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P&O Cruises

MV Adonia

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Julie Barr
# previous cruises: 11 to 20
Date of Trip: July 18, 2003
Itinerary: Mediterranean

While there were some good aspects of this cruise I could not in all good conscience recommend it to anyone. The staff are not among the friendliest I have met, the ship feels crowded and there are constant queues for absolutely everything. The food is mediocre and the logistics and arrangements poor. This is a young ship and may improve with age and experience. I would suggest you leave booking for her until she matures.

The public areas are well appointed in terms of decoration and upholstery but lacked true decorative style.

The main atrium which was the focus for much of the activity could have been attractive but for the constant clutter. The ship had "art auctions" virtually every day which meant that there were dubious "works of art" displayed in every available area and surface. You could not walk more than a few feet without tripping over them.

Add to this the fact that main shopping area in the atrium had tables along the corridor selling a jumble of items each day and the whole area felt like a cross between a shopping mall and a church jumble sale.

The Captain’s Cocktail Party was held in this area and had no atmosphere as among the guests in their evening clothes were seated those who had just come down from the pool decks for a snack. There is no main venue, which can accommodate this type of event and it frankly lacked any elegance.

At night the public areas reeked of cigarette smoke. I could not sit in all that jazz as, in spite of seating segregation the smoke wafted across. You had to walk through this fog to get to the Limelight theatre. There was a similar smoke issue in Razzamataz and the Casino. The Champagne bar was thankfully free of this and was a very pleasant place to sit and watch the world go by through the day or at night. The selection of beverages here was also very good.

Easy like Sunday on the top deck was a pleasant and relaxing venue with comfortable chairs and a little Zen stone Garden.

The Promenade deck went around the ship was equipped with quoits and shuffleboard. A nice area in the open air.

In the pool area P & O have come up with a new game, hunt the sunbed. The lack of beds really bad and many had towels and books reserving them. While there were polite notices requesting that passengers did not do this nothing was done to stop it. In the afternoon (whether at sea or in port) it was difficult to walk around this area, as there were literally wall-to-wall beds. This definitely needs addressed and it was extremely annoying. If you are one of those people who like sunbathing get up early and be prepared to sit there all day to secure a bed.

Given previous experiences on cruise ships of a similar rating and cost the food was extremely average, with one or two high points and definite lows.

We tended to breakfast in the main restaurant, as there was a rugby scrum upstairs for tables at the buffet each and every morning. The shortage of tables for any of the buffet events was unacceptable. Breakfast consisted of the usual fruit juices; flakes, fruit and a good grill range (sausage, bacon, eggs, tomatoes etc) and pastries. Each day there was one additional "special" such as eggs Benedict or devilled kidneys.

In my experience on other ships one does not have to wait for a special to get eggs Benedict or a salmon and cream cheese bagel (this is on ships rated both above and below Adonia). On Adonia there was no deviation from the menu so if you did not happen to like a mixed grill for every breakfast that was just unfortunate. Even on the days where specials were offered it was clear from the reaction of the staff that this order was an irritation.

My husband ordered pancakes and maple syrup, hardly a major culinary effort for the kitchen. The pancakes came but the syrup did not. By the time the syrup came the pancakes were stone frozen cold. There are other examples but this was indicative of the service at breakfast, which was slow.

Lunch offered a variety depending on the day. The speciality buffets were a delight for example Neptune's which offered a wide variety of seafood or the Tapas day, which gave an authentic flavour of this type of meal. There was however the perennial problem of obtaining a table and that was after standing in a lengthy queue. Queues were my pet hate on this ship, as there was a queue for everything, they even tried to sell you goods while you were a captive audience in the line, which was frankly tacky. I will touch on this later.

At dinner the starters were the high point of each meal as they were light and imaginative.

The main courses sounded good from the description on the menu but were generally stodgy and disappointing with the odd exception. Basically there were two or three meat choices, which consisted of pork, chicken. lamb or beef in some sort of thin sauce with some veg and potatoes on the side. The odd quail and lobster was thrown in for good measure. The fish dishes were a better choice as they were well prepared and presented and I have to say that the vegetarian choices were actually excellent so I stuck to them after the first couple of meals. They were attractive and full of flavour, I am not a vegetarian but I enjoyed these choices as a better option than the meat dishes. If you are a confirmed carnivore then you will be disappointed.

Again the kitchen lacked even basic flexibility. Having thoroughly enjoyed the seafood buffet at lunch I only wanted a light dinner so asked for a salad for my main course. The menu stated, “A selection of cold cuts and salads are available on request” so I did not feel that I was inconveniencing anyone. I asked what salads were available and was told a green salad, that was it, a green salad – no Cesaer or Avocado or Waldorf – green salad. The “selection of salad” was some lettuce, three small tomatoes, 3 slices of beetroot and a spoonful of coleslaw.

The pudding were a mixed bag ranging from a delicious baked peach with meringue topping to a syrup pudding which could have been used as a hockey puck. There was no consistency.

My husband has a sweet tooth and was disappointed by this. He was however far more disappointed in the “Chocolate Buffet”. The line for this event snaked half way round the ship, the fact that there would be a queue was highlighted in the Adonia today so staff were aware that most people are closet chocoholics. Did they do anything to alleviate this, no they did not. There was the ubiquitous hard sell and drone of “boxes of chocolates only £7 a box”, while people waited.

And a the end was there chocolate utopia, did the taste buds dance with delight, was one astounded by the range and selection. No one was definitely not! There was a range of chocolate cakes, which looked like Mr Kippling had made them, the cream tasted artificial, and at the end some chocolate bread and butter pudding. At other chocolate buffets I have attended there are, well, chocolates!! A ration of one chocolate was given to each of the waiting throng. There was no melted chocolate vats to dip fruit or mallow into, no champagne truffles in short no imagination and precious little chocolate.

In my opinion this whole event was a massive waste of time, and I was not alone in that opinion on the ship. Trust me its not worth the effort of waiting for.

In terms of service the waiting staff in the evening were very pleasant and efficient. At breakfast and lunch they were a lot less pleasant or accommodating. We spoke to quite a number of people who felt the same about this, many of whom have travelled with numerous different cruise lines.

The cabin was perfectly adequate. The space in the bathroom was fine with a full size shower and hand basin. The hanging and drawer space was pretty generous. There was the usual safe, fridge, kettle and tea making facilities.

The in cabin entertainment, which we only watched on one evening when the ship was being tossed around like a cork in the Bay of Biscay, was good. I don't tend to be in my cabin a lot but it was there if you wanted it.

We did not suffer any noise in our cabin but anyone on the end of decks near the Atrium must have been frequently annoyed by the band which played there.

The entertainment in the evening was good with a range of shows for all tastes. The in house company was not the best I have seen with one member well off key, this was so bad it was actually entertaining, their dancing was better.

The guest acts were excellent and there were also classical recitals, which I enjoyed.

As with everywhere else on the ship there was a shortage of space and an issue with seating in the main lounge and theatre. This made both feel cramped.

The facilities such and as the health club and pool could not be faulted.

The organised activities were only as good as the person who ran them. We went to a flower making demonstration which was really good fun. We also went to join in a bowling game, the member of staff came late, said there was no prize as we were in port so there was no point in her organising games and left two old gentlemen in possession of the bowls. They proceeded to have a full-length game and no one else got near the green. The member of staff would not know this as she went after about 3 minutes.

The port stops were a fiasco on this trip as a result of a number of delays. (There was a problem with the luggage at Southampton which resulted in all of the luggage being late and many pieces going onto the other ship which was in port that day. The two ships had to meet mid sea to pass baggage back and forth. They still did not get it right and this caused further delays at departure in Lisbon).

The ship was late into every Port of call. At Vigo this meant that morning trips had to be cancelled, with little apology. Instead of an interesting trip we were left to wander round a frankly dingy little port town.

At Lisbon we left late because of the luggage issue.

At La Rochelle we arrived late. This meant that all the taxis which has come for the 8am arrival had left. There was therefore a massive scrum for the courtesy coaches as there was no alternative available if a trip had not been booked.

This was a beautiful town but time was limited for those on early dinner by yet another delay. Many of the older guests gave up and returned to the ship.

We arrived late again in St Peter Port and then had to wait and wait and wait for a tender into the town. While tenders can cause some delay again in my experience this was longer than normal.

This ship is childfree which I thought I would enjoy, however because it is child free it seems to attract a very much older customer base, people in their late 60s, 70s and 80s. While I have no difficulty in meeting and mixing with any age group, I found the number of people who were considerably older than me a little overpowering.

The atmosphere on board was stayed for my taste. There were few activities round the pool and very little music, when there was something there were constant grumbles that the peace and quiet was being disturbed. You can't please all of the people!

This also reflected in the tours and on the tender where many needed preferential seating and took extra time to get on and off the coach.

This may have been specific to this trip but it would be worth asking before booking if you are a younger person.

Careful accountants should go on this trip, as they seemed to make numerous mistakes on quite a number of cabin accounts with both credits and debits. Staff were less than apologetic when this was pointed out by (another) queue of people at reception.