Arcadia Review

The Worst Cruise of My Life

Review for Canary Islands Cruise on Arcadia
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m.mccue@sky.com
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Nov 2014
Cabin: Mini Suite with Balcony and Bath/Shower

Myself and my disabled wife paid £3000 for a twelve night trip aboard Arcadia sailing from Southampton back to Southampton returning on the 9th December 2014. From the outside Arcadia looked great and we were very excited when waiting to board her, our excitement disappeared when we entered our mini suite number Delta 001, it was very tired and dated and there was mildew on the bathroom tiles in the shower. The shower door was very loose which we reported to reception. We unpacked and ventured out to explore the ship and have lunch, we found most of the staff rude surly and unhelpful when you asked for anything and they looked very board. We had our life boat muster drill in the Palladium Theatre on deck three, this was our first view of the theatre and was very impressed by it and looking forward to the shows there. On the first night we were introduced to the entertainment team led by Cruise Director.  The Headliners singing and dance group were fantastic and very hard working.

The dinning room staff were most of the time very surly bordering on rude and we found the menus boring. The best place to eat was East but this cost you £15 per head to eat there. We had a coffee maker in our suite and when we ran out of coffee sacks had a very hard job to get them replaced by the butler service department. Room service was beyond belief, you ordered what you wanted but what you received nearly always was not what you had ordered it was our daily amusement seeing what was delivered to our suite by the staff. The shops on board are very expensive the staff very rude and pushy when dealing with you. What they sell can be bought cheaper on shore and that is what we did most of the time. Other than the head Liners the only act we liked was the comedian his to shows was great the other acts was good on their first show but their second show was not so good and let them down. Most of the time the swimming pools were closed due to the weather conditions in the area that we were in. We do not think that the way Arcadia rolled that the Captain ever deployed the ships stabilizers was this to save fuel for the company we wonder?

We have sailed with P&O on a number of times and this was our worst ever cruise with them and the condition of the ship and the attitude of most of the crew spoilt a rather expensive holiday for us. some of the ports we visited the gangways were way beyond the safety levels of decent laid down for disabled people it took four crew members to get my wife and her wheel chair down the gradient of the gang way safely. We were also disappointed with the television on board you could not track your on board account or order room service yet these were brand new televisions fitted whilst she was docked at Southampton but did not work to their capabilities. The two best ships that P&O have Ventura and Azure are based abroad so if you wish to cruise on them you have to fly out to join them what a shame for us passengers who cannot fly but love these two ships. Our advice to you if you are thinking of going on a cruise on the Arcadia is don't she needs a complete refit or sold on she is to old and dated.

Cabin Review

Mini Suite with Balcony and Bath/Shower

Cabin BD

a waste of money

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