Iona problem

[jeanlyon]

I don't use other restaurants, although I suppose I might if I had loads of OBC.  this OBC is on top of what we would have already.

 

I think our next cruise after P&O will be on Fred on one of their bigger ships.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

Our cruise on Iona next March will not take place, however in order to save our deposit we may move the cruise forward to a smaller one in about 18 months to two years time. If P&O have not improved then it will be goodbye and we will cancel and lose our deposit. I take your points Megabear but anyone can see the behaviour is letting P&O down. I am sorry to say it as we have loved Britannia, although I must be honest and say my fav. ship is Independance of the Seas. It is just a shame that not that many cruise lines use Southampton therefor the choice is not very wide. Time to try others though and see what happens after September. AS an afterthought Megabear, we have been openly lied to by P&O and that I cannot  let go.

Fourteen different lines sailing from Southampton this Summer - 10 with multiple departures...

[Britboys]

56 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't use other restaurants, although I suppose I might if I had loads of OBC.  this OBC is on top of what we would have already.

 

I think our next cruise after P&O will be on Fred on one of their bigger ships.

You'll need to book a late deal with Fred though if you want a price anywhere near the P&O level. For some reason they have high launch prices.

[Bazrat]

44 minutes ago, Britboys said:

You'll need to book a late deal with Fred though if you want a price anywhere near the P&O level. For some reason they have high launch prices.

I know the reason why, to frighten people like me away🤣🤣🤣

[Billish]

3 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

not that many cruise lines use Southampton therefor the choice is not very wide. 

Well, Princess,  Cunard,  Celebrity, MSC off the top of my head. 

You are talking rubbish.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't use other restaurants, although I suppose I might if I had loads of OBC.  this OBC is on top of what we would have already.

 

I think our next cruise after P&O will be on Fred on one of their bigger ships.

I thought Fred only had 2 ships now, both of which are smaller than even Aurora, or is Balmoral now back in service?

[yorkshirephil]

9 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought Fred only had 2 ships now, both of which are smaller than even Aurora, or is Balmoral now back in service?

Had an email recently offering Balmoral cruises

[Britboys]

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I thought Fred only had 2 ships now, both of which are smaller than even Aurora, or is Balmoral now back in service?

Balmoral resumed service earlier this month. She's due in Olden tomorrow. At present, Braemar is due to resume service next April. All 4 Fred ships are indeed smaller than Aurora but the two new ones are not that much smaller than her.

[Yorkypete]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

Fourteen different lines sailing from Southampton this Summer - 10 with multiple departures...

Thanks. The only problem is we only cruise between Sept and May as I cannot stand really hot weather. Norway, Iceland and the Baltic are the only summer ones we go on but P&O being ruled out as their ship cannot go to many ports due to 'operational reasons' and they lied to us which is not on.

[terrierjohn]

9 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

Thanks. The only problem is we only cruise between Sept and May as I cannot stand really hot weather. Norway, Iceland and the Baltic are the only summer ones we go on but P&O being ruled out as their ship cannot go to many ports due to 'operational reasons' and they lied to us which is not on.

I think I read that MSC are to sail year-round from Southampton now, and although I have never been on one their ships, from their photos they do look to be very similar in decor to RCI, so they may look like Indy.

[Megabear2]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I think I read that MSC are to sail year-round from Southampton now, and although I have never been on one their ships, from their photos they do look to be very similar in decor to RCI, so they may look like Indy.

It's the Preziosa they are basing in Southampton.  She's very pretty but I wouldn’t compare her with Indy, but then again I wouldn’t compare many of the RCI ships with anything else!   When I sailed with MSC (admittedly only in the Caribbean) I found the ships very glamorous with lots of bling.  They were very family oriented at the time - every night the Smurfs marched the kids round the ship when kids club ended.  The theatre entertainment was very European, think jugglers, acrobats, illusionists - and something you either loved or hated (I'm in the former camp so no problem). The food was okay, lots of pasta and risotto choices.  

 

I believe the newer ships like Virtuosa offer more things like water slides etc to compete with RCI.  I've not sailed with them in a while though.

[Billish]

7 hours ago, Yorkypete said:

Thanks. The only problem is we only cruise between Sept and May as I cannot stand really hot weather. Norway, Iceland and the Baltic are the only summer ones we go on but P&O being ruled out as their ship cannot go to many ports due to 'operational reasons' and they lied to us which is not on.

Princess have a fair number of cruises in the Spring and Autumn.  Have you considered those? 

[gsmt47471015]

12 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I don't use other restaurants, although I suppose I might if I had loads of OBC.  this OBC is on top of what we would have already.

 

I think our next cruise after P&O will be on Fred on one of their bigger ships.

As our Ta has said on a number of occasions " your both not ready for Fred yet "

[Britboys]

7 hours ago, gsmt47471015 said:

As our Ta has said on a number of occasions " your both not ready for Fred yet "

Each to their own but I'd rather be one of the youngest pax on a Fred ship than cruise on P&O's bigger ships...

[Windsurfboy]

10 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Each to their own but I'd rather be one of the youngest pax on a Fred ship than cruise on P&O's bigger ships...

 

I think you Must give every thing a go. 

 

We're testing a strategy on bigger ship, given they offer very good value.  The big issue is peace and quiet in day. Solution  suite with very big balcony at back for sun bathing,  no fighting for sun beds. Eat in Epicurean,  Sindhu. Then have the entertainment of a big ship. 

[Bazrat]

22 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Each to their own but I'd rather be one of the youngest pax on a Fred ship than cruise on P&O's bigger ships...

We are booked on Arvia next year will give it a go than we will know if it to our taste or not.

[Bin man]

We enjoy aurora the best but gave iona a go last October and now just booked today for same cruise this year.Enjoyed her even under the covid restrictions. So gone back to see how it this yearv

[Britboys]

34 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I think you Must give every thing a go. 

 

We're testing a strategy on bigger ship, given they offer very good value.  The big issue is peace and quiet in day. Solution  suite with very big balcony at back for sun bathing,  no fighting for sun beds. Eat in Epicurean,  Sindhu. Then have the entertainment of a big ship. 

But sometimes you know whether something is for you or not without trying it. Absolutely nothing about Iona appeals to me. My P&O cruises are usually solo and apart from anything else, the idea of Freedom Dining when solo is enough on its own to put me off. Azura was a ship too far for me so not even thinking about Iona or Arvia. I'll stick with Aurora or Arcadia if P&O can come up with some interesting itineraries...

[emam]

I have just been watching some vlogs bye a RCI crew member Chris Wong (from England). He shows some of his life working onboard the ships. He has some interesting facts and also does some tours of the ships. I have got to say that their idea of a promenade is quite different to ours. So far from what I have seen he has been on 3 of their ships. If anyone wants an idea of what it’s like cruising with RCI as compared to P&O then they are worth watching. It’s totally different from cruising with P&O. He is easy to listen to and isn’t over the top with how he presents his video’s.

 

I'm just wondering if those ships are bigger than Iona and Arvia With all of these extra amusements onboard, do they have less passengers?

[Britboys]

13 minutes ago, emam said:

I have just been watching some vlogs bye a RCI crew member Chris Wong (from England). He shows some of his life working onboard the ships. He has some interesting facts and also does some tours of the ships. I have got to say that their idea of a promenade is quite different to ours. So far from what I have seen he has been on 3 of their ships. If anyone wants an idea of what it’s like cruising with RCI as compared to P&O then they are worth watching. It’s totally different from cruising with P&O. He is easy to listen to and isn’t over the top with how he presents his video’s.

 

I'm just wondering if those ships are bigger than Iona and Arvia With all of these extra amusements onboard, do they have less passengers?

If he is on the Oasis class ships, they are bigger than Iona/Arvia, roughly 45,000 tons give or take. They also carry 400/500 more pax at normal operating capacity.

[Ranchi]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I think you Must give every thing a go. 

 

We're testing a strategy on bigger ship, given they offer very good value.  The big issue is peace and quiet in day. Solution  suite with very big balcony at back for sun bathing,  no fighting for sun beds. Eat in Epicurean,  Sindhu. Then have the entertainment of a big ship. 

We are dyed in the wool ‘we like smaller ships’ cruisers but we gave Britannia a try a few years ago ( we only booked it because we needed to be in the south on the day of disembarkation.) I must admit to be pleasantly surprised. Size gave some advantages ie a proper dance venue (cf to Azura/Ventura), there were enough pools to find a quiet space (cf Azura- where the seascreen could be heard everywhere or so it seemed.) The dining rooms were well designed with lots of alcoves so you never felt you were in a massive canteen.  I did miss prom deck & the colour scheme wasn’t to my taste but that’s just my opinion. 

[tring]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I think you Must give every thing a go. 

 

We're testing a strategy on bigger ship, given they offer very good value.  The big issue is peace and quiet in day. Solution  suite with very big balcony at back for sun bathing,  no fighting for sun beds. Eat in Epicurean,  Sindhu. Then have the entertainment of a big ship. 

 

I feel.your ideas are along the right line, though we would not stretch to the suite (given the number of holidays we take).  Also, must admit what would make the difference to us is the itinerary, which is often lacking on the larger ships and companies like P&O in general.

 

As we feel there will be a limit to the areas of the world that will be easy to visit over the next year or so, we have booked some P&O cruises, going back to our roots in our earlier cruising days.  We have two Azura fly cruises (in deck C midship cabins) meaning we do not need that day's journey to Southampton each end and have private relaxation space as well as taking us directly to the sun.  We also have a round trip Caribbean on Aurora (deluxe balcony given the likely weather on the ta).  We will take the cruises as we want, probably using speciality dining a reasonable amount and also plan to use the self service at night sometimes as they are often quieter than the mdrs then. 

 

Will be interesting to see how we feel about those cruises, though our wanderlust will no doubt return us to more long haul holidays the following year, except an Aurora round trip to New York and back, in Sept 2023 which is a very good itinerary compared to many cruise lines.

 

We have done a lot of Fred cruises since our early fifties and do find his ships more relaxed and a more congenial environment, with less stresses altogether, due to their excellent staff and considerate passengers, though the itineraries were still a major deciding factor in booking his cruises, especially the more recent Boudicca fly cruises which were part of her very long winter travels more recently.  Whilst we have still found Fred's ships congenial and relaxed, post pandemic, the itineraries have not been quite as good with the newer ships and long haul fly cruises seem to be out of his thoughts for now, so his higher prices have a more limited appeal, taking that into account.

 

We tried Azamara about three years back and will be keeping an eye on their cruises for particularly good itineraries.  We expect land holiday to figure more in our future plans as well, though we had already taken to combining land hols with cruises pre pandemic.

 

Balmoral recommenced sailing early May, and we were on the second (Baltic) cruise to replace our P&O Baltic cruise (after several ports were deleted from the itinerary, along with SPB).  There were teething problems on Balmoral due to shortage of experienced staff, though steps were being taken to deal with that, with visible extra training, so that may well have improved by now.

 

Certainly worth trying various options imo and we will choose our holidays accordingly, as we always have in the past.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by tring

[Velma25]

We have just returned from Iona and were really upset at the missed port of call to Haugesund due to a engine problem stating they couldn’t maintain their speed. I was not the only one to think this was totally made up. The ship was at a standstill more than once back to Southampton and on the ship tracker was in the English Chanel at 11pm the night before we docked. 
yes we got OBC but we were were traveling with my disabled sister who will probably only have this cruise so missing ports was a big deal. My personal opinion is I’m not a P& O cruiser and will stick to Cunard & Princess. 

 

 

[gsmt47471015]

13 hours ago, tring said:

 

I feel.your ideas are along the right line, though we would not stretch to the suite (given the number of holidays we take).  Also, must admit what would make the difference to us is the itinerary, which is often lacking on the larger ships and companies like P&O in general.

 

As we feel there will be a limit to the areas of the world that will be easy to visit over the next year or so, we have booked some P&O cruises, going back to our roots in our earlier cruising days.  We have two Azura fly cruises (in deck C midship cabins) meaning we do not need that day's journey to Southampton each end and have private relaxation space as well as taking us directly to the sun.  We also have a round trip Caribbean on Aurora (deluxe balcony given the likely weather on the ta).  We will take the cruises as we want, probably using speciality dining a reasonable amount and also plan to use the self service at night sometimes as they are often quieter than the mdrs then. 

 

Will be interesting to see how we feel about those cruises, though our wanderlust will no doubt return us to more long haul holidays the following year, except an Aurora round trip to New York and back, in Sept 2023 which is a very good itinerary compared to many cruise lines.

 

We have done a lot of Fred cruises since our early fifties and do find his ships more relaxed and a more congenial environment, with less stresses altogether, due to their excellent staff and considerate passengers, though the itineraries were still a major deciding factor in booking his cruises, especially the more recent Boudicca fly cruises which were part of her very long winter travels more recently.  Whilst we have still found Fred's ships congenial and relaxed, post pandemic, the itineraries have not been quite as good with the newer ships and long haul fly cruises seem to be out of his thoughts for now, so his higher prices have a more limited appeal, taking that into account.

 

We tried Azamara about three years back and will be keeping an eye on their cruises for particularly good itineraries.  We expect land holiday to figure more in our future plans as well, though we had already taken to combining land hols with cruises pre pandemic.

 

Balmoral recommenced sailing early May, and we were on the second (Baltic) cruise to replace our P&O Baltic cruise (after several ports were deleted from the itinerary, along with SPB).  There were teething problems on Balmoral due to shortage of experienced staff, though steps were being taken to deal with that, with visible extra training, so that may well have improved by now.

 

Certainly worth trying various options imo and we will choose our holidays accordingly, as we always have in the past.

 

 

Interesting article ,Tring, could you tell us what you thought of Azamara as we are going with them in November?

[Windsurfboy]

17 hours ago, Britboys said:

But sometimes you know whether something is for you or not without trying it. Absolutely nothing about Iona appeals to me. My P&O cruises are usually solo and apart from anything else, the idea of Freedom Dining when solo is enough on its own to put me off. Azura was a ship too far for me so not even thinking about Iona or Arvia. I'll stick with Aurora or Arcadia if P&O can come up with some interesting itineraries...

 

Solo makes a big difference,  our strategy  wouldn't  work. Have you tried Saga. We were on them in May, they have over 100 solo cabins, and work hard to help solo travellers meet others . All the solo travellers we met thoroughly enjoyed Saga.