Iona Review

[Harryjacobs]

Hi all

We have just returned from our first ever cruise and it was aboard the Iona.

What a truly stunning boat and we felt very privileged to have had a chance of sailing on her in her first year of sailing.  There was some disappointment as I will explain but the positives far outweighed the negatives.  

 

I will start with the negative as that's the shorter list.

• The daytime activities in my view was very poor.  My friends who cruise a lot had informed us that there will be so much to do that you will be kept busy.  We were expecting photography classes or workshops and painting lessons etc etc.  There was none. There was a few good talks I went to but there was also a lot of talks that were nothing more than a sales pitch.  Luckily the weather was superb so sunbathing was the order of the day.
• Formal Night aka Celebration Night....what a let down.  It was just another normal night but with a black tie on.  We did have superb meal in the chefs table but we was tucked away in the buffet area.  A very plain area to eat a very nice meal.  The Pearl or Coral restaurants would have been far better.  We had people who were not in formal wear, wearing jeans or shorts walking right through our dining area which took the shine away.  After the meal nothing else was organised for a formal evening.

 

The positives.

• The staff were outstanding.  They could not do enough for you and were always eager to please and help.  Always greeted with a "Good Morning" whils't passing in the corridor and with a smile on their faces.  THEY are shining representatives of P&O.  Well done to all.
• So many places to explore and visit.  The ship is huge and even on the last night we finally made it to the crows nest after saying we would go there earlier in the cruise.  There is just so much choice.
• Many pools to choose from and lots of Jacuzzi's dotted around the ship.  You didnt have to walk too far to find one.  
• Lots and lots of sunloungers.  The usual areas such as around the pools were nabbed first but all you had to do was go up a deck or two and there was plenty of loungers.  (top tip...if like me you like to come out to sunbath around midday, take a look at the position of the sun and see if it approaching the zenith of the ship.  I often did this and grabbed the empty loungers in the shade only to find 20 mins later we was in the sun for the afternoon!)
• There was a good cleaning regime on ship.  I often saw the staff dissinfecting the hand rails or the tables etc etc

 I could go on but it would take all day.

Embarkation was a bit of a faff, going to one checkpoint to be asked a health question which was a repeat of the health questionere we did online.  Slightly strange.  Diembarkation was super easy and after breakfast we was off the boat by 9.30am.

There was a map with the location of the ship.  This was on the TV in your room.  But I couldnt find a way to zoom in so it was difficult to tell the exact location.

The onboard app was faultless and very easy to use.  Used it to book shows and restaurants. Also used the queing system and it worked well.  No issues there.

If the show you want to see if fully booked go and see the person manning a stand (think it was called Myapp??) and they seem to have the ability to get you into the show.

The bar prices were reasonable.  Draught Peroni and Ghostship at £4.95 a pint.  Bottles of wine started at about £17.99 if I remembered correctly.

The food was really good.  The fast food Quays, the Horizon Buffet, the MDR's right up to the Epicurean all the food was good, plentifull and tasty.

 

I really enjoyed my week on Iona and I hope this review answers a few questions for people on upcoming trips.

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by Harryjacobs

[Harry Peterson]

Thanks for the interesting review of Iona - glad you enjoyed it.

 

With you entirely on the daytime activities. P&O used to do that so well, but it’s not an area they do well at now. They look primarily for profit centres such as art talks/sales rather than cost centres such as straight lectures. A lot of dumbing down in the nature of the talks too.

 

 

[Bin man]

Don't think you can compare the weeks british Isle cruises with say 2 weeks in the med . Not to say the next 2 cruises will be any different that are going to the  med but  time will tell .

[Harryjacobs]

1 hour ago, Bin man said:

Don't think you can compare the weeks british Isle cruises with say 2 weeks in the med . Not to say the next 2 cruises will be any different that are going to the  med but  time will tell .

It was a run down to the coast of Spain and the Captain did a superb job of chasing the sun.

To be honest considering we wasnt leaving the ship for the duration of 7 days I expected more activities for the daytime.  Of course it will be a different kettle of fish when port days are thrown into the mix.

[P&O SUE]

Thanks for the review. So many of the daytime activities are excuses for sales pitches, I never go to them. I have been to some interesting lectures onboard but we are happy reading and people watching. Of course there are normally port days. 
 

Glad you enjoyed it.

[Guest]

We found issues with the Formal evening as well. P&O used to be one of the best for formal night, but this time it was terrible. They had an illusionist on in the atrium which made for a weird atmosphere. And the food was rushed and the usual posh tableware and amuse bouche were missing. 
 

I also thought the daytime activities were lacking. Other cruise lines certainly do a lot better than P&O in this department. Ice sculpture carvings, officers vs passenger activities, deck parties were missing (probably due to Covid). It’s ok if the weather is good, but not so great when the weather is bad! 

[Britboys]

7 hours ago, Harryjacobs said:

Hi all

We have just returned from our first ever cruise and it was aboard the Iona.

What a truly stunning boat and we felt very privileged to have had a chance of sailing on her in her first year of sailing.  There was some disappointment as I will explain but the positives far outweighed the negatives.  

 

I will start with the negative as that's the shorter list.

• The daytime activities in my view was very poor.  My friends who cruise a lot had informed us that there will be so much to do that you will be kept busy.  We were expecting photography classes or workshops and painting lessons etc etc.  There was none. There was a few good talks I went to but there was also a lot of talks that were nothing more than a sales pitch.  Luckily the weather was superb so sunbathing was the order of the day.
• Formal Night aka Celebration Night....what a let down.  It was just another normal night but with a black tie on.  We did have superb meal in the chefs table but we was tucked away in the buffet area.  A very plain area to eat a very nice meal.  The Pearl or Coral restaurants would have been far better.  We had people who were not in formal wear, wearing jeans or shorts walking right through our dining area which took the shine away.  After the meal nothing else was organised for a formal evening.

 

The positives.

• The staff were outstanding.  They could not do enough for you and were always eager to please and help.  Always greeted with a "Good Morning" whils't passing in the corridor and with a smile on their faces.  THEY are shining representatives of P&O.  Well done to all.
• So many places to explore and visit.  The ship is huge and even on the last night we finally made it to the crows nest after saying we would go there earlier in the cruise.  There is just so much choice.
• Many pools to choose from and lots of Jacuzzi's dotted around the ship.  You didnt have to walk too far to find one.  
• Lots and lots of sunloungers.  The usual areas such as around the pools were nabbed first but all you had to do was go up a deck or two and there was plenty of loungers.  (top tip...if like me you like to come out to sunbath around midday, take a look at the position of the sun and see if it approaching the zenith of the ship.  I often did this and grabbed the empty loungers in the shade only to find 20 mins later we was in the sun for the afternoon!)
• There was a good cleaning regime on ship.  I often saw the staff dissinfecting the hand rails or the tables etc etc

 I could go on but it would take all day.

Embarkation was a bit of a faff, going to one checkpoint to be asked a health question which was a repeat of the health questionere we did online.  Slightly strange.  Diembarkation was super easy and after breakfast we was off the boat by 9.30am.

There was a map with the location of the ship.  This was on the TV in your room.  But I couldnt find a way to zoom in so it was difficult to tell the exact location.

The onboard app was faultless and very easy to use.  Used it to book shows and restaurants. Also used the queing system and it worked well.  No issues there.

If the show you want to see if fully booked go and see the person manning a stand (think it was called Myapp??) and they seem to have the ability to get you into the show.

The bar prices were reasonable.  Draught Peroni and Ghostship at £4.95 a pint.  Bottles of wine started at about £17.99 if I remembered correctly.

The food was really good.  The fast food Quays, the Horizon Buffet, the MDR's right up to the Epicurean all the food was good, plentifull and tasty.

 

I really enjoyed my week on Iona and I hope this review answers a few questions for people on upcoming trips.

 

Thanks for posting your thoughts and good to hear that you had a good time. Difficult to know what daytimes will look like post-Covid as things have changed over recent years and no doubt will continue to do so. I'm sure some things are currently on hold due to Covid restrictions.

In terms of Formal Nights, it's difficult to know what they are planning for Iona and difficult to know what they can do with 5200+ passengers on board when up to full load.

[wowzz]

I think that trying to contrast one off "staycation " cruises with normal cruises is not appropriate. 

P&O wanted to get "bums on seats", which they have done. OK, the daytime entertainment nay not have been fantastic, but to be fair, P&O never pretended that there would be round the clock amusements.

Perhaps a sense of perspective is required. In January this year, the future of cruising looked bleak. Now, 9 months later,  people are  complaining about the lack  of day time activities on a brand new cruise ship!

 

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Glitterati said:

And the food was rushed and the usual posh tableware and amuse bouche were missing. 

I'm not that well travelled on P&O,  but have never found either of those in recent years. 

I'm especially intrigued about the posh tableware?  Silver knives and forks ?

[Britboys]

8 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'm not that well travelled on P&O,  but have never found either of those in recent years. 

I'm especially intrigued about the posh tableware?  Silver knives and forks ?

No, I don't recall ever having an Amuse Bouche served in the mdr, even on Formal Nights. There has always been a palate-cleanser sorbet on offer though.

[Harryjacobs]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think that trying to contrast one off "staycation " cruises with normal cruises is not appropriate. 

P&O wanted to get "bums on seats", which they have done. OK, the daytime entertainment nay not have been fantastic, but to be fair, P&O never pretended that there would be round the clock amusements.

Perhaps a sense of perspective is required. In January this year, the future of cruising looked bleak. Now, 9 months later,  people are  complaining about the lack  of day time activities on a brand new cruise ship!

 

Actually the sales pitch I was given via an email promised all day entertainment and activities for the staycation cruise.  Plus if you are not having port days you really should be considering how to keep 2500 people entertained for the duration of the cruise.

To be fair as I have mentioned, we had a great time and Iona is an amazing ship.  Service was faultless and food was great.  It was a great trip.

So good that we are now planning a Norwegian Fjords trip for late 2022 or maybe spring 2023.

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Harryjacobs

[NaomiW]

We were lucky to have a series of very interesting talks from a conservationist about whales and dolphins, on our recent iona secation cruise (18-25th), and I passed the rest of the day just relaxing in the balcony or going to the gym. There were lots of films on in the cinema which I didnt go to as the weather was so good, but I agree if you like taking part in lots of activities then you might have been disappointed.

[Harryjacobs]

4 minutes ago, NaomiW said:

We were lucky to have a series of very interesting talks from a conservationist about whales and dolphins, on our recent iona secation cruise (18-25th), and I passed the rest of the day just relaxing in the balcony or going to the gym. There were lots of films on in the cinema which I didnt go to as the weather was so good, but I agree if you like taking part in lots of activities then you might have been disappointed.

Yes we too went to the Orca talk.  Was very good and that is what I was hoping to see a lot more of. 

[Son of Anarchy]

Glad you enjoyed your first cruise.  Hopefully the first of many!

 

We were on Iona the week before yourselves.  Your comments are pretty much the same as ours.

 

About the only daytime activity that interested us was the theme quiz.  On pre-pandemic cruises we would have gone to the ballroom dancing classes and The Ole Lady would have gone to the art classes.  Guest speakers can be a bit hit and miss, it all depends on the subject matter they're talking about.  

 

However, after 18:00 we were chasing our tails between dinner and the variety of shows.

[Eglesbrech]

15 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think that trying to contrast one off "staycation " cruises with normal cruises is not appropriate. 

P&O wanted to get "bums on seats", which they have done. OK, the daytime entertainment nay not have been fantastic, but to be fair, P&O never pretended that there would be round the clock amusements.

Perhaps a sense of perspective is required. In January this year, the future of cruising looked bleak. Now, 9 months later,  people are  complaining about the lack  of day time activities on a brand new cruise ship!

 

I can’t comment on P&O as we have not yet sailed with them this year. I can however confirm that Celebrity had all the usual day time pursuits on their staycation.
 

Lots to do, everything from botchie and ring toss to wine tastings, matinee shows in the theatre and cookery demonstrations etc etc. They did lots of small events in different areas of the ship to avoid gathering too many people. 
 

In my opinion I don’t think it is anything to do with the stop and restart of cruising.  P&O have been reducing the day time offering for quite some time now which is why we travel with them less and less, unless it is a port intensive cruise where we don’t need to be entertained for most of the days.

 

[Eglesbrech]

16 hours ago, wowzz said:

I'm not that well travelled on P&O,  but have never found either of those in recent years. 

I'm especially intrigued about the posh tableware?  Silver knives and forks ?

They used to use black charger plates on the table setting on formal nights and a sorbet course. That’s was still in use fairly recently.

 

They also had lovely little silver baskets for the sweets at the end of the meal but have not seen them in years. And of course the long ago gone “savoury” with the coffee and port.

[Harry Peterson]

37 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I can’t comment on P&O as we have not yet sailed with them this year. I can however confirm that Celebrity had all the usual day time pursuits on their staycation.
 

Lots to do, everything from botchie and ring toss to wine tastings, matinee shows in the theatre and cookery demonstrations etc etc. They did lots of small events in different areas of the ship to avoid gathering too many people. 
 

In my opinion I don’t think it is anything to do with the stop and restart of cruising.  P&O have been reducing the day time offering for quite some time now which is why we travel with them less and less, unless it is a port intensive cruise where we don’t need to be entertained for most of the days.

 

Absolutely agree with you. The P&O daytime offering has become progressively poorer since the Carnival accountants took charge, and sea days offer just a fraction of the pleasant diversions formerly offered. If you’re happy to read, watch a very limited range of TV programmes, or watch the sea go by you’ll be fine, but if you’re looking for the interesting range of talks and lectures that used to be offered, you’ll be disappointed. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

They used to use black charger plates on the table setting on formal nights and a sorbet course. That’s was still in use fairly recently.

 

They also had lovely little silver baskets for the sweets at the end of the meal but have not seen them in years. And of course the long ago gone “savoury” with the coffee and port.

They did lay the tables with a charger plate, but always took it away before serving any food, which rather defeated the purpose of the charger to catch any spills from your dinner plates.

[grapau27]

On 9/25/2021 at 2:53 PM, Harryjacobs said:

Hi all

We have just returned from our first ever cruise and it was aboard the Iona.

What a truly stunning boat and we felt very privileged to have had a chance of sailing on her in her first year of sailing.  There was some disappointment as I will explain but the positives far outweighed the negatives.  

 

I will start with the negative as that's the shorter list.

• The daytime activities in my view was very poor.  My friends who cruise a lot had informed us that there will be so much to do that you will be kept busy.  We were expecting photography classes or workshops and painting lessons etc etc.  There was none. There was a few good talks I went to but there was also a lot of talks that were nothing more than a sales pitch.  Luckily the weather was superb so sunbathing was the order of the day.
• Formal Night aka Celebration Night....what a let down.  It was just another normal night but with a black tie on.  We did have superb meal in the chefs table but we was tucked away in the buffet area.  A very plain area to eat a very nice meal.  The Pearl or Coral restaurants would have been far better.  We had people who were not in formal wear, wearing jeans or shorts walking right through our dining area which took the shine away.  After the meal nothing else was organised for a formal evening.

 

The positives.

• The staff were outstanding.  They could not do enough for you and were always eager to please and help.  Always greeted with a "Good Morning" whils't passing in the corridor and with a smile on their faces.  THEY are shining representatives of P&O.  Well done to all.
• So many places to explore and visit.  The ship is huge and even on the last night we finally made it to the crows nest after saying we would go there earlier in the cruise.  There is just so much choice.
• Many pools to choose from and lots of Jacuzzi's dotted around the ship.  You didnt have to walk too far to find one.  
• Lots and lots of sunloungers.  The usual areas such as around the pools were nabbed first but all you had to do was go up a deck or two and there was plenty of loungers.  (top tip...if like me you like to come out to sunbath around midday, take a look at the position of the sun and see if it approaching the zenith of the ship.  I often did this and grabbed the empty loungers in the shade only to find 20 mins later we was in the sun for the afternoon!)
• There was a good cleaning regime on ship.  I often saw the staff dissinfecting the hand rails or the tables etc etc

 I could go on but it would take all day.

Embarkation was a bit of a faff, going to one checkpoint to be asked a health question which was a repeat of the health questionere we did online.  Slightly strange.  Diembarkation was super easy and after breakfast we was off the boat by 9.30am.

There was a map with the location of the ship.  This was on the TV in your room.  But I couldnt find a way to zoom in so it was difficult to tell the exact location.

The onboard app was faultless and very easy to use.  Used it to book shows and restaurants. Also used the queing system and it worked well.  No issues there.

If the show you want to see if fully booked go and see the person manning a stand (think it was called Myapp??) and they seem to have the ability to get you into the show.

The bar prices were reasonable.  Draught Peroni and Ghostship at £4.95 a pint.  Bottles of wine started at about £17.99 if I remembered correctly.

The food was really good.  The fast food Quays, the Horizon Buffet, the MDR's right up to the Epicurean all the food was good, plentifull and tasty.

 

I really enjoyed my week on Iona and I hope this review answers a few questions for people on upcoming trips.

 

Hi Harry.

Nice review and pleased you had a great cruise.

We had exactly the same cruise as yourself with ours being on 11-18th September where the captain chased the sun and high pressure areas.

A lot of people sunbathed including myself and Pauline on occasions which passed a lot of time.

My concern would be sailing during the colder months and with a full complement of passengers but we usually go for port intensive cruise's so daytime activities not a priority for us.

There was a couple of speakers in the clubhouse but we never bothered.

Night time entertainment was very good.

We also have booked another Iona cruise  because we enjoyed ours.

Take care.

Graham.

Edited September 26, 2021 by grapau27

[Son of Anarchy]

20 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

They also had lovely little silver baskets for the sweets at the end of the meal but have not seen them in years. And of course the long ago gone “savoury” with the coffee and port.

I liked the savouries as well.

[terrierjohn]

20 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

They used to use black charger plates on the table setting on formal nights and a sorbet course. That’s was still in use fairly recently.

 

They also had lovely little silver baskets for the sweets at the end of the meal but have not seen them in years. And of course the long ago gone “savoury” with the coffee and port.

I first cruised with P&O in 2005 and I don't remember petit fours in silver baskets, and only ever seen a cheese board offered with the port, and they now charge for the port.

Edited September 27, 2021 by terrierjohn

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I first cruised with P&O in 2005 and I don't remember petit fours in silver baskets, and only ever seen a cheese board offered with the port, and they now charge for the port.

They always charged for the port but you used to get port, a small brandy or baileys etc for £1 at dinner which was a very reasonable price even back in the day.

 

I didn’t think the little baskets or the savoury was quite so long ago long ago but perhaps they were. I seem to remember the savoury at least more recently

 

The little baskets were quite cute, they had a swing handle and looked like lace.