Harryjacobs

Yes, on Iona Febuary school holiday, we were told 1200 kids on board. And it was certainly noticible compared to my other out of holiday cruise on Iona. (I wont count the lockdown cruise as that was half capacity 😀)

Yes formal attire is still required. It's what makes it bizarre in my opinion as we sat on those bench like seats in tuxedo feeling a little low key

Did the Chefs Table on Iona but once was enough. As TigerB has said you are all dressed up but in a works canteen. Very bizarre vibe. We went to MDR for our other 2 Iona trips and it felt much better. Regarding wine, there is no need to buy wine if you don't want it. We just have water

Thats what we done. We went to Delft pottery and had a great time. Took the tram from Delft afterwards onto The Hague but as the weather was miserable we decided to cut the day short and jump on the train back to Rotterdam.

Absolutley bang on,

Save your money, it's not great.

This was verbally asked to me by the sales assistant on the telephone on my last 3 bookings. It was made very clear to me the requirements if I needed accessibility assistance.

Who is the comedian?

It rather annoys me. Im a private person and have a reason why I do not want to be broadcast on the internet yet these guys will film and broadcast without permission.

We self disembarked on our last 2 cruises. 1 was with Arcadia and 1 with Iona. We had 1 x suitcase each and I also had a daybag on my back. The procedure is actually well thought out and very slick. Both times we had early breakfast at 6am then on Arcadia we went straight off the gangway at 7am. Iona had a queue to get off the ship at at 7am but took around about 10 minutes. On both occasions the crew were still putting luggage off the ship into the baggage hall. As others have said the reason self disembarkation is given a very early slot is to get those people with lots of luggage (us) off the ship and out of the way. As you are a light traveller my reccomendation to you is to do as we do and self disembark at around 7am to 7.30 am in order to for you to walk to the station in time.

If that is true then these absolute nutcases ought to be put on a blacklist for all cruise lines. There is mental illness then there are these throbbers!!

Yes. It was a very short walk (200 metres) to the underground then a couple of stops to Centraal station. Then it was about a 20 minute train journey. Very cheap and very easy.

I think there was one when we went in Febuary. However it is so easy to do yourself thats what we done.

Hi I have stayed in a deck 8 and to be honest it was actually better than I thought. I did the usual and read all the reviews and dreaded it. Turns out that all those that say deck 8 is a poor cabin usually have not actually stayed in one. A lot of the amenities are on deck 8 so it cut a lot of having to use the lifts. The hotubs are on deck so not far to walk in your wet gear back to cabin. People cant really see inside the cabin as the windows have reflective glass. They can only see inside when its dark and you have your curtains open. The only downside I thought was cruising down the fjords you didnt get a great view on your balcony unlike the higher decks. As I said, we were really dreading going and even thought about cancelling but we had a great time and in fact if I went saver fare again on Iona it wouldnt bother me if we got a deck 8 again.

But still easier and quicker to fill in your cabin?

No good if your route to the gym doesnt go past the filling points. My cabin was at the front so in the lift straight down to deck 5 then straight into gym. I certainly wasnt going to wander the ship just to fill my water bottle up!

Am I missing something here? Wouldn't you have been financially better off binning the drinks package and instead use your £500 obc towards your final bar bill?

I have used the gym on all of my 3 Iona trips and the gym is very well equipped. I cannot recall any changing rooms or showers but there is a toilet in there. I suspect that changing rooms were not put in as most peope would change and shower in their cabin as it will be just a short walk away. One tip for you...pre fill your water bottle in your cabin as I could never get mine under the drinking fountain in the gym.

I have parked there twice now and will continue to do so. Great value and more secure than leaving it a hotel car park for a week.

Loyalty. I am a share holder and I come back to a Carnaval cruise line to redeem that OBC. It tempts me away from travelling with another cruise company.

145 years....blimey, I bet you are in a special loyalty tier for that!

My wife has been a vegetarian since the age of 13. when i met her in 1989 trying to go out for a meal to cater for a vegetarian was woeful and very dificult. Times have changed now and Vegans/Vegetarians are catered much much better in society. As a vegetarian (not vegan) my wife has eaten extremely well onboard P&O and she is always happy at the food offered. Compared to 1989 eating onboard now is a delight. I am a big meat eater, I cure my own bacon, salt my own beef and make my own sausages however there are a lot of vegetarian/vegan dishes that I eat on P&O simply because they taste great!

This has now changed. You cannot book 710 club untill after everybody has boarded. If I remember correctly I think it was 6pm they released the 710 club. This is much improved over the previous free for all.

You dont want to make the mistake of overthinking it. By all means research whats in port and things to do but the more you want to do the more stressfull it becomes making sure that it happens. I used to plan my holidays (both cruise and land holidays) with a timetable but it became a drag and I spent a lot of time anxious and worrying about it.

But do you eat at Spoons? 😁