Ardennais

We did too in February.

I agree. We always stay in Southampton before every cruise and have to check out of the hotel by 11.00. There’s plenty to do in Southampton before we board around 3pm.

A case of FOMO - my closest Sizzling Pub is 66.1 miles away!

We were charged on Iona but not on Britannia - both earlier this year.

My daughter and her friends left their cabin on Arcadia this morning at 6.45 and self-disembarked. They were in the car just after 7.00. Embarkation was also very quick on Friday - around 2.00pm.

It really isn’t fair on folk who have to sail during school holidays. Service levels should not dip drastically.

Lisbon - be careful when choosing the coloured routes with the HOHO bus because our route once took us all round the city and close to the airport before we got to the stops we were interested in! Our mistake, but still quite pleasant. St Peter Port - we have always managed to make it, but as noted above, the excursions get priority on the tenders. I was very glad on one occasion that we had a morning excursion as it took some passengers a long time to disembark.

Very interesting review, many thanks. We would agree that the Britannia of old was better. Our cruise on her was slightly ‘off’, mainly the food. Shame.

She’s in a sulk tonight!

Thank you for this. We’re hoping to go on Iona next year with the children and their partners so that will be 8 of us. We can go during term time which should be better! Shame that Iona is still understaffed. We also found this a problem during February half term when it was chock a block - even more passengers than your cruise. As you say, service in Vistas was slow and the tables weren’t cleared for ages. We were told then than it was fully staffed but obviously still insufficient for the numbers onboard.

I’m certainly not going to hide my prize duck. She’s too precious!

Lovely photos. Vala is not a Welsh word!

I can recommend Gwyndy Tea Rooms in Dolgellau. Great afternoon tea.

It’s called chilling and it’s highly recommended! I don’t want to be entertained every minute and don’t need to be entertained every minute.

Why does it bother you so much? You like a cocktail, I like to sit in the theatre with my Kindle or chatting to people around me.

That crossed my mind too!

Limelight with Lee Mead on Iona, Feb 14th. We had a starter, then the house band played a few songs with the hostess singing. Then the rest of the meal before Lee came on. Finished around 10.00 I think. Limelight with Joel Harper-Jackson on Britannia last month. Hostess came on to welcome everyone. Then the whole meal before Joel did his stint. It was finished by 9.45 as I have a timed photo of us with him then. He only had a pianist so there wasn’t a band,

I attended a Teams conference this week. I was placed in a ‘breakout room’, instructed to avoid ‘working in silos’ and asked to summarise my ‘takeaways’ at the end of the day. And no, we’re not talking about escape rooms, silo grains or fish and chips.

I wonder if that is the case really after our recent Britannia cruise. It hasn’t got the wow factor and choices of the larger ships, nor the intimacy of the smaller older ships. Falls between two stools!

If there are issues with the app, and we have had major issues, it’s annoying but not a big problem for the two of us. We’re quite flexible and go with the flow. However, if we had encountered similar problems in the past when my parents used to come with us, it would have stressed me out. It was difficult enough as it was to organise everything due to their mobility problems, and the fact that they were unable to stand for extended periods. So to be told that bookings had been lost and then having to go somewhere else for a meal would have drained their reserves. So I think we need to consider things like that. Some on here are quite flippant as but if you’re fit and well, everything is easier. Cruising is meant to be relaxing!

Exactly. And when the Captain makes an announcement apologising for the problems, you know full well that it’s just not you! The IT problem on Iona in Feb even impacted the kitchens.

The app was down for over 24 hrs on Iona in February. Fact.

Hope you have a great cruise ….. and hot food!!

That does indeed look a good size.

I wouldn’t have described it as shambles to be honest, but I agree that there were issues. Drinks service was as you described, and the chronic shortage of waiters meant that we almost gave up ordering in some places - coffee mainly! I’ve described before how the tables were left uncleared for ages. Again, due to lack of staff. We quite liked the airy atrium on the higher levels - at least you can see the sea! We never had trouble finding seats but then again, we don’t go to the popular bars. I pre-booked Epicurean, Limelight Club and Olive Grove about 13-14 days before departure so having a late boarding time wasn’t a problem. The acoustics were very poor for the female trio but the space is great for the acrobatic type shows. We actually loved Iona and will definitely sail on her again. The girls are eager to introduce their partners to cruising and we think that Iona will be the perfect ship for them. Possibly next year to the Fjords - all of us!