Iona Construction ?

[davemorton]

Whats an overhang of 44.5m between friends? 

[Monorail Orange]

Eh I'm sure no one will mind if she's sticking out of the parking spot for a bit.

 

 

[Dermotsgirl]

On 7/14/2020 at 1:36 PM, Britboys said:

I was born and grew up in North Kent, so know the area. There has always been a bit of a rivalry between Kent and Essex but that was difficult for us as Mum was from Kent but her Dad was from Essex! As kids, we used to jump on the train to Gravesend and ride the ferry for fun. How times have changed 😄

 

Sorry to take the thread off subject again, but this post made me laugh.

 

I was born and grew up in Essex, and moved to Kent when I got married, and my mum was quite put out that I had gone over to the 'dark side'!  We used to get the train to Tilbury Riverside and go on the ferry to Gravesend  - it always seemed like a big day out. 

 

Going back to Iona, I'm booked on her for March, and at the moment, I'm struggling to see how that cruise will go ahead as planned, and with an enjoyable onboard experience.

 

 

[molecrochip]

3 hours ago, davemorton said:

I am presuming they have already paid for the berth at Newcastle already, be nice if they sent her up here for a month or two, if she would fit. 

Not expecting it to be in UK ports or waters.

[Saab4444]

6 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Bringing this thread back on topic.... As information is starting to trickle out....

 

Iona's crew are now starting to join, although not necessarily the hotel & ents crew. Enhanced crew medical procedures in place.  

 

Crew will undertake ship familiarisation and further ship trials. Iona's handover is end of August. Ship will then enter lay-up with crew but current plan is it wont be in Southampton.

 

I expect Iona to sail with passengers in 2020, just.

Have you heard when next sea trials start?

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

Not expecting it to be in UK ports or waters.

Moley, with your contacts can you suggest that if she is now fully fitted out, it might be a good idea for P&O to publish some photos to garner a bit more interest.

[zap99]

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Moley, with your contacts can you suggest that if she is now fully fitted out, it might be a good idea for P&O to publish some photos to garner a bit more interest.

When does Gary get on board,🤔

[Eddie99]

8 hours ago, molecrochip said:

Bringing this thread back on topic.... As information is starting to trickle out....

 

Iona's crew are now starting to join, although not necessarily the hotel & ents crew. Enhanced crew medical procedures in place.  

 

Crew will undertake ship familiarisation and further ship trials. Iona's handover is end of August. Ship will then enter lay-up with crew but current plan is it wont be in Southampton.

 

I expect Iona to sail with passengers in 2020, just.

Slightly off topic but I just saw this in the Saga sub forum, emailed to a customer from Saga this morning

 

am now in a position to advise you that following careful consideration, Spirit of Discovery will return to service on 16th December 2020

 

So - they’re hoping to be up & running for Christmas.  Good luck to them

[amfc_lenny]

25 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Slightly off topic but I just saw this in the Saga sub forum, emailed to a customer from Saga this morning

 

am now in a position to advise you that following careful consideration, Spirit of Discovery will return to service on 16th December 2020

 

So - they’re hoping to be up & running for Christmas.  Good luck to them

 

interesting, given their core market of customers. But I suspect maybe they have more square footage per person than p and o

[Dermotsgirl]

32 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Slightly off topic but I just saw this in the Saga sub forum, emailed to a customer from Saga this morning

 

am now in a position to advise you that following careful consideration, Spirit of Discovery will return to service on 16th December 2020

 

So - they’re hoping to be up & running for Christmas.  Good luck to them

It seems to be a fairly bold statement, considering that the FCO are currently advising against cruise ship travel and nobody knows when the ban will be lifted 

[molecrochip]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Moley, with your contacts can you suggest that if she is now fully fitted out, it might be a good idea for P&O to publish some photos to garner a bit more interest.

She is basically finished. However, P&O will now be going over with a fine tooth comb. You can be sure that if anything isn't up to scratch then P&O will push delivery until its sorted.

[brian1]

19 hours ago, zap99 said:

When does Gary get on board,🤔

I think he's in cold storage already.Got to keep those youthful looks.

[Jennizor]

As time goes on I am beginning to wonder if our Canaries cruise on Iona on 20th of Feb may be her maiden cruise. Would love to think so but hey ho, any safe cruise will do!

[Dermotsgirl]

I’m due to be on the 6th March Iona cruise, and I’m not entirely sure if it’ll sail, at least not as originally sold.

 

As I booked through a travel agent, I’m due to pay the balance on 6th November, which seems very early in the current circumstances. If things are still as they are now, I won’t be paying the balance. It just seems too much of a risk for my liking. 

[emam]

9 hours ago, brian1 said:

I think he's in cold storage already.Got to keep those youthful looks.

Or hot storage, he's in your neck of the woods or should I say lakes (Italy). Not sure exactly where might have been Lake Como. Just looked the lake up isn't that where Italy had their 1st lockdown (Lombardy). 

 

[brian1]

7 hours ago, emam said:

Or hot storage, he's in your neck of the woods or should I say lakes (Italy). Not sure exactly where might have been Lake Como. Just looked the lake up isn't that where Italy had their 1st lockdown (Lombardy). 

 

700 miles North of us.We stop over there on the drive back in December.Hot all over at the moment.44 in the supermarket car park yesterday,lol.

 

7 hours ago, emam said:

 

 

 

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, Jennizor said:

As time goes on I am beginning to wonder if our Canaries cruise on Iona on 20th of Feb may be her maiden cruise. Would love to think so but hey ho, any safe cruise will do!

We are on that as well, and much as I would like the kudos of being on a maiden cruise, I think I would be happier if the maiden is in 2020.  Being on a new ship, with a new and untested crew, and with all the new covid19 protocols will be far too stressful for us.

[molecrochip]

9 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

We are on that as well, and much as I would like the kudos of being on a maiden cruise, I think I would be happier if the maiden is in 2020.  Being on a new ship, with a new and untested crew, and with all the new covid19 protocols will be far too stressful for us.

You can be sure that the crew that get brought back will be the more experienced crew. The crew to launch a ship, be it officers, deck-crew or hotel staff are picked for their top ratings and experience. They will also have had a couple weeks on the ship before the first cruise to get used to everything.

[terrierjohn]

6 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

You can be sure that the crew that get brought back will be the more experienced crew. The crew to launch a ship, be it officers, deck-crew or hotel staff are picked for their top ratings and experience. They will also have had a couple weeks on the ship before the first cruise to get used to everything.

I do understand that Moley, but from previous comments about maiden cruises it does seem to need 2 or 3 cruises before thing fully bed down.

[molecrochip]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I do understand that Moley, but from previous comments about maiden cruises it does seem to need 2 or 3 cruises before thing fully bed down.

I agree. The difference here is that its widely reported that P&O won't take the ship until she is perfect. Fine tooth and comb was the words I gather were used. Normally you have a small team on board for the first few cruises doing the snagging as its found. Additionally, P&O still intend to run a shakedown cruise to iron out issues.

[majortom10]

We did have lunch ( Peninsular Caribbean Lunch) with a senior member of engineering department last year on Britannia he had been asked if he wanted to transfer to Iona for his next contract and he said he has refused but diplomatically didnt say the reason why and he did say that many have been asked to go on Iona and have refused.

[Britboys]

34 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

We did have lunch ( Peninsular Caribbean Lunch) with a senior member of engineering department last year on Britannia he had been asked if he wanted to transfer to Iona for his next contract and he said he has refused but diplomatically didnt say the reason why and he did say that many have been asked to go on Iona and have refused.

Yes, I've heard of at least one other very senior staff member who chose not to take a position on Iona. It's quite interesting that (unless I have missed it), they still haven't announced who will be Cruise Director - sorry, Entertainment Manager. 

[Son of Anarchy]

Have they announced the Captain? Ive probably missed it.   Mind you, presumably by the time she gets to actually go, the original skipper for the maiden would have come to the end of their contract?

[Britboys]

16 minutes ago, Son of Anarchy said:

Have they announced the Captain? Ive probably missed it.   Mind you, presumably by the time she gets to actually go, the original skipper for the maiden would have come to the end of their contract?

Wesley Dunlop.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

We did have lunch ( Peninsular Caribbean Lunch) with a senior member of engineering department last year on Britannia he had been asked if he wanted to transfer to Iona for his next contract and he said he has refused but diplomatically didnt say the reason why and he did say that many have been asked to go on Iona and have refused.

I suppose it will be difficult being a genuine grease monkey on an LNG powered ship, no dirty diesel or HFO, to smear all over your overalls.