Semi-live P&O Iona: from Munich to Southampton to Norway and back!

[FooD00]

On 6/22/2024 at 6:39 PM, Angel57 said:

It’s on your boarding pass…..😉 so you can book restaurants etc as soon as you are near enough to the ship.

Hi, new to cruising and our Iona Norway cruise on 6 July will be the first so trying to get as much info together beforehand to make it as smooth as possible.

 

Whereabouts on the boarding pass do I find the 6 digit code? Is it part of the barcode in the top right? Otherwise I only see the cabin number, muster station and cruise number.

 

Thanks for any help.

[terrierjohn]

56 minutes ago, FooD00 said:

Hi, new to cruising and our Iona Norway cruise on 6 July will be the first so trying to get as much info together beforehand to make it as smooth as possible.

 

Whereabouts on the boarding pass do I find the 6 digit code? Is it part of the barcode in the top right? Otherwise I only see the cabin number, muster station and cruise number.

 

Thanks for any help.

It should be under the barcode.

Edited June 26 by terrierjohn

[solentsam]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Hi, new to cruising and our Iona Norway cruise on 6 July will be the first so trying to get as much info together beforehand to make it as smooth as possible.

 

Whereabouts on the boarding pass do I find the 6 digit code? Is it part of the barcode in the top right? Otherwise I only see the cabin number, muster station and cruise number.

 

 

 

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

t should be under the barcode.

Yes as terrierjohnn said its the last six numbers

[FooD00]

@terrierjohn  @solentsam Thanks for clarifying.

 

I saw the number under the barcode but it is longer than 6 digits which is why I was confused.

[TigerB]

Many thanks @MyriamS for the detailed, well written and balanced reports thus far.  I must say though that, by episode 4 I was feeling a little cheated, and had the distinct feeling you were deliberately teasing us with your food descriptions. Then, there it was, in post #22.......the food porn! 👍🏻

 

I agree with you that the food can be a bit hit and miss and, oh yes, why serve up a 'traditional British pud' when what arrives on your plate is nothing like one?

I too liked the five spice cake.😋

 

You really liked the fish and chips in the Quays?  It is fine enough, but if you really want fantastic fish and chips, and maybe a sage pattie, you need to visit Whiteheads in Hornsea, East Yorkshire.

 

I know you're not visiting Sindhu on this cruise, but are you planning a meal in Epicurean?  If so, then that is the time to really fill your post with food porn.😉

If you fancied it, you can visit Epicurean as a non-suite guest and pay for breakfast. It really is good.

 

As you suspected, the 'mystery pool' is for crew. Sometimes, on a sunny day, you may catch the pretty boys from the entertainment crew topping up their tans in there.

 

It was a shame about your nightmare journey getting from Germany to Southampton.  Hopefully, you are now into the full swing of the cruise and have forgotten about it somewhat.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise; I look forward to future episodes.🙂

[Dorset cruise fan]

Enjoying reading this thread as well. Did your partner find the Pulpit Rock hike manageable?

[MyriamS]

Thanks @TigerB. I'm not posting too many pictures because I'm mooching off my partner's 4G plan while in port. We don't usually buy specialty dining but I made an exception for the Epicurean afternoon tea which we will do on the last sea day. 

 

@Dorset cruise fan My partner had no trouble with the Pulpit Rock hike but he's young and full of energy (he can walk for hours without a break).

 

On to episode 7: I complain to guest service

 

We started with another breakfast in the Quays where I had the very good poached eggs again as well as the pancakes (which are small and round like Dutch poffertjes). Then we headed straight for our excursion: we had chosen "Geiranger on your own" which is a ferry transfer to the town and 3h of free time.

 

We could again have saved a little by booking the ferry transfer direct instead of through P&O but the cancellation conditions were poor and I wanted the guaranteed return to the ship. 

 

We had received a letter in our cabin a few days earlier saying not to be late as the ferry ran on a strict schedule and we had to walk to the port on our own. In fact the walk was extremely short (and went next to the nice waterfall cutting Hellesylt in half) but I guess P&O were trying to warn less mobile passengers to give themselves plenty of time. 

 

We were among the last to arrive, 20 min early, but had to wait quite a bit as the ferry was 20 min late (so much for their strict schedule). It wasn't a sightseeing cruise, but a fast ferry to Geiranger. However, we still saw plenty of beautiful scenery including the Seven Sisters waterfall. We were again very lucky with the weather: the day had actually started rainy but the clouds lifted up and it was sunny by the time we reached Geiranger. 

 

In Geiranger we walked alongside the waterfall path to the Visitor Centre. It's actually a paid museum and a cafe so we gave it a miss and walked to the church. Geiranger is a very scenic place, definitely worth the stop. While we were there the Viking Venus was in port so I guess it's possible for cruise ships to dock directly in Geiranger instead of Hellesylt but maybe it's difficult for very big ones or maybe they charge a lot more.

 

P&O's half assing their excursion came back to bite us as the ferry was 40 min late and there was no one at the pier to give us any explanation or apologies, or even tell us what to do as several other ferries came and went. There was someone when we first arrived in Geiranger but we never saw her again.

 

If you're left entirely to your own device, what's the point of a cruise ship excursion? Why have a schedule at all if no effort is made to keep it? No reason was given for the delay so I must assume that the company P&O contracted their excursion to and didn't bother to supervise just didn't care.

 

I resolved to complain to guest services, fully expecting to be fobbed off, but if no one complains, then why would P&O ever act different? 

 

First I had to run (literally, at full speed) to make it to my Olive Grove booking. We had the Mediterranean trio for starters, which was very nice. Then the piri-piri chicken and the mushroom pizza were very ordinary. I wasn't expecting amazing pizza but the menu advertised pesto and goat cheese, and there was none of the former and microscopic amount of the latter.

 

For desserts, we had the tiramisu, crema catalana and again the Sicilian lemon tart, all of which were good. The service was incredibly slow though, through no fault of our waiter. I guess they were once again short staffed. It was past 4 o'clock once we were finally done. 

 

We went for a swim at the Beachcomber pool then saw the beginning of the sailaway from one of the hot tubs. Once the way back to our cabins , we stopped by guest services who redirected us to the shorex desk, where we registered our complaint about the excursion. Not sure anything will come of it but we did our bit. 

 

It was almost time to head for dinner at 6pm when they announced the 6.45pm show in Headliners had been cancelled and everyone who booked it was moved to the 10.30pm show. Luckily we were on the 8.30pm one, otherwise I'd feel pretty disappointed.

 

For dinner in the MDR we had the croquettes and gravlax. Both were good but the latter was actually smoked salmon not gravlax (which is salted and not smoked). Then we had the rainbow trout and blue cheese arancini. The arancini had a strong cheesy taste which we actually really appreciated. For desserts, we had the treacle tart and lemon delice (a kind of flan). Everything was good in the MDR that night 

 

 

We watched the sailaway for a while then went to see Digital in the theatre. The show was very good, loved the set design and costumes for the video game and virtual reality bits. The theatre was also not full so you could probably see the show without a reservation.

 

See you tomorrow in Haugesund!

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:29 AM by MyriamS

[alpha whiskey]

Thank you for your reports. We were on Iona just a couple of weeks ago, enjoying much of what you are doing now.

 

I see you are in Haugeshund tomorrow. It gets a lot of negative press on here but we have visited 4 times and have had great days doing different things each time.

The walk through town, past some pretty houses, and out to the National monument is what we did the first time. This time we carried on the coastal path, past the little lighthouse and on towards Kvalsvik sculpture park to see the horses, which was well worth it. We are in our 60's and 70's, not hikers,  but enjoy a good stroll! 

 

Some describe the town as run down,  but compared to a lot of our UK towns it appears to be positively thriving with small independent businesses. Admittedly there are not the big department stores or designer shops if that's what you are looking for. 

 

On another occasion we walked to Djupadalen (about 2 miles from town). It is like a country park, set around a lake and where the Norwegians come out to play! On the way back we walked alongside a chap on his mobility scooter who had an enjoyable day too.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g226925-d3494157-Reviews-Djupadalen-Haugesund_Rogaland_Western_Norway.html

 

Before tackling the bridge back over to the ship we always treat ourselves to coffee and cake at one of the numerous bakeries/ coffee shops.  

 

What I am really trying to say here is,  give Haugeshund a chance. Look beyond the shops and I am sure you might be pleasantly surprised. 

 

Have a lovely day tomorrow, and hope the good weather stays with you 🤞

 

 

[Angel57]

@MyriamS thank you for your reports. I got off Iona two weeks ago and am thoroughly enjoying remembering it all. You write very well too.

Like @alpha whiskey I also enjoyed Haugesund. Admittedly it is not as scenic as the other ports but there’s plenty to see and do. The walk into town (up and over the bridge) took me about 25 mins. I rewarded myself with a delicious donut from one of the bakeries.

Thanks again.

[TigerB]

Thanks @MyriamS for the next episode 👍🏻

 

I'm glad you had a good day in Hellesylt and also Geiranger.  That's something I have a problem with, paying so much for the P&O excursions, e.g, "Explore this or that place at your own leisure", and all they do is subcontract to a company to drop you off at the location and leave you to your own devices.

 

It's good to hear that, like me, you're not shy about asking for an extra dessert or two! In Olive Grove I usually have the Tiramisu and Crema Catalana combo.🐷🐯

 

Be wary of having an early evening meal on your last night; the afternoon tea in Epicurean really is filling.

Edited Thursday at 10:17 AM by TigerB

[TigerB]

@alpha whiskey, guilty as charged!😔

In all honesty, we've only been to Haugesund once, and joined the throng walking into the town.  If we do a Norway cruise again, which I want to, and, if it is on the itinerary, I will plan to explore farther afield than just the town centre.

[Ardennais]

2 hours ago, TigerB said:

@alpha whiskey, guilty as charged!😔

In all honesty, we've only been to Haugesund once, and joined the throng walking into the town.  If we do a Norway cruise again, which I want to, and, if it is on the itinerary, I will plan to explore farther afield than just the town centre.

Try the Arquebus Resistance Museum. So glad that we did that recently. 

[MyriamS]

@TigerB we cancelled our MDR reservation on the last sea day thinking there was no way we'd be hungry at 6pm after the Epicurean at 3pm.

 

On to episode 8: Avaldnes, home of the Vikings 

 

After a quick breakfast in the MDR (I ordered the eggs Benedict again), we went straight to the pools. It was a great idea as we had the infinity pool almost to ourselves. Great view of an oil rig, the true Norway. 🙂 We then found an empty hot tub so I could stretch out and float. Bliss.

 

Our plan for today was to visit the Viking village independently. Before the trip, my partner had downloaded the Kolombus bus app on his phone and added his credit card. We only had to walk to the bus stop in the city centre then turn on 4G and buy two tickets in the app. It's also in English and very easy to use.

 

The bus came on time and we scanned the code on our tickets before finding a seat. It was a modern bus with a screen displaying all stops so it was again very easy to find ours and press the stop button.

 

We watch the scenery on the way and I can confirm that Haugesund is absolutely not run down. In fact it looks quite prosperous. It's just not touristy at all but then it's nice to visit places where normal people live. It's also a lot less crowded this way. 

 

After a 20 min ride, we stopped at Velde and walked to the Avaldnes Church and History Centre. It's a calm 20 min walk next to wooden houses and fields. We purchased our tickets in the History Centre and saw a short film that explained about the area. Avaldnes has quite the history as the royal seat of Harald Fairhair, the unificator of Western Norway. His successors then converted Norway to Christianity, defeating the pagans and building the church.

 

 

Then we walked to the little island where the Viking Village is situated. Very bucolic walk, lots of sheeps. It was cloudy in the morning so we thought it might rain but all the clouds had cleared up and it was incredibly hot and sunny.

 

The Viking Village itself is not much to look at but we came in for the 12:30 tour which really helped explain the way of life of most Vikings (which were farmers, not warriors though they did keep many slaves). Everyone in the village, history centre and church is wearing full Viking garb and spending their times sewing, carving woods or faffing around, it's interesting to see.

 

On the way back we quicky stopped inside the church that had now opened (from 13:00 onward) then took the bus back to Haugesund. We had a quick lunch in the Quays where we combined the fish sans chips with the fries from the diner. Sacrilegious I know, but I prefer thin fries to chunky chips. 

 

For dessert, we decided the weather gods were sending us a message with Norway being so bloody hot, so we spent 12£ on the gelato afternoon tea. We shared one between the two of us and it was plenty of ice cream. I wouldn't recommend eating one all on your own. It was really good especially the Magnum type chocolate ice cream, the macarons and the tube covered in sprinkles. 

 

 

I will post tonight's report and tomorrow's back to back on Saturday when we arrive back in Southampton, since we have no WiFi at sea. Thanks for the nice comments, everyone!

[MyriamS]

Episode 8 (continued): for dinner in the MDR, we had the savoury tomato cheesecake and sausage and duck liver in pastry for starters. I liked both of them, they were original and the flavours were well-balanced (the cheesecake was slightly sweet but not too sweet, the sausage roll was not too liver-y).

 

For mains my partner went for the steak again but I couldn't resist trying the baked avocado and cream cheese in pastry served with chili tomato fondue and spaetzle because it sounded so weird. Unfortunately the dish didn't quite worked as the baked avocado had an unpleasantly bitter aftertaste (maybe it wasn't ripe at all) but points for trying something original as a vegetarian main. 

 

 

For desserts we had the warm chocolate fondant and NYC cheesecake. Both were really good especially the cheesecake. It was very dense and rich and sweet enough despite being low sugar. It was my partner's favourite meal in the MDR.

When I had a shower before dinner, the shower head had detached from the tube so we headed to guest services next to report it. They send someone later in the evening to fix it. Except for a windy walk and a drink on deck, that was all for today.

 

Episode 9: the last sea day

 

This morning we went straight to the SkyDome pool after waking up and it was indeed less busy. After our swim we went to one of the nearby hot tubes and it was incredibly hot! I guess they heat them up in the morning then they cool down during the day and are tepid in the late afternoon.

 

We then had a late breakfast in the MDR. Again we were pinged almost immediately after joining the virtual queue. I had my usual favourites (eggs Benedict and American pancakes) as well as the smoothie which was made with the same weak rice-tasting "milk" they use for their custard: as a drink it works a lot better than as a custard. It's not really a smoothie though. 

 

After breakfast we headed to the Club House to listen to a talk about Norwegian inventors (fast-paced but a little bit incoherent) then to Brodie's for trivia, but we didn't stay until the end because the roiling of the ship was getting to me.

It wasn't the worst (the barf bags were not out) but the captain did mention the sea was "rough to very rough" in his noon address. I'm glad the Iona is a big ship, a small one would be tossed around much more. Also lucky for us, our assigned cabin was low and midship, so I didn't feel too much movement while lying down. I also took travel sickness pills just in case. 

 

We didn't go for lunch because of our 3.15pm afternoon tea. We did try to go to the cinema but the room was full. We watched a film in our cabin instead, there is a quite wide selection of free movies.

It was then time for afternoon tea in the Epicurean. The food was quite good but I think some of the sweet items could have been more flavourful like the cake pops that were just very sweet. Some of the description on the menu were also not very accurate: the verrine didn't have any mint in it (which I was happy about, I hate mint) and the choux despite being bright green, was entirely pistachio-less (which I was less happy about, as I love pistachio). Overall I'm happy we tried it once but I wouldn't do it again.

 

We went to the 6.30pm show tonight, which was fairly busy. It was "Take that! The musical". It had the most story of all the big production shows so far, though the music really wasn't my style.

 

We joined the virtual queue toward the end of the show and were pinged 15 min later, which isn't bad considering it was peak dinner time. For starters, we had the mezze platter and chicken satay. The latter was very tender and nice but absolutely not satay, no peanut there at all. For mains, my partner had the steak again while I tried the confit duck, which was good.

 

For desserts, we had the cheese plate, Monmouth pudding and limoncello panna cotta. Yes, we do ask for extra starters or desserts if we fancy it and are hungry enough. If anyone's judging me or thinking me greedy, I don't particularly care about it. I really like the cheese plate but the pudding again had that fake custard they put in everything. The panna cotta was very jelly like which I'm not fond of but my partner liked.

 

 

And that's all for our last night on the ship!

[terrierjohn]

Thankyou @MyriamS for a very interesting, entertaining and lively review, not overlong but full of fresh ideas for us to consider on our next cruise.

[TigerB]

Thanks @MyriamS for another great report.👍🏻

 

I think perhaps you caught the 'baked avocado doodah in pastry' chef on a bad day; when we had it once, it was spot on.

 

I didn't want to pass comment previously, when you said about booking the afternoon tea, as you were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, like you, we thought it was good but not fantastic; the sweet treats being the let down. It has changed somewhat since the days when Eric Lanlard curated it.

 

 

1 hour ago, MyriamS said:

Yes, we do ask for extra starters or desserts if we fancy it and are hungry enough. If anyone's judging me or thinking me greedy, I don't particularly care about it. 

One thing for sure, I would pick you two for my team!😄  I have exactly the same attitude.

 

 

Thanks again for your well written, informative, and unbiased reports. I really do hope that your trip home is not as traumatic as it was at the start.

[smokey01]

5 hours ago, MyriamS said:

After our swim we went to one of the nearby hot tubes and it was incredibly hot! I guess they heat them up in the morning then they cool down during the day and are tepid in the late afternoon.

That must be where I’m going wrong then. I always use the hot tubs in the afternoon and find them tepid, even to the point where my sister has bought a semi wet suit for bathing in the Welsh sea near Borth, I’ve thought maybe I should get something like that to keep me warm in the cool P&O “hot” tubs. In the past I’ve sat in the “hot” tubs with goose bumps.

[MyriamS]

5 hours ago, smokey01 said:

That must be where I’m going wrong then. I always use the hot tubs in the afternoon and find them tepid, even to the point where my sister has bought a semi wet suit for bathing in the Welsh sea near Borth, I’ve thought maybe I should get something like that to keep me warm in the cool P&O “hot” tubs. In the past I’ve sat in the “hot” tubs with goose bumps.

Do try them in the morning if you ever get the chance. Ours was really really hot, I even felt a bit faint afterwards.

 

@TigerB I think the concept of the baked avocado dish was good but I was unlucky and ended up with a bad avocado. They are notoriously difficult to find and eat at perfect ripeness even on land, much less on a ship that gets supplied once a week. 

 

On to the final episode, goodbye Iona! 

 

We checked our cabin one last time then hoisted our backpacks upon our shoulders and took the stairs to the Quays for one last breakfast. 

 

The paper we received the night before said self-disembarkation started from 7.30am but gave no time where it should end. So you can indeed self-disembark at the same time as the main disembark. That's what we did. We were done with our breakfast around half past eight, then we went down to the gangway on deck 6 and joined the short line to leave the ship. 

 

The whole process was very quick and easy: our cruise card got scanned one last time, then we went straight through the luggage hall and out of the terminal. Took 10-15min tops.

 

We walked to Southampton Central which took us about 30min. The weather was once again very sunny, wouldn't have been nice to do it under the rain. We already had tickets for the 9.30am to Waterloo: the train was incredibly busy which should really have been no surprise to SouthWestern Railway with both the Iona and a MSC cruise ship in port. We still managed to snag two seats for the hour and a half journey. 

 

In London we did part of my favourite walk, from Westminster to Tower Bridge alongside the South bank. We stopped in Borough market to buy some fancy pastries for dinner and the supermarket so my partner could finally get his crumpets. The weather was again very warm and sunny.

 

 

We met my sister for afternoon tea at 12.30 in the Swan (the restaurant right next to the Globe Theatre). The food was so much better than the afternoon tea in the Epicurean though to be fair the price was almost three times more (44£ vs 16£). This price though is to be expected in central London and they did seat us at a table with a lovely view of the city. Definitely recommend the Swan for afternoon tea (they also have a savoury version if you're not into sweets).

 

 

We then took the tube to Heathrow and arrived about 2h early. Our flight was unsurprisingly already delayed as Lufthansa do not pad their schedules at all, so we occupied ourselves by finding a functioning charge point for our phones (there really are not enough of them for such a large airport).

 

In the end our flight was 1h30 late but we made it to Munich. It seems flights just can't be trusted these days, be sure to fly extra early for your cruises or other important appointments.

 

Tomorrow we have a chill day at home so I can post one last time to give my thoughts on our overall cruise experience and rating out of ten.

[TigerB]

20 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

We met my sister for afternoon tea at 12.30 in the Swan (the restaurant right next to the Globe Theatre). The food was so much better than the afternoon tea in the Epicurean though to be fair the price was almost three times more (44£ vs 16£). This price though is to be expected in central London and they did seat us at a table with a lovely view of the city. Definitely recommend the Swan for afternoon tea (they also have a savoury version if you're not into sweets).

 

 

 

Now, that is an afternoon tea!😋

[MyriamS]

3 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Now, that is an afternoon tea!😋

It's actually three of them (two sweet, one savoury). 🙂

[TigerB]

2 hours ago, MyriamS said:

It's actually three of them (two sweet, one savoury). 🙂

🤭

[MyriamS]

Some final thoughts and reflections... Organised in 7 categories. 

 

The ship - 8/10. Iona is a beautiful ship. She's also huge, which I think is a good thing to cross the North Sea as it makes her more stable. Our cruise was at capacity in the sense that every single cabin was occupied, but I estimate only a quarter of the groups included children. It would be much more during the UK school holidays which we purposefully avoided. Still I think the ship design did a good job to spread people around and reduces crowds.

I knocked off two points because the grand atrium design didn't allow the bars and restaurants to shine as they are stuck right in the middle of the noise and foot traffic. Also Iona has a big problem that wasn't a deal breaker for us but might be for you: the lifts. They are not enough of them for the size of the ship and they occasionally break down. We quickly decided to take the lift only when going ten decks up or more but we are young and healthy. If you cannot walk much or at all and rely on lifts to move around, this is not the ship for you.

 

The cabin - 10/10. We booked a Inside Saver fare and we're very lucky to get assigned cabin 5559. Despite being underneath the cinema, this cabin is very quiet. Furthermore, being on deck 5 midship, it's ideally located next to many restaurants, the promenade deck etc. which turned out to be really useful since we were avoiding taking the lifts. Its position also allows the movement of the ship to be felt less, which I was grateful for as I felt some sea sickness on our last sea day. 

 

The technology - 5/10. We didn't experience any crashes with the My Holiday webpage. The restaurant bookings and virtual queues worked well for us: we usually eat dinner early, around 6pm, but the one day we ate at 7.30pm, we only had to wait a very reasonable 15 min. The problem is that My Holiday lacks some very basic functionalities: there is no interactive calendar where you can mark activities, the events in your diary are not shareable with others in your cabin (so when my partner booked a restaurant for us, I couldn't see it in my diary), and there are no daily menus in the app. If you want to see the menu for the MDR, you need to check the screen outside the venue but these are not touchscreens. They rotate constantly so you have to wait until they display the menu and snap a picture. It's a bit silly really, and easily fixable.

 

Carnival is a huge cruise line with many subsidiaries: Carnival itself, Princess and Costa have three different apps, P&O has My Holiday. Why not pick a single "base app" for all your brands? You can change the colours and logos to preserve the identity of each line, disable some functionalities if they are not needed for certain lines/ships. A single app would be much cheaper to build and maintain, and easier for customers to learn to use too. I've worked for several large companies so I know it's easy for different departments with different budgets and offices scattered around the world to build four separate solutions to the same problem. Still since cruise lines are always looking to cut cost, they have no excuses to be inefficient in that matter.

 

The itinerary - 10/10. Note that we were amazingly lucky with the weather. It was 25°C and sunny every day. If it had been pouring rain and we'd missed one or more ports, our experience would have been very different. Late June and early July have the best chance of good weather so I recommend that time frame for a Norway trip, but even then weather will vary day by day and hour by hour.

Olden was my favourite port with the Briksdal glacier being a showstopper. Stavanger and Hellesylt/Geiranger very beautiful too. Haugesund is a normal Northern European city: if you want to see something impressive there, you will need an excursion. This is however the case for most places in Norway: you need a smaller boat or bus to reach the sights. Even if you came with your own campervan, you'd have to occasionally put it on a ferry! So carefully plan out your independent or ship-bought excursions and never expect to just walk off the ship to where you want.

 

The food - 6/10. I have to say I was disappointed with the food. We mostly ate in the MDR, the Quays and the Olive Grove and the food was very inconsistent: some was good or even very good, most of it was ok, and some of it was mediocre (mostly of the overcooked and under seasoned variety). There are always salt and pepper shakers at the table, so salt levels can be adjusted. However, the food was still lacking flavours coming from fresh herbs, citrus, spices etc... Even our one speciality dining experience (Afternoon Tea at Epicurean) lacked any zing. I didn't try Sindhu, Keel &Cow etc. so maybe the food is better there, but I believe cruise lines should be judged by the quality of their complementary food.

I'm not British so maybe the plainer food is not meant for me. Still I lived in the UK for a while and had plenty of good meals there in pubs, restaurants etc. I think P&O might be cutting cost a bit too much: their custard was always bad and I strongly suspect that they used plant-based milk and no eggs to make it cheaper and suitable for vegans. However, 95% of British people are not vegans and the few vegans customers likely want good food too. P&O has some of the cheapest prices on the market so I'm not expecting any Michelin star food. But you can make great food on a budget with creativity. 

I recommend ordering: the eggs Benedict, the pancakes, the fish and chips, the meat only when cooked to order, the starters and desserts in the Olive Grove except the chocolate one, the 5 spices chocolate cake, the NY style cheesecake. 

 

The service - 7/10. This is not a rating for the crew. They get 10/10. However, I had the feeling there wasn't enough crew for the numbers of customers. Often service was slow because presumably there weren't enough cook and/or waiters (the waiters we could see certainly worked very hard and were as fast as they could be). Our shore excursion that went south was completely unsupervised too. This not only degrades customer experience but probably makes the life of crew members unpleasant as well. So while I understand P&O has a very aggressive pricing strategy (being cheaper than even MSC or Costa on some sailings) and that they cannot possibly have as many crew members per passenger as a more premium line, I think they need to stop cutting crew numbers as this point. 

I also don't like that there are many rigid rules for passengers but none for the cruise line. As a passenger, you need to book and be on time for everything, but the cruise line can be as late as they want without even a token apology. As a male passenger on Celebration Night, you need to wear a jacket to enter the MDR so P&O can serve you pea soup. Of course I know cruise lines are legally liable for very little but it's a matter of choosing your brand identity. You cannot ask people to dress up to the nine and put so little effort in Celebration night. 

 

The entertainment - 9/10. The shows we saw in Headliners were all very good. Very nice props, costumes, and set design, as well as talented singers and dancers. I'm not so sure about the acrobatic shows in the SkyDome though. While the performers were all very skilled, some of the shows like Rise were just... strange, so I have to dock a point for that. 

 

Overall I would give this Norway cruise on Iona a 7/10. I would recommend this cruise:

- if you're travelling with children. It's a very family friendly ship with loads to do for the little ones. 

- if you have a tight budget and don't mind being allocated a cabin anywhere in the ship, the Inside Saver fare can't be beaten. 

- if you like to be among British people. It really is 99% Brits. Everyone we met was very polite, and they made no fuss when things went wrong (the lifts being overly full then breaking down). I actually felt a little sorry for the other passengers as I felt P&O took advantage of the famed British "stiff upper lip" to get away with inferior service.

 

I wouldn't recommend this cruise if you really dislike children and/or crowds, if you're looking for a premium experience, or if you have mobility issues. 

[Dorset cruise fan]

Thank you for your measured and informative review. What you say is very similar to what we experienced in December. The food is such a frustration. As you say, some items are good/very good and it would be good to have some consistency in the offering.

[TigerB]

Thank you for your final thoughts, much of which I agree with, particularly the technology aspect. On these boards it tends to be a running joke that P&O's IT is not fit for purpose. You've hit the nail on the head with your suggestion that Carnival could adopt a 'base app' and fine tune it for different cruise lines.

 

With regard to your views on the suitability of the ship for those with mobility issues, I disagree with that, but do agree with one particular aspect...the lifts.

As the husband and carer for a full-time wheelchair user, I can certainly say that the accessible and partially accessible cabins are far better equipped than those on some other ships, not just older ships; @Selbourne's recent comparison with Cunard even reveals that a newer ship in their fleet doesn't compare with Iona or Arvia for accessibility.

Public areas on both Iona and Arvia are also quite well thought out for accessibility; I'm thinking of the automatic doors and accessible toilets. The exception being the wheelchair chair spaces and carer's seats in the theatre; low in number and open to abuse.

I don't need to mention the crew as, in our experience, there has never been an occasion when a crew member has not made sure my wife was comfortable and safe.

The lifts though on both ships are not fit for purpose; too small and too many out of service. The problem is further exacerbated, not only during school holidays, which we avoid, but by the laziness and selfishness of a small number of other guests.  With regard to the latter, P&O need to stop sitting on the fence, and treating all guests as equal, and need to take more robust measures to ensure genuine wheelchair and mobility scooter users, and those with restricted mobility, are prioritised.

(Rant over!)

 

 

Do you have you plans for a future cruise with P&O?

[MyriamS]

@TigerB It's nice to hear that P&O took wheelchair users into consideration while building the ship (except for the lifts!). I was also of thinking of people who can stand and walk, but only for a little while, like my grandmother. There was a lot of queuing on this cruise: for the lifts, for the excursions, for the embarkation... She probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. 

 

I probably won't cruise P&O again because I have a tendency to try as many cruise lines as possible to compare their offerings (the opposite of brand loyalty, though I might return to a cruise line if the itinerary and ship are very different from my previous experience with them). For my partner, the price is the key factor, but I won't ever book the Saver fare again after the stress our cabin assignment gave me (the cabin turned out really great in the end, but who knows next time?) The Select fare on P&O is 200£ or more per cabin than the Saver fare, so I think MSC/Costa will win out the price battle. 

 

I would definitely sail P&O again if I lived in the UK, just for the cost saving and convenience of avoiding flights, but since we live in Munich, we have to fly to every port (or take a very long train ride). For Mediterranean cruises, it just makes so much more sense to fly straight to the Med.