Jcr70

We just swapped this week, saved £500 in the process, just moving forward one week on Iona this summer!

I’m on this cruise too.  We did an almost identical itinerary in 2018 on Princess (Stavanger, Olden, Gerainger).  I wrote a review which does detail what we did in the ports (Stavanger, walked round the town, Oil Museum, Olden Loen Skylift, Gerainger rented electric car) which we did all independently … if it might help the link is here https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2575781-norwegian-fjords-july-sapphire-princess/

2 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Morning, 

Can't really answer your question, but was surprised the balcony cabins are so much more expensive on Iona. 

We booked a balcony recently for what was a minimal amount more than an inside, and wondered how they would sell the insides... 

But with P&Os fluid pricing, demand must be greater on the cruise you are looking at. 

There are posters on here who have followed Ionas progress who I am sure will be able to answer your question. 

Good luck, 

Andy 

Thank you!

£1700 in a inside for 2, £2850 in a balcony on a select fare ... 

Apologies if this has been asked and answered before but I’m struggling to find anything using the search function.

Does anyone know what the sea view cabin layout will be?  We’re seasoned inside cruisers, but found the ‘square’ Princess inside layout quite claustrophobic, and much preferred both Disney and Royal Caribbean where there was space for a sofa.  Having 2 cruises cancelled this year, we’re looking to book something for next summer and Iona is looking like the best option for the dates and budget we have.  

I’m reluctant to go for the inside as the image suggests the square layout.  But the balcony prices are hard to justify (especially as I will want to select a cabin - I feel sick too far forward so don’t want to risk an assigned cabin), and I’m really interested to know what the sea view will look like ... the stock image on the site switches from the inside to the balcony!!  I wouldn’t pay the extra just to have a window behind the bed but if it is the balcony layout with a window then I’m sold!

Cabins weren’t updated, however the ones that were added are of course new! We managed to snag one, and it fresh and functional

I appreciate I’m in the minority here, but I’d love it if they introduced freestyle machines.  I’ve only cruised Princess once, (Sapphire last summer) so I realise my experience may have been unusual, but I purchased the soda package, I did not receive a reusable mug.  I don’t drink tea or coffee, and rarely drink alcohol. For medical reasons I only drink diet drinks, (no juice - and I was very thankful for the reasonably priced bottled water package) this meant the only drink available to me was Diet Coke.  Now apart from the fact I try to avoid caffeine in the evenings this would have been fine.  Except it tasted foul ... everything from the bars and restaurants on decks 5/6/7 tasted off ... almost drain like ... the pool decks were better but still not nice.  Now this hasn’t put me off sailing Princess (we’ve just booked the Crown for next summer) but my experience of Freestyle in both the US, the UK and at sea (RCCL) has been brilliant, and no, I don’t mind the amusement park cup at all!  I found it super easy to wash out the cup in my cabin (although resorts I have stayed at have had mug wash stations which was really great).  I realise it doesn’t work for everyone but I’d love it!

We sailed out of Southampton last month. The alcohol table was just after security.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do the review and great photos. We are returning to Princess from Celebrity and have booked this cruise on the Sapphire next year, I love Norway and it's reminded me of why I love it so much. Really nice to see the ship too.

It was a great cruise and just my size of ship. I’m sure you will have a great time

Thanks for the nice review. We were also on this cruise with you. This was our second time on the Norwegian Fjord itinerary with Princess. We found the food in the dining room to be very good. We both eat seafood and seldom eat beef, so that would explain the difference of opinion. We took extended tours in all the ports through Princess this time. We were very pleased with the guides and organization.

I’m glad you enjoyed your cruise too. It is possible I had unrealistic expectations regarding the food!

This was the balloon drop on the Sapphire last month

Really enjoyed the review , we did a similar cruise on Celebrity

We love sailing from Southampton, it’s so easy ��

We’re thinking of a Princess cruise next spring , so it was good to be able to see the ship through your eyes

Thanks for the feedback! We did enjoy Princess and would sail with them again if the itinerary and price were right (which they definitely were on this cruises).

Superb photos, thank you.

Thank you, that’s so nice of you to say

I was on the June sailing. I am similar - due to allergies, I don't eat seafood or fish. I thought the beef was pretty poor quality. I actually was pretty disappointed with the food. The chicken was rubbery and the vegetables and salads degraded after the first week. I am one who used to love the vegetables on Princess and barely ate them on this trip. I was uninspired by many of the menus.

 

Though the beauty of Norway made up for uninspiring food!

I am so glad you felt the same. I had heard that food on Princess was good but the vegetables in particular were awful. We actually only ate in the MDR 3 times in the end. And I got fed up of steamed broccoli on the buffet!!

You are so right about the beauty of Norway making up for it though!

Thank you so much for this great review!

 

 

 

I'm sailing this itinerary next year and am excited to see the variety of things to see in the ports!

 

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

 

Charlene

The ports were great. There is another review of the same cruise and you can see they did very different things to us in 3 of the ports. So much choice!

Thanks for the excellent photos of the ship. We sail on her in January. Norway is a fabulous cruise isn't it.

I hope you enjoy your cruise. Norway was amazing

so my final thoughts …

this was our first cruise on Princess and this is what we loved:

the classic feel of the ship - we were used to a similar size and feel with the other line we've sailed with … we love the promenade deck and the calm feel

MUTS and the on demand movies in the room … extremely impressed with the selection in the room and the blankets and popcorn on deck

Anytime dining - we got a table for 2 immediately on all but one night (and then we were ushered to the club class dining room that night which made formal night even more special!)

Norway … it was just spectacular - we thoroughly enjoyed everything we did and I'd go back again in a heartbeat

the International Café - especially the breakfast pastries!

Sailing from Southampton - we're from the UK and this was our first time sailing from Southampton

what we didn't love quite so much

the main dining food - I don't eat fish or seafood and it limited my choices somewhat - and the beef I ate in the dining room was not of the quality I was used to on other lines

The entertainment in the theatre … we're not magician/ventriloquist people and we thought the production shows were poor quality and very outdated (again just our opinion and we heard someone saying the party band were awful (we liked them!) but the ventriloquist was wonderful!)

Thank you to everyone who let me know they were reading. I hope this might be of some use to people either sailing on the Sapphire or to Norway.

if there is anything I haven't covered and you'd like to know .. please do ask ...

We'd selected 8.30am -9.00am departure slot and been given 8.40am. I'd thought we'd get out of the room by 8am as requested, grab a last breakfast and be off. Of course we both woke really early, ended up in breakfast by 7am and had an hour to wait before we could disembark …

so we wandered the ship and grabbed some last photos

we headed to the Explorer's lounge at 8.30am and were told almost immediately we could leave. I'd expected some kind of passport check but there wasn't one and we just grabbed our cases and headed outside to collect the car. We were in our car and heading out of the carpark by 8.55am. A smooth drive home had us back in just over 5 hours.

we enjoyed the last night of the proms

then we headed out for one last walk around the ship in the dark

the indoor pool

it had been raining and the wood was shining!

one last slice of pizza and our cruise was just about over :(

we then watched Victoria and Abdul on the MUTS screen

and it amused me to see Paul Burrell the butler to the Princess of Wales watching a film about the royal family! He is in the centre of this shot

he gave a talk on board that afternoon, we didn't go but I did speak to a woman who had enjoyed the talk

they had begun to set up the atrium for the evening entertainment

I think we then went and packed .. I know we had our cases outside as requested prior to dinner.

That evening it began to get dark earlier as we headed further south (and the clocks had gone back the previous night)

we headed to Club Fusion for the family disco and then stayed for the karaoke … although we did hide in a quiet corner!

Our last day was a day at sea.

We headed to the theatre in the morning for the cooking demonstration … it was really interesting and exceeded my expectations, well delivered and informative. But the best bit was we got to visit the galley afterwards!

We entered through the International Dining room .. this was interesting to see as this was the traditional dining room and we hadn't eaten there as we were Anytime.

then we toured the galley that serves three of the dining rooms

we then went back to the theatre to watch the video of the sailing through the fjords that was taken on our Geiranger day. We enjoyed it, but it didn't make us want to pay for a copy of the dvd!

All aboard was 1.30pm and we passed some interesting scenery as we left Bergen and headed back to the UK

heading under this bridge drew a lot of attention

the weather was glorious and people took the opportunity of an afternoon at sea to sunbathe

we walked back through the market and the old town - and I finally got a Norwegian waffle!

I'm afraid I passed on the brown cheese so this was just jam and sour cream!

the last port was Bergen … if you're following @FishinChris you will have seen very similar photos as we did the same thing .. wandered the port! Actually I went looking for a particular store I'd first found in Stockholm as was rewarded by finding a couple of branches and some bargains in the sale!

Anyway, apparently according to just about every internet site, Bergen is the rainiest city in Norway and you can expect around 240 days a year of rain. Well today wasn't one of them! We decided not to go up the Funicular as we'd done two "head up a mountain to see the view" trips already.

everyone says if you want to go up the funicular get there early to avoid queuing. This picture was at 9.47am and you can see the queue is already building up

The weather was glorious, and I think these may be the prettiest McDonalds ever

we wandered around the port area a little bit before getting back on the ship

and we headed back on board … glad we did when we did as the line to board backed up quite a lot as all aboard time approached …

and then we wandered the ship as we sailed back out of the fjord

it looks like we went to 80s trivia that evening in Club Fusion … really enjoyed it but didn't win :(

I think we also had a few drinks!

Great Photos! So many fabulous photo opportunities in Norway.

thank you, they're nowhere near the quality of yours but I do think it must be hard to take a bad picture in Norway!!