Iona Fjords Cruise August 2022

[david63]

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

Each to there own David.

We personally love it.

Actually I do like Freedom Dining - just not the way that P&O operate it.

There are two major gripes that I have.

The first is that we like to have a couple of leisurely drinks before dinner and I don't want to be watching a pager/app all the time, or having just ordered a drink being summoned to the MDR - or worse still sat with an empty glass waiting to be summoned.

The second is, and this may be better on Iona, that if we are doing Freedom Dining then we like a table for two and the way that P&O cram as many tables in as they can it means that there is a row of six or eight tables and the waiters treat that as one table so everyone has to wait for the last one to finish a course before you get your next course.

If I could reserve a table at a specific time and it be a proper table for two, as in any other restaurant, then I would be more than happy to use freedom Dining.

[Stephen]

I agree in part David.

I think it depends allot on what time you want to eat. Due to medical reasons I cannot eat too late so 6.30 is our now preferred time, which more often than not there is no or very little queuing and we get the table size required, at least that was the case on our recent Aurora cruise.

Never noticed the table size/waiter issue you mentioned. We had tables for two to our right down the wall side and a table for eight to our left with various sizes around, all served by different waiters in their allocated areas . I guess it can differ from ship to ship.

[Mervyn and Trish]

With the new system on Iona I think it would work okay for you David. There seem to be a lot of genuine tables for 2 served as separate parties. And the 'App" showing the virtual queue enables you to time drinks rather better. I agree 100% with your reservation about the pager system where you have no idea whether the wait ahead is 5 mins or an hour.

[Stephen]

The times we've been caught out with the pager in the past. You just get a drink and sit down and off it goes.

[CaroleF]

Thank you Merv for a very full review. It's interesting to see how one of the newest ships differs from say Aurora and Arcadia, still my favourites. Assuming I do eventually cruise as a single after my four night Aurora cruise with my daughter next year I don't think Iona or even Britannia appeals to me. I certainly wouldn't want Freedom Dining and I think as a single I'd prefer the smaller ship. Who knows, I might change my mind but it was so good to read such a detailed review, thanks again.

Carole

[Mervyn and Trish]

Stephen, I assumed your "medical reasons" meant you had to eat early so you could get plenty of Sanatogen Cocktails in afterwards.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Carole, yes I'm sure it's a different dynamic travelling as a single and I have no real idea how the dining works in that case. We too like the smaller ships and didn't expect to like Iona, but we very quickly changed our minds.

[Manoverboard]

Thanks Merv ...

I appreciated your reports, could even have booked a cruise at one point but alas not yet

[towny44]

With the new system on Iona I think it would work okay for you David. There seem to be a lot of genuine tables for 2 served as separate parties. And the 'App" showing the virtual queue enables you to time drinks rather better. I agree 100% with your reservation about the pager system where you have no idea whether the wait ahead is 5 mins or an hour.

We found on Britannia that regardless of how many were in our queue, the buzzer that our table was ready went off only 1 or 2 minutes after joining the queue.

[Stephen]

Stephen, I assumed your "medical reasons" meant you had to eat early so you could get plenty of Sanatogen Cocktails in afterwards.

Correct.......with Horlicks chasers

[Mervyn and Trish]

I had a headache last night and thought - oh no Covid.

But it's gone this morning. And I realised it's caffeine withdrawal. Normally drink decaf at home but have been knocking back the full fat while away. Needed it tp keep up with the grandkids!

[oldbluefox]

Stephen, I assumed your "medical reasons" meant you had to eat early so you could get plenty of Sanatogen Cocktails in afterwards.

Correct.......with Horlicks chasers

It wasn't you was it creeping downstairs at midnight, Horlicks in one hand and muffins in the other. Not many people wear nightshirts and a stripy hat with a tassel nowadays do they?

[Stephen]

Bu99er, you caught me out. Hope the bell on the hat didn’t wake you

[oldbluefox]

Bu99er, you caught me out. Hope the bell on the hat didn’t wake you

No, you're alright Stephen. It was those on your slippers!!!
Hope you've recovered from the bug, and Mrs S is better by now.

[Stephen]

Just about. Two weeks of flue like symptoms which then turns into a cold along with constant fatigue and a intermittent cough.

[Mervyn and Trish]

And they say it's mild now! Still sounds pretty awful.

[towny44]

And they say it's mild now! Still sounds pretty awful.

But still much milder than a heart attack, stroke or most cancers, and many other chronic and debilitating illnesses.

[Mervyn and Trish]

True. And much more rarely fatal.

[CaroleF]

Some people seem to suffer from the effects of Covid more than others. I wouldn't say I'm particularly fit but I just seemed to have the symptoms of a summer cold, no cough, loss of a certain amount of taste, could taste sweet things better than savoury - unfortunately. I didn't have a headache, just a lot of sneezing and runny nose. In fact if Covid hadn't been around I would have just said that I had a summer cold. Took 7 days until I tested negative but felt ok most of the time. I did resort to using some menthol crystals with hot water as an inhaler to clear catarrh but that was about it. I do count myself as very fortunate.

Carole

[barney]

Ditto for us Carole.
We both felt a bit rough for a couple of days but nothing too awful.
Certainly had worse over the years.
A friend of ours still hasn’t got over it after catching it over Christmas.
She was very ill and still hasn’t returned to work.
Her business partner has kept it going but is now worn out and it looks like they will wind it up.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Something else I forgot to mention. Iona is part of a crusade by P&O to eliminate single use plastics. So no free bottles of water in the cabin on arrival and no campaign to sell it in packs of six. On the other hand there are numerous points around the ship specifically to refill your own water bottles. Didn't get round to checking if it was chilled.

[barney]

These new ships are clearly a turning point for P&O.
Paul Ludlow was interviewed on Talking Money today and said that the average age of an adult cruiser through the summer is now in their 40’s.
This is due to the family friendly ships like Britannia, Iona and Arvia.
The days of the ‘traditional’ cruise are numbered from P&O.
I expect that Aurora will be gone soon and followed by Arcadia.
The traditional cruiser will have to change company.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I thought that too Barney, but to be honest although we are probably classed as traditional cruisers we loved her and found much that was familiar. We're now plotting to go again sometime, just the two of us, out of school holidays, to see how that compares.

Yes we do like the more traditional too and our next cruises booked are Queen Victoria and Aurora. We fancy Saga again too. But to be honest what is a traditional cruiser? At one time they were lamenting the passing of Camberra. No balcony cabins and a shared bathroom down the corridor!

[barney]

I’d call the ‘traditional’ cruiser as someone who ‘hates’ large ships without ever going on one

[Stephen]

Something else I forgot to mention. Iona is part of a crusade by P&O to eliminate single use plastics. So no free bottles of water in the cabin on arrival and no campaign to sell it in packs of six. On the other hand there are numerous points around the ship specifically to refill your own water bottles. Didn't get round to checking if it was chilled.

You still get the complimentary water on arrival, or at least we did, but it's now in cans. Perhaps it's only complementary in certain grade cabins. We had a Deluxe cabin on Aurora which apart from being a bit bigger than a standard cabin with a bath and shower over you got bu99er all else for you money.