Thursday 29th December – Tuesday 3rd January

We haven’t cruised since the pandemic. When ships did begin sailing again they were very restricted – masks everywhere unless you were drinking or eating; no independant port visits – understandable, but it wasn’t for us. Things have improved so we’re giving it a try.

Thursday 29th December

A day or two before the cruise we received a message saying the ship had had an outbreak of Norovirus on the previous cruise – an easily spread and really not very nice stomach bug. We were asked to turn up later than planned while they cleaned/disinfected the ship top to bottom. Not a good start!

For the first time we are travelling on P&O’s Arcadia. She came into service in 2005, weighs 83,781 tons and can carry 2,094 guests and 866 crew.

The first change since Covid was to be sent immediately to your muster point, before going to your stateroom, thus avoiding the usual in-person safety briefing and mass donning of life jackets – you are simply required to watch the video in your stateroom.

For the first time we had pre-purchased a ‘drinks package’ …….. never again! It’s very restricting and the administration/queuing on the first day to get your card loaded with your package …….. well!

The card does 3 jobs, identification for boarding/disembarking; payment, with or without a drinks package; and the key to your stateroom. Husband had 3 cards during the cruise because either the money or the door failed to work; I had 2 cards, one because they couldn’t cope with a hyphenated name; and that was just us. We felt for the Reception Desk who had to sort it all.

After unpacking we made our way to the on-deck Sailaway Party around 6.00pm – hardly anyone was on deck (it was a bit rainy) – also we didn’t actually sail for another 2 hours, so a rather damp squib!

The Christmas decorations around the ship were very attractive.

Friday 30th December

A day at sea. Normally, we love a day at sea – there’s lots going on, if you want to join in, or perhaps simply find a nice, shady spot somewhere on deck with your headphones and knitting. Today it was pretty windy/rainy and all activities were inside! It looked a bit choppy out there in the North Sea, but it felt pretty smooth.

Normally, dinner on a cruise ship is a highlight for us, sitting on a large table and meeting new people. This time, even though we were on ‘Freedom Dining’ – turn up any time – the paperwork asked that we download P&O’s ‘My Holiday’ app and book a table slot. I tried in the morning, nope. I tried in the afternoon, nope. Eventually, we dressed for dinner and approached the restaurant desk – it was obvious straight away that something wasn’t right. I mentioned the app, the guy just rolled his eyes …. ignore that he said …….. just join the queue!

I think on the first night we queued for 45 minutes. One night we queued for over an hour. No information, no reason given, no management available.

Once we got seated at a table it became clear that P&O had dispensed with wine waiters and the remaining waiters were attempting to do both jobs ……. at a run.

The drinks package rules are such that you can only order wine by the glass and you can only order another glass after 15 minutes. One can understand the reasoning, but some flexibility during dinner would surely be best for the passenger and the waiter.

My second drink came half-way through my main course, not the right wine but at least the right colour; Husband’s second drink came only when we refused to have the cheese course served until the drink was delivered – awful service – but absolutely not the waiters’ fault.

Saturday 31st December

This morning’s port is Hamburg, Germany; we have never been before. We used the free shuttle service to take us into the city. It was pretty rainy and Hamburg’s buildings are dark and heavy adding to a rather bleak atmosphere.

Husband and I are both struggling with Google Map Brain / our own logic. Whenever we start towards a destination, we are always going the wrong way and have to re-trace our steps. After a couple of attempts while the rain poured down, plus dodging around some closed pavements due to roadworks, we arrived at our destination, the art gallery Hamburger Kunsthalle https://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/en.

Our troubles were not over, we simply could not find the entrance – we could see people inside but were at a loss as to how to join them. For future reference, the entrance is in the old building, not the new building, and it is hidden by the raised platform. By the time we got inside, deposited our wet coats and found a coffee, stress levels were extremely high!

Husband and I are planning an Interrail trip in 2023 and Hamburg will be an inter-change for a sleeper train, so we walked to the station to familiarise ourselves.

Continuing our walk …….. in the rain …….. we made our way to the Speicherstadt area and a popular photo stop. A good illustration of the ‘heavy’ buildings.

Whilst still struggling with Google Map Brain and without a proper plan, we eventually found our way to the Elbphilharmonie https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/ a really interesting building on the riverside containing concert halls, viewing platforms, bars, cafés and a posh hotel. The roof is very exciting.

We were pretty wet, the queue to get in appeared long and we (wrongly) assumed expensive, so we gave the inside a miss this time. (We visited in April during our Interrail trip, the queue moved fast, entrance is free, it has the longest escalator and is amazing!)

Making our way back to the City Hall and the shuttle pick-up, we travelled on the elevated metro, which goes underground. Again our logic was missing as we struggled to buy tickets from a machine and then went up a huge staircase only to find we were on the wrong platform. It was déjà vu Google Map Brain!

After the first day, the ship doesn’t make announcements directly into the staterooms, so when the ‘bing bong’ went off we thought the ship might be sinking! No, just that Norovirus is back and new protocols will be in place. Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands!

The ship is staying at its berth in Hamburg overnight and the New Year evening programme kicked into action. We queued for our dinner, this time in black tie and posh frock, so that made a change! However, the queue was jolly and we had a really nice evening with interesting people.

There were midnight drinks, live music and a party atmosphere on deck, with a 360° view of fireworks all over Hamburg.

Sunday 1st January

An early morning departure from Hamburg for a day at sea. There is no photographic evidence of this day so I can only imagine we slept through it or did very little!

I do remember trying to get a cup of tea / breakfast at the buffet under the new Norovirus protocols. I picked up a cup …. no …. the member of staff cannot take the cup from you, he must get a new cup and you have to call out instructions from a distance as to how much water, milk and sugar you would like. At the counter you are no longer allowed to touch the tongs for sausages etc, a member of staff has to do it for you. It’s a nightmare for the passengers but way more so for the staff. Tomorrow we’ll avoid the tongs and eat breakfast in the restaurant.

Monday 2nd January

Today is Bruges or Brugge, Belgium. We’ve been several times before so weren’t over-keen, especially given the rain, but we had booked a half-day ‘on your own’ tour where you are simply dropped off in the city centre and picked up later.

We actually had a really pleasant time just wandering, having coffee and waffles at Brasserie Tompouce on Burg Square https://www.tompoucebrugge.be.

A few views of Bruges.

I may not have mentioned …….. there was some rain!!

Returning to Brasserie Tompouce place later, we had some Belgian frites with mayonnaise; Husband had a big Leffe Blonde beer while I had small Leffe Ruby beer.

All around the ship are people lifting fully decorated Christmas trees into giant boxes and winding up metres of garlands with lights!! They are never getting rid of the bits of red glitter though; they’re simply everywhere!! Wherever do P&O store 7 ships’ worth of Christmas decorations until next year?!

Our last night on board and we dumped the disastrous drinks package so Husband could have his favourite dry martini cocktail.

Standard procedure is to pack and put your big suitcases outside your stateroom for collection before midnight to aid the unloading process in the morning.

Having emptied the wardrobe I then had to tie up the coathangers with a scarf to stop them swinging/clattering with the (slight) motion of the ship during the night!

Tuesday 3rd January

The horror of going away on holiday, coming home and finding it’s still Christmas and there are no staff with giant boxes to pack your tree away!!

After a few days I sent an e-mail to P&O’s CEO giving him the benefit of my feedback on the cruise and flagging the many things which were so disappointing.

Earlier in December P&O had launched their new ship, Ariva, and the rumour mill on board Arcadia indicated that all the good staff had been sent to Arvia to make sure her maiden cruises went off without causing any PR issues, leaving other ships short of staff.

Who knows whether the staff shortage, or the alleged over-booking, or the Covid protocols or the Norovirus outbreaks were the cause?!

In addition to the service issues, there were a significant number of cutbacks; some more obvious than others. The lack of a chocolate on my pillow was certainly a disappointment to me! It’s not the cutbacks themselves but that P&O did not communicate their reduced offer.

I actually got a call from a member of the CEO’s office and at least felt that I’d been heard. As well as some explanations, they offered some cash or a higher value in vouchers off a future cruise. I’ve taken the latter and can only hope that next time things will be better.

We would definitely like to cruise the Norwegian Fjords sometime but, that trip aside, Winter cruising is not as appealing to us as being able to eat and drink on deck whilst enjoying magnificent, blue sea views. The effort of putting on coats, hats, gloves, scarves and boots just to go out on deck …. well maybe if there were whales to see in Alaska ….