That’s right folks, this year marks the 10th anniversary of our Forum and what better way to celebrate than organising our very own cruise where we had members from all over the country join us!
Our Forum is known for being the largest cruising community in the UK, with over 125,000 members having conversations everyday about anything and everything to do with cruising.
To celebrate the 10th Birthday of our Forum, we decided to organise a special Forum cruise for all members who wanted to come along and celebrate with one another.
After much discussion, our members decided the best cruise for the celebration would be on P&O Cruises ship Arcadia, sailing from and to Southampton with a day spent at Guernsey.
We’ve asked both our members and cruise.co.uk colleagues that were onboard to share their experiences with us so you can get a real insight as to what a Forum Cruise is all about, as well as some honest feedback about P&O Cruises and their ship Arcadia.
Amar, who is a part of our Digital team and looks after the Forum, organised this 10th anniversary Forum Cruise. He said:
“Having spoke to all of the Forum members for some time online, it was great to finally put faces to names for some of our most active members. Even though we had never met each other before, we all had such a great connection and spoke for hours on end about anything and everything.
The P&O Cruises staff were fabulous in accommodating for our large group. We had a nice section of the Crow’s Nest each evening where we all met for pre-dinner drinks. Following that we all went to dinner together, where we had two large tables next to one another so everyone could sit together so we could make the most out of our three nights onboard Arcadia. Not to forget the daily quizzes we all went to, scoring full marks on multiple occasions and taking home some nice prizes (not that getting full marks was anything to do with me if I have to say so!).”
“What made this weekend even better was that this Forum cruise was specifically to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Forum. I couldn’t have asked for this cruise to have gone any better and I’m looking forward to meeting up with all of our members in the future on more Forum Cruises.”
Rob, who is also a part of our Digital team and was onboard for the 2019 Forum Cruise said “The Forum cruise was my first opportunity to to experience a P&O Cruises ship, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised by my whole experience on Arcadia.
All of the staff onboard were courteous and attentive, even going out of their way to accommodate food allergens for some of my fellow guests. They provided a great range of dining options and a very reasonably priced drinks menu.
One of the highlights has to be our nightly meet up with the Forum members. The group were an absolute delight and I was very lucky to hear about some of their experiences that this group had experienced throughout their years of the travelling.”
Josephine, who is one of our Specialist Cruise Consultants, said “First time on Arcadia and it did not disappoint. The staff were amazing, delicious food available all over the ship and the cabins were well appointed and clean which is what I would expect from P&O Cruises.”
“Being onboard with some of our Forum members to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our Forum was amazing. Listening to their experiences of cruising all over the world with about every cruise line that has and does exist was incredible, they are all very knowledgeable people.”
You can click here to check out Josephine’s blog.
Shannon, who is also one of our Specialist Cruise Consultants, said “It was a lovely three days spent with some of our Forum members who were great people. Meeting up every night to have pre-dinner drinks, dine together and then do quizzes was a lot of fun and something I really enjoyed.
One of the highlights for myself was the Sailaway party from Guernsey. For anyone who will be sailing with P&O Cruises for the first time this is a must. The atmosphere is electric and it is very patriotic. This was my first experience on a P&O Cruises ship and I am now a convert!”
You can click here to check out Shannon’s blog.
So it sounds like the guys from cruise.co.uk had a great time onboard celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Forum, but what did our actual members think of the cruise? We’ve gathered comments from a variety of members who were onboard the recent Forum cruise so you can get a real insight into what these cruises are all about!
Garfield said “A great weekend spent with fabulous friends old and new. Thank you all for making it so enjoyable. A big thanks to Amar and the cruise.co.uk folks for all their hard work. Just a shame it had to end so soon… onto the next one”.
Topdeck commented “Had a great time, can now put a face to many names. Time to start planning another one…”
Carol said “We’ve had a great time, it was lovely to put faces to names, thank you all for your company.”
History Addict added their gratitude by commenting “Thank you all for your company this weekend, we had a great time and the companionship of forum friends really made the whole holiday. Great thanks too, to our cruise.co.uk hosts who really made the meet ups and dining work so well. You did a great job! Whenever the next one is we’d love to come along again…”
Mrs M commented “Lovely to meet old friends and make new ones, and good to see the cruise.co.uk quizzers came home with quite a few goodies. Huge thanks to Amar and his team. You done good!”
Guy said “We had a great time. Lovely to meet some new members and we all got along like a house on fire. Well done to Amar and team for making sure we could all sit together at dinner.”
JC commented “It’s amazing, we all know each other on the Forum, but on meeting it seemed everyone knew each other as long lost friends. All in all a great weekend spent with lovely people.
Bradbury said “Thank you to everyone for making it a great few days away. It was great to chat with you all, we had some great discussions and lots of laughs. Thank you.”
ilovesunshine commented “It was good to meet you all and the cruise.co.uk staff. Thank you for making it a fun trip and for the goodie bag…”
Wilba said “I’ll echo the thoughts of everyone else. It was a great weekend that we both thoroughly enjoyed…”
So there you have it. Our 10th anniversary Forum cruise went down spectacularly for everyone involved and there couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate our Forum being 10 years old.
If you want to be a part of the largest cruising community in the UK where you can join in discussions about all things cruising then you can click here to sign up to our Forum.
