Ardennais

Well I pre-booked theatre entertainment for our recent cruise on Iona, but owing to injury, the first Headliner show was cancelled. They then swapped things around and said that booking wasn’t required. I don’t think pre-booking entertainment is a big deal.

The only dining pre-booked was the Captain’s Table which worked well. 
 

We did fancy the Olive Grove for lunch and just walked up on the off chance.  They couldn’t accommodate us, but the restaurant was half empty. On asking about that, the lady at reception stated that the kitchen could only cope with a certain amount of guests. Seems rather silly not to be able to cater for all tables. 

Shingles Mark - thank you for your comments. Very similar to our experience as a family group on Iona a few weeks ago. 
 
We love Iona and just wish that she had a variety of itineraries. 

On 5/23/2024 at 9:57 AM, lincslady said:

My very old-fashioned mother-in-law once asked me if the French spoke French all the time,  wondering how we got on when we used to go there frequently on holiday.  That  is admittedly many years ago, and she was over 70 at the time.  I did gently remind her that my DH had School Certificate French, and I had A level.  To be fair, she had not been further 'abroad' than the Isle of Man.

Same as tourists here wondering whether we speak Welsh all the time!! YES we do! 

Thank you so much for the review. We have very fond memories of several cruises on Aurora - our favourite until Iona! 
 

Our next cruise is with Princess and I’ve booked Parking4Cruises for the very first time. We’ve always had extremely efficient service from CPS but as parking wasn’t included, I decided to go for the P4C based on price. I’m a bit nervous about it, but hope it will be OK! 

We haven’t been given stickers for years. I seem to remember having them in busy places like St P, Athens and Rome when several coaches from our ship ran the same trip. More recently, the few excursions we’ve done haven’t even filled one coach. 

I take it that a companion can provide one to one assistance and that it doesn’t have to be crew?  We clearly stated in the Queen Vic questionnaire earlier this year that we would provide one to one assistance to my mother. 
 

Single passengers requiring one to one assistance is a different matter of course. 

3 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

Can I just clarify something?

Does all this rigmarole apply even if you occasionally need to use a walking stick?

Avril

I filled the questionnaire for Queen Vic in January on behalf of my mother and stated that she always uses a walking stick but would also be taking a walker onboard. I then stated that we (my OH and I) would be providing one-to-one assistance during any emergencies. That was sufficient then - I think there was a high(ish) proportion of passengers with walking sticks! 

1 hour ago, Goosebear Mum said:

Okay on Iona (she's big) how does one carry safely a glass of g&t all the way back from a bar to the cabin (9th deck) for use on the balcony? I am not buying a big bottle from P&O, as I don’t drink alcohol, and hubby likes one occasionally.  We’d end up bring most of it home (and we don’t need yet more here!)  

 

I was going to pack a few mini Edinburgh 5cl bottles (his favourite) but officially cannot now.  I am very anti paying P&O for one drink and then an extra £2.50 on top for them to carry that one drink to our cabin as room service (and wait how long?!)So how does one carry it without it spilling everywhere?  

 

This really spoils the spontaneity of having a late evening drink on the balcony, travelling through the Fjords!  If they still had drinks in the cabin ‘bar’ it would help. 

 

At least I can still take my cans of Fevertree Elderflower/Ginger for a spontaneous balcony drink in an evening!  (I cannot drink aspartame/sweetener which is in most non alcoholic drinks now 😞 ) 

We were on deck 9 recently and it’s close to the bars, so shouldn’t be a problem. No different to people carrying their drinks up and down the stairs in the atrium. 

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

I just cheked the restaurant site

Monday - closed

Tuesday - closed

Wednesday to Sunday - 11am

I wonder whether Iona always visits Alesund on Wednesdays. We got up there around 11.30 on Wednesday 1 May and the cafe was quite busy. 

Hope your hand is healing, but pleased to hear that you enjoyed the cruise.

The cafe on Mount Aksla was open the previous week. 

5 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes I liked France, particularly the a acapello part. The Portuguese balled was nice too.

 

The Spanish leather nappies were indeed off putting as was the windows man sans anything!

 

The Croatian one was catchy so no surprise it got the majority of the public vote.

 

Graeme Norton mentioned all the near nudity as well. Not required and doesn’t add anything to the music (says the Grumpy, opinionated old woman from Scotland).

This middle-aged woman from Wales agrees! 
 

The UK entry was seedy and sleazy and deserved what it got. 
 

I voted for France. 

I would argue that things are different post-covid, but not necessarily worse. 
 

Ok, no flowers in MDR and cabin, no individual toiletries, no pen and paper in cabin, no chocolates on pillow etc. Do we miss these things - NO! And I suppose we could ask for fresh towels in the evening - I’ll have to ask next time.
 

We think that Iona offers so much and during term time, offers excellent value for money. School holidays possibly different in terms of slower service, which is most unfair when considering that prices are higher. 
 

I have personally never understood why people take their own alcohol aboard. You don’t take your own food to restaurants. Anyway, I’ll leave it at that!
 

On Iona last week, we had three new cruisers in our group. 3 young men in their 20s with healthy appetites who were simply bowled over by all the different offerings. They particularly enjoyed the Olive Grove and couldn’t believe that the supplement on a few dishes was so low. They also thought that bar prices were very reasonable. Our daughters and their partners eat out a lot at home and enjoy visiting different restaurants and can be quite critical. Not so on Iona. 
 

We had a very mediocre evening meal in Southampton pre-cruise which came to well over £200 for the eight of us. Our children and their partners often stay in city hotels on a bed only basis and breakfast in local cafes. We did that with them in Manchester last Christmas and the bill again was significant. On the way home last week, we stopped at some services and remarked how pricey everything was after a week of all-inclusive (excluding drinks) on Iona, 

Put in context, cruising on Iona offers excellent value for money. 
 

6 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

This is at Haugesund, which is only a 950m walk into the town, so for many, and in P&Os eyes, a shuttle bus is not required. 

The problem is, it's over a steep bridge, which obviously causes issues for some. 

I didn’t think the shuttle bus was anything to do with P&O, but I may be wrong. 

I don't see this one as a cutbacks, as I don't believe it was ever offered free, but again, I could be wrong. 

Andy 

The youngsters in our group were tired out from the walk to Haugesund last week! It was a very hot day and there’s no shade at all as you walk through the port area to town. 
 

On the app, under shore excursions, P&O were offering a transfer into town for £10 (I think). Took 30 minutes and included two photo stops. I think I’ve got the details right as I only had a quick look. 

I’m not too keen on brass bands - too militaristic for me! 
There was a singer on the quay belting songs as we left Olden last week. A cross between Tom Jones and Elvis!

I remember some young ladies in Swedish national costume giving us all a flower as we left Helsingbord a few years ago. 

5 hours ago, Angel57 said:

Someone posted on another website that it was too windy to dock and then it turned foggy whilst at sea.

Such a shame. There was a mini heatwave there last Thursday!

Iona unable to visit Haugesund today? 

1 hour ago, S1971 said:

 

Back people into a corner and they'll always find a way round it.

 

By your own experiences, it seems highly unlikely they'll deny boarding for booze smuggling, I very much doubt they'll even have time to do a detailed check on all cases anyway.

 

Perhaps Marella's got it right, should P&O go all inclusive?

 

NO! I don’t drink alcohol and my husband drinks very little. 
 

The idea of drinking alcohol on the balcony is very alien to me, as is the concept of pre-dinner drinks. Not part of our culture! 

Great views from Cadiz Cathedral.Well worth going up the tower - no steps, just winds up. 

20 minutes ago, brian1 said:

We're going there with Celebrity over Christmas.On the itinerary it says Cadiz for Seville,but it's 2 hrs from Seville.Our daughter says Seville is lovely but I think we will stick local.

How about a short transfer to Jerez? We had a great day there once. 

I would be most put out if they didn’t put the beds away during the day. Iona’s cabins are narrow enough as it is! 

I heard that Tom Cruise was there yesterday! 

5 hours ago, MyriamS said:

Lovely review, thank you. Makes me look forward to my Norwegian cruise on Iona in less than two months now. 

Hope you have a great time. We were fortunate with the weather and sailing as a group of 8 made this cruise extra special. 

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

In order to settle a very minor argument between my good lady wife and me, we brainstormed all the ‘cutbacks’ that we noticed and got to about 30. I did a thread on it at the time. In reality we don’t miss 75% of them and for many we found work arounds. MDR food isn’t as good as it was (choice etc) but, other than on Aurora, was still OK and the prices reflect it. So will we still cruise with P&O? Yes. But we have lowered the maximum price per night that we are prepared to pay. We have 2 Cunard cruises next and will be very interested to compare. My expectations will be much higher given the price we are paying. 

To be honest, the MDR on Iona recently was just as good as the MDR on Queen Victoria back in January and so much better than Britannia last year. There was something really off with that cruise! 
 

Queen Vic was great fun for a short 4 night cruise but I much prefer Iona for a longer cruise. 

5 hours ago, Josy1953 said:

Reduced baseline prices are all well and good, but given the cutbacks are they cheap in real terms, only if you want the very basics maybe.

 

You may be right but in my opinion it is a Carnival decision to have a cheap option to tempt newcomers to the cruise market.  Those of us who have been cruising for many years have seen a lot of cutbacks and are reaching a point where P&O are too far behind other lines for us to continue to sail with them.

On our last night in the MDR on Iona last week, the 3 newbies stated that they had really enjoyed the cruise and would look to book another so that they had something to look forward to. They’re 3 young men in their 20s, moderate drinkers and felt that the prices onboard were very reasonable, and that they could never justify buying a drinks package. They felt that the cruise provided excellent value for money.

I suddenly noticed that there weren’t any flowers on the tables in the MDR. We then started to list the things that had changed since we started cruising in 2010. The list was:

* no flowers in MDR

* no stem of flower in cabin

* no dish of small boiled sweets in cabin

* no chocolates on pillow

* no turndown

* pay for breakfast in cabin and no hot drinks

* no fresh towels in the evening

* grats included in base price

Do we miss any of these? No, apart from fresh towels in the evening. 
 

We do however think that P&O provides excellent value for money. Excursions are far better priced than Princess, for instance. There are fewer options in the MDR but we’re not foodies, and I was very pleased with the offering on Iona. I don’t drink alcohol so they can do anything they want and it wouldn’t affect me. I’m pleased that there are fewer formals too, but understand that this is also important for some people. The photographers don’t bother us now in the MDR which is another plus. 
 

This year, we will have been on Cunard, P&O and Princess. As long as I can find a cruise from Soton which is reasonably priced, then I’m happy. 

43 minutes ago, the wandering two said:

Due to board Iona on Saturday, we're Mediterranean tier & been given 3.15 check in.

Doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern as we've had earlier times on previous sailings, regardless hope to be on for lunchtime, yes it's a seven night cruise but with these timings it's a 61/2 day cruise! 

We are Med tier too and had 2.45 on Iona last week - deck 9, balcony. The two inside cabins in our group had 1.30 - again deck 9, but including cruise newbies! We kept to the timings as we had two cars and were swiftly processed. We don’t mind late check-in and we’re not in a hurry to leave on the last morning either. No point in rushing!