Iona naming ceremony

[MX-Drew]

Just now, Adawn47 said:

Sorry zap, I didn't mean to wind you up, but you know ladies like the last word. Mine last word is 'Tradition' 😇

 

Touch wood🤞😄

Avril

And moving swiftly on 🤣

[zap99]

8 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

Sorry zap, I didn't mean to wind you up, but you know ladies like the last word. Mine last word is 'Tradition' 😇

 

Touch wood🤞😄

Avril

Avril. No problem at all the last word is yours. Happy to cede this to you......but. This from shipping press 

In her role as Iona’s godmother, Hays will be responsible for christening and blessing the ship in accordance with maritime tradition.

 

Off to lunch now.🤣🤣🛳️🍾

[Britboys]

4 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

What is so controversial about tradition, religious or otherwise?  Britannia was blessed, so apart from her being named by The Queen, where's the difference? 🤔

We'll soon have no traditions left.

Avril

I think P&O are in the process of cutting tradition adrift. Probably encouraged by Carnival Corp who are happy to leave tradition to Cunard and HAL...

[Host Sharon]

55 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I think P&O are in the process of cutting tradition adrift. Probably encouraged by Carnival Corp who are happy to leave tradition to Cunard and HAL...

Not just cutting it adrift but actively and forcefully abandoning it. We no longer belong to the demographic they want. That's fine. I know they need to cultivate people new to cruising but it does upset me that they no longer seem to care about loyal and repeat cruisers. I still think they upset us at their peril since older pax are the ones with time and disposible income to sail more than one 7-day cruise a year on the whole. Iona and Arvia are big ships to fill again and again, especially with little variation in their itineraries.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

That's just the normal naming pre-bottle release zap as you well know.😉 The actual blessing was missed.

Avril

Never having watched any naming ceremony, just what does constitute a blessing, if it's not what Zap said?

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

Not just cutting it adrift but actively and forcefully abandoning it. We no longer belong to the demographic they want. That's fine. I know they need to cultivate people new to cruising but it does upset me that they no longer seem to care about loyal and repeat cruisers. I still think they upset us at their peril since older pax are the ones with time and disposible income to sail more than one 7-day cruise a year on the whole. Iona and Arvia are big ships to fill again and again, especially with little variation in their itineraries.

That's a bit harsh Sharon, P &O still seem to have plenty of activities for traditional cruising, dance classes, ballroom dancing in the atrium and crystal room on Britannia, arts and craft classes and knit and natter, bingo, lectures, films etc etc

[Adawn47]

2 hours ago, zap99 said:

Avril. No problem at all the last word is yours. Happy to cede this to you......but. This from shipping press 

In her role as Iona’s godmother, Hays will be responsible for christening and blessing the ship in accordance with maritime tradition.

 

Off to lunch now.🤣🤣🛳️🍾

I will be gracious enough to allow the last word to you. I do have a reply but would hate to ruin your lunch. Bon appetit zap.

It was fun while it lasted. (the debate, not your lunch)😉

Avril

[zap99]

7 minutes ago, Adawn47 said:

I will be gracious enough to allow the last word to you. I do have a reply but would hate to ruin your lunch. Bon appetit zap.

It was fun while it lasted. (the debate, not your lunch)😉

Avril

Lunch over now Avril. First sit-down meal in a proper restaurant. Thanks for your good wishes.🤣

[Adawn47]

23 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Never having watched any naming ceremony, just what does constitute a blessing, if it's not what Zap said?

A religious blessing John. Usually a short prayer before the actual naming, or it used to be. Progress I guess.

Avril

[Adawn47]

25 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Lunch over now Avril. First sit-down meal in a proper restaurant. Thanks for your good wishes.🤣

Glad you enjoyed it😇

Avril

[zap99]

59 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

That's a bit harsh Sharon, P &O still seem to have plenty of activities for traditional cruising, dance classes, ballroom dancing in the atrium and crystal room on Britannia, arts and craft classes and knit and natter, bingo, lectures, films etc etc

We quite like small ships, big ships, quiet ships, busy ships. P&O haven't lost us as customers yet and Saga haven't gained us. I was quite happy that the naming ceremony did its job. Somewhere it said. 16,000 were viewing. To me not an issue. I just wonder if all these folk aren't happy with P&O, ...........?

[poorer]

 

Not just cutting it adrift but actively and forcefully abandoning it. We no longer belong to the demographic they want. That's fine. I know they need to cultivate people new to cruising but it does upset me that they no longer seem to care about loyal and repeat cruisers. I still think they upset us at their peril since older pax are the ones with time and disposible income to sail more than one 7-day cruise a year on the whole. Iona and Arvia are big ships to fill again and again, especially with little variation in their itineraries.

 

 

Sharon

You state that P&O are upsetting the older generations but we have also felt singled out.

We have not had  both vaccines neither has our son have his due to his age.

So we have not been able to book with P&O for a staycation this year.

We have been loyal swapping and changing our cruises including the on/off maiden voyages with Iona.

Have they upset yes a little but we have decided to try another cruise line for a different experience.

Will we be back yes we will and yes we do have disposable incomes and and do travel quite a few time a year .

[MX-Drew]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Somewhere it said. 16,000 were viewing. To me not an issue. I just wonder if all these folk aren't happy with P&O, ...........?

I viewed and I not happy with P&O but nothing to with the naming but because of their customer service department or is it the customer no service department?

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

That's a bit harsh Sharon, P &O still seem to have plenty of activities for traditional cruising, dance classes, ballroom dancing in the atrium and crystal room on Britannia, arts and craft classes and knit and natter, bingo, lectures, films etc etc

I guess it will be interesting to see how many of the 'traditions' remain on the two new ships. My feeling is that with a lot of pax new to P&O and a lot new to cruise, things will change as a result of passenger (or as they say now, "guest") feedback.

We do all of course have very different tastes. Some enjoy cruising on ships of all sizes and types and some only either the small ships or the large ships. Those of us who only like the small ships are more likely to feel neglected by P&O now - even when we understand the direction they are going in.

I watched the Naming Ceremony even though I have no intention of ever sailing on Iona...

[jaydee6969]

3 hours ago, zap99 said:

 Somewhere it said. 16,000 were viewing.

 

Crews Industry News have been reporting that 25000 was the virtual audience.

[pete14]

43 minutes ago, jaydee6969 said:

 

Crews Industry News have been reporting that 25000 was the virtual audience.

Throughout the stream we were watching, it said about 11000 were watching. Somebody else on here have said their stream had approx 16000 watching. Might it be possible that they had two streams running simultaneously which would give about 27000?

[zap99]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

Throughout the stream we were watching, it said about 11000 were watching. Somebody else on here have said their stream had approx 16000 watching. Might it be possible that they had two streams running simultaneously which would give about 27000?

Perhaps they meant that one stream had more than one person watching it. Still that's a lot of people. Some didn't like it.

[Dermotsgirl]

1 hour ago, pete14 said:

Throughout the stream we were watching, it said about 11000 were watching. Somebody else on here have said their stream had approx 16000 watching. Might it be possible that they had two streams running simultaneously which would give about 27000?

There might be something in that.

 

my husband and myself watched on our iPads.  His stream was about 2 seconds ahead of my stream, which was a bit distracting, as I was hearing everything twice. 

[terrierjohn]

2 minutes ago, Dermotsgirl said:

There might be something in that.

 

my husband and myself watched on our iPads.  His stream was about 2 seconds ahead of my stream, which was a bit distracting, as I was hearing everything twice. 

I use tablet and smart phone to watch Sky go, and whenever I watch the same sports channel at the same time on both I have never managed to see them in synch.

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, poorer said:

We have not had  both vaccines neither has our son have his due to his age.

So we have not been able to book with P&O for a staycation this year.

To be fair, every cruise line, with the exception of MSC,  have adopted the same policy with regards to adult vaccinations, so I don't think you can criticise P&O on that score.

[zap99]

43 minutes ago, wowzz said:

To be fair, every cruise line, with the exception of MSC,  have adopted the same policy with regards to adult vaccinations, so I don't think you can criticise P&O on that score.

Going back a few weeks on here, many posters were expressing their pleasure that only vaxxed passengers would be on board. If they are limited to 1000 for the first few cruises, I doubt that that policy will cost many bookings.

Edited May 19, 2021 by zap99

[Host Sharon]

13 hours ago, pete14 said:

Throughout the stream we were watching, it said about 11000 were watching. Somebody else on here have said their stream had approx 16000 watching. Might it be possible that they had two streams running simultaneously which would give about 27000?

Might the difference be between those who registered to watch and those who actually did watch?

[wowzz]

I suppose much depends on the technical aspects, which will have limited the numbers, but even 16,000 seems very small. Even if two people watched in each household, that is only the equivalent of 6 weeks of cruisers on Iona. 

[crompton21]

Wouldn't that be 3 weeks equivalent?

[pete14]

53 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

Might the difference be between those who registered to watch and those who actually did watch?

I don’t know, but my figure was included at the bottom of the screen. It did not change from just before the stream started to the end so unlikely to be what you suggest.