Image of Arcadia

Arcadia

5 of 9 P & O ships

This contemporary new adults only ship provides a British cruise experience in modern surroundings. The spacious public rooms and sea facing glass walled elevators are impressive. Passengers on the Arcadia tend to be older outside of summer holidays and mainly British. When all cabins have double occupancy, the ship provides a space ratio of 43.2 tons per passenger and a crew to passenger ratio of one for every 2.3 passengers. At full capacity the space ratio is 35.6 tons per passenger and the crew ratio is one to 2.7 passengers.

Book a cruise now! 0843 208 0674

GetCruising Logo

40 Reviews

Traveller Rating

  • Excellent
    17
  • Very Good
    14
  • Good
    7
  • Average
    1
  • Poor
    1

Review Overview

  • Cleanliness
  • Entertainment
  • Food
  • Service
CHRISTINA MAYER
17 years 11 months ago
Ship was brilliant
Food brilliant
Staff very helpful. Always there for every need
On Board entertainment excellent. Such good entertainment that if the seas was choppy you forgot about it.
Most definately.
Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: p & o

Recommended
Ian
18 years ago
this is about my 20th cruise on numerous ships over 10 yrs

most of what is said above is true
there was so much hype by p and o it was a real disappointment

big mistake atrium 2 tier only dark and dismal is nothing cant enjoy captains night weithout a good atrium no champagne water fall entertainment staff extremely hardworking especially neil and ally neil organises good sailaway parties trouble is the brits wont particpate except us and several others good pub night unfortunately rising sun pub much too small and lacks dance area as on other ships
globe theatre mega too small only catered mainly for sequence dancers where was the dancing for those of us baby boomers who just like to jig around
we were 4 days at sea and there was little put on unless you paid for it altho good linedancing and latin american dance classes often on at same time tho
food voted by most as was ship in general by others as basic tapioca pudding weak watered down orange small amount of meat sat on pots all the time boring boiled pots
not enough exotic special menus we didnt have a chefs parade either

theatre too samll bad vision for some cirque arcadia props stopped a lot of people seeing part of the show still not as sophisticated as american ships

we were bored in the eve after the show nothing muc;h to do unless you like quizzes disco cramped not enough dance bands pianist dozy

it was the panama cruise and extremly hot no umbrellas or shade had to spend much time inside the ship just enough deck space it seem s for others

cabins impossible to read in bed lights over bed behind pillow too low

not enough cupboards mirrors in bathroom we paid for a larger iside with sette but badly organised most extra space between bathroom and wardrobe leaving just transit area also not enough drawers

very stable ship however travels well we were on top deck and felt nothing

too many things have to be paid for now they just seem to want yr cash no complimentary ices on deck extra for cappucionno pay for talks room service very limited breakfast menu and spa area too many nogo zones leaves little space eg computer area talks area tai chi area this boat needs a real revamp who on earth designed it

we feel we had a 3 star experience

a lot of the food lacks imagaination sounds good on menu but does not arrive a s such bland and lots of dullcombinations seems like hospital food tapioca pudding tasteless stews no fresh pasta or carvery
limited choice good fresh pineapple however and nice cakes at tea time sandwiches rather peculiar fillings tho
lack of24 hr dining one eve only crakers and cheese and a few cakes expected hot pizzas kentucky chicken chinese and indian bits but these seemed only on party nights how were we meant to know reall penny pinchin
next time back to rcl or celebrity or princess
Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: p and o

18 years ago
how do i discribe the arcadia,the arcadia in my opinion is contempory and very modern looking decor.very smooth lines through out the ship, soft lighting which i liked, modern furniture.the small sofas in the piano lounge must have been designed by someone who had a bum the size of an elephant,try and lean back impossible.

my wife lynda found the atrium a massive dissapointment,the "X" factor was not there when boarding the ship in comparison to the oceana,me? not bothered.

we were on deck 7 cabin b10 which were very comfortable,the bathroom had plenty of space bearing in mind my wife & i are small people 5.7 ish.
the shower was superb,plenty of room for your clothes,flat tv screen with some very good films showing.good air conditioning in the cabin.

out on the decks my favourite bar was the crows nest SUPERB you had a better view than the captain,thats where i did my dolphin watch with a pint of beer,very hard work.

the rising sun was lively always something going on there,this was next to the casino.hey i won £16 where did it go yes you are right back in the slot m/c. chasing the big one.

the theatre is very nice had some very good artist on,plus the arcadia group company who were very good.my only problem with the theatre was i kept falling a sleep big dig from the wife.(the sea air)

what about the restaurant, we were on the lower level on the second sitting,food spot on,waiters very friendly the meal was a lovely occasion.
but! the waiters do not entertain you after your meal like they do on the oceana,that needs to change.

overall the i found the ship grows on you throughout your holiday,i liked it. i didnt find it stuffy we met some lovely people and would sail on her again.

THE ITINERARY.

landed around 7-15am acapulco taken straight to the ship allowed to the cabins but had to wait for the cases,not a problem.
cases arrived around 3-0pm in the cabin.(fri)

ACAPULCO.(sat)
exciting,poor and vibrant is what we found,we walked up to the cliff divers,six in our party.i wish i could remember the name of the street that led directly to the divers,roughly over the main rd second left straight up.that walk i would have paid to do you witnessed every thing people living,working outside, selling their produce in houses no bigger than a match box maybe a bit bigger.
cliff divers ok once you have seen them you've seen them know what i mean.
walked back down into the town square it was buzzing there was a local election on everyone doing the conga we sat down for a few beers and took it all in,great.

NICARAGUA"san juan del sur"(tues)
people so freindly not much to see had a walk on the main st. finished up at a beach bar where they sold 1litre bottles of lager and you could sit in rocking chair,we were made. drinks were inexpensive.

COSTA RICA (wed)
again a very laid back day did our own thing a walk round meeting the local people which we all enjoyed.some very nice wood ornaments,which are very cheap along with "t" shirts.
again finished up on a beach bar,chilling taking it all in.

BILBAO(thurs)
stayed over night in port.stayed on ship.

PANAMA CANAL.(thurs)
takes all day the wives got up at 6-0am,we got up a bit later due to the fact we did not come out of the disco till 3-45am,60's & 70's music does not let you go to bed.
the canal was very intresting.worth the wait.

CURACAO(sun)
now we are in the carribean of dutch curacao,out of the port and onto a free ferry where all the shops are.bought some nice golf polo shirts,had to barter so dont forget. a nice walk round.

MAYREAU(tues)
mayreau is a private island,200 live there. p&o set up a bar on the island where you can use your onboard card on the beach how good is that.
there we were on the free sun beds on the beach,blue clear water waiters walking up to you asking you for a drink,heaven. ever tried swimming with a drink in your hand,the waiter encouraged me.

TOBAGO(wed)
again very nice people,had a walk in the botanicle gardens,enjoyed that. then we walked up to the fort up this very steep hill,but the walk was more than worht it,the views were out of this world with the ship anchored in the bay,exotic birds flying around we just sat down and tried to take it all in,wonderful.
as we walked back we stopped at a (wait for it) bar,but surprise ,surprise at the back of the bar was a liitle factory where they made the steel drums sorry pans and carl who made them spent some time with us explaining how he made them of course over a beer,we were paying.

ST. LUCIA(thurs)
in st. lucia we took a minibus taxi 6 of us $15 each on a 2 hour tour,went to the rum factory $2 each taste 12 different rums, wrong move that.every time you stop somewhere you will be approached by "t" shirt sellers or guides.
again enjoyed meeting and talking to the locals,hold your hand out and shake hands it's the way they do things in the caribean.

as you can see we did our own thing when we landed and always had a social drink while talking to the locals,would go back again on the arcadia enjoyed every minute.
Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: p&o

Recommended
Marie And Alan
18 years ago
The flight out to Acapulco from East Midlands was a bad start to our cruise. At the refueling stop at Halifax in Canada we had to remain on the plane, it was scheduled for an hours stop and eventually took one hour and three quarters, due to the fact that the small airport could not cope with four P&O chartered aircraft all landing at approximate the same time.
After leaving Halifax and with three hours more flying time to Acapulco the Captain informed us that because the tiolets were not serviced at Halifax he had no choice but to declare the tiolets closed and the attendants would not be serving any more liquid refreshments, as you can imagine we were not happy bunnies sitting with legs crossed and grim faces for three hours(especially the menfolk).
On arrival at Barbados to make matters even worse we had to wait another hour to disembark due to the aforesaid aircraft all landing at approx the same time and abt 1500 people trying to cram into a tiny airport.
We will not go on a long haul flight again with P&O unless it uses aircraft capable of flying for 10 or 11 hours non stop.
The lay out of Arcadia was a disappointment for the same reasons that disappointed most of other contributers to holiday truths, the biggest one being the dismal Atrium, The cyber centre was very expensive, I also found it greedy of the company to charge for a lot of the talks that were given on board, the last time we cruised with P&O on Oceana (two years ago) most of them were free .
The transit of the Panama canal was great, we were kept informed every inch of the way and it lived up to our expectations

The jewel in the Arcadia's crown was Neil Oliver (the cruise director)he was a pleasure to talk to, so pleasant and always happy.

Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: Bolsover Cruise

Recommended
Lynda Hamblett
18 years ago
Flew from Leeds/Bradford to Acapulco overnight flight Worst part, stopover in Halifax Nova Scotia for refuelling, had to stay on plane for an hour and a half! On arrival at Acapluco (very small airport) had to queue for some time to get out. We were taken straight to ship, received our cabin keys so could leave hand baggage and freshen up, luggage arrived mid afternoon. Was expecting wow factor as we boarded, but was disappointed. Having cruised previously on the Oceana which has a superb atrium, and after reading the hype about Arcadia, felt hugely let down. Much of the decor on board is rather dull, I had expected much more from a brand new ship. Impossible to sit back on sofas in piano bar, as they are very badly designed. In the restaurant the food was very good, and beautifully served by friendly, extremely hard working waiters. We took breakfast and lunch in The Belvedere which also had excellent quality and choice.The cabins were quite spacious, with very comfortable beds, and plenty of storage. The bathroom was a good size and always kept extremely clean. The deck areas were good with plenty of sunloungers. Our favourite bar was the Crowsnest which had superb views. The captains night was held on deck, due to lack of space in any of the indoor areas I feel, and lost out on atmosphere as a reult. Previously on the Oceana it was in the Atrium area, and felt like a really special occasion. There was no waiters/chefs parade in the resaurant either a popular feature on other previous cruises. The itinerary was excellent, Tropical Delights 9-25th March.
Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: P&O

Recommended
A HOBBS
18 years 1 month ago
We were first time cruisers on the Arcadia and on arrival found the bathroom dirty and had to call the steward to have it cleaned, his reasponse was that it was a change over day, so he was very busy!

Our toilet would not flush in the mornings and it took five days of complaining to rectify.(very stressful)

The ship had a funny movement which we understood was caused by it being flat bottomed,and people who were not normally ill felt poorly in only force 6 winds.

We would not go on this ship again.

We must add that the entertainment was 1st class and the fellow passengers we met were fantasic, this compensated for the other problems.

If you sail on this ship, my advise is to get second sitting in the dining room or you will miss the sail away parties as you will be getting ready FOR DINNER.

Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: P&O

John Waller
18 years 2 months ago
Arcadia Review, Cruise J601 Simply Caribbean.

Having just finished our first P&O cruise on Arcadia, after previously cruising on Coral & Island Princess, I offer the following comments and comparisons as our own personal views.

Our first impression of the ship wasn’t too good, the shops had just taken delivery of new stock and the whole Piccadilly area was in chaos with boxes being emptied and shelves restacked. The Palladium had still to be cleaned and was looking very shop soiled and stained with dusty surfaces everywhere, and the whole of the starboard area of deck 3, which was being brightly lit by sunlight, looked shabby with dust in the air, and although some of the previous passengers were still onboard waiting for their flights to be called, this area was quite empty. It did look better later but the general cleanliness of the ship was worse than we experienced with Princess.

As regards the ship design, I can now understand all those negative comments I had read about Arcadia, she is definitely far less glitzy than the Princess ships, and Oceana according to fellow passengers; and her lack of a proper Atrium is a big disappointment. The walkways through the main public decks seem far narrower and the area through the photo gallery gets very congested, probably because they have the photo’s displayed down both sides. In addition she only has one theatre, the Palladium which tends to limit the variety of shows, and even then it’s size is only just comparable with the smaller of the two Princess show lounges, and on exiting the Palladium on deck 3 you have to walk through either the casino or the Rising Sun pub. In fact the layout of both public decks was less than ideal, the shopping area creates another bottleneck, and I thought it pointless to have Intermezzo and the Spinnaker bar next to each other, especially as neither was ever full.

On the plus side the cabins are bigger and the majority have a bath with shower over, which the ladies will probably prefer, but even here the wardrobe space is much less with limited fixed hangers, but your steward will provide extra wire hangers, the safes are tiny and shelf space is barely adequate, but our balcony on E deck was much bigger than we have had on Princess. One other strange quirk is that the bedroom reading lights are just above the pillows and if you want to sit up in bed and read then they are covered, not the best design feature I have ever seen. Contrary to other comments there are plenty of electric sockets above the dressing table, 5 in all, one UK, one European and 3 US, and a razor socket in the bathroom, so if you take a couple of travel plugs and a 2/3 way UK adaptor he can charge his razor and camera battery whilst she uses the hairdryer and curling tongs, and you will still have plenty left over. But here again with only one UK socket and all UK passengers why does P&O use the UK socket for the kettle rather than one of the US ones?

As you would expect the food is first class and the restaurant dining service is friendly and attentive, however I did yearn for the ever present waiter topping up my water and breakfast coffee that comes as standard on American ships, but I did enjoy the genteel way in which my HP sauce was served. The poor design is quite noticeable here; there is only one smallish galley and only one entrance on the port side which has to service the entire restaurant. As a result some waiters have a long way to walk to their serving stations, and most tables are on a route from the galley. After a shaky start we did feel that the Belvedere, self service restaurant, was better than Princess. The seating is more comfortable and it is more spacious, and the choice of food was excellent, however its layout did take time to sink in, but by the end of the cruise you should know where everything is! Of the two alternative restaurants we preferred Arcadian Rhodes; the food in the Orchid was rather too bland for our tastes. In the Restaurant we were on 2nd sitting at 8:30 pm which we found rather late whilst most people on 1st sitting, 6:30 pm seemed to think it too early, on Princess we enjoyed the flexibility of anytime dining, maybe P&O could think about switching sittings half way through a cruise to give a better variety.

We thought the Arcadia theatre troupe was excellent, we went to all the shows and only Bollywood Nights flopped, the rest were very enjoyable. We also enjoyed the variety acts with Martin Daniels probably our favourite, but all of them seemed to go down well
with the British passengers whereas the American acts on Princess are not usually appreciated by British passengers. There were plenty of day time activities, dance classes, table tennis, whist, bingo etc. etc., we didn’t participate much in these activities although my wife went to a couple of the make up and hair care presentations. Quite a number of the courses did have a charge which, according to many regular P&O cruisers, is “another example of the Carnivilsation”.

Unfortunately we did feel that the deck attendants were not as vigilant as on Princess; used glasses and food plates were often left all day and very little attempt was made to keep the sunbathing decks tidy, until they were cleared away after sunset. We also felt that tightly packing the sun beds did not help in keeping the areas tidy since the first thing everyone did was to pull out one or two beds to make themselves a private space. Princess use small tables between every two or three sun beds and this provides enough privacy and avoids spare sun beds littering the rest of the deck.

The cyb@centre is OK but pricey, and you cannot use Wanadoo webmail, so for Wanadoo users ensure you have a list of e-mail addresses with you and prepare to use Mail2web or similar, which is just as convenient but each logon is only specific to ONE e-mail account.

What would be our overall rating for Arcadia, probably 7 or a weak 8, compared with a high 9 for Princess. Would we book an Arcadia cruise again, of course we would if the itinerary or price were right, after all despite any criticisms this is 5 star cruising and a wonderful way to spend a one or two week holiday being pampered and cosseted without a care in the world.

One final point regarding the flights, I now have to agree with all the complainers that the seating is just too cramped, P&O should look at this and charter airlines that offer more space, even if the extra cost has to go on the price. However the direct flights from your local airport with the luggage going straight to your cabin and you going directly off the plane onto a coach cannot be bettered, this is a really big benefit compared with having to fly via Heathrow.


Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: P&O

Recommended
John Baird
18 years 3 months ago
Having been on other P&O ships we were really looking forward to our holiday on the New Arcadia, but what a letdown ! The ship has absolutely no atmosphere, the central atrium which should be the hub of the ship is a dark dingy place with a curtain round it, and there is no flow throughout the public areas of the ship.

The Nightclub looks like it was an afterthought hidden away in a corridor, and it was a big mistake putting the English style pub right next to the Casino.

Having said all of that, the staff were once again superb, and the food excellent, especially Arcadian Rhodes { Gary Rhodes place } and the Orchid THAI restaurant was superb.

The only people we spoke to on the cruise who said they would go back onto the Arcadia were first time cruisers who couln't compare it with any other ships.

Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: P&O

Sue Mynott
18 years 3 months ago
We sailed on this ship twice now, we did a maiden cruise last may then we were on the ship again for christmas.

The ship is lovely the staff are lovely too,but the food and dining room was not so good. we had to wait for one meal 1hr till the main meal was served, when we asked about our meal we were told the kichens can not cope,then the kitchens were too far away.

We were on the ship in May and we had no problems with the meals always on time. The Entertainment was outsatnding, but again at christmas it was not good at all,there was only one star guest on for only one evening in two weeks.

The best night we had was the deck party, it was a shame there was not a lot going on around the ship seeing as it was christmas time and it was our first time away from our family.

We asked the head staff a number of times why was there so may problems in the dining room, we were told they had changed the staff over when we come aboard.

We are booked to go back on the ship this year for two more cruies, we are hoping they have solved the problems in the dining room.



Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: p.o.

Recommended
K Shells
18 years 3 months ago
This was our fourth P&O cruise, and we chose the Acapulco to Barbados route for our holiday. I can only agree with the comments regarding the cramped conditions on the plane - it was absolutely diabolical and no-one should have to put up with this type of flight.
The ship itself was absolutely fantastic, well done to P&O, it is a lovely ship. HOWEVER we found the particular cruise we were on (New Year) particularly stifling with regards to having fun. My husband had the temerity to jump in the empty pool - only once mind - and a group of people behind made really snide comments - we are in our 50s and lead a responsible life, but it seems we were not allowed to let our hair down on this occasion.
Also the sail away parties seemed not as good as previous Oceana etc., I am a petite 5' and couldn't get anywhere near the rails to join in, I was elbowed out of the way on a couple of occasions by the flag-waving majority (any freebies were snapped up by the dozen by people "for the grand-children" - what about leaving some for the other cruisers??) and once the ship had left the dock, everything was packed away in 5 minutes flat - an awful live band (I really missed the Silver Stars steel band, and a few lingering couples but most ran back to their cabins with their "booty" - their suitcases must have been heaving!!
Luckily we met a great couple who made the cruise for us, otherwise it would have been a bit of a let down.
Cleanliness:
Food:
Service:
Entertainment:

Travel operator: Cruise Connections

Recommended

Ask a Question

Got a question? Ask our community of over 1.5 million users.

Post your question

Ship image