I sailed on Arvia, P&O’s newest, largest family-orientated ship and then tried a short cruise on Aurora, the smallest, most traditional ship in the same fleet.
I was a little worried that I would find Aurora a disappointment after sailing on Arvia. Aurora was built in 2000, so it is relatively old by cruise ship standards.
I went on my four-day Aurora cruise because I was meeting up with many of my cruise blogger friends. It was a reasonably cheap, convenient place to meet up, so if the ship was a disappointment, it wouldn’t really matter.
How wrong I was! I loved Aurora’s traditional feel, the spaces onboard, the teak decks, and the wonderful tiered Aft. I will definitely be looking to sail on her again.
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I was surprised by Aurora. I loved her traditional feel, the open spaces onboard, the teak decks, and the wonderful tiered aft.
In this article, we will compare the two ships and look at their strengths and weaknesses. Both Ships had things I really liked – and a few things I wasn’t so keen on.
An Overview of P&O’s Aurora
Aurora was built in 2000 for P&O cruises and refitted in 2014. In 2019, she became an adult-only ship when the Kids’ club area was removed and new solo cabins were installed.
She is the smallest ship in the fleet, holding only around 1,868 passengers and around 850 crew.
She has ten decks, 3 pools, 7 entertainment venues and 19 restaurants and bars.
With a gross weight of 76,152 tonnes, Aurora is less than half the size of Arvia.
This smaller size makes her very easy to navigate, and I found my way around her quickly.
P&O describe Aurora as “an Intimate classic, exclusively for adults.”
P&O Cruises
Exclusively for adults, Aurora is a world-class ship, bringing the joys of classic cruise travel to all.
Destinations
Norwegian Fjords, Iceland, Short Break, Mediterranean, Canary Islands, Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Caribbean, USA & Canada
An Overview of P&O’s Arvia
Arvia was built for P&O cruises in 2022. She has a sister ship Iona, who started sailing for P&O in 2021.
She is a large, family-orientated ship. She holds 5,200 passengers and 1,762 crew.
She has 20 decks, 4 pools, 30 bars and restaurants and 8 entertainment venues. There is plenty going on to keep the whole family entertained.
Arvia’s gross weight is 184,700 tonnes. She was the largest ship to be commissioned for the British cruise market.
Iona and Arvia were very much P&O’s attempt to get away from their reputation for selling stuffy, old-fashioned, traditional cruises and appeal to the younger, family cruise market.
Arvia is described by P&O as being a family-friendly “Sunshine Ship” – built for sailing in warm climates.
P&O Cruises
Introducing our newest ship, with a retractable SkyDome, exquisite new restaurants and incredible entertainment, Arvia promises happy days and fun-filled nights.
Destinations
Caribbean, Mediterranean
| Aurora | Arvia | ||
| Passengers | 1,868 | 5,200 | |
| Crew | 850 | 1,762 | |
| Tonnage | 76,152 | 184,700 | |
| Style | Traditional | Modern | |
| Decks | 10 | 20 | |
| Appeals to | Couples, Older passenger demographic | Families Younger passenger demographic | |
Design and Décor
Aurora had a lovely ambiance about it – relaxed and enjoyable. Arvia is far busier, with lots going on to keep families with children entertained.
The decor on Arvia is lovely. It has a huge, bright central atrium that spans three decks. There are also a range of bars and restaurants surrounding it. This space is also used for acrobatic shows!
As you would expect, the interior spaces on Aurora are far smaller and more dated.
Aurora does have a traditional teak promenade deck on deck 7, which i love to see. The tiered Aft with an outside pool is very impressive.
Arvia also has a promenade deck you can walk around, but it isn’t a traditional promenade deck.
It is dotted with hot tubs and eating areas. Some balcony cabins actually open out onto the promenade deck, so they don’t have uninterrupted sea views.
I stayed in one of these unusual cabins on Arvias’s sister ship, Iona. Find out more about that here:
Find out more about Promenade decks, their history and purpose here:
Cruise Ship Promenade Decks – Photos, Uses, and History
On the traditional ship Aurora, there seemed to be lots of public area space per person. On newer mega ships like Arvia and Iona, they seem to cram things that make additional money into every spare space.
Arvia and her sister ship, Iona, are “Excellence class” cruise ships. Other Excellence class ships include:
- Costa Smeralda
- Costa Toscana
- Carnival’s Mardi Gras
- Carnival Celebration
- AidaNova
- AidaCosma
I have been sailed on Iona and Costa Smeralda before, so Arvia seemed strangely familiar!
Aurora feels unique. I have never been on a ship quite like her before. She originally had a sister ship, P&O Oriana. In 2019, Oriana was sold to a Chinese cruise company and renamed “Piano Land.”
Find out more about my 13-day sailing on Arvia in the Video below. It was an eventful trip, with bad weather, a changed itinerary and a late-night medical evacuation.
Cabins and Accommodation
Arvia is decorated in a modern style, with lots of pale blues and light woods. I really like their decor choices.
They have cleverly used mirrors to reflect the light, and cabins have been designed to make the most of the space available.
I love the modern carpet design, it was exactly the same as the one in my cabin on Iona when I booked the cheapest inside cabin onboard.
Aurora is very much a traditional cruise ship with lots of brown/orange wood in the cabins. All are perfectly functional – but dated.
There seems to be an awful lot of beige, and no accent colours. It was all a little bland.
Arvia, as you would expect, has lots of plug sockets and USBs to charge your phone and tech equipment in the cabins.
Aurora was built at a time when this wasn’t important, and there was only one useable plug socket in my inside cabin.
Arvia’s cabins have a flat-screen TV on the wall facing the bed, while Aurora has a small, old TV on top of the cupboard facing the beds.
Arvia’s TV is fully interactive. You can choose from a range of TV and films on demand and check your onboard account.
We never even turned on the TV when we sailed on Aurora. We were on a short sailing and didn’t spend much time in the cabin at all.
My bathroom on Aurora was pink and sparkly – but perfectly functional. Some of the balcony cabins actually have small baths in them – having a cruise ship bathroom with a bath would be living the dream for me! Unfortunately, there was no bath in my cheap, inside cabin.
The bathrooms on Arvia are modern and well-designed. Nothing to dislike about them at all.
Dining Options
On Aurora, there are set dining times, as you would expect on a traditional ship. However, there is also the option of “Freedom dining”, where you can eat anytime between 6 pm and 9 pm.
On Arvia and her sister ship, Iona, all dining is “Freedom dining.” You just eat when you are hungry, which suits me very well.
Aurora has some speciality dining options, including Sindu, the Glass House, and The Beach House.
As you would expect, Arvia has far more – Sindu, Epicurean, Keel and Cow, Green and Co – lots to choose from!
The buffet on Arvia was rather a disappointment. Only a small part of the buffet seemed to be open at once, particularly at the “late-night snacks.”
People would be queuing to get in, and then there wasn’t very much food on offer when you got to the front of the queue.
Luckily, there is also an eating area on deck 8 on Arvia called The Quays. Here there are around four hot food stations, serving things like Fish and Chips, Burgers, Curry – and on my sailing, wonderful Yorkshire Puddings filled with roast meat and vegetables.
Unfortunately, The Quays wasn’t open late into the evening, meaning everyone ended up in the buffet, making it overcrowded.
The buffet on Aurora was far, far better. There were lots of choices, no huge queues, and far fewer people.
Entertainment and Activities
Both ships have theatres, but on the larger ship, Ariva, you need to book your seats via the App in advance.
As you would expect, there are far more entertainment choices on Arvia.
- You can visit The Limelight Club.
- This is a supper club which, for an extra charge, provides a meal and exclusive entertainment.
- The 710 Club is a club with vintage vibes and live music.
- The venue is small and must be booked in advance via the App.
- This space was designed by “Take That”s Gary Barlow
- It is free to go in, to but gets booked up quickly
- There are shows under the retractable roof in the SkyDome
- I found them to be a little “Quirky”
- The sound quality in the dome wasn’t great, but the shows were action-packed.
Both ships have spas, cinemas, pools and plenty of bars and lounges.
I found Arvia to be more crowded, and sometimes getting a seat to see entertainment in the bars was a problem. It was hard to find a seat in Brodie’s pub when Trivia was on.
All of the Trivia seemed to be held in the pub onboard Arvia, Brodies. I could only once get a seat in there, which was frustrating.
Champions Pub on Aurora never seemed too busy – but I was only on board for a short sailing.
Service and Crew
The service and crew were all lovely on Aurora, and the pace seemed more relaxed and less busy.
The crew was also very nice on Arvia, but they didn’t seem to have the time to stop and have polite conversations with guests, they were too busy.
Passenger Demographics and Atmosphere
Passenger demographics were very different between the two ships – understandably, as Aurora is an adult-only ship.
Aurora had lots of couples and groups of older friends.
Arvia has lots of young families and family groups spanning multiple generations – which was lovely to see.
The atmosphere onboard Arvia may be described as being more fun, fast-paced and definitely more busy
I loved the quiet, relaxed atmosphere of Aurora. It has to be said, the ship has a lovely feel to it.
Overall Experience and Impressions
Aurora was a wonderful, pleasant surprise I look forward to booking another longer sailing on her.
Being a smaller ship, she visits smaller, interesting ports that Mega ships like Arvia can’t reach.
Arvia was very much as I had expected. I had been on the sister ship Iona twice before, the ships are virtually identical.
One thing I really liked about Arvia was the included American Diner, a feature that Iona doesn’t have.
The sailing we took on Arvia was quite rough, but the ship handled the weather so well! I am sure that we would have felt the movement of the sea far more on the smaller, older ship Aurora.
Things I wasn’t so keen on…
On Arvia, I found not being able to get a seat in some bars if you wanted to watch the entertainment or take part in trivia was disappointing. You had to arrive very early and just hope to get a seat for trivia!
The buffet was often very busy and the food choice was limited, particularly at late-night snack time.
Aurora is a far older ship and sometimes public toilets were often shut. She must have very delicate plumbing!
The brown wood decor wasn’t really to my taste, but that certainly didn’t hamper my enjoyment of this lovely old ship.
If you are cruising with a focus on visiting lots of interesting ports and destinations, Aurora would be fantastic. If your cruise is less port intensive, with lots of sea days, you would want there to be lots of entertainment on the ship. Arvia may then be a better choice.
Before You Go
When I sailed on Arvia, there were many speciality restaurants and extra-cost food options. I try to avoid extra-paid items when I cruise. Find out how here:
5 Food and Drink Costs That Catch Out Unsuspecting Cruisers
Find out why ships have done away with tiered Afts here:
My Favourite Cruise Ship Design Feature Isn’t Being Built Anymore – Here’s Why
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