Froxfield

Well, we did MDR for the first Celebration night on an Iona two week cruise. The food was the least inspiring we saw all fortnight and we were rushed through in under an hour! To be fair this may have been the fault of the couple sat next to us who had clearly been at the same table all cruise and encouraged the staff to speed up service, as they proudly announced! We then tried the "Chef's Table" for the second formal night. The food was much better and the service a nice pace: plus we got a visit from Ollie Smith. We will be trying to stick to the "canteen" approach for both formal nights on our upcoming Arvia cruise: it takes all sorts? I am reluctant to post this view as I don't want to fill the place up!!

For me it is good to hear that people are not flocking to the American Diner or Olive Grove (particularly the latter) in preference to MDR. This would mean more room for us! Frankly we did not use the MDR much at all on Iona, although we liked Aqua as a place.The Olive Grove seemed to be the big success on Iona as it always seemed over subscribed. I suspect that may be why P&O sought more space. Similarly the diner part of Quays was popular ( less so with me as it was only fried chicken and burgers!) and must have led designers to think there would be demand. Best laid plans and all.

I am looking forward to trying the American Diner on Arvia! But then I ate every other day for over five years at the Starlite Diner in Moscow, so I probably have an addiction. On Iona in November, I found that careful planning and early use of the meal booking app avoided the problems of waiting for dining slots. Given the overall price of the cruise, we were happy to pay moderate upcharges for speciality dining and hardly patronised the two big MDRs at all. Looks like the Xmas meal over-rode all the pre-booking opportunities and didn't work too well?

On our cruise, ending last Saturday, Iona was only full of dubious people if you think that people from north of Birmingham are dubious. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, I don't!!

Perhaps black tie is a bit over the top for the venue but they do make a bit of an effort with table cloths etc. In point of fact we didn't see anyone wandering past in shots and flip flops to get hamburger and chips!

For reference, the food MAY come from the main galley but it is not the same. Many of the dishes are actually different: in some cases not available in the MDR and in some served with variations. But, as I said earlier, I am happy if people choose to avoid and leave room for me!!!

The MDR menu on Celebration nights last week DID include the regular staples such as grilled salmon and the 6oz surloin! We went to the Coral restaurant for the Celebration night on the first week of our cruise and it was our least successful dining experience of the whole cruise. The menu was uninspired to say the least and the service too rushed: we were through the meal and out of the restaurant in under an hour!!! As a result we booked the Chef's Table for the Black and White night. A much better menu than that available downstairs and more relaxed! And we got a visit from Olly Smith. But I don't want to encourage competition for the Chef's Table from the naysayers: leave it to those who like it!

Frankly, from my perspective, 3 out of 5 is very unfair to Iona. It seems to be driven by traditional P&Oers who prefer the old style P&O. We have in the past been put off P&O bye the older ships and went back to try the new style. And like it a lot!! In the past P&O featured silver service in the dining rooms, which seemed to us to include piles of over cooked veg! That's long gone. But our last experience on a freezing cold, not fit for purpose, Oriana finished us. Although we had one or two good, and enjoyable cruises, we found that Cunard offered a better alternative for the traditional British cruise product. Of course, the clickbait title of the CC email is a PR puff, to be taken with a pinch of salt. Most CC emails come under the same heading! A cruise ship experience is only as good as the last cruise and we are on Iona from this Saturday to see if we still love it. For example, non availability of speciality restaurants such as Epicurean would make a big dent in our enjoyment!

Trying to reduce the amount of FCC out there might be cash flow management? Does anyone have any idea of the contingent liability of future cruise value being run by the cruise lines as a result of covid. Bookings with FCC reduce current cash flow I would guess?

I guess I am in the minority here. Having decided to quit P&O after a miserable cruise on Oriana due to cold: ship not fit for purpose! We tried Iona this May and loved the ship and its multiple dining options. Maybe it wasn't full, but we are going again in November and will see if an increased passenger load changes the experience. Frankly, we found we enjoyed this bigger ship far more than previous P&O cruises on Arcadia and Oriana. Maybe a few touches have gone missing, but nothing we miss particularly.

I always understood that masks did not offer that much protection to the wearer. If anything they help to prevent the spread of virus from those already infected. I sincerely hope you are not seriously ill as a result of your infection.

Thinking much the same. Is it worth paying the balance for a cruise whilst this uncertainty exists?At least we are not travelling until November so I have a few weeks to watch this space.

Agreed with all the above! And perhaps regretting having booked for November. We will have to see how things develop. Of course, supply chain issues may relate to prices for ingredients going up quite sharply?

There has been a lot of talk about changed ports of call in Norway but, frankly, non-availability of alternative dining venues would be more of a problem for us. I hope that current cruisers can supply more information in the near future!

Freedom in the sense that the choice is ours whether or not to play the virtual queue game andd to have alternatives to the MDRs. Whatever, we are quite happy to book ahead: even if only a day or two. We also dine early. Certainly we found the current arrangements on Iona satisfactory and we had plenty of choice. Takes all sorts!

Will they be cover charge venues: Olive Grove isn't on Iona. Nor did we join a virtual queue for Olive Grove: it could be booked in the app once on board. As long time Disneyworld guests we are accustomed to booking dining in advance rather than deciding on the day! In fact we made no use of virtual queues for dining at all. I suppose it depends what you think the concept of freedom dining means?

I go with those who preferred the smaller venues: and Aqua over Opal! Pearl was suitably glitzy for Celebration night. All the food we had was OK: good value for the price paid! Frankly we chose to use alternative venues a lot and when we go again on Iona (which we will) we may do less MDR. It is interesting to see that on Arvia the two smaller MDRs have been allocated to additional alternative dining. So perhaps MDRs are proving less popular than P&O estimated. We like the Quays and it may be that the burger option proved so successful that they now have a bigger American Diner option on Arvia? It isn't all about profit as many of the alternative venues are included or only carry a very small upcharge.

We went on Iona in May, concerned about being on so large a ship. I can say no more than that we have now booked another Iona for November and one on Arvia next spring. We were impressed with Iona! Now some of the entertainment was pretty average and not at all to our taste: but for us that is normal on a cruise ship. The choice for dining gives it the edge for us over the smaller ships. We would not go back to any of P&O's smaller ships. As others have written, everyone has different opinions. But for us, Iona was excellent value for money. Having vowed never to sail with P&O again following an awful experience on Oriana with perishing cold on board for a northern lights cruise, we are now back. How cold? Well people were wearing overcoats and boots in Andersons and we wore sweaters in bed!! Having liked Oriana before, we were relieved to see her go!

This just goes to show how impressions vary! We were on the same cruise and delighted with the quality and variety of food available: we went with the intention of trying the alternative restaurants and were well pleased with Olive Garden, Sindhu and Epicurean. On the occasions we tried it the main dining in Acqua, Coral and Opal was of a good standard. Bingo is not our thing and acrobats etc don't appeal: so no Skydome for us although I agree the acoustics did seem to be a problem. We saw one Headliners show which was pretty average, but in line with what we have seen on other cruise lines. Only Disney Cruise lIne provides truly top quality theatre shows, but you have to like Disney songs and film stories!! The headline performer Neil Lockwood was outstanding and exceeded expectations as did the resident theatre band. Frankly, we were reluctant to travel on so big a ship but overall thought that Iona represented a step up from our previous P&O experiences and we did not hesitate to book for Arvia. We appreciate it is more like staying in a resort hotel than being on a ship but actually quite enjoyed the experience for what it was. Clearly it depends what you choose to sample on a cruise and I have no doubt that Iona has divided opinions. It will not suit many traditional P&O cruisers and I hope that other ships in the fleet can continue to offer what they want. I would also add that the lack of masks was a bit of a blessed relief after all the restrictions and did not concern us: fully vaccinated and having had (very) mild Covid a couple of months before the cruise. Finally the centre of Alesund is only walking distance from the ship: it is what it is, although the architecture is interesting. Haugesund is something else: a long exposed walk to town (reportedly of little interest). We chose to remain on board once we saw the weather and treat it as a sea day!

We were on the 14 May cruise on Iona and were fortunate to get one beautiful sunny day in Olden! But it was of limited interest as a place: the main attraction being the Norwegian national day parade. We have previously been to Geiranger and, frankly, there wasn't much there either. Perhaps I am immune to the beauties of nature but, at the risk of being flamed, I am rather of the view that "see one fjord you've seen them all". And I certainly would find it hard to get wound up about the difference between Hellesylt and Geiranger. The overall impact of majestic nature can be found everywhere in the fjords. I feel much the same about waterfalls. Indeed, on our Geiranger cruise the waterfalls were dry! Can I suggest that many "new to P&O" or "new to cruising" might feel the same? We had real trepidation about getting on something as big as Iona and acknowledge that so large a vessel can have problems accessing destinations. However, we were delighted with the ship. I think it provided possibly the best food we have had on P&O and a great overall experience. It seemed to us that there was a somewhat younger and more diverse group of passengers, so perhaps Iona is working for P&O. We had previously vowed never to cruise with P&O again after a horrible experience on Oriana to Norway: we don't expect to have to sleep in layers of pullovers on a cruise ship!! We had no hesitation in booking a cruise on Arvia for 2023. I am sure ships of this size is the way the market is moving: leaving smaller ships to the more premium lines.