Iona Deck 8 Balcony Cabins

[Ardennais]

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

There are occasional times when you cannot select a cabin on a select fare. This is normally when you are within 4 or 5 weeks of a sail date.  The reason to take the select fare on those occasions is to take the other benefits.  

That has been the case for us too on a couple of occasions. Only allocated a cabin the week before sailing, but we took the select fare as you say for other reasons. 

[Bazrat]

12 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Bring us back some photos to compare with deck 8 cabins next time you visit the states.

I have nothing to prove to you, go visit yourself

[Megabear2]

A selection of US hotel swimming pools in Florida/Dallas in no particular order. I like poolview rooms in the US and have never had one like deck 8 on Iona!

[Rob DJ]

Ideally (and usually) the promenade deck, especially if it is wraparound and NOT housing the lifeboats, would have social areas such as entertainment venues or restaurants on that level and facing out to the promenade.  The issue with Iona seems that either the social areas did not "fit" on deck 8, due to the overall design of the ship or that P&O needed to load the ship with enough balcony rooms to make the ship viable. 

 

On Britannia, they left the promenade deck off completely, which is one of it's well known drawbacks, so on Iona they looked to bring it back, but with the compromise of loading balcony rooms on the same deck, which probably "needed" to be there in some format to make such a big ship commercially viable. 

 

For example, RCL's Oasis class ships have outward facing balcony/window rooms, interior rooms AND inward facing balcony and window rooms - if they didn't have these, the ship wouldn't be viable for its size as you couldn't just load everybody into interiors.         

 

To sum it up, P&O commercially needed to have the deck 8 rooms but didn't have anywhere else to put them and they obviously didn't want to make them all inside rooms just to satisfy the privacy point.  

 

I may be putting the cat amongst the pigeons here, but making these rooms fully open to the deck (but  with secure access) - like a ground floor hotel room opening onto a pool area, may have been a better option - some guests would actually prefer this and would take away some of the privacy issues, as the cabins would be sold on this basis. 

 

Only a thought..

Edited February 23, 2022 by Rob DJ
Content

[Megabear2]

11 minutes ago, Rob DJ said:

Ideally (and usually) the promenade deck, especially if it is wraparound and NOT housing the lifeboats, would have social areas such as entertainment venues or restaurants on that level and facing out to the promenade.  The issue with Iona seems that either the social areas did not "fit" on deck 8, due to the overall design of the ship or that P&O needed to load the ship with enough balcony rooms to make the ship viable. 

 

On Britannia, they left the promenade deck off completely, which is one of it's well known drawbacks, so on Iona they looked to bring it back, but with the compromise of loading balcony rooms on the same deck, which probably "needed" to be there in some format to make such a big ship commercially viable. 

 

For example, RCL's Oasis class ships have outward facing balcony/window rooms, interior rooms AND inward facing balcony and window rooms - if they didn't have these, the ship wouldn't be viable for its size as you couldn't just load everybody into interiors.         

 

To sum it up, P&O commercially needed to have the deck 8 rooms but didn't have anywhere else to put them and they obviously didn't want to make them all inside rooms just to satisfy the privacy point.  

 

I may be putting the cat amongst the pigeons here, but making these rooms fully open to the deck (but  with secure access) - like a ground floor hotel room opening onto a pool area, may have been a better option - some guests would actually prefer this and would take away some of the privacy issues, as the cabins would be sold on this basis. 

 

Only a thought..

Totally agree with that but they would then have had to price them below balcony rooms. My experience is that veranda rooms in hotels are cheaper than balcony view pool rooms. Rooms 1,2 and 4 in my pictures are from ground floor rooms in Florida rooms (Disney Port Orleans, Pelican Beach Fort Lauderdale and Lago Mar Fort Lauderdale).  They were all booked at cheaper prices than balcony rooms and would be considered mid range.

 

I have also sailed on Allure of the Seas in one of the Central Park view rooms mentioned. It came at a premium to the Boardwalk rooms but again I do not recall either of these room types being at the "public" area of the ship and if I recall you lookd down into the relevant area rather than actually being amongst it.

 

I believe Holland America did have what they termed lanai rooms similar to your description?

[Rob DJ]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Totally agree with that but they would then have had to price them below balcony rooms. My experience is that veranda rooms in hotels are cheaper than balcony view pool rooms. Rooms 1,2 and 4 in my pictures are from ground floor rooms in Florida rooms (Disney Port Orleans, Pelican Beach Fort Lauderdale and Lago Mar Fort Lauderdale).  They were all booked at cheaper prices than balcony rooms and would be considered mid range.

 

I have also sailed on Allure of the Seas in one of the Central Park view rooms mentioned. It came at a premium to the Boardwalk rooms but again I do not recall either of these room types being at the "public" area of the ship and if I recall you lookd down into the relevant area rather than actually being amongst it.

 

I believe Holland America did have what they termed lanai rooms similar to your description?

Yes, they would have to be priced below a normal balcony room I guess - but for P&O it would be this fact faced with the situation they have now.  In their current format they are the elephant in the room for sure.  Ultimately, they may have to stop selling these as premium rooms - but this is assuming they have issues selling them in the future - so far they don't seem to have had any lack of guests occupying them.  It will all come down to commercials in the end in what they can get away with charging once they become more established as one of Iona's "features"!       

[Amyracecar]

16 hours ago, Bazrat said:

I would guess no one here as ever had a poolside room in a hotel, we normally have them in the states but each there own

 

I've stayed in rooms like this and don't really have a problem with them. My personal issue with the deck 8 cabins is less the promenade bit, and more the big glass screens on the other side. If I book a balcony I want to look directly out to sea, I won't want to look through a rather distracting window. That's something you don't get in a poolside room.

For us Fjords people it ruins the benefit of a balcony for scenic cruising because you won't be able to take unobstructed photos. For that reason alone i'd expect to pay less than someone in the same style cabin on (for example) deck 9. 

[BouncingWheel]

2 hours ago, Rob DJ said:

Yes, they would have to be priced below a normal balcony room I guess - but for P&O it would be this fact faced with the situation they have now.  In their current format they are the elephant in the room for sure.  Ultimately, they may have to stop selling these as premium rooms - but this is assuming they have issues selling them in the future - so far they don't seem to have had any lack of guests occupying them.  It will all come down to commercials in the end in what they can get away with charging once they become more established as one of Iona's "features"!       

Because of their lack of privacy they are even worth less than an Outside Cabin in my opinion. However, there are currently Balcony cabins on other P&O ships with restricted access/views so the pot luck with saver fare has always been there but it is just so obvious, and more common, on Iona.

[Ohana27]

This may be a controversial opinion, but we stayed in a deck 8 cabin, 8226, and we liked it.  We were not bothered by people passing, they couldn’t see us if we were sat down, and if we stood up, we just said hello.  A few people look in the cabin as they are passing, but the only turn their head, nothing to be concerned about.  The location for accessing the ship was great.  Yes I agree that we panicked when we’re were allocated deck 8, but having stayed in one I would certainly do so again.  

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, Amyracecar said:

 

I've stayed in rooms like this and don't really have a problem with them. My personal issue with the deck 8 cabins is less the promenade bit, and more the big glass screens on the other side. If I book a balcony I want to look directly out to sea, I won't want to look through a rather distracting window. That's something you don't get in a poolside room.

For us Fjords people it ruins the benefit of a balcony for scenic cruising because you won't be able to take unobstructed photos. For that reason alone i'd expect to pay less than someone in the same style cabin on (for example) deck 9. 

Have all deck 8 cabins got high glass screens on the prom deck, or do some areas have just rails

[Happy afloat]

Is it privacy glass in the doors, ie, you can see out but people can't see in?

[davecttr]

6 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Have all deck 8 cabins got high glass screens on the prom deck, or do some areas have just rails

Most of the sides of the prom deck have the high glass screens except the walkway in front of the deluxe cabin bulge.

 

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, Happy afloat said:

Is it privacy glass in the doors, ie, you can see out but people can't see in?

Don't think so, this is a forward balcony cabin and you can see the curtains

 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Most of the sides of the prom deck have the high glass screens except the walkway in front of the deluxe cabin bulge.

 

You get what you pay for.😁

[Amyracecar]

14 hours ago, davecttr said:

Most of the sides of the prom deck have the high glass screens except the walkway in front of the deluxe cabin bulge.

 

 

That walkway is directly in front of the atrium windows though, I believe? The cabin areas all seem to have the higher screens on deck 8, the deluxe hump cabins are on the decks above. 

 

(I'm glad this walkway exists though, there are so few areas to look out to see without glass in the way on this ship, particularly important if you don't have a balcony)  

 

[Amyracecar]

This is what puts me off, it's hard to explain for people who haven't seen the glass promenade screens.  How can you get good photos of fjords and waterfalls with those posts in the way? I wouldn't be happy to have paid a premium for an obstructed view. (And I'm someone who normally doesn't complain about ANYTHING! I've stayed in some terrible cabins. 😄) 

[zap99]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:25 AM, Rob DJ said:

Yes, they would have to be priced below a normal balcony room I guess - but for P&O it would be this fact faced with the situation they have now.  In their current format they are the elephant in the room for sure.  Ultimately, they may have to stop selling these as premium rooms - but this is assuming they have issues selling them in the future - so far they don't seem to have had any lack of guests occupying them.  It will all come down to commercials in the end in what they can get away with charging once they become more established as one of Iona's "features"!       

You could set up a business on your balcony. Hair braiding, eyebrow threading, head massage etc. Good passing trade. Tea, coffee. What an opportunity.🤣

[mps69_1999]

I don't really want to hijack this thread, I'm finding it a pretty interesting read, I'm now curious what might happen in my situation.

I'm booked on the Ariva, next year, I've booked a balcony cabin, however I took the option to not choose my my cabin at the time of booking. I was told I'd get at least a GE type cabin, but won't know to closer the time, which is fine.

Given that some people don't seem to want cabins on deck 8, in everyone's opinion, what's the chances of landing up with one of these cabin on deck 8?

[snaefell]

I must admit that seeing the video the first time my immediate thought was 'what a horrible narrow box',seeing it again it has grown on me slightly but like others I want a balcony to have a clear view of the sea,&, like others we have had poolside rooms without a problem!