On Iona now 28th Sept

[Technoman2]

5 hours ago, Rebjon said:

Another question for those who have just returned. We like to use the buffet for breakfast and lunch. As you have to be served by staff at the moment was there less choice of food than usual and were there long queues?

Thanks

The selection was pretty much the same as in the MDRs , cerials, Porridge, fruit Juice Yogurts, Full english breakfast. But not only can you get breakfast in Horizon but also in The Quays on deck 8. Breakfast was until 9.30 am in the MDR s on Port days and until 10am on Sea Days and sometimes people walked in at 9.25 and still got the full breakfast service, we at least had the courtesy to arrive 30 mins before most days. Pearl was the most efficient in our opinion. We did the Buffet for breakfast twice and it wasnt too bad 5 or 6 people queuing and i definitely think they should keep the no self service protocol but then everybody got there own water and coffee by touching the same screen or button but if people were vigilant with hand gels  then whats the problem. Someone told us that they maybe stopping children coming on board soon . 

[Technoman2]

If anyone really wants to indulge themselves how about paying £40 a day to get access to the retreat!

I nearly needed a stiff drink when they told me that. HOW MUCH🥃

Even Dick Turpin had the good grace to wear a mask BUT WAIT they were wearing a mask. lol

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Technoman2

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, Technoman2 said:

If anyone really wants to indulge themselves how about paying £40 a day to get access to the retreat!

I nearly needed a stiff drink when they told me that. HOW MUCH🥃

Even Dick Turpin had the good grace to wear a mask BUT WAIT they were wearing a mask. lol

 

I think P&O are playing with the idea of the "Yacht Club " concept of MSC, but don't  have the confidence to go for it. 

Iona would gave been the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

[davecttr]

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

I think P&O are playing with the idea of the "Yacht Club " concept of MSC, but don't  have the confidence to go for it. 

Iona would gave been the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

They could try that concept but would have needed to designate a dining room and lounge bar plus the other stuff for exclusive use of the 'dinghy club'.

[Son of Anarchy]

12 hours ago, Technoman2 said:

If anyone really wants to indulge themselves how about paying £40 a day to get access to the retreat!

I nearly needed a stiff drink when they told me that. HOW MUCH🥃

Even Dick Turpin had the good grace to wear a mask BUT WAIT they were wearing a mask. lol

 

I asked at the Spa about use of the sauna.  I was told that you had to book the thermal suite package - £25 for 2 hours.  Thanks but no thanks.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Son of Anarchy said:

I asked at the Spa about use of the sauna.  I was told that you had to book the thermal suite package - £25 for 2 hours.  Thanks but no thanks.

That's one of the things I really miss about Oriana. There was a lovely complimentary spa area with a large sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and a couple of heated beds. Very few people seemed to realise it was there so seldom busy.

[Son of Anarchy]

On 10/10/2021 at 1:44 PM, Britboys said:

That's one of the things I really miss about Oriana. There was a lovely complimentary spa area with a large sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and a couple of heated beds. Very few people seemed to realise it was there so seldom busy.

We used to use the complimentary spa area on Oriana and Aurora as well.  I hope they haven't gone down this charging route on the other ships.  

[Son of Anarchy]

10 minutes ago, LynnForestgate said:

I get the impression you would rather spend the money on alcohol, rather than on spa treatments.

 

Yep. 🍷🥂🍺🥃🍸

[Bluemanc100]

On 9/29/2021 at 9:03 AM, bobstheboy said:

I am disappointed that things are slipping . On both my cruises mask wearing and 4 to a lift were followed by all, the way the OP comments, it appears the 4 to a lift was totally ignored. Is that correct ?

We did a week on Iona in September on a “staycation” and we only saw the four to a lift rule broken once when an extra passenger was invited in as he’d been waiting for some time

 

We enjoyed the ship so we booked the two week cruise to Spain on October 27th.. Our cruise was relaxed as we had no stops and therefore (I assume) no temperature checking was going on at the dining rooms.. the booking App dropped off twice in the week we were onboard and was the main criticism but staff worked around the issues.. We did realise that “you snooze you lose” as they say and after midweek there was zero availability in speciality restaurants.

 

I agree that Sindu is no longer anything special but the Olive Grove was good.. didn’t try the burger in the Keel & Cow but will next time… The Quays were a highlight for us as they offered some great options for breakfast and lunch… I tried the Katsu Chicken but have yet to try the fish and chips or burgers though they looked excellent 

 

Only did one show as we didn’t like the masks and lack of bar service but we really enjoyed the shows in the atrium and the club where the atmosphere was much more relaxed 

 

We heard lots of people saying that “it’s not the P&O we remember” which is true but overall it was easily enough for us to book again to do the things we missed…  For the money (we saved £100 each as P&O friends and family using a friend’s code who works for P&O) we really don’t think you can do much better… ~£46 each per night for full board with free entertainment.. It’s surely a 10 from Len! 

 

in no particular order I’ll be eating in the Quays to try the the options we missed, more visits to the Olive Grove, 710 club which was well worth queuing for and I’ll use the gym next time!! 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Bluemanc100

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, LynnForestgate said:

Do you not treat yourself whilst on holidays ?

Its a perfect thing to do , isn't it ?

 

I get the impression you would rather spend the money on alcohol, rather than on spa treatments.

 

 

.

 

You may think spa treatments on cruise ships are a good value treat, but I couldn't possibly comment, at least not without swearing.

[Bluemanc100]

On 10/9/2021 at 12:31 PM, Rebjon said:

Thanks for your posts Techoman2. How was disembarkation in Southampton - could you just walk off the ship, pick your bags up and walk out or did you have to queue to have anything checked? We always book a fixed time train home as it's cheaper so need to know if there will be any delays getting to the station.

We sailed on Iona last month and whilst we did have a disembarkation time we just walked off once we’d had breakfast with no issues 

[Red Ray]

We had a great time on G133. Obviously there were little niggles - slightly disappointed with Sindhu, and we thought the food in the MDR was nothing to write home about - P&O seem to be expanding their veggie & vegan options which don't appeal to meat eating me at all. However the fish & chips in The Quays were some of the best I have ever had & I congratulated the chefs on their cooking ability. Olive Grove was excellent too, Beach House just so-so and the Chef's Table again fairly mundane. I thought Horizon was very good - always plenty of choice and hygienically served too.

 

The staff on board were brilliant, couldn't fault them, and the Assistant Entertainments Director (Andy?) was hilarious with his deadpan Welsh delivery - think Windsor Davies in It Ain't Half Hot Mum!

 

Mask wearing was pretty good, though it was annoying to see people not covering their nose sometimes, especially in the theatre. I forgot mine one morning & was gently reminded by 1 of the staff outside the Spa - I had no problem with that at all.  I'm teetotal so can't comment on the drinks, but Mrs Redray found them most acceptable..hic!

 

As for the entertainment, the Headliners were fantastic - 2 great shows and a good Q & A with the Entertainments Director. Also enjoyed The Privateers, Pulse & Dave Julien. The comedians were pretty poor imo, and whilst Jaz Ellington & Jayson Keeler are both superb singers they weren't to my taste, but I know lots of people loved them. The daily quizzes were well attended though despite winning 6 I thought the questions were a bit harder than usual.

 

Ports of call were good and we were blessed with beautiful weather throughout. The cabin was much better with a proper shower cubicle and large flat screen TV (though reception was a bit hit & miss). I don't use sun loungers as I prefer a chair on Deck 8, but I did notice lots of towels rnjoying the sunshine for hours on end.....

 

Back to reality and the toad work now, so roll on next March and a 27 nighter on Azura.

[Bluemanc100]

On 10/5/2021 at 5:07 PM, Britboys said:

Would have been a nice gesture by P&O to allow free internet access to the Gov.uk website...

It was free last month… 

[Interestedcruisefan]

14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You may think spa treatments on cruise ships are a good value treat, but I couldn't possibly comment, at least not without swearing.

I think they are very over priced (unlike a lot of things on a ship) 

 

Apart from on some cruises where they let you make best offers or have auctions for spa treatments (normally on port days)

 

When they do that you can get some value for money

Edited October 11, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[Bluemanc100]

On 10/9/2021 at 11:41 PM, Technoman2 said:

If anyone really wants to indulge themselves how about paying £40 a day to get access to the retreat!

I nearly needed a stiff drink when they told me that. HOW MUCH🥃

Even Dick Turpin had the good grace to wear a mask BUT WAIT they were wearing a mask. lol

 

It was £40 per day on our cruise last month but if you booked it for the week it was ~£20 per day.. it’s the first thing we’ll buy when we sail next month 

[Interestedcruisefan]

8 minutes ago, Bluemanc100 said:

It was £40 per day on our cruise last month but if you booked it for the week it was ~£20 per day.. it’s the first thing we’ll buy when we sail next month 

We considered it on the staycation cruise 

 

But we were finding it so easy to get sunbeds in good places on the rest of the ship

 

I don't think the food options in the retreat are very good

 

So the only reason for us to go in there would be if sunbeds were hard to get on the rest of the ship or it was too manic on the rest of the ship

 

At which stage I wouldn't hesitate to pay

 

Then its worth the money

 

When ships are operating at such low capacity it's not that much of an appeal

 

Would spend the £20 a day on cocktails to enjoy on the normal sunbeds instead 

 

Comfier sunbeds in the retreat tbf

 

But not all of them get the sun same as on the rest if the boat 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Interestedcruisefan

[the wandering two]

1 hour ago, Bluemanc100 said:

It was free last month… 

It was available, they just didn't tell anyone......

[picsa]

5 hours ago, Bluemanc100 said:

We did realise that “you snooze you lose” as they say and after midweek there was zero availability in speciality restaurants.

Speaking politely to the relevant head waiters resulted in tables becoming available. 

[picsa]

5 hours ago, Bluemanc100 said:

We sailed on Iona last month and whilst we did have a disembarkation time we just walked off once we’d had breakfast with no issues 

Sush - don’t give secrets away.

[picsa]

4 hours ago, Red Ray said:

As for the entertainment, the Headliners were fantastic - 2 great shows and a good Q & A with the Entertainments Director. Also enjoyed The Privateers, Pulse & Dave Julien. The comedians were pretty poor imo, and whilst Jaz Ellington & Jayson Keeler are both superb singers they weren't to my taste, but I know lots of people loved them.

Headliners - good and good to see two new shows - although I am not sure the Festival show would appeal to older audiences (but then I realised that none of the Headliners would have been born when the Britpop songs were released). 
 

The person in charge of the sound mixing desk for the Jaz Ellington show should have been fired - absolutely awful with the (good) band drowning out an apparently excellent singer but you couldn’t hear them. 
 

Comedian - I have had funnier illnesses. 
 

The conjuring stage act - enthusiastic but not very polished. Effectively a club act. 
 

Pulse the house band that is mainly in the Club House - tolerable not not brilliant. 
 

Daytime speaker - Quite surprised they chose a speaker that would interest such a niche group. 

710 club was generally the best shows, but usually impossible to get into. 

 

Also the aerobatic hire wire show they were practicing in the atrium was cancelled because the stage equipment was broken. 

[Red Ray]

Talking of sound, the acoustics in the Skydome were just awful. I felt sorry for the singers who drew the short straw in having to perform there, though I'm not sure world class sound would have helped the Beyonce impersonator...

 

We did get in the 710 club once for what was billed as UK number 1s, though the show seemed to have a middle section of American soul songs which didn't fit that criterion. To be fair, 1 of the band was ill and couldn't perform so I'm assuming they had to improvise.

 

I went to all the speaker's talks - 'Big' Phil Campion, ex-SAS. Certainly eye opening but became a bit repetitive, with the talks on SAS selection & sea piracy the most interesting.

 

Other thoughts - the organised tours we did were worth the money with the exception of a walking tour of Vigo. Nothing to see here, move on...  Barcelona, Cadiz & Lisbon were good tours, we did our own thing in Malaga & Alicante and didn't get off the ship in Valencia. Thankfully not too many children on board, though quite a few babes in arms.

[davecttr]

More talking of sound. I find the accompanying music on P&O so loud that the singers have to strain to make themselves heard, or the music is loud to mask the singers poor singing. I agree the acoustics on the Skydome are appalling. I don't go to the theatre shows anymore.

[Interestedcruisefan]

On 10/12/2021 at 2:54 PM, davecttr said:

More talking of sound. I find the accompanying music on P&O so loud that the singers have to strain to make themselves heard, or the music is loud to mask the singers poor singing. I agree the acoustics on the Skydome are appalling. I don't go to the theatre shows anymore.

The singing was noticeably weak in the headliner theatre type shows on our Britannia staycation 

[zap99]

On 10/11/2021 at 9:59 PM, picsa said:

Speaking politely to the relevant head waiters resulted in tables becoming available. 

Speaking a little less politely and threatening a poor review on CC got a result as well ( politely first didn't work ).

[picsa]

15 hours ago, zap99 said:

Speaking a little less politely and threatening a poor review on CC got a result as well ( politely first didn't work ).

If I was running a hospitality business then anyone who spoke impolitely and used a threat of a poor review to get what they wanted would be banned from making a future booking.