AchileLauro

24 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

For some reason I've never really enjoyed venison when I've tried it

 

 

P&O can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to cooking venison and game dishes.

The worst dish that I have ever eaten on all of the cruises we have taken with P&O was wild boar sausage. Now I've eaten wild boar dishes numerous times both at home and in France and always enjoyed then, but on this occasion the sausages were truly bad. I would go so far as to say that they were inedible.

On the other hand a spatchcock partridge dish that we had on board some years ago was probably one of the nicest meals that I have ever eaten on a cruise. The Chefs definately got that dish right.

We regularly eat venison at home so are quite fond of it. On the odd occasion that we've had it on a cruise in various forms it's been O.K. but not brilliant.

I tried grouse for the first time on a cruise a few years ago. Nothing wrong with the cooking or presentation just not to my own personal taste. Still it was very nice to have the opportunity to try something new to me.

Assuming that you have gone for select fare it's probably a simple mistake and easily rectified.

Freedom dining on Ventura is not so bad, we've done it a couple of times. However we are in total agreement with you regarding freedom dining on Iona, it just didn't work and we absolutely hated it.  Never, ever again!

To be absolutely honest with you I very much disliked Iona for a number of reasons not just the freedom dining farce and am extremely unlikely to sail on her again, or on her sister ship.

P&O as a company are not without their faults, the usual main criticisms levied against them being poor public relations, dreadful communication and an IT system that often fails them. We as a family have experienced this in the past and have criticised them for it.

However on this occasion let's be fair to them and  remind ourselves of three things.

1. The winds were absolutely exceptional.

2. It has been the perfect storm for the company, with the disruption of the air traffic system totally frustrating their best efforts to repatriate a limited number of passengers.

3. How many of us have ever  attempted to find hotel accommodation at short notice for over 300 people never mind in high season. I certainly wouldn't relish that challenge.

Just be thankful that none were seriously injured and that all will return safely home, perhaps not immediately but within a few days.

There's been some brilliantly sensationalist reporting in various national and regional newspapers regarding this event but I think the report in the South Wales Argus possibly takes the biscuit

"ONE passenger and her family from Blackwood are having a “horrific experience” after a storm hit their boat and caused them to crash off the coast of Palma in Mallorca during a P&O cruise.

12 hours ago, Chrisdriving said:

Booked another cruise on Arcadia for 2024 after the dry dock in November, chap who took the booking was adamant both Arcadia and Aurora have 10 years left with P and O due to their popularity with certain demographic of customer.

Cannot see it myself but would hope he is at least partly right in them both staying for a good while.

Both are having a huge amount spent on them in next refits for the benefit of P and O and it’s customers.

We had similar reassurances when we booked a family cruise with daughters and granddaughter  when on Aurora some years ago. I had a bit of a premonition that things might change, but the agent on the future sales desk said " No way are they going to change things after spending all that money recently on improving the children's facilities".

Three months later we received an email from P&O saying " You will be glad to hear that Aurora is going adult only". My daughter received an email from P&O at the same time saying " We are sorry to inform you that Aurora is going adult only and that your future booking is cancelled". 

That was the second time that P&O disappointed us greatly, the first time they cancelled a cruise on Arcadia and never notified us, we found out about the cancellation which was only 3 days ahead purely by chance. 

Since then I wouldn't rely upon them honouring any promises until I was actually on the ship and casting off, even then there's no guarantee that the ship will visit the ports that you signed on for. 

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But surely you were aware that July would be peak school holiday season?

Just like all the other ships, including Aurora, when it was classed as family friendly, outside of school holidays they all have a totally different vibe. Ventura's round trips to the Caribbean have a laid back relaxing feel, and I am sure Iona's inaugural 2025 Caribbean cruise will be very similar.

We were aware but unfortunately we had no choice of dates. Also for various reasons it would not have been our choice of ship so it was a matter of taking the only option available in order to accommodate all members of the party. We even looked at other cruise companies. 

We travelled several times on Aurora with children during the school holidays and while the pools may have been busy at times it was never anything near that on Iona.

It's worth checking to see if P&O have advertised or are operating price matching.

They are adopting the philosophy of Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco - “pile it high and sell it cheap”

They certainly proved that on Iona last July, all the pools were absolutely crammed mostly with children. If you replaced the water with olive oil you could have sold them as sardines.

Having sailed on many of the P&O fleet and several times on some ships I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to cruise on any of the P&O ships again other than on Aurora and possibly on Arcadia. Our plans to try Arcadia were scuppered when P&O cancelled the cruise without warning.

Quite simply the other ships simply do not float my boat (No pun intended).

When P&O do decide to dispose of Aurora which I don't think will be too far in the future, unless they replace the ship with something very very similar my long association with P&O will be ended (first cruised with them in 1986) .

P.S. I have a daughter named Canberra, another named Oriana, and a granddaughter named Aurora.

6 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Last April was the last time I was on a ship and I was very disappointed that the always available chicken wasn’t on anymore. I’m not mad on fish and don’t eat lamb or pork so it was always good to know I could have the chicken. I did struggle with a mains choice. Seems to me they want people to go to the paid for restaurants more.

Not just want them to, but actually depend upon a certain percentage of the passengers using these restaurants on the larger freedom dining only ships. 

Should all the passengers decide to use only the main restaurants of an evening, because perhaps the specialty restaurants may not be in use (insufficient staff?) I don't think that they have the capacity to cope. That certainly appeared to be the case when we sailed on Iona last June.

We've had both good and bad experiences with P&O regarding boarding times.

On one cruise on Aurora from Mayflower we decided to take a chance to see if we could board early because we were already in the area. We walked in through the door and were immediately directed to the check in desk and within 10 minutes we were on board. Absolutely amazing it took our breath away. I'm not complaining but we didn't even have time to savor the whole boarding process.

On another cruise on Azura from Ocean terminal we turned up 10 minutes before our allocated boarding time of around 2 p.m. and ended up as the very last group to board some 2  or more hours later. For some reason our allocated letter simply wasn't called and it was as if the staff thought that they had finished and then looked up and wondered what all these people were doing still sitting in the hall.

As for Iona in July of last year, well we were fortunate that we had priority boarding but our daughter who arrived on time at 3.30 said it was pandemonium, the whole boarding process at Ocean was simply overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of passengers and that was after the traffic issues getting into the port.

22 minutes ago, Angel57 said:

The buffet on Aurora was originally called The Orangery (going back several years now) before it was renamed Horizon after a refit.

I thought it was but I didn't trust my memory. 

14 hours ago, Scorpio41 said:

I know what you mean. We first sailed on her in 2006. Getting back onboard is like pulling on a comfortable cardigan. 

 

I will miss the cafe that is now the glasshouse. I loved the breakfast (Eggs Benedict) and freshly made soups at lunch time.

We too loved café Bordeaux and were hugely disappointed when it was replaced with the Glasshouse.

However most of the other changes that were made at the same time of the refit  that removed it were pretty much welcomed.

On 1/5/2023 at 11:58 PM, showingdiva said:

 

Because Aurora has a dining area mid-ships, there's decks where you can't walk from one end to the other.   At the time, had an elderly parent on tow, who also didn't do enclosed lifts.  The walk up to the Orangery 😕.  I was just about needing oxygenated

Just wondering but have you confused your ships?

Aurora doesn't have an Orangery. The only restaurant that may present the problem you mention is the Alexandria restaurant at the rear of deck 6 and that is because the galley is sandwiched between it and the Medina restaurant.

25 minutes ago, Chrish2 said:

 

Do they have them onboard? I was under the impression it's not the staff not bring them out by default but P&O scrapped them entirely.

Haven't P&O discontinued the use of coasters as part of their going greener movement?

Correction to the above - It was the Olive Grove that we couldn't get a booking for and not the Glass House.

2 hours ago, Cathygh said:

There will be 11 of us on Iona in May looking to eat together every night at c 7pm. I can't see that happening under the current arrangements. 7pm is our compromise time between the ones who eat at 6 and those who eat at 8

 

I do wonder if Arvia only has 2 MDRs as P&O thought most of the passengers would opt for alternative dining? But the cost of living crisis means that people aren't spending money in Speciality Dining Restaurants and this is putting the MDRs under pressure. 

 

I hope that you have more luck than we did one evening when we cruised on IONA last July. The app would not allow us to book online because there was 7 of us and it only allows for a maximum of six. So we approached the desk outside the restaurant late afternoon and enquired to see if we could book there and then for later in the evening and was told that they couldn't do it and that we had to come back at 6.30.

When we returned at 6.30 we were told that the restaurant  was fully booked for the evening and to try another restaurant, we then tried another two restaurants with the same result. My frustration was starting to show especially as we were dragging around an elderly relative who has mobility issues. The last restaurant fitted us in but rather begrudgingly and they made quite a fuss about it as if they were doing us a great favour.

We also tried to book the glass house on a couple of evenings, once again it was fully booked and could not accommodate us. It appears to me that P&O have totally misjudged the whole freedom dining thing on IONA and are incapable of dealing with it if significant number of passengers would rather sit down in the dining room of an evening to eat, rather than using the various buffets/cafeterias.

Incidentally some of the other alternative extra pay dining venues were not in use for the duration of our cruise.

While we have in the past experienced freedom dining that worked on some P&O ships, should we decide to cruise with P&O again it will only be if club dining is available.

We have also experienced the equivalent of freedom dining on both Marella and Celebrity in both cases it was absolutely faultless.

My preferred dress of an evening would be described as smart casual, I don't particularly like wearing a dinner jacket. I consider it would be disrespectful to others not to adhere to the dress code so I live with it when sailing with P&O (much prefer the dress code on Marella).

7 hours ago, mike30542 said:

What happens with my luggage when I checking car  in to CPS?

Do porters take it to the terminal or do I have to do it  myself?

When we sailed from the Ocean cruise terminal in July the CPS car receiving point was some distance away from the main terminal (roughly 50 yards ?) and it was necessary for us to wheel our bags over to the terminal building ourselves.

On 9/27/2022 at 2:59 PM, amajaa said:

If possible can people post their embarkation times and which decks they are on so we can see if there is a pattern. 

We were a party of 7 occupying 4 cabins on Iona in July. Three of the cabins were close together on one deck and the fourth on another part of the ship. The bookings were all linked, and we were all travelling together yet we were allocated four different boarding times varying from 12.30 to 4.00, we couldn't see any logic or pattern to the allocation of boarding times.

We all turned up at 12.30 and boarded together.

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

Epicurean, surely?

Epicurean wasn't open when we sailed on Iona in July.

It was also impossible to get a booking in one of the other restaurants as it was always full.

You may have very little choice as it will depend on which ones are open at that time.

We are all different and we thought that both Coral and Pearl restaurants were light and airy and so favoured them more on a recent cruise. While Aqua was smaller and quite pleasant we didn't like it quite as much. 

As for Opel, well that was just dark and unappealing especially when busy which it was on the evening that it was the only restaurant where we could get a table. To be absolutely honest that evening we were getting totally frustrated by the whole dining booking system that simply didn't work for us (a party of 7). 

We've experienced both club and freedom dining in the past, and each suited us well at the time for those cruises. However, that evening on Iona we weren't very happy at all with the system in place at that time, and we would have been extremely unhappy if the only alternative open to us was to resort to the buffet for dinner. Again, it looks like work in progress in the shake down of Iona.

4 hours ago, Just 47 said:

I have just returned from iona cruise starting 23 July.we had an amazing time ,loved the ship and all the staff we encountered were friendly  and helpful.The covid measures and cleaning of everything was impressive. Yes we missed haugesund port due to technical fault but we didn't miss it one bit and very much enjoyed our sunny day on sun loungers etc.The captain refunded us £100 which was great.I honestly do not understand the bad reviews about iona.I appreciate its disappointing missing ports and I know in previous sailings 5his has happened quite a lot but norway is a windy place!!olden and hellesylt are breathtaking .I personally wouldn't hesitate to book iona again.

We were on the same cruise. I wouldn't go so far as to say we loved the ship but with a few exceptions we would certainly say that we liked it an awful lot more than Ventura or even Azura, which is a slight improvement on Ventura in my own personal opinion.

One of our greatest disappointments was the crow's nest, we were expecting it to be similar to that on Aurora but while this observation lounge is at least at the right end of the ship the decoration and ambience simply doesn't match that of Aurora. We had similar feelings about Andersons.

Given the choice we wouldn't have picked Iona and had planned and booked originally to cruise on Aurora a few years ago but since P&O decided to wreck our plans by making Aurora adult only and as we were travelling with four generations our choice was limited. The overall feeling that we have is that P&O have got most of it just about right with Iona for a family ship but there is still a few things that should be regarded as work in progress.

We were hugely disappointed that technical issues prevented us from visiting Haugesund (yes I know it's not the most interesting port of call) as unlike some sea days are not that popular in our family. It was just as well that we were blessed with fine weather for our two day dawdle back to Southampton, which allowed the use of the outside decks and pools (crowded with children) because I don't think it would have been quite so enjoyable if confined inside by poor weather.

Would we book Iona again?

Probably not but then we would be unlikely to travel with such an age range again.

Incidentally we had been warned by a family friend who is a crew member on Iona that the original port would likely to be changed to Hellesylt some weeks before the announcement, so were treating this cruise as a mystery cruise from the very start. Never mind two out of four original ports of call isn't bad for P&O these days. LOL  (We've missed ports of call or been diverted to other ports on the last three cruises we have taken with P&O.)

I may well be very wrong but I think that a minimum degree of weather protection on all survival craft (lifeboats) became a requirement some years ago, but that older ships with open boats have grandfathers rights so we may still see them in use on older vessels.

I take it molecrochip that the gunport doors that you mention on Iona are the ports usually used to take on board pilots while at sea? 

I've assumed from what has already been said that while it is perfectly possible to provide a tender service from Iona and Arvia if absolutely necessary, it was never intended that this should be done on a regular basis hence the lack of enhanced craft and possibly the retractable docking sponsons that I previously enquired about.