P&O Cruises UK passengers left livid after their sea vacation was "ruined" by Christmas Day "disaster".
Passengers on the maiden voyage of P&O's Arvia ship said their Christmas voyage had been ruined due to delays with food, booking mix-ups/overbookings, and lack of connectivity.
The ship's Master (Captain Robert Camby) apologized via the PA system for the problems during the voyage, including booking errors, long waits to eat, and poor Wi-Fi.
While saying sorry to passengers on Tuesday, December 27th, he placed the blame for the problems on “IT and connectivity issues”.
Issues reported by customers (on social media platforms) and by some major British media outlets online included booking errors (mixed up or missing dinner reservations), long queues at both the Reception Desk and the restaurants (reportedly, hundreds queuing in the hallways during dinner time) and food delays (~2-2,5 hours), poor quality WiFi and lack of Internet and TV programming, cabin entry issues (some of the staterooms' keypads in the hallways fell off), laundromat floodings (due to leakages from the washing machines).
Arvia's main attraction is the "SkyDome" - an indoor pool deck fitted with a retractable roof, an infinity pool and an obstacle course.
The liner is currently on a 14-day "Canary Islands New Year Cruise" roundtrip from Southampton England.
For more Arvia incidents and accidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.