Be prepared to manage your expectations.

Like all adverts, P&O’s sales pitch should be taken with a rather large pinch of salt. I am not saying that the wide open spaces and multiple entertainments do not exist, just that you have to do some planning and make compromises to enjoy them. If you make the systems work for you, then it can be fine. If not, potentially, you could end up being disappointed.

Just to give some background, we (my wife, 5 yr old granddaughter and me) have just returned from a 2 week western Med cruise. We (including our granddaughter) are regular cruisers but this was our first cruise on Arvia.

The ship is big. Perhaps not the biggest one afloat, but it is BIG. More than 3 football pitches long and 8 double decker buses high (to risk a mixed metaphor). We were in a balcony cabin on deck 11 towards the front. With no mobility issues, the walking was not a problem for us. If you have mobility issues then a more central location (or smaller ship) may be better.

The other thing that comes with a big ship is LOTS of people. Potentially 5000+ passengers. I found the vast majority of fellow passengers to be friendly and polite. However, the trouble with people is that they have the annoying habit of wanting to do things at the time as me. When this happens, welcome back to the Great British institution of the queue. There were queues for the restaurant, queues to get into the theatre, queue for the shuttle buses etc. Having said that, we have experienced queuing on other, more premium-priced, lines. It is not that unusual.

We tried to avoid the busier areas with a bit of planning. We got off the ship later than normal in port, having allowed the crowds to die down. This gave us the swimming pools, crazy golf etc virtually to ourself. We tried to come back outside the main lunchtime peak (but failed miserably at Marseille). We prebooked the main restaurant before sailing and then fine-tuned dining options using the onboard wifi based system. This generally worked OK (we like early meals) but could be an issue if you do not have a smartphone. One quick whinge, the booking for the restaurant showed a prebooked table number. This was a table we used frequently. However, on the one occasion that we went straight to it, we were told that we had to go back to the entrance, be booked in and to be escorted to the table from which we had just come (‘computer says no’ mentality). For breakfast and lunch we generally avoided the crowded main buffet and either used the main restaurants, the ‘Quays’ on deck 8 or the on-deck servery. The choices for breakfast at the Quays are more limited but it was so much quieter than the main buffet.

I struggled to understand the settings for the lifts. There seemed to be plenty of them (about 8 per stairway) yet they took forever to arrive and were frequently very crowded. It beats me how this was not considered to be a covid/flu risk. I can only speculate that the settings were designed to minimise cost, not for the reasonable convenience of customers. We chose the assisted debarkation rather than the ‘self help’ system mainly to avoid the lift issue.

We did not use much of the entertainment for 2 reasons – the granddaughter needed earlier sleep time and also the shows were often repeats of what we had seen on previous cruises this year. We went to the ‘Take That’ musical which did nothing for me. The use of the Skydome swimming pool area for entertainment is questionable. Think of the echoes you get at your local swimming pool then factor in someone trying to sing. At times it was completely inaudible. There was, however, one absolutely fantastic show here. This involved no vocals or singing (apart from minimal audience participation). It avoided the echo issues and made good use of the dancers, lighting and screens. I rated it as one of the best shows I had seen on P&O. I felt that (in the evening at least) there were plenty of entertainment options – you just had to claim your space early.

In relation to the food, an oft heard comment is ‘fings aint what they used to be’, but in the good old days a cruise was relatively more expensive. We found the food quality to be OK but not fantastic. We avoided the children’s menu for our grandaughter and just selected from the main menu. Oddly enough, this also helped with portion control and made her feel more important.

Most staff were very friendly and helpful. Special mention for the waiting staff in the Meridian Restaurant. The granddaughter also sends her thanks to the staff of the Children’s Club. Service at the reception desk was patchy. When I phoned with a request (for debarkation time) this was acknowledged, only not to materialise.

Going back to the cabin, this was generally sufficient. We had 2 single beds and the bed-settee. Having the beds in that layout only left about 18inches between bed and wardrobe and literally a hands width between the single beds. Cupboard/wardrobe space was limited and more suitable to a cruise without formal evenings. The bed-settee had to be made up each evening (by the cabin steward) and (to my old bones) was quite firm. The bathroom was adequate and it was good to have a shower door rather than the horrible curtains. Gone are the days of individual soaps, little pots of hand cream etc. Does that matter? One thing to keep in mind is that some Balcony and Mini Suites are situated on the prom deck. This means that you have people walking immediately in front of your balcony. Also, some cabins on the prom deck, at the very front, do not have a sea view at all, looking onto a steel wall on the opposite side of the prom. This could be a deal breaker if it mattered to you – in which case also watch out for an ‘upgrade’ into one. This aside, the prom deck is one of the good things about Arvia if you like a stroll.

There were things on board which involved an extra payment. These included the speciality restaurants (but the Olive Grove and 6th Street Diner were included), ice creams, rope walkway, Mission control (submarine replica) plus the usual Spa etc etc. We chose not to use these (with the exception of the ice cream for our granddaughter). There was an indication that the shuttle bus in some ports would be at a charge. I heard some people complaining about this but I don’t think it actually happened in the end. Just a note, this charge is avoidable in any case if you book on the higher ‘Select’ pricing. We did not come across a push for the speciality restaurants but (at the times we were walking about) they seemed empty. I was disappointed that there is now a delivery charge for room service breakfast. You either have to be a serious drinker or value certainty to justify purchasing the drinks package (£80 per day for a couple).

It was good that thousands of pounds were raised for charity with a Gary Barlow show and ‘Trek the Deck’ walk. Even our granddaughter completed the 5 circuits of the prom deck and proudly wore her ‘Trek the Deck’ T shirt.

We were blessed to see many dolphins and whales, especially in the area of Gibraltar.

So, in conclusion, I quite like Arvia but I have a knowledge of what to expect, try my best to be flexible and make the systems work for me. It’s certainly not the ‘M&S’ of cruising and, like Lidl, the systems are designed to maximise efficiency and minimise costs. In some places the cost savings are inconsequential, in other areas, they stick out. To fully enjoy Arvia, as with many things in life, takes some compromises. It is for the individual to decide whether the cruise value is such that these compromises are worthwhile.