JB9302

Called at sons on Sunday , he had just cooked full roast dinner in air fryer , beef/yorkshire puds/veg etc , looked very nice .

He had a bit of prob with yorkshires as he used a silicone dish which moved about a lot .

Because we like to eat at 6.30pm , what’s wrong with that time to eat ?

On our cruise 24/9 this year Iona we booked MDR for 6.30 every night bar 2 bookings in Limelight Club and theatre every night at 8.30 where available.

All of this was done from home on the P & O account couple of weeks before the cruise .

Update wife now tested positive , no symptoms as yet .

Had a fantastic time on this cruise , no complaints ☺️ , started with a tickly cough on last night and tested positive yesterday , wife ok .

Pre booked back at home for the whole cruise , bit dearer whilst booking on ship .

On this cruise at the moment , no requirement to wear masks but all crew wearing them , we have worn them whilst queuing for theatre etc .

Just about to get off in Barcelona, Valencia has been cancelled due to shuttle bus issues and replaced with Malaga .

No complaints as yet although many people we speak to are not happy with the booking app for meals /entertainment etc , long queue  at reception 1sr couple of days .

Generally slow service in MDR ‘s  with some people missing show in theatre immediately after .

Quite impressed with the ship and glad we pre booked the Retreat .

Just booked our dinner slot @ 6.30pm each night in a variety of the dining rooms plus the 8.30 pm shows that are available to book ( Just 6 nights ) .

Thanks for replies 👍

Hi,

      We are on Iona on the 24th September and have a couple of questions regarding the Main Dining Room and Theatre .

I have booked the Limelight  Club on 2 nights on the cruise and will use the MDR for the remaining evenings dinners , we usually eat around 6pm and the go on to the Theatre show ( 8.30 pm from memory of previous cruises pre covid ) .

Looking on my account the included MDR ‘s are now shown as available to book each evening , Aqua/ Coral/Pearl , as we have no previous experience of Iona can anyone guide us to help us choosing .

Is this booking system for the freedom dining now the norm as opposed to just going to the restaurant at the time you wanted to dine .

There was mention of booking the Theatre shows prior to the cruise but nothing showing yet , any experience of this .

TIA 

Just noticed this thread , our 1st cruise (Iona) in a couple of weeks since covid and on previous cruises with P &O we just turned up at the theatre for the shows at the appropriate times .

Is this a new thing that you have to book each show ?

Did ours yesterday and noticed £1 pending for Iona on my credit card , also uploaded pics which I had not done before , assumed that was to speed things up at the terminal check in .

When you are booking you select 1st name add to basket then go back and add the other name to basket ( just done it for Iona ) .

Yes it’s expensive but we thought worthwhile when we we on Ventura 4 yrs ago , it was school hols time and we appreciated the quiet of the retreat .

Still no sign of our cards , posted a message on their Twitter page last week ( lots of messages re people waiting for their cards ) .

They quickly tweeted back to me saying our cards were issued on 18th July ( day we applied ) and were sorry we hadn't received them , and said they have reissued them 22nd August , but nothing received as yet .

Message also said allow 4 weeks for arrival .

Applied for our cards just over 4 weeks ago , got the confirmation immediately but as yet nothing in the post .

Anyone still waiting for theirs ?

Is the £240 per person ?

We booked retreat on Ventura 4 yrs ago on a Canaries cruise and would recommend it although I have to say I think it’s expensive , but we used our OBC to fund it .

Booked on Iona in Sept and hope to use same facility.

Interesting reading about people’s house moves etc , we have just put our house up for sale this week .

It’s our 1st house and we have lived in it for 40 yrs both 70 next and we are looking to the future and have decided to move to Glossop (where wife was from) and are currently extending and renovating her mum’s bungalow who passed away last year .

We hope to be in it by Xmas , moving a bit away from son’s and grandchildren but there only 20/30 drive so no issues . The garden at the bungalow will be much easier to maintain than the terraces in our back garden 

14 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

We have just had a text from our GP to say they will be in touch about receiving the vaccine, as we are in Group 5 it may indicate our age group is getting closer to receiving it. I noticed Johnson alluded to some news on the vaccine front front W/c 15 Feb perhaps this when the over 65s will start to be included in rollout? 
 

Will be interested to see the numbers locally from our LA this week as might give an indication when next group will begin. 

Just had the message from our GP to book it (Booked in this Friday) , we are both 69 I got a text but my wife not registered with NHS for text etc so imagine hers will be a letter . 

On 1/2/2021 at 5:28 PM, Presto2 said:

Hi, just to ask what time of the year you have to sail? Can you go out of school holidays as I am guessing there is less need for it then. 🙂

Only school hols for us as wife works in school .

On 12/28/2020 at 7:25 PM, Presto2 said:

Hi, just wondering if there are enough sunbeds that have the sun - don't want to pay to avoid a shady balcony to sit in the shade and the wind (am guessing it is windy up there). What sort of perks did you get and did you find enough sunbeds even if you didn't get up at the crack of dawn to get a sunbed up there?

Thanks 🙂

Yes plenty of beds were available mainly because there weren’t many people using the facility , there were 2 stewards there all the time who looked after you and your bags etc if you wanted to wander off .

Limited choice for lunch but that suited us as we eat light at that time of day but once chosen you could have it del anytime that suits.

Plenty of room under cover with comfortable seats/beds if it got cool/windy .

Tea , Coffee , iced water available all day .

Very quiet and relaxing 👍

On Ventura June 2018 for 14 nights Canary Islands , school hols so we booked the retreat after the 1st day for the duration , used our OBC to pay for it and would use the facility again (when we get to cruise )

17 hours ago, kalos said:

Sometimes just for a change we used to get the kids off to school and if I wasn't working ,

we would have a run over to Barnsley market . Brilliant meat market in there .

What we liked was going upstairs into the cafe and having a dinner and a mug of tea.

The home made steak pie was to die for but if we went in the winter months then our

choice would be a deep bowl with said pie in it, submerged in mushy peas . Heaven !

I think the cafe was called Oldfields ?? Most likely a bygone treasure from Barnsley's past now.

My mum used to take us to Barnsley market when we were kids , always remember the pot & plates man (was he called Edwards ?) juggling plates as he gave his pitch .

Plus the Policeman with the Large handlebar moustache .

Thanks to all for the kind thoughts on the passing of my Mother In law .

My wifes mother past away last weekend in a local care home (93yrs) , old age/frailty on death certificate , as you can imagine all the arrangements for Registering death/Funeral etc were carried out on the phone on Monday with the minimum of distress and fuss .

The burial was yesterday (Friday) , we just had 6 family members present plus 3 grandchildren , it was glorious sunny day at Glossop Cemetery and we decided no service at the graveside just ourself saying our own goodbyes .

We have attended many funerals under normal conditions and most to some extent were very emotional and difficult to bear but this was different .

Although a few tears were shed , we all felt full of happiness as it was so informal and personal and the 1st time we had seen one of our sons and 2 grandchildren since just before the lockdown .

The funeral staff knew us personally and it felt a real family affair , mother in law didn't want ant fuss so it was perfect .