All about our next cruise on P&O Arcadia

June 17, 2019July 1, 2019 Cruise Monkeys

In just over a month, we are off on a bucket list cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, Iceland and Ireland on P&O Arcadia. Having waited a year for it we are beyond excited that its now just weeks away.

The Ship

Our home for this 14-night cruise will be the P&O Arcadia. Exclusively for adults, Arcadia is a Vista Class ship with a capacity of 2,094 guests, 866 crew and weighs in at 83,781 Tons.

Our last cruise on Arcadia back in 2015 on a mini cruise to Belgium, yes, a ‘party cruise’ as they are dubbed by many. And what a party, there were 10 of us as it was our official engagement party! So that makes Aurora the ship we got engaged on, Arcadia the one we celebrated on and Britannia the one we honeymooned on. P&O fans much?!

We are slightly apprehensive that we may be the youngest on board this cruise being in our early to mid-30’s, but we won’t let that worry us too much – after all we will be taking out the drinks package so will no doubt find our own fun ?

You won’t find water slides, ropes courses or surf machines on this ship (or any P&O ships for that matter), we are expecting total relaxation and even though we have busy days planned for most of the port days – we have lots (6) sea days to relax.

The cabin assigned to us is an Inside on the forward section of the ship – an upgrade from a guarantee ‘lowest of the low’ grades we originally booked. Good result!

One of the reasons we love cruising is for the food and Arcadia features two speciality dining venues which we will be sure to try:

Sindhu – “In opulent surrounds, savour authentic Indian cuisine with a British twist”
Ocean Grill – “Classic grill menu using the finest ingredients, given the Marco Pierre White twist”

We really are looking forward to this cruise, continue reading to find out where we will be visiting what we’ll be getting up to.

The Destination – Norway, Iceland & Ireland

Olden

After 2 days at sea, our first port of call will be the small port of Olden, which is popular for those wanting to take a look at the Briksdal Glacier. This will be our second visit to this stunning little village and this time we are looking at going to the Loen Skylift, weather dependant.

Åndalsnes

Our second port will be Åndalsnes and at this port we plan to hike up to the Rampestreken view point. If you have viewed our Britannia video, you may recognise it, but as we are suckers for punishment we are going to do it again and are hoping we get some fair weather as the views are absolutely stunning.

Akureyri

After a day at sea we arrive at our first Icelandic port, Akureyri. We have a full day of touring planned here that will take us to Lake Mývatn and Goðafoss (The Waterfall of The Gods).

Isafjordur

Our second port in Iceland and somewhere we are hoping to do a whale watching tour. Akureyri is supposed to be the best place for this, but we wanted to do the land-based tour there, so we are hoping we can find a whale watching tour from Isafjordur instead.

Reykjavik

We are in port overnight – so on the first day we are heading off to do a Golden Circle tour where we will see the Faxi and Gulfoss waterfalls, Geysir geothermal area and the Þingvellir national park. After a busy first day, the following morning will be spent at The Blue Lagoon geothermal spa.

Dublin

After 2 days at sea, we arrive a Dublin, Ireland. Not fans of Guinness or Whiskey, we think we will stick to the HoHo bus here, but any other suggestions are welcome.

After another day at sea, we end up back where it all started in Southampton. We think we have managed to cram in everything we wanted to do, but if you have any suggestions then please get in touch by heading over to Twitter or our Contact Us page.

The inspiration

Take a look at a video we put together of Norway from our 2016 Britannia cruise – need we say more?

If you’ve seen any videos or pictures of the Iceland locations you will see why we can’t wait to visit! We’ll be posting on all our social media channels while away and hope to have some great videos when we get back.

If you are looking for some inspiration in the meantime, we suggest you check these out:

Gary Bembridge from Tips For Travellers give you 10 unmissable sights in Iceland