P&O Cruises, Arcadia, Caribbean

we had a 7 hr delay from Birmingham ,but were taken to Hilton hotel so it was not as bad as staying in the airport, still very tiring though we arrived in new Orleans on 30th Nov 2007 at 9pm (4am the next day our time) we were at Birmingham airport at 7am so a very long day the Arcadia was amazing it was spotlessly clean the room was a bit smaller than i thought but sufficient for what we wanted ,we had a 6 foot bed and dressing table plenty of mirrors and a settee only fault was it was dark even with all the lights on making it hard to pluck eyebrows and put makeup on especially when toilet was in use as it is lighter in there we had an outside cabin but could only see the lifeboat and a bit of sky but saying that we were not in the room very much towels were changed twice a day and biscuits left when needed there was chocolates left on the pillow each night pure luxury the bathroom had soap and shower gel (molten brown~)and little luxury body lotions etc what can i say about the food it was superb you could be served at a table(Fabian and sonar served us they were lovely polite and helpful nothing to much trouble) or help yourselves it was your choice but food was available 24hrs and the cakes were wonderful a word of warning take bigger clothes for the 2nd week you will need them unless you go to the gym everyday they had hand cleaning gel every where to stop germs an excellent touch the entertainment was very good the comediennes were funny especially Mick miller and the singers superb a good show every night the drink was very reasonably priced and you could get tea and coffee and water in the self serve restaurant when needed (free) juice was served in the mornings until noon (free) it was cheaper to get a taxi on the islands it was a bit pushy as they all wanted your business but you soon got use to it they will take you on a tour if you want or to the beach vary friendly people we did spend a lot of dollars so take plenty with you but we did buy a lot of presents my husband did play golf in st lucia he said it was excellent even though he went out at 8.15am and didnt get back until 4.30pm a long day we did go on a beach trip that day with the ship it was only £13.00 each and was good value for money i did feel the sway of the boat at night it didn't make me ill it just made me feel as though i had had a few drinks and i would always sleep soundly like being gently rocked i couldn't read either as the sway would send me to sleep i usually read 2 books on holiday the Arcadia was like staying in a 7 star hotel nothing was to much trouble for anyone i would recommend everyone to go on at least one cruise in their lifetime we will definitively go again my husband and i have been to the caribbean a few times and he has not been able to eat the food and the hotels even though they are rated 5 star have been more like 3 star so the Arcadia was pure luxury we had to pack our cases the night before flying home and put 1 out before 6.30pm and the last out at midnight that was the last we saw of them until we got to birmingham that was great we left Arcadia the next afternoon at 2.30pm i would advise anyone to take a very small hand luggage suitcase preferably with a handle to put their clothes in and to take small shampoos and toothpaste as only allowed to take 100ml items in hand luggage (it has to be in clear sealable bags) i noticed that frequent cruisers all had them and it would have been great to have known this as i do like to wash my hair in the mornings and be able to change into clean clothes and it is definitively better to have a case rather than lots of carrier bags with your warm clothes in for england saving up for our next cruise cant wait