terrierjohn

I dont disagree with you wowzz, and in the current economic climate there are some excellent bargains to be had, but in P&Os case these are mainly saver fares with only a guarantee cabin, and even if we were both able bodied I would still want to choose my cabin and the later you book, the less choice you have.

We discussed this over dinner on our last night on Iona yesterday and the general consensus is that the on board operation is not working as P&O expected. One couple had used the app the first 2 nights and had long waits before being pinged that their table was available. So after discussion with other disillusioned users they switched to just turning up when they wanted, and if they were prepared to share they were seated immediately. Another couple on their first visit requested a table at 7:30 each night and this was arranged and accommodated. We had used the app, and requested to share, but if we were ready before being pinged we went down anyway, which initially always resulted in us being given a table for 2, later on we had to respecify our desire to share to ensure this was met. The other couple had been very disillusioned by the the time it took to be pinged, and had used the Quays, the Beach House and the Buffet quite a few times to avoid these delays. The app sounds a good idea in principle, but the reluctance of many passengers to use their smart phones on holiday, or not even use a smart phone, means that the system as currently envisaged is doomed to be a failure.

I wasnt impressed with the version on Iona last cruise either, although it may have been the material they were asked to perform, which was far too Hard Rock and Rave for my liking. However the Iona orchestra who backed the various artists on board, including Paul Ruck the excellent Eric Clapton tribute act, and Brian Connolly Jr with his tribute to his father's band Sweet were in a totally different class to the pulse musicians.

We booked it while on board Iona last week, £50pp deposit and £250pp OBC, although I thought the normal deposit was 5%? I just hope we are both fit enough to travel in 2 years time, and that the world wide insurance doesn't make too big a hole in our finances.

R302 is a perfectly acceptable accessible balcony cabin, conveniently near the forward lift lobby. It is 50% wider than a standard balcony cabin, and being a potential 4 berth cabin it has an extra wardrobe space. It is not so far forward that it has any of the disadvantages of those cabins fully forward, but you can feel more movement in rough seas than cabins on lower decks, however you very rarely get wet from the spray that balcony cabins on lower decks can suffer from. We have sailed in this cabin both on Azura and Ventura and would willingly do so again if a C deck cabin was not available.

But premier inn toiletries are also in a plastic dispenser fastened to the wall. I find the shower gel and shampoo in the shower cubicle perfectly satisfactory, but I do like a tablet of soap for the wash basin, our steward found us some on Iona, but did say stocks were not being replaced.

It seems to be a problem with all cruise ships, they seem to need these pillars to stop the floors from collapsing onto each other. Iona also has these unfortunate obstructions not only in the buffet, but they crop up all the over the place, even in some cabins.

Exactly my thoughts as well, none of the current majors have the spare cash, and anyone with sufficient funds would surely be able to find a better return elsewhere.

That is exactly what we thought wowzz, and why we booked it. Not as many ports as the Ventura ones, but for us it's the hot weather that's the attraction and Iona has plenty of on board spaces to enjoy the sea days.

Probably, but unless you have a fear of children it wont be a problem. We see them at breakfast but seldom at dinner, and most are well behaved.

For wheelchairs she is the best P&O ship so far, very similar to Celebrity Eclipse, lots of marble floors on the public decks and less carpet. The upper decks are a not accessible from all lifts, so you need to check them out early on, which I did. MDR food choice is not as good as pre covid, but no one would starve, as before some dishes are far better than others, it's just a shame you dont know which ones until you've eaten.

I would guess that a regular booking at that time would be easily accomplished, it's the later times that get busy.

I have not checked but I doubt she has1800 upper berths, and even if she has, with the limitations on children numbers for each muster zone I imagine her max capacity is not much more than 6000.

I suspect that only a limited number of 5 and 6 O'clock bookings for the MDRs will be possible, I am on board and cannot book a time slot for later. But you can easily join a virtual queue which if you share a table normally only has a 10 min wait time, I believe a table for 2 is a longer wait.

Today was the first day we have experienced chaos in the buffet, but it was the perfect storm that anyone any good at management would have predicted and avoided. We put the clocks forward an hour last night as we moved from Portuguese time back to Spanish time, which meant everyone had an hours less sleep so were late getting to breakfast. Also the weather forecast was dire with wind and squally showers and a high of 17 deg. So not too unexpectedly the buffet was heaving at 10 O'clock, which was just as the captain decided to do a crew fire drill. As a consequence just as the buffet ran short of every item of crockery many staff were diverted to this practise evacuation drill. The result was chaos with long queues everywhere as passengers waited for coffee cups, plates, bowls and side plates. The only thing in plentiful supply was food, but with nothing to put it on, it gradually cooled and congealed, not apretty sight. This should have been easy to predict and I doubt that a delay in the timing or deferment altogether would have been anywhere near as disastrous as the muttered grumblings of 4800 (yes that is the official passenger numbers from receprion, although many will be children sharing their parents cabins) disgruntled passengers. It just goes to show that shipside management can be equally as incompetent as the shoreside ones.

If there are the normal 6-7 sea days on the crossings plus the 11 port days that could mean 10 sea days in the Caribbean, which as Yorkshirephil says could very well suit us, as sea days in the Caribbean sunshine are just as good as shore days for us.

All the above is true, but we have not find they represent major problems. I thought evening turndown would not suit us, but it really has not spoilt anything.. Toiletries and face cloths can be requested from your steward if you want them. Deck buffets were always over rated. We had deck parties on Britannia in June, none on Iona but she only has small open air pool areas. All Ionas speciality restaurants are open, although I don't know if the Glass House is serving food, but would not want to eat there even if it did, nor in the Keel and Cow.

Even 4 on a table only needs 3 trips to the servery, one of 3 and then one of 1, so it hardly adds any delay, and we are finding the buffet busy, but never any issues finding a free table reasonably quickly.

Which seems perfectly fair since we book with a TA but all these changes are e-mailed to us from P&O, so anyone claiming they have not been informed are telling porkies.

I notice from our balcony that the balcony divider is missing from 2 cabins below us, which must be the procedure for Iona as there is no connecting door. So 3 adjacent balconies should give you a massive balcony space.

What are Iona's ports on this 35 nighter MB2 10 Caribbean ports seems very stingy for a 35 nighter, is she doing some 2 night stays?

There are plenty of children on board at present, I understand it is half term in Scotland which is presumably why there are more children on board than normal.

On Iona at present and we think she has far more than double the open deck spaces than Ventura does, and the sunbeds are very well spaced out as well.I think she will be ideally suited for a 35 night round trip Caribbean cruise. We might have to think about this one ourselves.

We are on Iona at present, not sure what the passenger numbers are, but she certainly does not feel as crowded as Britannia did in June Iona has far more indoor seating around the 3 deck atrium that any of the other ships, and must have at least double, maybe treble the number of outside spaces than any of the others, and the sunbeds are well spaced as well. Then there is the crows nest and Anderson's bar as well as Brodies, and the Club House. There are the usual pinch points as entertainment venues empty, but these soon disperse. For us Iona feels far less crowded than our one and only pre covid cruise on Aurora.

The majority were wearing blue surgical masks before mask wearing was made optional, so not much protection for the wearer, but they should have helped reduce the spread among the crew, although I guess masks were not compulsory while they were off duty.