Arcadia Circumnavigation 2015

[IainandMary]

Hi Cruise Community

This is our first post so please excuse any glaringly stupid questions which may follow. We are seriously considering the Arcadia World cruise departing Jan 2015 but our experience to date has been two 15/16 night adventures on Oriana and of course this one is for something like 106 nights.

I have read on various forums (this one included) about cancelled ports of call, oversubscribed excursions, problems with visas, burst/leaking pipes, disgruntled passengers, issues on going ashore and much more. I have not however seen very many reviews extolling the more positive aspects of what life might be like on board, over a relatively long time, in a relatively confined space, with largely the same group of passengers.

I am hoping that some folks on this forum might be able to enlighten us as to the reality of 3 months at sea. We are old enough and wise enough to realise that the brochure images do not tell the whole story and that P&O, like most cruise companies, will gloss over the more contentious aspects of what our experience will be.

Are we for instance 'stuck' with the same companions for dinner every night ( our companions may well ask the same thing ) or is there scope to rotate every week or so?

Is it considered acceptable or is it even possible to drop in and out of the formal dinning arrangements (I assume there would be more than one venue for evening meals)

Is it wise to book early or wait?

There seems to be some system on board (which I have never heard of and couldn't understand) regards when one should or shouldn't book excursions. If that sounds vague then, what do Portunus Ladder, Tiers and such like refer to?

There is one very good post on this forum from 'Greenie Mike' which I have downloaded but, he refers at various points to subjects and includes what appear to be reference numbers after each one. What do these mean? Also, he refers to the 'sapphire' section of the trip, again I have no idea what that means.

Finally. there seem to be other options for a world cruise involving Segments which I assume to mean you join a ship for so many days and then stop off somewhere before joining another ship for the next leg to another drop off point etc. This sounds a bit complicated but I wonder if it would be recommended by anyone on the forum.

I am not expecting anybody to bother answering all these questions but if you have an opinion or an experience which you would be happy to share with us I would be very grateful.

regards

Iain & Mary

[Suekersh]

Hi Iain & Mary,

We are joining Arcadia this year for segments of the world cruise. We fly to LA stay 3 days Embark Arcadia for 50 days, disembark in Dubai stay 3 days and fly home. We have done it this way to avoid crossing the Atlantic in January and sailing back through the med in early April.

We have booked freedom dining which means we can choose who we eat with and when.

Mikes post is great for general advice but is a little out if date regarding the loyalty club. No Sapphire any more.

The tiers of the loyalty club depend on how many nights on board so you can move up a tier on segments of the world cruise. As you move up a tier your discount on your trips increases.

However now you can book before you embark the discount is automatically worked out and deducted before you pay. As you have cruised before you will already be a member of the loyalty club.

We booked as soon as the brochure came out to ensure first choices of flights, cabins, dinner sittings etc. there were some getaway deals for between LA and Sydney but not the LA to Dubai segments. We never saw our cruise cheaper than what we paid.

The longest we have cruised previously was for 28 nights which we have done twice. I don't think I have ever been bored on a ship.

The Arcadia has just had a refit so hopefully no leaking pipes etc but this was more a feature of Aurora rather than Arcadia.

The reports we have been getting back from people on the 1st segment of the world cruise have been very positive.


Sue

[david63]

I'll start with the easy one - segments.

World cruise segments are the different "legs" of the cruise such as Dubai to Southampton or Sydney to Hong Kong (these may not be exact for any particular cruise).

Also segments are treated as individual cruises even if you are doing the complete Worldie and you will settle your on-board account at the end of each segment.

You will probably find that your table (some or all) will change on each segment but if not then you can always have a word with the Restaurant Manager and he will be able to sort something out for you. There are several alternative dining venues available - some of which will incur an additional charge.

[Quizzical Bob]

Last year we did the last leg (segment) of the Aurora world cruise from Dubai to Southampton (great cruise, by the way). On a table of 8 there were two couples doing just this leg and two who had been all the way round. In fact, one couple had also done the Christmas cruise which we had also done to the Caribbean and back and had stayed on for the whole world thingy. To be honest I think they were going a bit ship crazy by the end. We found that the ship had a more relaxed feel about it as compared to a normal two or three week trip, I suppose because a lot of people on board had been accustomed to sea days in the tropical sun and were more interested in their bridge classes. There was always plenty of room on the promenade deck, for example.

[GillD46]

Just to say that in 2010, we were on for several legs and were only billed for our on board account at the very end.

We chose to eat in the main dining room about 1/3 of the time, choosing room service, the select dining venues or the buffet on the other nights.

Otherwise I'd agree with most of what has already been said.

[david63]

Just to say that in 2010, we were on for several legs and were only billed for our on board account at the very end.

We chose to eat in the main dining room about 1/3 of the time, choosing room service, the select dining venues or the buffet on the other nights.

Otherwise I'd agree with most of what has already been said.

Was that P&O or Cunard?

[gfwgfw]

Ian and Mary

A very warm welcome to our friendly boards


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We just the once done the first leg of a Worldly

Soton to Peru, with four nights stay in Lima

The sojourn was truly magical

BUT

I have to admit that 35 nights away from our rural Dorset was a bridge too far, the much beloved and I were seriously home sick, how sad is that ?

Our many future cruises were max 10 nighters

Kindly

Graham

[GillD46]

Just to say that in 2010, we were on for several legs and were only billed for our on board account at the very end.

We chose to eat in the main dining room about 1/3 of the time, choosing room service, the select dining venues or the buffet on the other nights.

Otherwise I'd agree with most of what has already been said.

Was that P&O or Cunard?

P&O.

[emjay45]

Hi Iain and Mary
We were on the Aurora World Cruise last year. Previous to that we had only had a 21 night and a 16 night cruise. Like you I was worried how I would cope with 105 nights on board ship. There was no need to worry as it simply flew by.
We only missed one port which was Bora Bora and each passenger received £100 OBC compensation and of course a refund for the excursions booked. There were 800 passengers doing the whole cruise, so there were many changes of passengers who were only doing the sectors. So you don’t actually feel that you are stuck with the same people although you do start to recognise lots of familiar faces after a while ,but that was quite pleasant we found. We got to know people quite well, also the members of staff. It’s quite a different experience to a shorter cruise.
The water was turned off for essential repairs but probably only about 4 times during the whole cruise and usually you were warned when this would happen. I was worried like you about leaks etc. as I’d read about the Aurora having problems. They were all unfounded as it turned out.
We booked all of our excursions before the cruise. We found on the ship that even if the excursions were fully booked they very often managed to add more people to a particular excursion. The only time it was a good thing to have booked early is when it was thought we would have to change plans and stop for repairs in Auckland for 2 nights and miss Napier and Wellington. All the excursions were cancelled in those 2 ports. However,when things reverted back to the original itinerary, certain excursions could not be reinstated. So people desperately tried to book other excursions but priority was given to the people who had originally booked them. This turned out a good thing for us because the excursion we had in Wellington was probably my favourite.
Anyhow if there is absolutely anything I can help you with, please feel free to ask, you can PM me anytime and ask as many questions as you like. I just hope I can answer them.
I'm sure you will have a wonderful time. It doesn't seem a year since we started our Worldie and we hope to enjoy another as soon as we are able.

[david63]

Just to say that in 2010, we were on for several legs and were only billed for our on board account at the very end.

We chose to eat in the main dining room about 1/3 of the time, choosing room service, the select dining venues or the buffet on the other nights.

Otherwise I'd agree with most of what has already been said.

Was that P&O or Cunard?

P&O.

The rules must have changed then because according to the P&O site your on-board account is cleared at the end of each sector

[emjay45]

You are quite right David. We paid our on- board account at the end of each sector.

[GillD46]

Just to say that in 2010, we were on for several legs and were only billed for our on board account at the very end.

We chose to eat in the main dining room about 1/3 of the time, choosing room service, the select dining venues or the buffet on the other nights.

Otherwise I'd agree with most of what has already been said.

Was that P&O or Cunard?

P&O.

The rules must have changed then because according to the P&O site your on-board account is cleared at the end of each sector

We must have just slipped through the net, as we still have the CC bill.

[IainandMary]

Hi to everybody who has been kind enough to post a response and Hi also to those who may yet do so. Unfortunately my office server has been failing to wake up in the morning over the last couple of days so I have only just managed to reconnect with the internet and acknowledge your contributions.

Mary & I will be making notes of the various points that have been made and try to get a better understanding of how things work. If it is ok with you folks, we may well add a few more questions or even make contact with some of you as we start planning things in more detail.

regards

Iain

[Janet-]

Hi Iain and Mary

We were on Arcadia for half of 2013 worldie. We did Southampton to Sydney via South America and could easily have stayed on longer. I have spoken though, to some people who said that on the full world cruise they found the last 2 weeks very slow and felt they were just waiting to go home.
One thing to consider on a cruise of this length is your house insurance as all companies limit the time you can leave your home unoccupied.
P&Os own web site has a wealth of info, and is well worth having a look
We have booked Arcadia 2015 Southampton to Sydney so may see you on board.

[CatCuddler]

Hi Iain, have just read your post (only just found this site lol!), and feel I can help a bit - especially as we are booked on the 2015 Arcadia Worldie! Hooray!

We did the whole world trip on Aurora in 2012, which was supposed to be a one-off, but we loved it so much we're doing it again while we're still fit enough to enjoy it (we're 58 and 63 respectively). There are definitely advantages to doing the whole trip as opposed to just one or two sectors, you really are treated as special. We had several problems on our voyage, but as the captain said to us one night "in six months time you'll be laughing about all this" - and he was exactly right. And to be fair, the highs more than outweighed the lows.

As far as dining goes, we were told by someone beforehand that we'd be the only couple on our table of eight doing the whole trip, but this proved not to be the case: we all went the whole way round. We all became really good friends in the three months and have since met up a few times since. And it didn't feel like we were 'stuck' with the same people all the time, as more often than not at least one couple would be eating somewhere away from the MDR. We made a point, though, of all trying to be there on the formal nights, but with 22 of those altogether, even that plan fell down on occasion!

I would really say "go for it", and I look forward to spending 100+ days in your company in the New Year! In the meantime, you might like to read the book my husband wrote about the trip, but rather than just 'advertising' it here, send me a message and I'll let you have the title (it's in paperback or on Kindle).

CC