Live from Iona Norwegian Fjords 20th May 7 Nights

[Interestedcruisefan]

Well the time has come for our next cruise

 

Inside saver 500 pounds each

 

We got one  of those meaningless foc upgrades to another inside cabin

 

We are 5537 - not even looked where it is yet

 

Let's see if it's noisy of not

 

We are last boarding at 4pm tomorrow

 

Decided to have a night in Winchester tonight and a lunch at Lyndhurst tomorrow before we board

 

At two celebrity chef restaurants

 

Rick Stein fish restaurant tonight

 

And Angela Hartnett Italian tomorrow

 

(I'm expecting good but not great at these places. But let's see. There were other places I would have rather booked but only looked last minute and both these were available).

 

Got a great cocktail bar called Incognito in Winchester booked early tonight as well so the holiday starts today

 

Going to try and find FOC residential parking tomorrow somewhere near Southampton and then get an Uber to the port

 

(Will see how that goes)

 

Car parking was either full or astronomical prices when I checked yesterday even for off site with shuttles (152 for 7 nights). And didnt fancy a night in Southampton in an average hotel with parking for 200 pounds plus

 

Fancied Winchester instead. Don't think we've ever been there before!! 

 

I've booked Epicurean and  Beach House in advance and a few bookable shows in the theatre

 

The Norwegian taster menu in Epicurean is showing as enquire on board. So may try that if still space when we get on

 

Same for Limelight 

 

Ps our 4 star very average rated hotel in Winchester is costing us JUST 5 pound each per person less than our cost per night on the cruise with full board

 

That's room only (not even breakfast), no entertainment, no travel, no balcony. Parking extra (first come first served)

 

And I imagine the meals and cocktails tonight and tomorrow lunch will cost us more than we spend all week on the cruise

 

Nothing's cheap nowadays Is it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Selbourne]

I predict that everything will be marvellous, your inside cabin will be fine for you and you will therefore wonder why anyone wastes their money on a balcony cabin, and there will be no issues with freedom dining, because you will be using the speciality restaurants 😉 

 

In all seriousness, I very much look forward to reading your blog, as we are on this cruise in August (albeit with around 1,000 more souls on board than you will be subjected to)!

 

I hope that I’m not tempting fate here, but I think you may be OK noise wise with your cabin. You are underneath the cinema. This means that you won’t have noise into the early hours as you would with a nightclub (I assume that the last films end around midnight?) and seating is all fixed, so can’t be dragged around for floor cleaning. 
 

I know that you are foodies (like us) and we intend to try all the speciality restaurants when on board, so I shall await your feedback with great interest. We are also thinking of trying the Norwegian taster menu (as well as the normal Epicurean menu) so will be particularly interested to hear how you find that. I’m not a huge fan of Sindhu (but our daughters liked it on other ships) and reviews of the new Beach House menus have been mixed so, again, your feedback will be most welcome. 
 

Have a fabulous cruise and enjoy Winchester. If you arrive early enough you can visit King Arthur’s round table in the Great Hall. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

22 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

I predict that everything will be marvellous, your inside cabin will be fine for you and you will therefore wonder why anyone wastes their money on a balcony cabin, and there will be no issues with freedom dining, because you will be using the speciality restaurants 😉 

 

In all seriousness, I very much look forward to reading your blog, as we are on this cruise in August (albeit with around 1,000 more souls on board than you will be subjected to)!

 

I hope that I’m not tempting fate here, but I think you may be OK noise wise with your cabin. You are underneath the cinema. This means that you won’t have noise into the early hours as you would with a nightclub (I assume that the last films end around midnight?) and seating is all fixed, so can’t be dragged around for floor cleaning. 
 

I know that you are foodies (like us) and we intend to try all the speciality restaurants when on board, so I shall await your feedback with great interest. We are also thinking of trying the Norwegian taster menu (as well as the normal Epicurean menu) so will be particularly interested to hear how you find that. I’m not a huge fan of Sindhu (but our daughters liked it on other ships) and reviews of the new Beach House menus have been mixed so, again, your feedback will be most welcome. 
 

Have a fabulous cruise and enjoy Winchester. If you arrive early enough you can visit King Arthur’s round table in the Great Hall. 

Lol to the first bit. You know me!!!

 

Sound from the cinema won't be an issue. I wonder if they use machinery to clean it overnight though? I guess we find out soon.

 

If there's 1,000 less on board that might mean a few more spare cabins if we do have a problem. Was surprised to see Arvia has no spare cabins on MB's cruise

 

Sindhu only has 9.30pm slots available. I was thinking of just asking in person for an early table but then thought to myself we enjoy really great Indian restaurants near where we live regularly so why bother on holiday

 

Will go there for a cocktail though

 

Is there a Green and Co on  Iona?

 

Is there a 710 Club?

 

Anderson's bar? For the best drinks

 

I haven't checked yet

Edited May 19, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Lol to the first bit. You know me!!!

 

Sound from the cinema won't be an issue. I wonder if they use machinery to clean it overnight though? I guess we find out soon.

 

If there's 1,000 less on board that might mean a few more spare cabins if we do have a problem. Was surprised to see Arvia has no spare cabins on MB's cruise

 

Sindhu only has 9.30pm slots available. I was thinking of just asking in person for an early table but then thought to myself we enjoy really great Indian restaurants near where we live regularly so why bother on holiday

 

Will go there for a cocktail though

 

Is there a Green and Co on  Iona?

 

Is there a 710 Club?

 

Anderson's bar? For the best drinks

 

I haven't checked yet

They will probably vacuum the cinema after the last screening, but I don’t think that you would hear that. . The extra 1,000 on our cruise will be because it’s summer school holidays, so most of the upper berths will be occupied (the 5,200 quoted is lower berths only). Cruise rarely sell with lots of empty cabins, as the prices drop to get bums on seats (the profit coming from on board spend). If there’s still capacity, last minute places can be offered to staff or travel agents etc.

 

Like you, I prefer food at ‘normal’ land based Indian restaurants to the fusion cuisine at Sindhu. Haven’t been on Iona yet, but I think that Green & Co is unique to Arvia. 

[Gettingwarmer]

32 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

 

Is there a Green and Co on  Iona?

 

Is there a 710 Club?

 

Anderson's bar? For the best drinks

No, yes and yes. 

[Cathygh]

Enjoy your time in Winchester. The Cathedral is worth a visit and thercare lovely walks by the River Itchen. We park at the Durngate Car Park, walk around the nature reserve and then follow the river into town. You might be able to do that from your B&B.

On another trip, do come down to Wickham, it's not too far and pop into my shop. Don't go on 20th though, it's the horse fair (of course that might be your type of thing) and everything is shut.  

For parking, although I've not tried it myself, people are recmmending parking at West Quay for £5 a night (not the John Lewis side) and getting an uber.

We are on Iona on 27th so I'm looking forward to your blog. Have fun.

[Interestedcruisefan]

10 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

Enjoy your time in Winchester. The Cathedral is worth a visit and thercare lovely walks by the River Itchen. We park at the Durngate Car Park, walk around the nature reserve and then follow the river into town. You might be able to do that from your B&B.

On another trip, do come down to Wickham, it's not too far and pop into my shop. Don't go on 20th though, it's the horse fair (of course that might be your type of thing) and everything is shut.  

For parking, although I've not tried it myself, people are recmmending parking at West Quay for £5 a night (not the John Lewis side) and getting an uber.

We are on Iona on 27th so I'm looking forward to your blog. Have fun.

Thanks so much Cathy

[TigerB]

We're on this cruise in June, our first cruise on Iona and to the Fjords; so, I'm looking forward to your posts. 

 

The Norwegian tasting menu is a must for us, so was counting down to when the dining booking options open next weekend. With what you have said about it being an onboard enquiry, I will have to make sure I get on the My Holiday app as soon as we get to the terminal.

 

No hundred pound plus hotel for us the night before; we'll be at our usual PI in Newbury, at £49. 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

We're on this cruise in June, our first cruise on Iona and to the Fjords; so, I'm looking forward to your posts. 

 

The Norwegian tasting menu is a must for us, so was counting down to when the dining booking options open next weekend. With what you have said about it being an onboard enquiry, I will have to make sure I get on the My Holiday app as soon as we get to the terminal.

 

No hundred pound plus hotel for us the night before; we'll be at our usual PI in Newbury, at £49. 

Premier inns normally for me. But I've got more admin to do tomorrow am and wanted my wife to be able to go in pool and spa whilst I work in the room

 

As it happens I need have bothered as she's going to try and find somewhere in Winchester to get her nails done whilst I work

[BouncingWheel]

7 hours ago, Cathygh said:

Enjoy your time in Winchester. The Cathedral is worth a visit and thercare lovely walks by the River Itchen. We park at the Durngate Car Park, walk around the nature reserve and then follow the river into town. You might be able to do that from your B&B.

On another trip, do come down to Wickham, it's not too far and pop into my shop. Don't go on 20th though, it's the horse fair (of course that might be your type of thing) and everything is shut.  

For parking, although I've not tried it myself, people are recmmending parking at West Quay for £5 a night (not the John Lewis side) and getting an uber.

We are on Iona on 27th so I'm looking forward to your blog. Have fun.

I have had to do that a couple of times now when CPS et al were fully booked and worked well both times. Got a taxi from Premier Inn once and walked it once. Good alternative IMO.

[Selbourne]

ICF - I don’t know if you’ve been to Stavanger before, but I’m keen to know if Iona berths next to the old town, just as all the P&O ships that we have been on before have (including Britannia). Reading the live blog on Arvia, it appears that she is berthing much further out than other ships, presumably due to the LPG propulsion. Whilst we have done Stavanger to death, it’s nice that the ships usually berth right in the centre with no need for shuttle buses. 
 

 

[jaydee6969]

23 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

ICF - I don’t know if you’ve been to Stavanger before, but I’m keen to know if Iona berths next to the old town, just as all the P&O ships that we have been on before have (including Britannia). Reading the live blog on Arvia, it appears that she is berthing much further out than other ships, presumably due to the LPG propulsion. Whilst we have done Stavanger to death, it’s nice that the ships usually berth right in the centre with no need for shuttle buses. 
 

 

 

She most definitely does, here's my picture from last year in Stavanger.

 

Also, we berthed in the same place in Palma as Arvia did when we visited on Azura in March.  Its the berth P&O seem use, after tracking several visits.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by jaydee6969

[carlanthony24]

5 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

She most definitely does, here's my picture from last year in Stavanger.

 

Also, we berthed in the same place in Palma as Arvia did when we visited on Azura in March.  Its the berth P&O use.

 

 

Correct same place. Last October we were docked where MSC was so was a bit strange docking further away when we was the only ship in.

[Selbourne]

7 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

She most definitely does, here's my picture from last year in Stavanger.

 

Also, we berthed in the same place in Palma as Arvia did when we visited on Azura in March.  Its the berth P&O use.

 

 

That’s great. Many thanks. Reading Megabears blog I don’t fancy having to use a shuttle bus when we are on Iona! Did you stop at Haugesund? I tend to recall that there was a shuttle bus when we last went, as there is a fairly steep bridge linking the dock area with the town (steep when pushing someone in a wheelchair)!

[jaydee6969]

8 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s great. Many thanks. Reading Megabears blog I don’t fancy having to use a shuttle bus when we are on Iona! Did you stop at Haugesund? I tend to recall that there was a shuttle bus when we last went, as there is a fairly steep bridge linking the dock area with the town (steep when pushing someone in a wheelchair)!

 

Yes, we went to Haugesund, but no shuttles provided.  There were a lot of unhappy people on the walk up into town.  The Google map extract below was taken during Covid, but that was were we docked too.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by jaydee6969

[CarlaMarie]

@Selbourne There was no shuttle bus at Haugesund last week for Britannia. You are right that they used to be provided, last year they were there, but not this year. 

[davecttr]

7 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

@Selbourne There was no shuttle bus at Haugesund last week for Britannia. You are right that they used to be provided, last year they were there, but not this year. 

My next cruise on Britannia has a Haugosund stop. I will not be getting off even if there was a free shuttle. I have been there twice and not much to see in town

Edited May 19, 2023 by davecttr

[Interestedcruisefan]

Well as usual work was hectic before we left so we were 90 mins late arriving in Winchester and so we missed the cocktail booking we had.

 

It's a top rated cocktail bar called Incognito - so popular you have to book 1 hour slots and pay 20 pounds deposit.

 

And only slot we could get was 5.30pm to 6.30pm

 

We rang and cancelled whilst driving down and they kindly refunded the deposit which they didn't have to so that was good at least

 

Had to drive straight to Rick Steins before we checked into Hotel as table was booked for 6.45pm. We just made it. Luckily there was car parks nearby

 

The meal was very good. Really nice Mojito for me when we arrived. My wife had a Margarita.

 

I had Cod in a batter with ginger to start. My wife had fish soup. We both really enjoyed these.

 

Mains I had crispy Chinese Pork Belly. (I can't resist pork belly anywhere I go now)

 

My wife had crab linguine. 

 

Mine was absolutely delicious. My wife's was bland and not enough crab. 

 

Nothing bad enough to complain about. We need something really bad to complain about a meal

 

For dessert we shared a chocolate rose cream dessert which was amazing and a creme brulee which was ok

 

We just had a jug of water alonsgide the 2 cocktails so just 2 drinks we paid for. My wife's crab linguine main she only had starter size portion and paid starter price

 

Bill came to 122.18 including 12.5 per cent service charge. Without any wine

 

The waitress was very young but very smiley and friendly. And she was the one that persuaded us to have the  chocolate cream dessert so she earnt the tip just for that!

 

Will post some pics when my wife wakes up and sends them to me! My phone was out of charge!

 

Got to do some admin now.

 

Hotel is a spa hotel under refurbishment.Simply called Winchester Hotel and Spa. The refurbished bit we are in is nice. My wife is going to see if she can get an appointment for nails done here in the spa.  If not she's going to walk into town and look for a nail place

 

The little bit of Winchester we've seen looks great. Lots to see and do here. We will need to come back another time to enjoy the place as I've got some admin to do before we head to Lyndhurst for lunch

 

I really want to see King Arthur's round table?

 

I thought that was all a myth?

 

Isn't it?

 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Selbourne]

8 hours ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Yes, we went to Haugesund, but no shuttles provided.  There were a lot of unhappy people on the walk up into town.  The Google map extract below was taken during Covid, but that was were we docked too.

 

 

Ok. Thanks for clarifying. I managed the bridge last time we went (on the return to the ship) and this time I have some extra helpers with me to help push the wheelchair! Given the current reports of 2 hour queues for shuttle busses on Arvia (same size ship) I guess that anywhere we don’t need one is a blessing!

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I really want to see King Arthur's round table?

 

I thought that was all a myth?

 

Isn't it?

 

Honestly ICF. You’ll be telling us that you don’t believe in Father Christmas next 🙄😂

 

https://thirdeyetraveller.com/great-hall-winchester-round-table/

[Megabear2]

Have a great cruise ICF.  Hope the traffic down to Southampton goes well for you and you get off to a great start.  Understand that the weather there will be warm so I'll think of you having that replacement cocktail. Enjoy!

[Interestedcruisefan]

9 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Have a great cruise ICF.  Hope the traffic down to Southampton goes well for you and you get off to a great start.  Understand that the weather there will be warm so I'll think of you having that replacement cocktail. Enjoy!

Thanks so much

 

And make sure you enjoy the rest of your cruise the best you possibly can 

 

Focus on the bits you know you can enjoy. Don't let any of the bad stuff get you down!

 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[Pink-belle]

It’s cruise day, I’m looking forward to following along.

You have a nice day planned, before boarding.

 

would be really grateful if you could post the “New” Glass House drinks menu.  Hoping my favourites, remain outside the drinks package, (We don’t but a package) so they don’t run dry during the cruise.

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 minute ago, Pink-belle said:

It’s cruise day, I’m looking forward to following along.

You have a nice day planned, before boarding.

 

would be really grateful if you could post the “New” Glass House drinks menu.  Hoping my favourites, remain outside the drinks package, (We don’t but a package) so they don’t run dry during the cruise.

Will do

[grapau27]

9 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Thanks so much

 

And make sure you enjoy the rest of your cruise the best you possibly can 

 

Focus on the bits you know you can enjoy. Don't let any of the bad stuff get you down!

 

 

I will be following your Live from.

I hope you have a fantastic cruise.