are also supplied so if you are like us with a variety of battery chargers etc, it would help to bring an adaptor and/or a continental adaptor so that you can use the other sockets as well. There is a kettle and endless supply of free tea and coffee sachets and milk. All other drinks are charged for but continental breakfasts can now be ordered to the room free of charge. There is a fridge in the room. The bathroom in our cabin had a ¾ sized bath with a very good shower above and all other facilities were fine. A dressing gown was provided on request. Towels were provided for pool side use and all linen and toweling was changed every day. Spotless service and to be commended. The balcony was a very good size with 2 comfortable chairs and a coffee table and was well sheltered. Air conditioning was superb and practically silent and draught free. A television gave facts and service about our ship, our itinerary, our current position, a range of details about excursions and a wide range of films, TV programmes and BBC or Sky News. The ship is equipped with its own mobile phone aerial and processing unit so mobile phone calls were possible even out at sea. Prices seemed to be the same or similar as for land mobile phones - in other words expensive compared to landlines. There is a computer room for access to the Internet at charges that vary upon usage. We didn't use them but the prices were not too bad at £16 for 100 minutes or £10.50 for use throughout the cruise. You can use your own laptop on their wireless service for a nominal fee per day. There is a very good supply of general public areas including a swimming pool that has a retractable roof with a large area for relaxation. Very welcome on this trip to the top of Norway. There is an abundance of bars, a disco, a library, a very well equipped gym and health spa and everything else mentioned in the brochure. There seemed to be plenty of space and availability of services for everyone with the one exception of the self service dining room but more about that later. The theatre was excellent with a very good variety of mixed entertainment of a high quality. Although very full at times, we always managed to find seats and they were comfortable with a good view in air conditioned comfort. If we have any criticism at all of Arcadia, it would be for its rather 1980ish dEcor everywhere. Full of browns and creams. Not to our taste but presumably P&O know their market and supplied their flagship only 2 years ago with a known preference with their regular clients. Not the sort of detail to determine whether one travelled by the ship or its cruse destinations but a bit of a let down in our view. Even the funnel is a bland dark cream above a white hull compared to the exciting colors and shapes of Constellation. Another 'Wow' factor difference between the two ships of comparable age and size. Dining is either at table in the two floors of the Meridian dining rooms or the Belvedere Self Service. There is also speciality dining at the Gary Rhodes Restaurant or the Orchid room but we did not sample either of these facilities. The Belvedere self service area is full of frustrating features - some of which could perhaps be easily improved upon and others that are design problems with no easy remedy. The biggest problem of all is that it is too small. Compared to Constellation, there appears to be some 250/300 less seats as the seating area is much narrower. Constellation has the dining area extended right to the vessel's side and indeed parts of it overhang the ship's side with dramatic glass floor panels with views of the sea below! Arcadia doesn't and at times there were a lot of grumbles about the lack of seating. In warmer climates, it would be possible to eat outside around the rear swimming pool, but this was never really an option on this cruise. The layout of the food on offer does not flow and there are constant flows and counter flows of people searching for the item that they missed. Salads are arranged lengthways along the ship but the cold meats and fish are in the cross bays out of sight of the first queue and you have a second queue to face to complete your meal. At breakfast you also have to queue for your coffee and fruit juice whereas on Constellation, the coffee was served at table by stewards. Many of the salads and dishes are placed almost out of reach behind the protective screens. However on the plus side there are masses of staff and the tables are kept spotless and the staff are charming and efficient. The Meridian dining experience is probably where the Britishness of the whole experience is most noticeable on Arcadia. Both ships supply superb food served by marvellous waiters. There really is no other way of travelling for 14 days and being supplied with such high quality food and served by such well trained and hard working staff. How the staff manage so consistently well to serve so many people for two separate sittings is a daily miracle. My hat goes off to them all. We chose to eat at the first sitting on each vessel as we find that the finishing time of around 10.00pm too late for comfort if choosing the second sitting. All a personal choice. My wife is vegetarian and for her the highlight of a cruising holiday is the daily availability of top class vegetarian cuisine with a choice of starters and main courses. European land holidays have been ruined on past holidays by the complete lack of vegetarian option let alone a choice, but cruise ships supply an immense range of menus that are frequently changed. The big difference of the two ships is that Constellation has a daily vegetarian menu offered at the start of each dinner featuring several starters and main courses, whereas Arcadia offers the same range but the choice has to be made the evening before. So you end up choosing the next meal before eating the current one! There is also a daily vegetarian option on the main menu. She tells me that the food was excellent and varied on both ships. The general menu is very British on Arcadia and is excellent. Good sized portions and well balanced. Our only criticism in both the Meridian and Belvedere restaurants was the synthetic nature of the dessert ingredients. All the cream was fresh on Constellation but only UHT on Arcadia and the desserts were very heavy and gluteus on Arcadia. At least we did not eat too many and we kept our weight down, but again a small point became an issue after a while. Wine prices are considerably cheaper on Arcadia than Constellation but the range of selection is more than adequate on both ships. Dress code is more formal and more respected on Arcadia than Constellation. Maybe its because Constellation clientele are nearer 80% American whereas Arcadia's is 99% British that makes the difference. Suitcase weights whilst flying to Europe must be a consideration and so too is the British love of formality, but I would guess that more than 80% of men wear Dinner Jackets on Arcadia compared to perhaps 50% on Constellation. The other 20% wear suits on Formal nights on Arcadia. Informal nights are also very smart on Arcadia with the majority in suits or formal jackets and trousers. Casual nights were mostly jacketless but still smart casual. There are more photographers on Arcadia than Constellation and they cover many of the excursions as well as the formal nights on board. Prices on Constellation were also three times more expensive than those on Arcadia. Arcadia also has a far more amenable staff who are very willing to help out on camera problems and other aspects of photography other than just trying to sell you their own photos. However Arcadia's interior design is less photogenic as a background. Shopping on Arcadia is extensive and there is a fine selection of evening and day wear, perfume, jewelry, watches, souvenirs and also an excellent selection of toiletries, sweets, flowers and duty frees. There are the usual Art Auctions but a very peculiar range of paintings and it still beats me why anyone should want to buy a picture whilst cruising- but there you go. One man's meat etc etc! There is a very good range of excursions covering all tastes and pockets. Norway is not the cheapest place to visit but all the trips that we went on were excellent value for money and we never had any disappointment. Personally I think that the Flam railway is over-hyped but that is by the railway company rather than P&O. The Flam railway website is full of superlatives but the train spends much of its time in tunnels and having been on it a couple of times now, I do believe that there are other just as attractive railway lines in the UK-such as to Kyle of Localsh, Mallaig or indeed the Settle and Carlisle railway. We later found out that the railway excursion from Andalsnes to Bojli was to us even better for scenery. We were incredibly lucky to have superb weather at North Cape. After a day of thick fog, we dropped anchor at Honningsvag in glorious sunshine and had a beautiful ride by local school bus through stunning countryside before arriving at a very commercialized North Cape Centre. Very similar to Lands End and full of camper vans and bikers. 'North Cape or bust' comes to mind. The video is well worth watching in the underground theatre, but the main attraction is the globe monument on the cliff-top with its longitude and latitude marks. You really are near the top of the world. Have a look at a globe to see just how far north you will be travelling - and yet it is really very warm. The Gulf Steam passes by and they never have any sea icing. We had the most glorious Midnight Sun as the Arcadia later cruised slowly past North Cape from 23.00hrs until 01.00hrs. A lady next to me had been on 6 previous cruises to North Cape and this was the first time that she had been lucky enough to see the Midnight Sun, so you are not guaranteed to see this wonderful phenomena. If you are booking a trip from the ship, try and book the first possible time as the transport arrangements are a bit in a short supply and you also have to use the tenders to reach shore. Several people on board had marvellous experiences on the Bird Safari trip and said that it was well worth the cost. Again you will have to be lucky with the weather and have to balance off the risk of booking early in the UK and taking the weather as it comes, or waiting to see what the weather might be and risk not having the choice of destination and time of excursion. My own view is to take the risk but it is your call. We also went on the long day excursions of 'Norway in a Nutshell' from Flam, 'Geirangerfjord' from Olden and 'The Alps of the North' from Tromso and can recommend all three trips as good value and fascinating trips. The towns of Stavenger, Trondheim and Bergen can easily be visited on your own with ships berthing very close by to the main town centres. The 82,000 ton ship is steered into the most amazing small spaces and the Master took the greatest care to see that we had the best views of fjord countryside including glaciers. The ship seems to spin round on a sixpence but provides a stable platform for wonderful photographic opportunities of countryside and also sea patterns caused by the ship changing course. We were somewhat surprised to find that there is very little birdlife and we never saw any sea creatures either. We had gone equipped with telescopes and binoculars but used neither to any great extent and would not bother if we went again. Then sadly it eventually came time to turn for home and the incredibly smooth Arcadia set off at 22 knots across the North Sea towards Southampton. She had been on time -almost to the minute- at every port and so it was at Southampton where we arrived at 7 am. Our luggage had been taken from our cabins at 5pm the previous evening and we found it all laid out by Deck letters in the Terminal. We had colored cards giving us a disembarkation time of 8.15am as we were joining the Eavesway coach and this all happened punctually and easily. Coaches were lined up immediately outside the Terminal and we left at 9 am precisely - just 45 minutes from leaving the ship. Even though it was an August Saturday, we were safely deposited in Preston at 3.30pm feeling relaxed and very happy. It was a wonderful holiday, well worth every penny and we would recommend the Arcadia trip to Norwegian Fjords to anyone interested in an interesting itinerary for scenery. There are no big towns with cathedrals and castles such as on the Baltic cruises, but the company and its crew do their utmost to make you comfortable, feed you superbly and to show you the best that Norway has to offer with its fantastic scenery.

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