P&O MS Arvia; Saturday, 05 September, 2026

As with last year we didn’t want to risk the vagaries of South Western Railways on a Sunday morning, so opted to head down to Southampton the afternoon before hand, making for a leisurely start to the journey.

Once again we caught a minicab up to Waterloo to make boarding the train easier for mum and about 90 minutes later it was a relatively short walk to the hotel for the evening.

The previous year we’d stayed in the Novotel and hadn’t been particularly impressed by their restaurant, so, considering the price difference, we opted to stay in the Ibis and dine in their restaurant.

It was very obvious as to why the Novotel was more expensive as the service at the Ibis was pretty poor, taking over 45 minutes to get a pizza, despite their only being three other tables in use.

The only positive you could add to the food was that you got value for money, as it kept repeating all night with a particularly unpleasant after taste and then a hefty bout of indigestion overnight, meaning it wasn’t a particularly great nights sleep.