Currently the largest ship custom-built specifically for the British market (until P O's new Ventura comes along in April 2008), Arcadia was originally intended to be Cunard's Queen Victoria, and is an example of the new style of "platform" cruise vessel ordered by Carnival Corp. and then allocated (and decorated accordingly) to whichever of its multifarious brands can make best use of it. Because of this, P O diehards may find Arcadia's international style less to their taste than that of more traditionally British P O-style vessels like Oriana; though like all the company's ships, Arcadia scores highly on cleanliness and the kind of smooth running operation that results from the deployment of top notch organizational skills.
And the ship is proving a bit of a ground-breaker for P O Cruises. Together with Artemis (Princess Cruises' former Royal Princess that has switched to the P O fleet), Arcadia is both an adults-only vessel and one of the first in the P O fleet on which -- thanks to its Bermudan registry -- the captain can marry couples while the ship is actually at sea. The first weddings were conducted in May 2006 in the ship's Viceroy Room, which can be adapted as a wedding chapel, and a variety of wedding packages are available comprising the ceremony, photography, flowers (from the ship's own florist's shop) and a range of celebrations from a simple Champagne reception to lunch or dinner in the ship's top restaurant, Arcadian Rhodes, which is run by British TV chef Gary Rhodes.
Arcadia is also pioneering a "New Horizons" program of for-fee special interest classes, lectures and workshops aimed at youngish couples keen to engage in trendy pursuits like attending life coaching classes, nutrition workshops and courses in personal development. The upshot of all these innovations has been the creation of a stylish ship in tune with 21st-century middle class tastes and with enough distinctive features to hold its own in an increasingly competitive cruise market. Arcadia has a few weak spots -- notably the lack of private dining arrangements during breakfast and lunch -- but overall it is an elegant, good quality ship with plenty of facilities and varied activities to keep passengers amused.
As always, P O's British officers score highly on sociability, and the multinational crewmembers, which includes a large proportion of folks from Goa (in the P O tradition), provides very friendly and efficient service. The ship's free-to-use Meridien Restaurant, which spans two decks at the stern of the ship, serves decent quality food in a pleasant but not particularly memorable setting. The highlight of the space is a central circular double stairwell with interesting glass designs set into the ceiling and very pretty glass "orbs on poles" at the bottom.
Lunch menus range from lighter options like ploughman's platters, cold meats and toasted sandwiches, to heartier dishes like beef biryani or lamb's liver and bacon; dinner choices include rack of lamb, wild boar and apple sausages, and salmon en croute. Attractively decorated in sophisticated shades of brown, cream and grey, and featuring eye-catching Oriental-style blinds on its large windows, the Belvedere offers a wide range of foods for casual dining, with a fresh egg and omelette station operating at breakfast, and at lunchtimes, a "Bistro" hot food section backed up by an Oriental counter offering noodles, rice and curries, as well as an Italian eatery with pasta of the day and pizza. Salads are crisp, and there is a fair selection of cold puddings; tea and coffee machines deliver perfectly drinkable beverages.
Fans of P O's traditional curries will enjoy Indian buffets held most evenings in part of the ship's Belvedere buffet on Deck 9. Unfortunately, a lack of smaller tables makes life difficult for those who prefer not to eat with strangers. In fairness, this is partly because older Britons tend to linger too long once they've secured a seat, but even in the more formal Meridien Restaurant, breakfast and lunch can be a nightmare for the gregariously challenged, as waiters cram diners into a limited area forcing them to eat school dinners-style at tables for six, eight or ten.
This is hardly the relaxed, do-as-you-please cruising experience P O claims it is trying to provide, and (from the look of various thunderous faces) I could see it did not go down well with the reserved British. Travelers keen on elegant restaurants will enjoy Arcadia's pretty Orchid Restaurant, a large-windowed, elegant space with black, white, gold and terracotta decor, in which you can enjoy an intimate table for two and good quality Oriental food for 10 GBP a head. An even bigger treat -- for British fans of TV chef Gary Rhodes -- is the chance to sample his menus from 15 GBP per person in the elegant Arcadian Rhodes restaurant.
With its snowy tablecloths, wood-veneered walls and "baronial hall"-style wall decorations, the eatery scores well on both presentation and food. The lamb on caramelized onion tart is particularly good, and refreshingly, you are offered a choice of having it served pink or well cooked according to your taste -- not the chef's. Top marks, too, for affordable wine (in all restaurants), ranging in price from 13.
25 GBP for a bottle of Australian Chardonnay and 16.50 GBP for a sound Rioja, up to 37.95 GBP for a Chateau Prieure-Lichine fourth growth Margaux.
The Orchid Bar, adjacent to the Orchid restaurant on Sky Deck (11), with its warm terracotta, rust, chocolate and cream decor, bamboo bar and long windows is, for my money, the ship's most attractive watering hole. You can enjoy a sundowner there even if you're not dining in the restaurant, and it would make a lovely venue for a reception following a wedding in the Viceroy Room (Deck 10). This is an appropriate setting for nuptials with its soft cream and "old gold" decor, and it has an outdoor area with teak tables and latticed planters for couples who prefer an alfresco celebration.
Next to the Viceroy Room, the Crow's Nest Lounge offers panoramic views, and though it's larger and less intimate than the Orchid, this is to some extent disguised by clever use of dividers. But it only really comes to life later in the evening, when fiercely-contested quizzes are held there around 11 p.m.
Lower down the ship on Prom Deck (3), Cafe Vivo provides a place to meet up and enjoy coffee and cakes for passengers busy bargain hunting in the Piccadilly shopping zone, taking classes in the New Horizons suite (see Entertainment), visiting the library or getting connected at the Cyb@Centre Internet cafe. Unfortunately, its lack of natural light, uncomfortably tall seats and tables and rather drab brown walls don't make it very conducive to relaxation. And while sandwiches and cakes are free, teas and coffees are expensive -- 1.
95 GBP for a large cappuccino and 1.15 GBP for herbal tea. That's far too much for a teabag in hot water.
The Intermezzo Bar near Arcadian Rhodes restaurant on F Deck (2) is a prettier setting for a drink, with stylish deep plum velvet sofas, aubergine chairs, pale walnut veneered walls, and striking red and blue cracked glass panels. The Spinnaker Bar (also on Deck 2 outside the lower level of the Meridien Restaurant) attempts a nautical air, and has a brass ship's bell at its entrance. But though its intricate scale models of old clipper ships and lovely James Naughton seascapes are well worth a look, the bar itself feels oddly bland, a side-effect of the modern trend towards open-plan ship's facilities, which all too often makes bars feel like corridors with seats.
Arcadia's large-windowed library on Promenade Deck (3) incorporates a branch of Waterstone's bookshop and offers a good selection of free-to-use books, talking book CD's and cassettes, and a more limited choice of DVD's and music CD's. The nearby Cyb@Centre has plenty of computers but charges a lot for Internet access; just to get online the first time costs a 1.95 GBP "activation fee," and thereafter pay as you go rates are .
30 GBP per minute. Packages are available (50 minutes for 10.50 GBP and 100 minutes for 16 GBP), but these are still steep enough to make it worth your while to track down an Internet Cafe ashore.
There are 67 suites and mini-suites, 10 grades of outside staterooms and seven of inside accommodation, ranging in size from 170-square-ft. standard cabins to 254-square-ft. balconied accommodations, 384-square-ft.
mini-suites and 516-square-ft. suites (including verandah space). All outside cabins come equipped with small baths and/or showers (insides are shower-only).
Twin or double bed configurations, personal safes, direct-dial telephones, hairdryers, minibars and flat-screen TV's are standard in all levels of accommodation. Tea and coffee making kits are also provided in every cabin; P O charges 1 GBP a head if passengers prefer their morning tea delivered by a cabin steward (unless, of course, if they are in the butler-serviced AC- or AG-grade top suites). Suites and mini-suites also have Jacuzzi baths, separate shower cubicles and DVD players.
In mini-suites and staterooms without butlers, there are plans to charge 2 GBP for a Continental breakfast (suspended on my cruise as details had not been included in the year's brochure). A fairly substantial room service menu is available from 11 a.m.
to 11 p.m., and prices range from 1 GBP for soup, salad or pate, to 1.
75 GBP for salmon gravlax. Main course options cost 2 GBP per portion and include farfalle chicken pasta, salad nicoise, burgers and sandwiches; puddings cost 1 GBP and cheese or fruit platters 1.25 GBP.
A smaller range of dishes, such as omelettes at 1.50 GBP or croque monsieurs at 2 GBP, are available from 11 p.m.
to 7 a.m. Minibar prices are the same as in bars; 2.
05 GBP for a Becks beer, 2.55 GBP for a 25 cl bottle of wine and .75 GBP for a small can of soft drink.
Crisps (potato ships for our U.S. audience) and nuts are also supplied at .
80 GBP and .90 GBP, respectively. I stayed in mini-suite B085 on Bermuda Deck.
It was a roomy, elegant accommodation decorated in shades of cream, blue and gold, with beech-effect laminate furnishings, a large twin-to-queen bed with duvet, and a substantial balcony large enough for two wooden steamer chairs, two sit-ups and a teak table. A large umbrella, binoculars, cozy cotton dressing gowns and slippers were supplied along with a flat-screen TV and DVD/CD player. There was plenty of storage (three double wardrobes, plus 14 drawers including bedside cabinets).
An iron, board and trouser press were also provided, together with the standard hairdryer (U.K. plug) and tea/coffee maker.
Nice touches were a small window above the desk in the main cabin, a well-stocked magazine rack and, in the bathroom, full sized his 'n' hers Molton Brown toiletry sets -- a real treat. Overall, though, the mini-suites are cozy and very comfortable. Arcadia's innovative New Horizons program is a collection of three rooms in which guest lecturers offer 5 GBP per person, per session courses on subjects ranging from digital photography and nutrition to personal development and wine appreciation.
Those who prefer more traditional cruise entertainment will find plenty to amuse them in the Palladium Theatre, which spans the stern end of Decks 2 and 3. This forum stages musical cruise shows like "Knights of Rock and Roll," "The Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber" and "Best of the West End." Classical music recitals and jazz/big band concerts are also offered here, in the Crow's Nest or in The Globe cabaret theatre.
Devotees of coarse alternative comedy may enjoy the late-night comic in The Globe cabaret space (sited -- appropriately enough -- on F Deck), but I found the material surprisingly blue for a cruise ship, and -- more unforgivably -- not particularly funny. Arcadia also has an enormous casino, and offers karaoke sessions in the Rising Sun Pub for those who enjoy that sort of thing (if you like pubs but prefer to drink in peace, there is a small cozy area just outside). There are also the inevitable art auctions; and shopaholics are well served by the Piccadilly shopping area on Deck 3, which offers the usual logo goods, scents, jewelry and cosmetics, as well as designer swimwear, Fossil bags and Frank Usher evening wear (from 153 GBP for a sparkly top).
Shore excursion options on my sailing from London (Southampton) to Spain, Madeira and the Canary Islands ranged from a 15 GBP per person walking tour of Cadiz to 42 GBP for a tram ride around the Old Quarter of Lisbon, followed by a sherry and cake tasting. The most expensive available was a 46 GBP per person "Tapas in Tenerife" coach tour from Santa Cruz, taking in the Arafo mountain range and Mount Teide in the south and the Esperanza Forest to the north before visiting a wine museum for tapas and a wine tasting. In fairness, passengers were not pressured to join shore trips; the cruise featured a very informative port lecturer who gave lots of tips for go-it-aloners, and sensible maps and port information were provided.
The Oasis Spa on Lido Deck has a large gymnasium overlooking Arcadia's prow, and with 10 treadmills, four bikes, three rowers and four cross-trainers, there is enough equipment to minimize waiting times. At the other end of this deck is the Aquarius Pool, with two whirlpools and substantial sunbathing space. Just outside the Oasis Spa is the glass-roofed Neptune Pool, a roomy but oddly charmless facility with rather stark blue and cream decor, and, despite the fact that it has a bar, the air of a public bath.
However, it provides a large enough pool for a decent workout and two free saunas, and from 10 GBP per person, you can spend up to two hours wallowing in the hydrotherapy pool, aromatic steam rooms, heated loungers and scented showers of a very attractive Thermal Suite. (Use of this gets cheaper the more often you go; a cruise pass for a daily session costs 60 GBP on a 14-night cruise). As ever, spa health and beauty treatments are priced at roughly 1 GBP a minute or more (though even at these rates, Arcadia remains less expensive than some of the big cruise ships).
Facials cost from 55 GBP, massages from 60 GBP, while a "Palm Ritual" (otherwise known as a manicure) costs 30 GBP and a "Cloud Walking Ritual" (ditto a pedicure) is 40 GBP. There are also charges for Pilates and Yoga classes (5 GBP a session), though aerobics, Legs, Bums Tums classes remain free, and there are some complimentary lectures on nutrition. For 29 GBP, yummy mummies can make like Gwyneth Paltrow at the ship's small "Diversions" Kinesis gym on Sundeck (10), which works on a system of stretchwires and pulleys; T'ai Chi, Yoga and dance classes are held in The Retreat, a large white-curtained space also on Deck 10.
Golf lessons are also available up at the golf nets, for 15 GBP a session.
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