Ardennais

My husband wasn’t wearing formal dress in the Epicurean (not formal night) and he wasn’t the only one. Most people were smart casual.

Oh dear. Not good then. Staffing levels are definitely inadequate. Previously, someone would clear the table as soon as you had finished. Passengers kept moving dirty crockery to free up some tables and so some of the tables were heaving with used stuff. We sat listening to the brilliant busker on deck 6 and I can confirm that some tables weren’t cleared at all during his stint.

I’m surprised that they said that it’s fully staffed. We thought they were very short staffed in some areas. I sat in the atrium for about 2 hours Thursday afternoon and some tables weren’t cleared at all during that time. It looked very messy!

I really dislike Gibraltar.

No. I have never used a deck sun bed on a cruise. Much prefer my own balcony and always in the shade.

I agree. Iona this last week didn’t really impact Hamburg or Rotterdam. They’re big, busy cities. The terminals aren’t geared towards casual shopping either - no newspapers or souvenirs for instance. I imagine it will be a very different experience in places like Olden.

Our boarding was 3pm on Iona last week - deck 11 balcony and Mediterranean level. Arrived 2.20 and in cabin before 3pm. They don’t call the letters anymore. Very straightforward. Got talking to a couple doing their first cruise and they had a boarding time of 1.30 so I don’t know how they do it.

It was very relaxed this morning! We entered at 8.05 and our cooked breakfast appeared at 8.50, minus the mushrooms which materialised about 5 minutes later! We weren’t due to disembark until 10.25 so we were quite happy to stay there until 9.30 - we were almost the last group to leave. Anyway, as we headed towards the theatre, we were told that we could disembark straight away which was good. We had a light breakfast delivered to our cabin every other morning. I don’t mind the £2.50 charge, but it’s annoying that they’ve stopped providing hot drinks,

The new-look safety drill is very easy, but I do wonder how people would cope in a real emergency. There were only 1900 Peninsular club members on Iona last week, out of 5200, so I took that to mean that over 3000 were either first time cruisers or P&O virgins. The old system meant that you had to concentrate. It’s rather worrying really!

We had breakfast in the Coral this morning - our one and only meal in a MDR. We actually remarked that there seemed to be a lot of tables for 2.

Thanks. Glad that things improved for you. I know that others in the past have been able to join the queue in their cabin which is great IF it works, but as we know, it didn’t work for at least two evenings this past week. I also think that if you want to catch the 10.30 show, then you need to be seated by 7.30 at the latest due to the slow service. This was our first post-covid P&O cruise and we found a marked difference in terms of service. I think it would have annoyed our children had they been with us, but we were just glad to get away after a pretty stressful winter!

No idea! Didn’t even see the infinity pool.

We loved the Olive Grove and would definitely try to pre-book if we were to sail on Iona again. Service was slow, but it was a very pleasant venue. However, when we turned up on Monday night, the lady on the desk said that there were long delays, something to do with the ordering process. Well the ‘app’ was down so we decided to skip it as we were rather hungry after walking 6 miles! Fish and chips from the Quays in less than 5 minutes!

One other top tip! The film studios seem to fill up really quickly on sea days. We wanted to see Mrs Harris last Tuesday at 1.30pm. We turned up at 1.00 and it was full. The other 3 studios were full too.

Just checked my booking confirmation e-mails. Limelight booked at 12.45am, Epicurean 12.56am, Olive Grove 1.08am.

I think it was about 12.20-12.30am when they suddenly started to open! I almost gave up but as I’m a night owl, I was still wide awake!

I had a hunch that the gala night might be problematic, even if the ‘app’ was working which is why I pre-booked the Limelight Club for the night. How did you get on with the beverage manager? We had dinner in the Epicurean last Sunday (12th). Booked for 7.30, service was so slow we missed the 10.30 show!

I agree. We thought it was just us to begin with and kept logging off and trying again! Luckily, I had pre-booked everything at home once booking opened and had a printed copy. I found myself recalling the lively discussion here a few weeks ago and the posters who claimed that the ‘app’ was brilliant etc etc. I wish!

I was ready to book at midnight, and saw that some time slots had sold out by the following morning!

Thank you very much. Very helpful.

We also love Aurora, and had a great cruise with the children when it was still a family ship. I like family friendly ships, nicer atmosphere.

Thanks. We’re not looking at a worldie - still working! Hoping to do another 35 nighter.

Does the £50pp deposit apply to all cruises? What about longer cruises, say 21+ nights?

What’s the dress code for the Epicurean on non-formal nights? Smart casual?

I’m with your DH on this!!