Goosebear Mum

I know. We missed having this info as we used to in Aurora, where the daily specials were listed and available on ‘day 1” (even last year)

Haugesund isn’t far, at 0.6 miles from the ship to the start of the ‘shopping area’. Google maps states 13 minutes to walk it. We walk it easily, and none of the route is ‘ugly’. BUT, it includes a long drag up a bridge, which some people find tough. I feel sorry for those I see pushing wheelchairs.

Just re-checked ours (brought them all home) and no.

We came off Iona 2 weeks ago, and I didn’t know about this Indian night. We tried, unsuccessfully, to find Horizon dinner menus at lunchtimes, to allow us to plan where to eat (as they’re posted on Aurora, we hoped for similar on Iona) Indian night on Aurora was amazingly good, and so popular that many partake in it and the Horizon is full. We only learnt about it from shared table dinner companions many years ago, after that we went every time. Maybe Iona needs to advertise the evening Horizon options. We had relatively few (800) peninsular club passengers on our Iona holiday, this means many would not know how popular Indian night is on other ships.

Brilliant thread. But I have to admit, our Iona deck 9 conservatory balcony a week ago did leave something to be desired by the end of the cruise. There were small drains on the floor and ‘hair’ seemed to have come up out of them, and collected. Maybe I ought to have taken a photo. I didn’t say anything to the steward as she already had so many cabins she was ‘full on’ till late lunchtime. Next time I’ll photo it, and mention at reception if it needs cleaning, as we’ll be on her for 2 weeks then and it ought to be hotter, so I may not always be in shoes out there! oh and no, again, it was not my hair/pubes 😂

haha, loved this! 😂 Thanks for your posts, great to follow your journey, and loved having all the photos added here Mel

Yes, I received an email, with a blanket apology, saying they’d honour bookings that managed to be made, and that bookings would reopen 2 weeks beforehand. I double checked my credit card to ensure my limbo booking wasn’t charged for (it wasn’t) In fact, here’s the actual wording: ……………. We’re writing to you regarding some important information relating to your upcoming cruise. We’re sorry to inform you that we’ve been experiencing some issues with our dining booking system in My P&O Cruises. If you’ve tried to make any dining reservations that you weren’t able to check out, then we apologise for any confusion caused. What this means for you If you have already been successful in making purchases via the dining booking system, then there’s no need for further action – all existing bookings will be honoured. And any new reservations you would like to make will be available for you to book 14 days before your holiday starts. We will continue to work with our technology teams to address the issue that occurred and endeavour to allow you to make dining reservations sooner. Once this has been resolved, we will of course make you aware. Please note, our Customer Contact Centre will not be able to share any further information or make any dining reservations over the phone at this time. We hope this hasn’t caused you too much inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you on board soon for a holiday like never before.

They did open it up at 120 days, but sadly they didn’t do a staggered rollout, as many IT companies would, but opened it up for all ships sailing within 120 days. It was chaos and the site crashed. Some people got bookings, other bookings got into a limbo state. I got Sindhu booked, but not Beach House. P&O reverted it back to 2 weeks for all, whilst they ‘investigated’ why the site couldn’t cope… umm..

If I were sailing in Europe, on a cruise that is predominantly in Europe/ The Med, AND they warrant additional tips (Viking in UK have tips included) then I would tip in Euros, as that is what the crew can use when they get off the ship. If I were on a ship that is predominantly in US/Alaska, I’d tip in $, as the crew can use $ more easily, without conversion. If I was on a ship that was on a transatlantic I'd ask the person which they’d prefer, or use a predominant currency that I had, e.g. euro or $.

Well, I’ll find out soon 🤣 (unless we take cans, but I have loads of bottles at home…)

I wonder how they distinguish bottles of alcohol, from bottles of non alcoholic ginger ale/ elderflower, etc?…

Me too 😞

No, we are polite and TIP as appropriate, we are not uncouth, we don’t bribe, throw money at people, brag/show off ‘our wealth’, etc, etc. The US tipping culture is out of hand Go to some countries, and the US tipping culture has created a sea of locals and in some cases professional criminals, assuming tourists will throw money at them. Edit, p.s uncouth - lacking good manners

Throwing money around is seen in many cultures as uncouth

$100 to just book a table, where she prob got a backhander anyway??? wow, no wonder US people have a name for tipping (and not polite)

Oh my, some boring answers here for a new cruiser! I mean, unpack, muster?! Honestly, they are obvious! You now get sent to your muster point on embarkation, to ‘scan in’. I think some of you have been on too many cruises, and have lost the ‘spark’ 😉 We love going for a wander, if only to feel ‘at home again’ (if we’re on Aurora) or a detailed look around to investigate a new ship. We always have a balcony cabin, and I think we’ve always been on the ‘dock side’; and we love watching all the antics ‘below’, with everything being loaded. Once we spotted our car in the CPS car park, and now we have a game of trying to spot her! We are about to go on Iona for the first time, I’ve already printed the key public deck plans out (A5 laminated) as we rely on these for new ships - the little ones provided didn’t really ‘do it’ for me! (In Barbados (Southampton to Southampton cruise) we were dock side, window table for dinner, and we had a wonderful dinner watching all the crew and passenger supplies being on-loaded guessing what things were…our waiter came over to find out what we were watching so intently , and he remained with us a while having fun telling us what was in each pallet, it was eye opening. Because they all help out with sorting out new supplies, he could recognise everything, from the smallest details on boxes! ) That was when waiters had time 🤣 p.s. Have fun on Iona 🙂

I would hope common sense would distinguish between trekking poles and walking sticks (they look very different) and the ‘mobility’ of the person carrying them

As someone in the UK, I think the new itinerary looks great, and an improvement. Shame I’m not yet in a “retired position” to benefit!

Agree, ‘ugly American’ would come to mind if someone offered me dollars. I would never offer GBP to waitresses in America…

Exactly the limit of 12 cans YorkshirePhil referred to, is only on the Australia page as far as I can find. I have gone through the UK page and find nothing on soft drinks

I can only find this on the P&O Australia company page, not pocruises. Where have you found this for UK?

Okay on Iona (she's big) how does one carry safely a glass of g&t all the way back from a bar to the cabin (9th deck) for use on the balcony? I am not buying a big bottle from P&O, as I don’t drink alcohol, and hubby likes one occasionally. We’d end up bring most of it home (and we don’t need yet more here!) I was going to pack a few mini Edinburgh 5cl bottles (his favourite) but officially cannot now. I am very anti paying P&O for one drink and then an extra £2.50 on top for them to carry that one drink to our cabin as room service (and wait how long?!)So how does one carry it without it spilling everywhere? This really spoils the spontaneity of having a late evening drink on the balcony, travelling through the Fjords! If they still had drinks in the cabin ‘bar’ it would help. At least I can still take my cans of Fevertree Elderflower/Ginger for a spontaneous balcony drink in an evening! (I cannot drink aspartame/sweetener which is in most non alcoholic drinks now 😞 )

You applied too soon, at a year before! An Australian ETA is really easy to apply for, and you may need to apply for a new one! An ETA allows multiple entries over a 12 month period.

Wait for it, soon P&O will be charging for restaurant crockery, unless we take our own, and wash them out ourselves in the bathrooms 😉 🤢

Silly question. Of course not, but people who have taken a bottle onboard for evening balcony drinks, don’t suddenly expect to be told days beforehand that ‘you now can’t’. (We never have, but were about to pack a few miniature bottles of his favourite Edinburgh gin, for my husband, for when sitting on the balcony for the evening Fjord sails, which are idyllic at 10/11pm) Will we go up to to a bar to buy a g&t and bring back down to the balcony? NO! Will we pay for room service to deliver one glass of g&t? NO! P&O are reducing the value of their product step by step. Reduced food quality, greatly reduced meat/fish mdr menu choices, no flannels, no nightly turn down, no pillow chocolates, no lemon slices in buffet for use in water (I really miss these) no conditioner, no paper port guides/maps, just the crappy online cafe/shop guides… no wine waiters in MDR, and ask for most non alcoholic drinks, and they grumble they’ll need to go and get them… no cheese board, and what arrives is sad, no individual bathroom toiletries, just bottles shared from previous cabin occupants (yuck…) etc. etc… … now being petty and stopping people even having their own choice of drinks in cabin… Hotels don’t stop people having drinks in their cases for use in their rooms. Why should ships? Each of these is small on its own, but drip by drip it builds up to reduced quality (yet, we’re paying more than we did in 2015) and new passengers will not miss them (some I don’t miss either, like nightly turn down!) We’ve just spent several thousand for 7 days on Iona. I’d now rather a better value / higher quality product for most of our cruises. P&O are very much “reduce quality as much as possible”, and “expect passengers to pay for extras over and above the bare minimum”. Of course, if you just use inside cabins, and pay saver fare; you have paid little for the cruise and think everyone else can spend more on all the extras too… We have almost paid off our mortgage and in 1-2 year’s time will try out other lines, one of which allows any alcohol to be taken on board, is not quite all inclusive, but doesn’t charge extra for most of what P&O does, £ for £ / day it’s nit that much more for far higher quality.