Western Mediterranean P&O Food Hero Olly Smith cruise from Southampton, 27 September 2026 (13 nights)

Nice cruise for the money. Boat was at full capacity therefore lots of queuing for everything. Crew were stretched. Only got to see one show as all others fully booked. Booking system for included restaurants were always fully booked. We learnt that they would give you a buzzer when a table was free ,and we only had to wait max half an hour.

The Arvia is gorgeous. I only have MSC Virtuosa to compare to, but I much prefer the understated elegance of the Arvia to the shiny bling of waaaaay too much chrome and too many mirrors and Swarovski crystals everywhere you look. Some people are dazzled and delighted by that sort of thing, I know, but it exhausted me. Might be a touch of the 'tism! By contrast, the Arvia was very tastefully decorated, with more natural-seeming materials, satin finishes and beautiful fabric textures. These choices make the spaces feel luxurious, but very comfortable. I also loved how the ship was laid out. It doesn't feel like you're trapped in a floating shopping mall, which is how the MSC Virtuosa felt to me. I don't cruise for "luxury shopping" opportunities, so I appreciate that the shops full of booze and perfumes and handbags and designer sunglasses, etc. are sort of tucked out of the way and can be avoided if you wish. Our favourite spots were the Beachcomber Bar (adults only) and the Crow's Nest, but there were SO MANY nice areas where you could spend your time, whether you wanted to pretend you were alone aboard the ship (plenty of quiet spots for that) or if you enjoy people-watching or being adjacent to the party/holiday vibe (plenty of that, too). We noted the wide variety of options for hanging out with your friends and family all over the place, from the quiet and peaceful, to the lively and fun, from the warm and sunny to the cool and shaded. Something for everyone. We never had any problems finding spaces to enjoy. We even managed to enjoy one of the whirlpools all to ourselves one morning, as there was absolutely no one else about at 8am! For a ship that holds so many people, there were many tmes when it felt like we had it all to ourselves, which was very pleasantly surprising. The cabin was also lovely. Well appointed, plenty of storage, good size bathroom and spacious shower (again with plenty of storage). The bed was very comfortable, although next time I would probably try to pack my own pillow as the abundant super-soft and squishy ones are no good for me. The attendant (Rocy) was superb at his job and kept the place clean and tidy and well supplied, with no fuss. We had a balcony cabin and it was very nice indeed. Roomy enough and not overlooked. We never closed the curtains at all, so we went to sleep with the view and woke up with it, too. Fantastic to watch the late summer sunset from bed. Service was generally very good and most of the crew seemed genuinely content in their jobs. Servers were always professional and sometimes offered some good-natured banter here and there. I especially noticed the ones who went around with beaming smiles on their faces, as I know from experience that hospitality and food service work can be a slog (and nothing to smile about some days). And there were extra nice touches here and there, like the first time we went to the MDR for breakfast. We were there at opening and the crew member who seated us took us all the way through the restaurant to give us THE best table for two, right at the window overlooking the ship's wake. Such a pleasant way to wake up and really feel like you're on holiday! But that leads me to my main criticism of the Arvia, which is the quality of the food. I think this is probably my only serious criticism, actually, but it's a significant part of the experience, so it counts for a lot in my book. The food on the buffet was mostly okay. I would give it a 5/10 on its own, just for the variety available. There were loads of options for just about every taste, including vegetarian, low-cal / low-sugar options, hot or cold food, etc. There was always plenty of it. For breakfast, you could always get fresh fruit, yoghurt, granola, etc. as well as other cereal and toast, rolls, croissants, etc. , but there were always loads of hot cooked options, as well. Plenty of eggs (scrambled or fried), sausages, black pudding, beans, mushrooms, etc. That would have been fantastic, except that the scrambled eggs were really unpleasant to eat due to the way they were cooked (very, very wet, but also really finely mashed up, so it was like eating squidgy, flavourless baby food or something). Ugh. Fine, fair enough, I'll try the fried eggs instead. But those things were truly awful, mainly because they are way overcooked and then sat in grease under a heat lamp. The black pudding I tried was rock-hard and tasteless, too. I understand they are cooking for nearly 6000 people, so they have to push out large amounts of food all at once, so it is sitting there when the herd shows up, but that means the buffet breakfast cooked food was not great. Lunches and dinners were along the same lines, in terms of variety and quality. Always loads of options to choose from, so you could surely find something to your taste; however, the flavour just wasn't there in most of the things I tried. It was either just "okay" or so bad I didn't finish it (and I hate to waste food). I found I much preferred getting lunch from the Quays, especially from Fusion, as they had some delicious rice-based dishes like Thai green curry with prawns that I could have eaten every day if it were offered. The salads were also very good, if you like that sort of thing. I tried lots of interesting and unusual combinations, including a "spicy pineapple" salad that I may try to replicate at home. To be honest, I didn't expect much from the buffet, but I was really disappointed in some of the "included" restaurants we tried, and SERIOUSLY disappointed in the specialty restaurants we paid extra for. Of the "included" options, we tried 6th Street Diner for brunch and the Olive Grove for dinner. The 6th St. Diner brunch was terrible. We left food on the plate and then cancelled our plans to have dinner there the next day. I had been looking forward to that one, and maybe the dinner would have been better, but the brunch food was (a) very limited and (b) not tasty. My husband was particularly annoyed by the so-called "hash brown potatoes" which were just recycled roast potatoes from elsewhere, by the looks of them. Anyway, never mind. We'll enjoy the Olive Grove, surely? But no. Turns out that, on the Arvia, the Olive Grove SOMETIMES SERVES AS AN EXTRA 'MAIN DINING ROOM' SPACE -- so we went there expecting a Mediterranean-style meal and wound up eating roast chicken breast with peas and carrots or something like that, because they happened to be serving the MDR menu that night. One of our travelling companions later looked it up and found the fine print that warned us about that, which we unfortunately didn't notice before our cruise. Duly noted. Okay, now we come to specialty dining, which we paid extra for in advance, and which was not cheap. We tried the Keel & Cow, Beach House, and Sindhu. Of the three, only Sindhu was good (and it was very good). We really enjoyed the meal at Sindhu, as we went for the "little bit of everything" option, which cost a wee bit more on top of the initial extra charge, but was totally worth it. Food was flavourful and fresh, and plenty of it. Top marks. Keel and Cow, on the other hand, will never see us again and neither will Beach House. We were keen to try the much-praised "Prime Minister" burger, as we don't eat a lot of burgers normally and we were looking forward to the indulgence. All the reviews we'd seen beforehand made it sound like a surefire winner. But wow, was it ever disappointing. Small. Dry. Flavourless. Absolutely NOT the "best burger at sea". I have had better burgers at Wetherspoons! And one of our companion travellers tried a burger from the poolside quick-service "Taste 360" venue and said it was miles better than the Prime Minister. Also, P&O if you are reading this, please ditch the ubiquitous "skinny fries" that you're serving with everything. They were always cold and completely pointless. I guess you saved me some calories? But let's have some proper chips, please! Beach House was the worst and it was perhaps the one I was most certain I would love. I was excited to try the Caribbean seafood basket but when it arrived, I was truly dismayed. The crab cakes were about the size of a ten-pence piece. The fish fingers or goujons or whatever they were were TERRIBLE. Basically rock-hard over-fried (maybe thrice fried!??) and nearly blackened batter with nothing inside, because they had been so far overcooked the fish within had just withered up? I don't know. They were inedible. I ate 3 or 4 similarly over-cooked and completely flavourless fried prawns and left the rest on the plate. My dinner companions were similarly disappointed in their food at the Beach House, but agreed mine was the worst. I didn't return it to the kitchen, but on reflection perhaps I should have done. We wound up going to the Quays afterwards to get something decent to eat. So, I've given 2 stars for "dining" overall because there ARE options and there's plenty of variety in each dining area. I gained 4 lbs, so I didn't starve! Although that was probably mostly from drinking sugary cocktails, to be fair. Speaking of cocktails, I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking and any two drinks would ordinarily see me getting a bit woozy. But I had FIVE pina coladas on the first full day of cruising and felt absolutely nothing at all. Zilch. Nada. They were delicious, but I have my doubts about the amount of alcohol in them. I will save myself some money next time and just enjoy the alcohol-free mocktails instead. All of that said, I think the Arvia is a lovely ship and we are already booked to go on the Iona next year to see the Norwegian fjords. I'm looking forward to it, but I definitely will not be booking any specialty dining this time.

I found the ship very clean as was the cabin. The facilities on board were plentiful.

The Arvia is a lovely ship, crew work really hard. Gala night makes us all feel special. The only tip I would give is this ship is really, really busy during school holidays. Everything from meals to shows have to be pre booked.