P&O MS Arvia; Monday, 07 September, 2026

Today was a sea day which meant that there would be little to do other than slowly move through the different meals of the day, punctuated with the occasional wander around the decks to keep the blood flowing.

The breakfast was as good as I’d remembered from the previous P&O cruise, so that set us up for a good day, and after a bit of time just sitting watching the North Sea sail by I had a bit of a wander around the open decks before it was time to head for lunch.

After lunch it was pretty much a repeat of the morning, with more sitting punctuated by the occasional short walk. The crossing of the North Sea is, as you would expect, not heavy on sights, with only the occasional offshore facility or abandoned WWII sea fort visible in the distance, and occasionally a tanker or container ship.

The afternoon walk found me up on deck 16 by the buffet just as afternoon tea was being served, so I popped in to have a look, but the options weren’t that great so I decided not to bother and instead headed back to my cabin to make a cup of coffee.

The sea day had been designated the Formal Night on this cruise, which meant to eat anywhere it was at the very least a full suit for men, so I had to get dressed up.

For the formal night we’d booked into the Sindhu speciality dining restaurant, P&O’s very own floating Indian, which does serve excellent food, so we had a very filling meal, before heading to the nearby cocktail bar for a post-dinner drink and then heading back to our separate cabins for an early night as it was an early start the next day.