Iona G401 - Live report

[Eddie99]

Good Morning

Finally, we’ve navigated the temperamental, non-intuitive WiFi/Internet access and I am able to write a few lines.  
 

Arrival and embarkation

Boarding time was 12noon and we were dropped at about a quarter too.  Quite a large queue of people already outside.  Case drop off is DIY, through various holes in the wall, according to your cabin deck.  Of course the taxi dropped us near the entrance and our hole was the furthest from there!  It felt a long way dragging the cases down, not so bad on the return.

Priority boarding directed us to a different “lane” from the majority and we were up the escalator, booked in, and through security without any delay at all.  We crossed the threshold onto Iona at 12.06 and went straight to muster station D to be pinged in.  No problem 

Then directly to the Coral restaurant for Caribbean, Baltic, Ligurian and suite lunch.  A buffet.  I was disappointed, having been hoping for a served 3 course affair.  There were no two-tops left, so we shared a table of 6 with two very nice couples, so it was actually nice to remember how enjoyable the social side of cruising is.  I can’t say the food was anything special, and queuing and plate-juggling to get it was definitely not the best.  Anyway, the chat was good and kept us at the table beyond the 1.30 ding-dong telling us cabins were ready.

Cabin

For reasons I can’t remember, we booked a sea view cabin on Deck 4.  It’s really nice, though we will no doubt pine for a balcony once we reach the sun.  Lots of space - 2 sofas.  Plenty of wardrobe space but no drawers.  Very nice en suite.

Iona - first impressions 

Huge!

Everything looks so different to every other P&O ship we’ve experienced.  Bright, airy, spacious.

We’ve a lot more exploring to do, so  watch this space

Cases arrived pretty smartly and we’d unpacked by 3.  Started to look at the various bits of paper left on the desk.  An envelope addressed to each of us … meh, probably the Limelight booking confirmation/tickets.  Opened them up … Lo and behold

”A Special Gift Just for You - The Ultimate Drinks Package” 😳

Whaaaaaat???

Messaged our children asking them if they wanted to pickle our livers to gain their inheritance early?  No - they hadn’t done it, nothing to do with them.  
Had another look at the card.  The only other thing, apart from our names & cabin number is P&O UK!

So, for whatever reason, we are the blue eyed children and P&O have been very kind to us

We had to go to a bar to get the upgrade added to our cruise cards.  They had a chart with the prices for purchase 😳. It’s enormous!  I don’t think I would ever consider it

We’ve already got a decent whack of OBC so will be cruise mini-millionaires 🙂

 

Went to the Glass House for supper.  3 tapas plates each, followed by a shared cheese plate.  And free wine, of course, which explains my rather fuzzy head this morning (it’s improving thank goodness, and has been a timely reminder that I simply can’t drink very much these days.  Small glasses, well spaced, with water between, in future)

 

So, that’s a belated Day 1

Hopefully we’re internet-savvy now and I’ll be able to do updates as we go along

 

It’s grey outside, and we’re speeding along.  Hurrah - getting a bit closer to the sun 

 

[lindyloo22]

Lucky you free booze have a great cruise look forward to hearing your adventures and hope the seas stay calm for you.

[Leomins]

Wow, free drink package, what a lovely surprise!

[Eddie99]

Some pucs

 

 

 

 

 

[Smudgemum]

Lovely to have a drinks package, freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. Looking forward to hearing your adventures. As we have booked on Iona for March safe travels 

[Beckett]

Room looks lovely Eddie and the drinks package gift - wow - that's a gift really worth having. I'm so pleased for you, especially as you were a bit nervy about the whole cruise. Have a great time. Jane xx

[Camberley]

30 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

 

Messaged our children asking them if they wanted to pickle our livers to gain their inheritance early?  

 

 

One of the best sentences on the forum. Brilliant!

 

Have a great cruise 

[heatherb1958]

Wonderful start to your cruise.. included drinks , wow.

We got off Iona's New year cruise  yesterday , had a great cruise, my advice is if you don't do dining room breakfast head to the Quays on deck 8 , so much better than the zoo on deck 16 even with the plastic plates.

Have a great cruise .

[Winifred 22]

When you get back would you mind sharing the cabin number ? I would love a window seat like that. I know not all of them are configured like that so would be grateful for any information. 

[Angel57]

Wow. What a great start to the cruise……. Have a wonderfully alcohol-fuelled cruise! 

[purplesea]

What a lovely surprise - free drinks on P&O! Enjoy.

 

Hope you have a great cruise.

 

I liked Iona when we were on her two years ago. Where has that time gone?

[Dobbers]

47 minutes ago, Winifred 22 said:

When you get back would you mind sharing the cabin number ? I would love a window seat like that. I know not all of them are configured like that so would be grateful for any information. 

Was thinking the same thing although hubby would end up covering the sofa with clothes.

 

Have a great cruise Eddie 🥂

[TigerB]

Winner winner, boozy dinner!🥂 

What a great start to your cruise. I will be following along as we are on the same cruise in February.

 

Have a great time

[lancashire_cruisers]

Wow! What a fantastic surprise have a fabulous cruise ❤️

[pete14]

Have a great cruise. Free drinks package must have been a huge shock that only a few drinks will help you to recover from. 

[P&O SUE]

Thanks for doing this Eddie, I will be very interested to see what you think as I can not decide whether to try Iona or not! I love those outside cabins with the window seats.

 

I wonder why you got a drinks package ? Lovely surprise though. Enjoy your cruise!

[Eddie99]

Thanks all

I forgot to say that, apparently, we didn’t set sail till late yesterday because Nicole Scherzinger was giving two performances, then disembarking in Southampton.  I don’t know her, at all, but one of our lunch companions was excited.  “You remember - she sang at the Coronation”. “No, didn’t see it” “Oh (disbelieving face 🙂)”

 

It feels quite busy today, with 5000 odd people schlepping about, finding watering holes, queuing for Future Cruises, looking in the retail outlets etc. It still seems relatively spacious though, in the bits we’ve seen.  We’ve not ventured above deck 8 yet.  That’ll be tomorrow

 

We had room service breakfast, which was supposed to be little but was quite big.  Not looking for anything else to eat so far, and are booked for The Beach House tonight.  I’ll report on that tomorrow.  I don’t think we’ll go to any Headliners etc, so I won’t be able to talk about that.

 

Talks today sounded OK.  Motown this morning, Art heists this afternoon.  Again, we’ll give ‘em a miss

 

That’s all from me today.

[Eddie99]

6 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

Thanks for doing this Eddie, I will be very interested to see what you think as I can not decide whether to try Iona or not! I love those outside cabins with the window seats.

 

I wonder why you got a drinks package ? Lovely surprise though. Enjoy your cruise!

I’ve no idea!

It’s 4 years since we cruised - maybe they’re delighted to see us back???

Do you think random people are lucky each cruise?  If they do it regularly you’d think they might promote it? OTOH, perhaps that would be a disincentive to book prior to boarding (but they could get over that by just giving a refund)

The cards definitely had our names & cabin on them, so it was meant for us …

Dunno, but am a happy bunny

[Eddie99]

3 hours ago, Winifred 22 said:

When you get back would you mind sharing the cabin number ? I would love a window seat like that. I know not all of them are configured like that so would be grateful for any information. 

Yes, of course

 

[Selbourne]

Wow! A free Ultimate Drinks Package

and no idea why? What a lovely start, although I would be needing to find out why 😂. I can’t imagine why P&O didn’t gift us a free drinks package on Aurora. I looked at it before we left home, for amusement more than anything else, and it was only £6,500 😱🤣

[Harry Peterson]

3 hours ago, Dobbers said:

Was thinking the same thing although hubby would end up covering the sofa with clothes.

I see that as one of our greatest strengths. My wife, however, identifies fully with your viewpoint! 😉

[Technoman2]

Eddie would you offer it to someone else if you were T total 😆

 

What a nice gesture i wonder if anyone else was gifted it?

You wernt one of the unlucky people who didnt get tickets for the Gary Barlow concert on a previous cruise were you.
Have a lovely time we loved Iona when it was only two thirds full.

[P&O SUE]

30 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Wow! A free Ultimate Drinks Package

and no idea why? What a lovely start, although I would be needing to find out why 😂. I can’t imagine why P&O didn’t gift us a free drinks package on Aurora. I looked at it before we left home, for amusement more than anything else, and it was only £6,500 😱🤣

we really need a 😱 option when we click on reactions here 😁

[Eddie99]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Wow! A free Ultimate Drinks Package

and no idea why? What a lovely start, although I would be needing to find out why 😂. I can’t imagine why P&O didn’t gift us a free drinks package on Aurora. I looked at it before we left home, for amusement more than anything else, and it was only £6,500 😱🤣

We thought it best to just accept it quietly in case someone looked at it and realised they’d made a terrible mistake! 
As I said before, you’d think they might publicise their largesse

[Eddie99]

1 hour ago, Technoman2 said:

Eddie would you offer it to someone else if you were T total 😆

 

What a nice gesture i wonder if anyone else was gifted it?

You wernt one of the unlucky people who didnt get tickets for the Gary Barlow concert on a previous cruise were you.
Have a lovely time we loved Iona when it was only two thirds full.

It’s the “bells & whistles” package, so any kind of tea or coffee, all soft drinks and juices,  water,  and 0% alcohol “alcohol” (beer, wine, spirits) are included.  I reckon a teetotaller could make good use, though it would be hard/impossible to glug through so much liquid to exhaust the daily allowance