Jennizor

27 minutes ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

Beautiful outlook you have there. I agree about not wanting to live anywhere else. I spent 18 years living in Harpenden, near St Albans, but always knew we’d be heading back ‘home’ in retirement despite being quite happy there. A trip out to the glorious Trough of Bowland beckons soon - one of Lancashire’s little-known gems 😊

It’s a long time since we went to the Trough of Bowland, but I remember the beauty of it. You are very lucky to live so near.

8 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

Lovely morning here in West Lancashire. An uplifting feel to the day. I was inspired to take a photo from my living room window, so apologies if it turns out upside down or, worse still, huge!

 

 

Lovely photo Mrs Goggins.

Here is the view from our house in Bolton. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Before our recent Iona cruise I pre-booked the speciality restaurants through the P&O website before we sailed. For the rest we either went to the MDRs or straight to Glasshouse or Olive Grove and never had a problem getting in any of them, without booking.

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Well we have just returned from Iona and in general liked the ship and didn't encounter any of the problems you had, in fact the service was very good.

We also had no problems on Iona in Feb/March. We didn’t use the app at all. I booked some restaurants online before we sailed and used the MDRs other nights. We just went down when we were ready and never had a problem. We were uncertain about sailing on Iona but had a lovely cruise and going back in July.

He’s a singer and actor. He’s was in Brookside many years ago and has been on several reality programmes (not that I have watched any). He’s an excellent singer and entertainer, as was confirmed by the standing ovation.

4 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Jamie 

 

When are you planning to go?

 

I'm doing Norwegian Fjords May 20th on Iona and will be doing a live report on here about everything we do and eat and watch whilst on her!!

 

 

We are going in July so will look forward to your report.

On 3/31/2023 at 12:09 AM, Yorkypete said:

I have never tried the Limelight club as I will not pay £20-£30 extra . The entertainment is generally not good and the acoustics in the bubble are a little below our local pubs level. Many complain about it.

 

How can you say the entertainment in the Limelight Club is not generally good if you haven’t tried it? We were on Iona recently and went twice, first time was Ray Quinn, he was excellent and got a standing ovation at the end of the night. Second was Joel Jackson, who although not as good as Ray Quinn, gave a great performance. The meals were also very good. We paid £24 each after loyalty discount and it was well worth it. We didn’t hear anyone complaining and spoke to several people during the cruise who had been and not one complaint.

We have been to the Limelight Club several times over the years and always had a great experience.

Mixture of blues skies and overcast here in Bolton. Hoping to get out into the garden after lunch to get rid of more rooting sycamore helicopters. I must have pulled out hundreds so far.

We were on Iona in Feb/March and back on her in July to the Fjords. We went there on Arcadia a few years ago and loved the experience.

We are in cabin 12246 which is quite near where we were last time and found the position very good (we decided to go for a deluxe balcony this time as it’s my husband’s 70th birthday).

We found the main dining room food quite good. We also did the Limelight Club, Sindhu, the Glasshouse (extra charge and well worth it) and the Chef’s Table (formal nights only and no extra charge and excellent meal).

We did wonder if Iona would be too big for us but not at all. She is a lovely ship and we can’t wait to be back on her.

8 minutes ago, Durie1989 said:

Thanks you.

So you can book the chefs table 2 weeks before you cruise and is this part of the included services or is this extra cost ?

Yes you can book it two weeks ahead at no extra charge. It makes a lovely change from the MDRs.

We booked the Limelight club twice, Sindhu and the Chefs table on our recent two week cruise on Iona two weeks before we sailed, knowing who was appearing each week. We really enjoyed them all, including the Chefs Table. It didn’t feel like part of the Horizon buffet as we were screened off. It was set out like a fine dining restaurant and the menu and the service were both very good. We will book again when we go on Iona in July.

This is my favourite formal outfit, it is a split skirt with trousers in the same material underneath.

10 hours ago, majortom10 said:

On our cruise last week on Iona we dined lunch/ dinner 4 times over both weeks and the menu was the same for the whole fortnight.

On our recent cruise on Iona the menu changed regularly each week. It was repeated each week though. That didn’t bother us as we also did speciality dining four times.

We had the same free package last September. No problems with the drinks package but  spending the extra OBC took us a while at the end of the cruise. Finished up buying two Radley bags and a silver dress watch. 

11 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Do I take it from your post that you have to join virtual queues even for breakfast and lunch in the MDR? I had rather hoped it was just dinner. 

On Iona in Feb we never joined a virtual queue for any of the main dining rooms, breakfast, lunch or dinner.We went down 7.30 - 8.30 for dinner and generally got a table straight away. Occasionally we had to wait a few minutes. We never saw any queuing at all.

We were on Iona 18 Feb for two weeks. I booked Sindhu, Limelight club twice and the Chefs table, all before we got aboard. Apart from one night at the Glasshouse we used the Coral restaurant every night, usually 7.30 to 8.30. Other than a couple of times when we waited a few minutes, we were always taken straight to a table, usually sharing as that is what we prefer. There were no queues. We also enjoyed the food, although some nights the choice was not as good as others.

We ate at the Chefs table on one of the formal nights and it was excellent and several choices.

On our recent cruise on Iona we had dinner in the Coral restaurant on nights we didn’t go to a speciality one. We tried the Pearl once but the staff weren’t as efficient or friendly as in the Coral. We usually went down 7.30 - 8.00, we didn’t book and never had to wait.

We were recently on Iona and pre-booked the Limelight Club twice (both nights were great, food and entertainment, especially Ray Quinn). We also booked Sindhu and the Chefs Table. It was on one of the formal nights (no extra charge). I was concerned it might be noisy as it is part of the Horizon but it was an enclosed area so wasn’t at all. The meal and service were excellent. Will definitely do it again in July.

We visited the Fjords in May 2019 on Arcadia. The weather was fabulous. Going in July on Iona, hoping for the same.

Going out later to our Class of 61 Rivington & Blackrod Grammar School reunion. Only 14 of us this time, usually over 20. Some of us have been in school together since primary school in 1955. We always have lots of fun and lots of reminiscing. We all keep in touch throughout the year on Facebook too. 

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

Enjoy your cruise. The short cruises probably won’t give you the normal P & O experience as sometimes they might be used as booze cruises, also there will probably be a different clientele to the longer cruises . There probably won’t be a formal night on the cruise , I think it will tell you on your Cruise Personaliser before the cruise.

You can normally book some of the entertainment 2 weeks before the cruise. This is a new feature since Covid and hasn’t proved to be popular as most people like to decide on the day and I think they might be going to drop it on some of the ships. 
Drinks etc are very good value compared to Cunard & Princess etc.

I think you can book some of the specialty restaurants before the cruise as well, I’m sure someone will correct me on that if I am wrong. We don’t normally book before as we normally have OBC and if you book before you can’t use it. 

We were on Iona recently (got back last Saturday). We were able to book the Limelight Club, Sindhu and the Chefs Table two weeks prior to the cruise through Cruise Personaliser. I can’t remember if there is a Chefs Table on Britannia but the one on Iona was very good.

Lovely sunshine and blue skies here in Bolton, not a breath wind. As Michelle said, it’s very cold though. We will wrap up warm and go for walk after lunch then I will finish my cruise ironing, it’s all fun here.

19 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

Did you try the other restaurants before settling on the Coral restaurant? Thanks for the info about not needing to book for the Glasshouse or Olive Grove. 

We did the Pearl one night but the staff were not as efficient or friendly as in the Coral.

42 minutes ago, smokey01 said:

The one time we went on Britannia (2015) we tried freedom dining for the first time and never again. We hated the buzzer, neither of us liked to have a drink at a bar so we just had to sit there waiting for it to go off. It felt like such a waste of our time. However the Iona / Arvia app based method means we can stay in the comfort of our cabin, weather permitting on the balcony, and wait until our table is ready.

 

I would hate to go back to the buzzer method.

Just back from Iona. I booked the Limelight Club twice and Sindhu and Chefs Table before we sailed. We ate in the Glasshouse and Olive Grove without any booking and the remainder in the Coral restaurant, always went straight in with the option of a shared table or one for two. We never saw any queues for restaurants.