Somerset Cruiser

From 1 experience, Some queued for hours beforehand, allegedly. Presumably for good seat. There's no need as once you have a ticket you are guaranteed a seat. Once you have seats either you or your mother could leave the theatre and return. It is very busy as it's a full house, but not chaotic. The show we saw was very good, 1 hour and not too much waffle, he had his own band with him. Good luck with the raffle.

I always take milk on, Cravendale can last for 3 weeks or more if dated. I do this to avoid the phaff of the small sachets.

We've done the last 2 years on Iona, there are a lot of families but it is very mixed. We're a late 60s couple and enjoy it.

We were on Iona at Xmas, we booked for this coming Xmas and got a good deal. We've often got prices in the past but never booked. Strangely we were quoted a price which we accepted, I went back to the cabin to get a credit card, on my return the agent proceeded to enter our details the price went down and the obc went up! We usually book with a cruise club, but we had booked that one direct with P&O therefore the new one is direct. Any connection?

Excursions and specialty restaurants can be paid for from obc, up to a point. Even so, if we spend an additional £1,000 on those and a door to door service, even 'upgrade' to a balcony, we would still be at half the price for 28 nights to Saga 18 nights. I also appreciate that we got a good deal and the price is dearer now but your claim that there is not much in it is ludicrous.

I've seen it happen, we went B2B on Iona, Christmas and NY, it took an age to get the same cabin for both legs as cabins in the area we wanted weren't available on 1 leg, then when they became available they we simultaneously unavailable for the other leg. I only managed to get what we wanted by emailing Corporate and appealing for common sense to prevail, which eventually it did.

It was Marco Pierre White influenced originally. The evening menu had a £5 cover charge some 15-20 years ago. We had a great Valentines meal in there once.

Asset stripping by Governments is not uncommon, selling off social housing, essential services such as gas,electricity, water, postal, telecommunications and even the railways!

This reminds me of a recent experience on Iona, a couple on our table both ordered Bread and Butter pudding, while Mr had plenty of sultanas in his Mrs had none, The waiter was summoned and he naturally offered to get her another or an alternative, she wasn't happy and demanded to see the Head Waiter. I'm pleased to say the waiter stood his ground and declined to do so.

Spent 4 weeks on Iona over Christmas and New year with pretty much the same menus. Have to disagree about cutbacks as I feel the food has improved since we cruised post covid in 2021 and again in 2022. The variety on the Dinner menu is decent and apart from some good meat options I had many fish and vegetarian meals, all of which were very good. I found the lunch menus a bit limited as I tried to avoid the bread and chips. But the Pasta and Curry was always very good. The soup plus the lighter option was often a good choice.

You should barely notice a 3m swell on Iona.

My thinking was a difference in docking conditions, ie a stronger wind at one berth. @mrsgoggins has now clarified the reason so my speculation was pointless!

A different location perhaps, there are 2 cruise ports in St Kitts.

How do you know this?

@Selbourne I note the lack of information from your captain, we had Wesley Dunlop on Iona over Xmas and New Year and he is the other extreme, humorous as well when the situation merited. We had a late departure from Southampton and a missed port in Mediterranean, not due to the delay. After he had fully explained the reasons it felt as though he was doing us all a favour. Consequently we heard no one complaining.

The menus are very similar to those on Iona. We're just back from a 2 x 14 nights and they are, as expected, repeated during the 2nd cruise. I will be interested to see what happens in your case. Really enjoyed the blog so far.

Drink prices went up on Iona on 28th October.

We did a trip, albeit with another cruise line, last year. Getting to the beach involves a little uneven ground, but other than that it wasn't bad. Having said that our trip didn't include the Botanical garden. There may have been some uneven ground at the harbour but otherwise the town was quite easy. The Police Station is excellent and just as you see it on TV, only the vehicles were missing. We really enjoyed the trip and if you are a fan of the programme then it's not to be missed IMO. We were also fortunate to a sea seat next to the water in Catherine's bar with a reasonably priced beer.

The book choice is very poor, take whatever reading material you may want.

Not a beach but this is a good tour https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1629812-d2534788-Reviews-Orang_Utan_Island-Semanggol_Kerian_District_Perak.html

I recommend Pearl, if you are happy with a larger restaurant. On the first evening speak to Bea or Carina on the desk and tell them what your requirements are, they are very helpful.

Just of Iona and deck 4 is used a lot, even in Southampton for crew. Otherwise I agree with your comments.

I think it's a joke, albeit not well delivered.

True but removing 1 type of cabin isn't doing that, not in this instance, but it is removing choice and may well stop some people booking.

As you suggest not as simple as that. We're doing a back to back on Iona in December, when originally booking a few months ago Seaview cabins were available for the 1st leg but not the 2nd so we reluctantly booked a balcony. I found it hard to believe the unavailability was genuine so queried it and was told the cabins were being withheld by Inventory. My request to release 1 were refused. A couple of weeks ago Seaview cabins were released for the 2nd leg but at the same time the 40 or so previously shown Seaview cabins on the 1st leg disappeared, withdrawn by Inventory. To cut a very long story short, i spent hours asking for common sense to prevail to be told that it was impossible to 'downgrade' due to Terms and Conditions plus the fact that Inventory says! An email to Paul Ludlow's office resulted in a call from the Executive team and common sense eventually prevailed and we have a Seaview cabin. So don't believe the cabin availability you see is accurate. BTW I didn't establish why Inventory did what they did, I suspect no-one actually knows.