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25. Deckside whirlpools on Iona

Agreed. We saw him on Iona last year Very personable, great sense of humour as well as a good voice. We had a great night

Classic drinks package would be borderline for you and the choice of cocktails is fairly limited unless you upgrade to the Deluxe If you can find a deal including OBC you might find that would take care of a big chunk of your bar bill

Some people are just predisposed to moan. There might be 10 positive things but they will concentrate on the 1 negative We have had a few minor issues/niggles on our P&O cruises but I try to not let them ruin my holiday. Nothing yet has stopped me booking with them again Much depends on if you are a half glass full or half empty person and my answer is it depends if I am on a drinks package or not !

In our experience it’s just a case of asking your waiter(s) for another glass rather than a top up. Never been an issue with the 15 minute rule in the MDR’s - you’ll probably find it takes that long for the next glass to arrive! We usually take a glass in with us from one of the bars to get started All the menus will also have the wines listed per package - Classic or Deluxe if you want to chose something different when the food arrives

Which ship were you on? Apologies, couldn’t see it mentioned We have sailed Eclipse (x2), Equinox and most recently Edge. We prefer the layout of their older fleet I agree with your comments on the drinks package. On the Edge all the Martinis are priced at $17 + 20% gratuity! Given the Martini Bar is the focal point of the midship area, anyone on the Classic Package is effectively priced out of drinking there

In our case one guest dropped out so we changed from a table of 5 to 4, definitely told we had to cancel and rebook. Guess in those circumstances they treat it differently

In my experience if you want to change the time/date of a booking once on board you will need to cancel and rebook (subject to availability). You will get a refund to your card on the advance payment made but then have to pay full onboard price (less any Penisular benefit)

Having watched quite a few gangster movies, I believe they do have uses in the ‘disposal’ arena 😶‍🌫️

Good point If you consider a World Cruise with different time zones, international passengers with cards issued in different currencies, I suspect from a processing/accounting perspective bulking up transactions at the end of a cruise is much more cost and time efficient for the cruise line

There is a difference between the ‘available balance’ and ‘actual balance’, the former including any pre authorisation which depending on the merchant/card scheme can last for 30 days Best practice with a credit card is to have enough headway/limit to cover 2 x monthly spend, particularly if you intend to use the card shortly after leaving a cruise Similarly if a debit card is used which is linked to a bank balance, that account needs sufficient balance/overdraft limit to cover any expenditure once back onshore In my experience cruise companies usually clear the pre authorisation with 5-7 days

And they’ve gone up with inflation 😅

If you sail on a Princess ‘Medallion’ class ship then you can order drinks on the app to be delivered to you anywhere on the ship (within reason). Waiters are able to find you with the tracking software in your medallion I’m sure other lines probably do something similar but we found it quite innovative and convenient. For some reason I seem to have a face that is invisible to waiters/bar staff wherever I stand at a bar !

We’ve been twice on the Azura from Tenerife, Nov 22 & Jan 24 and enjoyed both trips Slightly different itineraries although docked in Madeira on both cruises. Weather was great both times, particularly this January and most islands have enough to do just walking/shuttle off the ship Just bear in mind with P&O I think there is always an overnight docking in Santa Cruz on the Friday so shops/casino out of action on your first or last night

Don’t recall the pork dish when we were on in January but good choice of tapas, sharing platters etc Be prepared to wait up to 30-45 minutes in the evening for a table although it’s worth it

How else can you enjoy a nightcap? 😁

Pre boarding that sounds normal Anything you then want to change/book when on board will be treated as a brand new booking it would seem

Beware. We thought we could do this when we got on board but were told we had to cancel the classic package we had already paid for (and lose the 10% + Penisular discount) and pay the full on board price for the Deluxe For 7 nights it would have cost us over £200 difference when we were expecting the £9 pp per day! Needless to say we stayed with the Classic and used our OBC for any drinks that weren’t included (for us just the odd cocktail and single malt whisky at the end of the night)

Good on the staff in the Crow’s Nest enforcing the dress code. Pointless having one if it just gets ignored

You can get bottles of fresh orange juice from the Costa Coffee stations on the Classic package We’ve taken these with us to the buffet When we ordered juice at breakfast in the MDR on Azura is was the standard stuff - tastes watered down. I guess we could have insisted on fresh but never asked

Yes, we were there end of Jan and there is a souvenir shop selling perfume and alcohol opposite the check in desks

I would recommend Penguin Parking Used them from Ocean Terminal last year. Well located, pick up and drop off very efficient

All the drinks menus including MDR show the options as C or D so clear which are included in Classic or Deluxe We feel there is a reasonable selection of wines on the Classic, 175ml glasses only

Depending on the ship, there is a virtual roulette wheel in Azura that takes cash as well

I think it is freedom dining in all the Iona’s main dining rooms so just turn up when you wish or join the virtual queue on the app Occasionally you may have to wait for a specific table size or ask for a buzzer