Thoughts on Arvia

Returned on 1 October from our first cruise on Arvia. The ship is beautiful but if you’ve been on Iona, as we have last year, it’s the same only bigger. The cabins, bars, restaurants, theatre are all the same. My husband thought it was like going to the same hotel two years in succession.

I’ll start with the embarkation which was the smoothest ever. We couldn’t believe how quickly we were on board. We did have to wait quite a while for all our luggage to be delivered. I was getting panicky and had to ring Reception twice!

The cabin was spotlessly clean, with lovely toiletries by The White Company. The bed was wonderful, so comfortable. I think a couple of drawers in the cabin would have been useful. I remember making the same point last year in the Iona review. It was very pleasant to sit on the balcony when we were in warmer climes and very pleasant to be higher up the ship on Deck 12.
All the staff are very helpful and polite and work incredibly hard.
Moving on to the food, we thought this has definitely declined. The food in the main restaurants was very samey with nothing like the variety on our first cruise on Ventura in 2018. There was loads of choice then, and the waiters came round with the cheeseboard every night, unlike nowadays when if you want cheese you have to choose it as a dessert. I thought there were too many vegetarian and vegan options. The restaurants no longer do omelettes as a breakfast choice and I sometimes found the food to be not hot enough. The food on Deck 8 is mostly great. Hook, Line and Vinegar did brilliant fish and chips and you can have omelettes and pancakes there at breakfast time as well as a full English if you want it. The omelettes are freshly made and it’s hot and lovely. There are also lovely desserts for a treat after lunch or in the afternoon.
You can also get filled Yorkshire puddings and Yorkshire pudding wraps on Deck 8. Personally I would avoid these like the plague. They were stone cold. We were ill the next day, can’t prove it was down to them but seems coincidental.
The only evening show we went to was the Take That musical which was very enjoyable, with a very talented cast. We also enjoyed the aerial artistes in the Grand Atrium, they were incredible! I thought the art talks were very interesting too.
The destinations were wonderful, we loved them all and the excursions we went on were all great and very well organised.
Overall, a pleasant and relaxing holiday but with plenty of room for improvement by P and O.