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P&O Cruises

MV Adonia

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Reviewed by: Paul Spelman
# previous cruises: 9
Date of Trip: June 18, 2003
Itinerary: Mediterranean

Adonia, (formerly Sea Princess) is now a child free ship, and provides a friendly atmosphere. It is geared to British tastes in design and food. Our cruise was blessed with sun every day, and the large open decks provided lots of areas for sunbathing, but there is difficulty at times to find enough chairs on open decks.

This ship was originally designed for the Caribbean market and it shows! There is a lack of sufficient public rooms, particularly for days at sea. Apart from the Limelight Theatre, and the Spotlights Cabaret room, the rest of the public rooms tend to be bars, though there are seating areas around the central atrium spread over four decks, it's still cramped at times. Ballroom dancing takes place on a small floor down on deck five, adjacent to the reception area for example, and was crowded too. The promenade deck has a good feel, and was widely used, unfortunately it is spoilt by the fact that deck sports are played here, restricting the areas for seating, also some windows jut out over the deck causing width restrictions, you have to fight to get a chair on this deck! The library was an oasis of calm and quiet, and provided adequate number of books for the number of passengers.

Food and service were outstanding, I can't think of any better service I've had on any other ship. The staff in particular, are friendly, helpful and attentive at all times, and the meals are some of the best I've experienced on any cruise, you'd be hard pressed not to find something in any menu that you liked! The cabin steward was efficient, and unobtrusive, but truly helpful and friendly.

I was in an inside room for three on C deck, midships and there was plenty of space for us to move around in easily. The beds were supremely comfortable, and there were plenty of drawer space, the wardrobe was large enough for us, though we did hear some complain that they were small. The shower was large, and perfectly big enough for two, let alone one. With three in the room, there was a bit of tight squeeze for shelf space in the showeroom, but with a bit of give and take that was soon sorted. The room was very quiet, and you could not really hear anything much of your neighbours, or people walking down the corridors.

The stadium theatre company was as excellent as ever, their energy shone through some pretty spectacular shows. The lack of a separate cinema was unfortunate, as if you did not wish to see the show, there was not too much of an alternative. Because of the large amount of passengers the ships carry, the theatre runs for two nights with the same show, and similarly in the Spotlight lounge, so if you had see the show, and did not fancy the entertainer in the lounge, there was only the bars left. The visiting entertainers were good.

Activities at sea, tend to be sport based, with the usual dance classes, and computer studies (full usually) but not a lot of else to do. There was one guest lecturer on board who spoke very well on a variety of topics. There are two main pools, and two smaller pools on board, so there was no overcrowding on any of them.

The health club and sports facilities were large and busy, but never crowded.

Our ports of call were, Malaga, Cagliari, Dubrovnik, Venice, Messina, Palma and Gibraltar. We did not take any shore excursions, but made our own way. However, passengers who did were full of praise for the organisation of them, and were generally happy with their tours.

The bulk of the passengers were British, and the ship is geared to their tastes. Overall the ship is friendly and atmosphere good. Apart from the lack of public rooms, this is a good ship to travel on, very happy, and extremely friendly.