Cathygh

It's a Marco Pierre White Menu but I'm.not sure if it had the beef Wellington. The mdr one didn't

The table size was part of it. Chefs Table is dressed as an Mdr with table service. The queues for dining tonight are all very busy with 40+in each queue and it's only 7.45. As for dining later it will depend on what time. We saw people hoping to walk in at 8.30 and were turned away. I don't know if they got in later. I do feel it's an unsatisfactory arrangement and must be worse on Arvia as there are only 2 mdrs.

@Selbourne I am on board now. Yesterday the weather was wonderful. The pools especially Skydome were busy but there were places to sit on the sides of the decks. The top sundecks were quiet as it was very windy up there. Inside the shops were quite crowded . In the afternoon we sat near the Infinity Pool which was sometimes full of kids but not all the time Today I am sitting in Glass House and I can see a empty chairs around in here and in the Keel and Cow and in Emerald Bar. Overall the ship feels full but manageable. Celebration Night was a pain. We have 4 cabins 8 adults in total so each cabin tried to join a different virtual queue at 6.30. The plan was to cancel the other queues when we got called. We managed to get on the list for Pearl and Opal. Coral and Aqua were closed and weren't taking walk ins. Anyone who wasn't in the virtual queue had to have a pager. We waited 2 hours. I checked out the Chef's Table and saw that it had taken up maybe 75% of the buffet. I don't know what service was like up there but in future on Iona I would book the Chef's Table for a specific time instead of the MDR. Hope that helps

Yes I will. I have packed winter clothes for the rain🌧 and low temperatures but summer clothes for today and hopefully a warm day tomorrow.

Thank you ICF for your blog. I am boarding Iona later so I hope I enjoy it as much as you and Mrs ICF, albeit we will have 1000 children on board so I will hiding in quiet corners.

We also like the lakes. Been to Garda a few times and Maggiore twice. I think Maggiore has the edge. The ferries on Garda are pretty reliable but they don't all call at some of the smaller places. We stayed in Gardone one year and we had to plan timings quite throughly. Even so we had a wonderful holiday at the Grand Gardone, which I booked for the food reviews and I was not disappointed. (unlike my recent experience in QG). Last time we went with Inghams as we could fly from Southampton. I don't know how their prices compare wit TUI's. The other thing I liked is that though we have been mainy in August there are very few children around and the Italian ones know how to behave in a restaurant. I've not been since the pandemic so I can't comment on how thigs are there now.

Thank you. As a group of 11 (8 adults, 3 children) we all eat at different times. Half eat at 6, the rest at 8. We are hoping to eat together for celebration night with a compromise time of 7, but it sounds like we need to join the queue at maybe 6.30. I will speak to the MDR manager. We don't know if the children will be in the children's club or not, but they will had the children's high tea. I wish there was fixed dining, it would make life a lot simpler. I am glad to hear you have been converted to the MDR, it's a much more relaxing experience than the buffet, which is why we have all our meals there.

We go to the top of the ship, walk around the open decks then walk down to the inside decks with stuff gping on, back to cabin to unpack, rest, drinks, dinner, maybe another drink, bed! May be a show if we are up to it.

New Place Hotel in Shirrel Heath is worth a look too.

@Interestedcruisefan how many people can you add to a virtual queue for the MDR please? Also have you seen any sign of a chocolate buffet in Horizon? Pre covid I found it by accident as it was never mentioned in Horizon. (Why call the buffet and the entertainment schedule Horizon?- rhetorical question, no answer required unless someone actually knows!)

But much cheaper than going with P&O. We are doing that next week through Olden Adventure.

The maps on the old ones were useless, but the info was helpful, as were the port talks.

I can't comment on N314 but there are people going on Iona this weekend who haven't heard about their upgrades either. None of our party got the upgrade email even though we booked select fair on day 1.

I have experienced that on Oceana, Aurora and QE. I remember that on Oceana we ended up in the theatre which was not fun as the sea was rough.

Drink prices have just gone up £4.95 is now £5.05!

I still struggle to understand why you have to queue outside even if you arrive on time and even though the queue moves quickly. There is something not right about it, it was never a probem until they introduced this new system. It has been suggested elsewhere that they now make early arrivals wait outside so they learn not to arrive early. If that is true then that is stiil a shocking way to treat customers. P&O have never to my knowlege explained this new system to their customers. In addition eleswhere people are reporting being held on coaches for 2 hours with broken toilets. The whole thing is a mess and needs to be readdressed.

Your Maths has worked it out the same as I did on another thread. Regarding security there is no way they can process 20 people per minute even with 5 machines. It takes ages to take everything off, and put it on again. I am always waiting for my DH to put his shoes and belt back on. I am on Iona next week so I shall try to remember to time everything in between booking mmy grandchildren into kids clubs as they are not allowed on until 4 hours later (or 3 if we ever hear back from the medical/accessibilty teams)

Looking at socila media the queues for Iona are about the same as Arvia or worse. There is more info about Iona as she does 7 day cruises whereas Arvia I believe is 14.

That if it's true does not surprise me. If boarding open at 12 and all aboard is 4 pm.they can not get 5000 plus people on board in 4 hours. That's 20 people per minute.

I have never experienced queuing like it but I board Iona myself next week so I'll have a better idea.

I have seen those pics too. I hope they can get access to the terminal toilets etc.

It's well worth the visit, there's usually an informative guide and a museum up the stairs. Don't miss the Queen's Garden, accessed through the Great Hall, it's a little gem.

That would pay for more holidays, just not worth it for us

Oh such a shame we aren't on the same one