Schhh - What is it, and should you go on your P&O Cruise?
I was recently invited by P&O Cruises to join them down in Southampton to get a taster of a brand new experience coming to a couple of their ships. If you’re planning to cruise, or you have recently cruised, on either Arvia or Iona (the biggest ships in the P&O Cruises fleet), there’s a chance you already know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, no need to worry, I’m going to fill you in through this post today! I’ll tell you a little bit about the press event that I attended, and then we’ll move on to talk about the experience itself. Note: you’ll see me refer to Schhh as an ‘experience’ multiple times in this post - that’s key, but we’ll come back to that later!
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Anyway, let’s get started! As I mentioned earlier, this experience has launched on the two largest ships in the fleet: Arvia and Iona. The reason for this will become pretty clear later in this post when you see the venue being used. Spoiler alert - it looks absolutely incredible!
So, let’s start by talking about the event that I went to - what was it? I was invited to spend an evening onboard prior to Iona departing for her Canary Islands cruise out of Southampton mid-January. This meant I was able to board the ship mid-afternoon, spend a few hours onboard, and then disembark about 10pm before the ship set sail. In terms of what we did that day, we were treated to an evening meal in the Limelight Club to sample some of the onboard food, followed by a Q&A with Nicola Scherzinger herself in this small, intimate supper club style venue (yes, I was actually in the same room as Nicole Scherzinger…!).
In addition to the Q&A from Nicole herself, led by Paul Ludlow (President, Carnival UK), we enjoyed a few songs from La Voix, the incredible drag queen who can be found working with P&O from time to time. After dinner, we headed upstairs to join passengers onboard, who were gearing up to enjoy a taste of Schhh, as it took place upstairs in the Sky Dome for the first time!
So, before we head upstairs, how was the food, and was La Voix any good? The answer to both of these elements? Absolutely excellent! Thinking about the food first, I always forget how good the P&O Cruises food can be. The Limelight Club is a venue onboard the ship that you’ll need to pay a little extra to enjoy - it’s not included in your cruise fare. However, the food I had in here tonight really was excellent - if they’re serving a similar quality when the ship’s ‘at sea’, you really need to get yourself booked in here! Let me show you the menu, and also what I ordered:
Hopefully you’ve been able to figure it out from the pictures, but I chose to order the Sea Bass, followed by the Milk Chocolate Brownie option, and both were absolutely wonderful. Having very recently cruised on P&O Aurora (a very different ship, but obviously in the same fleet), I can confirm that the food on there was excellent too, so you’re in for a treat if you’re cruising P&O in the future.
Moving on from the food, let me tell you about La Voix. If you’ve never come across this act before, you really should have a quick Google - La Voix appeared on Britain’s Got Talent a few years ago and, over the last few years, has featured on P&O ships wowing audiences in the Limelight Club. Personally, I absolutely LOVE this type of act featuring on a cruise line entertainment schedule - it’s just SUCH a different idea to what so many other cruise lines are offering, so ‘well done’ to P&O for the excellent casting choice here! From an entertainment point of view, La Voix was simply excellent when we were treated to a mini set over dinner - the whole room was laughing, and everyone appeared to be having a great time. If you’re cruising with P&O Cruises on a ship with La Voix on the bill, try your hardest to get booked in for a show - you won’t regret it!
Let’s move upstairs and talk about Schhh now that we’ve covered what happened downstairs. Now, I’d been on this class of ship before, but never seen how P&O have configured it. If you didn’t know, Iona’s an Excel Class ship, and is ‘more or less’ the same as a couple of the Costa Cruises ships that I cruised on last year, namely Smeralda and Toscana. I won’t talk more about them here - that’s not why you’re reading, but all I knew is that this was going to be a ship that would really impress me - I always find the sheer scale of these ships so amazing, and difficult to compute!
Schhh is an experience (there’s that word again…) that takes place once per cruise. It takes place in the Sky Dome, which is one of the main swimming pool spaces up on Deck 16 of the ship. When we arrived, all I could think was ‘Wow’ - I mean, LOOK at this place!
When everyone was assembled upstairs, it was time for Schhh to begin.
Proceedings were kicked off up here by Nicole Scherzinger, who got a really warm welcome from all of the passengers onboard - it was great to see so many of the passengers getting involved up here! After that, it was time to get started…
So, what is the event? Well, it’s what I would call an ‘Immersion’, where a venue on the ship is completely transformed into a totally unique environment for one night only. Over the course of a couple of hours, the pool is covered, the stage moves around, a whole array of dancing takes place, and all of this is accompanied by some pretty remarkable aerial acts - what a venue for this type of stuff!
I don’t want to give too much away, as P&O Cruises proudly state on their website that Schhh is ‘Arvia and Iona’s best-kept secret’ - who am I to let the secret out the bag, hmm? Think impressive lighting rigs, pumping sound through the sound systems all around the venue, and some pretty spectacular dancing (yes, from both the dancers on stage and your fellow passengers!), and you’ll arrive somewhere in the realm of Schhh. Here’s a few shots I took during the event to give you a flavour of what to expect:
Hopefully you’re starting to get the picture of what a night at Schhh might be like. Next, let’s think about how you’re going to hydrate throughtout - it’s a long experience, so you’re going to need to make sure you’ve got a tipple ready at hand. Don’t worry - P&O Cruises have got you covered, and a special cocktail has been designed by Nicole Scherzinger specifically for the event - let me introduce you to ‘the Schhh’:
This drink is described by P&O as being ‘a fiery blend of tequila, Aperol, passion fruit, pineapple, citrus and chilli that will light up your night’. One thing I can confirm is that it’s certainly fiery - to be honest, far too hot for me to handle (I know - I’m not a big spice fan - I always order the mild dishes at an Indian restaurant…), but I spoke to others who absolutely loved it. I guess if you enjoy a Margarita, you’re probably going to be a fan of this. If you’re on board, give it a try and let me know what you think!
Ok, we’ve covered the event I was invited to, the experience and also the drinks, but is there anything about this event that you need to be wary of?
On this topic, I’d say it’s really important that your expectations are set correctly before you attend. I spoke to lots of people on the ship that night who were a bit confused, as they were under the impression that the event would be like a typical cruise ship show, which would last about 45 minutes, then they could go back to the rest of their evening. However, after 90 minutes, it was still going. Additionally, the dancers would come out and do a couple of scenes, and then disappear for a period of time, leaving just an empty stage and the Sky Dome feeling a bit like a nightclub, then they’d come back for more before disappearing again. Now, this isn’t a bad thing - it’s something really new that P&O are trying, and I genuinely applaud that. If you’re going to plan to attend Schhh, you need to have the mentality that it’s an immersive experience that will be part show, part dance, and part opportunity to have a dance up in the Sky Dome and just let your hair down.
If you enter with these expectations, rather than an ‘in and out’ show, you’re probably going to really enjoy it. If nothing else, you’re in an absolutely spectacular venue - go to the bar, grab a drink, and just soak up the atmosphere!
So, here we go - the big question - should you go to Schhh on your P&O Cruise?
In a word, yes. This is a new initiative from P&O, and I genuinely think it’s going to continue to evolve over time. P&O are excellent at delivering a stable cruise product across their ships (in my opinion and based on my experiences, anyway), so I think it’s SO exciting to see them try and innovate here - go up and get involved! Finally, I’d like to express my thanks to P&O Cruises for the invite down to Southampton - not only was I impressed with Schhh, but Iona as a ship is absolutely stunning. I’m now dying to get onboard for a cruise - perhaps that was their plan? They knew I’d be too keen to book, ha!
If you’d like to learn more about P&O Cruises, or explore options for your next holiday, you can do so over on their website. Just click here to be taken straight there!
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