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In February 2024 we flew out to join P&O Cruises Arvia in Antigua. This was a 7 night cruise calling at St. Kitts, Martinique, St. Lucia and Barbados. We’ve cruised frequently with P&O, but Arvia was the only ship we hadn’t managed to sail on yet so we were excited to experience her for the first time. Would Arvia live up to our expectations? After our experience on Aurora over new year, P&O had a lot of making up to do in our eyes, would Arvia help them to redeem themselves?
You can find out all of the detail of what we got up to on this cruise over on our YouTube channel.
Embarkation/Flights
As we booked this cruise quite late we had no flight options, so we flew from Gatwick Airport with Maleth Aero. Gatwick is probably one of our least favourite airport options through no fault of its own, its just in an awkward location for us. We had seen and heard a lot about Maleth Aero before our flight too, so we were dreading it. We organised ourselves and made sure that we had charged our electronic devices as there was no in flight entertainment. We also took plenty of drinks and a meal deal onboard with us. It was disappointing that we had to do that and isn’t the way you would expect to start your holiday but we did know what we were getting ourselves into when we booked. We were impressed with the staff but found the flight very uncomfortable and the plane was definitely not suitable for a long haul flight. Once we landed in Antigua we were frustrated to be stuck on the plane for an extra hour due to the fact that there were no coaches waiting to take us to the port. The actual embarkation process onto the ship was very quick and efficient.
Muster
We had had a cabin change after our boarding passes were printed which meant our muster station also changed. Normally on a P&O cruise you are directed to your muster station as soon as you arrive on the ship, but we had to go to our cabin first to find out where our muster station was. You then simply head to your muster station and have your cruise card scanned. Later on there was a ship wide announcement detailing all of the important muster information, but we didn’t need to attend our muster station for this. There is also a video that should be watched on your cabin TV explaining the ships safety information. We think this type of muster is simple, effective and is a great way to convey the required information. You can also refer to the video at any point during your cruise if you want to.
Accommodation
Arvia’s cabins are well appointed and modern. We were in cabin 4441, which is an inside cabin on deck 4. We found this cabin to be quiet and well located especially for disembarking at ports. The storage, as expected in an inside cabin is quite limited but we managed well with it. Something to be aware of is there are no drawers on Arvia so we use packing cubes which makes storing small items of clothing so much easier. We found the cabin to be quite dark even with all of the lights on, however this means you can have a great sleep in there!
The Ships Condition
As is to be expected, Arvia is in a great condition. She isn’t showing any signs of wear and tear yet and is clearly being very well maintained. We witnessed maintenance work whilst we were onboard and we also saw some fast reactions to minor damage.
We like the decor on Arvia and appreciate the small touches that have been put into place to differentiate it from Iona, including the gold in the Grand Atrium.
The Atmosphere
We were surprised to find that there weren’t many late nights onboard Arvia in the Caribbean. We got the impression that on this type of cruise most people were early to bed and early to rise. There was a fantastic friendly atmosphere onboard and we definitely got the impression that most people were enjoying themselves.
This cruise was pretty much sold out, and we think that Arvia coped with the volume of people well. There were only a few occasions where we had to hunt for seats in venues, but we still always managed to find one where we wanted to. We aren’t sun worshippers so didn’t join the early morning sun bed scrap, but when we headed out later in the day we were able to find some, especially at the Beachcomber Pool area which was designated as adult only for this cruise and in shadier parts of the ship which suited us.
Onboard Service
There were no surprises for us with the service that we received onboard Arvia, it was friendly and efficient. The majority of time we found it easy to order drinks with only a couple of occasions where the wait was longer due to the business of the bar. Sometimes we had to wait for tables in dining venues at peak times. This was exacerbated by the My Holiday page showing full queues almost constantly for some venues meaning that we had to go to them to request a table rather than join the virtual queue. Once we requested them we were usually seated straight away, the only venue which was different to this was the keel and cow where the wait was long for our table and then long for our food which we were pre warned about.
The Food
We did our best to try out as many of the food options as we could, but as we were only onboard for a week we didn’t get to try everything. Highlights for us were the Keel & Cow, beach house and Limelight. We both agree that we prefer Iona’s Olive Grove over Arvia’s, but still enjoyed our meal in there. Lizzy enjoyed 6th Street Diner, but Laura wasn’t as big of a fan due to the fact she ordered items that she clearly wouldn’t like 😂.
We didn’t eat in the Glass house on Arvia as we aren’t massively keen on the menu and prefer the menu that is available on the older ships in the fleet.
Drinks/Drinks Package
We had some on board credit for this cruise so decided to treat ourselves to the Deluxe Drinks Package. At the time of our cruise this was priced at £54.99 per person per day and as we wanted to spend our OBC on it, we weren’t able to take advantage of the 10% discount that you get if you pre book via cruise personaliser.
We like the deluxe package as it gives us a wider range of drinks to choose from and Lizzy likes being able to order a large glass of wine. We find that the drinks package on a P&O cruise usually represents good value for us, this cruise was a bit different though. Lizzy probably got her moneys worth out of it, but Laura definitely didn’t due to the fact that she was ill.
We’ve had the old ultimate drinks package before which is more like the classic drinks package. When we are Iona this summer, we will probably have the classic drinks package so make sure you’re subscribed to see how we get on with that.
Entertainment
Because of the size of the ship there is a good range of entertainment available on Arvia. The Headliner’s Theatre company were a very talented cast and we enjoyed all of their performances. We particularly enjoyed The Greatest Day musical which we had been really looking forward to seeing.
There were also some great shows in the SkyDome that we enjoyed watching. One event that was a bit of a miss was Schhh. It was very poorly attended which meant the atmosphere was flat and it just didn’t seem like people really ‘got it’. It’s a shame for the performers as we really enjoyed watching their rehearsal and they are clearly very talented.
Guest entertainers were also enjoyable to watch and we really enjoyed the opportunity to watch Rachel Hawnt again as she is very likeable and talented. Laura also really enjoyed Tommy J, who was a comedy juggler and was probably aimed more towards the families onboard
We also found that there was a lot of music around and enjoyed the chance to listen to some Caribbean music while on board from Phoenix, the band and some pop music by pulse. The performers in the 710 were very gifted and we really enjoyed our night in there!
Ports
This was our first Caribbean cruise so we hadn’t visited any of the ports on this itinerary before. Before the cruise we were both particularly excited about visiting St. Lucia and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, as Laura wasn’t well during this cruise we didn’t manage to venture too far afield in any of the ports, but we did enjoy all of them. We were lucky enough to be in Martinique on the day of their carnival, which was a fantastic experience. We enjoyed the hustle and bustle of Bridgetown In Barbados and the stunning views of the sea as we walked along the seafront. In st kitts we weren’t a massive fan of the monkeys but we enjoyed looking around the port shops.
Disembarkation
One of the best things about booking a fly cruise with P&O is that you stay on the ship until you need to travel to the airport. We were able to enjoy breakfast and lunch on disembarkation day and still use our drinks package which we thought was great. The transfer to the airport was quick, but we did feel we probably could have stayed on the ship for an extra hour as we were in the airport for a long time, and our coach transfer actually left before another earlier flights. The flight home was once again with controversial airline Maleth Aero and while there was a small delay we were soon in the air and flying home. Once again the flight was uncomfortable and we would not plane a long haul flight in this airlines
Value for money
We paid £1049 per person for this week long cruise in the Caribbean including flights and transfers during February half term. We have never seen a school holidays Caribbean cruise so well priced and we suspect this was due to the Maleth Aero flight issues. When you consider that the flights and transfers were included in this cost we think that this represented excellent value for money. Usually, we are put off a week long Caribbean cruise because the cost can only be as little as £50 more for a two week Caribbean cruise, but on this occasion this was not the case.
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