hebbie67

Currently our last night on Iona. We like a drink and have averaged 10 drinks a day - sounds a lot but Buck’s Fizz for breakfast, drink before lunch, wine with lunch, sail away, pre-dinner drink, wine with dinner and drinks with evening entertainment - plus Costa coffees and bottled water - it has paid for itself. BUT!! Cocktails limited to £6.95 and many are priced over that. Advertised water as 500ml but they are 300ml. 15 mins between drinks. No double spirits. Biggest bugbear - ‘ultimate’ package only included small glasses of wine (175ml) however there are large glasses (250ml) on the menu for under £6.95 and they are not included!!! Ordering a drink over £6.95 you don’t just pay the difference but get a 20% discount on full price. We bought a glass of Tattinger champagne each night - £14 for 2 - as there is only so much cheap Canti Prosecco you can drink! (major supermarket cheap orange label!) Overall we got our money’s worth but feel this is a case of ‘when is a drinks package not a drinks package?! Personally we prefer RCI.

Than you so much Nicky for such comprehensive info! All very reassuring - can't wait to set sail now 😀 Cheers Heb x

Thanks for the port/trip information below - really useful! A couple more questions please: What did you pack? The weather forecast looks quite cool (compared with recent UK heatwave!) and possibly wet - think we've put aside way too much stuff to cover all eventualities at present! How dressy were the 'evening casual' nights? How did you find the anytime dining system? Any recommendations? I read somewhere about bars closing at 11pm - is this right?! Thank you! Heb

Thank you so much Nicky - that's exactly what we were looking for 🙂 Hope you had a good cruise. Any other tips would be greatly received! Heb

Oh! We depart next Saturday and Hellesylt is on our itinerary.... just no clear timings which is quite frustrating.

Hi, Does anyone know the approximate port arrival/departure timings for Iona Norwegian Fjords (Stavanger, Olden, Hellesylt, Haugesund)? I've looked at the port websites and the usual sites such as cruisemapper & crew-centre etc but they just say N/A which makes it difficult to plan! Any ideas why this is or advice would be appreciated. Many thanks