First Time Cruiser questions

[Merry25]

Hi Everyone.

 

First posting so I hope I'm in the right place.  We are booking our first cruise ever for 2024, wanting to go to the Norwegian fjords on Iona. (P & O was recommended as good for a first cruise).  I have been trying to do lots of research but still have some (ok many!) questions. I'd be grateful for anyone to share their advice.

 

1.    Is there much difference in the weather between May, June or September?  We want to avoid school holidays.

2.    We are quite fussy with our cabin ie we'd like the bed by the wardrobes (think we've figured out how that works), a balcony and a quiet area of the ship, preferably on the middle decks.  Any recommendations?  I don't think we'd be seasick as we've been on violent ferry crossings where everyone around us was being ill so hopefully that's not a concern.

3.   We're fairly certain we would like to book a specific cabin because of this and opt out of upgrades.  Would that be silly?  They're not likely to move us to a suite are they?😁  (we will be celebrating 2 big occasions!)

4.   The ports are slightly different on the itineraries, does that matter?  It will all be new to us anyway...

5.   Regarding dining, will we be able to have a table for 2?  We're not unsociable, would just prefer to eat our meals that way if possible.  

6.   What time roughly is embarkation?

7.   Can I take a pair of small scissors on board?

 

 Any other tips please?

 

Edited March 2, 2023 by Merry25
Typo

[Selbourne]

19 minutes ago, Merry25 said:

Hi Everyone.

 

First posting so I hope I'm in the right place.  We are booking our first cruise ever for 2024, wanting to go to the Norwegian fjords on Iona. (P & O was recommended as good for a first cruise).  I have been trying to do lots of research but still have some (ok many!) questions. I'd be grateful for anyone to share their advice.

 

1.    Is there much difference in the weather between May, June or September?  We want to avoid school holidays.

2.    We are quite fussy with our cabin ie we'd like the bed by the wardrobes (think we've figured out how that works), a balcony and a quiet area of the ship, preferably on the middle decks.  Any recommendations?  I don't think we'd be seasick as we've been on violent ferry crossings where everyone around us was being ill so hopefully that's not a concern.

3.   We're fairly certain we would like to book a specific cabin because of this and opt out of upgrades.  Would that be silly?  They're not likely to move us to a suite are they?😁  (we will be celebrating 2 big occasions!)

4.   The ports are slightly different on the itineraries, does that matter?  It will all be new to us anyway...

5.   Regarding dining, will we be able to have a table for 2?  We're not unsociable, would just prefer to eat our meals that way if possible.  

6.   What time roughly is embarkation?

7.   Can I take a pair of small scissors on board?

 

 Any other tips please?

 

First of all, I think that a Fjords cruise is the best first cruise. It’s short (7 days) but the best scenery on an ex-U.K. short cruise. P&O cruises, especially on Iona out of the school holidays, are as cheap as you will get a cruise, so it’s low risk if you don’t like it (although I can guarantee you will). To take your questions in turn;

 

1) Weather is always pot luck. We have been to the fjords several times and had scorching weather on several occasions! Out of your dates, I’d go late June first choice as you get the longer daylight hours for transit in and out of the fjords early morning / late evening.

 

2) Balcony cabins are a must IMHO. We would rather not cruise than not have one, especially in scenic places like the fjords. No fighting for viewing spaces in bars or decks. Just soak in the constantly changing views from your cabin or balcony. As for location, always make sure that there are other cabins above and below you, not public areas (decks or inside bars, restaurants, lounges etc). If you are above a source of amplified noise (theatre or show lounge) make sure that there are at least two other decks of cabins between yours and the source of noise. 
 

3) On Iona, if booking a balcony cabin I’d definitely opt for NO upgrades. You could end up being ‘upgraded’ to one of the dreadful Conservatory Mini Suites that are on the Promenade deck, where your balcony is overlooked by guests walking past, people can sit or stand right outside, and your views are blighted by being set right back from the edge of the ship. 
 

4) The three best fjords are Flaam, Geiranger and Olden. Never book a fjord cruise that doesn’t do at least two of these (very few do all 3 in the same cruise). Iona stops short of Geiranger at Hellesylt (probably spelt that incorrectly) but the ship does a bit of the transit towards Geiranger before leaving (at least it does now - no guarantee that will always be the case). Other locations on Fjord cruises are coastal towns and cities, not scenic fjords. 
 

5) Iona is 100% Freedom Dining. This means that you can always opt to dine on a table for 2. No need to ever share.

 

6) Embarkation is by deck. After the priority boarders (suites and high loyalty tiers) general embarkation usually begins about 1pm and you will be allocated a time somewhere between then and around 3.30pm. If you find that you arrive early, you might be lucky and be boarded earlier. 
 

7) As far as I know, yes. 
 

One word of warning. You will get hooked. Your first cruise is always your best. Enjoy!

[GOQ]

1. It depends which ports you will visit , but try googling e.g. "weather in stavanger in july" and you will get average temperature and rainfall figures.

 

2. In a double balcony cabin on Iona I have had the bed by the wardrobes and on Ariva (Sister ship) the bed was by the balcony doors. I think there is a pattern to this which I am sure other posters will have figured out. If you look on the deck plans you will see some cabins are marked with a square meaning cabin has an additional pull down bed. My Iona cabin had this, the extra bed was over the sofa next to the doors.

3. Booking a specific cabin, definitely a good idea, on my Arvia cruise I booked an early saver fare and got a dreaded balcony cabin on deck 8, the promenade deck where absolutely any passer-by  can look into you cabin. 

5. As selbourne has commented, norproblem.

 

[Scorpio41]

The weather can be anything and all in one day. I add the cruise ports of call to my phone weather app and keep an eye on them.

 

Today it’s saying 6c and the sun is shinning in Bergen. 🤔  But as we all know it rains 363 days a year there. 😂

[Thejuggler]

Weather is always a lottery.

 

We've had 21 degrees in Oslo in June and 10 degrees with torrential rain in August in Alesund.

 

I'd avoid early May, if the fjord areas get a lot of snow some ports can remain closed as they are seasonal operations and if the local roads don't get cleared trips are cancelled.

 

[Merry25]

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice.  I'm sure you must have to answer the same questions from newbies over and over, so really appreciate everyoine taking the time to help. 

[Selbourne]

29 minutes ago, Merry25 said:

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice.  I'm sure you must have to answer the same questions from newbies over and over, so really appreciate everyoine taking the time to help. 

You’re welcome. We are a (mostly) friendly bunch on here 😂. Feel free to ask any other questions. The search function on this site isn’t the best. 

[bbtablet]

Regarding scissors, my wife packed a pair of 6" scissors without thinking and we were stopped at check-in. After copious measuring we were allowed to keep them but perhaps they bent the rule for us.

 

To be safe, confine scissors to nail scissors at a max lemgth of 4".

[Merry25]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:20 AM, bbtablet said:

Regarding scissors, my wife packed a pair of 6" scissors without thinking and we were stopped at check-in. After copious measuring we were allowed to keep them but perhaps they bent the rule for us.

 

To be safe, confine scissors to nail scissors at a max lemgth of 4".

 

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my odd question. 

I actually found the answer to this question on P & O website FAQ.  It says maximum length 2.75 inches so you were lucky. 😁

[Happy afloat]

On 3/2/2023 at 1:28 PM, Scorpio41 said:

The weather can be anything and all in one day. I add the cruise ports of call to my phone weather app and keep an eye on them.

 

Today it’s saying 6c and the sun is shinning in Bergen. 🤔  But as we all know it rains 363 days a year there. 😂

+1 in a leap year!!