New Iona details

[Denarius]

59 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Personally, I would be surprised if Formal Nights last very long on Iona - they may follow the likes of Marella and have a "Dress to Impress" night. 

And in some ways things will have gone a full circle and P&O will have caught up with itself.

Those who have been cruising with P&O since the last century will remember that in the early years of this P&O announced the introducion in tandem of (the present) Oceana and (the then) Adonia, identical former Princess ships which they dubbed the White Sisters. Adonia was to be their first adult only ship and was to offer a different type of cruise experience. In particular, she was to dispense with the three dress code system common on most cruise lines including P&O. Instead of casual, informal and formal she was to feature only two codes, casual and Dress to Impress. The P&O faithfull were not happy and made their views known, and P&O backtracked. So when Adonia was eventually introduced, she featured the same dress codes as all their other ships.

P&O were chastened by their experience and have never since been in the vanguard of change. It is ironic that most other lines are now making the changes P&O sought to make nearly 20 years ago. If they had stuck to their guns, they could have been leading the field rather than following it.

[P-L-B]

6 hours ago, Britboys said:

 

I think Iona is a complete game-changer for P&O and will leave behind almost everything traditional.  The only classic, unaltered feature may be The Crows Nest.  Even Anderson's will include both a Library and a Gin Distillery.  There is no 'Club Dining' and at least as many for-fee dining options as free ones. Personally, I would be surprised if Formal Nights last very long on Iona - they may follow the likes of Marella and have a "Dress to Impress" night.  There is a Promenade but it includes dining terraces and whirlpools.  For traditionalists, it will be a case of "P&O - but not as we know it".  The company is taking a brave step forward and I do understand why - us traditionalists are on the wane and they have to look to the future.  They may say Iona is an evolution but personally I feel it will be closer to a revolution.  There may well be space for Ballroom Dancing but think more Azura/Ventura than Aurora.

Sorry if I'm missing something but can you please elaborate on your last sentence.

[P-L-B]

22 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Sorry if I'm missing something but can you please elaborate on your last sentence.

Just realised, do you mean Azura/Ventura make do with the atrium for dancing but Aurora use a proper dancing venue as does Britannia.

[mcloaked]

7 hours ago, Britboys said:

 

I think Iona is a complete game-changer for P&O and will leave behind almost everything traditional.  The only classic, unaltered feature may be The Crows Nest.  Even Anderson's will include both a Library and a Gin Distillery.  There is no 'Club Dining' and at least as many for-fee dining options as free ones. Personally, I would be surprised if Formal Nights last very long on Iona - they may follow the likes of Marella and have a "Dress to Impress" night.  There is a Promenade but it includes dining terraces and whirlpools.  For traditionalists, it will be a case of "P&O - but not as we know it".  The company is taking a brave step forward and I do understand why - us traditionalists are on the wane and they have to look to the future.  They may say Iona is an evolution but personally I feel it will be closer to a revolution.  There may well be space for Ballroom Dancing but think more Azura/Ventura than Aurora.

 

When I contacted P&O (quite some time back) and asked about whether there would be a ballroom on Iona, the answer was no. So there is every indication that there will not be any facility for regular nightly ballroom dancing on Iona.  There may be other small floor spaces where 'some' ballroom music or Latin may be played occasionally,  but nothing in the advertising for facilities on the ship shows any indication that this will be the case.  I would be interested if anyone has more recently had any direct communication from P&O about provision for dancers, and particularly ballroom and Latin dancers as opposed to disco party dancing which of course can be done on any small space without any need for a proper dance floor.  

 

Of course if they don't fill up the bookings they might then start to look at providing facilities to get back some of the traditional ballroom cruise passengers who will look to the other ships where a ballroom is available every evening.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by mcloaked
Hit enter before I was ready

[mcloaked]

7 hours ago, Britboys said:

 

I think Iona is a complete game-changer for P&O and will leave behind almost everything traditional.  The only classic, unaltered feature may be The Crows Nest.  Even Anderson's will include both a Library and a Gin Distillery.  There is no 'Club Dining' and at least as many for-fee dining options as free ones. Personally, I would be surprised if Formal Nights last very long on Iona - they may follow the likes of Marella and have a "Dress to Impress" night.  There is a Promenade but it includes dining terraces and whirlpools.  For traditionalists, it will be a case of "P&O - but not as we know it".  The company is taking a brave step forward and I do understand why - us traditionalists are on the wane and they have to look to the future.  They may say Iona is an evolution but personally I feel it will be closer to a revolution.  There may well be space for Ballroom Dancing but think more Azura/Ventura than Aurora.

 

If you have any evidence that there will be provision for ballroom dancing I would be interested to hear it.

 

[tartanexile81]

Having had a telephone conversation with P&O this evening about our booking, i thought I'd share what I have found out and something which I think is another way that P&Oi s trying to discourage traditional cruisers 

 

One of our group has a mobility scooter which he doesn't usually take on cruises but we were looking at a port-intensive cruise so thought it could be useful some days ashore if we intend walking a lot. However, unlike all other ships where you can have a scooter in a mini-suite, we can only book an accessible cabin or a suite.  It seems unfair to have an adapted cabin because he has absolutely no need of one and also  seems unfair that we would be denying someone whose needs are far greater than his.  However if that's how it has to be that's how it will be though it seems discriminatory and maybe a way of P&O limiting passengers by age or profile. The question is who will fill all those cabins in January and February????? And there's a lot of them to fill

[dgs1956]

21 hours ago, P-L-B said:

I agree with your concerns regarding Iona's apparent lack of ballroom dancing facilities.

We enjoy dancing and it's one of the reasons we like P&O.

We have booked Iona for next year on the assumption and hope that it would continue P&O,s tradition of providing ballroom dancing for its passengers, so we will have to wait and see.

There is definitely NO Ballroom Dancing on Iona.

There is no dancefloor, no dance hosts, no dance lessons (except possibly line dancing and salsa by entertainment team).

Iona is all about money making by way of speciality restaurants etc etc. 

We are on her in May but that will probably be the only time.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, dgs1956 said:

There is definitely NO Ballroom Dancing on Iona.

There is no dancefloor, no dance hosts, no dance lessons (except possibly line dancing and salsa by entertainment team).

Iona is all about money making by way of speciality restaurants etc etc. 

We are on her in May but that will probably be the only time.

That's disappointing news if that's the official information from P&O.

We are on her in June and still looking forward to the cruise, although we will definitely miss the dancing.

[Britboys]

20 hours ago, P-L-B said:

Just realised, do you mean Azura/Ventura make do with the atrium for dancing but Aurora use a proper dancing venue as does Britannia.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.

[Britboys]

20 hours ago, mcloaked said:

 

If you have any evidence that there will be provision for ballroom dancing I would be interested to hear it.

 

No, none at all  I am afraid.  I just thought they might utilise the Atrium or Skydome in the same way they use the Atrium on Azura/Ventura - but it doesn't look like that from post #32.

[brian1]

20 minutes ago, Britboys said:

No, none at all  I am afraid.  I just thought they might utilise the Atrium or Skydome in the same way they use the Atrium on Azura/Ventura - but it doesn't look like that from post #32.

On the Coral they had ballroom in the Explorer lounge in the middle of the ship.Does the A and V have a similar venue.

[P-L-B]

9 minutes ago, brian1 said:

On the Coral they had ballroom in the Explorer lounge in the middle of the ship.Does the A and V have a similar venue.

No I am afraid Azura, Ventura and indeed Oceana use the Atrium for Ballroom Dancing.

Although that's better than nothing.😀

[brian1]

2 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

No I am afraid Azura, Ventura and indeed Oceana use the Atrium for Ballroom Dancing.

Although that's better than nothing.😀

That's unbelievable,the Princess Grand class ships which are the same as A and V,have dance floors in the Wheelhouse bar,the Explorers lounge and the large show bar at the back of the ship.P and O could retain at least one of these.

[tartanexile81]

Yes 

3 hours ago, P-L-B said:

No I am afraid Azura, Ventura and indeed Oceana use the Atrium for Ballroom Dancing.

Although that's better than nothing.😀

 

They use the atrium for dancing but there are dance floors in the same lounges as there are on the similar Princess ships 

Edited August 7, 2019 by tartanexile81

[P-L-B]

21 minutes ago, tartanexile81 said:

Yes 

 

They use the atrium for dancing but there are dance floors in the same lounges as there are on the similar Princess ships 

Yes correct, and thanks for pointing that out but the dance floors in the Azura, Ventura and Oceana lounges tend not to be used for Ballroom Dancing in the evening.

However they do occasionally use the lounges for dance lessons on sea days.

[dgs1956]

As I said before Iona will not have Ballroom Dancing. At best they will have Line Dancing and Salsa lessons from the Entertainment Staff. They are not going to have Dance Hosts/Instructors and do not have a dance floor.

 

P&O want to squeeze every penny from passengers and sadly, Ballroom Dancers don't fit in with that requirement. Very few dancers take a drink so they have a large venue like the Crystal Room filled with people but making no real profit. I have no doubt that the Ballroom Dancers, us included, will steer clear of Iona and that will change the dynamic even more.

 

P&O want more "drinkers" and more diners that choose the Speciality Restaurants. On the Britannia recently the MDR waiters asked us almost every night if we had tried the Speciality Restaurants. On Iona they will have a bigger selection of them and they will, almost definitely, push them hard. Incidentally, we do use these restaurants and enjoy them but it still surprises me that people think the extra cover charge is a good deal, clearly forgetting that all their meals are included. 

[daiB]

23 hours ago, tartanexile81 said:

Having had a telephone conversation with P&O this evening about our booking, i thought I'd share what I have found out and something which I think is another way that P&Oi s trying to discourage traditional cruisers 

 

One of our group has a mobility scooter which he doesn't usually take on cruises but we were looking at a port-intensive cruise so thought it could be useful some days ashore if we intend walking a lot. However, unlike all other ships where you can have a scooter in a mini-suite, we can only book an accessible cabin or a suite.  It seems unfair to have an adapted cabin because he has absolutely no need of one and also  seems unfair that we would be denying someone whose needs are far greater than his.  However if that's how it has to be that's how it will be though it seems discriminatory and maybe a way of P&O limiting passengers by age or profile. The question is who will fill all those cabins in January and February????? And there's a lot of them to fill

I suspect they are not allowing scooters because these cabins look very narrow. There would be nowhere to put them. That why we booked a suite for our back to back cruises on Iona. That and the very cheap price. Far less than in the Fjords.

[tartanexile81]

23 minutes ago, daiB said:

I suspect they are not allowing scooters because these cabins look very narrow. There would be nowhere to put them. That why we booked a suite for our back to back cruises on Iona. That and the very cheap price. Far less than in the Fjords.

Agree about the cheap prices and we would have liked to try the Conservatory balcony but instead we've changed our reservation today to an accessible balcony cabin. Fortunately the price we paid when we book has been used as the marker so although it's mid-ships it's costing very little more for the 28 day so still a fantastic price. Which cruise are you doing that coincides with us? We board mid- Feb.

[mcloaked]

37 minutes ago, dgs1956 said:

As I said before Iona will not have Ballroom Dancing. At best they will have Line Dancing and Salsa lessons from the Entertainment Staff. They are not going to have Dance Hosts/Instructors and do not have a dance floor.

 

P&O want to squeeze every penny from passengers and sadly, Ballroom Dancers don't fit in with that requirement. Very few dancers take a drink so they have a large venue like the Crystal Room filled with people but making no real profit. I have no doubt that the Ballroom Dancers, us included, will steer clear of Iona and that will change the dynamic even more.

 

P&O want more "drinkers" and more diners that choose the Speciality Restaurants. On the Britannia recently the MDR waiters asked us almost every night if we had tried the Speciality Restaurants. On Iona they will have a bigger selection of them and they will, almost definitely, push them hard. Incidentally, we do use these restaurants and enjoy them but it still surprises me that people think the extra cover charge is a good deal, clearly forgetting that all their meals are included. 

 

It would seem that the entertainment managers have somewhat short sight  when it comes to dancing.  As ballroom dancers we spend  a lot of time in the ballroom on cruises - and yes during the main part of the evening we need iced water and dance a lot - but at the end of the evening, along with other dancers it is our tradition to then retire to the piano bar and get a few drinks in - the same number of drinks we would have during an evening if we were not dancers - in addition we have been told on many occasions in various parts of the ship from the dining rooms, to the swimming pools, to the shops that non-dance couples come in to the ballroom to watch the dancing as well as have a drink - and indeed people have said that they choose the cruises so that they can watch ballroom dancing - so if that goes, then so do those non-dancers whose main entertainment is watching in the ballroom and spending money in the bar at the same time - and then the dancers also spend money in the bar after they finish dancing in the evening. Clearly not all dancers do so - but they do provide two revenue streams that the entertainment managers seem to frequently ignore or be unaware of.  Of course ballroom dancers are a minority of passengers on board, and hopefully P&O will continue to provide ballroom dancing on the ships that currently do have a dedicated room with nightly live music and space to dance.  

 

Without that provision there will be a leakage of passengers away from those ships, some of whom dance and others who don't. We love our cruises but without dancing it would never be the same - and if we had the choice of only cruises where we could not dance then we would look for holidays away from the cruise ships.  I know that we are not alone in that. I don't know how many dancers read this forum and many don't usually write in or add to threads - but P&O may be able to fill their cabins without dancing - let's see!

[dgs1956]

4 minutes ago, mcloaked said:

 

It would seem that the entertainment managers have somewhat short sight  when it comes to dancing.  As ballroom dancers we spend  a lot of time in the ballroom on cruises - and yes during the main part of the evening we need iced water and dance a lot - but at the end of the evening, along with other dancers it is our tradition to then retire to the piano bar and get a few drinks in - the same number of drinks we would have during an evening if we were not dancers - in addition we have been told on many occasions in various parts of the ship from the dining rooms, to the swimming pools, to the shops that non-dance couples come in to the ballroom to watch the dancing as well as have a drink - and indeed people have said that they choose the cruises so that they can watch ballroom dancing - so if that goes, then so do those non-dancers whose main entertainment is watching in the ballroom and spending money in the bar at the same time - and then the dancers also spend money in the bar after they finish dancing in the evening. Clearly not all dancers do so - but they do provide two revenue streams that the entertainment managers seem to frequently ignore or be unaware of.  Of course ballroom dancers are a minority of passengers on board, and hopefully P&O will continue to provide ballroom dancing on the ships that currently do have a dedicated room with nightly live music and space to dance.  

 

Without that provision there will be a leakage of passengers away from those ships, some of whom dance and others who don't. We love our cruises but without dancing it would never be the same - and if we had the choice of only cruises where we could not dance then we would look for holidays away from the cruise ships.  I know that we are not alone in that. I don't know how many dancers read this forum and many don't usually write in or add to threads - but P&O may be able to fill their cabins without dancing - let's see!

I agree. For us if there were no dancing on P&O then we would go elsewhere. 

[AndyMichelle]

47 minutes ago, mcloaked said:

 

It would seem that the entertainment managers have somewhat short sight  when it comes to dancing.  As ballroom dancers we spend  a lot of time in the ballroom on cruises - and yes during the main part of the evening we need iced water and dance a lot - but at the end of the evening, along with other dancers it is our tradition to then retire to the piano bar and get a few drinks in - the same number of drinks we would have during an evening if we were not dancers - in addition we have been told on many occasions in various parts of the ship from the dining rooms, to the swimming pools, to the shops that non-dance couples come in to the ballroom to watch the dancing as well as have a drink - and indeed people have said that they choose the cruises so that they can watch ballroom dancing - so if that goes, then so do those non-dancers whose main entertainment is watching in the ballroom and spending money in the bar at the same time - and then the dancers also spend money in the bar after they finish dancing in the evening. Clearly not all dancers do so - but they do provide two revenue streams that the entertainment managers seem to frequently ignore or be unaware of.  Of course ballroom dancers are a minority of passengers on board, and hopefully P&O will continue to provide ballroom dancing on the ships that currently do have a dedicated room with nightly live music and space to dance.  

 

Without that provision there will be a leakage of passengers away from those ships, some of whom dance and others who don't. We love our cruises but without dancing it would never be the same - and if we had the choice of only cruises where we could not dance then we would look for holidays away from the cruise ships.  I know that we are not alone in that. I don't know how many dancers read this forum and many don't usually write in or add to threads - but P&O may be able to fill their cabins without dancing - let's see!

We are those people you refer to...

We don't dance but love to watch in envy the fantastic dancers and enthusiastic beginners.

Some of our best cruising memories are from the Crystal rooms on Britannia, drinking plenty and watching the dancing to a fabulous jazz band.

We would be sad to see it go.

Andy

[brian1]

2 hours ago, tartanexile81 said:

Yes 

 

They use the atrium for dancing but there are dance floors in the same lounges as there are on the similar Princess ships 

 I just said that earlier.

[tartanexile81]

9 minutes ago, brian1 said:

 I just said that earlier.

I'm sorry but I can't see that post.

 

I was referring to Ventura and Azura.You said that the Princess Grand class ships ... have dance floors in the Wheelhouse bar,the Explorers lounge and the large show bar at the back of the ship. and I said so does Azura and Ventura though they're not used for ballroom dancing (and to be fair I've not seen ballroom dancing on Princess either.)

 

Please forgive me if I'm having a senior moment 

Edited August 7, 2019 by tartanexile81

[daiB]

1 hour ago, tartanexile81 said:

Agree about the cheap prices and we would have liked to try the Conservatory balcony but instead we've changed our reservation today to an accessible balcony cabin. Fortunately the price we paid when we book has been used as the marker so although it's mid-ships it's costing very little more for the 28 day so still a fantastic price. Which cruise are you doing that coincides with us? We board mid- Feb.

Our first cruise is on the 6th March, round to Barcelona.

[stephen@stoneyard.co.uk]

With no dance floor does that mean there will be no Strictly Come Dancing cruises on Iona. I thought they were money makers for P&O.

 

It does seem a shame there will be no ballroom on Iona. It can be used for so many activities and social events throughout the day and evening.  

 

Are they included a card room?  They will upset the Bridge players if not. 

 

Best wishes, Stephen.