For various reasons, my wife and I booked a week to Norway on the Arcadia. We are fairly experienced cruisers, using Celebrity and Azamara. This cruise was truly awful. Where to start? Firstly,hygiene---a major risk on ships---bed linen changed once a week and tablecloths only changed when soiled. In the buffet, no attempt was made to clean the tables between guests; that is unacceptable in a ship where many guests seemed not to observe the most basic hygiene. Next, the food. It was sparse in the main restaurant, good in the pay restaurant, and truly poor (if plentiful, obviously, as people control what volumes of food they take) in the buffet. The quality was disgusting---all the fruit was tinned, as were the tomatoes at breakfast. Taste buds did not have to do much, as nothing tasted of anything. The soups were thin and anodyne, the salad dressings seemed to consist of coloured water, and what fresh salad was served was sparse and poor quality. Desserts were equally without flavour.

Was anything good? The scenery in the fjords was spectacular (provided by Nature, not P&O). The embarkation and (blessed) disembarkation were excellent. Some of the entertainment was good, much average. The bars did not serve any crisps or nuts with drinks but they were available from the packet at cost. Some staff, especially in the pay restaurant and the bars were good. The Freedom Dining was shambolic, as if a table for two was gold dust---up to 45 minutes wait. Guests using open seating do not wanted to be coerced into sitting at tables for eight where guests arrive and eat at varying times.

The purser's desk did agree with these comments, and admitted that some passengers paid full price for their cabins, but the rest were sold at great reductions to fill the ship, and the food budget and style was obviously beamed at the large numbers of subsidised guests, Read more