Cruise Passengers’ Christmas Day Ruined on New P&O Ship

From big traces for Christmas dinner to WiFi connection points and IT issues, Arvia‘s maiden voyage is one which P&O Cruises will wish to neglect in a rush. 

The latest Excel-class cruise ship, which was solely handed over by the shipyard in mid-December, may be state-of-the-art, however P&O Cruises ought to have taken a bit extra time to get programs operational. 

Arvia‘s Maiden Voyage Ruined for Some Guests

Sailing on a maiden voyage onboard a brand new cruise ship is at all times a hit-or-miss state of affairs. Sometimes cruise traces hit the nail on the top and get every little thing proper, however typically issues don’t precisely go as deliberate. 

Arvia‘s maiden voyage falls squarely into the second state of affairs. On December 16, Arvia was formally handed over by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, to UK-based P&O Cruises. The 180,000 gross tons cruise ship is the sister ship to Iona, additionally crusing for P&O, and ships akin to Carnival Celebration, Mardi Gras, and Costa Toscana. 

As one of many final Excel-class cruise ships to be constructed for mother or father firm Carnival Corporation, hundreds of visitors thought the vessel’s maiden voyage can be the best place to have fun Christmas 2022. Arvia set sail from Southampton within the UK on December 23 with hundreds of visitors onboard.

However, in response to studies from the BBC and The Times, the ship has been tormented by horrible web connections, IT issues with digital queuing and making reservations, and, to prime all of it off, hours of ready to have dinner on Christmas Day. One passenger informed the BBC the queue for eating stretched for three-quarters of the ship’s size on December 25. 

A spokesperson for P&O Cruises informed The Times: “We are so sorry for those guests affected by the IT and connectivity issues on Arvia’s current cruise, which caused dining issues and restaurant delays for a proportion of guests on Christmas Day. This service was certainly not up to our usual high standards, and we wholeheartedly apologize.”

Images shared on social media present a whole bunch of visitors queuing in hallways to have the ability to have dinner. Although the vessel has 19 choices for eating, the Christmas Day dinner in one of many 4 eating rooms was at all times going to be busy. World-famous chef Marco Pierre White has designed the menu, and British visitors do take pleasure in a sit-down Christmas meal. 

Is the Cruise Line at Fault?

As we talked about, crusing on a maiden voyage can at all times deliver some issues. However, the difficulty shouldn’t be with paying visitors. P&O Cruises has determined to launch the vessel throughout a Christmas cruise. Any maiden voyage is one the place the restaurant workers, cooks, and new programs are at all times going to be put to the take a look at. 

Being a Christmas cruise the place most visitors may be anticipated to come back to the principle eating rooms, P&O Cruises ought to have been effectively ready. WiFi ought to have been absolutely arrange and examined effectively prematurely of the maiden voyage however was not, in response to some visitors.

Luckily, Arvia‘s maiden voyage shouldn’t be but completed, so the cruise line has the prospect to make it as much as visitors affected by the problems. The vessel will likely be in Arrecife within the Canary Islands on December 30. From there, the ship will sail to Cadiz in Spain and Lisbon, Portugal. The cruise will finish on January 6 in Southampton, England.