We have one previous cruise under our belt – a week in the Med on Azura which we enjoyed so much that we booked this one whilst on board.
BIG MISTAKE.
If this had been our first cruise, it would probably have been our last.
Where to start? Here goes…
Service: The ship is huge with 5200 passengers.
Bigger in this instance does not mean better.
There aren’t enough staff to cope.
I waited 25 minutes to be served a beer in the bar, which is not good by any stretch.
I quite understood other passengers griping, but not the language and behaviour that they used in doing so.
We ate in the Epicurean restaurant once and had to wait an hour between starter and main course.
More on that under “Food”.
We chatted with an Indian couple who were unimpressed with Sindhu after they were rudely denied extra Chilli to make their food a little less bland to their palate.
Our cabin steward wasn’t able or didn’t want or couldn’t be bothered, to bring us fresh milk daily.
Cabin 9310: Good size especially the bathroom.
Bathroom was spotlessly clean but did get whiffy if the steward didn’t come in every day and use chemicals in the toilet.
Shower pressure great.
Living space in cabin was less clean with dust on shelves, hairball alongside one of the bed legs, what seemed like a full set of nail clippings on the carpet and the balcony, and finally, an escaped Cadbury’s chocolate Eclair under the bed, which incidentally is too close to the wardrobes making it difficult to access them.
Our cabin was on Deck 9, set back and above Deck 8 which is the Promenade Deck.
This is a misnomer.
It is actually a massive annexation of the Lido Deck (which we try to avoid because it’s not our thing) full of sunbeds/recliner chairs and it gets very busy on sea days.
Busy means noisy, and I can’t repeat some of the shouted, expletive laden conversations I had the misfortune to hear from folk in the infinity whirlpool bath directly below our cabin.
The whirlpools are noisy and people in them can’t hear themselves talking.
Sadly everyone above them can! If only our cabin had an infinity view of the horizon instead of having to look at and hear what we did.
Truly some horrible people on board.
In truth the balcony was unusable and a waste of (a lot of) money.
We made friends with a couple who had a sea view cabin on Deck 5, under the Promenade Deck.
They had unobstructed views, didn’t have to see/hear other awful passengers and clearly got the better deal.
Food: I’ve seen this described in another review as somewhere between school dinners and mediocre.
It’s definitely the latter in the buffet style restaurants, which is where thankfully the loud, foul mouthed, whirlpool using, beer/cocktail swilling patrons choose to eat.
They are more comfortable there.
Overheard whirpool conversation: “We’re tekkin our lasses to Zenith restaurant toneet.
It’s rait posh, with table cloths and stuff and if they try to put that cleaning gel stuff on your hands, tell ’em you’ve already done it”.
Shoot me now.
Choice of food in the buffet was poor and it was mostly served luke warm.
We ate in the restaurants and didn’the speciality ones as well.
Biggest let down was Epicurean, which we had most looked forward to after missing out on it on Azura.
This is definitely a style over substance venue.
Poor veggie options but wife opted for the Cheese Souffle.
An hour after our starters, we were presented with mains.
My fillet steak was melt in the mouth gorgeous, however the Cheese Souffle was raw.
They had clearly struggled in preparing one, which was why it had taken so long to bring out.
I wonder how many went in the bin? The Amuse Bouche was not nice and the palate cleanser gin & tonic sorbet was just pure sugar.
To be fair, the problem with our meal was dealt with swiftly and we only paid one cover.
The biggest revelation was Green & Co, the veggi/sushi venue.
Service and food was excellent and it was presented in a perfectly timed manner.
Wish we’d found it sooner and eaten there more often.
Entertainment: Very hit and miss.
Some good, some less so.
One show in particular (The Sky’s The Limit?) was just unintelligible.
All however were ear-splitingly loud.
Turn it down a couple of notches.
Less is more.
Ports of call: All the port disembarkation points want the traveller’s cash.
Full of tourist tatt shops, overpriced jewellery shops apparently offering you a great deal plus extras, but in actual fact they’re not.
I don’t need to say any more on that.
You get the picture.
Why oh why The Dominican Republic was on the itinerary I cannot fathom, other than the fact that P&O might have an interest in the godawful resort which looks fairly new, built at the side of where the ship berths.
It’s got a huge swimming pool and bars where people can drink even more and shops where they can spend even more and speakers pumping out music so loudly, that they can deafen themselves even more so that they have to shout loudly when back on board ship.
I’m forgetting though that P&O seem to think volume directly relates to the amount of fun people are having.
No it doesn’t!
Our excursion to Santo Domingo old town was described something like, “Relax as we drive you through stunning tropical scenery to the site of the New World’s first city…”
The reality was, being bussed for 90 minutes, on an overheated clapped out coach, with a couple of inconsiderate fellow passengers coughing their lungs up without face covering (yes, I have Covid whilst writing this) past fields of sugar cane on litter strewn roads to somewhere that doesn’t have much to offer.
To be fair it’s a work in progress.
Literally.
We couldn’t hear a word the museum guide said to us because of the work going on around the place.
We walked the 50 yards or so of the short shopping street full of tourist tatt and protected by the Tourist Police in about 15 minutes.
We gave the scenic choo choo train complete with police escort a miss, and sat down in the shade (and view of tourist protecting police officer) to waste an hour before the awful journey back.
£160 gone, just like that.
Dominican Republic – never again.
Barbados, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Maarten spot on with some great things to see and do.
Tortola less so.
I could go on, but in Summary: Arvia tries, but fails to be all things to all people.
It is too big to provide the service and standards that should be received when cruising.
Arvia has been designed to be more accessible to more people and therefore make more money.
This has been achieved by hugely increasing the number of cheaper cabins.
Those cabins attract a clientele who have a proclivity to drink, gamble, swear and fight.
There was even a fall out in the launderette after someone had their washing removed from a machine after it had finished.
The person removing it quite rightly wanted to use the washer which had a timer on it, but the other person thought they could just come back to it whenever they wanted and stuff everyone else.
There were 17 people removed from the cruise for disorderly conduct.
We floated around on the water for two days going absolutely nowhere, but during that time the tills in the bars and shops were ringing.
The Casino slots were being fed and the cash was being raked away from the punters at the card tables.
The shops are not good value even though they are tax free.
I was in the market for a good watch but found it cheaper back home in the UK.
I somehow think the Captain himself recognises the ships shortcomings.
It got somewhat embarrassing to hear him say desperately over the tannoy on more than one occasion that, “You are receiving first class service aboard this vessel from crew and staff and you should, if asked in a survey, award 9 or 10/10 because anything below is only average.”
You might be the Captain, but Sir, please don’t tell me what I should do.
I am struggling to give this ship and average of 5 and would rate the whole experience 4/10.
If this is the future of cruising with P&O I shall be looking elsewhere.