I have read numerous reviews of of two P&O cruise ships (Oriana & Arcadia) that I have recently sailed on in the past 6 months and my experiences have differed considerably from the negative reviews that I have read.
In posting this review I want to be objective in what Arcadia as a ship offered and what the holiday experience was, relative to the positive and negative aspect of the ship.
The cruise was 14 nights to the Baltic region with a 2 day stopover in St Petersburg, Russia.
Cabin
Our cabin was a deluxe balcony cabin on D Deck starboard side, aft of midships. It was very quiet and the sleep quality was very good. The cabin is of standard size, with a full glazed patio style door and a glazed balcony rail, which was cleaned during the cruise preventing any salt build up. There was no creaking, best cabin for sound proofing that we have had. The bathroom was smaller that we have previously enjoyed, has limited cabinet space (double on Oriana), but we did have a small bath. The cabin had tea making facility, a large flat screen TV, hairdryer and binoculars were also available. One point that we did not discover until halfway into the cruise, was that two useful drawer units were located under the sofa. Our cabin steward Henschel, had only joined the ship the day we did, we were quite surprised how many cabins he had to service. This was not a problem to us, he seemingly managed to look after us very well.
What an enchanting and a beautiful medieval place. We picked up a city map (foc) from the shuttle bus and just wandered around the town. Beautiful narrow cobble stone streets, stopped for a coffee and shared a table with some German tourists, we were able to converse with each other, a little in German, mostly in English, it was very enjoyable. Later stopped and took lunch in the old town square. The food was delicious. The Sun was shining, the people were friendly, this is a place I would return to for a short city-break.