14 Nights Mediterranean - Spain And France Cruise

Wonderful experience

We had a wonderful time onboard Ariva. Although it's a large ship, it never felt crowded. We never queued for anything for more than a few minutes, the virtual queues on the My Holiday App are really good. We ate in the main dining rooms mostly, but also enjoyed Green & Co, Sindhu, 6th Street Diner, and Olive Grove - all were excellent with plenty of choices (I'm a vegetarian). The food was always delicious. Service was great, all the crew were friendly and helpful. Enjoyed variety of entertainment including theatre, live music, quizzes, comedian. Particularly recommend a night in the Limelight Club (we saw Chesney Hawkes who was great). Also enjoyed the Club House (never had a problem getting served by the waiters there). We were in cabin which had an extra large balcony. Our steward was great, the cabin was clean and modern. We flew to/from Barbados with Tui - had a great experience there - embarking and disembarking was really simple and easy. Had a great time in the Caribbean, including several P&O organised excursions. This is our third P&O Cruise holiday (also been on Iona and Ventura) and we have had a fantastic experience each time.

Wonderful.

I'm not by nature a complainer, and seeing some of the reviews of this ship have surprised me. 'No turn down service' you are adults for heavens sake! This was our second P&O cruise, and as with the first the flights, transfers and embarkation were spot on. No lengthy queues or unnecessary admin. We has a 3-4 hour wait for luggage but to be fair they are lugging hundreds of cases from the plane to the ship. Cabin. We booked a balcony and were given a free upgrade to a deluxe at the front of the ship. The cabin was large and well equipped, the steward Ricky kept it clean and he was polite, friendly and helpful. Plenty of space in the wardrobes, comfy bed and a really good selection of films on the TV. Not that we spent too much time in the cabin to watch them. As previously mentioned (and seen in critiques of the ship) no turn down service but as a pair of grown adults we coped remarkably well without this outdated and unnecessary service. Dining. We didn't eat in the restaurant (not that this was our intention) but we found the informality of the buffet and the Quays far easier. The Quays - chip shop, asian fusion and carvery was fabulous. Battered Haddock was fresh and tasty, and the carvery meats were tender, juicy and full of flavour. These might not be for everyone but the speed of service suited our holiday plans. We did look at some of the specialised restaurants and the menus looked really good and inexpensive, maybe next time. Entertainment. The only black mark. The headliners theatre felt small and poorly planned, anyone tall in front of you and you can forget seeing the stage. I'm 6ft but couldn't see above the chap in front of me who wasn't particularly tall. The Take That musical was, in my opinion, awful. The story was generic and the general idea of having the group (not the real Take That of course) singing to the characters just didn't work. Interesting idea, but should have stopped as just an idea. The acting was really poor not helped by the insipid cliched characters and bland dialogue. That said the music and singing was terrific and the choreography enjoyable. The Crystal bar was a lovely room and we played bingo there one night. The first night there was a comedian on. Most of his jokes seemed to come from The Comedians (70's stand up TV show). Seriously most of the jokes were so old they had walking sticks. Then he finished the act playing drums...... Apparently he did an adult late night act later in the week, but we didn't see anything to encourage us to go back to see him again. Another night there were three male singers, although they were very good the sound system was too loud at the back and the heavy bass removed the quality of their voices and harmonies. They appeared three times on the same night and sang the same songs each time! It's not hard to learn new songs surely? We never saw the entertainment manager, and the entertainment team, what little we saw of them, had the talent, enthusiasm and personalities of wet fish with one exception, I think he was called Dave, late twenties with a beard, was very good, he knew how to entertain and keep an audience interested. The rest could certainly learn from him and you wonder where the young talent from our holidays camps has gone? The band was average, typical Butlins/Pontins cabaret backing. OK but not terribly entertaining. We were so disappointed with the entertainment that we were not tempted to part with £42 to see Ray Quinn, The headliner apparently. From speaking to other passengers we made the right decision there. On the last night in Barbados there was a Barbadian night in the sundome, this was really good, strong singers, great band and dancers in carnival costume. We enjoyed that. Overall the entertainment was far better on Azura last year. We expected that Arvia would be even better but sadly that was not the case. Staff The bar staff seem to work in teams on or off in turn during the day, we found one of the teams at our favourite bar in the sun dome brilliant, really friendly, welcoming us each day and really looking after us. We tipped them individually at the end of the week and were happy to do so. The second team provided a good bar service but did so without the smiles and hospitality of the first. In general all the staff on the ship were great. In general the bars are all pretty good and service was quick with a great choice of drinks (particularly beers for me). I found Brodies to be far too big, much like a large Weatherspoons, busy with an unfriendly atmosphere and the same people siting at the bar each night And there seemed to be a quiz on every time we stepped in there whether it was morning, afternoon or evening. Cinema was a surprise but nice to have with three small screens and a good choice of films over the week. I only used it once and found it very comfortable. Entertainment aside we had a great time, loved the ship, the staff and the food. It is highly likely that we will be booking the same ship for next year.

Ignore the reviews go on with a open mind

After reading a lot of negativity about arvia we went on with open minds, boarding was super efficient, on the ship within 15 mins of arrival at terminal , visited muster station and have a Yorkshire pudding wrap in quays before waiting for cabins to be ready. All in all ship looked well, however it does have a few areas that need looking at, these came apparent during our cruise. Access on decks 16\17 are confusing where on certain parts of 17 you have to go down to 16 then back up to 17 to access certain areas. Also headliners theatre on deck 7 to access it you have to walk through brodies and the casino ,when people leaving theatre at end of shows have to pass through these areas. Dining areas in keel and cow and glass house need a bit of privacy from passengers walk throughs. In our opinion just these areas need tweaking. Sunbed available on every sea day where ever we were on shift, especially looking from balcony on prom deck. As we all know cruising has changed from pre covid so things will never return to them days and when you sit and think the world has changed since then. So all in all of you are going on Arvia go on with open mind, as with all cruises 95% of the problems on ship are your fellow passengers. Passengers who think it's acceptable to racially abused crew members and telling staff not to get off in Southampton "as they won't get back on" o r telling them " they were arriving in posh boat as suppose to channel dinghies" . If you want to see the worse in your fellow passengers please visit the Horizon buffet , pigs in a pig sty would be a more accurate description. Piling plates with food with the sole intention of not eating anything but just to stop someone behind you from having any , throwing food in the floor, reusing cups and glasses , and the biggest one filling water bottles at buffet machine. Port days sees the arrival of the enormous Tupperware boxes which are filled to the brim and judging by the bins on land most were just emptied ashore. I believe about 35 % of food on a ship is wasted and the buffet probably accounts for about 90%. Dining in board has changed from the old days less choice but we never during the cruise struggled to find anything to eat on any day. The old faults of sleeping in bars and inside venues in sea days( if you want a sleep please use your cabin) and on port days blocking thegangways to get off the ship before the announcement that they are open still exist. Topping up mixer drinks bought in bars with"bottled water" still exist also. As you can see the ship is ok it's your fellow passengers that's the real problems !!!!.