Methuselah55

That's great thank you. Coincidentally we booked the hotel earlier today so that very reassuring.

Hi We're travelling from the UK in May 2024 and are looking at staying 3 nights at the Days Inn by Wyndham; have you stayed there yet and would you recommend or not? Thanks

Not sure how much cash we took but be aware that Norway is pretty expensive. We trialled a Post Office travel money card which lets you load up in GBP then convert to whatever currency you need. Worked perfectly in Norway and subsequently in Spain, Portugal, and all over the Caribbean. We tend to avoid the Horizon buffet scrum, and the speciality restaurants unless there's a special occasion to push the boat out for. We tend to break fast in The Quays (great omelettes) or the MDRs (full English), and have dinner in the MDRs. Quality and choice is routinely above average I would say, whilst service is almost always excellent.

Welcome to cruising; hope it's the start of new adventures around the world. 😎 Always difficult to choose the best side of the ship and, particularly for fjord sailings, what you miss on the way in, you'll see on the way back out. We were on Iona last September and had a starboard balcony cabin which gave us a great view of the Olden sailaway party (pic) from the locals, as well as great views over Stavanger. We make the most of quiet sea days away from the world wide web etc, and catch up in port. 4G is pretty good everywhere; we use it to find pubs & shops away from the tourist traps. Have a great time. Meth

Yes, this was the difference and greatly improved the show. Digital (on Arvia in Jan/Feb) was dire; far too much chat and effects. It was total self indulgence from the principal, who I think may have been the artistic director? Certainly thought a lot of himself as he preened around the sunset bar.

I'd say it was a toss up between that and Digital both of which relied too much on all the tech gizmos. Saw Festival on Ventura (I think; might have been Iona though?) and it was awful but the newer version on Arvia was actually quite good.

Ventura is currently in Hamburg (13th Feb); she followed Iona in last night (son is onboard Iona so I was tracking them both on Cruise Mapper). Looks like she's docked away from the cruise terminal so I'm guessing she's there for refitting.

Had a similar experience on Ventura last June: like Benidorm on sea with the all inclusive large groups.

🤣 At least !! Hold luggage is only screened by the airline who are only interested in hazardous/banned items.

OK that doesn't seem too bad bearing in mind we have 5 sea days: have to check whether Vodafone have anything similar. Other half is looking to change mobile so we might switch her's to EE so we can cover our bets.

We use airplane mode on board to access the "app that isn't an app" and usually wait until we have a signal at each port to see what zone we're in before switching any mobile data back on. Last two trips this year have been to Zone B Europe and the vodafone message reads "...you can use calls, texts, and up to 25GB of data from your plan at no extra cost." There's a charge of 31p/MB if you use more than 25GB. It'll be interesting to see how we get on in the Caribbean next January though ! Their Maritime service quotes £2.40/minute for making calls but £1.80/minute for receiving one. Texts are 60pence to send but free to receive.

We didn't see any signs for quarantine decks or cabins last week on Iona and we did a full explore of all decks 4 - 19! (I think; defo down to 6 anyway, or maybe 5?)

Yes, it has been the case since Covid.

Hi. We took the hop on/off bus into Porto but would use the shuttle next time. There were no Hop on staff or kiosks at the terminal gates, just a bus stop sign. If you do want to try; turn right at the port gates and wait at the beach end of Rua de Tomaz Ribeiro (coincidentally there's a bus stopped there on Google maps at the moment!). I think it was 40 minutes into town, and we got off at the river trip area anyway. We took the same route back as well. We booked the Douro River cruise independently which was fine. We didn't take to option of wine tasting etc. This was done through Porto: River Douro 6 Bridges Cruise | GetYourGuide Have a great cruise.

This site may be helpful. Iona Deck Plans, Layouts, Pictures, Videos (cruisedeckplans.com) We saw a number of different cabin/balcony styles whilst having a nosey around the Iona during disembarkation yesterday! Those on deck 8 were particularly surprising, right next to hot tubs and the promenade deck!