Iona Refit Date moved

[Cathygh]

 

 

It has been widely reported else where that G532 and G533 (October 2024) have been cancelled and Iona will have her refit then instead of March 2025. It will be for 17 days. Lots of complaints, obviously, especially as alternative cruises have risen in price. I expect there to be replacement cruises for March 2025 to be announced soon.

Edited March 12 by Cathygh

[davecttr]

16 minutes ago, Cathygh said:

 

 

It has been widely reported else where that G532 and G533 (October 2024) have been cancelled and Iona will have her refit then instead of March 2025. It will be for 17 days. Lots of complaints, obviously, especially as alternative cruises have risen in price. I expect there to be replacement cruises for March 2025 to be announced soon.

That confused me. I am booked on iona G437 and that departs on the 9th November.

[Cathygh]

26 minutes ago, davecttr said:

That confused me. I am booked on iona G437 and that departs on the 9th November.

Mea culpa . I copied and pasted from elsewhere and they had put the correct codes in but got I got years mixed up. The refit has been moved to October 2025, not 24! Sorry. I tried to correct the original post but it seems I can't.

Edited March 12 by Cathygh

[jaydee6969]

That will be interesting, we are booked onto the first cruise after the new refit date.

[terrierjohn]

6 hours ago, Cathygh said:

 

 

It has been widely reported else where that G532 and G533 (October 2024) have been cancelled and Iona will have her refit then instead of March 2025. It will be for 17 days. Lots of complaints, obviously, especially as alternative cruises have risen in price. I expect there to be replacement cruises for March 2025 to be announced soon.

It looks as though we will now be on the last cruise before Iona's first refit. I hope there won't be too much notice of the impending changes. We were on a Ventura cruise prior to a refit which included a change of shopping agency, which meant the shops were closed for the last 3 days, and the balcony flooring was being ripped up as we disembarked.

[molecrochip]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

It looks as though we will now be on the last cruise before Iona's first refit. I hope there won't be too much notice of the impending changes. We were on a Ventura cruise prior to a refit which included a change of shopping agency, which meant the shops were closed for the last 3 days, and the balcony flooring was being ripped up as we disembarked.

That’s unusual. Normally there is little sign of work pre-dry dock.

[happy v]

I can't believe Iona is five!

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Wonder what the refit will include.....

What works on Iona

What dosnt work on Iona

What facilities could P&O do better. 

[P&O SUE]

I see there’s 2 new cruises for Iona now for March 2025. A 5 night and a two week Canaries cruise.

[yorkshirephil]

51 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I see there’s 2 new cruises for Iona now for March 2025. A 5 night and a two week Canaries cruise.

I have received a couple of emails from TA's, one of them at £824 for the 14 night cruise which isn't bad for 2025.

[TigerB]

On 3/13/2024 at 10:08 AM, happy v said:

I can't believe Iona is five!

 

...but has only been carrying fare paying passengers for less than three of those.  On our recent cruise I did notice that some carpets and soft furnishings are showing signs of wear and tear.

[1980]

On 3/12/2024 at 1:49 PM, Cathygh said:

 

 

It has been widely reported else where that G532 and G533 (October 2024) have been cancelled and Iona will have her refit then instead of March 2025. It will be for 17 days. Lots of complaints, obviously, especially as alternative cruises have risen in price. I expect there to be replacement cruises for March 2025 to be announced soon.

 

We are impacted by this one, and having been through this twice in about six months you can't help but reflect that P&O could deal with it better. That includes long waits for deposit refunds, poor/no communication with travel agents and seemingly ignoring booking condition 40. 

 

In terms of the alternative cruises rising in price, easy tip first, we rebooked the previous sailing for about £100 less than we paid, appreciate a lot of factors will dictate individual costs, but worth a check if you have date flexibility.

 

I can't say too much on our first case, ABTA have a gagging clause as part of their arbitration process, but would urge anyone impacted now to read booking condition 40 and detertermine if they feel they have been offered each of the options afforded to guests in this situation. If faced with an increased cost to re-book another cruise, is there an alternative package of comparable standard available that meets your needs you should have been offered, as according to booking condition 40 “the guest will have the choice of… accepting an offer of an alternative Package of comparable standard if available…” You only have 14 days to confirm, so act quickly if you plan to try and rely on this clause, and don't expect an easy resolution!

 

[snaefell]

On 3/14/2024 at 1:45 PM, TigerB said:

 

...but has only been carrying fare paying passengers for less than three of those.  On our recent cruise I did notice that some carpets and soft furnishings are showing signs of wear and tear.

We were on Britannia in her first Summer & saw peeling wallpaper,unpainted wood & tarnished chrome so that doesn't surprise me!

 In contrast we were on RCI's Quantum Of The Seas on a repo cruise as she headed to Singapore for her 5 year refurb & she seemed as good as new!