SarahHben

Boots often don't have what we need these days, it's a shame that Lloyds isn't in Sainsburys anymore.

My prescriptions currently get automatically sent to Hempstead Boots, but I'm getting so fed up with waiting in a queue for 40-50 minutes each time, that I think I'm going to re-route them to Fenn's at Parkwood precinct next month. When I went last week I had to wait 45 minutes and there had only been 3 people in front of me.

Morning. It’s still 28° in our lounge this morning. We live in a 3 storey house and the top floor has been unbearable, I ended up sleeping on the sofa last night. We have fans but are trying to use them sparingly due to the electricity bill. Our garden backs onto a school field and we thought we could smell burning yesterday late afternoon, got a bit concerned, but peered through the school fence and couldn’t see anything untoward. Let’s hope today is a fair bit cooler.

I see Iona is in Alesund this morning not Hellesylt.

Thank you, I cringe when I see it 😂 he posted a new video at the weekend and it shows my mum nearly launching me out of the lift as it opened 😏 As far as I know the vloggers we enjoy watching most, do pay for their own cruises. I recognised one vlogger on our cruise in May who I used to follow on YouTube and Instagram, he was filming in the buffet and I moved out of his way even though I was getting food and he didn’t even say thank you, needless to say I don’t watch his videos anymore.

I think I know which couple you mean 🥴 I watch lots of the cruise bloggers but my husband can only stomach a few select ones 😂 My husband puts some of our holiday videos on YouTube but they are really for us, our own enjoyment and it’s an easy way to share them with family & friends without forcing them to be bored looking at holiday photos. We did do a really cheesy cabin tour of Iona that he’s posted but I hate it 🥴

I missed whatever went on but Zap I hope you have a great cruise, I'm looking forward to reading about it

I have a C deck balcony booked on Ventura in August 2023. I gather from reading comments on here & watching YouTube videos that the C deck balconies are part overlooked and part sheltered and are bigger than the balconies on other decks. The cabins themselves look quite cosy but we figured that we would use the balcony more as we’re going to the Canaries so it made sense to us to get a bigger outside space.

We really liked Iona and would definitely sail on her again, but we are glad that our 2024 cruise to Norway is on Britannia purely because of the issues that Iona's had getting into some of the ports this summer.

She was facing upstream but was being towed downstream. Quite an impressive and unusual sight.

We’ve just seen a Japanese war ship & sailors sailing under Tower Bridge, photo isn’t good as it’s taken through a dirty window.

I’m currently on a Thames Clipper boat, going from the O2 Arena to central London for the day. My husband thinks it counts as a cruise 🙄 We’ve just gone past the Viking Mars cruise ship.

Have a lovely holiday!

My sister has just seen on a different social media site that Iona will be calling at Flam instead of Hellesylt this week, and Flam is supposed to be lovely. She hasn't seen anyone giving a reason for the change yet.

Just a word of warning. Due to Iona’s design, particularly with the recessed cabins flanked by extra long balconies, there are a number of balconies that are overlooked from the side, on all decks. If complete privacy is important to you I would advise looking at the deck plan carefully.

Sorry a newbie question, our cruises are booked in my name but my husband would be the one to buy shares, as he already had a shares account. Would he still get the onboard spend perk from the shares or would I have to change the lead passenger name to his?

Morning. I have a day off grandson duties today so was hoping for a lie in, but my son text me early with his wordle score 🙄 so I’m now up editing more Norway photos. For anyone interested in seeing an unedited video of the ride down on the troll cars from Briksdal glacier, Norway, in the pouring rain, my husband has posted a video on YouTube

Have a lovely time!

All I can say is that we had a great week on Iona at the end of May this year. We were a party of 6, my parents are regular cruisers with various cruise lines, my husband & I, and my sister and her husband were all first time cruisers and we all enjoyed it. My parents are due back on Iona in January and my sister rebooked while onboard to take her family on Iona next summer which I think speaks for itself. I wouldn't hesitate to book Iona again, but for now we have Ventura and Britannia booked for '23 & '24.

No we sat in all different areas, only once on the main thoroughfare I think. We asked for a window seat sometimes, which was probably why it was harder getting out 🤣

We used all 4 MDRs with the 6 of us including mum in a wheelchair. It was sometimes a bit of a squeeze to get the wheelchair back out once we’d finished, but other passengers were very kind and accommodating and shifted their seats if necessary. I don’t remember Opal or Aqua being more difficult with the wheelchair. than Pearl or Coral. When you book a table on the app or join a virtual queue it asks if you require a wheelchair space. I didn’t have a preference but my dad and brother in law both said they preferred the Opal restaurant, smaller and quieter. We only used Aqua for afternoon tea. Also, we generally ate between 6:30 and 7:30 and never waited more than 5 minutes in a virtual queue before getting a table.

Yes that’s what we had too.

Ours was refunded automatically. I think the money was back in our account around 4 days after the email telling us the excursion would be cancelled.

Well done, that’s cheaper than I could find

Having been in the same situation with Iona docking in Geiranger cancelled last month, for the 6 of us, it certainly wasn’t a reason to cancel. Hellesylt was in a beautiful location. The majority of the sail in is the same fjord and Iona sails through most of the Geiranger fjord at the end of the afternoon so you get to see that scenery too, you don’t get a glimpse of Geiranger though, Iona doesn’t go down quite that far. Similar and some of the same excursions are still available but are slightly more expensive because of the added ferry trip & greater distance. Would I have preferred to dock in Geiranger for free as originally planned? Yes. Did I feel the day was worth the £56/£59 we ended up paying to get to Geiranger? Yes. Would I sail the same itinerary knowing that Iona would stop at Hellesylt instead of Geiranger? Yes.