Iona no show for Geiranger

[Ardennais]

2 minutes ago, vitrocmax said:

We were told that we would have a cruise by the Seven Sisters, but one of the trips on offer is to go past the Seven Sisters! 

Is that all they’re offering? I would be STILL wondering what to do to be honest. They’re all quite expensive. 

[vitrocmax]

The sea appears to be calm at the moment, it didn’t look bad this morning as we approached Stavanger. I was waiting for a phone signal to get on the internet but we never got close enough so I’ve paid £20 for 24 hours, less time for sleeping and meals makes it quite expensive, I hope we make it in to Olden. 

[vitrocmax]

9 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Is that all they’re offering? I would be STILL wondering what to do to be honest. They’re all quite expensive. 

I was hoping for lower prices for the fjord cruises based on the fact we should have been going there and can’t, rather than £65 for 2 hours. There’s 11 ‘shore experiences’ in total, many are sold out already. Mount Dalsnibba is £90, but I can’t remember how much it was from Geiranger. 

[vitrocmax]

10 hours ago, thornegirl said:

I'm relieved its not a tender port but my problem now is how to get to Geiranger for the rib safari!  Geiranger was one of the two highlights of this cruise

They are still running the RIB experience, but from Hellesylt. 

[Britboys]

40 minutes ago, vitrocmax said:

I was hoping for lower prices for the fjord cruises based on the fact we should have been going there and can’t, rather than £65 for 2 hours. There’s 11 ‘shore experiences’ in total, many are sold out already. Mount Dalsnibba is £90, but I can’t remember how much it was from Geiranger. 

And when you are moored at Geiranger all day, you can do a trip up to Mt Dalsnibba through the local Tourist Office, which is considerably cheaper...

[kruzseeka]

17 minutes ago, Britboys said:

And when you are moored at Geiranger all day, you can do a trip up to Mt Dalsnibba through the local Tourist Office, which is considerably cheaper...

Also the Hop on Hop off bus which takes you to the viewpoint above Geiranger (not as high up as  Dalsnibba though), allows you to get off to walk to Westeras Cafe for coffee and waffles, resume the bus trip to the Fjord Centre then walk down the walkway by the side of the tumbling  river.  Spectacular!  It's  a great, varied way to spend your time for the cost of the Ho Ho @ approx £30 p.p.  There wouldn't be time to do that with the transfer - and it would cost almost twice as much just to get there!  Such a shame.  

[thornegirl]

10 hours ago, vitrocmax said:

They are still running the RIB experience, but from Hellesylt. 

That's very expensive, we paid £49 per adult and £32 per child with Geiranger Fjord . They have refunded for our booking made with them. There is another company called Bonseye AS based in Hellesylt and their charges are the same as Geiranger Fjord but on their booking calendar they are booked up for every Wednesday. Same day as Iona is in port!  P&O have known that they won't be docking in Geiranger to have block booked the Bonseye rib trips.

  

[Fionboard]

14 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Iona has Azipods too.  Picture below from Meyer Werft during install on Iona.

 

 

Thought so!

[thornegirl]

15 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Iona is the biggest ship to ever be scheduled to call at the SeaWalk.

 

Unusually with the SeaWalk, the ship is at anchor rather than tied to the quay/moorings. Therefore, I believe the SeaWalk requires seas to be slight as the ships must also switch of their engines when alongside.

Suggestion is that the sea conditions have not been right and there is now questions as to whether there will ever be the correct conditions.

Is this not just due to the cost of using the seawalk facility being far greater than mooring at hellesylt.  

[Host Sharon]

3 minutes ago, thornegirl said:

Is this not just due to the cost of using the seawalk facility being far greater than mooring at hellesylt.  

No. I gather the gunport doors are the wrong height to use the sea walk. Iona also cannot fit under the bridge at Bergen so that rights off that as an alternative port.

[thornegirl]

57 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

No. I gather the gunport doors are the wrong height to use the sea walk. Iona also cannot fit under the bridge at Bergen so that rights off that as an alternative port.

Well that's interesting, Iona for the fjords is probably not the best ship to see the spectacular fjords.  Surely they would have tried all the options out while Iona was up in the fjords during the Covid lockdown, then advertise and sell itinerarys that they knew could be fulfilled.  Not as it is now more sea days than ports because of operational reasons. 

 

We (husband and I) have been to the fjords a number of times on various ships and we've told our children and grandchildren how beautiful it is.  We should have all been on Iona's first season to the fjords but that was cancelled so we re-booked for this year.  I'm sure we will all have a fantastic time but still disappointed about not getting into Geiranger. 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Host Sharon said:

No. I gather the gunport doors are the wrong height to use the sea walk. Iona also cannot fit under the bridge at Bergen so that rights off that as an alternative port.

I don't doubt you are right Sharon, but since Iona's summer schedule to the Fjords and Geiranger has been known since well before the ship was finished, it again casts doubt on P&O's management to run a park paddle boat concession, never mind a cruise line.

[jaydee6969]

9 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't doubt you are right Sharon, but since Iona's summer schedule to the Fjords and Geiranger has been known since well before the ship was finished, it again casts doubt on P&O's management to run a park paddle boat concession, never mind a cruise line.

 

And also the maiden season was due to stop at Bergen.

[Ardennais]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't doubt you are right Sharon, but since Iona's summer schedule to the Fjords and Geiranger has been known since well before the ship was finished, it again casts doubt on P&O's management to run a park paddle boat concession, never mind a cruise line.

Exactly!

[BouncingWheel]

 

4 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

And also the maiden season was due to stop at Bergen.

To summarise, it appears that the 2022 Iona Fjords seasons is a much poorer Fjords cruise season than P&O had planned and on top of that, they have already committed to 2 more Iona Fjords seasons that will also have to have weaker itineraries. This surely make the cruises harder to sell so more competitive pricing will be needed to entice people onboard. I also guess that some will be using the flexible transfer option to change to another cruise and then try the Fjords on a different ship and/or line.

In some businesses heads would roll for this. 

[jaydee6969]

2 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

 

To summarise, it appears that the 2022 Iona Fjords seasons is a much poorer Fjords cruise season than P&O had planned and on top of that, they have already committed to 2 more Iona Fjords seasons that will also have to have weaker itineraries. This surely make the cruises harder to sell so more competitive pricing will be needed to entice people onboard. I also guess that some will be using the flexible transfer option to change to another cruise and then try the Fjords on a different ship and/or line.

In some businesses heads would roll for this. 

 

We have already booked for Britannia in 2024, with Flam and Bergen as well as Olden and Stavanger.  Suits us better.

[SarahHben]

On 5/23/2022 at 5:13 PM, Ardennais said:

That’s rather steep isn’t it when some folks might have planned to do their own thing in Geiranger. Multiplied by 5 when we visited with our children - I would have thought twice about it! 

Yes it’s more expensive than I anticipated. We had a trip cancelled that was a similar cost so it hadn’t had a cost impact for us. The other family members with us aren’t going on it though.

[Ardennais]

2 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

Yes it’s more expensive than I anticipated. We had a trip cancelled that was a similar cost so it hadn’t had a cost impact for us. The other family members with us aren’t going on it though.

That’s a shame. Enjoy anyway!

[SarahHben]

18 hours ago, vitrocmax said:

I was hoping for lower prices for the fjord cruises based on the fact we should have been going there and can’t, rather than £65 for 2 hours. There’s 11 ‘shore experiences’ in total, many are sold out already. Mount Dalsnibba is £90, but I can’t remember how much it was from Geiranger. 

I think the original one was £58, we’ve decided to go to Geiranger rather than the more expensive Mount Dalsnibba trip 

[Ardennais]

Mount Dalsnibba is one of my top 5 cruise memories! Shame that it’s now so expensive. 

[pete14]

42 minutes ago, SarahHben said:

I think the original one was £58, we’ve decided to go to Geiranger rather than the more expensive Mount Dalsnibba trip 

Geiranger is beautiful but there is not a lot to do there. The little church up the hill is nice, the walk alongside the waterfall is worth doing if you can cope with the uphill / downhill walking and there is the fjord centre further up the hill. The gift shop sells the same sort of tourist items as elsewhere in Norway and there is a place to buy coffee. I guess that private tours may be few and far between because they are likely to be used by any other ships or relocate to Hellesylt for Iona. If you like sitting outdoors in a beautiful, peaceful place, Geiranger is an ideal place to be, if you want activity, you may be disappointed. I have not stopped in Hellesylt, but having sailed past it, it seems to be little different from Geiranger. 

[pete14]

52 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Mount Dalsnibba is one of my top 5 cruise memories! Shame that it’s now so expensive. 

I agree. The coach ride up an down is scenic but not for the faint hearted but on a clear day the views are spectacular. There may even be some snow on the top of the mountain, even in summer.

[molecrochip]

8 hours ago, Host Sharon said:

No. I gather the gunport doors are the wrong height to use the sea walk. Iona also cannot fit under the bridge at Bergen so that rights off that as an alternative port.

There seems to be some disparity between the plans on paper and the plans in practice.

 

The suggestion I heard I’d that there have been changes to the mooring arrangements which then creates the situation mentioned by Sharon.

6 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

And also the maiden season was due to stop at Bergen.

I didn’t think Iona was ever scheduled to stop at Bergen….. but I could be wrong. I thought that was why Britannia was still doing the Fjords including Bergen.

[jaydee6969]

33 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I didn’t think Iona was ever scheduled to stop at Bergen….. but I could be wrong. I thought that was why Britannia was still doing the Fjords including Bergen.

 

Yes, we were booked on G009, remember the bitter disappointment as we had made all sorts of plans for Bergen.  Still have the booking confirmation from September 2018, as it is part of an unused FCC.  Being kept for evidence. 

 

Stavanger - Olden - Geiranger - Bergen.  Was supposed to be a significant anniversary whilst on board, is why I remember it well.

[gsmt47471015]

On 5/23/2022 at 11:21 AM, jaydee6969 said:

 

The link is to the port authority, and until this morning Iona was stopping at Geiranger on the site.  Now all changed.  Obviously we are all waiting for the official word from P&O, but now I am expecting to be in Hellesylt next week.

 

Hellesylt has a dock to tie up too.  If you look at the video link below and scroll back a couple of hours you will see and Aidaperla tied up.

 

 

Well until its official we will remain optimistic, however if this does turn out to be fact then we ,and our cruise relative newbies are not going to be very pleased ,and have to say if it wasn't for them and the fact we have made arrangements for pre cruise accommodation and taxis and covid testing we would cancel or transfer, really feel that Iona is not  suited to this part of the world and appears that when planning this itinerary P and O did not do their research