Froxfield

Absolutely agree! One benefit of larger ships, which I had not appreciated until going on Iona, is that you can easily avoid what you don't like: particularly in respect of entertainment. Wild horses wouldn't get me to the Limelight or (probably) 710: even (sacrilege!) Gary Barlow. But I can avoid and still have plenty to do and it is great for those who do like those things! Iona and Arvia are now our favoured ships, although I do concede that the itineraries are a bit limited: mostly to places we quite like to go!

It would seem the Ministry of Truth is alive and well in the P&O PR department? Fortunately, none of this matters very much. The naming ceremony will be yesterday's news quickly! Everyone must recognise that the superlatives dolled out by the PR departments (of all cruise lines) overhype the "luxury" and experience available to the "self loading cargo". Despite this the overall experience remains, at least in my opinion, pretty dashed good and excellent value for money: there is enough variety for one to pick and choose what suits and ignore what doesn't. PR and advertising has always exaggerated. It used to be said that all advertising was aimed at the CEO of the company in question, to boost his or her ego. The danger arises when they start to believe the publicity: complacency can set in!

Likewise! we had an invite to a lunch in the MDR on embarkation day, left in the cabin. Deck 9 Conservatory suite is our choice when we have the budget!

I am afraid I found it pretty cringe inducing. Superlative upon superlative description delivered with little sincerity, mediocre singing etc., etc! If I didn't already know that I enjoyed the Iona product (and had bookings I am looking forward to on both Iona and Arvia) this may well have put me off! Much kudos to the prime minister of Barbados who was short and to the point and knew when to stop! Olly Smith did his bit well.

Well, we did MDR for the first Celebration night on an Iona two week cruise. The food was the least inspiring we saw all fortnight and we were rushed through in under an hour! To be fair this may have been the fault of the couple sat next to us who had clearly been at the same table all cruise and encouraged the staff to speed up service, as they proudly announced! We then tried the "Chef's Table" for the second formal night. The food was much better and the service a nice pace: plus we got a visit from Ollie Smith. We will be trying to stick to the "canteen" approach for both formal nights on our upcoming Arvia cruise: it takes all sorts? I am reluctant to post this view as I don't want to fill the place up!!

For me it is good to hear that people are not flocking to the American Diner or Olive Grove (particularly the latter) in preference to MDR. This would mean more room for us! Frankly we did not use the MDR much at all on Iona, although we liked Aqua as a place.The Olive Grove seemed to be the big success on Iona as it always seemed over subscribed. I suspect that may be why P&O sought more space. Similarly the diner part of Quays was popular ( less so with me as it was only fried chicken and burgers!) and must have led designers to think there would be demand. Best laid plans and all.

I am looking forward to trying the American Diner on Arvia! But then I ate every other day for over five years at the Starlite Diner in Moscow, so I probably have an addiction. On Iona in November, I found that careful planning and early use of the meal booking app avoided the problems of waiting for dining slots. Given the overall price of the cruise, we were happy to pay moderate upcharges for speciality dining and hardly patronised the two big MDRs at all. Looks like the Xmas meal over-rode all the pre-booking opportunities and didn't work too well?

On our cruise, ending last Saturday, Iona was only full of dubious people if you think that people from north of Birmingham are dubious. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, I don't!!

Perhaps black tie is a bit over the top for the venue but they do make a bit of an effort with table cloths etc. In point of fact we didn't see anyone wandering past in shots and flip flops to get hamburger and chips!

For reference, the food MAY come from the main galley but it is not the same. Many of the dishes are actually different: in some cases not available in the MDR and in some served with variations. But, as I said earlier, I am happy if people choose to avoid and leave room for me!!!

The MDR menu on Celebration nights last week DID include the regular staples such as grilled salmon and the 6oz surloin! We went to the Coral restaurant for the Celebration night on the first week of our cruise and it was our least successful dining experience of the whole cruise. The menu was uninspired to say the least and the service too rushed: we were through the meal and out of the restaurant in under an hour!!! As a result we booked the Chef's Table for the Black and White night. A much better menu than that available downstairs and more relaxed! And we got a visit from Olly Smith. But I don't want to encourage competition for the Chef's Table from the naysayers: leave it to those who like it!

Frankly, from my perspective, 3 out of 5 is very unfair to Iona. It seems to be driven by traditional P&Oers who prefer the old style P&O. We have in the past been put off P&O bye the older ships and went back to try the new style. And like it a lot!! In the past P&O featured silver service in the dining rooms, which seemed to us to include piles of over cooked veg! That's long gone. But our last experience on a freezing cold, not fit for purpose, Oriana finished us. Although we had one or two good, and enjoyable cruises, we found that Cunard offered a better alternative for the traditional British cruise product. Of course, the clickbait title of the CC email is a PR puff, to be taken with a pinch of salt. Most CC emails come under the same heading! A cruise ship experience is only as good as the last cruise and we are on Iona from this Saturday to see if we still love it. For example, non availability of speciality restaurants such as Epicurean would make a big dent in our enjoyment!

Trying to reduce the amount of FCC out there might be cash flow management? Does anyone have any idea of the contingent liability of future cruise value being run by the cruise lines as a result of covid. Bookings with FCC reduce current cash flow I would guess?

I guess I am in the minority here. Having decided to quit P&O after a miserable cruise on Oriana due to cold: ship not fit for purpose! We tried Iona this May and loved the ship and its multiple dining options. Maybe it wasn't full, but we are going again in November and will see if an increased passenger load changes the experience. Frankly, we found we enjoyed this bigger ship far more than previous P&O cruises on Arcadia and Oriana. Maybe a few touches have gone missing, but nothing we miss particularly.

I always understood that masks did not offer that much protection to the wearer. If anything they help to prevent the spread of virus from those already infected. I sincerely hope you are not seriously ill as a result of your infection.

Thinking much the same. Is it worth paying the balance for a cruise whilst this uncertainty exists?At least we are not travelling until November so I have a few weeks to watch this space.