MyriamS

We really like the Rick Steve's self-guided walks of European cities! Since you're coming all the way from SF, I would say not worry too much about the departure port and just take a flight that has a good timing/price for you, then stay a couple of night pre-cruise. Yes Rome is much further from the port of Civitavecchia than Barcelona is from its cruise port, but the difference seems negligible compared to the rest of your journey.

I think this is just because most of the people on this board are American while most of MSC customers are European. I've always had the feeling that most Americans have more money to spend than Europeans (and statistics seem to agree with me, though measuring these things aren't actually straightforward due to different currencies, purchasing power etc.) but less time for leisure. I work in large companies and my American colleagues say getting 2 weeks paid off a year is pretty good while in Europe I've never gotten fewer than 5 weeks off. So if you work and earn a lot with little time off, or are retired after doing so for a lifetime, it makes sense to spend more to make your holiday extra special. The YC is actually quite reasonably priced for a luxury experience (compared to other cruise lines' suites). I could afford it, but it just doesn't make sense to me to spend so much money for one week where I could use it for a whole month of vacation! Also everyone in this thread talks about Bella, Fantastica etc. experiences. Is this also US specific? When I do mock bookings on MSC Germany, I can choose cruise only or cruise+drink package, then I'm prompted to choose a cabin (from inside to YC). Nothing about "experiences".

Lovely review, thank you. Makes me look forward to my Norwegian cruise on Iona in less than two months now.

When your ship docks near the city centre, I would stop at every port, if only for an hour or two. Most European cities have compact, walkable city centres so you can easily take in some of the sights then come back to the ship as soon as you're tired. When your ship doesn't dock near the centre, then I would consider taking a shore excursion, or skipping the port entirely if there aren't major sights. One example might be Marseille if you don't tender in the Vieux Port. The modern port is really far from the centre, there is a free shuttle organised by the port but it probably is extremely busy. Not really worth the hassle, in my opinion. Marseille is not a touristy city, though it's also part of its charm. It's a real city where real people live, so it's probably interesting for visitors to see. I'm French and found it very normal and not particularly unsafe, though I did not go out at night. Unfortunately August is the worst month for the Med in my opinion (I appreciate you probably had little choice for the dates with children). It's super busy and the weather can be blisteringly hot. If the temperature is above 35Celsius, I wouldn't go anywhere except to the pool/beach.

Mine are still all there (Sept 24).

If you're referring to me, I assure you I was not being provocative. I just assumed self-disembarking passengers would not have much luggage (it would be highly impractical to drag several large suitcases around the ship and terminal, even with lifts!) and disembarking passengers would have almost none (since they left it outside their cabins) so the lifts would not be too crowded. But clearly I am wrong. I'll keep my suggestions to myself in the future.

Now I'm confused because I was told by most people in this thread that I cannot just join a queue to leave the ship. Either I need to self-disembark early, or wait for my normal disembarkation slot (that is assigned to me a couple of days before arrival and that I might not be able to change). Anyway my earlier post were just suggestions of things that could ease the queues for everyone. It makes sense that self-disembarkation starts before normal disembarkation, but I don't see why it has to end before it. You could have both happening at the same time with no congestion if you would split the queues.

Many people in this thread blame the selfish and unruly passengers who do not respect their disembarkation time. However, it does look like P&O could do more to make the disembarkation process more pleasant, which would increase compliance. First, I would have the self-disembarkation and disembarkation happen simultaneously, just in two different lines. For regular disembarkation, take the leftmost line which leads you to the luggage hall to find your suitcases. For self-disembarkation, take the rightmost line which goes through the luggage hall but is roped off. This means that self-disembarking passengers are not blocking regular passengers from finding their items, nor are being blocked by them from exiting the hall asap. Then, ask passengers to opt for regular disembarkation or self-disembarkation, and choose a disembarkation slot in the "app". Regular disembarkation time slots could be 30min long because it takes time for passengers to locate all their luggage. Self-disembarkation slots could pack the same amount of passengers in only 15min, because the only bottlenecks to self-disembarkation is the crew scanning your card. Wishes could be granted in order of loyalty. People who have cruised with P&O for years would have their wishes granted almost always, and be rewarded for their loyalty. People who are new to P&O would still stand a chance to get their preferred disembarkation time, especially if they are willing to self-disembark.

We dress very simply. A weeks worth of clothes takes very little space and, if we're away for more than a week, we book accommodation with laundromats and wash and dry our clothes for a small fee. One pair of sensible walking shoes per person. In the summer, I might slip in a pair of sandals but they hardly take any space. No makeup. No fancy toiletries (my partner has a small tube of hand cream and I have a small bottle of conditioner). My partner also carries a basic medkit. All books on Kindle. No other devices besides our smartphones and chargers except if on working holiday. As mentioned earlier, both our bags fits under a airplane seat, though my partner is a tight squeeze so he uses the overhead bins if there is space left. Formal clothes can be neatly folded, but classy shoes for men take up a lot of space, so we might give formal night a miss because of that. Why anyone would care about my partner's shoes when they will be hidden under the table for 95% of our dinner baffles me, but this seems to be the way on P&O. Anyway, thank you for the advice, everyone. It seems on recent Iona cruises, the self-disembarkation slot was 7:30-8:15, so we will plan with that in mind.

Hi everyone, I read that Olive Grove must now be booked onboard Iona. What are our chances to secure a spot for lunch or dinner on the second day of our cruise (it is a sea day and celebration night)? We don't have loyalty with P&O so are expecting to be some of the last people to board the ship.

Hmm why? Did the staff suspect these passengers to be trying to "sneak in" early in the luggage hall by joining the self-disembarkation queue? If so, I hope we won't be held back because it looks like we don't have enough luggage. We really have nothing more than 1 backpack each, as hard as it seems to believe for some people (last time we flew to the US, the check-in agent seemed flabbergasted by our lack of suitcases).

I have to disagree with you there. When you build a cruise ship the size of Iona, then you need to be able to manage a very large number of people getting on your ship, off your ship, and everything in between (meals, shows etc.) If self-disembarkation is very popular on Iona and it results in a huge stampede of people at 7:30 am, it's very much on the cruise line for telling everyone they could all leave the ship at that time, and not on the passengers. We definitely won't have any luggage to leave at our door, so normal disembarkation and self-disembarkation are the exact same process for us. The only difference is the time. Do they ask passengers for their preferences regarding disembarkation time (of course you're not guaranteed to get your preferred slot, but would be nice of them to ask), or is it all automatically allocated?

@EM35 Yes, I'm indeed on Iona! I should have specified that in the first post. We definitely won't be taking a taxi to the station. The distance is what I walk to get to work, so a very easy distance for me. As said in the original post, our amount of luggage truly is minimal. I have a small backpack and my boyfriend has a slightly larger one, but it still fits under the seat of an airplane. We won't be clogging the corridors with that! I have to admit, I found it quite funny when one post said "Disembarkation is a complex choreography, you have to do what P&O tells you" then the next one "People did what P&O told them (self-disembark at 7.30am) and that created huge chaos". Not blaming any of you for your advice, just reflecting that P&O does not seem to be managing this optimally! Anyway, it seems a 9.30am train is absolutely doable (baring exceptional circumstances, like the ship being 2 hours late). I would wait and see what regular disembarkation slot we are allocated (I suppose we won't get any say in it?) and, if it is too late for our train, just go for the latest possible self-disembarkation slot.

Thanks for your feedback, but I'm bit confused about the "wait for regular disembarkation". Why would I need to wait? I always thought they staggered disembarkation times because people have luggage, sometimes a lot of it, so they don't want everyone to try and grab their suitcases at the same time. But my luggage is with me, so I can just... walk off the ship at basically any time and not be in anyone's way, right?

We will be arriving back in Southampton from our Norway cruise on Saturday 29th June. P&O is not telling us the arrival time, but travel agent websites says 7am. Is there any way to check this? Assuming 7am is correct, I've read that it is possible to self-disembark from 7.30am onwards. Also that one needs to vacate their cabin as early as 8am. If true, we could leave our cabin at 8am, go for a quick buffet breakfast, self-disembark, and walk to Southampton station in plenty of time for the 9:30 service to London. We travel very very light so carrying our own bags off the ship and to the train station is no problem at all for us. Does this plan seem realistic? I understand that due to weather or other impossible to foresee circumstances, the ship might be several hours late. However, I see no off-peak train fares for Southampton to London and anytime fares are outrageously expensive. So we have to gamble with an Advance ticket. We could go later (our flight's not until 6pm, so we won't miss it either way) but I'd much rather do my waiting in central London rather than Southampton.