JeanieC,Aston

It’s changed now to ‘Green Beans R Us’.

Come on…..Fish &Chips in the Quays is no different than Fish &Chips in my local chippie. I recently returned from a Spanish holiday and the hotel buffet was better than any buffet I have been in on P&O ships I sail P&O and Celebrity,,,,,now Celebrity is what you call a buffet. Admittedly I pay more for my Celebrity cruises and expect better. At the same time I pay less for P&O and get less,,,,I expect that,P&O never got the nickname Spuds r Us for nothing. I actually think P&O MDR menus to be the most boring at sea. I can put up with that as long as the live acts are OK. I eat to live not live to eat.

I always think dwelling on the numbers in the queue is misleading. I not only depends on numbers in queue but table size asked for. On my Iona cruise one night we joined the queue at #40 and was called in 30 mins. On another night we where #14 and where will not called 90 min later at nearly 21:00,,,resulting in me and others demanding to be seated. Then we had to agree to share a table of 8,,,which meant not having desert to leave to get into the Club for 22:30 show.

Hi. The cabin staff were those in the restaurants with Grey polo shirts on showing people to their tables and giving them the menus.

Staffing. For FD to work you need the ship/dining rooms to be fully staffed. No matter what time I went to dinner on Iona in February half the dining room tables were empty,,not even made up for service with long queues waiting. On Celebration night after waiting with a buzzer from 19:00 till near 21:00 I demanded to be fed,,enough was enough,,,,,we were immediately shown to a table then having to wait until the table was made up. Sat in the Emerald Bar for over 2.5 hrs waiting for a table we were continually told by people coming out of dinner that the dining room was empty.

It seems the answer is to arrive by coach. I have had all times of boarding times,,,even people on the same coach have different times. Eavesway usually arrive from Liverpool around 13:30 and it’s all on the coach straight through,,,last October a port rep came onto the coach and gave everyone a lettered card,,,,they called the letter as soon as we walked through the door,,, Same in Feb on Iona,,,straight through at 13:30 checked in then hit the bottleneck that is Security. As an aside..I sailed Celebrity last month from City terminal and there was no queues. Does anyone think this is due to Security being before check-in?

Depending where the ship docks there is a golf buggy like shuttle for the less mobile to the terminal building,,,then shuttle bus into town.

Hi I was on Silhouette first sailing out of Southampton last month and Hideaway was closed,,,,but then they have kettles in every cabin on sailings from UK.

Cruise ships take staff from around the world,,,,,countries stop staff coming in from around the world. I don’t think the staffing,supply or pandemic issues can be used as excuses for poor service on cruise ships any more.

Hi Are the resident Pelicans still on the beach in Mykonos? Ive not been for a few years,,always good for a photo op.

Hi. You can do that on Celebrity app as well as most other things.P&O is miles behind. You can even look at the menu’s sat at home before you cruise. This is tomorrow nights main course menu in MDR on Silhouette app….

A duck is apt for MU. All serene on the surface but paddling like hell underneath.😉

Why has Iona done away with ballroom dancing and dance hosts,,,many people enjoyed this activity. There is plenty of room for it,,,like Ventura and Azura they could have it in the foyer (nothing else happens there except the Silent Disco now and then),,like the Ventura and Azura the Costa Coffee outlet is in the same room. It would certainly add some life to what is a lifeless area. I don’t dance ballroom or sequence but as it never finished until Midnight loved watching the good dancers with a Macchiato and Jameson’s nightcap.

Hi We had the same on Iona with cabin stewards,,,of an evening they became MDR staff,,you could pick them out as they were given grey polo shirts to wear,,,they showed you to your table and gave you the menu.

I wish I would have listened to the negative comments re Iona before I wasted a lot of cash. I have this theory when reading reviews of cruises,,,,I ignore the perfect and ignore the worst. This one time I ignored my own advice,,,,,,it won’t happen again.

If you sat at the bar in Brodies you can’t miss the Casino.

I’ve read all your comments ICF and as I said tight at the beginning your cruise bares no resemblance to mine in Feb half term. Everything was queues,,,I saw them,I experienced them. As for full dining rooms,,,not on my cruise,after waiting an hour to get in I wondered why a 1/3 of the tables where empty,not even made up,,,,,yes a waiter told me shortages of staff. The mismanagement comes in and it happened last year on a Celebrity cruise,,,they are filling the ships knowing they don’t have the staff to service those numbers. Let’s look at other faults,,,those I don’t think you actually encountered as you remarked you are back to bed at 22:00 and you only have x2 drinks a night. Did you ever use the Club?did you ever see the queues to get in or the scramble to find seats. Did you ever try and get a drink in the pub when it was full,,,,the order by iPad was a shambles,,,,did you ever stand with me and listen to the never ending complaints? Did you never notice people aimlessly walking around the ship looking for seats. Have you never read the endless complaints on other social media about these two ships. As others have said they are a novelty at the moment,,will they keep enticing people back time and time again like other favourites in the fleet? I don’t think so. I don’t know how long you have sailed with P&O but the quality of ‘turns’ on Iona was poor,,the busker in Brodie’s was just that and he did a spot in 710,,,and you say show me a artist on other ships better than in 710,,,,,,,,come on!. Never seen Tenors of Rock or the Beatles Celebration on Celebrity or Rock the Boat on RCL. I applaud your absolute commitment to the P&O product but you must take the rose tinted specs off and you will see the faults. ps,there was a great turn on my Iona cruise,,,a ventriloquist called Gareth Oliver he played the theatre one night (fully booked up) and did a spot in the Club on the last night…..I reckon 4000 people never had a dogs chance of seeing him……

Hi Similar thing happened to me on Britannia last October. I was about to purchase a couple of bottles of Irish whisky,,,the guy behind the counter said wait until the last day they will be on sale,,get here early as a queue will form. Sure enough by 10:00 there must have been a hundred in the queue. And sure enough they where selling Connemara Irish whiskey for £10 litre. Just returned from a Celebrity cruise with $800 OBC,,,,a iPad mini and a ring for my wife plus a couple of bottles of Jameson’s for me,,,final onboard bill was minus $0.96.

Another thing with the App is the ‘unknowing bit’……how long is the queue? On my Iona cruise in Feb you looked at the queues at the 4 restaurants and thought that’s the shortest queue I’ll go into that one. It doesn’t work like that,,,,maybe it’s because of requested table size? One night there was 49 in the queue and we where called in 15 minutes. Another night there was 10 in the queue and we where waiting 1hr 45min,,,,we eventually got a table after a few irate visits to the desk….that queue never went down.

With allocated seat numbers you can have the same serving team every night,then you can show your appreciation at the cruise end. I have just returned from a Celebrity cruise where I booked dining pre cruise,,for different times on different days depending on port calls,,,,,and got the same table for x2 every time. I let them know if I was dining elsewhere that night then they could release that table to someone else. As did most people around us. Btw,,I am diabetic so like to dine around the same time every night. I could do fixed dining but they are usually too early or too late. So I do ‘freedom dining’.,,dining at 19:30 is ideal,,,it also helps the MDR team prepare the usual table,,,,just after the early diners depart the table,,,win win for them and us.

There isn’t 5500 passengers on the smaller ships. As I see it,,and from experience of trying to book dinners on Iona in Feb. If you want to book the eatery of your choice,on the day you want to,at the time you want book when the booking slots open. No different to why lots of people book cruises years in advance to get the cabins they want.

Hi. I’ll never know,it’s once and done and I’m sticking to Britannia and Ventura.

This is from a review I wrote re our Iona cruise in Feb Its what happened to us when the App went down,,,,we only got to dine at the time we did was because many of us flooded the desk demanding to eat before they shut the lights out……… “The worst night was Gala night,,,,,the ‘app’ had been down all day so you couldn’t join a queue so the did it with a buzzer,,,to think it would be quicker we asked to share a table,,,,,wrong!we waited from 19:00 to 20:45 to be shown to a table for 8,,,a lovely mix.But then the incompetence shone through.After 15 minuted the waiter came to ask for our order,,,,,,,can we have the drinks list first please,,,,you want drink?After ordering we asked for water….you want water?Then the starter came,,,can we have some bread,,,,,you want bread?Then one guy asked were is wife’s bottle of wine was she ordered,,,,you ordered wine?Then came the main Lobster,Giant prawns…what a let down,,,a small pice of lobster and 3 small prawns in a bit of pastry with cream sauce.Can we get another drink please…you want another drink.? I will get someone,,,,they never came.Then I notice the Amuse Busch sat on the serving station,,,,you forgot the Amuse Busch,,,,you want Amuse Busch?No thank you,,,,no desert either,,,,I’m off might just get to see Pulse in the Club at 22:30”

Hi I have a feeling the bar menus changed the night before Silhouette docked in Southampton after her transatlantic. As an example Guinness was on Classic before it docked,,,then on Premium when I boarded. After a couple of days on board I had a drinking the Casino Bar,the first page of the menu had Guinness on Classic list the last page had Guinness @$13 which is Premium. I asked the barman who said they forgot to change the first page in Southampton,,,,and took the menu away.

Hi Ken Returned from Silhouette 2 weeks ago,,,,there were fresh made cheese omelettes at breakfast,,,,they continually refreshed the tray with fresh cooked ones. As soon as they put another half dozen on the tray I grabbed one,,,,very nice they were too.