So we booked Iona last year as it was a new ship & having cruised on Ventura & Britannia previously then surely a brand new ship would be so much better designed than other well established ships. Well our experience onboard just shows to us that if you allow ‘non-cruisers’ deign your ship then this is what you get. The largest pool & possible party area (sky dome) is covered by a non retractable roof, so when it’s slightly warm it gets stuffy in there & when the sun is shining you are still in doors. What is the point of cruising to warmer climates when you have the largest social area under cover. It makes no sense. They also use the sky dome for entertainment but unless it is visual only then there’s really no point because the sound is awful. The other really poorly designed area in our opinion is the atrium. It has no soul or ambience at all. It is clinical like an airport terminal. Yes the large windows each side are nice but the whole area has a ‘cold’ feel to it. There are two restaurants in the atrium area, The Keel & Cow and The Glass House, however you really wouldn’t know apart from a couple of signs. These restaurants have no real identity away from the atrium. They basically blend into the atrium. There was no way we were going to spend additional money to basically sit in the atrium to eat. The sunset bar is very unimaginative, unlike the lovely one on Britannia. There are some good areas, we like the Clubhouse & the main dining rooms are lovely especially ‘Pearl’ and we enjoyed a lovely meal one evening in the Beach House. Other eating areas such as The Quays & Horizon were also very acceptable. We didn’t like the ship overall because of the two main areas I have mentioned and we won’t be cruising again on her. It’s interesting to see that Arvia will have a retractable sky dome roof, I wonder why?

Those people who like Iona obviously enjoy being indoors because the outdoor areas are not good. Even along the entire length of the ship there are two polycarbonate sheets that you have to look through to get any views. These sheets were filthy. Why are they so high? On other ships they have these sheets but they are only about a foot above the handrail which is usually around chest height and so you can still see clearly.