Iona 4th June, thoughts

[darknightsdespiser]

Beautiful ship, lots of space, always found a seat where we wanted, lovely decor.

Cabin had larger balcony than expected, lots of storage, bathroom lovely BUT shower not too powerful.

Food and entertainment as expected, only ate in 2 of the MDRs, Aqua and Opal and found the service and food OK but the decor a bit dark. Couldn't be bothered with the app queuing thing so only went on the nights we wanted to eat early. Liked Keel and Cow better than Glasshouse. HOWEVER buffet disappointing, not a lot of choice, no theme nights etc as on previous ships, also previously enjoyed The Beach House as a way to be outdoors, not interested in being in a cordoned off part of the buffet!  Loved the Quays- has always been an issue what to do about lunch if having a day on the Prom Deck and this completely solves it. 

  - I love a walkaround prom deck to walk around and read quietly in a deckchair, this one HOWEVER because of the outdoor seating for the Quays and all the hot tubs was far too noisy - also note to anyone in the hot tubs - your conversation carries certainly as far as deck 14!!

 

Bad stuff:-

The service was very often slow and sullen, most of the staff seemed to be working hard but were under staffed, under motivated or under managed.

 

We had chosen this date partly as a way of celebrating the jubilee (living in Sturgeonland there isn't a lot of organised flag waving!); I had expected at the very least a flag waving British sail away, maybe some themed entertainment (one of the best shows I ever saw on a cruise was a wartime songs type thing on Aurora 4 years ago and that would have fitted); we went to the Jubilee Cake Cutting ceremony which was possibly the most truly underwhelming 10 minutes ever - no flags, no music, no streamers, no balloons, no impressive cake just the pastry chef slicing into a rectangular cake much as I make every Christmas.

Despite the bank holiday being moved I had not realised the English half term holidays would also be a week later and there were a LOT of kids on this ship; it is "family friendly" but no way should they be running riot in bars in the evening.

The whole holidays felt like being at a resort rather than on a ship, just down to size, I guess?

 

 

Conclusions - I want SO much to love P and O, have had 2 great and 2 average now, but felt this for the price and hype was borderline downmarket - I am no snob, love Wetherspoons and trips to Blackpool, but on a cruise I want to feel special, I want the bar staff to recognise me, I want a string quartet, in short I feel I want Princess!!

 

The one organised excursion I can report on to the Loen Skylift was well worth doing.

 

[jon01]

I was on this cruise and I agree with most of your remarks

 

It was surprising at the number of children on board during a school week for most, they were everywhere, in the pools and hot tubs and running across the dance floor

 

The buffet choice was poor and they were running out of food, cups etc a lot of the time. Some of the food was under-cooked, but we always found a table. Never saw a wine waiter in the buffet!

 

Service in the MDR was generally good, with plenty of choice. Booking on the website was easy

 

You did get the impression that they were understaffed in most departments, but this is understandable

 

The theatre still has reduced capacity and you need to book, it was annoying with people still coming in and disturbing those who were seated, well into the shows. Masks not required now

 

Grab and go still closed

 

It was an eventful cruise, with two medical evacuations, including one by helicopter on 5th June, but at least we kept to time

 

One annoying thing was the announcement one night at midnight in the cabins waking us up requesting staff to attend to an incident, but none of the bridge announcements of interest were heard in the cabins during the day, unless you ran outside the cabin into the corridor!

 

The television in the room was adequate, with plenty of sport and news channels, plus a special event channel, so we got to see the Jubilee Concert! There is no signal in some of the Fjords though, which is understandable

 

Iona is big, but easy to find places generally and never seemed crowded, except the pools and areas around them were packed on sunny days

 

Couldn't complain about the weather, we were lucky with two blue sky days in the Fjords, which looked stunning!

 

[Gettingwarmer]

15 hours ago, darknightsdespiser said:

l, but on a cruise I want to feel special, I want the bar staff to recognise me, I want a string quartet, in short I feel I want Princess!!

On Enchanted Princess now as my Arcadia cruise was cancelled. 

 

 

 

 

We had Coronation Chicken on the menu plus the special trifle and a party up on the pool deck. 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Gettingwarmer

[darknightsdespiser]

53 minutes ago, jon01 said:

I was on this cruise and I agree with most of your remarks

 

It was surprising at the number of children on board during a school week for most, they were everywhere, in the pools and hot tubs and running across the dance floor

 

The buffet choice was poor and they were running out of food, cups etc a lot of the time. Some of the food was under-cooked, but we always found a table. Never saw a wine waiter in the buffet!

 

Service in the MDR was generally good, with plenty of choice. Booking on the website was easy

 

You did get the impression that they were understaffed in most departments, but this is understandable

 

The theatre still has reduced capacity and you need to book, it was annoying with people still coming in and disturbing those who were seated, well into the shows. Masks not required now

 

Grab and go still closed

 

It was an eventful cruise, with two medical evacuations, including one by helicopter on 5th June, but at least we kept to time

 

One annoying thing was the announcement one night at midnight in the cabins waking us up requesting staff to attend to an incident, but none of the bridge announcements of interest were heard in the cabins during the day, unless you ran outside the cabin into the corridor!

 

The television in the room was adequate, with plenty of sport and news channels, plus a special event channel, so we got to see the Jubilee Concert! There is no signal in some of the Fjords though, which is understandable

 

Iona is big, but easy to find places generally and never seemed crowded, except the pools and areas around them were packed on sunny days

 

Couldn't complain about the weather, we were lucky with two blue sky days in the Fjords, which looked stunning!

 

Gosh I had forgotten about that announcement, was FURIOUS!!

[darknightsdespiser]

25 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

On Enchanted Princess now as my Arcadia cruise was cancelled. 

 

 

 

 

We had Coronation Chicken on the menu plus the special trifle and a party up on the pool deck. 

 

Much better, Princess in future methinks.

[Dorset cruise fan]

All emergency announcements are transmitted in all venues as they don't know where the staff who need to hear them will be.

Other announcements arenot transmitted in cabins as some people may not wish to hear them but you can hear them through the correct channel on the TV

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, Dorset cruise fan said:

All emergency announcements are transmitted in all venues as they don't know where the staff who need to hear them will be.

Other announcements arenot transmitted in cabins as some people may not wish to hear them but you can hear them through the correct channel on the TV

Absolutely. One of the lessons learned from the Costa Concordia tragedy was that incident response announcements should go through the whole ship. These announcements over-ride all other PA including in the theatre and cinema etc.

 

English half terms were w/c Monday 30 May. Its the one guaranteed to be the same across the UK as it falls in exam season so quite surprising so many kids were on board.

 

Sadly, the plastic flags, streamers, and balloons of past are now banned across the fleet as part of the removal of single use non-recyclable products.

 

As for the staff, a lot have had difficult contracts and are due to cycle off shortly. I hope that staff morale improves as new staff join.

 

P&O introducing medallion would help improve service levels as the crew member knows who you are at the first interaction.

 

All in all, your feedback is on par with what I'm hearing elsewhere. Please complete the survey when it is sent through - the comments do get read.

[daveoc]

1 hour ago, Dorset cruise fan said:

All emergency announcements are transmitted in all venues as they don't know where the staff who need to hear them will be.

Other announcements arenot transmitted in cabins as some people may not wish to hear them but you can hear them through the correct channel on the TV

Presume you have never been on Iona as you cannot hear them via the tv.

[Gettingwarmer]

24 minutes ago, daveoc said:

Presume you have never been on Iona as you cannot hear them via the tv.

What channel were you trying?

[darknightsdespiser]

4 hours ago, Dorset cruise fan said:

All emergency announcements are transmitted in all venues as they don't know where the staff who need to hear them will be.

Other announcements arenot transmitted in cabins as some people may not wish to hear them but you can hear them through the correct channel on the TV

Yes but the staff were hardly likely to be in our cabins!

[LondonLad60]

2 minutes ago, darknightsdespiser said:

Yes but the staff were hardly likely to be in our cabins!

Well, not officially...

[davecttr]

4 minutes ago, darknightsdespiser said:

Yes but the staff were hardly likely to be in our cabins!

But they could be in theirs which may be on the same circuits as passenger cabins nearby

[Chrish2]

7 hours ago, jon01 said:

One annoying thing was the announcement one night at midnight in the cabins waking us up requesting staff to attend to an incident, but none of the bridge announcements of interest were heard in the cabins during the day, unless you ran outside the cabin into the corridor!

 

Whilst the daily reports from the bridge may be interesting they are non-essential. Emergency announcements are however essential. Depending on the nature of the incident you been woken up may speed up any evacuation later deemed required. It also gives situational awareness to other crew so if it is something dangerous they don't direct passengers right into it. Even on land it's common to have a (coded) pre-evacuation announcement often with the location included.

 

1 hour ago, darknightsdespiser said:

Yes but the staff were hardly likely to be in our cabins!

Not that far fetched that the ships doctor might be seeing to someone, maintenance might be dealing with no lighting in a cabin, room service with first aid training are delivering food, the list goes on. Also keep in mind many of the crew have safety critical roles beyond what passengers see.

 

[BillieJeanKaraokeKing]

If the emergency was for you or yours, I'd be darn sure you'd be hoping everyone who needed to hear it would hear it! 

[darknightsdespiser]

1 hour ago, BillieJeanKaraokeKing said:

If the emergency was for you or yours, I'd be darn sure you'd be hoping everyone who needed to hear it would hear it! 

And no doubt all the medical staff on board would hear it, the point was there was no point in waking up 5000 passengers to tell us one person was ill!

[darknightsdespiser]

5 hours ago, Gettingwarmer said:

What channel were you trying?

Why would anyone have a TV on on holiday???

[Gettingwarmer]

1 hour ago, darknightsdespiser said:

Why would anyone have a TV on on holiday???

The people who feel it is necessary to hear the ships broadcast need to have the tv on and tuned to the right channel as they have complained earlier on this thread. 

[jon01]

On 6/13/2022 at 8:33 PM, darknightsdespiser said:

Why would anyone have a TV on on holiday???

The TV is useful for checking the ship's position, the bow camera, on board spend, the news and the weather forecast. 

[darknightsdespiser]

2 hours ago, jon01 said:

The TV is useful for checking the ship's position, the bow camera, on board spend, the news and the weather forecast. 

Suppose, I go on holiday to get away from news!

[Neil_c]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:37 AM, jon01 said:

One annoying thing was the announcement one night at midnight in the cabins waking us up requesting staff to attend to an incident, but none of the bridge announcements of interest were heard in the cabins during the day, unless you ran outside the cabin into the corridor!

 

 

 

We were on Sky Princess same week, you were lucky with announcement at midnight we had the ships alarm go off at 4am, There was announcement from Captain a few minutes later to say sorry false alarm.

[zap99]

17 minutes ago, darknightsdespiser said:

Suppose, I go on holiday to get away from news!

Then don't turn on the TV.

 

[davecttr]

or select the news channels