P&O Cruises president: Arvia maiden voyage enjoyed by 'vast majority'

Speaking at a press conference onboard his fleet's newest addition, Paul Ludlow addressed problems raised by passengers in December.

As reported in the Echo, passengers complained of late Christmas dinners, but still praised staff efforts and the splendour of the LNG-powered ship.

READ MORE: Take a look inside P&O Cruises' Arvia in Southampton

Mr Ludlow said: "We operate this ship with 5,000 guests onboard and Christmas is an important time. 

"Admittedly... we wouldn't typically have planned a maiden cruise to be at Christmas but because of issues at the ship yard we know it was a couple of weeks late.

"As ever there were a few bugs in the system and a handful of guests - and it really was a handful of guests out of 5,000 guests - that had some problems on Christmas.

"What I can say though is that across the 14-day holiday - that all of those guests experienced - they had a wonderful time."

P&O Cruises' ship Arvia (Image: Newsquest)

He said the New Year's Eve party was the best in the world to be held on a cruise ship, ever.

"The vast majority of people - 99.9 per cent of people - went away delighted," Mr Ludlow told gathered journalists. 

He said his team onboard "knocked it out the park" on the maiden voyage, and he is "more than confident" the current Caribbean cruise would not see problems with a "phenomenal" team on the ship.

He said the glitches on the first cruise happened in just a couple of hours and were rectified "within hours".

During the press conference Mr Ludlow also praised the relationship between Southampton and the cruise industry.

"The city of Southampton benefits greatly from cruise," he said.

He added: "I think our relationship with Southampton is very, very strong, one in which we enjoy... transport links are usually very, very good, the cruise terminals are excellent and so I think it's a great (relationship)."

Asked about traffic snarling up in the city on Friday, Mr Ludlow praised the "phenomenal" turnaround staff managed - with around 5,000 disembarked by 11am - with the ship ready for another 5,000 to embark by 12.15pm.

As reported, some passengers had complained of a lack of luggage.

He added: "I abandoned my taxi and walked into the terminal this morning and there was an articulated lorry on a roundabout perhaps it was too big to go around, and I think that must have jammed things up. It cleared up pretty quickly."

He added: "Despite some glitches it still - in the context of what we achieved - went very well."

Arvia is set to be named at a ceremony in Barbados in March.

Mr Ludlow said the ship's godmother is set to be revealed at a later date.

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