Iona Recent Experience

[JB9302]

Hi,

      We are on Iona on the 24th September and have a couple of questions regarding the Main Dining Room and Theatre .

I have booked the Limelight  Club on 2 nights on the cruise and will use the MDR for the remaining evenings dinners , we usually eat around 6pm and the go on to the Theatre show ( 8.30 pm from memory of previous cruises pre covid ) .

Looking on my account the included MDR ‘s are now shown as available to book each evening , Aqua/ Coral/Pearl , as we have no previous experience of Iona can anyone guide us to help us choosing .

Is this booking system for the freedom dining now the norm as opposed to just going to the restaurant at the time you wanted to dine .

There was mention of booking the Theatre shows prior to the cruise but nothing showing yet , any experience of this .

 

TIA 

[Technoman2]

Freedom dining was the norm last october and you could book a table through the phone app. This was the first ship i think to try this technology and there was some teething problems. When we showed up at Pearl without booking when the restaurant opened  we got a table pretty quick and made it in time for the theatre show at 8.30. That said after 6.45 it does get busy and people had to wait. Booked theatre and restaurants once we were onboard. Loved the ship and prefer it to Azura but that said Azura is ok, just like the new bright interior of Iona.

[poorer]

Just log on to my P and O app my holiday when on board .

You can view what restaurants are available and the wait time .how many people are in front of you.

All the main dining have the same menu .

The app is handy as you can have a pre dinner drink.

We never had a problem and we were on at the end of July.

 

Enjoy your cruise

 

 

[JB9302]

Thanks for replies 👍

[smokey01]

I have been on Iona twice, last October and March this year, and we could not book pre cruise then. However our preferred time to eat was 7:45 to 8pm and we had no problem booking on the app each evening and it was not long until we were told our table was ready. We then had 15 minutes to get to restaurant. We never had a problem therefore being seated. At the time Iona was sailing with something like 3200 to 3600 people. I think now it might be sailing at something like 5000 people.

 

We are also on Iona 24th September and I realised yesterday we could book the MDR each night yesterday so I have booked for 8pm each night. I booked 7 nights in Pearl as that was our favourite, 5 nights in Coral and one night each in Opal and Aqua. We presume on board we can change time or place but equally if we are now sailing full I wanted to make sure we had something booked in case it is more chaotic.

[Methuselah55]

On 9/10/2022 at 4:49 PM, JB9302 said:

Is this booking system for the freedom dining now the norm as opposed to just going to the restaurant at the time you wanted to dine .

There was mention of booking the Theatre shows prior to the cruise but nothing showing yet , any experience of this .

First experienced the App on Ventura in June this year; once I'd got it set up (courtesy of an officer hovering around reception) it worked very well for MDR bookings. We made our booking in our cabin once we were almost ready, then went for a G&T whilst waiting for the app to tell us when to go down. Still a bit of a wait but worked well. (Prior to that we'd just turned up at the desk only to be told to wait for at least an hour before being called in by the pager.)

As for entertainment, we've booked everything through the website for Iona next week, but still can't book any dining, just getting "Please enquire on board".

I'll keep looking but intend to find the help desk as soon as we board and get the app reinstalled so I can get the meals sorted.

[Smudgemum]

Methuselah55, we are on Iona next week to the fjords and we managed to book the Sindhu, limelight and chef table today, maybe give it another try , if you like these restaurants .

Deb x

[Methuselah55]

21 minutes ago, Smudgemum said:

Methuselah55, we are on Iona next week to the fjords and we managed to book the Sindhu, limelight and chef table today, maybe give it another try , if you like these restaurants .

Deb x

Thanks Deb. I finally got the Chef's Table booked. Would have booked The Limelight as well but not with those entertainment offerings. Have a great cruise!

Jeff

[Son of Anarchy]

Interesting to read that Chef's Table can be booked pre-cruise.  Had to wait while we were on board last year.

[tring]

We are on Azura in a couple of weeks and Aurora in November.   Do they have apps for booking restaurants and if so, can they be used pre cruise?

 

[terrierjohn]

26 minutes ago, tring said:

We are on Azura in a couple of weeks and Aurora in November.   Do they have apps for booking restaurants and if so, can they be used pre cruise?

 

The "app", which is actually only a webpage on the ships intranet, can only be used on board. However you can pre book some things by logging onto the My cruise page from their website.

[tring]

41 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The "app", which is actually only a webpage on the ships intranet, can only be used on board. However you can pre book some things by logging onto the My cruise page from their website.

 

Thanks a lot for the reply, much appreciated,

 

Barbara

[JB9302]

Just booked our dinner slot @ 6.30pm each night in a variety of the dining rooms plus the 8.30 pm shows that are available to book ( Just 6 nights ) .

[gteach]

On 9/11/2022 at 2:35 PM, smokey01 said:

I have been on Iona twice, last October and March this year, and we could not book pre cruise then. However our preferred time to eat was 7:45 to 8pm and we had no problem booking on the app each evening and it was not long until we were told our table was ready. We then had 15 minutes to get to restaurant. We never had a problem therefore being seated. At the time Iona was sailing with something like 3200 to 3600 people. I think now it might be sailing at something like 5000 people.

 

We are also on Iona 24th September and I realised yesterday we could book the MDR each night yesterday so I have booked for 8pm each night. I booked 7 nights in Pearl as that was our favourite, 5 nights in Coral and one night each in Opal and Aqua. We presume on board we can change time or place but equally if we are now sailing full I wanted to make sure we had something booked in case it is more chaotic.

I’m on Iona next year. Can I ask - how come you’ve booked in the main dining rooms for each night instead of some speciality restaurants?

[CRUISENSNOOZE]

The App only works when onboard the ship. Make sure your phone is on flight mode, so no accidental phone charges!!.

Our favourite eateries outside the 4 x MDR were The Olive Grove and The Beach House. We did try the Epicurean but it fell way short of an 'Experience'.

The 4 x MDR's...2 x small and 2 x large. All Iona MDR's are Freedom Dining which we love. We used the App a couple of times and were told we were i.e. 22 in line, but found we were called both times within about 10 minutes. We found it just as easy to walk to the MDR you have chosen and book in there. They ask how many on a table you would like to sit at. If you didn't mind whatever number (mainly 8), you were seated immediately.

 

[Methuselah55]

Just hearing about gales in the North Sea so current Iona cruise is switching to Bergen tomorrow: YIKES!

[Yorkypete]

3 hours ago, Methuselah55 said:

Just hearing about gales in the North Sea so current Iona cruise is switching to Bergen tomorrow: YIKES!

I understood that Iona could not get to Bergen because it was too big to go under a nearby bridge?

 

[smokey01]

15 hours ago, gteach said:

I’m on Iona next year. Can I ask - how come you’ve booked in the main dining rooms for each night instead of some speciality restaurants?

Because we prefer the MDR menu. My mother doesn’t like Indian food so that cuts out Sindhu. I’m not a lover of steak and don’t particularly crave anything else on the Keel and Cow menu. The Olive Grove menu is equally not to either of our tastes etc.

 

We have been on Iona twice so far, each time for 14 nights and have not had a bad evening meal in the MDR. We have plenty of OBC which we always struggle to spend so it is not the cost but just that in general we prefer a more simple/traditional style menu/food.

 

 

 

[gteach]

6 hours ago, smokey01 said:

Because we prefer the MDR menu. My mother doesn’t like Indian food so that cuts out Sindhu. I’m not a lover of steak and don’t particularly crave anything else on the Keel and Cow menu. The Olive Grove menu is equally not to either of our tastes etc.

 

We have been on Iona twice so far, each time for 14 nights and have not had a bad evening meal in the MDR. We have plenty of OBC which we always struggle to spend so it is not the cost but just that in general we prefer a more simple/traditional style menu/food.

 

 

 

Great response thank you!

 

do you have to book for the main dining rooms? I thought Iona was freedom dining?

 

 

[bbtablet]

On 9/12/2022 at 7:22 PM, Methuselah55 said:

I'll keep looking but intend to find the help desk as soon as we board and get the app reinstalled so I can get the meals sorted.

If you remember how you accessed the "App" every time you wanted to do something with it on your last cruise, you should find that doing the same routine will work straight away once aboard your up-coming cruise, without the need to get the Help Desk to reinstall it.

[terrierjohn]

8 hours ago, bbtablet said:

If you remember how you accessed the "App" every time you wanted to do something with it on your last cruise, you should find that doing the same routine will work straight away once aboard your up-coming cruise, without the need to get the Help Desk to reinstall it.

I still have the My Holiday icon on my phone which is linked to my Chrome browser, so I assume that will enable me to get started again once we are on board and able to link to the ships wi fi.

[solentsam]

same here I use chrome terrier john and have used again on last 2 cruises just change cabin number and criusecard last six digits

[Miks]

On 9/14/2022 at 12:54 AM, Yorkypete said:

I understood that Iona could not get to Bergen because it was too big to go under a nearby bridge?

 

It’s a very tight fit under the bridge as departure is delayed by a few hours to allow tides to recede so there is enough clearance!

[picsa]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:18 AM, smokey01 said:

My mother doesn’t like Indian food so that cuts out Sindhu.

 

Based on my last experience of the updated menu in Sindu I don’t think you will find much Indian food (or even British versions of Indian food) in there.

 

It might claim to to be Indian, but it has been made so bland as to be little more than meat that once sat near some spices in the same kitchen.