JeanieC,Aston

One of the things I found out about the atrium on Iona apart from the total lack of atmosphere was….. In some ports,,,I’m talking about an overnight in February in either Hamburg or Rotterdam they open both doors to the gangway to exit the ship. At the time it was -2 deg outside,,,,those doors being open all night meant you had to put on warm coats to sit in the atrium,,,,it was freezing!.

Love the balcony whatever the weather or just for fresh air. Here was Iona in a fog in North Sea in February…

My wife likes a Prosecco,,,,price today onboard is £6.75 for a tiny measure. One before dinner,one during dinner and maybe three after dinner,and three is easy if you go to different bars of an evening. Hot day on deck maybe a couple of Cokes,,,,a Cappuccino in the morning and a Hot Chocolate for bed. A couple of bottles of water. Im over the DP price already.

I’m sure on my Iona cruise in February if you booked in advance you got the 10% discount and the loyalty discount. But you couldn’t use any OBC,,,,,you could use OBC and get your loyalty discount as well if you booked it when you got on the ship.

I wait for a double OBC (like now) before I book,,,,use that against the DP cost,instead of wasting it on rubbish in the shops.

Most pre-existing conditions can be covered ……..at a price. I could get Annual insurance for both of us for ~£250 if no pre existing. But due to a heart by-pass 10 years ago and being a Type2 Diabetic on BP medication I pay £700 a year. And that’s just for European cover,,,,forget USA or Caribbean.

Hi,,,,love that poem,,,so true…….

Even better if you add a Jameson’s.

Hi TD You must have been unlucky. Here is the bus timetable,(6 min trip),,,or to beat any traffic there is a train that takes 11 minutes from Mestre. On Saturday there is x4 ships due into the terminal.

Hi Even your experience beats a 3 hour slog to Ravenna,,,,I should imagine over time Maghera will get better. Last year (2022) Magehera opened a temp facility for cruise ships. Currently used by MSC,Costa and Viking among others. Start small build big. Btw,,when we docked in Venice we had to get the People Mover to Piazza Roma to get a shuttle to the airport. The best thing about Maghera is,,when it’s finished,is you can be in Venice in 10 minutes. Another plus for Maghera is the area of Mestre is full of hotels used in the past for its many hotels used by cruisers departing Venice. Hotel to cruise ship in minutes.

Hi Even your experience beats a 3 hour slog to Ravenna,,,,I should imagine over time Maghera will get better.

Hi Les Enjoyed your blog but did you sail past Malta without stopping😏

Porto Maghera takes large cruise ships,it’s only 10 min across the bridge to Piazzale Rome. I think that’s where MSC docks. Its an industrial port but beats out of the way Ravenna.

On Iona in Feb it looked like the gangways were on Port side. In Hamburg overnight those gangways were open to the Atrium,,two of them on Deck 6. With the doors open it was freezing in the Emerald bar and Costa coffee.they closed one gangway but the other one was open all night. Of course they may use another deck.

Hi. If you ring them to book they will let you know if you have loyalty discount from previous use.

The centre of Florence is traffic free so the coach to do Florence on your Own or Florence Tour is not much different apart from the tour you are at the mercy of the guide and punctuality or not of the other 50 passengers on the coach,,,on both trips you are walking around. The shuttle is probably half the price of the tour. ps…the coaches park alongside the River Arno about a 10 min walk from Santa Croce.

In Olden the hotel has a huge speaker outside of the hotel. Every cruise ship on leaving gets the same farewell Andrea Bocelli singing Time to say goodbye. Its blasted all across the fjord,,,makes the hairs stand up on your neck.

Visited Florence a few times,,,in my opinion a tour is a waste of time,,,there is not much difference to ‘Florence on your Own’,,,,the coaches on both drops you at the same place,,,Florence is small enough to see most things in a day but not in depth. I would swop Academia with timed entry to the Uffizi Gallery and its magnificent art. Outside of the Uffizi in the piazza is an almost exact copy of Michelangelo's David. Inside Santa Croce is a must,,,hundreds of places for lunch,,,,and don’t forget to rub the wild boars nose for luck in the Mercator Nuevo just along from the Ponta Vecchio. The centre of Florence is really walkable. Try one of the many food cafe bars for lunch in Mercado Central.

In the UK in that scenario the insurance policy would cost more than the cruise,,,,that’s if you could get a company that would cover you.

Nice swerve!!

Scotland is not part of England.,,,,you never mentioned the UK. And I still believe most people including Scotland live south of Blackpool. The population of Scotland is 5.5m add in a few towns north of Blackpool are you still saying most of the UK is north of Blackpool when the population of the UK is 65m plus.

As you say Carlisle is not in Scotland,,,,,so no most of the country is not north of Blackpool,,,it’s probably at least (at a guess) 40 million out. Last time I looked England is one Country,,Scotland another. Having priority Is different than being penalised by a petulant company. P&O used to proactively be unreasonable to Eavesway passengers not Eavesway the company.

I have traveled north of 20 cruises with Eavesway and not had one problem. Intercruises do use Ellisons from the NW but they often use clapped out coaches from firms along the south coast for the return,,,,,I know I’ve used them. Pre covid I asked a Ellisons coach driver for the WiFi password,,,sorry no WiFi H&S. Eavesway terminated the contract they had with P&O a few years ago as P&O got greedy wanting more of Eavesway cut. Then P&O started playing silly beggars with Eavesway customers with petty rules,,,making them wait to board,calling them last to debark etc. Eavesway customers remember that,me included,and stayed loyal to Eavesway. Its only lately that P&O upped their game with Intercruises,,,they used to use the cheapest most clapped out oldest coaches going. The relations are better now,,,they allocate ALL coaches passengers the same debarkation time,,,,,before 08:00. ps,They pick up in Blackpool,,,I never knew the majority of the country lived north of Blackpool?

Exactly…sail past the Seven Sisters waterfall you see it all as the ship sails past from a balcony,,port or aft. For those who say you might be on the wrong side,,,there is no wrong side in the Fjords. If you miss sailing into the Fjiord you see it sailing out. Ive never understood this clamour for Aft balconies you only see something when you have past it. Plus I like the overhang,,the Fjiords get a lot of rain (Bergen is the wettest place in Europe),,with the overhang you can sit on the balcony take in the scenery and stay dry. With IV cabins the bridge will probably shut the window when it rains.

If based purely on itinerary I would have gone for the Brugge,Bergen,Flam trip. Stavanger,Olden and Alesund while ashore are pretty boring.