The Arvia is a beautiful ship.
Much bigger than I’m used to but it was easy to find our way round and never really felt crowded.
The crew were, in the main, attentive, efficient and friendly, although it was evident that the crew to passenger ratio is lower now and certain services are suffering for that (eg evening turn down service and bar staff circulating the decks).
The food was quite amazing, especially considering the numbers catered for.
Yes, the menus in the main dining rooms and buffet are quite limited but, as there are so many other places you can eat, it wasn’t a problem for us.
The main negative for us was the constant battle to try and get a sunbed – anywhere on the ship.
I know this is a common complaint and, they do try to police it to a degree, but I have never seen it so bad on any other ship in over 40 cruises.
All the beds round all the pools are ‘reserved’ by 7 am on a sunny sea day.
Not reserved by people sitting on them but by towels, clips and maybe a book.
Even those along the port and starboard sides all have towels placed on them but no-one makes an appearance for hours.
I also suspect some people reserve beds on both sides of the ship and then just move according to where the sun is.
It is very frustrating and causes a lot of ill feeling but I really don’t know what the answer is.
Also, another small niggle was that there were no sanitary bags in our cabins and it’s quite embarrassing to have to ask for them.
All that said, we had a fabulous cruise and would be very happy to cruise on Arvia again.