P&O Cruises, Arvia, Eastern Mediterranean Review

Arvia, Eastern Mediterranean

Plus points:
Despite size, very clean in all areas
Particularly pleased with the balcony cabin and storage space. Night light very helpful and useful.
Bathroom small but functional with good shower
Hands-free public lavatory doors - brilliant!
Very friendly and helpful crew
The Captain and Officers were very pleasant and reassuring, we particularly enjoyed Captain's daily broadcast.
Special Coronation meals much appreciated as was the surprise gift.
The Quays.
The Club House
Very interesting and entertaining speaker Ian Murray
Reception staff helpful, friendly and efficient

Minus Points:
Long queues of severely delayed traffic trying to enter port
Forced to join long queue in the cold outside of terminal prior to embarkation
Unable to pre-book dining time for later than 18.30 hrs then having to wait up to 50 minutes upon immediately joining the virtual queue when it opened.
P and O's cutbacks were commented upon by all other regular cruisers we conversed with.
Staffing levels seemed to be too low.
Particularly disappointed with reduced menu choices.
We understand the thinking behind the design of the Atrium but we found it to have a cold and uninviting atmosphere.
710 club always fully booked - one cannot always plan pre-booking prior to embarkation
6th Street Diner cheerful and attractive well presented but poor quality food at lunchtime so did not try again - sad experience.
Our evening meal is very much a part of our holiday which we have always looked forward to in the past, however, the main dining rooms were more like works' canteens - too big and too noisy, some tables positioned in heavy traffic and/or claustrophobic areas, my wife remarked that it was like sitting on the side of a Motorway to eat her dinner - certainly not relaxed and/or peaceful dining. Having said that, the restaurant reception staff did their best to cater for our requirements.
Wanted to eat at the Keel and Cow and Glass House but decided against it as we didn't care for the position on the ship being open to all passers by. The Epicurean was fully booked!
Shopping was an unpleasant experience mainly due to very few items displaying price tags - I assume it was because when the prices were disclosed they were so expensive. Not every guest is interested in buying top-end merchandise - why was there little or no mid- range also the Arvia souvenirs were so outrageously overpriced they were not purchased, we are used to paying a little more than shoreside but you lost sales on principle.
The wine store sold out of many products days before the end of cruise - unbelievably annoying and ridiculous. Half of the store space was unusable due to being taken up with guests' collection of prepaid orders.
Whoever was in charge of procurement should consider their future.
Disembarkation absolute fiasco.
Impossible to use lifts and after waiting over 15 minutes had to use the stairway from deck 14 to deck 8 - painful and difficult.
Staff did not adhere to disembarkation times and kept sending passengers off ship - gangways packed with slow moving guests and the reason was that the baggage reclaim area was over full with people. !5 minutes to find luggage and a 30 minute queue to get to Customs. All in all a potentially dangerous situation with the only priority it seemed was to clear the Arvia of passengers regardless of safety or comfort - disgraceful! It was our worst experience in over 15 cruises.