Arcadia By Adam

Ship - Arcadia
Line - P&O Cruises
Date - 31st October 2009

On Saturday 31st October I embarked on my first cruise with my girlfriend on the child-free P&O ship Arcadia. As soon as I got to Southampton I was impressed with the new Ocean Terminal and the straightforward and easy check in. Looking out of the window at the ship was a marvel for me as she is twice as big as the largest ship I'd been on up to this point (Crystal Symphony).

Once onboard we headed straight to our balcony cabin to unpack. The stateroom itself was lovely though the balcony was a little smaller than expected. After the muster station drill we set sail, waiving our flags and sipping a glass of champagne, listening to the marching band below on the dock. After this we decided to explore the boat and made our way down to F deck where we had a drink in the Rising Sun British style pub before heading back up to change for dinner.

We were on first sitting for dinner which was at 6.30 in the evening and were sat with some very entertaining and enlightening companions. The food, for myself, ranged vastly in quality on this occasion with the best courses being the lamb and lentil broth and main course of Poachers Pie. On the other hand though the starter of melon with forest fruit coulis and the dessert which basically consisted of a pot of chocolate and a biscuit was appallingly bitter and inconsistant in texture.

We decided to skip the Abba tribute in the Palladium on this evening and instead opted for the Halloween party in the Globe bar. There were lots of people dressed up and a good time was had by all. Musicians and DJ's took it in turns to entertain and you were never far away from a waiter who was on hand to bring you your next cocktail. The highlight of the evening, though, was chatting with the legendary Bobby Davro at the bar whilst I was ordering drinks, unaware that he was actually performing the next night! We retired to our cabin at midnight for a glass of wine on our balcony before passing out on the bed until our wake up call at 7.00 the next morning.

Woken up with our continental breakfast as requested by our cabin steward, we sat out on our balcony and watched as we approached Zebrugge, still undecided as to whether we were taking advantage of the ships facilities for the day, heading out into Bruges on our own or participating in one of P&O's organised shore excursions. We opted to do our own thing and took the courtesy shuttle bus and train into Bruges where we had a lovely stroll through the picturesque park towards the city centre. Once there we were fascinated by the vast number of chocolate and sweet shops as well as the abundancy of clothing outlets... most of which were extremely expensive. We knew that we couldn't visit Belgium without sampling the chocolates and spent 15 Euros on a box of assorted deluxe chocolates that you were allowed to pick yourself, a bag of waffles covered in chocolate and a souvinir box for my mum. We certainly weren't dissapointed by the quality and it's easy to see why they're famous for their sweet delicacies. The city square was fantastic, especially seeing the famous belfry in all its glory. We then travelled back to the ship and spent the rest of the day onboard.

Once we were back on Arcadia we headed straight to the Belvedere buffet restaurant as we were more than a little peckish. On offer was moussaka, fish pie, roast pork, lentil and bean hot pot and beef curry, all of which were amazing and a real step up from the food the night before. Also on offer were various cold meats, salads and hot drinks. All in all, a massive selection with something for everyone.

Another couple of glasses of wine followed as we prepared for the gala dinner and got ourselves all suited and booted. At this point the captain made an announcement that the sea would be much more aggressive than normal and we may hear some "loud bangs" during the night and that a large portion of the outside decks would be closed off for safety reasons. He wasn't joking about the roughness of the ocean as we could really feel her moving side to side as we turned into the wind after we'd passed around the south-east of England.

I decided to indulge in a glass of fine port before we ate in the ambient piano bar which had a wonderful atmosphere. We then met up with our dinner guests again and swapped stories about our day before we were presented with an altogether much more successful menu than the previous evening. I started with asparagus accompanied by a duck egg yolk, followed by chicken, beef and pork soup, both of which were delicious. My main course of lamb cutlets, potatoes and veg was something i'd be more than happy to have paid for in any restaurant and the dessert of pear tart tatin with banana and butterscotch ice cream was incredible. The two bottles of wine we had were very crisp and refreshing and as good a chardonnay as i've ever tried.

Following this we ventured to the Palladium to see Bobby Davro perform on stage. Hilarious would be an understatement and it reminded me of exactly why i used to love him as a child...though he was a little ruder than i remembered! Some of his jokes made me cringe on behalf of the elderly people there as they were very crude but everyone seemed to enjoy him.

We then decided to explore some more and visited the emporium, crows nest and piccadilly, as well as having a wander up to see the swimming pools and spa areas. Arcadia is a lovely ship by night and especially when most of the passengers are down in the bars and restaurants and you have the top decks almost to yourself. It was so quiet and peaceful and made you realise what an elegant and beautiful ship she is.

It was a shame to disembark the ship the next morning as we felt we were only just getting to know her in the limited time we had onboard and another day would have been perfect to really get our bearings. Thankfully we didn't have to drag our luggage off the ship as that was taken away the night before ready for us to collect at the port so this made the whole process much easier. On the way back home we reflected on the weekend and can't wait to plan our next cruise together, whether it be on Arcadia or otherwise.

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