Selbourne Live from Iona!

[Fionboard]

2 hours ago, david63 said:

Not wanting to perpetuate the lift saga but could some of the problem on Iona be due to the number of decks? Britannia, for example, has 12 lift accessible decks whilst Iona has 16 and whilst the lift/passenger ratio is the same on Iona there is a greater usage especially going up.

Another factor, surely, is that the lifts on the three big ships are smaller than those on the older ones (which also have fewer passengers). Lifts on Aurora, the smallest, are huge compared to Britannia, etc. 

[Eglesbrech]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

After an hour ashore we returned to the ship for our booked lunch in Olive Grove. This

What’s the current situation for the Olive Grove. Is it all pre booking and tough luck if you didn’t get in there and book quickly enough or is it open for daily booking on the app? When we were onboard it was the app so at least everyone had a bit of a chance to get in. We really enjoyed the food there.

 

I have also been interested to read your impressions about the food which seem very positive with regard to the MDR. Food is a big part of any holiday for me and I was not in the least impressed by the offering or the service in the MRD in January. Do you think your experience is good as you effectively have a fixed table and waiters or from your observations is it generally easy to get a table / get served/ get food that is actually hot?

 

[Selbourne]

13 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

What’s the current situation for the Olive Grove. Is it all pre booking and tough luck if you didn’t get in there and book quickly enough or is it open for daily booking on the app? When we were onboard it was the app so at least everyone had a bit of a chance to get in. We really enjoyed the food there.

 

I have also been interested to read your impressions about the food which seem very positive with regard to the MDR. Food is a big part of any holiday for me and I was not in the least impressed by the offering or the service in the MRD in January. Do you think your experience is good as you effectively have a fixed table and waiters or from your observations is it generally easy to get a table / get served/ get food that is actually hot?

 

Olive Grove - It’s bookable via the app, but I’d advise booking at least the day before. On the day it’s usually showing as full. However, even though it shows as full, if you just turn up (as we have done and both our daughters have separately) they will usually either let you in or take a booking for say 30 minutes later. Obviously this is good, but makes a bit of a mockery as to why the app is showing as full 🤔. Unusually the restaurant manager is (I think) Australian and isn’t as accommodating as the Indian / Asian managers tend to be. In fact a bit of a jobsworth. We had a lunch booking yesterday (port day) for just the two of us and one of our daughters and her partner decided that they’d like to come to. The restaurant manager said that he couldn’t accommodate a table for 4. Fair enough. How about 2 adjacent tables of 2? Not possible. So in we go to find the restaurant half empty, yet we were seated away from each other. My daughter looked at me and looking around at all the empty tables did a ‘why?’ gesture 😂 In all honesty, it felt like a point was being made and I just couldn’t envisage the restaurant managers elsewhere doing that. Leaving that aside, the food was great and we’ve all agreed that it is the best lunch venue on the ship. 

MDR - In fairness, other than the loyalty lunch and breakfast every day, we’ve only had one lunch (about to be 2) and one dinner in the MDR and with all but the lunch we have had a reserved table. However, I have been keeping an eye on the app out of curiosity and my sense is that it works far better than it did on Britannia, with nothing like the number of ‘queue full’ messages. I haven’t overheard any complaints about wait times, whereas there were plenty on Britannia! One of our daughters and her partner dined in the MDR a second night without us at around 7.30pm. They used the app, got called quickly and reported that they had a great meal. Over breakfast today they repeated how impressed they were with the MDR and they are going again on the last night whilst we go to Epicurean again. As for all the reports about food not being hot, the only meal that I’ve had that wasn’t  hot was in Keel & Cow. The MDR has been fine in that regard, as it was on Britannia. 
 

[Eglesbrech]

3 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Olive Grove - It’s bookable via the app, but I’d advise booking at least the day before. On the day it’s usually showing as full. However, even though it shows as full, if you just turn up (as we have done and both our daughters have separately) they will usually either let you in or take a booking for say 30 minutes later. Obviously this is good, but makes a bit of a mockery as to why the app is showing as full 🤔. Unusually the restaurant manager is (I think) Australian and isn’t as accommodating as the Indian / Asian managers tend to be. In fact a bit of a jobsworth. We had a lunch booking yesterday (port day) for just the two of us and one of our daughters and her partner decided that they’d like to come to. The restaurant manager said that he couldn’t accommodate a table for 4. Fair enough. How about 2 adjacent tables of 2? Not possible. So in we go to find the restaurant half empty, yet we were seated away from each other. My daughter looked at me and looking around at all the empty tables did a ‘why?’ gesture 😂 In all honesty, it felt like a point was being made and I just couldn’t envisage the restaurant managers elsewhere doing that. Leaving that aside, the food was great and we’ve all agreed that it is the best lunch venue on the ship. 

MDR - In fairness, other than the loyalty lunch and breakfast every day, we’ve only had one lunch (about to be 2) and one dinner in the MDR and with all but the lunch we have had a reserved table. However, I have been keeping an eye on the app out of curiosity and my sense is that it works far better than it did on Britannia, with nothing like the number of ‘queue full’ messages. I haven’t overheard any complaints about wait times, whereas there were plenty on Britannia! One of our daughters and her partner dined in the MDR a second night without us at around 7.30pm. They used the app, got called quickly and reported that they had a great meal. Over breakfast today they repeated how impressed they were with the MDR and they are going again on the last night whilst we go to Epicurean again. As for all the reports about food not being hot, the only meal that I’ve had that wasn’t  hot was in Keel & Cow. The MDR has been fine in that regard, as it was on Britannia. 
 

Thank you. Sounds like things have improved.

 

There were aspects of Iona that I really liked but I have been reluctant to book again because of the mad dash required to secure speciality dining (like you we enjoyed the meals in Epicurian), 710 club, shows etc.

 

As for the experience at the Olive grove it defies all reason!

[TigerB]

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

DAY 5 - Hellesylt

 

Thankfully I had the first decent nights sleep since the cruise started. Today is a bittersweet day as we should have been in Geiranger. We booked this cruise at launch specifically because it called at Geiranger, which is the only one of the ‘top’ scenic fjord ports that we haven’t been to. The ship was only due to stop at Hellesylt en-route to Geiranger in order to drop off passengers who were booked on certain tours. 

 

About a year after we booked it was announced that we would no longer be going to Geiranger, but as a consolation we would do a scenic transit down much of the Geirangerfjord (past the Seven Sisters waterfall etc) after leaving Hellesylt, before turning around and heading back out to sea. In typical P&O fashion there was no apology whatsoever for this itinerary curtailment, but lots of mention of tours to Geiranger that we could do (which, as my wife is in a wheelchair we couldn’t) - all of which were at considerable extra cost (and additional profit for P&O). We reluctantly resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn’t get to Geiranger but would make the most of the scenic detour after departure instead. 

 

However, the icing on the cake came a few months ago when we had a further message that even the partial transit towards Geiranger was now cancelled. No explanation whatsoever was given (not even the usual ‘Operational reasons’ cover-all excuse) and, as expected, not even the slightest apology. P&O really do handle these things appallingly, and to say that we were disappointed was an understatement. 

 

Anyway, Hellesylt is a maiden visit for us so moving on. We docked facing the waterfall so had a lovely outlook. Stupidly, I tempted fate yesterday by saying how lucky we had been with the weather, as it became murky and drizzly soon after we left Olden and it was still a bit damp and dreary in Hellesylt, but still looked beautiful.

 

One of our daughters and her partner had booked a tour, so had an early breakfast in the buffet. They managed to get seated much easier this time. The rest of us headed off for breakfast at our usual table in the Pearl MDR with our fantastic waiters. I mentioned to our waiter that the desk hadn’t been keen to reserve us the table when I’d asked yesterday, and he said that he tells the desk at the start of every day to hold it for us and makes sure that nobody else gets it! 

 

After breakfast I picked up the Britain Today paper in Vista’s and when we returned to the cabin the steward hadn’t serviced it but turned up just after us, so we went back to Vista’s for a drink. We then headed ashore for a wander around. 

 

Hellesylt has a very different feeling to Olden. There are some small commercial places here and also a number of disused buildings, including the (no longer) Grand Hotel and a huge abandoned hostel high above , overlooking over the village. The place still has its own charm though and the highlight is the large waterfall that comes down through the village. There is also a small beach and some hardy souls were jumping in from a jetty and swimming. Rather them than me in those glacial waters, August or not 🥶

 

After an hour ashore we returned to the ship for our booked lunch in Olive Grove. This really is a super addition for P&O. The ambiance is good and the food is excellent. There is a choice of 3 sharing platters for starters (Greek Meze, Antipasti etc) and a nice variety of mains on mostly Italian and Greek themes. There are two puds I can thoroughly recommend - the lemon and orange flavour crème brûlée Catalania (I’ve probably got that wrong) and the lemon tart with rose (Turkish delight flavoured) ice cream. It a far better lunch venue than the Glass House, in terms of ambiance, location and choice of food. 

 

Another drink in Vistas before getting settled on our balcony for the sail away and transit down the fjord. A very sedate and silent departure in comparison the rousing send off that we ‘d had from Olden the previous day, but an even more scenic one as there was no rain. It was pretty cold though with no sun, so after an hour and a half we moved inside the cabin and watched the rest of our transit through the balcony doors 😂 

 

There are lots of little houses perched in the most precarious places along the sheer sides of the fjords and you wonder how on earth people get to and from them, given that there are no roads. I remember on a Northern Lights Cruise a guide telling us that people use skidoos in the winter when it’s snowy to get to their log cabins. These

slopes are too steep though and there’s no snow!

 

For dinner we had booked the Norwegian Tasting Menu in Epicurean. I had booked it for 8pm assuming that would be around the time when we were finally leaving the fjord. Thankfully that turned out to be a good guess, as when we left Hellesylt the captain said that we would be transiting the fjord for several hours before finally reaching the sea at around 8pm! The booking was just for the two of us, as the other members of our party preferred the Beach House menu. 

 

I am so glad that we booked this. It was a genuinely 10/10 experience. Every course was superb, even the course that I thought I wouldn’t like (trout). This menu is only available for one night on each Iona fjords cruise and it sold out within less than a day of going on sale 14 days before the cruise. We both agreed that it was the best meal that we’ve had on Iona - and we’ve had a number of very good ones!

 

To end the evening we had booked the 10.30pm 710 Club session, the theme of which was rock. That couldn’t be more of a contrast than last night! When we got there we assumed that they hadn’t started letting people in as there was a huge arc of over 50 people surrounding the venue. I asked someone if this was the queue and was told that it was everyone who was on standby hoping to get in, as the show was a sell out. Thankfully as we had booked we were able to walk straight in but, of the 50 or so hopefuls only around 6 were let in. 

 

Another great set by Fenmore (Canadian singer and pianist) and the band which we really enjoyed. Thankfully the drummer didn’t sing this time, but all other band members took the lead vocal at various times and all did a great job. As has been documented many times on this forum, book as soon as you board as these are very limited capacity shows and sell out quickly. One negative which we hadn’t had experienced during our previous 2 visits was that the atrium outside was absolutely full of people participating in the silent disco, which was far from silent, it was deafening. Even though the 710 performance was a loud rock set, I could still hear hundreds of people singing songs like ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘I will survive’ over it! The single set of doors to the 710 Club is insufficient to separate the noise if they are going to host discos in the atrium. They need two sets of doors and lobby between them to stop the sound bleed. Even writing this now at midnight in our cabin 2 decks above the top of atrium and a fair way along the corridor from the stairwell, I can still hear the singing. Never have so many tone deaf people been gathered together in one place at one time 🤣 

 

The rest of our party also enjoyed their meal  in the Beach House and the late performance of Triboo in the SkyDome afterwards. So a good day was had by all. Tomorrow is our last stop of the cruise - Haugesund. 

 

Another great report.👍

 

I am so glad you enjoyed the tasting menu; I too thought it was fantastic and excellent value for money.  I really liked the trout, but that was the only thing I had off the meat/fish menu; everything else I had was on the vegetarian menu.  Don't say too much as @bronzevernis has booked the tasting menu, but did you like the chicken skin amuse? Our lass left it.

 

I'm glad too that you are really liking Olive Grove, and choosing it for lunch. That Crema Catalana dessert really is fantastic. As you know, I'm not a dessert person and have never had two or more desserts at one sitting (🤥), but I reckon I could easily polish off four or five of those!🐷

 

As you did, we also booked for the maiden Fjord season, and was looking forward to Gerainger.  We booked the June one in November 2021, and I can't really remember if that port had been dropped by then. The navigation of Geraingerfjord was still on though, so that was a disappointment it was also dropped nearer to our cruise.  When onboard I had a conversation with the Excursions Manager about why the navigation as far as the Seven Sisters had been dropped; I had initially understood it to be scheduled for after we left Hellesylt in the early afternoon. He said something along the lines of it not being at the optimum time for all guests to enjoy.  I couldn't get my head around that, as the Fjord transit from Olden was during meal times, as was the subsequent one from Hellesylt.  I reckon it was more from a commercial viewpoint, in the they wanted to get to Haugesund early enough to not miss out on refuelling.

 

Wow, the 710 Club has been more popular on your cruise than it was on ours; the most I saw queuing for the 22:30 performance was about twenty. 

It sounds like there has been a change of personnel also; this was our band...

Sebastian - pianist, lead vocalist, and MD
Adam - guitar
Ellis - bass
Ryan - drums.

 

 

I know what you mean about the silent disco.  Our kids and their partners did it on Britannia last year, and loved it.  I have threatened our lass that, on the next cruise, and subject to the imbibing of several Punk IPAs, I will treat the other cruisers to my falsetto singing style and dad dancing.🤭

 

 

[bronzevernis]

23 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Don't say too much as @bronzevernis has booked the tasting menu, but did you like the chicken skin amuse? Our lass left it.

 

 When onboard I had a conversation with the Excursions Manager about why the navigation as far as the Seven Sisters had been dropped; I had initially understood it to be scheduled for after we left Hellesylt in the early afternoon. He said something along the lines of it not being at the optimum time for all guests to enjoy.  I couldn't get my head around that, as the Fjord transit from Olden was during meal times, as was the subsequent one from Hellesylt.  I reckon it was more from a commercial viewpoint, in the they wanted to get to Haugesund early enough to not miss out on refuelling.

 

 

I’ve already had a sneek peek of the Norway Taster Menu 😜

 

The Geirangerfjord issue is down to it being a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s Norway who has decided that cruise ships (not sure about smaller ship or whether it applies to all cruise ships irrespective of size) can’t sail the Geirangerfjord anymore. 
 

This will become an increasing issue over the next couple of years with Norway imposing strict limits/ bans on cruise ships in certain parts of the fjords. 
 

P&O are being coy about the reason for cancellation of that part of the itinerary. Perhaps it thinks it will put customers off from booking a Fjords cruise. 

[Selbourne]

53 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Thank you. Sounds like things have improved.

 

There were aspects of Iona that I really liked but I have been reluctant to book again because of the mad dash required to secure speciality dining (like you we enjoyed the meals in Epicurian), 710 club, shows etc.

 

As for the experience at the Olive grove it defies all reason!

Update - just had second MDR lunch. Used the app. Called in minutes. Different table and waiters to usual but still first class food and service. Satay starter and chicken curry main both hot and excellent flavours. Reminded me of the MDR lunchtime curries of old. The rice pudding was cold - but was meant to be (our waitress had warned us when we ordered) 😂 Couldn’t fault any of it. 

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Fionboard said:

Another factor, surely, is that the lifts on the three big ships are smaller than those on the older ones (which also have fewer passengers). Lifts on Aurora, the smallest, are huge compared to Britannia, etc. 

That's interesting, because on the Princess, Britannia equivalent ships, the lifts are huge.

[Selbourne]

36 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Another great report.👍

 

I am so glad you enjoyed the tasting menu; I too thought it was fantastic and excellent value for money.  I really liked the trout, but that was the only thing I had off the meat/fish menu; everything else I had was on the vegetarian menu.  Don't say too much as @bronzevernis has booked the tasting menu, but did you like the chicken skin amuse? Our lass left it.

 

I'm glad too that you are really liking Olive Grove, and choosing it for lunch. That Crema Catalana dessert really is fantastic. As you know, I'm not a dessert person and have never had two or more desserts at one sitting (🤥), but I reckon I could easily polish off four or five of those!🐷

 

As you did, we also booked for the maiden Fjord season, and was looking forward to Gerainger.  We booked the June one in November 2021, and I can't really remember if that port had been dropped by then. The navigation of Geraingerfjord was still on though, so that was a disappointment it was also dropped nearer to our cruise.  When onboard I had a conversation with the Excursions Manager about why the navigation as far as the Seven Sisters had been dropped; I had initially understood it to be scheduled for after we left Hellesylt in the early afternoon. He said something along the lines of it not being at the optimum time for all guests to enjoy.  I couldn't get my head around that, as the Fjord transit from Olden was during meal times, as was the subsequent one from Hellesylt.  I reckon it was more from a commercial viewpoint, in the they wanted to get to Haugesund early enough to not miss out on refuelling.

 

Wow, the 710 Club has been more popular on your cruise than it was on ours; the most I saw queuing for the 22:30 performance was about twenty. 

It sounds like there has been a change of personnel also; this was our band...

Sebastian - pianist, lead vocalist, and MD
Adam - guitar
Ellis - bass
Ryan - drums.

 

 

I know what you mean about the silent disco.  Our kids and their partners did it on Britannia last year, and loved it.  I have threatened our lass that, on the next cruise, and subject to the imbibing of several Punk IPAs, I will treat the other cruisers to my falsetto singing style and dad dancing.🤭

 

 

The drummer and two guitarists are still the same, but the drummer leaves at the end of this cruise. The pianist is different (Fenmore) and he’s brilliant. We really enjoyed all 3 performances (two from the band and the one with Elly). It’s a great addition to the entertainment offer. 

[Dermotsgirl]

On the subject of lifts, they are something I rarely use, mostly because I dislike them. Fortunately, I’m in a position to be able to walk up the stairs, so I never take much notice  of what’s going on around the lifts. If I’ve got several floors to climb, it’s not unknown for me to do some floors on one staircase, then walk through to another staircase and restart the climb.  However, there will be times when even I will resort to lifts, when 10 floors are involved. So I’m not surprised if people who may not otherwise bother with lifts have to use them on Iona.  But that doesn’t mean that they should lose all sense of politeness!
 

it also makes me reflect that everyone has different needs on a cruise.  What may be unimportant to one person, might have a a big effect on someone else’s cruise enjoyment.

 

I returned from my Saga cruise on Monday, and there were a couple of things that had a big effect on our enjoyment of the cruise. Yet other people wouldn’t be bothered at all, and other people will probably think the aspects we didn’t like were actually benefits. 

 

 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

That's interesting, because on the Princess, Britannia equivalent ships, the lifts are huge.

My wife’s wheelchair is slightly smaller than average, yet we fill one third of the lifts on Iona. Lots of people have commented that the lifts seem far too small for the numbers using them.  

[TigerB]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

We haven’t eaten in the Quays. It’s always been rammed when we’ve walked through (queues at the counters have been negligible but the seating area seems full). However the food looks great.

 

That is the problem with the inside seating in the Quays; they could very easily set three of four tables near the walkway aside for wheelchair users and the mobility impaired. But no! Even though M&S do it in their coffee shops, P&O can't be seen to give priority to those that need it!🙄

What we would do is take our food deckside; we usually found seating outside in the same area, both starboard and port side. I would sometimes just bob down and grab something for both of us, and take it back to the cabin.

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, bronzevernis said:

I’ve already had a sneek peek of the Norway Taster Menu 😜

 

The Geirangerfjord issue is down to it being a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s Norway who has decided that cruise ships (not sure about smaller ship or whether it applies to all cruise ships irrespective of size) can’t sail the Geirangerfjord anymore. 
 

This will become an increasing issue over the next couple of years with Norway imposing strict limits/ bans on cruise ships in certain parts of the fjords. 
 

P&O are being coy about the reason for cancellation of that part of the itinerary. Perhaps it thinks it will put customers off from booking a Fjords cruise. 

Other cruise ships still seem to be making it to Geiranger. I tend to recall our P&O insider saying that there had been a ***** up with Iona being designed to an incorrect brief given by the port. I don’t think I imagined that, but will no doubt be corrected if that’s wrong. 

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

My wife’s wheelchair is slightly smaller than average, yet we fill one third of the lifts on Iona. Lots of people have commented that the lifts seem far too small for the numbers using them.  

Having done 2 cruises on Iona I agree that they are far to small, and the fact that the doors seem even smaller in proportion, makes it difficult for wheelchair users to get close to one side leaving space for another wheelchair, or even a full number of able bodied passengers.

[bronzevernis]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

Other cruise ships still seem to be making it to Geiranger. I tend to recall our P&O insider saying that there had been a ***** up with Iona being designed to an incorrect brief given by the port. I don’t think I imagined that, but will no doubt be corrected if that’s wrong. 

I didn’t know that. We had notice from P&O about 6 weeks ago regarding the Geirangerfjord itinerary change. 
 

We’ve booked the ferry trip excursion from Hellesylt to Geiranger so we still get to enjoy sailing it. 

[Selbourne]

16 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

On the subject of lifts, they are something I rarely use, mostly because I dislike them. Fortunately, I’m in a position to be able to walk up the stairs, so I never take much notice  of what’s going on around the lifts. If I’ve got several floors to climb, it’s not unknown for me to do some floors on one staircase, then walk through to another staircase and restart the climb.  However, there will be times when even I will resort to lifts, when 10 floors are involved. So I’m not surprised if people who may not otherwise bother with lifts have to use them on Iona.  But that doesn’t mean that they should lose all sense of politeness!
 

it also makes me reflect that everyone has different needs on a cruise.  What may be unimportant to one person, might have a a big effect on someone else’s cruise enjoyment.

 

I returned from my Saga cruise on Monday, and there were a couple of things that had a big effect on our enjoyment of the cruise. Yet other people wouldn’t be bothered at all, and other people will probably think the aspects we didn’t like were actually benefits. 

 

 

Can’t wait to hear all about your Saga cruise (good and bad) and how it compares to P&O. As you know, we would like to try them, but the price difference is enormous. I appreciate that virtually everything is included with Saga though.
 

I do hope that you will feel able to do a review or at least outline the issues mentioned in your final paragraph. As

you rightly say, different things can impact different people in very different ways. 

[Selbourne]

20 minutes ago, bronzevernis said:

I didn’t know that. We had notice from P&O about 6 weeks ago regarding the Geirangerfjord itinerary change. 
 

We’ve booked the ferry trip excursion from Hellesylt to Geiranger so we still get to enjoy sailing it. 

I think that Geiranger uses an extendable floating walkway to avoid the need for berthing or tenders, and that P&O had asked for the measurements when building Iona and had been given incorrect info. I could be wrong about that. I often have troubled dreams 😂 

 

Good call about the excursion to Geiranger. Not a lot to see in Hellesylt. We might have considered it but couldn’t establish if it was wheelchair accessible. Besides, there was a point of principle in not giving P&O more money for what we had already paid for. A more customer serviced company would have provided free transfers for those of us who booked back when the cruise was sold as going to Geiranger. 

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I think this may also be a major factor David. I have seen far more people using the stairs on this ship than others, but I’ve put that down to the younger demographic and also I’ve noticed that a lot of passengers give up waiting for a lift that they can get in, so use the stairs as it’s quicker. However, with 16 floors accessed by lifts, you’d have to be super fit to use them all the time if going up. I know that I couldn’t 🥵 

Our cabin was on deck 11 so it was quite easy to walk up to the buffet or down to the promenade deck. We are regular buffet users, but the Quays meant that we were quite happy to remain on decks 8 and 9 on Iona. In our case, we didn’t use the stairs/lifts as often as before. And having a proper promenade also meant that we were quite content to stay on the lower decks. 

[ParisHilton]

@TigerB We wondered if they refuelled, or set sail from Southampton with enough. Thanks for claryifying.  Do they top up on food and drink too do you know?

[SarahHben]

On 8/22/2023 at 7:02 AM, Selbourne said:

And a truly ‘Live from’ as this is our arrival into Olden taken just minutes ago

 

 

Beautiful photos!

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, ParisHilton said:

@TigerB We wondered if they refuelled, or set sail from Southampton with enough. Thanks for claryifying.  Do they top up on food and drink too do you know?

We are currently refuelling in Haugesund. I thought that we also refuelled in Stavanger but can’t be 100% sure. 

[SarahHben]

On 8/22/2023 at 11:44 AM, zap99 said:

I think the atrium is nice. Bright and modern. Traditional is fine , but can look drab and dreary.

I agree, I really like Iona's atrium, so light and airy.

[TigerB]

1 hour ago, ParisHilton said:

@TigerB We wondered if they refuelled, or set sail from Southampton with enough. Thanks for claryifying.  Do they top up on food and drink too do you know?

 

I have feeling that they probably refuelled there because it was easier than doing it at Southampton and possibly cheaper, taking on enough to see the ship well into the next cruise.

 

I'm quite certain they didn't take on extra food and, like they do with longer itineraries in the Caribbean or Med. If they did, it really didn't show; the yogurts were still getting thin and the grapefruit juice still felt watered down in the last two days before getting to Southampton.🙄

 

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

We are currently refuelling in Haugesund. I thought that we also refuelled in Stavanger but can’t be 100% sure. 

 

I don't recall it being refuelled in Stavanger.  We were parked port side to the quay, and while we were walking around the harbour I don't recall seeing a tanker on the starboard side; they are usually there for several hours.

 

We found Haugesund to be a bit meh, so thought it must be port selected more for the convenience of the company (cheap fuel) rather than as a picturesque port for the passengers.

 

Perhaps @molecrochip may be able to offer a 'company' perspective.

[Dermotsgirl]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Can’t wait to hear all about your Saga cruise (good and bad) and how it compares to P&O. As you know, we would like to try them, but the price difference is enormous. I appreciate that virtually everything is included with Saga though.
 

I do hope that you will feel able to do a review or at least outline the issues mentioned in your final paragraph. As

you rightly say, different things can impact different people in very different ways. 

I've just posted part one of my report, and intend to do a bit more each day.

 

I'm keen to  get everything down in writing, so that I can get all my thoughts out of my head, but things are moving slower than usual round here. My husband and myself both caught Covid on our cruise, so we are still rather sluggish, but hopefully we're getting there! 

[Selbourne]

12 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

I've just posted part one of my report, and intend to do a bit more each day.

 

I'm keen to  get everything down in writing, so that I can get all my thoughts out of my head, but things are moving slower than usual round here. My husband and myself both caught Covid on our cruise, so we are still rather sluggish, but hopefully we're getting there! 

Just read it and I’m sure that I won’t be the only one who will find it fascinating. Sorry to hear that you have both contracted Covid. However expensive the cruise, it seems that viruses love cruise ships of all types!