TigerB

Well, being up early and watching the beautiful scenery has made us hungry; we were banging on the doors of Coral at 07:28

Without a doubt! The first timers were fussy nonetheless, and it wasn't for me to burst their bubble.

@Selbourne I can confirm that Coral has a few six-seater tables.

Up at sparrow's fart today as we make our way towards Olden. This was at 05:37... As I sit here, writing this and enjoying the scenery from our balcony, my nostrils are offended by cigarette fumes. I am unable to identify the offender.😡

We were chatting to first timers last night. They did Chef's Table on Sunday and from what they described, they had a totally different experience here on Iona to ours on Arvia in April. The service for them wasn't rushed like ours was, and the drinks service was swift, whereas we received our wine when our mains were on the table, and the table next to us not until desserts arrived. The couple on here also received copy of the menu, signed by MPW. From what they were saying, it appears that the staff in the Chef's Table on Iona are more polished. It'll still be like eating in a canteen, though.

I observed all of the above in Zenith when we dined in there in January; we ate at 18:30 or thereabouts. In April we weren't able to get a table for our preferred time, so mostly ate elsewhere.

In my view, they could easily convert either Aqua or Opal into fixed dining venues; at least for a trial basis to check demand. I don't know of an easy fix for Arvia

You'll have to wait; we're heading down for dinner just now. If I have a decent signal tomorrow evening, I'll tell it then; when the kids are in bed. The Mods will probably delete it before they get up for school the next morning. As a teaser I will say it involves me, a disabled gent, and a couple of mature ladies, neither of whom were my wife.🫢

Not been up there yet, but I'm quite sure Iona also has an adults only area on deck 18, just before the Retreat. There are not many kids, but I'll try a nappy watch sometime. Ooh, that sounds wrong on so many levels. What I mean to say Mods, is that I will try and see if there are any parents and nappy age children in the pools of spas. Phew! I think I got away with that one🙄

No ducks, but I have a funny pineapple story. I'll tell that one tomorrow; we're just getting ready for dinner, and I'll lose the mobile signal soon

Now, I want to address some extremely serious matters that are very close to the hearts of some contributers on here. Some definite first world problems.... Biscuitgate I can confirm that the St Michel biscuits appear to be in plentiful supply. We didn't have any in our tea makings drawer at first; when I asked Venus for some, but only the butter ones, this is what we got... She has given us six each morning.👍 I think the reason for all the milk is because I said we only like semi-skinned milk. I think she must have taken me literally, and thought we exclusively drink semi-skinned milk, and no other drinks at all. Toiletrygate First things first, I checked the box under the bed. None! When our cabin steward first came to see us: "Venus, if you could find any, could we please have some body lotion and conditioner"? "Of course, sir; I'll bring some back". I explained that the word on the street was that they were like rocking horse poo. "No, we have plenty". When she brought them they had the labels on them to request they are returned... Fair enough. So, whereas there will be a few maiden aunts not get half-inched White Company pumps for Christmas, at least future cruisers should get some for the duration of their cruise. Traygate I can confirm there are no trays set out in Horizon. Some folk will not be defeated though! When I went in on Saturday night for some late night snackage, there was one bloke, quite well oiled at that point, who had a plate full of cakes that was balanced precariously on top of a plate full of hot food; he then walked the thirty feet or so to his table. Have a word with yourself, fella! They still have the small trays in the Quays. I took a couple of those back to our cabin for the odd occasion when I may walk up to Horizon or Taste 360 for a couple of things to take back to the cabin. They no longer have the trays at Taste 360, but they still have those large red plates. Coastergate Here ya go.... That was Crow's Nest That was the Emerald bar That was the 720 club We've not been in Anderson's bar yet, or Brodies, but they don't have them 8n the club house. Sanitarybag-gate Each accessible toilet we have been in has had them; just the paper ones though. I can't speak for the ladies as don't frequent those ...any more; the ASBO has put paid to that!🙄 I didn't see any in the gents I went in, which to my mind is not at all gender neutral. We didn't have any in our bathroom, but we always have a plentiful supply when we travel. Are there any other first world problems that folk want me to investigate?

These were taken early afternoon yesterday (Sunday)... The First Officer felt the need to announce on the tannoy that it wasn't s#!te, it was algae caused by the hot weather.

These were taken at 23:30 last night, while we were on the North Sea...

We are in Stavanger today; what a lovely little place with some beautiful buildings. We are the only ship in. It was cloudy this morning but now there is more blue sky than cloud. As I sit on our balcony, overlooking the old town, while I enjoy my gin and limonata from Tiger's bar, the temperature is 22°C. For those of you that may be concerned about how I cut lemons after having my lemon knife confiscated, I half-inched one from the Quays.🫢 We should have been on an excursion this morning, but cancelled it; I'll explain why 8n a later post. Instead, we went for a bimble around the harbour, shopping area, lake, and (me only) old town.

Celebration Night (Sunday) My eyes roll when the captain comes on the tannoy of an afternoon on Celebration Night to tell everyone themselves, and says, "I've arranged for you all to have a glass of bubbly". I wonder if the newbies were saying afterwards, "What a thoroughly nice chap". No dressing up for us; we ate in Sindhu. A lovely meal as usual, consisting of... Nibbles... More penny pinching from Carnival here; the three different chutneys have now been replaced by just one, mango. Starters... Me... The missus... Mains... Me... I swear the monk fish pieces were bigger than the ones I have had on Arvia. The missus... We had fish and chips in the Quays early in the afternoon, followed by cake, so we were too full for dessert. So, with the pre-payment and further 20% dizzy on the food, the food cost £28.10; the cider and Punk IPA were a further £10.60. Now, I don't want to be critical of Sindhu as we really like it, but... If any of you have eaten in Sindhu on Britannia or the smaller ships, you will know they rotate two menus. On Arvia and Iona they just have one menu, picking the 'hits' from the original menus. I'm a pescatarian, and am not keen on the veggie main choice on the single menu; therefore, my only choices are the lobster and monkfish dishes. As nice as they are, at some point I would like to try something new. I spoke with the head waiter, telling him we will be next on Iona in February, and asking him if the menu will be refreshed by then. He answered with a big fat NO. Shame!🙁 Afterwards, we popped into the Club House for a wee bit, to hear the Iona incarnation of Pulse, before heading to the Emerald bar ahead of our 22:30 reservation at the 710 Club. While we were in the Emerald bar, I saw them making several of these... The smell of the smoke was intoxicating. I'm going to have one before the end of this cruise. Finally, we got to attend the 710 Club, after being unsuccessful on two Arvia cruises. The set was 'Handwritten" They were a good group of talented musicians and the MD/pianist had come up with some good arrangements of well known songs. I particularly liked Elton John's Rocket Man spliced with a little bit of Bill Withers. It was almost full, and they allowed about seven couples in as walk-ins. Unfortunately, it wasn't to our lass's taste, so I'll be attending alone at the next one.

Not necessarily. They will open at 17:30 that first night; if you went about 20/30 minutes before then, I would expect the restaurant host to be already there, or you would be able to grab someone to get him/her.

First breakfast... Just like in the evenings, we are going to mix it up with the three MDRs that are open for breakfast; Opal is closed. We like being seated in a nice environment and being served our breakfast. We cannot stand the buffet; if we wanted a buffet breakfast every morning, we would sack off the cruising and spend a week in a PI. I did say to ICF that we would have breakfast at least once in the Quays, so we'll skip one of the MDRs to do that. Mind you, after his recent Iona cruise he appears to now be an MDR convert. We liked to have breakfast at about 08:00 or just before. We entered the Pearl at 07:50 and there were a plethora of chaps and chapesses waiting to show folk to their tables. There were only us two in the non-queue! We were seated at a table right next to the back window; aft for all you seasoned cruisers. A leisurely and lovely breakfast was had by us both; it was still really quiet when we left an hour later. Sorry, no pics; we don't take them for breakfast as we usually have the same thing most mornings. If I remember, I will take one of my fried bread and fried egg when we eat in the Quays. After breakfast we had a walk on deck 8, cold and blustery on the port side, but plenty of sun traps on the starboard side, followed by a quick wander through the shops. In the offie, I was struck by the disparity of pricing on different cruises. On Arvia in April I paid £29 for two bottles of Bombay Sapphire; on this ship the same would cost me £42. Mind you, they did have a 2 for £22 offer on the Captain Morgan range, including the black spiced. I'll see if the son and son-in-laws want any.

Oh, yes; ask for a six and pound to a pinch you'll be on an eight. If the restaurant manager does block it out for you, you may find that, if a couple of you go elsewhere one night, the others may still be on it. Last September, when we travelled with the kids and their partners on Britannia, we had the same table for eight in the Peninsular throughout the cruise. Some nights there were just four or six of us on it.

First meal... On this trip we booked speciality restaurants for three nights, so decided to mix it up with the four MDRs over the course of the other nights. On Saturday night it was the turn of Aqua. This is sited where the 6th Street Diner is on Arvia. We arrived just after 18:05 to an almost empty restaurant. Over the course of our meal, about seventy minutes, it started to fill up, but there were still plenty of vacant tables. Our fayre... Me and the missus... Me... The missus... Yes, that is a spelling mistake; the printer has since been thrown overboard. Me... And me again... They don't call me Two Pud Tiger for nowt, you know. Our lass had her usual cheese and biscuits. The speed of service was just right, not too slow and not too hurried. I had forgotten about the meagre portions these days, though. I could have easily eaten that delicious stone bass again. What struck us most about the venue was, how we could actually hear the music, and it not being drowned out by several hundred folk talking. So, 👍 for Aqua. Much later, after the mechanical shenanigans in our cabin, and our long chat with Venus, we popped to the Crow's Nest for a late night drink and some much deserved people watching. Then to bed for just five hours of sleep (clocks went forward), disturbed by the now working but noisy A/C. Well, you can't win 'em all.😏

Of course, deck 10; I've just looked at those on the deck plan. Yes, you are on the 'curvey' bit of the midship 'outie' bit, whereas we are on the mid-forward 'innie' bit... In January we were on the midship 'innie' bit on Arvia, but on deck 11 where we got lots of sun. It doesn't bother us on this trip, but if we were on a cruise where we wanted to enjoy a lot a sunshine on our balcony, we wouldn't choose deck 15 again.

The virtual queue times are different on here to Arvia. On there in April they started at 18:30. On here they start at 17:15, fifteen minutes before the MDRs open. Someone may come on and say that Arvia is now the same, the earlier time, but it was 18:30 when we were on last. I expect you will be fine for when you want to eat, the early birds would have been and gone. We wanted to try each of the four MDRs once, so my following suggestion wouldn't work for us. If you though want to stick to the same MDR each night, I wouldn't be surprised if you talked to the restaurant host on your first day, they would be able to accommodate you for the same time each night; mention the wheelchair and that should help with his/her decision, in the spirit of inclusiveness. If you also told him/her what nights you were eating elsewhere, I'm sure they would see that as a positive; you help them plan and they will help you. I expect you will be on an eight-seater; I've not seen a table for six, but there are plenty for eight or ten.

Your cabin will be on deck 9 then; better for the sun than ours which, when the sun is high in the sky, suffers with shade from the overhang of deck 17(?). As for the app, you can select the wheelchair icon, as we always do, but I don't think it expedites your time spent in the virtual queue; we certainly haven't noticed that.

Cabin problems: The A/C didn't work. The balcony doors wouldn't lock. The adjustable sink didn't lock. The safety bar at the side of the toilet didn't lock. If you're not familiar with the accessible bathrooms on these two largest ships, you may not know that the height of the sink and the height of the safety bar move up and down for the comfort of the guest. Neither locked, which meant they dropped to their lowest positions. Quite obviously a result of wear and tear, but needed sorting nonetheless. When we first entered our cabin at about 15:00 it was quite warm, so on went the A/C. I unpacked a few things, we chatted to the kids, and freshened up before going down for dinner at 18:00. I had left the electric on to give the cabin time to cool down. After dinner, we returned to the cabin so I could unpack the other cases before our 20:45 reservation in the 710 club. Well, it was proper mafting!🥵 If you haven't already guessed, 'proper mafting' is Hull speak for pretty darned hot. We sat on the balcony for a while as we sailed past Portsmouth, with the doors closed and the A/C on full belt. When we went back into the cabin it was no cooler. That is also the point we found the problem with the balcony door. Some of you may not be aware that the balcony doors in the accessible cabins are powered; someone may qualify that they are also powered in regular cabins, but I wouldn't have thought there was a requirement for them to be. A simple tap on the handle causes the door to open or close, with no further effort from the user. Once closed, the locks on the frame can then be twisted to engage the bolts into the door. However, our doors didn't fully close, so the bolts wouldn't engage. I contacted reception, fully expecting, as has been our experience on Arvia, to wait at least thirty minutes before the call was answered, if at all. It was answered within two minutes. I explained the problems and was instructed to wait in the cabin for someone to attend. Bang goes our 710 reservation! I decided not to continue unpacking, for fear of maybe getting moved. Within about twenty minutes, two electrical engineers arrived, a white shirt and one in olive overalls. They looked at the balcony doors, operated it a few times, the white shirt phoned someone, they looked at it again, operated it again, and looked at it again. Then, a knock at the door; it was Venus, with another olive overalled engineer. He joined his mates on the balcony; there was more looking, more operating, another phone call, and yet more looking. All the time, that Bernard Cribbins song, "Right Said Fred", was playing in my head. At one point I even asked Venus if I should make them a brew. Just at that point yet another guy arrived. I declared we didn't have enough mugs for everyone. Long story short, after almost an hour and a half, and now under torch light, it was fettled. And very shortly afterwards, so was the A/C. It turns out that, as the door wouldn't close properly and create a seal, the A/C kept tripping out. All sorted now, and no move required. The bathroom problems were for the next day; the boss man looked at them, hand on chin, and declared it wasn't his department. After breakfast the next morning we returned to our cabin to wait for the man whose department it was, to arrive. He did so, at about 10:30. Nearly two hours later it was sorted, which was nice! I missed my dolphin and whale talk though. Shortly afterwards, Venus turned up with the Deck Manager. I said the bathroom problems had been sorted, and that it only needed one kid, not the four of the previous evening.

I wrote a post, with photos on Saturday evening and was ready to save it, but lost my mobile signal. I can't recover it. So, second time lucky.... Our cabin is an accessible balcony (GC) on deck 15, port side. It is the same one we chose for the 2020 cruise that never was. It is a good size cabin, almost exactly the same size as our GA midship balcony cabin we had on Arvia in January, but with a few different details. The most noticeable one is the post in the middle of the cabin, at the foot of the bed. To be fair, it is just a structural quirk more than anything; it doesn't prevent our lass from moving about in her wheelchair. If anything, it is more of a hindrance to our cabin steward, when she is making the bed. It has a couple of dents in it, at waist and midriff height; how anyone could not see it and run into it, I really don't know. Although, the dents may be from previous guests using it for entertainment purposes, if you get my meaning. On that subject, I'll let the votes decide if you want a photo of me doing my super erotic dance on it. 😀 Sebourne, I think you have a balcony cabin for your trip in August, don't you? If it's like this one, you'll both be fine. Cabin photos below... Our cabin steward, Venus from the Philippines, is lovely. We spent a good hour with her later in the evening, for reasons I'll later explain, where we talked about all sorts; families, life on the ocean wave. It was actually her son's fourth birthday; he lives with her parents while she works all hours at sea, trying to earn a wage. One thing we found out, which surprised me. We got talking about downtime, and if she managed to get to use any of the restaurants; I said that we occasionally see crew members, usually entertainment crew or white shirts, in speciality restaurants. She explained about the privileges and that, as an agency worker, she and many of her colleagues are at the bottom of the pile; there are a number of factors in play that determine if crew members like her can dine in the public restaurants, including seniority and the capacity of the ship. She liked Sindhu on the very rare occasions she has been there. What surprised us most, although it shouldn't have given Carnival's penny pinching, is that she doesn't get any discount on dining; she pays the standard rate. Anyway, back to the cabin... The main difference between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had in January, apart from the pole, is that last time we had two triple wardrobes, with one at the balcony side of the room. That meant there was a huge area between one side of the bed and the balcony doors, but a smaller area between the other side of the bed and the bathroom wall. This cabin has a triple wardrobe, a double one next to one side of the bed, and open shelving on the other side; the result being that the space on either side of the bed is more or less the same, which is better for wheelchair manoeuvrability. I still miss drawers though!

Funny you should say that. As we got nearer to Southampton our sat-nav added fifteen minutes. I recalculated it and we were sent a different route through the town to which we normally drive.