During our Caribbean Cruise, we decided to book a behind-the-scenes tour of Arvia. This was £75 per person, which may seem like a lot ~ however it’s a 3 hour experience, and well worth it. We weren’t allowed to take any photos during the tour, so the pics on this post are just from our time on Arvia generally.

The tour started in one of the bars (I’ve forgotten which already!) We had to ensure we were wearing sensible shoes and capable of doing a fair amount of walking, including up/down steps.

It was a party of around 20 people maximum, and we were led around by a couple of crew members including someone from security. We did use lifts, but also some internal (crew) staircases, sometimes going up/down several flights, so keep this in mind if you may find this difficult.

As well as the areas below, we did a fair amount of walking ‘behind the scenes’, and passed areas that are crew-only, including a peek into their cabins (tiny compared to guests, as you’d expect!).

The Ariva Ship tour included:

The Laundry Room

This was fascinating; the Laundry Room Manager was delightful, really friendly, enthusiastic and clearly very proud to part of the Arvia crew. We saw huge industrial machines that go into cleaning 1000’s of items including bedding, towels, table linen, crew uniforms and so on. They have machines that iron, fold and collate the clean items. The crew uniforms have RFID tags so that they get back to the right owner. It was really interesting and I think most passengers found this one of the highlights of the tour.

The Bridge

The Captain greeted us on the bridge and gave us a little talk about Ariva, and P&O Cruises (not a sales pitch in anyway) including showing us some images of how she was built and the thought and efforts that go into the running of the ship. Again, really interesting and he was clearly passionate about his job and cares a lot about not only the guests having a great time, but the crew onboard.

We posed for photos; as we weren't allowed our phones, these were taken by the professional photographer and cost £25 to purchase (seemed a little cheeky when we’d paid £150 to do the tour in the first place, but we paid it anyway as a momento).

The Engineer Room

Another really interesting room, seeing the controls and hearing about the responsibilities of the crew in this area; from security and safety to monitoring the temperature of the water in the swimming pools. As with all other areas, the crew were happy to answer questions and share a few anecdotes.

The Mooring Deck

Here, we saw the anchors and gigantic chains and moorings, with open windows almost at the waters surface. The crew explained how this works, the safety checks they have to do, and showed us around.

The Headliners Theatre

A cast member from Headliners met us backstage to show us the costumes and props (they are 100’s and the storage of them is quite something to see, with a pulley system). He told us about how they audition, rehearse and work on the ships, and some of the shows and things they get involved in. Again, very happy to answer questions. We also walked out on the stage.

Finally, drinks and refreshments in The Crows Nest

Time to relax after all that walking about, we enjoyed some nibbles and a glass of fizz relaxing in the Crows Nest (one of our favourite bars on Arvia) - as an added bonus, we spotted a pod of dolphins swimming by from the window - perfect.

Highly recommend the tour if you are able - you can book once you get onboard.