TigerB

Do you think asking our cabin steward for a rack of the containers containing all the accompaniments would be seen as taking the proverbial?🤭

Looks like I'll be getting a plate full each time; our lass likes two good slices in her drinks, then she eats the slices, and has to have fresh ones for the next one. I suppose while I'm there I'll grab a load of mint to make mojitos! 🤭

Bit of a pain though, trekking to a bar then back to the cabin. Mind you, it'll burn off extra calories 😉

You are very welcome.🙂 They don't publish the actual dimensions, but they do have them to hand. When we booked our PF cabin for January, we did so when the cruise was first released. When we later received the email about the cabins being reclassified, I called to assess our options. I asked for, and was given the dimensions, including between the bed and walls or fixed furniture, for our cabin and an outside cabin. It was then that I was satisfied that the PF cabin would be suitable. In the notes on the deck plans, they now say that the partially accessible cabins are only suitable for non-motorised upright mobility devices, and not wheelchairs or scooters. That is misleading and is possibly taken as gospel by some TAs, hence the poor advice you were initially given. They are certainly not suitable for scooters or most large power chairs, but are suitable for my wife's travel chair and, from what you describe, yours too. I think the wording in those notes should be changed to reflect that.

Welcome to the boards, Deltech👋 From what you have written about your alcohol consumption, I don't think the drinks packages are for you. Follow the advice of others and take your allocation of spirits onboard with you at the start, and as much soft drink as you think you need. Ask you cabin steward to brink you ice every day before they knock off; usually about 13:00. You can then have your pre-dinner drinks in your cabin, or a nightcap, whatever you prefer. If you or your wife would like a slice of lemon or lime in your cabin drinks, take one or two onboard and keep in your fridge. Don't do as this fool did though, and put a knife with a 10cm serrated blade in your checked luggage.🤭 On Arvia there are water bottle filling stations on all public decks. It is filtered, and I don't think it tastes like water straight from the tap. You can be the judge. For your wife, for most wines but not all, you can purchase a 175ml glass, a 250ml glass, or a bottle. If you buy the small glass each time, it it work out a little more expensive pro-rata than buying a bottle. If you bought three separate 250ml glasses, it generally works out a few pence cheaper than buying a bottle. For you, they serve spirits in 25ml measures, and both prices are shown on the drinks menu; however, unless you ask for a single, they always serve a double. If you ask for a rum and coke on Arvia, you will get Coca Cola and be charged for a can, which is at least £2.20, possibly more now. If you don't mind Pepsi, then ask for a splash; it comes from the post-mix pump and is a fraction of the price; it used to be 95p for a splash, but bar prices have recently gone up. If you don't mind a lime and soda now and again, that will currently cost you £2.05 for a large one, that being in a pint glass.

@Selbourne & @purplesea I haven't forgotten about those things I was going to do for you. I was flaked out yesterday after getting home, and we've had the kids over today, and I've had washing to do. Once I've finished our lass's list of post-holiday chores, I'll get on to it.🙂

Incidentally, is your TA offering you anything extra, such as free coach travel or a little bit of discount? If not, you may be as well going through P&O direct. You will know that you cannot book online, you have to call. When you do call, have all your ducks in a row, and be firm on what you want. Be clear that you believe you will be able to manage with a partially accessible cabin. If you need any further advice about any aspect of cruising with P&O, not just with the accessible cabins, just post. Many folk on here have been cruising for many years and there is a wealth of experience between all contributors. Granted, a very small percentage may come across as having an agenda, be it very pro or very anti P&O or a particular ship, but in the replies you receive, taken as a whole, you should be able to get a balanced overview, and answers to your queries. Good luck with your trip planning.🙂

It's regrettable that you have had a poor experience with the cabins on Iona, and the cabins and facilities on Britannia. I would agree with you that Britannia is not perfect, and a full time wheelchair user would have difficulties with the doors if travelling alone, and that all outside areas are not wholly accessible. We've only travelled in a balcony cabin on Britannia, twice in the same grade, so I cannot comment on the inside cabins. Our cabin was no different to many accessible hotel rooms we have stayed in, a lot of which do not have automatic doors; I am able to assist my wife by operating the manual doors in the cabin and around the ship. I would say that, although not perfect, P&O have come on in leaps and bounds with the disabled facilities and accessibility on Iona and Arvia for wheelchair users. Almost all doors, and certainly the ones for access the decks, are automatic, as are the doors for all public toilets. I concede though that the latter may be a by-product of the desire to make the doors for toilets touch free from a hygiene perspective. The automatic doors for the cabin and bathroom are, in my opinion, a good idea for wheelchair users, as are the automatic balcony doors. The moveable sinks and support bars are also a good feature. The accessible inside cabins on Iona and Arvia were reclassified because of customer feedback, in that they are not suitable for large wheelchairs and mobility scooters due to the space and small turning circles. My wife's power chair that she uses at home would fit through the cabin and bathroom door, but she would not be able to move freely about the cabin and bathroom in it. I accept your point that you have difficulty with your rollator, and maybe the dimensions of it and you together take up more floor space than my wife's travel wheelchair, but she has not had problems with manoeuvrability in the two inside cabins we have been in on Arvia. The toggle switch for the main door is far enough back that she can operate it without interfering with the operation of the door, then boule straight out of the cabin. Granted though, that opening the bathroom door requires a little more forethought; she would activate it by pressing on the toggle switch at the side of it, but the door does not open fully straightaway because it hits the front of her chair; however, when she moves back in her chair the door continues in its opening motion, without further hindrance. That is the same for the balcony and inside cabins we have been in. I would not agree with your description of the inside accessible cabins on Iona being 'very small'. The PF cabin 9229 we had on Arvia, identical to the one Beezes80 is looking at for Iona, had maximum dimensions of 4.9m x 3.76m for the bedroom, and 2.37m x 2m for the bathroom, a space of 121cm between the foot of the bed and the wardrobe, a space of 66.5cm on my side of the bed, and a space of 80.5cm on my wife's side of the bed. We have been in European accessible rooms smaller than that. Again, I'm sorry that you've had a problem, and that you feel you can no longer travel with P&O but, given that Beezes80's chair has similar dimensions to my wife's travel chair, and that they can walk a little way, and that they will have a companion with them, I really do think they will be fine with the partially-accessible inside cabins on Iona and Arvia.

Again, poor advice from your TA. It's down to personal choice, but there can be a huge difference between the saver rate and select rate, often with not much benefit in going with the latter. In April we saw a fantastic price for two week Med cruise on Arvia, leaving a week later. There were just five inside cabins left, with three of them being PC grade, all at £649 each. I told the advisor which one we preferred (15322), with the knowledge that we would be given what we were given. She asked if I wanted to pay almost £1000 for the two of us, for the select fare, so we could choose our preferred cabin. "No, thank you". Two hours later, the email arrived with our cabin allocation. Stick to your guns. If you are still having problems with your TA, perhaps go directly to P&O.

@Beezes80 These are the photos of cabin 9229 on Arvia:

@Beezes80 It sounds like you have been doing a fair bit of research already, so I may be repeating information you already have; hopefully, the below will be of some help for you. Iona Inside Accessible Cabins: There are three grades across twenty cabins: PB, PC, and PF, and they are about the same, square footage wise, but perhaps differently shaped. PB grades: 10327 and 10331; these are in a mid-forward location and close to the forward lifts, and a little bit farther the other way to the launderette. PC grades: 16326, 16327, 16330, and 16331; these are in a mid-forward location and close to the forward lifts, and the same distance again to the launderette at the front on the starboard side. I thought these would suffer with noise from the Sky Dome; however, when I spoke to an occupant of one of them on our last Arvia cruise, she told me they don't. In the cabin corridors of deck 16 though, you do suffer a little bit with the slight smell of cigarettes, migrating from deck 18. 16330 is adjacent to the back area of Taste 360, and 16331 is adjacent to the back area of the Laguna bar; however, I don't think they will be impacted much by noise from those crew areas. 15322, 15323, 15326, and 15327; these are in a mid-forward location and close to the forward lifts. The ones on the starboard side have a straight run to the laundrette, but for the ones on the port side it is a little more convoluted. That said, the launderette on deck 15 is small; two washers, two driers, and one ironing board, and that is to serve a full accommodation deck. I would bob up the nearby stairs to deck 16 and use that launderette; it has four of each of the washers and driers, and two ironing boards. That may be one for your travelling companion; you would have to use the lifts which, at that end of the ship are sometimes busy with smokers going to and from deck 18 or folk going to or from the buffet; some of them may be able to, but don't know how to use the stairs to go up or down just three or four decks. 9326, 9327, 9330, and 9331; these cabins are only on Iona and are in a mid-forward location and close to the forward lifts. Just like the ones on deck 15, the ones on the starboard side have a straight run to the laundrette, but for the ones on the port side it is a little more convoluted. That launderette though is bigger than the one on deck 15. 8327 and 8331; these cabins are in a mid-forward location and close to the forward lifts. One reason to avoid these cabins is that there is no launderette on deck 8. Another reason, and the most significant, is that they are directly above Brodies; consequently they will suffer badly with noise all night and into the wee small hours. PF grades: 9222, 9223, 9228, and 9229; these cabins are in a forward location and close to the forward lifts, but a fair distance from the launderette. Arvia Inside Accessible Cabins: There are five grades across twenty cabins: PB, PC, PD, PE and PF, and they are about the same, square footage wise, but perhaps differently shaped. PB grades: 10327 and 10331; these are exactly the same as those on Iona, with the same benefits, and suffer, where applicable, the same problems. PC grades: 16326, 16327, 16330, and 16331; these are exactly the same as those on Iona, with the same benefits, and suffer, where applicable, the same problems. 15322, 15323, 15326, and 15327; these are exactly the same as those on Iona, with the same benefits, and suffer, where applicable, the same problems. 8327 and 8331; these are exactly the same as those on Iona, with the same benefits, and suffer, where applicable, the same problems. PD grades: 11743, 11744, and 12742; these are unique to Arvia and are in an aft location, and close to the forward lifts, but a fair distance from the launderette. PE grades: 9743 and 9748; these are unique to Arvia and are in an aft location, and close to the forward lifts, but a fair distance from the launderette. PF grades: 9222, 9223, 9228, and 9229; these are exactly the same as those on Iona, with the same benefits, and suffer, where applicable, the same problems. -------------------------- To give you some perspective as to how we managed: My wife is a full time wheelchair user, but can, if necessary, and dependent on whether she is having a good or poor day, walk up to about twenty feet with sticks, and furniture walk a short distance. Ordinarily, she can transfer independently from her chair to a bed, but the beds in the Arvia and Iona accessible cabins are 60cm high, so she needs my assistance for that. Her travelling power chair is 62cm wide and, with the footrest down, 82cm long. It has lithium batteries and folds easily in one operation, but it remains upright in the cabin. In both the inside cabins we have been in on Arvia, she has no problem whatsoever using it in the bedroom area or the bathroom. As I have already written, the inside cabins are all pretty much the same size, and the bathrooms are the same, regardless of the cabin type. In the bathrooms, the sink and safety bar next to the tpoilet are height adjustable. I will post more photos of 9229 shortly; I won't do so for 15322 as I haven't yet transferred them to my laptop, and the cabin is almost identical to 9229 anyway. One thing of note for those photos; the bed is a queen. If you have the twin bed configuration, the space at the side of the beds will be different; that could mean that the space on the side of the bed that you usually transfer to may not be sufficient for you. Don't let that put you off though; if you are not happy, your cabin steward can adjust them to suit. If you don't already know, the main doors and bathroom doors are automatic, and the toggle controls for them easy to use. You just need to make sure you have nothing obstructing the sensors. When leaving your cabin, there is a pause of about five seconds before your door closes; you need to make sure you are near to the corridor wall opposite, so as not to interfere with the sensor, which will prevent it from closing. As I've previously written, on Arvia in January, we stayed in 9229 for just one night. Had we not been upgraded to a balcony cabin, it would have been ideal for my wife. In April on Arvia, we spent two weeks in 15322; again, it was absolutely perfect. It was very dark and quiet of a night time, and we both slept soundly. The best thing about that cabin, and it is the same for 15323, was that we only had a neighbour on one side; both cabins are in a corner location, where there is a dog-leg to the corridor. Another benefit of that is that you have much more space to manoeuvre when you approach the cabin door. A possible downside is that your cabin steward may park their cart against the wall nearest to your door; this will interfere with the door sensor and prevent it from closing if it is opened. A quick word to our cabin steward and it never happened again. In an earlier post, Selbourne mentioned about the potential pitfalls of being upgraded. On that matter I will say this: Almost all the accessible inside cabins on Iona or Arvia would be fine for us, including the ones on deck 16. The deal breaker would be the two on deck 8, above Brodies. If you book a saver rate in the PF grade on both ships, or PE and PD grades on Arvia, you run the risk of getting one of those two deck 8 cabins, regardless of whether or not you put in an upgrade request. Similarly, if you book a saver rate in a PC grade on either ship, you also run the risk of getting either of those cabins. The only way to guarantee not getting either of those cabins, is to book a PB grade. That said, if you are upgraded to a higher grade, it may not necessarily be to the same cabin type and of a higher grade; you could be lucky and get an outside or balcony. As they say, you pay your money, you take your chance. One thing you must be clear of, and it is something that Selbourne has already written, is that the advice you have been given by your TA is incorrect. You can have an partially-accessible inside cabin on a saver rate. From what you have already written about your situation, depending on your bed configuration, the partially accessible cabins will be fine for you. Finally; if, when speaking on the phone to a travel agent or somebody from P&O, make sure you tell them that a partially accessible inside cabin will be fine for you. If they tell you otherwise, tell them that TigerB says they are talking out of their backside.😉

Don't go by the deck plans, they are not to scale. The kids have just descended, so I'll post later

@Beezes80 One more thing, are you travelling alone or with a companion, and if so, are they able bodied?

Lovely kitty! 🥰 To be clear, is it Iona you are looking at? We've only had physical experience of the accessible inside cabins on Arvia; however, they are exactly the same apart from a couple of differences between the ships on a couple of decks. Please confirm and I'll respond shortly

Beezes80, I've just come across your posts on this thread, and was about to search for my old post where I include dimensions for 9229, one of the cabins you are looking at. So, many thanks to Gettingwarmer for beating me to it. We were only in 9229 for one night, as we were upgraded to a balcony; it was absolutely fine, though. More recently, we spent two weeks in 15322, a PC grade on Arvia; it was exactly the same same size as 9229. To give you even more reassurance, the accessible bathrooms are the same same in all the cabins, be it an inside, outside or balcony. Incidentally, what are the dimensions of your wheelchair?

We've just returned from a seven day cruise on Iona. As well as shorts and t-shirts for me, linens and t-shirts for our lass, we packed a hoody for me and a cardi for her for evenings on deck and going ashore, and a summer jacket each; in anticipation of wet weather, we packed foldable brollies, proper waterproof jackets for both of us, and a pair of cagoules or, as my late mother would call them, goulies. The reality: When ashore and on the deck at all times of the day, I wore shorts and a t-shirt or short sleeved shirt, and our lass wore linens and a t-shirt. When dining, I like to wear a light sports jacket over a plain t-shirt; I wore the former just once, wearing smart short sleeved shirts the rest of the time. Our DC did say though that, in the seven weeks he has been cruising the Fjords this season, our week was by far the best for the weather.

Another example of P&O not knowing their left from their right.🙄

Yes, indeed! I personally have have the following: Post effects of Covid No butane (twice) H&S Coming back, but staff need training And now....tables too close together On Friday night it was just one lad that was making the crêpes and carving the ham all night, and that was in the middle of the restaurant.

I cannot wait for the next one excuse, when we on one of the two big ships again.🙄

No, we didn't and, as far as I can remember, no, they didn't. When I was talking with the head honcho in Shore Experiences last Saturday though, I asked him. He said it was due to time constraints and not being the optimum time to view for the guests. I can only summise that the latter comment was perhaps something to do with arriving at the waterfall when the dinner service is supposed to be in full swing; therefore, being more of a hinderence to the company than a less than perfect sightseeing opportunity for the guests. I also suspect that it would also make for a later arrival in Haugesund, and so have a knock on effect for the taking on of fuel; again, more for the benefit of the company than the guests.

You are forgetting his right-hand man, and thoroughly decent chap and all-round good egg, Deputy Captain Chris.😉

Interesting! As were we, and it was more like 50% I'm just being meddlesome; I really don't know as I didn't have my abacus with me, but it appeared to be much more than a quarter, in my opinion.

Generally, I would agree with you, more so for the speciality restaurants, but we really don't like being on a two-seater in the MDR when it is just a couple of inches from the next one. In Epicurean, we were told by our waiter that the reason they no longer prepare dishes or flambé at the table, and why, after the restart of it, they do so in the middle of the restaurant, is because, post-covid, the tables are closer together.

We also called the reservations line and managed to get a table in Olive Grove for Thursday, when it was also shown as full on the app. Did you notice Pat that, after calling the reservations line, it didn't show up on your bookings on the app? When we checked-in at the desk at 20:05, the couple ahead of us were advised by the restaurant host that they had a theatre booking at half-past. So, it is likely that their Olive Grove reservation also didn't show up on the app, otherwise a clash alert would have prevented the booking.

Of the two, I think that is my favourite menu. I really like the halibut but, if you are the only one having it, it is hit and miss whether the chef allows it to go out as a single serving. If not, I can always fall back to the black cod, which is also very delicious.