jon01

Near gale force winds and rain for the Hellesylt area, but better weather further south forecast for the Flåm area on Wed 22nd June ms Rotterdam is due in Geiranger on 22 June, it will be interesting to see what happens to her

It wouldn't be worth it for such a short stop now, most of the excursions wouldn't operate anyway with the ship so late Such a shame as the weather is going to be nice on Monday in Stavanger

I calculated a 13:30 arrival local time, departure time is 17:00, hardly time for an excursion Iona has head winds for some of the journey so it won't reach maximum speed 635 miles to Stavanger, at full speed (21 knots) it would take around 30-31 hours At an average of 19 knots this journey would take around 34 hours plus a bit extra for weaving around traffic

Somebody mentioned that it was due to the refuelling process that takes place on the starboard side, but when in Haugesund I noticed that Iona was fuelled up with a ship on the port side!

Crazy that a huge airliner can land and depart at Heathrow on a narrow strip of tarmac in winds gusting 60mph and P&O's new megaship can't depart their home, sheltered port of Southampton in winds gusting 35mph with the aid of some tugs With Arvia coming soon, they are going to double the issues they are having with these huge ships in windy conditions

The ever fated Iona has a big delay on departure to the Fjords on Sat 18 June Now departing at around 2.00am Sunday That will mean a half day in Stavanger at best Reason given as strong winds from an unusual direction in Southampton

The TV is useful for checking the ship's position, the bow camera, on board spend, the news and the weather forecast.

I was on this cruise and I agree with most of your remarks It was surprising at the number of children on board during a school week for most, they were everywhere, in the pools and hot tubs and running across the dance floor The buffet choice was poor and they were running out of food, cups etc a lot of the time. Some of the food was under-cooked, but we always found a table. Never saw a wine waiter in the buffet! Service in the MDR was generally good, with plenty of choice. Booking on the website was easy You did get the impression that they were understaffed in most departments, but this is understandable The theatre still has reduced capacity and you need to book, it was annoying with people still coming in and disturbing those who were seated, well into the shows. Masks not required now Grab and go still closed It was an eventful cruise, with two medical evacuations, including one by helicopter on 5th June, but at least we kept to time One annoying thing was the announcement one night at midnight in the cabins waking us up requesting staff to attend to an incident, but none of the bridge announcements of interest were heard in the cabins during the day, unless you ran outside the cabin into the corridor! The television in the room was adequate, with plenty of sport and news channels, plus a special event channel, so we got to see the Jubilee Concert! There is no signal in some of the Fjords though, which is understandable Iona is big, but easy to find places generally and never seemed crowded, except the pools and areas around them were packed on sunny days Couldn't complain about the weather, we were lucky with two blue sky days in the Fjords, which looked stunning!

You need to register an account now to see the Stavanger webcam: https://www.aftenbladet.no/trafikk/i/mqEEp/webkameraer (You may need to translate the webpage to English to understand it!)

Good to see that Iona made it into Stavanger this week after the cancellation last week. Two ships in port today, you can just see Silver Whisper top right Not very warm there, max temp 11 C

A live camera has been set up to see Iona at Hellesylt: Wider live view:

I am new to cruising, done just a few and never experienced port cancellations or alterations I am due in Geiranger with Iona in a couple of weeks with excursions booked. Do we expect P&O to contact customers with this change of port, or do they wait until you are on board as they fear announcing it before departure they will get a load of cancellations with customers moving to other cruise lines? Am I right in thinking that the original itinerary was to call at Hellesylt briefly in the morning to drop off and then move to Geiranger? So technically this is a cancelled port situation? As I have lost an excursion and a port call has been altered/cancelled, do I have the right to an insurance claim? I know I can cancel the booked excursion in advance I now feel that I will be spending half of the holiday on the ships website checking things, booking dining, shows etc and grabbing a nice excursion from Hellesylt before they sell out The roads around the port at Hellesylt don't look suitable for coaches, maybe only minibuses and there is no road between Hellesylt and Geiranger, so I'm sure our trip from the latter to the viewing spots and Fjord Centre will be cancelled If only P&O had thought about this in advance and had a nice small/medium sized ship built for small ports and with less height to help in strong winds, rather than build two monsters to keep up with modern trends!

Entertainment booking is now open for the Iona cruise on 4th June, 8.30pm shows are filling up fast!