P&O Cruises' Arcadia scored 96 out of 100 in a routine health inspection in March 2026 even though inspectors recorded a string of hygiene, maintenance and food safety problems aboard the ship.

The result matters now because Arcadia is often docked in Southampton, putting a familiar cruise ship back under scrutiny after a report that praised the overall score while detailing problems passengers and crew would notice at once. The inspection found that the vessel's potable water system had not been sampled for Legionella at least every six months as required, with testing instead scheduled for May.

Inspectors also found flies in multiple food service areas, including buffet stations. Four flies were seen around open containers of bread in one pantry, a cracked filter inside a water dispenser had allowed a build-up of beige residue, and a blast chiller used in food preparation had been out of service since February 28.

Those findings sit uneasily beside the top-line score. The report also identified incomplete cooling records for beef lasagne and missing warnings telling passengers about the risks of eating undercooked eggs, two lapses that go directly to how food is stored and served on board. In a setting where hygiene ratings are meant to reassure, the detail of the failures does the opposite.

Arcadia is a P&O Cruises ship that is often based around Southampton, and the March inspection showed how a vessel can still post a strong score while carrying unresolved issues in water testing, pest control, kitchen equipment and record keeping. What remains open is not the number on the report, but how a ship can clear the grading while those problems were still there.

P&O Cruises has already faced passenger complaints over shipboard rules, from a dress code dispute on a short-wear ban to arguments over lounger use, but this case is different: it goes to the ship's basic standards of hygiene and food safety. Legionella testing was due in May, yet no wider follow-up was confirmed.