Iona and Norway ,an honest opinion

[gsmt47471015]

Having just returned from a week long cruise on Iona to Norway here are our thoughts .

Firstly the ship itself is very modern with lots of light flooding in and feels quite spacious in all the main areas , we had 4600 pax on this trip but it never felt crowded, embarkation and disembarkation were pretty smooth and the level of service was overall very good ,but allowances had to be made for quite a number of new staff who were "bedding in". The self serving eating areas had an American feel to them in the way they were set out, (the quays and the horizon) and at times it was easy to forget you were on a P and O ship, there were some pinch areas at peak times but nothing major and we always managed to find seats, something that doesn't always happen on the other ships in the fleet. It was evident that with this been the new flagship that the best is put on show with excellent staffing levels and top end entertainment, we pre booked the limelight club and the whole deal was one of the best we have had on a cruise ship , top marks there P and O. Food was to a good standard everywhere we ate and drink prices had not increased as much as we thought they would.

One or two things were a little disappointing, though some of it is not the companies fault, we accept that this is a family ship but the standard of some passengers, and their offspring left a lot to be desired,  a great deal of people on board were the new to cruising that P and O are trying to attract and allowance has to be made for there exuberance , but good manners cost nothing and throwing food around in the buffet and throwing water from the infinity pool isn't acceptable, our thought was that at least one pool ,Infiniti perhaps, should be adults only and also the same for the jacuzzi, they were nearly always full of unsupervised kids.

As for the Itinerary it soon became obvious that this ship is not suited to the Norwegian Fjords, first two ports Stavanger and Olden went ok but then it went pear shaped as the captain announces that due to EXPECTED  high wind the Hellisyilt port is cancelled and also the scenic cruising part of Gerainger but we will go to Alesund instead ,which is nothing like a Fjord, and finally due to EXPECTED storm conditions coming from Britain we will leave our last port Haugesand at 1.30 to avoid it ,another port that looks like it could be anywhere other than a Fjord, as we had first time cruisers with us this was a major, major disappointment as apart from a few hills at Olden they never got see what they had booked for ,we did feel really bad about this as we had sold them the proper Fjords and they ended up with some towns that could have been anywhere. As for the expected bad weather we never saw or felt any of it .Iona is a lovely ship but just cannot cut it to these destinations and a lot of other people will suffer the same issues of missed ports etc 

Would we go on Iona again? Certainly not to Norway and not anywhere near school holidays, it is a very stylish ship with lots of up to date facilities but to be honest the type of people that P and O are trying to attract on these ships are not always the people we want to socialize with , we are just average working class people but the behaviour of some passengers showed that cruising was just a floating Butlins to them, others will no doubt disagree but as the title suggests an honest opinion 

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, gsmt47471015 said:

we will leave our last port Haugesand at 1.30 to avoid it ,

 

1 hour ago, gsmt47471015 said:

As for the expected bad weather we never saw or felt any of it

That was what the captain planned I assume.

Sorry your cruise was not to your liking. I tend to agree that Iona is not for the fjords. We are booked on her to the Canaries and will see what she is like there. 

[davecttr]

I also think Iona is not suited for the Fjords and she is not a good fit for introductory cruises in the family market. For that she needs all the fancy stuff such as water slides etc etc and hot weather.

 

It may be that this summer season has been plagued with unexpected weather problems but next summer may be different. 

 

A fully refurbished Ventura or Azura would be better suited to Norway

 

I too have Iona booked for the Canaries

Edited July 25, 2022 by davecttr

[Son of Anarchy]

An interesting read, thank you.  We were on Iona last September, good to read that the ship did not feel crowded with significantly more pax than when we were on board.

 

Must admit, I did think that behaviour of a small minority of pax left a bit to be desired one evening when a group of young adults were noisy enough to drown out the comedian in the show lounge.  There was nowhere else where to sit, and it did impinge on those nearby.  Hey ho, things like that happen elsewhere, maybe that's the way the world is going.  We did feel that the show lounge simply wasn't big enough for the amount of pax, and we'd sailed at 50% capacity.

 

 

[Britboys]

32 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

...We are booked on her to the Canaries and will see what she is like there. 

 

19 minutes ago, davecttr said:

...I too have Iona booked for the Canaries

Let's hope she gets into Madeira more often than not then...

[Gettingwarmer]

5 minutes ago, Britboys said:

 

Let's hope she gets into Madeira more often than not then...

Yes, I had forgotten about the wind problems there.  

[terrierjohn]

I am disappointed that Iona seems to be struggling with windy weather, she has azipods and these should make her far more manoeverable than all the other P&O ships, except for Arcadia.

I wonder if in fact the lack of azipod ships to train on in the P&0 and Princess fleets could be the major problem.  On our Celebrity Eclupse cruises the Captains could turn her on a sixpence and on one occasion in strong winds we managed to dock in Stavanger when 3 other ships failed.

[gsmt47471015]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

I am disappointed that Iona seems to be struggling with windy weather, she has azipods and these should make her far more manoeverable than all the other P&O ships, except for Arcadia.

I wonder if in fact the lack of azipod ships to train on in the P&0 and Princess fleets could be the major problem.  On our Celebrity Eclupse cruises the Captains could turn her on a sixpence and on one occasion in strong winds we managed to dock in Stavanger when 3 other ships failed.

Not sure what the problem is , but as soon as any mention of windy weather occurred everything got cancelled , and this is another reason for a lack of confidence in making a future booking on Her

[Billish]

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I am disappointed that Iona seems to be struggling with windy weather, she has azipods and these should make her far more manoeverable than all the other P&O ships, except for Arcadia.

I wonder if in fact the lack of azipod ships to train on in the P&0 and Princess fleets could be the major problem.  On our Celebrity Eclupse cruises the Captains could turn her on a sixpence and on one occasion in strong winds we managed to dock in Stavanger when 3 other ships failed.

I'm not sure equating Eclipse to Iona is a fair comparison.  Iona is 50% bigfer than Eclipse. 

Iona,  like all  mega cruise ships has an enormous superstructure, and is therefore much more adversely affected by wind than smaller ships. You could therefore argue that she is eminently unsuitable for cruising the fjords! 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Billish

[Saab4444]

6 minutes ago, Billish said:

I'm not sure equating Eclipse to Iona is a fair comparison.  Iona,  like all  mega cruise ships has an enormous superstructure, and is therefore much more adversely affected by wind than smaller ships.

AidaNova has been made it to all her Fjord stops this year and she is exactly the same ship as Iona...

Edited July 25, 2022 by Saab4444

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your comments.

[Ardennais]

Thank you - very interesting. 
I’m looking forward to our September cruise on Iona and it’s good to read positive comments about her. 
I’m also getting the feeling that Iona isn’t suited to Norway, but hope that our itinerary (which has already been revised since booking) goes ahead as planned! 

[Billish]

24 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

AidaNova has been made it to all her Fjord stops this year and she is exactly the same ship as Iona...

Good point. Does she go to the Fjords every week, like Iona ? 

[zap99]

On our Iona staycation cruise last October the captain had great delight in demonstrating the ships Manoeuvrability off the Channel Islands by spinning Iona through 360 degrees " because we can ". Perhaps he has forgotten how to do it.

[Saab4444]

12 minutes ago, zap99 said:

On our Iona staycation cruise last October the captain had great delight in demonstrating the ships Manoeuvrability off the Channel Islands by spinning Iona through 360 degrees " because we can ". Perhaps he has forgotten how to do it.

We had Independence of the Seas which is not much smaller spinning around 360 degrees in front of the Seven Sister Waterfall in Geiranger Fjord because she can!

[Saab4444]

17 minutes ago, Billish said:

Good point. Does she go to the Fjords every week, like Iona ? 

She has different itinieraries but also goes to all those Fjord stops like Flam, Olden, Nordfjordeid and Alesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Haugesund...  

[Billish]

3 minutes ago, Saab4444 said:

She has different itinieraries but also goes to all those Fjord stops like Flam, Olden, Nordfjordeid and Alesund, Bergen, Stavanger, Haugesund...  

I was just wondering if Iona's problems were because she does the same itinerary week in, week out, and therefore has more chance of being impacted by adverse weather. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Billish said:

I'm not sure equating Eclipse to Iona is a fair comparison.  Iona is 50% bigfer than Eclipse. 

Iona,  like all  mega cruise ships has an enormous superstructure, and is therefore much more adversely affected by wind than smaller ships. You could therefore argue that she is eminently unsuitable for cruising the fjords! 

Iona may have a lot more passengers but she is not massively bigger than Eclipse.

Iona length 1130ft, beam 138ft, total decks 19.

Eclipse length 1040ft, beam 121 ft, total decks 17.

 

[Billish]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Iona may have a lot more passengers but she is not massively bigger than Eclipse.

Iona length 1130ft, beam 138ft, total decks 19.

Eclipse length 1040ft, beam 121 ft, total decks 17.

 

But Iona's tonnage is 50% greater. I'm not a sailor, so not sure if that is significant.

[terrierjohn]

Just now, Billish said:

But Iona's tonnage is 50% greater. I'm not a sailor, so not sure if that is significant.

The tonnage figures we all quote are based on enclosed volume and not really the weight, although it will obviously be higher, having 2 extra decks and being wider and a bit longer.

I did however notice that Iona seems underpowered compared to Eclipse at 61.7mw vs 67.2 me, but there is no comparable propulsion data on wikiperdia. However Eclipses top speed is 24 kts  vs 21 kts, so it does seem Iona may not have the same oomph.

[Saab4444]

46 minutes ago, Billish said:

I was just wondering if Iona's problems were because she does the same itinerary week in, week out, and therefore has more chance of being impacted by adverse weather. 

I don`t think so. If you do the same itinerary week in, week out you have much more routine and experience in approaching the ports even in challenging conditions. And the weather seems to be bad only in specific Fjords when Iona is approaching...  

[Billish]

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

did however notice that Iona seems underpowered compared to Eclipse at 61.7mw vs 67.2 me, but there is no comparable propulsion data on wikiperdia. However Eclipses top speed is 24 kts  vs 21 kts, so it does seem Iona may not have the same oomph.

Yes, that seems a logical conclusion. 

Perhaps Moley will drop by and enlighten us. 

[Saab4444]

32 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The tonnage figures we all quote are based on enclosed volume and not really the weight, although it will obviously be higher, having 2 extra decks and being wider and a bit longer.

I did however notice that Iona seems underpowered compared to Eclipse at 61.7mw vs 67.2 me, but there is no comparable propulsion data on wikiperdia. However Eclipses top speed is 24 kts  vs 21 kts, so it does seem Iona may not have the same oomph.

Newer ships all have less power. Look at QE2 with 32.5 knots and 95MW. However, she had no thrusters and azipods and was much less manoeuvrable. She was also much longer. But length and power ist not the issue, it is mainly heights. Ships who are build like big high blocks are most affected by wind. Nevertheless if ships like MSC Grandiosa, Norwegian Getaway, Costa Diadema, Anthem of the Seas and AidaNova can make it into the Fjords there is still no excuse for Iona...       

Edited July 25, 2022 by Saab4444

[BouncingWheel]

This honest review thread is veering towards a game of Top Trumps 🤣

[Ardennais]

Regardless of what passengers have to say, remember that according to P&O,, Iona has had a spectacular maiden season!