Arcadia J305 short cruise report

[Whynd1]

Just a short report on the above cruise for 12 nights, which called at Lisbon, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Valencia, Almeria and Cadiz.
It rained in LIsbon but after that the weather really picked up and in Valencia, Almeria and Cadiiz the temps reached 36 degrees. Not been to Valencia before and would like to return as it was a very pretty place with the mixture of the old and the new. Really enjoyed the cruise had an aft cabin so was able to take advantage of having breakfast and lunch on the balcony. Food and service in the main dining room was excellent - no complaints what so ever.

Plenty to see and do around the ship from the cooking demonstration by the head chef and the cruise director Christine Noble to the charity tea and cupcake afternoon which raised funds for the Macmillan cancer charity. The evening entertainment on this cruise seemed to me better than the previous 2 cruises on Arcadia. We had a very good singer, two excellent piano players and a violinst who played an electric violin . The headliners performed in 4 shows and this was a new group and it was there first tour and it did show a bit Im sure in the nextfew weeks they will improve.

Overall there seemed to be a much younger age group on this cruise perhaps because it was only 12 nights and the atmosphere seemed more upbeat

Am looking to book again for next spring .

[MicheleW]

Enjoyed your report - we are looking forward to Arcadia again later this year for our 4th cruise on her.

Michele

[sandie3]

Hello Whynd, glad u enjoyed the cruise like we did, the weather was excellent wasn't it...we are just looking at the video film we took, brings back great memories. We had an aft cabin on C deck and it was also good, our cabin steward, Kathy was excellent as were our two waiters in the Meridian. We weren't that keen on the entertainment ourselves, a bit too classical for our taste, but that's just us. We did go and see the singer and the pianists when they did their show together just before they left the ship and we enjoyed it, but were surprised to see people walk out before the end. We,d never seen that before and we were also surprised that the theatre wasn't packed long before the show actually started, with the exception of the headliners, who's shows were full. You're right, it did show that they were a "new" group, but we really enjoyed their shows and were delighted to see there were four brand NEW productions, especially the last one "Killer Queen" featuring music by Queen, we thought that production as a whole was 1st class and they deserved the standing ovation they got. We were a bit disappointed that there wasn't any "after dinner" speakers, in the past we've had people such as Sue Holderness, John Challis, Derek Redmond and a TV sports presenter, who's name I cant remember, but all of them were excellent and very interesting.
Overall, a good cruise and very enjoyable...made even better on our cruise home when two schools of Dolphins swam close by, and then we saw three whales further out. Did you see the flock of Flamingos that flew past the ship just as we were leaving Gibraltar (I think it was)? We don't have any more cruises booked, unusual for us, but we are keeping our options open at the moment.

[oldbluefox]

Thank you Whynd1 and sandie for your reports. I too am sorry that there doesn't appear to be any guest celebrity speakers on P&O cruises nowadays. I presume it's one more of the cutbacks. Interesting to hear about Valencia. The last time we went OH wasn't very well so I stayed onboard with her and we missed it. However it gives us a good excuse for another cruise as it sounds a good port to visit.

[sandie3]

Hello Fox...Valencia was a lovely place. Like you, the 1st time we went there (2 years ago), I too was ill and was confined to the cabin so we missed it, we are really pleased we,ve been back. It was our second "try" at Cadiz...the first cruise couldn't dock due to a storm in the Atlantic, but again, a lovely place to visit as was Almeria. Our guide told us that a lot of the "spaghetti westerns" had been filmed there because of the terrain just outside the town...these included " the good, the bad and the ugly" with Clint Eastwood, or in her words..."the bad, the ugly and the good" lol....also filmed there was the film "Conan the barbarian" and she pointed out the cave they used for it. Very interesting, would like to visit these ports again

[qbman1]

Hello Fox...Valencia was a lovely place. Like you, the 1st time we went there (2 years ago), I too was ill and was confined to the cabin so we missed it, we are really pleased we,ve been back. It was our second "try" at Cadiz...the first cruise couldn't dock due to a storm in the Atlantic, but again, a lovely place to visit as was Almeria. Our guide told us that a lot of the "spaghetti westerns" had been filmed there because of the terrain just outside the town...these included " the good, the bad and the ugly" with Clint Eastwood, or in her words..."the bad, the ugly and the good" lol....also filmed there was the film "Conan the barbarian" and she pointed out the cave they used for it. Very interesting, would like to visit these ports again

We had a land-based holiday at Mojacar, not far from Almeria, a few years back and the road from there to Granada passes right through the desert and you can still see a number of the film sets that were used for the spaghetti westerns. It really is a remote area and does look much like the wild west !

[snag40]

I was on this cruise too. It was our 1st ever cruise and we had no idea what to expect. We LOVED it. Arcadia was a beautiful ship and our cabin was fantastic. We were disappointed with the entertainment as we expected it to be much better. We ended up most nights getting ourselves a drink and relaxing on our balcony watching some of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. But cruising is definitely the way forward for us!

[jacksparrow]

Welcome to the forum snag and pleased that you had a brilliant time on your first ever cruise.

jack

[sandie3]

Hi Snag, welcome to the forum, glad u enjoyed your 1st cruise and the first of many im sure.
Sandie

[oldbluefox]

And it's a welcome from me too to the forum and to the wonderful world of cruising. So pleased to hear you enjoyed your first cruise.

[Suekersh]

Thanks all for reporting. Our favourite ship and can't wait to get back on next February.

Sounds like you all had a great time.

Sue

[sandie3]

Hi Sue, I thought Id sent you a PM, but looks like I didn't lol....we met up with David and Karen onboard, they were staying on to go to Norway, hope they had a good time. Told them about this forum and have sent them the link. Weve not got any more cruises booked at the mo, but Im sure we will sort something out soon.
Hope youre both well.
Sandra