Arcadia vs Iona...

[terrierjohn]

56 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Object to your tone. I was on this cruise and booked it in October! 

Sorry I was not intending to offend, but I was just incredulous that P&O would offer such a low price.

However MBs explanation did clarify things, and of course end Nov early Dec is traditionally the weakest period for cruise sales, quite often with some exceptional deals. But these offers are not routine as your posts have implied, and not indicative of prices that will be available on a regular basis, leading to lowering passenger standards.

[Griffin83]

I never should have mentioned Butlins. Sorry all, I opened a right can of worms... I spent all my family holidays there in the 80's/early 90's so I love a good nostalgic Butlins but nowadays, whenever I visit a nostalgic place, I'm just usually left disappointed as there's often just a bit more drink/swearing and smoking to what I remember. For sure though, I shouldn't have thrown everyone who goes to Butlins in that narrow-minded bucket. 
Again, you've all been fantastic with the responses and away from the original post, we are likely to opt for Britannia now, though I will certainly miss having a good wide deck to walk out onto after the evening meal.
Thanks again, you're all a great help, and a hoot 🙂

[9265359]

18 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Cruise last week was £779 for single occupancy of balcony saver or £1000 with £400 obc select. Would not get decent B&B for £55 per night where I live! Practically giving it away.

 

Even cheaper at the end of January - £741 for 14 nights on Iona for single occupancy of balcony saver or £617 for inside.

 

£44 a night for room, meals, entertainment, travel, etc. - virtually giving it away.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, Griffin83 said:

nowadays, whenever I visit a nostalgic place, I'm just usually left disappointed as there's often just a bit more drink/swearing and smoking to what I remember.

Society changed, so did we as we got older and experienced different things in life.  Back then for instance smoking was the norm, we accepted it and very few complained about it.  Working people have always uttered expletives, we just choose to pretend to be horrified yet tune in to films and television laden with far worse. The difference now is there are larger numbers who have done so much better due to education opportunities and more routes out of the lower end of society through the 80's and 90's and as a consequence we tend to be embarrassed more than offended by Butlins and it's like.  I recall the excitement of my first class mate going for a week's package holiday to Benidorm when I was 6 and her having to present a report to the class on their return.  All thirty children sat their wide eyed looking at photo slides of paper mache donkeys, oversized sombreros and our classmate grinning from ear to ear by a swimming pool surrounded by palm trees.  I doubt any child of today would get excited if their class mate showed them photographs of being at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro now let alone a family beach holiday!

 

My family couldn't afford a holiday to Butlins but I was once treated to a day ticket at the Clacton one by an aging aunt.  I still treasure that memory and it has equal value to me as my world cruise.  

 

 

[Selbourne]

16 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

Even cheaper at the end of January - £741 for 14 nights on Iona for single occupancy of balcony saver or £617 for inside.

 

£44 a night for room, meals, entertainment, travel, etc. - virtually giving it away.

Exactly half the price of dual occupancy, so a nice treat for Solo’s not to have to pay any supplement at all. Could be tempted to try Iona before our August cruise at those prices (with Mrs Selbourne, of course), but my only worry with booking a Saver is that we might get ‘upgraded’ to one of those dreadful Conservatory cabins on the promenade deck and inadvertently become part of the ships entertainment for 2 weeks 😂 

[Windsurfboy]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Exactly half the price of dual occupancy, so a nice treat for Solo’s not to have to pay any supplement at all. Could be tempted to try Iona before our August cruise at those prices (with Mrs Selbourne, of course), but my only worry with booking a Saver is that we might get ‘upgraded’ to one of those dreadful Conservatory cabins on the promenade deck and inadvertently become part of the ships entertainment for 2 weeks 😂 

 

Won't be sitting on balcony in January, unles you want to be a frozen ice statue. 

[zap99]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Society changed, so did we as we got older and experienced different things in life.  Back then for instance smoking was the norm, we accepted it and very few complained about it.  Working people have always uttered expletives, we just choose to pretend to be horrified yet tune in to films and television laden with far worse. The difference now is there are larger numbers who have done so much better due to education opportunities and more routes out of the lower end of society through the 80's and 90's and as a consequence we tend to be embarrassed more than offended by Butlins and it's like.  I recall the excitement of my first class mate going for a week's package holiday to Benidorm when I was 6 and her having to present a report to the class on their return.  All thirty children sat their wide eyed looking at photo slides of paper mache donkeys, oversized sombreros and our classmate grinning from ear to ear by a swimming pool surrounded by palm trees.  I doubt any child of today would get excited if their class mate showed them photographs of being at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro now let alone a family beach holiday!

 

My family couldn't afford a holiday to Butlins but I was once treated to a day ticket at the Clacton one by an aging aunt.  I still treasure that memory and it has equal value to me as my world cruise.  

 

 

Sorry, but a bit nostalgic.  Toffs use expletives as well. Millions of working people go on holiday to places like Butlins, haven, and the like and still have a great time. We haven't been to Benidorm, but for no real reason. Ordinary, working folk can get a bit ratty when those with their noses in places other than the place intended belittle their holidays.

[Megabear2]

Just now, zap99 said:

Sorry, but a bit nostalgic.  Toffs use expletives as well. Millions of working people go on holiday to places like Butlins, haven, and the like and still have a great time. We haven't been to Benidorm, but for no real reason. Ordinary, working folk can get a bit ratty when those with their noses in places other than the place intended belittle their holidays.

And that's exactly what I meant.  I worked my entire life with those supposedly better than me who were quite frankly on occasion vile individuals who got away with bad behaviour because they had money and a supposedly better position in life.  I am the working person you describe  and I was sticking up for Butlins not belittling it or my ilk.  I'm very proud of my roots.  I originally come from a town recently described by someone as a toilet whilst on a cruise this summer.  Yes, I'm nostalgic about my own experiences but I certainly am not looking down on anyone and on this occasion you appear to be misunderstanding me entirely.  

 

The post which I replied to suggested that smoking, swearing etc were more prevalent than before which is of course total nonsense. My point was memory is a strange thing and going back down the nostalgia route sadly always leads to disappointment.  

[Megabear2]

20 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Exactly half the price of dual occupancy, so a nice treat for Solo’s not to have to pay any supplement at all. Could be tempted to try Iona before our August cruise at those prices (with Mrs Selbourne, of course), but my only worry with booking a Saver is that we might get ‘upgraded’ to one of those dreadful Conservatory cabins on the promenade deck and inadvertently become part of the ships entertainment for 2 weeks 😂 

Interestingly in the case of the cruise mentioned in January if a mock saver booking is made a cabin allocation is made so you can see where it is.  

[davecttr]

50 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

Even cheaper at the end of January - £741 for 14 nights on Iona for single occupancy of balcony saver or £617 for inside.

 

£44 a night for room, meals, entertainment, travel, etc. - virtually giving it away.

What a bargain even if the balcony is on deck 8

[zap99]

10 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

And that's exactly what I meant.  I worked my entire life with those supposedly better than me who were quite frankly on occasion vile individuals who got away with bad behaviour because they had money and a supposedly better position in life.  I am the working person you describe  and I was sticking up for Butlins not belittling it or my ilk.  I'm very proud of my roots.  I originally come from a town recently described by someone as a toilet whilst on a cruise this summer.  Yes, I'm nostalgic about my own experiences but I certainly am not looking down on anyone and on this occasion you appear to be misunderstanding me entirely.  

 

The post which I replied to suggested that smoking, swearing etc were more prevalent than before which is of course total nonsense. My point was memory is a strange thing and going back down the nostalgia route sadly always leads to disappointment.  

Sorry if I misunderstood you and I apologise. On here recently there seems to be an undercurrent of comparing Iona to Butlins in a disparaging way. I wonder how many of those folk have forgotten their roots. Millions of ordinary people like me enjoy ordinary holidays. Next year we have an Azura fly cruise, a 2 Week cruise on Iona, a week in Deya in Majorca and a week in a caravan in North Devon. When thinking about holidays we seldom wonder what the neighbours will think if we go the Costa Brava.

[zap99]

12 minutes ago, davecttr said:

What a bargain even if the balcony is on deck 8

A deck 8 conservatory cabin is not ideal, but isn't a deal breaker at the right price.

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Won't be sitting on balcony in January, unles you want to be a frozen ice statue. 

Funnily enough, whilst we rarely sit on our balcony even in the summer, we would never cruise without one, whatever the time of year. For us, having a balcony is about the expansive view out from within the cabin and the ability to pop out when something catches our eye, plus to watch arrivals and departures from ports. In fact, we often sleep with the curtains open, in order that we can see the view as soon as we awake, before getting out of bed. One of the best experiences we had was a Northern Lights cruise, where we had spectacular views from our warm cabin and even a great display of the Northern Lights one night from the comfort of our bed 😂

 

For all of these reasons, a ‘balcony’ cabin of any type on the Promenade deck just wouldn’t work for us, so would in fact be a deal breaker. 
 

As it happens, there don’t appear to be any accessible Conservatory Mini-Suites (which is a relief) but there are two GC grade accessible balcony cabins on the promenade deck and we would not wish to be allocated one of those, which is a risk with a Saver. Unfortunately, on the cruise in question, the premium for a Select fare is ridiculous, especially as Iona is all Freedom Dining, so one of the major advantages of booking a Select fare is negated. 

[Selbourne]

3 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Interestingly in the case of the cruise mentioned in January if a mock saver booking is made a cabin allocation is made so you can see where it is.  

That’s interesting. Just spoken to our TA (the one that most regulars on here use) and their system just shows ‘to be allocated’ when you try to book a balcony cabin on a Saver basis. Whether or not this is unique to accessible cabins I don’t know. 

[Megabear2]

47 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s interesting. Just spoken to our TA (the one that most regulars on here use) and their system just shows ‘to be allocated’ when you try to book a balcony cabin on a Saver basis. Whether or not this is unique to accessible cabins I don’t know. 

Yes, I've never had that happen before.  This morning the saver fare told me I'd get cabin number 14729 however this afternoon my choice are reduced to forward or midforward/midaft.  Cabin 14729 is still available but only on a select fare.  A quick look at forward shows a whole swave of deck 8 forward cabins and one deck 9 ... I don't think a saver is a good idea on that particular cruise at present if you want to avoid deck 8.

 

The plan shows a lot less availability than at 10.30 this morning so assumedly thr cut price bargain is attractive to a lot of people - oceanview is sold out.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Funnily enough, whilst we rarely sit on our balcony even in the summer, we would never cruise without one, whatever the time of year. For us, having a balcony is about the expansive view out from within the cabin and the ability to pop out when something catches our eye, plus to watch arrivals and departures from ports. In fact, we often sleep with the curtains open, in order that we can see the view as soon as we awake, before getting out of bed. One of the best experiences we had was a Northern Lights cruise, where we had spectacular views from our warm cabin and even a great display of the Northern Lights one night from the comfort of our bed 😂

 

For all of these reasons, a ‘balcony’ cabin of any type on the Promenade deck just wouldn’t work for us, so would in fact be a deal breaker. 
 

As it happens, there don’t appear to be any accessible Conservatory Mini-Suites (which is a relief) but there are two GC grade accessible balcony cabins on the promenade deck and we would not wish to be allocated one of those, which is a risk with a Saver. Unfortunately, on the cruise in question, the premium for a Select fare is ridiculous, especially as Iona is all Freedom Dining, so one of the major advantages of booking a Select fare is negated. 

We won't be booking a saver fare on Iona. Not too worried about deck 8, but the deck 5 balconies are the deal breaker for us.

 

[Selbourne]

19 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We won't be booking a saver fare on Iona. Not too worried about deck 8, but the deck 5 balconies are the deal breaker for us.

 

Following the useful discussion on this thread, we decided over lunch that we’d try to book on this cruise, just as a filler holiday to get away from the current gloom & doom and cold weather. Like you, we had reservations about a Saver (we’ve only ever booked one Saver, when we knew exactly which cabin we were getting), so decided to go for a Deluxe Balcony, as there are only four accessible ones and they are together in a great location. Sadly, it was all in vain. All accessible balcony cabins, of all grades, are sold out!

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We won't be booking a saver fare on Iona. Not too worried about deck 8, but the deck 5 balconies are the deal breaker for us.