Why Is P&O Cruises' Iona the Most Popular Cruise Ship in Britain?

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

We have been on Iona twice with another booked for next year.

Lovely ship with the only negative for anybody not aware is the deck 8 balconies on the promenade which have no privacy.

We have been on all of P&O ships.

Imo the only class of ship better than Iona is Royal Caribbean Oasis class.

 

There have been some reviews by people who really liked the balcony cabins on deck 8, clearly they are rather like Marmite.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

I’m not loyal to any specific cruiseline. At least not yet. I’ve been on Norwegian Spirit, and RC Navigator & independence of the seas

Iona was our first P&O cruise. We have Ventura booked for next year. Also our first Princess Cruise on Sky Princess next year

i really liked the IONA. She was beautiful. The newest ship and largest we’ve been on. I loved the atrium because of the windows. The light. Some atriums feel dark and a bit claustrophobic to me sometimes. This was different. not a wow factor for me but a chilled out comfortable beautiful space I wanted to spend time in

Best cabin bathroom So far. I could move in the shower 😂 comfy bed, more storage space than I’ve had before but would it hurt to have a few drawers 🤷‍♀️ 

lots of lifts. First cruise I’ve not had to wait forever for a lift. We travel in school hols. Ships are packed out.
Kids club fantastic. Loads of fun things to do in it apparently. great facilities, tech, space, design. Lost our daughter to it. Sadly I wasn’t allowed in. Bummer. I would have behaved honest 🙃

space! Lots of space and better thought out placement of lounges & seating & all beautifully done. 4/5 from me

lost a star because of the aft balcony drenching issue. Stupid design oversight they REALLY need to sort 🙄 

I’m not set on a specific way of cruising. I can imagine those cruising on lines like P&O who are only just deciding to branch out to bigger ships are not always going to like the bigger ships. And if you have sailed for a decade with one cruise line you are going to see a lot of changes not all of which you like. Fair enough

But why complain about a whole ship being terrible just because it’s larger and you’ve never been on it. THAT I don’t understand

 

the comparison of P&O now resembling butlins on cruise critic though?? Jeez. You have NEVER been to butlins have you 😂

 

i choose different cruise lines because I choose cruises based on itinary, dates & costs. I’ve loved them all for different reasons

I can understand people not liking change. I understand not liking bigger ships. Or the design, or whatever. But some people are behaving like the Iona spells doom for P&O. Maybe I don’t get it because I’m not loyal to one cruise line only. Yet!

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

There have been some reviews by people who really liked the balcony cabins on deck 8, clearly they are rather like Marmite.

The cabins are nice but no view or privacy.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

10 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

The cabins are nice but no view or privacy.

Some of them are directly in front of a hot tub too- FairPlay to those who wants that I guess 😂 

Some are on areas where the outside space is larger, near the hot tubs, but you might have someone on a sun lounger in front of you

worth saying quite a few of them are the ‘conservatory’ cabins. Had a sneak peek 🫣!

although I think there are conservatory ones one deck above too though

[grapau27]

26 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Some of them are directly in front of a hot tub too- FairPlay to those who wants that I guess 😂 

Some are on areas where the outside space is larger, near the hot tubs, but you might have someone on a sun lounger in front of you

worth saying quite a few of them are the ‘conservatory’ cabins. Had a sneak peek 🫣!

although I think there are conservatory ones one deck above too though

Conservatory suites on deck 8 too.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Conservatory suites on deck 8 too.

Yeah not for me thanks! Even though the conservatory’s look nice they are not nice enough for me to have people walking past me much of the time. But that’s because I go to my cabin when I want to chill & be unsociable lol.
I think if you love people watching more than sea watching from a balcony, & enjoy the occasional person stopping for a chat then brilliant

[grapau27]

36 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Yeah not for me thanks! Even though the conservatory’s look nice they are not nice enough for me to have people walking past me much of the time. But that’s because I go to my cabin when I want to chill & be unsociable lol.
I think if you love people watching more than sea watching from a balcony, & enjoy the occasional person stopping for a chat then brilliant

Our first balcony was deck 10.

Our second balcony (photo) was aft deck 14 and we have the same deck 14 aft balcony next year.

The white canopy roof on the aft sunset bar will affect lower balconies wake view.

Edited November 11, 2022 by grapau27

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Having been on venture many many years ago, well 2017 we are booked to go on Arvia next Aug. Been on plenty of Royal ships since 2017, Oasis (love it), Brilliance,( old and small and dated) and Anthem (new but no space and lacking things to do). Read the article and first thought was, well not much competition for that style of large ship from the UK. Royal are silly expensive, but then i thought well i havent looked at other cruise lines from Southampton. Im guessing as Iona is new its the ship seasoned UK cruisers want to try. Like when people go to spain and have an english breakfast lol. But everyone has their own ideas of cruises and ships they like and THAT is down to the variety of cruise ships out there and why we all enjoy cruising. 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

35 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Our first balcony was deck 10.

Our second balcony (photo) was aft deck 14 and we have the same deck 14 aft balcony next year.

The white canopy roof on the aft sunset bar will affect lower balconies wake view.

We had deck 10 with that view too 😃 10740

on reflection, if they sorted the unwanted free balcony showers, we would go for an aft again, but higher up, for a better view

the size of the balconies was amazing

[grapau27]

32 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

Having been on venture many many years ago, well 2017 we are booked to go on Arvia next Aug. Been on plenty of Royal ships since 2017, Oasis (love it), Brilliance,( old and small and dated) and Anthem (new but no space and lacking things to do). Read the article and first thought was, well not much competition for that style of large ship from the UK. Royal are silly expensive, but then i thought well i havent looked at other cruise lines from Southampton. Im guessing as Iona is new its the ship seasoned UK cruisers want to try. Like when people go to spain and have an english breakfast lol. But everyone has their own ideas of cruises and ships they like and THAT is down to the variety of cruise ships out there and why we all enjoy cruising. 

We were on Ventura 4 weeks ago and had a great time.

Photo 1 Epicurean.

Photo 2 Sindhu.

Photo 3 Our balcony.

Graham.

Edited November 11, 2022 by grapau27

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

i thought well i havent looked at other cruise lines from Southampton

How about looking at Princess from Southampton ?

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

22 hours ago, grapau27 said:

The cabins are nice but no view or privacy.

We were on Iona at the end of October and we’re in cabin 8123 which is at the end of the slope. The balcony was big but everyone could walk past and due to the ramp were at the same level as the balcony . The cabin didn’t have any net curtains and so privacy was pretty much non existent. The only solution was pulling curtains partly across. The cabin itself was very nice but wouldn’t book such a cabin for a Summer cruise but was ok for an Autumn/Winter cruise when the opportunity to use the balcony was limited in any event.

[9265359]

Having just returned from another cruise on Iona, it really is a 'curate's egg' of a ship.

 

On the good points -

- The cabin accommodation is good - far better than many of P&O's ships.

- There seems to be more deck space than ships such as Ventura/Azura, but more importantly for me there are more outside that are not purely sunbed areas and there are more shaded areas.

- Theatre is far nicer and more legroom in the seats.

- Cinema screens are very good, and a welcome choice on seadays.

- Quays food courts are a far better option than the Horizon buffet, and the Olive Grove is very nice.

- 710 club is good - although now it is booking only (with any empty seats from non-attendees offered just before showtime). 

 

And the bad points - 

- The atrium with the Emerald 'cocktail' bar, the Glass House 'wine' bar, and the Cow & Keel 'gastropub' - all awful as the location as the atmosphere of an airport terminal. During the day the atrium is lovely, although all the space in the Cow & Keel is wasted as nobody sits there, but in an evening - awful. During a fortnights cruise I saw virtually nobody use the Glass House in the evening, and it was just sat there as empty wasted space.

- Other space is also wasted, such as the table seating area on deck 8 for the ice-cream parlour that nobody uses.

- Crows Nest is rather hidden away down a long corridor.

- Some of the balcony cabins (deck 8, etc.) are just absurd.

- MDR's struggling to cope with freedom dining - long queues, with queues even for those wanting to share tables - the main issue seems to be a lack of staff (both waiters and kitchen) as frequently on an evening there were vast numbers of tables unoccupied whilst people waited for the queue to move on the 'app'. Tables that had been occupied and then vacated at 8pm then sat with the detritus from the meal for half an hour or more, and by the time they were remade they were then frequently not used.

- The poor level changes in the floor on deck 8 - it is almost as if they started building the ship at both ends and realised their measurements didn't match.

- Club House struggling to cope with the volume of guests, particularly when the theatre throws out at 9.15 from the 8.30 show and there is a sudden influx of people all disappointed that there are no seats left.

 

Other changes that P&O have made - 

- Using the housekeeping staff in the MDR's to guide guests to the tables - great but the housekeeping staff frequently don't know where the tables are.

- The 'dumbed down' bar menus where the staff are unable to serve anything not on the menu even if they have the ingredients - you can't buy a vermouth anywhere onboard, even though some bars have bottles of it on display to use in cocktails. Also only some drinks are available in some bars (with no rationale as to why) so if you want that drink you either have to go to that bar and carry it back or go without.

 

 

[Son of Anarchy]

Not surprised that Club House struggles with accomodating numbers as the evening moves along.  When we were on board on a staycation at 50% pax occupancy, we had to choose between going to the theatre show or getting a seat in Club House.  Lovely venue, just not enough seats for bums even at 50% occupancy.

[HalifaxYorksCruiser]

4 hours ago, 9265359 said:

Having just returned from another cruise on Iona, it really is a 'curate's egg' of a ship.

 

On the good points -

- The cabin accommodation is good - far better than many of P&O's ships.

- There seems to be more deck space than ships such as Ventura/Azura, but more importantly for me there are more outside that are not purely sunbed areas and there are more shaded areas.

- Theatre is far nicer and more legroom in the seats.

- Cinema screens are very good, and a welcome choice on seadays.

- Quays food courts are a far better option than the Horizon buffet, and the Olive Grove is very nice.

- 710 club is good - although now it is booking only (with any empty seats from non-attendees offered just before showtime). 

 

And the bad points - 

- The atrium with the Emerald 'cocktail' bar, the Glass House 'wine' bar, and the Cow & Keel 'gastropub' - all awful as the location as the atmosphere of an airport terminal. During the day the atrium is lovely, although all the space in the Cow & Keel is wasted as nobody sits there, but in an evening - awful. During a fortnights cruise I saw virtually nobody use the Glass House in the evening, and it was just sat there as empty wasted space.

- Other space is also wasted, such as the table seating area on deck 8 for the ice-cream parlour that nobody uses.

- Crows Nest is rather hidden away down a long corridor.

- Some of the balcony cabins (deck 8, etc.) are just absurd.

- MDR's struggling to cope with freedom dining - long queues, with queues even for those wanting to share tables - the main issue seems to be a lack of staff (both waiters and kitchen) as frequently on an evening there were vast numbers of tables unoccupied whilst people waited for the queue to move on the 'app'. Tables that had been occupied and then vacated at 8pm then sat with the detritus from the meal for half an hour or more, and by the time they were remade they were then frequently not used.

- The poor level changes in the floor on deck 8 - it is almost as if they started building the ship at both ends and realised their measurements didn't match.

- Club House struggling to cope with the volume of guests, particularly when the theatre throws out at 9.15 from the 8.30 show and there is a sudden influx of people all disappointed that there are no seats left.

 

Other changes that P&O have made - 

- Using the housekeeping staff in the MDR's to guide guests to the tables - great but the housekeeping staff frequently don't know where the tables are.

- The 'dumbed down' bar menus where the staff are unable to serve anything not on the menu even if they have the ingredients - you can't buy a vermouth anywhere onboard, even though some bars have bottles of it on display to use in cocktails. Also only some drinks are available in some bars (with no rationale as to why) so if you want that drink you either have to go to that bar and carry it back or go without.

 

 

I agree entirely. The Atrium at night is truly soulless and during the day can be cold if docked and they are using deck 6 as the disembarkation point. The Crows Nest only had a choice of 3 red and 3 white wines and they were not a patch on the wines available in the Glass House. We love the Glass House on Britannia but on Iona it is just an open space . On our cruise due to staff shortages no food was being served in the Glass House. 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

6 hours ago, 9265359 said:

Having just returned from another cruise on Iona, it really is a 'curate's egg' of a ship.

 

- Other space is also wasted, such as the table seating area on deck 8 for the ice-cream parlour that nobody uses.

It was used during our cruise- but likely because it was school holidays, weather was decent, and the Ice cream afternoon teas are THE BEST when you have kids. Or not 😂

Maybe the icecream parlour would have been better near the cakes in the atrium?

 

interesting to hear the alcoholic drinks are v limited. We don’t drink, (met with confusion by cruise staff everywhere 😂. We’re used to it now)

but the non alcoholic drink choice is abysmal, worse we have had on a cruise

 

honestly assumed that they prioritised the alcohol range but seems not. Are the drink choices better on other ships?

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by JG&Lcruisingnewbies

[Fionboard]

Ridiculously cheap at the moment - less than £800 for solo in balcony for two weeks.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Ridiculously cheap at the moment - less than £800 for solo in balcony for two weeks.

Which shows how many cabins must still available...

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Ridiculously cheap at the moment - less than £800 for solo in balcony for two weeks.

 

34 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Which shows how many cabins must still available...

November and early December is notoriously poor for cruise bookings. So in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it's no wonder cruise lines are having to do some heavy discounting.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

 

November and early December is notoriously poor for cruise bookings. So in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it's no wonder cruise lines are having to do some heavy discounting.

Especially if you have 5200 berths to fill on one ship...

[smokey01]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Which shows how many cabins must still available...

Yes there are loads of cabins left on the upcoming cruises but it is winter. The price was low enough to tempt me and mum to book adjoining cabins (I.e. sole price the same as us sharing). I have to admit I wouldn’t of wanted to pay more for this time of year but am really looking forward to being back on board on 26th November even though our last cruise on her returned on 8th October. I enjoyed all our MDR meals, I think the buffet probably had less choice than earlier cruises but with the buffet and Quays there was still plenty of casual dining choice.

[Britboys]

5 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

Yes there are loads of cabins left on the upcoming cruises but it is winter. The price was low enough to tempt me and mum to book adjoining cabins (I.e. sole price the same as us sharing). I have to admit I wouldn’t of wanted to pay more for this time of year but am really looking forward to being back on board on 26th November even though our last cruise on her returned on 8th October. I enjoyed all our MDR meals, I think the buffet probably had less choice than earlier cruises but with the buffet and Quays there was still plenty of casual dining choice.

I hope you both have a lovely time.

[terrierjohn]

22 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Especially if you have 5200 berths to fill on one ship...

Since worldwide cruise berths are approx half a million, it's understandable that in weak periods all cruise ships will suffer from low bookings.

[Britboys]

32 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Since worldwide cruise berths are approx half a million, it's understandable that in weak periods all cruise ships will suffer from low bookings.

And some areas - such as ex-uk have very specific challenges. It was pretty obvious that Iona poses specific challenges herself.

She has 5200 berths to fill. In the depths of our winter she is basically sailing two itineraries - Western Med and Atlantic Islands. The weather in the Western Med can't be guaranteed between November & March, especially in terms of temperature. She is in competition for the Med with Ventura ex Southampton and for the Atlantic Islands with Azura on fly-cruise. Some pax don't want to risk the Bay of Biscay in winter and I would guess that a good percentage of the demographic P&O seem to be trying to attract with the new ships may well prefer to fly direct to the canaries.

And this is all before taking into account the current economic situation.

As has been said by others, it seems a fair bet that there will be a lot of good late deals to be had and especially so on the two larger ships.

[FluffyFiFi]

I have cruised on all the fleet and Iona several times and have Arvia booked in January. Personally I think Iona is a spectacular ship and is our favourite. I recently cruised on Arcadia and in comparison we were disappointed with the crew who we found surly. The lack of dining venues, choice of entertainment, dated cabin with only one plug, no night light and no usb charging point. 
 

I can see the pros and cons for all sizes of ships but it seems some people have already made up their minds before they have even boarded.  
 

Cruising is changing as technology, clientele and world issues impact on the experience. In my mind it’s still the best way to explore amazing destinations whilst the familiarity of our floating home provides comfort.