Iona Speciality Restaurants

[strachan01]

Good Evening! 

 

We are boarding Iona next week and wondered what the current procedure is with regards to booking speciality restaurants? Do we have to go to each restaurant to book a slot or is there a way to book all qt the same time?

 

We have quite a but of OBC to use and don't want to miss out before the restaurants fill up. 

 

Cheers

 

Fraser

[grapau27]

33 minutes ago, strachan01 said:

Good Evening! 

 

We are boarding Iona next week and wondered what the current procedure is with regards to booking speciality restaurants? Do we have to go to each restaurant to book a slot or is there a way to book all qt the same time?

 

We have quite a but of OBC to use and don't want to miss out before the restaurants fill up. 

 

Cheers

 

Fraser

Recent reports on here were that Epicurean was closed on Iona.

When we were on Iona in March I pre booked 2 nights on the cruise planner at a discounted price.

When you get on Iona go to the Dining desk or the My holiday desk and book the nights you want.

Alternatively as soon as you get on the ship log on to My holiday app to book your dining,shows etc.

[strachan01]

1 hour ago, grapau27 said:

Recent reports on here were that Epicurean was closed on Iona.

When we were on Iona in March I pre booked 2 nights on the cruise planner at a discounted price.

When you get on Iona go to the Dining desk or the My holiday desk and book the nights you want.

Alternatively as soon as you get on the ship log on to My holiday app to book your dining,shows etc.

Brilliant - thanks so much! 

 

Have heard mixed reviews about the 'app' but will see what happens when we got onbaord! 

 

Thanks again

 

Fraser 

[grapau27]

10 minutes ago, strachan01 said:

Brilliant - thanks so much! 

 

Have heard mixed reviews about the 'app' but will see what happens when we got onbaord! 

 

Thanks again

 

Fraser 

You are welcome.

The My holiday desk is in the lounge where you get on board.

I went straight there and they put the app on my phone and a widget on my home screen for quick access and explained how to use it.

I sat down in the lounge and booked all the shows and dining on the app which was easy to do.

We loved Iona and went into Epicurean 7 nights out of our 14 night cruise in March.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by grapau27

[strachan01]

Thanks so much -  Really appreciate it. 

 

We will do that as well - sounds a good plan! 

 

Looking forward to Iona Been too long since we were on Aurora now! 

[gsmt47471015]

The only place we couldn't book or get in was the Olive Tree, all the others we managed either via the app which was easy to self install and was better than expected ,or calling at the venue we wanted , don't know if the Epicurean was closed  as its somewhere that has no interest for us at all. Enjoyed Iona and I'm sure you will too 👍

[Riddoch]

The olive tree seemed to book up really quickly, I was able to book via the app but that was on the Saturday pretty much straight after boarding. I never saw it appear as available again when I did searches for options.

we had a minor issue with the app that when logging back in it wouldn’t work unless you removed “landing” from the end of the web address. Think that is probably our android browser saving the page you get to after log in rather than the login page itself. As mentioned above adding a shortcut/widget would have resolved that.

[posford]

Hi All,

 

I keep reading that the Olive Grove and Keel and Cow are generally fully booked.

Is that the whole time that they are open or just at normal mealtimes (lunch and dinner)?

[daiB]

The main problem with speciality restaurants on Iona is that she does so many short cruises and the demand far outweighs supply. We are cruising on her for 14 nights and i expect the demand not to be as great.

[gsmt47471015]

37 minutes ago, daiB said:

The main problem with speciality restaurants on Iona is that she does so many short cruises and the demand far outweighs supply. We are cruising on her for 14 nights and i expect the demand not to be as great.

Very logical view👍

[davecttr]

4 hours ago, posford said:

Hi All,

 

I keep reading that the Olive Grove and Keel and Cow are generally fully booked.

Is that the whole time that they are open or just at normal mealtimes (lunch and dinner)?

The Keel and Cow has the virtual queue via the App so you can't reserve a table or a time, just like the MDR's. I found no problem eating there, in fact I just turned up and got a table by avoiding the busy times. 

[grapau27]

3 hours ago, daiB said:

The main problem with speciality restaurants on Iona is that she does so many short cruises and the demand far outweighs supply. We are cruising on her for 14 nights and i expect the demand not to be as great.

We were on Iona for 14 nights in March and had 7 nights in Epicurean.

It was rarely more than half full.

We had a 7 night staycation on Iona in September 2021 and were in Epicurean 5 nights and it was quiet most nights.

Graham.

Edited August 19, 2022 by grapau27

[Danamis]

On 8/18/2022 at 6:39 PM, grapau27 said:

Recent reports on here were that Epicurean was closed on Iona.

When we were on Iona in March I pre booked 2 nights on the cruise planner at a discounted price.

When you get on Iona go to the Dining desk or the My holiday desk and book the nights you want.

Alternatively as soon as you get on the ship log on to My holiday app to book your dining,shows etc.

Hiya. Where is the Dining desk situated please? There are 4 of us going at the end of October and the app only allows you to book for the people in your own cabin so it would be great to book all venues in one go!