Wife treated me to this cruise as a birthday present St.Peterport and Bruges being two places we'd never visited before. Couldn't fault embarkation at Southampton and luggage was already in cabin when we got there but we immediately noticed the air conditioning wasn't working although the steward was straight on the case and it was fixed within a few hours. The cabin itself looked tired and not as clean as some of the other ships we've been on indeed the whole ship seemed to look a bit tired and jaded as did some of the staff in the buffet restaurant who didn't seem very happy . I seem to recall reading that she's due for a refit in October and I could see why. Our toilet stopped working after 3 days as did several others in the public areas and several leaks became evident in various areas with buckets strategically placed.
We dined in both the Meridian and Belvedere restaurants, the service in the Meridian was great, even when my wife on the formal night couldn't find anything that tempted her the head waiter arranged an alternative menu for her whilst I tried the Marco Pierre White menu which I have to say was delicious. Whether it's because the Arcadia is a smaller ship I found the food didn't measure up in the buffet restaurant to other ships we've been on e.g Celebrity, Ncl, or even Thomson.
Our main disappointment with the cruise was being unable to be tendered ashore at Guernsey due to the winds being too strong and then leaving nearly 3 hours early on the Thursday and having a very slow cruise up the channel to anchor up off the coast of Belgium at 5pm on Friday ready to dock at Zeebruge Saturday, begs the question why couldn't a plan B be put into effect when the Captain knows the weather is too severe when he first arrives at a port that requires a tender ashore rather than waste a whole day hanging around. When we did arrive in Zeebruge we had booked a See Bruge in a day excursion which I have to say ,due to the excellent guide we had we both really enjoyed. We're booked on the Britannia in October around the Med and hope it will restore our faith in P&O because we're also booked on th Azura next June for Iceland , but having done the Balltic on Azura can't envisige any problem. As regards on board entertainment nothing really tempted us to see any shows in the main theatre although on other cruises we always have , we did catch a duo in one bar called Lyrical Flame and remember remarking to my wife on finishing our drink come on let's leave the crime scene, nuff said. My wife used the spa and had a pedicure and manicure which she enjoyed but she did point out to me her nails had started to chip within 2 days. It's fair to say we've had much better cruises the highlight of this one being the Bruge experience rather than the ship experience.
Cabin seemed tired and dirty with a lot of dusty nooks and crannies, balcony and its furniture seemed very weather beaten. Air conditioning not working on arrival but thermostat quickly replaced. Toilet gave up by third day. No facility to check onboard account on tv as you can on some other ships. Cabin steward was very helpful though.