Oh dear, Iona disappointment, Again!

[Welsh pride]

Only chose P&O initially due to lack of choice with other lines. Sailed previously in Sep 21 and was disappointed with this new ship but we thought we would give P&O the benefit of the doubt as Covid rules affected the last cruise. How disappointed we were! No better 6 months later. After leaving the ship after a 2 week cruise I still haven’t been told that we are going to Gibraltar instead of Lisbon! No notification before the cruise and complete shock when I mentioned it on board. If the wind was more than a gentle breeze all the open decks were closed down and everyone was crammed into the public spaces like battery hens. We were regularly told by the captain that Iona was a new ship which could deal with rough seas, so why did I sit on my balcony in my shorts only to be told that the weather was too bad to dock in Madeira?
Dining room choices are terrible with the app. I couldn’t book a dining room after 5 pm for any night on day 2 of the cruise. Tables were booked up by the second day and the waiting list means you can’t plan anything in case you are called to dinner. This is NOT my idea of freedom dining. It’s an app to make it look like P&O are hip and modern and fails dismally. The Horizon buffet restaurant choices were very poor, if I see sweet potato fries again I will probably jump overboard! They were served at lunch and dinner EVERY DAY! Minimum choice and average quality. No better than pub grub from your local. Personally I don’t see bubble and squeak as classy dining and if you are vegan or vegetarian, good luck! I would like to see better ‘included’ dining rather than all the Speciality restaurants where you have to pay again! a nice money maker for P&O. More affordable shopping would be better, Who goes on a cruise to buy a £23,000 watch or a £3500 bracelet. Designer watches, handbags and clothing and a ‘Gem bar’? Really!!
The waiter service is slow and inflexible. A splash of mixer is just that, no choice of a lot or a little mixer in your drink. The tablet ordering system used by the waiting staff is woefully slow which means you’ll die of thirst waiting. 
Overall not a great holiday which was not even half as good as Costa, MSC, TUI or Royal Caribbean. PLEASE ROYAL CARIBBEAN PUT ANOTHER SHIP BACK IN THE UK NEXT YEAR! 

[devonuk]

2 hours ago, Welsh pride said:

Only chose P&O initially due to lack of choice with other lines. Sailed previously in Sep 21 and was disappointed with this new ship but we thought we would give P&O the benefit of the doubt as Covid rules affected the last cruise. How disappointed we were! No better 6 months later. After leaving the ship after a 2 week cruise I still haven’t been told that we are going to Gibraltar instead of Lisbon! No notification before the cruise and complete shock when I mentioned it on board. If the wind was more than a gentle breeze all the open decks were closed down and everyone was crammed into the public spaces like battery hens. We were regularly told by the captain that Iona was a new ship which could deal with rough seas, so why did I sit on my balcony in my shorts only to be told that the weather was too bad to dock in Madeira?
Dining room choices are terrible with the app. I couldn’t book a dining room after 5 pm for any night on day 2 of the cruise. Tables were booked up by the second day and the waiting list means you can’t plan anything in case you are called to dinner. This is NOT my idea of freedom dining. It’s an app to make it look like P&O are hip and modern and fails dismally. The Horizon buffet restaurant choices were very poor, if I see sweet potato fries again I will probably jump overboard! They were served at lunch and dinner EVERY DAY! Minimum choice and average quality. No better than pub grub from your local. Personally I don’t see bubble and squeak as classy dining and if you are vegan or vegetarian, good luck! I would like to see better ‘included’ dining rather than all the Speciality restaurants where you have to pay again! a nice money maker for P&O. More affordable shopping would be better, Who goes on a cruise to buy a £23,000 watch or a £3500 bracelet. Designer watches, handbags and clothing and a ‘Gem bar’? Really!!
The waiter service is slow and inflexible. A splash of mixer is just that, no choice of a lot or a little mixer in your drink. The tablet ordering system used by the waiting staff is woefully slow which means you’ll die of thirst waiting. 
Overall not a great holiday which was not even half as good as Costa, MSC, TUI or Royal Caribbean. PLEASE ROYAL CARIBBEAN PUT ANOTHER SHIP BACK IN THE UK NEXT YEAR! 

You haven’t left it yet so something else could happen 😉

[wowzz]

I love a good rant !

[Harryjacobs]

My wife is a vegetarian and she praised P&O for the wide choice and excellent quality of food on Iona.  And she is a fussy eater who normally moans about food when eating out.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Harryjacobs

[Megabear2]

11 hours ago, Welsh pride said:

Who goes on a cruise to buy a £23,000 watch or a £3500 bracelet. Designer watches, handbags and clothing and a ‘Gem bar’? Really!!

A particular bug bear of mine is shopping for "normal items" on any cruise ship and the mark up. I can never understand the need for a ship sailing in European waters to charge £4.50 for a bag of Haribo sweets when they are £1 a bag ashore. Mind you they were in the shape of cruise ships.

 

And while we're on it why is their always a high end luggage shop selling suitcases in the departure area of an airport? Having checked in their hold luggage before security who actually needs to buy the £300 suitcase and more intriguing what do they do with it once they've bought it?????

[kalos]

16 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Having checked in their hold luggage before security who actually needs to buy the £300 suitcase and more intriguing what do they do with it once they've bought it?????

You could understand it more if it was the shops pre departure but Airside ? 

Some of the cases you see coming around on the carousels in arrivals do make 

you wonder how they survived the journey anyway 

[cublet]

Hello,

 

On-topic but off-line - but no different for that. I was looking at a cruise with Celebrity on Silhouette and I would have $800 OBC. But what stopped me booking was the question I asked myself: What would I, a male, find to spend that OBC on? After a watch, that I did not need, there was nothing. P&O are no different IMHO.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

[wowzz]

Just now, cublet said:

Hello,

 

On-topic but off-line - but no different for that. I was looking at a cruise with Celebrity on Silhouette and I would have $800 OBC. But what stopped me booking was the question I asked myself: What would I, a male, find to spend that OBC on? After a watch, that I did not need, there was nothing. P&O are no different IMHO.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

Well, I suppose excursions, speciality dining etc, but I agree, it is a lot of obc to get rid of.

[Son of Anarchy]

19 minutes ago, kalos said:

You could understand it more if it was the shops pre departure but Airside ? 

Some of the cases you see coming around on the carousels in arrivals do make 

you wonder how they survived the journey anyway 

Fill em up with cigarettes?

[Megabear2]

24 minutes ago, cublet said:

Hello,

 

On-topic but off-line - but no different for that. I was looking at a cruise with Celebrity on Silhouette and I would have $800 OBC. But what stopped me booking was the question I asked myself: What would I, a male, find to spend that OBC on? After a watch, that I did not need, there was nothing. P&O are no different IMHO.

 

Regards,

 

Cublet

My current experience says it won't go far!  In light of the Italian excursions required situation I've been looking at them for my cruise in June.  We have $600 OBC between us and it just about covers two excursions each!  Then there's the premier drinks package at £150 each - it does cover the gratuity charges and gave us $300 of the OBC. There's a nice Ferrari driving experience in Nice, a mere £580 for 15 minutes. There, I've spent it for you, good job you are travelling alone!

[Fionboard]

I agree with the comments about Iona. Only time in 62 cruises I was glad to get off a ship.  And that was with reduced capacity! Will stick to the smaller ones (and fixed dining) in future!

[Bazrat]

13 hours ago, Welsh pride said:

Only chose P&O initially due to lack of choice with other lines. Sailed previously in Sep 21 and was disappointed with this new ship but we thought we would give P&O the benefit of the doubt as Covid rules affected the last cruise. How disappointed we were! No better 6 months later. After leaving the ship after a 2 week cruise I still haven’t been told that we are going to Gibraltar instead of Lisbon! No notification before the cruise and complete shock when I mentioned it on board. If the wind was more than a gentle breeze all the open decks were closed down and everyone was crammed into the public spaces like battery hens. We were regularly told by the captain that Iona was a new ship which could deal with rough seas, so why did I sit on my balcony in my shorts only to be told that the weather was too bad to dock in Madeira?
Dining room choices are terrible with the app. I couldn’t book a dining room after 5 pm for any night on day 2 of the cruise. Tables were booked up by the second day and the waiting list means you can’t plan anything in case you are called to dinner. This is NOT my idea of freedom dining. It’s an app to make it look like P&O are hip and modern and fails dismally. The Horizon buffet restaurant choices were very poor, if I see sweet potato fries again I will probably jump overboard! They were served at lunch and dinner EVERY DAY! Minimum choice and average quality. No better than pub grub from your local. Personally I don’t see bubble and squeak as classy dining and if you are vegan or vegetarian, good luck! I would like to see better ‘included’ dining rather than all the Speciality restaurants where you have to pay again! a nice money maker for P&O. More affordable shopping would be better, Who goes on a cruise to buy a £23,000 watch or a £3500 bracelet. Designer watches, handbags and clothing and a ‘Gem bar’? Really!!
The waiter service is slow and inflexible. A splash of mixer is just that, no choice of a lot or a little mixer in your drink. The tablet ordering system used by the waiting staff is woefully slow which means you’ll die of thirst waiting. 
Overall not a great holiday which was not even half as good as Costa, MSC, TUI or Royal Caribbean. PLEASE ROYAL CARIBBEAN PUT ANOTHER SHIP BACK IN THE UK NEXT YEAR! 

Apart from all that how was the beer

[Welsh pride]

I understand I had a bit of a rant 😡🤯 but I want everyone else to know how P&O have fallen into the ‘big ship’ mentality of the big players. P&O were always a step up from the ’cram them in and charge extortionate money for extras’ crowd. They are now small fry in a tank of big fish! The big players are good at what they do because you know what you are getting. Decent food and beverages with lots of choice which pleases the customers who come back for more. P&O need to review their demographic. They are trying to follow the big players ( MSC, Royal Caribbean etc ) with a Traditional ‘British market’ mentality. And In my opinion they are failing! Which is very sad. 

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

I agree with the comments about Iona. Only time in 62 cruises I was glad to get off a ship.  And that was with reduced capacity! Will stick to the smaller ones (and fixed dining) in future!

If this covid era was your first experience of freedom dining, then please dont judge it on this experience. Although I have not yet cruised since covid hit, I certainly would not enjoy the fact that sharing tables could lead you to quarantine if any table mate tests postive, and pre booking your table is also alien to my idea of how freedom dining should work. Pre covid we always chose freedom dining, mainly had sharing tables, and never pre booked our dining time, which to me defeats the whole purpose of freedom dining, and choosing your time to suit your mood.

[LifeonMars]

Agree with the My Holiday intranet page re booking of restaurant,  It is confusing but I soon worked out that the tabs only allowed you to book for early dining so obviously filled up quickly, to eat later you selected the restaurant, saw how many passengers were waiting,  and if decided would go on the waiting list, to be honest I only ever waited about 5/10mins to be called.

The My Holiday Intranet page is very badly designed in my opinion , if the normal  daily menu was placed on it each day it would be so helpful to the passengers. 

 

What is annoying no restaurant menu in the bars especially the Crows Nest.

 

If you traipsed down to an actual restaurant to read the menu, the TV Screens would change before you had time to read everything. 

(Everything Tech never seems to work for Carnival) 😀 

 

I found the Level of cuisine to be very good. Especially the nice touches of  additional different types of sausages each morning.  (Wild Boar being the best)  The Vegetarian options also good. Liver one morning ,Kidneys next and also steak available the next also the Different types of Potatoes. Plenty of variety.

 

Service was slow in some areas, which also look like an airport terminal. 

 

The Club House  and Crows Nest were my favourite bars. Very good service in both of these.

 

 

  

Edited March 5, 2022 by LifeonMars

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

If this covid era was your first experience of freedom dining, then please dont judge it on this experience. Although I have not yet cruised since covid hit, I certainly would not enjoy the fact that sharing tables could lead you to quarantine if any table mate tests postive, and pre booking your table is also alien to my idea of how freedom dining should work. Pre covid we always chose freedom dining, mainly had sharing tables, and never pre booked our dining time, which to me defeats the whole purpose of freedom dining, and choosing your time to suit your mood.

I agree absolutely with your latter point, John. For me, the point of freedom dining is the flexibility to go down to the restaurant when you feel like doing so, without the need to decide in advance at what time you will dine.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Welsh pride said:

I understand I had a bit of a rant 😡🤯 but I want everyone else to know how P&O have fallen into the ‘big ship’ mentality of the big players. P&O were always a step up from the ’cram them in and charge extortionate money for extras’ crowd. They are now small fry in a tank of big fish! The big players are good at what they do because you know what you are getting. Decent food and beverages with lots of choice which pleases the customers who come back for more. P&O need to review their demographic. They are trying to follow the big players ( MSC, Royal Caribbean etc ) with a Traditional ‘British market’ mentality. And In my opinion they are failing! Which is very sad. 

Apart from that, what else did you enjoy. The bag players like carnival corp have a better offering.🤣

[zap99]

9 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I agree absolutely with your latter point, John. For me, the point of freedom dining is the flexibility to go down to the restaurant when you feel like doing so, without the need to decide in advance at what time you will dine.

We eat out 2, or 3 times a week. We decide in the morning, or the night before where and when we would like to eat. We go on line and book it. If you wander into a restaurant in the current climate and ask for a table you may be out of luck, or given a time to return. Just like on a ship. The good old days may return, perhaps, but not just yet.

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, zap99 said:

We eat out 2, or 3 times a week. We decide in the morning, or the night before where and when we would like to eat. We go on line and book it. If you wander into a restaurant in the current climate and ask for a table you may be out of luck, or given a time to return. Just like on a ship. The good old days may return, perhaps, but not just yet.

Zap, cruise ship restaurants are very different from those on land, they are set up to cater for the number of passengers on board.  Local restaurants cater for only a few tens of customers, so it's only sensible that you need to book to ensure availability.

[zap99]

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Zap, cruise ship restaurants are very different from those on land, they are set up to cater for the number of passengers on board.  Local restaurants cater for only a few tens of customers, so it's only sensible that you need to book to ensure availability.

Agreed, but try wandering up to epicurean. You may get in. We did 3 P&O cruises last year. We found booking the restaurants a bit different. In the past we go up to MDR and they normally give you a pager. Now you go on the app whilst in your cabin getting ready. By the time you are ready , often so is your table. Different, but not worth becoming a member of a cruise forum to have a rant. We are off to Lanzarote in 3 weeks. Thanks to your travel blog are fully prepared. Last time we went was 3 years ago. I guess things will be different, but folk will be doing their best. We will make the best of things.

Edited March 5, 2022 by zap99

[Bazrat]

53 minutes ago, Denarius said:

I agree absolutely with your latter point, John. For me, the point of freedom dining is the flexibility to go down to the restaurant when you feel like doing so, without the need to decide in advance at what time you will dine.

And you still can but you just book it wait a few minutes and get called, we did it and it worked well.

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, LifeonMars said:

Agree with the My Holiday intranet page re booking of restaurant,  It is confusing but I soon worked out that the tabs only allowed you to book for early dining so obviously filled up quickly, to eat later you selected the restaurant, saw how many passengers were waiting,  and if decided would go on the waiting list, to be honest I only ever waited about 5/10mins to be called.

The My Holiday Intranet page is very badly designed in my opinion , if the normal  daily menu was placed on it each day it would be so helpful to the passengers. 

 

What is annoying no restaurant menu in the bars especially the Crows Nest.

 

If you traipsed down to an actual restaurant to read the menu, the TV Screens would change before you had time to read everything. 

(Everything Tech never seems to work for Carnival) 😀 

 

I found the Level of cuisine to be very good. Especially the nice touches of  additional different types of sausages each morning.  (Wild Boar being the best)  The Vegetarian options also good. Liver one morning ,Kidneys next and also steak available the next also the Different types of Potatoes. Plenty of variety.

 

Service was slow in some areas, which also look like an airport terminal. 

 

The Club House  and Crows Nest were my favourite bars. Very good service in both of these.

 

 

  

We must have been in the minority on this site and found the web page worked well, on other sites there seams to be no complaints about it so it must be just here.

[zap99]

Just now, Bazrat said:

And you still can but you just book it wait a few minutes and get called, we did it and it worked well.

We had no complaints either. We have found that holidays, Cruises and travel are a bit different and deal with it.

[lujaha]

Things must have changed since our cruise in Jan/Feb.  We never booked a main restaurant and always got seated straight away.  Usually around 8 in the evening.

[terrierjohn]

51 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

And you still can but you just book it wait a few minutes and get called, we did it and it worked well.

I am hoping that by June we will able to turn up at the MDR and get a table without much of a wait, but if that causes problems we will try the app, but with my memory I will forget to do it or forget how to do it. So we will see which system causes me least grief.