Iona Fjords Cruise August 2022

[Mervyn and Trish]

Okay, as promised a review of our trip last week to the Fjords on Iona. Just to note that this isn’t a full travelogue of what we did. It’s more answers to the questions and concerns we had before this trip, hopefully for the benefit of others who may share them. To add this was our first trip since Azura in 2019. It was different in several ways but whether those differences are the result of a new ship, changes in policy, Covid, staff shortages, something else or a combination I have no idea. To give you the context this was a school holiday time trip to take our granddaughters on their first cruise, so with us and our daughter too there were five of us in two cabins.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Okay let’s deal with the elephant in the room, and yes it’s a big elephant. Iona is a big ship with a lot of people on board, so it’s not the same experience as Aurora, say. But to put it in context the amount of space per passenger is not dramatically less than the smaller ships and she is very well designed. She has a lot more balcony cabins so there is less pressure on inside space if the weather is inclement. She has a lot of open decks and sunbeds. But if you are adamant against big ships look away now. The plus of course is she has a lot more choice of places to eat, drink and be entertained. She has 22 lifts, with a stated capacity of 17 passengers (yeah right - maybe not the ones we saw). They are programmed properly so we rarely had to wait long. Only at the inevitable pinch points such as when everyone comes out of the theatre, but that cleared quickly. The buffet was very busy at times, as it is on all the ships, but we never failed to find a table big enough for the 5 in our party. It would have been even easier with two. You quickly learn the times to avoid. We never had to queue for longer than a minute or two to get on or off. We were warned it can be busy at midday in Stavanger when the early risers want to get back on for lunch, so we avoided that time. The ship isn’t hard to find your way round. It’s pretty intuitive with all the things where you’d expect to find them. For the fans she also has a very nice wide Promenade Deck that goes all the way round, with no steps, and loads of seats and sunbeds in their own space so not blocking the deck. Not overshadowed by lifeboats either as they hang below rather than above the Promenade. All the doors to the deck are power operated. As incidentally are public toilet doors, taps and soap dispensers. Good for hygiene.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Let’s start with arrival and check in, which I was nervous about with all the checks required. We had checked in on-line, obtained our NHS Covid passes for the adults, done our health declarations, got the right insurance and done our over the counter cheap LFT test (no certificate required) and printed everything out. Yes it cost a tree or two but we saw a few people at check in wrestling to find stuff on their phones. None of the above was difficult. All the P&O stuff done via the Cruise Personaliser. We parked with CPS. At Ocean Terminal the cars now stop in marked lanes across the road from the terminal itself. A bit like lining up for the Isle of Wight ferry. CPS check in now includes photographing the car from every angle before taking the kays and giving us a receipt. There is not a porter to be seen this side of the road, but there are plenty of trolleys. Across the road there were people to direct us to the correct hole in the wall and staff to put bags on the belt that takes them through. Then into the terminal where first there are staff at simple podiums like lecterns. They needed to see our pre-printed Boarding Passes which have QR codes they scanned. They didn’t ask to see anything else. They asked if we had tested and was it negative. When all was clear the Boarding Pass was stamped to say okay to board. Next was the normal check in desks where they checked passports against the Boarding Passes. In doing the on-line check in we had had to upload photos. They were happy with four of ours, they retook the fifth. I should explain at this point we two had priority boarding at 12.00, our family should have been there at 3.45. It was not an issue. The only difference is we were not sent directly to the priority boarding group but were seated in order of arrival. As boarding began the priority group went first and then the rest of us followed on. Through security we headed for the ship. Access to the ship was with our Boarding Pass. Cruise Cards would await us later when we went to our cabins. Once aboard we were directed to our Muster Station, where the Boarding Passes were scanned. We were directed towards the Horizon Buffet for food. Now all that may sound quite lengthy, but actually we arrived at the CPS lanes at about 11.10 and were eating lunch by 12.20.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Cabins were ready as promised at 1.30. Our Cruise Cards awaited us outside the doors. We had chosen Deluxe Balcony Cabins mid-ships on Deck 10. It’s a good spot with other cabins, rather than public rooms, above and below. And because of the ship design really nice balconies. The outer profile of the ship curves to match the atrium below and the SkyDome above. But the cabin outer walls are straight. So the biggest balconies are in the middle. Ours were also chosen as they have an interconnecting door, and we also had the balcony divider opened up. They are really nice airy cabins. The shower room has a proper shower cubicle. No floppy curtain! We did have a nose in an ordinary balcony cabin and that looked good too, just as bit shorter. Perfectly adequate for two people, but I suspect a bit tight for three or four. We also passed the open door of an accessible cabin. I’m not an expert in the field but it looked a decent size. A nice touch is our cabin had a dim light in the shower room and a low level dim light in the cabin for those nocturnal trips without the shock of bright lights. The TV is big with all the usual stuff including a selection of TV channels (three sports ones, including Sky), films on demand and our on board account details (also on the My Holiday website). There is also the safety video which you are asked to watch. There is no muster drill but the Captain does make a ship wide broadcast covering the safety information while everything else comes to a halt.

[Mervyn and Trish]

First job was to log on to the My Holiday on board website (loosely referred to as an App but it’s not). The drill is to put phone on aeroplane mode to stop any nasty surprises, then turn back on Wi-Fi and enter the last six digits of your cruise card, name and birthdate and log in. Occasionally I found it locked up and I had to go back to log in again. It is very intuitive. Once there you again have your account. You can book dining is advance at the main restaurants and specialist venues, though I noted that with our size of party only early times were offered. Alternatively you can not bother to book and can join a virtual queue when you are ready. The site shows how many are in each queue and once you’ve joined you can see how many ahead of you. When your table is ready it alerts you and you click to say you’re on your way and you have 15 mins to get there. If you are a technophobe you can achieve all the above by phoning a booking line or at the venue. It all worked brilliantly. One oddity is we could book our whole family party for dining but we could only book our cabin occupants for entertainment. So for that we had to do it twice, once for each cabin. The only entertainment you have to book is the main theatre shows and the Limelight Club. In all these bookings you can indicate if you need a wheelchair space. Once stuff is booked it appears in your daily diary. I believe you can also book spa treatments and shore excursions on the site, but we did neither.

[Mervyn and Trish]

So dining options. Included is a choice of four main dining rooms (all Freedom Dining). Two above each other at the stern with great views from big windows and two smaller ones on either side, which felt more intimate and quiet. You can use a different one each day if you fancy. We found the service a bit slow in the big ones. There are no separate wine stewards and the waiters no longer seem to work in pairs, so the less experienced don’t get the chance to learn. We had one or two near misses with botched orders. It was much better in the smaller ones. The food we thought was good. I have heard moans about smaller portions but there was more than enough for us. You can always ask for more. Also included is of course the buffet. It’s another bright airy area. We didn’t think the selection was as good at times, especially in the fish department, but there are some big positives. Salads, for example, rather than being in open displays for those who didn’t wash their hands to paw over, are in individual servings. As noted earlier it gets busy but was never impossible. There is also the Quays, which is a sort of food court area with three counters dispensing Fish and Chips, Asian dishes and American diner stuff. Come as you please and often quiet. It does a limited breakfast choice too.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Then there are the speciality restaurants with supplementary charges, some as a cover charge some by the dish. All were open apart from the Glass House which was a bar only. You can find the full line up on the P&O website. We didn’t use any this time but we certainly will in the future. One note, the menu in the Limelight Club, to accompany the cabaret, was a lot better than that we first experienced on Britannia.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We thought the entertainment was excellent. There were two Headliners show, each performed three time on two nights, so six performances in all. Possibly the best we’ve seen for a long time. They’ve refreshed the concept beyond what was becoming very samey. So yes one show was essentially songs from the shows. But it was Tina, The Bodyguard, Frozen, 9 to 5, Jersey Boys, etc, rather than Gone with the Wind and West Side Story. The theatre is spectacular. They’ve built on the technology of Britannia so the LED backdrop is not just on stage, it’s round the arch and there are screens on the wall too. I don’t think there is much of the stage that can’t go up and down and/or spin either. Only one objection. At times too loud. Between the Headliners there were guest artistes too, also repeated. The booking system gets you access to the theatre, with cabin number checked off on the door. But seats are not allocated. It won’t be standing room only but you need to get there in reasonable time to get a lot of choice. But I’m only talking 15 minutes, not rush to queue round the decks straight out of dinner! Of course the star attraction is the SkyDome. They do use it for straightforward musical performances but the acoustics aren’t great for that. The highlight is the aerial show, which is stunning. Again it’s done six times across two nights, but the venue isn’t huge in seating capacity so that really is turn up early for the best views. Other than that there are of course artistes in bars around the ship and in the Club House, the show lounge at the stern. The resident show band is called Pulse and they are the best we’ve ever seen, with a number of themed sets across the week.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Pools – there are four. An inside one in the SkyDome, two infinity pools at the stern and another outside pool on Deck 18 forward. And dozens of hot tubs. Of course in August they are full of screaming kids. But it doesn’t feel so bad when two of them are yours. It is also all about the timing. On a ship with around 5.000 passengers on one port day, after we’d returned from a wander ashore, my 9 year old granddaughter and I had the deck 18 forward pool entirely to ourselves for best part of half an hour!

[Mervyn and Trish]

I’ve already covered embarkation, which was very smooth. I’d feared disembarkation would be trickier. I’ll say no more than we left our cabin as required at 8, had breakfast and then awaited our turn to get off. They were running ahead of schedule and despite being among the last to disembark we were in the car at 10.10.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We had chosen Iona for this trip purely because we wanted to take the grandchildren on their first trip and reckoned that 7 nights up the Fjords was both attractive and affordable. So we had no choice. She was the only family friendly ship going that way. We had fears she would not fit what we like about P&O. That she would be too big, too informal, too brash. How wrong could we be. We have fallen completely in love with her. She has so much choice, is beautifully designed. She is perfect for the Fjords scenery with so much glass. The age range was younger than the adult only ships or even the family ships in term time. But there were still a fair number of traditional older P&O passengers (I mean like us) aboard as well as the younger generation she is designed to attract. But they weren’t badly behaved. Far from it. On our last Azura trip we were appalled by the loud drunks covered in tattoos trying to make sure they got the best out of the drinks package. And that was just the women. We saw none on that this time. Yes it was loud at times if you passed too close to Brodie’s. But there were still oasis’s of calm. The Crow’s Nest for example, still our favourite bar anywhere. Yes she is less formal, with only one Celebration Night, as they now call it, each week. But the dress code was as well observed as any other P&O ship we’ve been on. Pretty much 100% in the main dining rooms. And even for those who prefer not to dress up and use the other venues the smart casual was pretty smart. The atmosphere was great. Despite what some would claim younger people do still like dressing up for a special occasion. And the tiny minority with their scruffy jeans and t-shirts, no doubt muttering “I’ve paid for my f***ing holiday, nobody tells me what to f***ing wear” were the ones looking out of place. And probably hungry too. Iona is shiny new and she is aiming for new markets, but our experience is she has far more in common with the old P&O values than we feared. We’ll be back.

p.s. And sadly for my bank balance that’s the unanimous view of my granddaughters too!

[oldbluefox]

Great review Merv and welcome back.
We have booked Arvia which is very similar to Iona and wondered whether we would like her. Based on your review it looks like a positive.

[towny44]

An excellent review Merv, I am really looking forward to our Canarys cruise on her now.

[Meg 50]

thank you


2 questions:
1) were masks necessary / enforced?
2) is all the admin stuff in cabin doable for those without smart phones?

[Mervyn and Trish]

There were few or no passenger masks in evidence though crew were wearing them. There was no requirement to wear them. But were they necessary? Don't really know. There were no reports of major Covid problems aboard and fingers crossed we've survived. We'll know in a few days.

The admin stuff on board, essentially booking restaurants and entertainment, can be done by ringing a booking line or going to restaurants. On board account can be checked on TV. So for those who have them a smartphone is a great convenience but is not essential.

[barney]

Cheers Merv
Good review

[screwy]

Thanks Merv. Were on her in 5 weeks. 2 week Iberian.

[Stephen]

Thanks Merv.

Interesting that you managed to get into Stavanger yet we couldn’t on Aurora only a couple of weeks earlier.

Yes, we noticed food portions were allot smaller, but as you say you could ask for more and it was no trouble. I must admit I did laugh when I ordered the cheese board for the first time. I’ve left more cheese than they served. I did think on that occasion that the portions were mean to the point of minuscule with little choice of both cheese and biscuits.

[oldbluefox]

O for the days of the port infused stilton. It also appeared the cheese board was an alternative to the sweets rather than a course in its own rite. Essentially it was a 3 course meal which was fine by me but may be rather scant for those with a big appetite.
However having said that you'll never starve on a cruise as you can always ask for more or make use of the buffet.
I found it quite amusing when on my way back to the cabin at the end of the day there were those scurrying downstairs from the buffet with their Horlicks and a couple of muffins!

[david63]

It also appeared the cheese board was an alternative to the sweets rather than a course in its own rite. Essentially it was a 3 course meal

That was not what we found on Britannia in May - in fact most nights in the MDR we had starter, soup, main course, dessert and cheese and it was never a problem.

O for the days of the port infused stilton

I agree - the drop of port syrup (or whatever it was) was not really the same!

[david63]

Interesting review Merv.

I get the impression that Iona is very similar in a lot of respects to Britannia - only bigger with more facilities - would that be a fair assessment?

My one overriding reservation with Iona is with Freedom Dining - just don't like it.

[Stephen]

My one overriding reservation with Iona is with Freedom Dining - just don't like it.

Each to there own David.

We personally love it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We liked Iona a lot more than Britannia for various reasons. Yes they're both modern in design but we found Britannia more clinical if that makes sense. We particularly preferred the Iona cabin design. Iona also has the prom deck that's absent on Britannia.

I agree about Freedom Dining. Never liked it before. The "App" made it much better. Did away with physical queuing. The only thing we didn't do this trio was try to get a table at 7.30 say, which would be our favoured tike, because earlier eating suited the children. There are a lot of tables for 2 on Iona which may make it work better. We also feel that if, or more likely when, we do Iona gain, or Arvia, we'll treat it like a self catering holiday ashore, eating somewhere different each night.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I forgot to mention under entertainment. For those who like a film, not just a dedicated cinema. Iona has a four screen multiplex! Not huge obviously but a choice of at least three films at different times throughout the day.

[Whynd1]

Thank you for an excellent review Merv. I always said I wouldn't cruise on such a big ship but have ended up booking the Christmas markets cruise on her. Reviews are good and it's so nice to have plenty of alternative from the main dining room.
Am a totally looking forward to it.

Pleased you and the family had such a lovely time.

Lindsey