Iona - a few questions?

[Minnie29]

We are new to P & O having just booked our first cruise on Iona to the Fjords in September. 
When we have cruised previously on Celebrity and Cunard we generally book speciality dining in the evening. We are not fans of the MDR’s. Looks like there is plenty of specialty dining choices on Iona for us. We are a little confused regarding booking these venues. How many weeks before sailing can they be booked and which ones are bookable? 
Also can anyone comment on room service menu (we have booked a conservatory mini suite) and the charges?

I understand that the entertainment also needs to be prebooked?

Thanks so much 

[Eglesbrech]

You can start to book Epicurian, Sindhu and the Limelight club (food and entertainment) about 3 weeks in advance of your cruise. The chefs table for celebration nights as an alternative to the MDR with a slightly expanded menu which is included in the price is also available at that time.

 

The Beach House, Keel and Cow and Glass House are on the virtual queuing system once onboard, you just add yourself to the queue on the day and time you want to eat, we never had much of a wait for these on our cruise but cruises vary. The Olive Grove which is included in the price is now also on the virtual queue.

 

We were able to book a few shows for the first week in the main theatre in advance for a 14 day cruise. The rest we had to grab quickly once onboard using the web page “app” for bookable venues like the 710 club.

 

The shows in the Clubhouse and the ones under the dome are first come first seated.

 

We didn’t use room service so only glanced at the menu. The breakfast is extremely limited. There was more on the dining menu priced individually and a £2.50 tray charge. I don’t remember it looking particularly exciting food wise but I may be over fussy 😀.

 

[Minnie29]

Can you explain how the virtual queue system works?

Do it open at a particular time or do you just add yourself to the queue on the way to dinner?

Thank you

[Slugsta]

We disembarked from Iona on Saturday. We usually joined the queue from our chosen bar and didn't wait long (were happy to share tables).

[Selbourne]

35 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

You can start to book Epicurian, Sindhu and the Limelight club (food and entertainment) about 3 weeks in advance of your cruise. The chefs table for celebration nights as an alternative to the MDR with a slightly expanded menu which is included in the price is also available at that time.

 

The Beach House, Keel and Cow and Glass House are on the virtual queuing system once onboard, you just add yourself to the queue on the day and time you want to eat, we never had much of a wait for these on our cruise but cruises vary. The Olive Grove which is included in the price is now also on the virtual queue.

 

We were able to book a few shows for the first week in the main theatre in advance for a 14 day cruise. The rest we had to grab quickly once onboard using the web page “app” for bookable venues like the 710 club.

 

The shows in the Clubhouse and the ones under the dome are first come first seated.

 

We didn’t use room service so only glanced at the menu. The breakfast is extremely limited. There was more on the dining menu priced individually and a £2.50 tray charge. I don’t remember it looking particularly exciting food wise but I may be over fussy 😀.

 

That’s very useful info. Thanks. Out of interest, what sort of music is played in the 710 Club? I’m hoping it’s jazz, which I can’t abide, as that will save me having to try to get admission 😂 

[rattla]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

That’s very useful info. Thanks. Out of interest, what sort of music is played in the 710 Club? I’m hoping it’s jazz, which I can’t abide, as that will save me having to try to get admission 😂 

it’s kind of a mix of mainstream/pop from the various eras. 

[majortom10]

You can book speciality restaurants 2 weeks before your cruise. We are on 4th March and can book from 18th February.

[devonuk]

7 hours ago, Minnie29 said:

Can you explain how the virtual queue system works?

Do it open at a particular time or do you just add yourself to the queue on the way to dinner?

Thank you

Which is all well and good if the ships internet and ‘myholiday’ is in fact working. 
Needless to say almost all day today there was no inboard internet so all transactions for purchases had to be completed the old fashion way and the ‘gala valentines dinner’ this evening was an unmitigated disaster. 
We received our pager at 19:30 for dinner in the Aqua MDR and at 22:30 we were still eating our dessert course. 
I have complained bitterly and I’m having a one to one with a food and beverage manager tomorrow. I’m just nearing 100 nights with P&O and this evening was by far the worst experience EVER 😡

[Gettingwarmer]

9 hours ago, devonuk said:

Which is all well and good if the ships internet and ‘myholiday’ is in fact working. 
Needless to say almost all day today there was no inboard internet so all transactions for purchases had to be completed the old fashion way and the ‘gala valentines dinner’ this evening was an unmitigated disaster. 
We received our pager at 19:30 for dinner in the Aqua MDR and at 22:30 we were still eating our dessert course. 
I have complained bitterly and I’m having a one to one with a food and beverage manager tomorrow. I’m just nearing 100 nights with P&O and this evening was by far the worst experience EVER 😡

I am sorry for you distress which is understandable. If going for a pager at 7.30 when the Intranet is down I would definitely gone to one of the larger MDR restaurants to give more flexibility. 

[devonuk]

6 hours ago, Gettingwarmer said:

I am sorry for you distress which is understandable. If going for a pager at 7.30 when the Intranet is down I would definitely gone to one of the larger MDR restaurants to give more flexibility. 

Good idea but the Q’s were longer and we felt that the Aqua was where we wanted our special evening 😆 

[TigerB]

On 2/14/2023 at 4:32 PM, Selbourne said:

That’s very useful info. Thanks. Out of interest, what sort of music is played in the 710 Club? I’m hoping it’s jazz, which I can’t abide, as that will save me having to try to get admission 😂 

When we were on Arvia last month these were titles given to the shows across the two weeks:

 

Supergroup Sound

Handwritten (singer/songwriters)

American Vinyl

The Nation's Number 1s

On The Rocks (Gary says, "My vision was to recreate your rock favourites with an intimate edgy spin")

Essence Of The 90s

 

On two nights the resident band had a break and were replaced by Maddison A, the singer that was usually in Brodies.

 

We would have gone to a couple of them but had no chance as all shows, apart from a couple of the ones at 00:15, were booked from the start of the cruise. And at quarter past midnight I was usually in my bed with my water bottle (our lass)😴

 

 

 

[davecttr]

Just returned from Iona. Virtual queuing specialist restaurants were the Keel & Cow and Glass House. The Beach House and Olive Grove required reservations plus the Beach House was not available on Celebration night as it plus additional space in the buffet became the chefs table. The 'app' virtual queuing system collapsed on celebration night and in fact the 'app' was misbehaving the day before as well. The drinks ordering system failed as well. Not fit for purpose in my opinion.

[Ardennais]

On 2/14/2023 at 8:02 PM, majortom10 said:

You can book speciality restaurants 2 weeks before your cruise. We are on 4th March and can book from 18th February.

I was ready to book at midnight, and saw that some time slots had sold out by the following morning! 

[Ardennais]

5 hours ago, davecttr said:

Just returned from Iona. Virtual queuing specialist restaurants were the Keel & Cow and Glass House. The Beach House and Olive Grove required reservations plus the Beach House was not available on Celebration night as it plus additional space in the buffet became the chefs table. The 'app' virtual queuing system collapsed on celebration night and in fact the 'app' was misbehaving the day before as well. The drinks ordering system failed as well. Not fit for purpose in my opinion.

I agree. We thought it was just us to begin with and kept logging off and trying again! Luckily, I had pre-booked everything at home once booking opened and had a printed copy. 
 

I found myself recalling the lively discussion here a few weeks ago and the posters who claimed that the ‘app’ was brilliant etc etc. I wish! 

[majortom10]

7 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

I was ready to book at midnight, and saw that some time slots had sold out by the following morning! 

Unfortunately they weren't available to book at midnight don't know what time they actually what time they did but they were available to book at 7am this morning.

[Ardennais]

On 2/15/2023 at 12:12 AM, devonuk said:

Which is all well and good if the ships internet and ‘myholiday’ is in fact working. 
Needless to say almost all day today there was no inboard internet so all transactions for purchases had to be completed the old fashion way and the ‘gala valentines dinner’ this evening was an unmitigated disaster. 
We received our pager at 19:30 for dinner in the Aqua MDR and at 22:30 we were still eating our dessert course. 
I have complained bitterly and I’m having a one to one with a food and beverage manager tomorrow. I’m just nearing 100 nights with P&O and this evening was by far the worst experience EVER 😡

I had a hunch that the gala night might be problematic, even if the ‘app’ was working which is why I pre-booked the Limelight Club for the night. How did you get on with the beverage manager? We had dinner in the Epicurean last Sunday (12th). Booked for 7.30, service was so slow we missed the 10.30 show! 

[Ardennais]

Just now, majortom10 said:

Unfortunately they weren't available to book at midnight don't know what time they actually what time they did but they were available to book at 7am this morning.

I think it was about 12.20-12.30am when they suddenly started to open! I almost gave up but as I’m a night owl, I was still wide awake! 

[majortom10]

Just now, Ardennais said:

I think it was about 12.20-12.30am when they suddenly started to open! I almost gave up but as I’m a night owl, I was still wide awake! 

They hadn't been released for sale at 1230am when I last looked.

[Ardennais]

4 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

They hadn't been released for sale at 1230am when I last looked.

Just checked my booking confirmation e-mails. Limelight booked at 12.45am, Epicurean 12.56am, Olive Grove 1.08am. 

[majortom10]

7 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Just checked my booking confirmation e-mails. Limelight booked at 12.45am, Epicurean 12.56am, Olive Grove 1.08am. 

Don't know if pre allocation for Olive Grove has sold out because there was no available to book at 7am. Not that I was bothered only wanted to book Epicurean, Sindhu and possibly Beach House. Managed first two but Beach House not bookable and wasn't interested in Limelight when I saw the acts.

Edited February 18, 2023 by majortom10

[Ardennais]

We loved the Olive Grove and would definitely try to pre-book if we were to sail on Iona again. Service was slow, but it was a very pleasant venue. However, when we turned up on Monday night, the lady on the desk said that there were long delays, something to do with the ordering process. Well the ‘app’ was down so we decided to skip it as we were rather hungry after walking 6 miles! Fish and chips from the Quays in less than 5 minutes! 

[devonuk]

24 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

I had a hunch that the gala night might be problematic, even if the ‘app’ was working which is why I pre-booked the Limelight Club for the night. How did you get on with the beverage manager? We had dinner in the Epicurean last Sunday (12th). Booked for 7.30, service was so slow we missed the 10.30 show! 

We met in person and after numerous apologies for a ruined evening completely down to P&O’s failings we came to an arrangement whereby I had the same table for my entire group of 7 at the restaurant of our choice (Aqua) each evening for the rest of our cruise. This came with some free drinks and a noticeable difference in attentiveness from our waiters! Oh how we long for good ol club dining. 
After a couple trips on Iona x2, Arvia and Ventura recently FREEDOM DINING is anything but done with freedom. The biggest disappointment is the continual inability to be able to plan an evening with any preciseness 🤷‍♂️

Iona is a fantastic ship completely ruined by a myholiday  app which is not fit for purpose 😡

[Ardennais]

1 minute ago, devonuk said:

We met in person and after numerous apologies for a ruined evening completely down to P&O’s failings we came to an arrangement whereby I had the same table for my entire group of 7 at the restaurant of our choice (Aqua) each evening for the rest of our cruise. This came with some free drinks and a noticeable difference in attentiveness from our waiters! Oh how we long for good ol club dining. 
After a couple trips on Iona x2, Arvia and Ventura recently FREEDOM DINING is anything but done with freedom. The biggest disappointment is the continual inability to be able to plan an evening with any preciseness 🤷‍♂️

Iona is a fantastic ship completely ruined by a myholiday  app which is not fit for purpose 😡

Thanks. Glad that things improved for you. I know that others in the past have been able to join the queue in their cabin which is great IF it works, but as we know, it didn’t work for at least two evenings this past week. I also think that if you want to catch the 10.30 show, then you need to be seated by 7.30 at the latest due to the slow service. This was our first post-covid P&O cruise and we found a marked difference in terms of service. I think it would have annoyed our children had they been with us, but we were just glad to get away after a pretty stressful winter! 

[devonuk]

7 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Thanks. Glad that things improved for you. I know that others in the past have been able to join the queue in their cabin which is great IF it works, but as we know, it didn’t work for at least two evenings this past week. I also think that if you want to catch the 10.30 show, then you need to be seated by 7.30 at the latest due to the slow service. This was our first post-covid P&O cruise and we found a marked difference in terms of service. I think it would have annoyed our children had they been with us, but we were just glad to get away after a pretty stressful winter! 

Yes, I agree you could join the queue but if say 50 were ahead of you in the Pearl for instance you had no idea how long this would actually take. As a group of 7 our options were limited due to the lack of 8 and 10 seat tables. The food/beverage guy stated that unusually it was easier and quicker to get a table for 2 on this cruise as a lot of families were eating together whereas normally that is not the case. The queue is not actually done in order either as it’s down to table size availability. 🤷‍♂️ 

The staff at the coal face issuing tables etc have an awful task each night trying to satisfy all of the individual needs and I did feel for them when being shouted at for supplying yet another pager  😬

[Ardennais]

16 minutes ago, devonuk said:

Yes, I agree you could join the queue but if say 50 were ahead of you in the Pearl for instance you had no idea how long this would actually take. As a group of 7 our options were limited due to the lack of 8 and 10 seat tables. The food/beverage guy stated that unusually it was easier and quicker to get a table for 2 on this cruise as a lot of families were eating together whereas normally that is not the case. The queue is not actually done in order either as it’s down to table size availability. 🤷‍♂️ 

The staff at the coal face issuing tables etc have an awful task each night trying to satisfy all of the individual needs and I did feel for them when being shouted at for supplying yet another pager  😬

We had breakfast in the Coral this morning - our one and only meal in a MDR. We actually remarked that there seemed to be a lot of tables for 2.