Iona joins P&O fleet today.

[Monorail Orange]

P&O have released this video of the handover.

 

 

[Eddie99]

Still no significant interior pictures - or have I missed them?

[Monorail Orange]

^Not yet. Although I think the clip with them raising the flag is the first onboard shot we've seen since she's been completed.

 

Yeah.. very much a blink an' yer miss it moment..

[molecrochip]

I think Paul Ludlow made an interesting statement in his media press release:

 

“She is now officially part of the P&O Cruises fleet and we are focused on readying her to welcome guests during her new maiden season to Northern Europe, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands from our home port of Southampton."

 

She is currently on schedule on those cruises for 4-5 weeks from March. I would not call that a season. He also refers to the maiden season as "new".

 

I do therefore wonder if there may be a change to Summer 2021 cruises to pull Iona out of Norway. I wonder if the Norweigan government want to focus more on smaller ship calls post Covid? 

[Britboys]

19 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

^Not yet. Although I think the clip with them raising the flag is the first onboard shot we've seen since she's been completed.

 

Yeah.. very much a blink an' yer miss it moment..

Indeed. At least when Fred Olsen formally received their two 'new' ships, they released videos showing the full flag-raising and a few words from the Captains.

[SarahHben]

8 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I think Paul Ludlow made an interesting statement in his media press release:

 

“She is now officially part of the P&O Cruises fleet and we are focused on readying her to welcome guests during her new maiden season to Northern Europe, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands from our home port of Southampton."

 

She is currently on schedule on those cruises for 4-5 weeks from March. I would not call that a season. He also refers to the maiden season as "new".

 

I do therefore wonder if there may be a change to Summer 2021 cruises to pull Iona out of Norway. I wonder if the Norweigan government want to focus more on smaller ship calls post Covid? 

I wonder when any announcement will be made about the new maiden season if there are going to be significant changes?

[Rupert2251]

6 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I think Paul Ludlow made an interesting statement in his media press release:

 

“She is now officially part of the P&O Cruises fleet and we are focused on readying her to welcome guests during her new maiden season to Northern Europe, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands from our home port of Southampton."

 

She is currently on schedule on those cruises for 4-5 weeks from March. I would not call that a season. He also refers to the maiden season as "new".

 

I do therefore wonder if there may be a change to Summer 2021 cruises to pull Iona out of Norway. I wonder if the Norweigan government want to focus more on smaller ship calls post Covid? 

Interesting you should say that. We are booked on Iona for July 2021. We booked it to experience Iona not necessarily Norway as we have been there before. If they did pull Iona out of Norway do you think we would still get the opportunity to stay with her as she was the main reason for booking?

[Britboys]

10 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

I think Paul Ludlow made an interesting statement in his media press release:

 

“She is now officially part of the P&O Cruises fleet and we are focused on readying her to welcome guests during her new maiden season to Northern Europe, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands from our home port of Southampton."

 

She is currently on schedule on those cruises for 4-5 weeks from March. I would not call that a season. He also refers to the maiden season as "new".

 

I do therefore wonder if there may be a change to Summer 2021 cruises to pull Iona out of Norway. I wonder if the Norweigan government want to focus more on smaller ship calls post Covid? 

Unless of course he is including Norway in the blanket terminology "Northern Europe"?

[SarahHben]

2 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Unless of course he is including Norway in the blanket terminology "Northern Europe"?

My husband just said the same thing. We wouldn't be interested in a Northern Europe cruise if it was only France, Belgium, Holland etc and would need extra days off work/childcare duties to fit in a Canaries cruise.

[purplesea]

5 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Interesting you should say that. We are booked on Iona for July 2021. We booked it to experience Iona not necessarily Norway as we have been there before. If they did pull Iona out of Norway do you think we would still get the opportunity to stay with her as she was the main reason for booking?

 

Like wise but we rebooked for August.

[Britboys]

15 minutes ago, Rupert2251 said:

Interesting you should say that. We are booked on Iona for July 2021. We booked it to experience Iona not necessarily Norway as we have been there before. If they did pull Iona out of Norway do you think we would still get the opportunity to stay with her as she was the main reason for booking?

I'm sure P&O will be doing their utmost not to cancel Iona's Norway season next year - that will be another 24 cruises.

[Monorail Orange]

1 hour ago, Britboys said:

Indeed. At least when Fred Olsen formally received their two 'new' ships, they released videos showing the full flag-raising and a few words from the Captains.

Good point. And they don't have the excuse that those ships were already operational at the time - so is Iona.

 

Its unusal that they've not made more of her (as yet) now she's joined the fleet.

 

Unless they didn't want to unnecessarily send out filming crews to Germany. OK, some evidently went to the signing, but I'm guessing that was just a small contingent. Maybe they're waiting to do a full series of tour videos (no doubt with the 'celebs') once she's docked here.

 

Just a guess..

[wowzz]

Sorry, nothing to do with Iona, but I quite like this picture of Spirit of Adventure joining Spirit of Discovery.  

[Britboys]

21 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

Good point. And they don't have the excuse that those ships were already operational at the time - so is Iona.

 

Its unusal that they've not made more of her (as yet) now she's joined the fleet.

 

Unless they didn't want to unnecessarily send out filming crews to Germany. OK, some evidently went to the signing, but I'm guessing that was just a small contingent. Maybe they're waiting to do a full series of tour videos (no doubt with the 'celebs') once she's docked here.

 

Just a guess..

From what Molecrochip has previously said, it will be a while before she arrives in the UK...

I know we are in very strange times but it does seem all very, very low key 🤔

[Eddie99]

I know I’m pretty ‘glass half empty’ n Covid, whereas I’m generally a ‘glass half full’ person, but I wonder if this reflects P&O (or Carnival) assessment of the situation and the likelihood of Iona sailing, with passengers, any time soon?

 

Not much point in spending a lot of money and effort now when there’s no cruises to book, not even any itineraries finalised.  Come back in a blaze of glory when things look better

 

Today’s Covid news, this morning’s press conference, the PM speaking to the nation tonight ... *sigh*
Not encouraging 

[wowzz]

56 minutes ago, Eddie99 said:

Today’s Covid news, this morning’s press conference, the PM speaking to the nation tonight ... *sigh*
Not encouraging 

Yes, when you are locking down swathes of the country, there is no way that you are suddenly going to open up cruising.  

[Dermotsgirl]

3 hours ago, molecrochip said:

I think Paul Ludlow made an interesting statement in his media press release:

 

“She is now officially part of the P&O Cruises fleet and we are focused on readying her to welcome guests during her new maiden season to Northern Europe, Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands from our home port of Southampton."

 

She is currently on schedule on those cruises for 4-5 weeks from March. I would not call that a season. He also refers to the maiden season as "new".

 

I do therefore wonder if there may be a change to Summer 2021 cruises to pull Iona out of Norway. I wonder if the Norweigan government want to focus more on smaller ship calls post Covid? 

I've been thinking to myself that they'd start up with some scenic cruises, and then some short cruises close to home.

 

It must be a nightmare to plan, as everything can change so quickly.

 

I would love to go on Iona some day, but I really wish they'd cancel my early March cruise, so I don't have to think about it anymore.

 

The way things are progressing, early March seems less likely as a restart date, and I don't want to be on the first cruise after a year's hiatus, as the crew would be rusty and would have a raft of new protocols to deal with. Not to mention the pre cruise experience and the onboard experience wouldn't be what I booked.

 

 

 

 

[Adawn47]

11 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes, when you are locking down swathes of the country, there is no way that you are suddenly going to open up cruising.  

I wish there was an 'I agree' button. I pressed 'like', but not because I did😉

Avril

[Dermotsgirl]

Just now, Adawn47 said:

I wish there was an 'I agree' button. I pressed 'like', but not because I did😉

Avril

I agree too.

Unfortunately, cruising isn't going to happen for quite some time to come 

 

[grapau27]

14 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I wish there was an 'I agree' button. I pressed 'like', but not because I did😉

Avril

Take a screenshot of this and use this.

Graham.

[Bazrat]

29 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Yes, when you are locking down swathes of the country, there is no way that you are suddenly going to open up cruising.  

My view is ban those living areas north of stoke and those south of Watford from cruising and those who are left should be safe to cruise.

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, Bazrat said:

My view is ban those living areas north of stoke and those south of Watford from cruising and those who are left should be safe to cruise.

😂🤣 - that might work - if it wasn't for Nottingham having one of the highest infection rates in the country....

[Bazrat]

17 minutes ago, Britboys said:

😂🤣 - that might work - if it wasn't for Nottingham having one of the highest infection rates in the country....

I’m flexible just move the border that’s sorted

[cruisefan2012]

2 hours ago, Bazrat said:

My view is ban those living areas north of stoke and those south of Watford from cruising and those who are left should be safe to cruise.

 

I`m alright then, I`m south of Stoke on Trent and north of Watford !!

 

Now wheres my passport......

[Snow Hill]

Still looks like a floating block of flats and expensive ones to boot.

 

We have both said we won’t be booking a cruise on the ship, we don’t like Britannia as too big, guess we might need to look beyond P&O if we go cruising again.

 

Instead of a cruise for my 70th in 2022, we are thinking of doing the Trans Canadian Railway from Vancouver to Nova Scotia, with a few stops along the way.