Iona aft balconies & deck 16 infinity pool overspill

[claiream3]

Hi all, on several of the Iona social media groups I've joined ahead of my cruise next month there is quite a lot of reports/photos/videos of water cascading over the side of the aft infinity pool trough on deck 16 and rendering some balconies below unusable - those on decks 12/11/10 with the last 3 digits of the cabin number ranging from 739-744 for example. P&O have dished out umbrellas to what look like lower decks underneath..... you're telling me P&O think its acceptable for us to have to sit holding an umbrella while relaxing on our balcony in the sunshine? I've also seen a video on a major video platform from a passenger in what I think is 14739 showing this, on a cruise right now in the Norwegian Fjords. I'm due to be in 14741. It will be our tenth cruise, but our first ever balcony. (Of all the balconies I picked - can you believe it. Granted we booked this cruise before her maiden voyage so we weren't to know this). Plus its the first time we have sailed with a child and part of the reason in booking the balcony was for the extra space outside. Appreciate its only water but there does look a lot of it when it comes over the side. There are few to none options to change as I've been on P&O to do a dummy booking and its more or less a full cruise. Was thinking of calling to voice my concern in advance and request my concern be noted on record on my account in the hope this and the complaints they receive allow them time to come up with a solution, or, do I play completely dumb and complain if it happens when on board and ask to be moved (on a full cruise!) or what?! I've heard of people been given £150 OBC as compensation but I'd just like a dry balcony when its not raining 🙄

Claire

 

[molecrochip]

This originally caught P&O out and was the original video on YouTube.

 

It should only happen if the pool level is kept high and the seas are moderate to rough. To counter this, P&O reduce the level of the water in the pool as this reduces the overspill risk.

 

The new video on YouTube, which appears to have been filmed in Stavanger if I’m correct, is when Iona is in dock. Water level will be higher in port and this seems to be more a case of inconsiderate passengers / too many passengers in the pool at once.

[Windsurfboy]

Whatever the cause it's  unacceptable. 

[grapau27]

5 hours ago, claiream3 said:

Hi all, on several of the Iona social media groups I've joined ahead of my cruise next month there is quite a lot of reports/photos/videos of water cascading over the side of the aft infinity pool trough on deck 16 and rendering some balconies below unusable - those on decks 12/11/10 with the last 3 digits of the cabin number ranging from 739-744 for example. P&O have dished out umbrellas to what look like lower decks underneath..... you're telling me P&O think its acceptable for us to have to sit holding an umbrella while relaxing on our balcony in the sunshine? I've also seen a video on a major video platform from a passenger in what I think is 14739 showing this, on a cruise right now in the Norwegian Fjords. I'm due to be in 14741. It will be our tenth cruise, but our first ever balcony. (Of all the balconies I picked - can you believe it. Granted we booked this cruise before her maiden voyage so we weren't to know this). Plus its the first time we have sailed with a child and part of the reason in booking the balcony was for the extra space outside. Appreciate its only water but there does look a lot of it when it comes over the side. There are few to none options to change as I've been on P&O to do a dummy booking and its more or less a full cruise. Was thinking of calling to voice my concern in advance and request my concern be noted on record on my account in the hope this and the complaints they receive allow them time to come up with a solution, or, do I play completely dumb and complain if it happens when on board and ask to be moved (on a full cruise!) or what?! I've heard of people been given £150 OBC as compensation but I'd just like a dry balcony when its not raining 🙄

Claire

 

Hi Claire.

We were in 14739 on Iona for 14 nights 5th-19th March and when the sea was extremely rough leaving Vigo Spain there was a little overflow of water from the infinity pool on deck 16 but the rest of the time it was fine.

We have booked that cabin again for next year.

14741 is directly under the pool which has an overflow to deck 15 where there is no cabin and might be affected.

Cabins below deck 14 will have views of the sea obscured a little by the large white roof covering the sunset bar on the promenade deck 8.

Graham.

Edited April 21, 2022 by grapau27

[yorkshirephil]

5 hours ago, claiream3 said:

P&O have dished out umbrellas to what look like lower decks underneath..... you're telling me P&O think its acceptable for us to have to sit holding an umbrella while relaxing on our balcony in the sunshine?

 

Surely this is a wind up?

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, yorkshirephil said:

Surely this is a wind up?

I'm sure they must be large golfing umbrellas with a nice P&O logo Phil...😉🤣

[yorkshirephil]

6 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I'm sure they must be large golfing umbrellas with a nice P&O logo Phil...😉🤣

 

[Harryjacobs]

We were in the infinity pool in September and laughed at how the water was sloshing over the back, not realising until somebody appeared on the balcony below that there was actually cabins below the pool!!  Poor buggers had water running onto their balcony and this fella on the balcony was rather angry about it.  I just couldnt believe that they could come up with such a poor pool design!

[west2000]

On 4/21/2022 at 4:44 PM, molecrochip said:

This originally caught P&O out and was the original video on YouTube.

 

It should only happen if the pool level is kept high and the seas are moderate to rough. To counter this, P&O reduce the level of the water in the pool as this reduces the overspill risk.

 

The new video on YouTube, which appears to have been filmed in Stavanger if I’m correct, is when Iona is in dock. Water level will be higher in port and this seems to be more a case of inconsiderate passengers / too many passengers in the pool at once.

Inconsiderate or to many passengers is still a problem P and O need to solve. We sailed at the end of October 21 on deck 9 in one of the aft balcony cabins. Husband stepped onto the balcony to take a photograph whilst in Rotterdam and got soaked. Called guest services who came and looked. Arranged balcony cleaning, the same thing happened the following day. Had friends who cruised over Christmas in deck 10 aft balconies exactly the same problem in fact in a rough Bay of Biscay no problem. Balcony unusable when in port which on a Canaries cruise is pretty poor. The infinity pools need to be staffed as passengers appear to need reminders that there are other guests on the ship. As for the deck 8 aft whirlpools well they have become the kids pools whilst parents are at the sunset bar. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, west2000 said:

Inconsiderate or to many passengers is still a problem P and O need to solve. We sailed at the end of October 21 on deck 9 in one of the aft balcony cabins. Husband stepped onto the balcony to take a photograph whilst in Rotterdam and got soaked. Called guest services who came and looked. Arranged balcony cleaning, the same thing happened the following day. Had friends who cruised over Christmas in deck 10 aft balconies exactly the same problem in fact in a rough Bay of Biscay no problem. Balcony unusable when in port which on a Canaries cruise is pretty poor. The infinity pools need to be staffed as passengers appear to need reminders that there are other guests on the ship. As for the deck 8 aft whirlpools well they have become the kids pools whilst parents are at the sunset bar. 

Surely they need to put some sort of drainage system in to catch the overflow, it must be possible to catch the spillage while maintaining the aesthetic appeal of an infinity pool.

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Surely they need to put some sort of drainage system in to catch the overflow, it must be possible to catch the spillage while maintaining the aesthetic appeal of an infinity pool.

There is a drainage sump on the deck below but it has proved inadequate and is overflowing in certain conditions. A bad design and needs fixing soonest. Basically highten the sump sides. It could be done in a few hours.

[devonuk]

3 hours ago, davecttr said:

There is a drainage sump on the deck below but it has proved inadequate and is overflowing in certain conditions. A bad design and needs fixing soonest. Basically highten the sump sides. It could be done in a few hours.

It’s quite easy to purposely splash the water over the glass guard on to the balconies below as I witnessed 😳

[davecttr]

Simple answer to that, if anyone is caught splashing water over the pool edge onto the cabins below the pool will be closed. Simply a 'gimmick' bad design which only works if a few people NOT DRUNK are in it. 🙄