(Not quite live) from Iona - G318 - Fjords - 10th June

[TigerB]

I say 'not quite live' because I ain't paying for t'internet; I'll have to rely on mobile data when in port.

 

This is fourth time lucky for us on this cruise. We booked the same cruise for the maiden season in 2020, to fall over our 30th wedding anniversary, but there was something going on in the world that led it to be cancelled. We looked to book it again for 2021, but the prices had gone right up; I'm quite sure it didn't go ahead again due to Covid. We looked at it again for 2022, but the prices were again £400 more than we would have paid for the original trip.  For this confirmed trip, which will now be over our 33rd anniversary, the prices had come down to just a couple of quid more than we had paid for 2020; so, we were happy with that.

 

We have an accessible balcony cabin on deck 15, the same one we had originally booked.  The OBC is a bit meagre though; standard is £80, BLC is £70, and shareholder is £60. It'll be alright though; we don't drink to excess, and trips and speciality restaurants have been booked and paid for.

 

Unlike ICF, we didn't stay in Winchester last night or have a crappy crème brûlée at Rick Stein's place. Nor will we be shelling out over £200 for lunch.  No, for us it was our usual pre-cruise hotel ....the six star Newbury south PI at £49, plus the meal deal. #Yorkshire😉  As it happens, we had cause to complain about our main meal last night; I won't go into detail other than today our lass told the duty manager they were like Iceland rejects!🙄  Long story, short, we were refunded the whole meal deal charges. Result!👍

 

Having sailed on Arvia twice now, we are really looking forward to seeing how Iona compares. We will try and give Olive Grove a try; we didn't care for it on Arvia. 

We have three accessible tours booked for each of Stavanger, Olden and Haugesund. We've booked all the speciality restaurants we want to do; Epicurean twice, once for the Norwegian tasting menu (really looking forward to that) and again for our anniversary, and Sindhu for the formal night. As it is just one week, I've decided not to take my best bib and tucker.

 

We have a 14:00 check-in so planning to get there a good hour early to get the luggage sorted and car parked (Triangle), then to sit for a while inside and try and get on the My Holiday app to book more stuff before we board.

 

I'll check in later, folks.👋

[Scorpio41]

Have a good cruise. Looking forward to sharing your cruise journey. 

[indiana123]

Have a great time.  Enjoy every minute.

 

As you say, nothing usually wrong with PIs the night before a cruise.  Sorry you met with a hiccup this time.   The ones in Southampton are absolutely crammed with cruisers!!!🤣

[purplesea]

Have a good time.

 

We have sailed on both Arvia and Iona and liked both ships.
Our next cruises is to the Fjords too, but on Britannia in September and also have  PI booked pre-cruise. Will be interesting to hear your views on Stravanger and Haugesund, especially as the later is a new port for us.

[Interestedcruisefan]

This should be good plenty of great meals pre-booked

 

Hopefully some nice weather too?

 

Enjoy

 

Olden was our favourite stop

[CarlaMarie]

Have a wonderful time!

[cruising.mark.uk]

Enjoy.  I look forward to your review.

[TigerB]

We're on board and in our cabin, but not without a bit of drama. Whenever we go away you can always guarantee there is drama. Our lass told the kids and each of them replied with roll-eyes emojis; they know us too well!🙄

 

The plan was to get to the terminal about an hour ahead of our 14:00 boarding time, to sort the luggage and the car. In good traffic it normally takes about 50 minutes from Newbury, but there were tailbacks on almost the entire stretch of the M3 we were on. We arrived at gate 4 at 13:00, a journey time of 70 minutes. However, from there to the drop off in lane 2, it took a further 20 minutes.😲  After unloading the luggage and this missus, and parking the car, we were at check-in for 13:45.

 

Parking the car in the Triangle was a breeze. For those that don't know, after dropping off passengers and luggage, head out of the exit, the after about 300 feet, turn left into the car park. I was previously fretting about the disabled spaces. As you drive in there a seven in a line just on the right. I got the last of those. It's then about a five minute slow walk to the terminal.

 

 

At check-in our names were called over the tannoy. I didn't hear it, but the boss did. I then got, "What have you done now"?  She knows me two well!  I went to the enquiry desk on the upper floor and was told security needed to check an item in one of our cases. I knew exactly what that was. They allowed us to check-in first, and then I suggested I go and sort it, and come back for the boss. The lady from security suggested we both went down, and we would go through the crew security screening, and then directly onto the ship. 

Once downstairs and through security, we were met by another security lady. "It's a knife, isn't it"? says I. "We just want to check the blade length".  Despite our lass looking daggers at me and shaking her head, I have to say in my defence that all I was trying to do was add a little bit of class to our pre-dinner cocktails in the cabin, so brought on a couple of lemons.....oh, and the serrated knife to cut then.  It was a wee bit over the 7cm limit, so it went in the confiscated box. Lesson learnt! Thank goodness they didn't find my bowie knife in the other case!🫢

Anyway, at least we saw a little bit 'behind the scenes', so every cloud an all that.😏

 

A short time later we were on board and in the Keel & Cow for much deserved liquid refreshment. Our cabin was ready, but a cold drink was more important at that time.

 

I had a bit of time to get on the My Holiday app and make reservations for the 710 club and our evening meals, and breakfasts.

 

I'll check in later with cabin photos.

[Selbourne]

17 minutes ago, TigerB said:

We're on board and in our cabin, but not without a bit of drama. Whenever we go away you can always guarantee there is drama. Our lass told the kids and each of them replied with roll-eyes emojis; they know us too well!🙄

 

The plan was to get to the terminal about an hour ahead of our 14:00 boarding time, to sort the luggage and the car. In good traffic it normally takes about 50 minutes from Newbury, but there were tailbacks on almost the entire stretch of the M3 we were on. We arrived at gate 4 at 13:00, a journey time of 70 minutes. However, from there to the drop off in lane 2, it took a further 20 minutes.😲  After unloading the luggage and this missus, and parking the car, we were at check-in for 13:45.

 

Parking the car in the Triangle was a breeze. For those that don't know, after dropping off passengers and luggage, head out of the exit, the after about 300 feet, turn left into the car park. I was previously fretting about the disabled spaces. As you drive in there a seven in a line just on the right. I got the last of those. It's then about a five minute slow walk to the terminal.

 

 

At check-in our names were called over the tannoy. I didn't hear it, but the boss did. I then got, "What have you done now"?  She knows me two well!  I went to the enquiry desk on the upper floor and was told security needed to check an item in one of our cases. I knew exactly what that was. They allowed us to check-in first, and then I suggested I go and sort it, and come back for the boss. The lady from security suggested we both went down, and we would go through the crew security screening, and then directly onto the ship. 

Once downstairs and through security, we were met by another security lady. "It's a knife, isn't it"? says I. "We just want to check the blade length".  Despite our lass looking daggers at me and shaking her head, I have to say in my defence that all I was trying to do was add a little bit of class to our pre-dinner cocktails in the cabin, so brought on a couple of lemons.....oh, and the serrated knife to cut then.  It was a wee bit over the 7cm limit, so it went in the confiscated box. Lesson learnt! Thank goodness they didn't find my bowie knife in the other case!🫢

Anyway, at least we saw a little bit 'behind the scenes', so every cloud an all that.😏

 

A short time later we were on board and in the Keel & Cow for much deserved liquid refreshment. Our cabin was ready, but a cold drink was more important at that time.

 

I had a bit of time to get on the My Holiday app and make reservations for the 710 club and our evening meals, and breakfasts.

 

I'll check in later with cabin photos.

Did you use assisted embarkation and, if so, was it ok? No mention of queues which sounds encouraging. Have a great time. Looking forward to your updates. 

[Cloudyrain]

@TigerB I hope we have left the Iona in a good condition for you 😊 We basically ate every day in the Keel & Cow, but there should be something left (I think…). I hope you enjoy your week: the 90s night in the 710 was definitely the entertainment highlight for us, so I hope you get to enjoy it too!

[Cloudyrain]

6 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Did you use assisted embarkation and, if so, was it ok? No mention of queues which sounds encouraging. Have a great time. Looking forward to your updates. 

We just got off from a week and used assisted boarding: it was a different process from how it was literally the other month, but it still worked great and was very smooth. 

[Dermotsgirl]

It’s probably a good thing you got onboard relatively early. 
 

Elsewhere, there’s reports that the traffic is chocka in Southampton 

[Gettingwarmer]

29 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Once downstairs and through security, we were met by another security lady. "It's a knife, isn't it"? says I. "We just want to check the blade length". 

Recently on Arcadia we were called down to security. “We think there is a knife in your case”

Bewildered we opened the case and in the small pocket along the back was some paper and…..an Arcadian dinner knife. 

“What do you use this for?”

“It’s to stick in the balcony structure to stop it making a noise, we used it last time on the ship”

So they confiscated it. Easily enough to get another one but this time we didn’t need it. 

 

[TigerB]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Did you use assisted embarkation and, if so, was it ok? No mention of queues which sounds encouraging. Have a great time. Looking forward to your updates. 

 

As you know, we always pre-book special assistance but, as our lass has a power chair, we don't actually need anyone from the assistance team to escort us and help.

All folk that had assistance were being directed straight into the building, and in there I don't think there were more than a dozen or so waiting downstairs for assistance.

Our lass said the group of four directly behind us at the check-in desk said their check-in time was 16:00. They were happy having been waved in.

I couldn't make out a queue for other guests outside; it appeared all were walking steadily into the building and up the escalator. This was just after 13:30 mind; it may have been different at other times.

 

[TigerB]

2 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

It’s probably a good thing you got onboard relatively early. 
 

Elsewhere, there’s reports that the traffic is chocka in Southampton 

 

Funny you should say that. As we got nearer to Southampton our sat-nav added fifteen minutes. I recalculated it and we were sent a different route through the town to which we normally drive.

[Happy afloat]

So they found a knife in your luggage and the wife "looked daggers" at you🙂

Love it!!

Have a great holiday👍

[AndyMichelle]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Did you use assisted embarkation and, if so, was it ok? No mention of queues which sounds encouraging. Have a great time. Looking forward to your updates. 

It seems the way to get on board quickly is to put a knife in your luggage... 😂

 

Disclaimer... Don't try this at home folks... 😂

 

Andy 

[lancashire_cruisers]

We also had the call of shame. DH had put my name on his case (why I don’t know) and he’d packed his full kilt regalia including an imitation skean dhu which was totally plastic with no blade. In rummaging through the case to find it and then repacking afterwards one of my brand new shoes went AWOL and never made it onto the ship!

 

Needless to say DH was very grateful that his skean was a replica when I found out ! 😂

[Peanut006]

On 6/10/2023 at 11:36 AM, TigerB said:

I say 'not quite live' because I ain't paying for t'internet; I'll have to rely on mobile data when in port.

 

This is fourth time lucky for us on this cruise. We booked the same cruise for the maiden season in 2020, to fall over our 30th wedding anniversary, but there was something going on in the world that led it to be cancelled. We looked to book it again for 2021, but the prices had gone right up; I'm quite sure it didn't go ahead again due to Covid. We looked at it again for 2022, but the prices were again £400 more than we would have paid for the original trip.  For this confirmed trip, which will now be over our 33rd anniversary, the prices had come down to just a couple of quid more than we had paid for 2020; so, we were happy with that.

 

We have an accessible balcony cabin on deck 15, the same one we had originally booked.  The OBC is a bit meagre though; standard is £80, BLC is £70, and shareholder is £60. It'll be alright though; we don't drink to excess, and trips and speciality restaurants have been booked and paid for.

 

Unlike ICF, we didn't stay in Winchester last night or have a crappy crème brûlée at Rick Stein's place. Nor will we be shelling out over £200 for lunch.  No, for us it was our usual pre-cruise hotel ....the six star Newbury south PI at £49, plus the meal deal. #Yorkshire😉  As it happens, we had cause to complain about our main meal last night; I won't go into detail other than today our lass told the duty manager they were like Iceland rejects!🙄  Long story, short, we were refunded the whole meal deal charges. Result!👍

 

Having sailed on Arvia twice now, we are really looking forward to seeing how Iona compares. We will try and give Olive Grove a try; we didn't care for it on Arvia. 

We have three accessible tours booked for each of Stavanger, Olden and Haugesund. We've booked all the speciality restaurants we want to do; Epicurean twice, once for the Norwegian tasting menu (really looking forward to that) and again for our anniversary, and Sindhu for the formal night. As it is just one week, I've decided not to take my best bib and tucker.

 

We have a 14:00 check-in so planning to get there a good hour early to get the luggage sorted and car parked (Triangle), then to sit for a while inside and try and get on the My Holiday app to book more stuff before we board.

 

I'll check in later, folks.👋

Looking forward to reading all your updates and adventures 

 

Michelle

[TigerB]

I wrote a post, with photos on Saturday evening and was ready to save it, but lost my mobile signal. I can't recover it. So, second time lucky....

 

Our cabin is an accessible balcony (GC) on deck 15, port side. It is the same one we chose for the 2020 cruise that never was.
It is a good size cabin, almost exactly the same size as our GA midship balcony cabin we had on Arvia in January, but with a few different details. The most noticeable one is the post in the middle of the cabin, at the foot of the bed. To be fair, it is just a structural quirk more than anything; it doesn't prevent our lass from moving about in her wheelchair. If anything, it is more of a hindrance to our cabin steward, when she is making the bed. It has a couple of dents in it, at waist and midriff height; how anyone could not see it and run into it, I really don't know. Although, the dents may be from previous guests using it for entertainment purposes, if you get my meaning. On that subject, I'll let the votes decide if you want a photo of me doing my super erotic dance on it. 😀

 

Sebourne, I think you have a balcony cabin for your trip in August, don't you? If it's like this one, you'll both be fine.
Cabin photos below...

Our cabin steward, Venus from the Philippines, is lovely. We spent a good hour with her later in the evening, for reasons I'll later explain, where we talked about all sorts; families, life on the ocean wave. It was actually her son's fourth birthday; he lives with her parents while she works all hours at sea, trying to earn a wage. One thing we found out, which surprised me.  We got talking about downtime, and if she managed to get to use any of the restaurants; I said that we occasionally see crew members, usually entertainment crew or white shirts, in speciality restaurants. She explained about the privileges and that, as an agency worker, she and many of her colleagues are at the bottom of the pile; there are a number of factors in play that determine if crew members like her can dine in the public restaurants, including seniority and the capacity of the ship.  She liked Sindhu on the very rare occasions she has been there. What surprised us most, although it shouldn't have given Carnival's penny pinching, is that she doesn't get any discount on dining; she pays the standard rate.

 

Anyway, back to the cabin...

The main difference between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had in January, apart from the pole, is that last time we had two triple wardrobes, with one at the balcony side of the room. That meant there was a huge area between one side of the bed and the balcony doors, but a smaller area between the other side of the bed and the bathroom wall. This cabin has a triple wardrobe, a double one next to one side of the bed, and open shelving on the other side; the result being that the space on either side of the bed is more or less the same, which is better for wheelchair manoeuvrability. I still miss drawers though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beckett]

6 minutes ago, TigerB said:

I wrote a post, with photos on Saturday evening and was ready to save it, but lost my mobile signal. I can't recover it. So, second time lucky....

 

Our cabin is an accessible balcony (GC) on deck 15, port side. It is the same one we chose for the 2020 cruise that never was.
It is a good size cabin, almost exactly the same size as our GA midship balcony cabin we had on Arvia in January, but with a few different details. The most noticeable one is the post in the middle of the cabin, at the foot of the bed. To be fair, it is just a structural quirk more than anything; it doesn't prevent our lass from moving about in her wheelchair. If anything, it is more of a hindrance to our cabin steward, when she is making the bed. It has a couple of dents in it, at waist and midriff height; how anyone could not see it and run into it, I really don't know. Although, the dents may be from previous guests using it for entertainment purposes, if you get my meaning. On that subject, I'll let the votes decide if you want a photo of me doing my super erotic dance on it. 😀

 

Sebourne, I think you have a balcony cabin for your trip in August, don't you? If it's like this one, you'll both be fine.
Cabin photos below...

Our cabin steward, Venus from the Philippines, is lovely. We spent a good hour with her later in the evening, for reasons I'll later explain, where we talked about all sorts; families, life on the ocean wave. It was actually her son's fourth birthday; he lives with her parents while she works all hours at sea, trying to earn a wage. One thing we found out, which surprised me.  We got talking about downtime, and if she managed to get to use any of the restaurants; I said that we occasionally see crew members, usually entertainment crew or white shirts, in speciality restaurants. She explained about the privileges and that, as an agency worker, she and many of her colleagues are at the bottom of the pile; there are a number of factors in play that determine if crew members like her can dine in the public restaurants, including seniority and the capacity of the ship.  She liked Sindhu on the very rare occasions she has been there. What surprised us most, although it shouldn't have given Carnival's penny pinching, is that she doesn't get any discount on dining; she pays the standard rate.

 

Anyway, back to the cabin...

The main difference between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had in January, apart from the pole, is that last time we had two triple wardrobes, with one at the balcony side of the room. That meant there was a huge area between one side of the bed and the balcony doors, but a smaller area between the other side of the bed and the bathroom wall. This cabin has a triple wardrobe, a double one next to one side of the bed, and open shelving on the other side; the result being that the space on either side of the bed is more or less the same, which is better for wheelchair manoeuvrability. I still miss drawers though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Tiger B for taking the time to give us your first review and for the photos. I'm glad everything is comfortable for your lass. That pole in the middle is very odd isn't it - a design quirk I guess. As for your super erotic dance, I'll let everyone else decide but we must bear in mind that we'd never be able to unsee it! Have a great time. Best wishes. Jane xx

[Selbourne]

49 minutes ago, TigerB said:

I wrote a post, with photos on Saturday evening and was ready to save it, but lost my mobile signal. I can't recover it. So, second time lucky....

 

Our cabin is an accessible balcony (GC) on deck 15, port side. It is the same one we chose for the 2020 cruise that never was.
It is a good size cabin, almost exactly the same size as our GA midship balcony cabin we had on Arvia in January, but with a few different details. The most noticeable one is the post in the middle of the cabin, at the foot of the bed. To be fair, it is just a structural quirk more than anything; it doesn't prevent our lass from moving about in her wheelchair. If anything, it is more of a hindrance to our cabin steward, when she is making the bed. It has a couple of dents in it, at waist and midriff height; how anyone could not see it and run into it, I really don't know. Although, the dents may be from previous guests using it for entertainment purposes, if you get my meaning. On that subject, I'll let the votes decide if you want a photo of me doing my super erotic dance on it. 😀

 

Sebourne, I think you have a balcony cabin for your trip in August, don't you? If it's like this one, you'll both be fine.
Cabin photos below...

Our cabin steward, Venus from the Philippines, is lovely. We spent a good hour with her later in the evening, for reasons I'll later explain, where we talked about all sorts; families, life on the ocean wave. It was actually her son's fourth birthday; he lives with her parents while she works all hours at sea, trying to earn a wage. One thing we found out, which surprised me.  We got talking about downtime, and if she managed to get to use any of the restaurants; I said that we occasionally see crew members, usually entertainment crew or white shirts, in speciality restaurants. She explained about the privileges and that, as an agency worker, she and many of her colleagues are at the bottom of the pile; there are a number of factors in play that determine if crew members like her can dine in the public restaurants, including seniority and the capacity of the ship.  She liked Sindhu on the very rare occasions she has been there. What surprised us most, although it shouldn't have given Carnival's penny pinching, is that she doesn't get any discount on dining; she pays the standard rate.

 

Anyway, back to the cabin...

The main difference between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had in January, apart from the pole, is that last time we had two triple wardrobes, with one at the balcony side of the room. That meant there was a huge area between one side of the bed and the balcony doors, but a smaller area between the other side of the bed and the bathroom wall. This cabin has a triple wardrobe, a double one next to one side of the bed, and open shelving on the other side; the result being that the space on either side of the bed is more or less the same, which is better for wheelchair manoeuvrability. I still miss drawers though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all the photos. Your cabin looks great and appears to be very spacious. Like you, we were booked in one of those accessible balcony cabins for the original 2020 Maiden cruise that never happened. For our August cruise we are actually in an accessible deluxe balcony cabin, which is slightly bigger and also has a sofa. DaiB has stayed in it and reckons it’s almost as big as many suites he’s used. 
 

I can’t remember if you use the MDRs at all but, if you do, I shall be really interested to know how long it takes you to get a table, particularly on the formal night when demand is at its highest. I believe that there is an option to tick on the ‘app’ if you are a wheelchair user, so wait times may be entirely different to those who don’t tick this box. 
 

I think I might decline your offer of some pole dancing photos, but feedback on the meals, including MDR, would be much appreciated 😉 

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

I wrote a post, with photos on Saturday evening and was ready to save it, but lost my mobile signal. I can't recover it. So, second time lucky....

 

Our cabin is an accessible balcony (GC) on deck 15, port side. It is the same one we chose for the 2020 cruise that never was.
It is a good size cabin, almost exactly the same size as our GA midship balcony cabin we had on Arvia in January, but with a few different details. The most noticeable one is the post in the middle of the cabin, at the foot of the bed. To be fair, it is just a structural quirk more than anything; it doesn't prevent our lass from moving about in her wheelchair. If anything, it is more of a hindrance to our cabin steward, when she is making the bed. It has a couple of dents in it, at waist and midriff height; how anyone could not see it and run into it, I really don't know. Although, the dents may be from previous guests using it for entertainment purposes, if you get my meaning. On that subject, I'll let the votes decide if you want a photo of me doing my super erotic dance on it. 😀

 

Sebourne, I think you have a balcony cabin for your trip in August, don't you? If it's like this one, you'll both be fine.
Cabin photos below...

Our cabin steward, Venus from the Philippines, is lovely. We spent a good hour with her later in the evening, for reasons I'll later explain, where we talked about all sorts; families, life on the ocean wave. It was actually her son's fourth birthday; he lives with her parents while she works all hours at sea, trying to earn a wage. One thing we found out, which surprised me.  We got talking about downtime, and if she managed to get to use any of the restaurants; I said that we occasionally see crew members, usually entertainment crew or white shirts, in speciality restaurants. She explained about the privileges and that, as an agency worker, she and many of her colleagues are at the bottom of the pile; there are a number of factors in play that determine if crew members like her can dine in the public restaurants, including seniority and the capacity of the ship.  She liked Sindhu on the very rare occasions she has been there. What surprised us most, although it shouldn't have given Carnival's penny pinching, is that she doesn't get any discount on dining; she pays the standard rate.

 

Anyway, back to the cabin...

The main difference between this cabin and the balcony cabin we had in January, apart from the pole, is that last time we had two triple wardrobes, with one at the balcony side of the room. That meant there was a huge area between one side of the bed and the balcony doors, but a smaller area between the other side of the bed and the bathroom wall. This cabin has a triple wardrobe, a double one next to one side of the bed, and open shelving on the other side; the result being that the space on either side of the bed is more or less the same, which is better for wheelchair manoeuvrability. I still miss drawers though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re the pole we have had 2 accessible cabins on Iona one port side mid fwd on deck 15, and 1 starboard side mid aft on deck 12, neither had the pole. However both had the bathroom on the left as you enter the cabin, which we choose for the left sided shower controls because my wife has severe right side weakness following her stroke. So possibly it is only the cabins with the bathroom on the right that have the pole.

Edited June 12, 2023 by terrierjohn

[TigerB]

Cabin problems:

The A/C didn't work.
The balcony doors wouldn't lock.
The adjustable sink didn't lock.
The safety bar at the side of the toilet didn't lock.

 

If you're not familiar with the accessible bathrooms on these two largest ships, you may not know that the height of the sink and the height of the safety bar move up and down for the comfort of the guest. Neither locked, which meant they dropped to their lowest positions. Quite obviously a result of wear and tear, but needed sorting nonetheless.

 

When we first entered our cabin at about 15:00 it was quite warm, so on went the A/C. I unpacked a few things, we chatted to the kids, and freshened up before going down for dinner at 18:00. I had left the electric on to give the cabin time to cool down. 

After dinner, we returned to the cabin so I could unpack the other cases before our 20:45 reservation in the 710 club.  Well, it was proper mafting!🥵  If you haven't already guessed, 'proper mafting' is Hull speak for pretty darned hot.

We sat on the balcony for a while as we sailed past Portsmouth, with the doors closed and the A/C on full belt.

 

When we went back into the cabin it was no cooler. That is also the point we found the problem with the balcony door.

Some of you may not be aware that the balcony doors in the accessible cabins are powered; someone may qualify that they are also powered in regular cabins, but I wouldn't have thought there was a requirement for them to be. A simple tap on the handle causes the door to open or close, with no further effort from the user. Once closed, the locks on the frame can then be twisted to engage the bolts into the door. However, our doors didn't fully close, so the bolts wouldn't engage.

 

I contacted reception, fully expecting, as has been our experience on Arvia, to wait at least thirty minutes before the call was answered, if at all. It was answered within two minutes.  I explained the problems and was instructed to wait in the cabin for someone to attend. Bang goes our 710 reservation! 

I decided not to continue unpacking, for fear of maybe getting moved.

Within about twenty minutes,  two electrical engineers arrived, a white shirt and one in olive overalls. They looked at the balcony doors, operated it a few times, the white shirt phoned someone, they looked at it again, operated it again, and looked at it again. Then, a knock at the door; it was Venus, with another olive overalled engineer. He joined his mates on the balcony; there was more looking, more operating, another phone call, and yet more looking.  All the time, that Bernard Cribbins song, "Right Said Fred", was playing in my head. At one point I even asked Venus if I should make them a brew.  Just at that point yet another guy arrived. I declared we didn't have enough mugs for everyone.
Long story short, after almost an hour and a half, and now under torch light, it was fettled.  And very shortly afterwards, so was the A/C. It turns out that, as the door wouldn't close properly and create a seal, the A/C kept tripping out. All sorted now, and no move required. 
The bathroom problems were for the next day; the boss man looked at them, hand on chin, and declared it wasn't his department. 

 

After breakfast the next morning we returned to our cabin to wait for the man whose department it was, to arrive.  He did so, at about 10:30. Nearly two hours later it was sorted, which was nice! I missed my dolphin and whale talk though.
Shortly afterwards, Venus turned up with the Deck Manager. I said the bathroom problems had been sorted, and that it only needed one kid, not the four of the previous evening.

[Selbourne]

8 minutes ago, TigerB said:

Cabin problems:

The A/C didn't work.
The balcony doors wouldn't lock.
The adjustable sink didn't lock.
The safety bar at the side of the toilet didn't lock.

 

If you're not familiar with the accessible bathrooms on these two largest ships, you may not know that the height of the sink and the height of the safety bar move up and down for the comfort of the guest. Neither locked, which meant they dropped to their lowest positions. Quite obviously a result of wear and tear, but needed sorting nonetheless.

 

When we first entered our cabin at about 15:00 it was quite warm, so on went the A/C. I unpacked a few things, we chatted to the kids, and freshened up before going down for dinner at 18:00. I had left the electric on to give the cabin time to cool down. 

After dinner, we returned to the cabin so I could unpack the other cases before our 20:45 reservation in the 710 club.  Well, it was proper mafting!🥵  If you haven't already guessed, 'proper mafting' is Hull speak for pretty darned hot.

We sat on the balcony for a while as we sailed past Portsmouth, with the doors closed and the A/C on full belt.

 

When we went back into the cabin it was no cooler. That is also the point we found the problem with the balcony door.

Some of you may not be aware that the balcony doors in the accessible cabins are powered; someone may qualify that they are also powered in regular cabins, but I wouldn't have thought there was a requirement for them to be. A simple tap on the handle causes the door to open or close, with no further effort from the user. Once closed, the locks on the frame can then be twisted to engage the bolts into the door. However, our doors didn't fully close, so the bolts wouldn't engage.

 

I contacted reception, fully expecting, as has been our experience on Arvia, to wait at least thirty minutes before the call was answered, if at all. It was answered within two minutes.  I explained the problems and was instructed to wait in the cabin for someone to attend. Bang goes our 710 reservation! 

I decided not to continue unpacking, for fear of maybe getting moved.

Within about twenty minutes,  two electrical engineers arrived, a white shirt and one in olive overalls. They looked at the balcony doors, operated it a few times, the white shirt phoned someone, they looked at it again, operated it again, and looked at it again. Then, a knock at the door; it was Venus, with another olive overalled engineer. He joined his mates on the balcony; there was more looking, more operating, another phone call, and yet more looking.  All the time, that Bernard Cribbins song, "Right Said Fred", was playing in my head. At one point I even asked Venus if I should make them a brew.  Just at that point yet another guy arrived. I declared we didn't have enough mugs for everyone.
Long story short, after almost an hour and a half, and now under torch light, it was fettled.  And very shortly afterwards, so was the A/C. It turns out that, as the door wouldn't close properly and create a seal, the A/C kept tripping out. All sorted now, and no move required. 
The bathroom problems were for the next day; the boss man looked at them, hand on chin, and declared it wasn't his department. 

 

After breakfast the next morning we returned to our cabin to wait for the man whose department it was, to arrive.  He did so, at about 10:30. Nearly two hours later it was sorted, which was nice! I missed my dolphin and whale talk though.
Shortly afterwards, Venus turned up with the Deck Manager. I said the bathroom problems had been sorted, and that it only needed one kid, not the four of the previous evening.

Glad you got it all sorted. I usually find the maintenance staff to be excellent. We have often had maintenance issues with cabins and they are usually resolved very quickly. I can never understand why passengers put up with issues when the crew are so willing to fix them.