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Iona Construction ?

jaydee6969

By jaydee6969,
in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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terrierjohn

terrierjohn

Posted
Posted

This is a translation from German just posted on Facebook.

 

No delays with the IONA from P&O Cruises: The ship should, according to the current status, be delivered on time

 

Today, P&O Cruises announced in a press release that IONA, the new LNG building from P&O Cruises, is to be christened on July 4th, 2020 at the beginning of a Northern Europe cruise. This initially caused confusion, because P&O Cruises actually communicated the maiden voyage of IONA, i.e. the first cruise after the baptism of the ship, for May 2020.

 

Especially in English-language forums, rumors arose that the IONA, like the other ships of the Helios class so far, had to stay in the shipyard longer due to a delay. But that's not true, as the German P&O Cruises contact agency denies:

 
 
 

,, No, there is no delay. On May 14, 2020, the Iona will undertake its first passenger trip (9 nights in Northern Europe from / to Southampton). The cruise presented in the press release is an event cruise, at the beginning of which the official christening of the ship will take place. ''

 

If everything goes smoothly, the IONA will be the first Helios class ship to be delivered on time. AIDAnova (built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg) already "suffered" from delays: instead of the originally planned on November 15th, she was able to set off on her first cruise on December 19th. The second Helios ship, the Costa Smeralda (built by Meyer Turku in Finland), could not be delivered on time. It came on the market about two months late.

 

The fourth Helios ship, the Mardi Gras from Carnival Cruise Line (built by Meyer Turku in Finland), announced a delay of over two months as early as December 21 ( we report here ).

 

The thumbs are definitely depressed that the IONA really comes on time.

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

This is a translation from German just posted on Facebook.

 

No delays with the IONA from P&O Cruises: The ship should, according to the current status, be delivered on time

 

Today, P&O Cruises announced in a press release that IONA, the new LNG building from P&O Cruises, is to be christened on July 4th, 2020 at the beginning of a Northern Europe cruise. This initially caused confusion, because P&O Cruises actually communicated the maiden voyage of IONA, i.e. the first cruise after the baptism of the ship, for May 2020.

 

Especially in English-language forums, rumors arose that the IONA, like the other ships of the Helios class so far, had to stay in the shipyard longer due to a delay. But that's not true, as the German P&O Cruises contact agency denies:

 
 
 

,, No, there is no delay. On May 14, 2020, the Iona will undertake its first passenger trip (9 nights in Northern Europe from / to Southampton). The cruise presented in the press release is an event cruise, at the beginning of which the official christening of the ship will take place. ''

 

If everything goes smoothly, the IONA will be the first Helios class ship to be delivered on time. AIDAnova (built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg) already "suffered" from delays: instead of the originally planned on November 15th, she was able to set off on her first cruise on December 19th. The second Helios ship, the Costa Smeralda (built by Meyer Turku in Finland), could not be delivered on time. It came on the market about two months late.

 

The fourth Helios ship, the Mardi Gras from Carnival Cruise Line (built by Meyer Turku in Finland), announced a delay of over two months as early as December 21 ( we report here ).

 

The thumbs are definitely depressed that the IONA really comes on time.

Excellent John, thank you for quashing the rumours. 

Andy 

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neutrino78x

neutrino78x

Posted
Posted (edited)

Does anyone know if this ship shall be flagged in the UK? I heard she is being built in Germany. They have a decent Navy as well so Germany wouldn't be a flag of convenience...but I fear since it is Carnival and they most of the other P&O ships in the Bahamas that this one shall be flagged there as well 😞

 

At least P&O has one UK flagged vessel, the Britannia.

I just feel that Flags of Convenience are a huge moral issue and I would want to sail on a ship that is flagged in a country with a powerful Navy and good labor standards (USA, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Italy, etc.).

Edited by neutrino78x
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jaydee6969

jaydee6969

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Posted
6 hours ago, neutrino78x said:

Does anyone know if this ship shall be flagged in the UK? I heard she is being built in Germany. They have a decent Navy as well so Germany wouldn't be a flag of convenience...but I fear since it is Carnival and they most of the other P&O ships in the Bahamas that this one shall be flagged there as well 😞

 

At least P&O has one UK flagged vessel, the Britannia.

I just feel that Flags of Convenience are a huge moral issue and I would want to sail on a ship that is flagged in a country with a powerful Navy and good labor standards (USA, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Italy, etc.).

 

Here's a picture from earlier in the thread - will be Southampton.

 

 

77075722_10157525727947527_827544106635886592_n.jpg

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davecttr

davecttr

Posted
Posted

Being registered in the UK means they can't conduct weddings at sea. Probably a deliberate policy to avoid large numbers of 'booze cruise/wedding parties on what are Ionas bread and butter. Short cruises of 7 days, in the summer season to the same ports in Norway week after week.

 

Thinking about Norway, it is not exactly a destination of choice for all those young families they are hoping to attract. The kids want sun and lots of water to play in. Stavanger and Bergen can probably absorb 5200 passengers but Olden/Geiranger/Haugo sund? The Loen skylift at Olden can carry 350 passengers per hour. good luck waiting up several hours to get to the top. Or at geiranger join the hoards climbing up the river path to the fjord centre. Haugosund?, nothing much to do in town.

 

In some idle moments yesterday I did some calculations on berths available on cruises departing this June/July/August. For the existing 6 ships and making an allowance for Oceanas 7/14 days choices P&O need to sell 132559 lower berths for those 3 months. Adding Iona means selling another 67600 berths. This is almost exactly a 51% increase in the number of berths available. I expect some deep discounting?

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Being registered in the UK means they can't conduct weddings at sea. Probably a deliberate policy to avoid large numbers of 'booze cruise/wedding parties on what are Ionas bread and butter. Short cruises of 7 days, in the summer season to the same ports in Norway week after week.

 

Thinking about Norway, it is not exactly a destination of choice for all those young families they are hoping to attract. The kids want sun and lots of water to play in. Stavanger and Bergen can probably absorb 5200 passengers but Olden/Geiranger/Haugo sund? The Loen skylift at Olden can carry 350 passengers per hour. good luck waiting up several hours to get to the top. Or at geiranger join the hoards climbing up the river path to the fjord centre. Haugosund?, nothing much to do in town.

 

In some idle moments yesterday I did some calculations on berths available on cruises departing this June/July/August. For the existing 6 ships and making an allowance for Oceanas 7/14 days choices P&O need to sell 132559 lower berths for those 3 months. Adding Iona means selling another 67600 berths. This is almost exactly a 51% increase in the number of berths available. I expect some deep discounting?

Some good points Dave. 

I have started seeing some posts from families asking what there is fo kids to do in the Fjords.. I suspect many booked without much research because it's a new ship and the prices were keen.

It does make you wonder how this will work when the dust settles. 

Andy 

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pete14

pete14

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Some good points Dave. 

I have started seeing some posts from families asking what there is fo kids to do in the Fjords.. I suspect many booked without much research because it's a new ship and the prices were keen.

It does make you wonder how this will work when the dust settles. 

Andy 


I think it would do some kids a lot of good to go somewhere where they can appreciate the natural world, get away from commercialisation, walk in the fresh air and probably have to cope without a phone signal, never mind wi-fi (applies to many adults too).

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terrierjohn

terrierjohn

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, neutrino78x said:

Does anyone know if this ship shall be flagged in the UK? I heard she is being built in Germany. They have a decent Navy as well so Germany wouldn't be a flag of convenience...but I fear since it is Carnival and they most of the other P&O ships in the Bahamas that this one shall be flagged there as well 😞

 

At least P&O has one UK flagged vessel, the Britannia.

I just feel that Flags of Convenience are a huge moral issue and I would want to sail on a ship that is flagged in a country with a powerful Navy and good labor standards (USA, UK, France, Italy, Norway, Italy, etc.).

From day one of the announcement that P&O was to have 2 new LNG cruise ships, they said these would both be registered in the UK at Southampton. 

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
58 minutes ago, pete14 said:


I think it would do some kids a lot of good to go somewhere where they can appreciate the natural world, get away from commercialisation, walk in the fresh air and probably have to cope without a phone signal, never mind wi-fi (applies to many adults too).

Totally agree Pete, but getting them to do it/enjoy it is another matter.. 

Andy 

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Britboys

Britboys

Posted
Posted

The registration is an interesting issue.  Of course, the down-side is not being able to sell 'wedding at sea' packages, which must be quite a good earner for P&O.

Iona's return to the Fjords in 2021 may be something to do with much tougher environmental regulations being brought in to that area (and I think, the Baltics) which will start to exclude some of the older ships.  I know the laws are coming in, just not sure when.

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AndyMichelle

AndyMichelle

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, besberry said:

I think they always register their new ships in Southampton for the first few (five?) years and then change the registration to Nassau.

Britannia is 5 years old very soon, will be interesting to see if it changes to Hamilton as they make such a fuss about it being a British registered ship... 

Andy 

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CCFC

CCFC

Posted
Posted

I wonder if this will have Carnivals Medallion type internet and service. On Princess you can order a drink on your phone or ipad and the internet is faster than at home. Carnival did say they were going to roll it out to all its brands.

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shopaholic6

shopaholic6

Posted
Posted
On 1/8/2020 at 6:39 PM, Mikeyandjoanna1010 said:

Hoping she won't be delayed as we are booked on her maiden voyage and it is our first cruise

What a great choice for your first cruise! Hope you enjoy it and end up addicted to cruising like all of us! I am sailing on her in October 😀😀

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molecrochip

molecrochip

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, CCFC said:

I wonder if this will have Carnivals Medallion type internet and service. On Princess you can order a drink on your phone or ipad and the internet is faster than at home. Carnival did say they were going to roll it out to all its brands.

Don’t hold your breath. An officer on Britannia mentioned that the focus group feedback to this had been disastrous.

 

Apparently the Britannia dry dock had the option to prep the ship but it was decided not to based on the feedback.
 

 

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