Well Iona is a massive ship - easy to get lost. We thought testing was very slow to get on the ship with many questions repeated. We arrived at the testing station at 12.45pm and it was 4.45pm when we finally reached our cabin.
As our deck did not go from one end of the ship to the other, we were up and down in the lifts like yo-yos. We did not know where to find our door card - nobody ...
Inside cabin, small, awkward to move around, poor storage! Good size bathroom. Bathroom light does not turn fully off???
None of the “swimming pools” large enough to swim in!
Boring daytime entertainment padded out with beauty and body seminars.
No entertainment as such in the atrium other than a single pianist every night, good pianist but poor repertoire.
Only three Headliners shows ...
Well after three years we finally cruised on Iona, two cancelled in 2020.
Arriving at the port was normal for us and the Covid testing straight forward. Quite a wait when checking in to finally board the ship, but acceptable.
State room was in our opinion poorly planned and not upto the normal standard expected on P&O, Princess etc.
Our worst nightmare despite the Social Distancing signs ...
We had never done transatlantic, wanted to do the Caribbean and thought a ship using sterling would be easier. Travelling with a friend, 1 late 60s, 1 early 70s. We had only done Australia and the Pacific Islands before. We booked just before covid started, but we had booked for this date. We booked a suite to treat ourselves, butler and all. He is wonderful by the way. Dining - Horizon is ...
First of all let me give a little background on us. We are recently retired and over the last 25 years we have been on about 20 cruises but only been on P&O only once before. We have mainly travelled on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and never have had cause to complain about anything. Obviously after being on lockdown we decided to go on the Iona and thought what could be wrong with it, after all ...
Having had to cancel our 40 th anniversary plans twice, my wife got us booked on Brittania again! We've sailed on her 2 yrs ago in the Caribbean. Overall impression back then good but to big for us!
This cruise? Still to big but what a difference in quality ( read lack of) in no particular order! Entertainment pretty good overall but why did the sound have to so loud it distorted the music? ...
Having been on P&O several times we thought we would try the new Iona.
First of all we did enjoy our first break in 2 years it was wonderful to be out & about again.
Past passengers of Arcadia,Ventura,Aurora etc… will find a big difference. This is a very big modern ship aimed at young people and families. Lots of loud live shows in different venues but not everyone wants to sit & drink all ...
Ok, this was our first cruise with P&O but not our first cruise, so we have a lot of experience of what to expect and what service should be, despite Covid excuses.
The ship is very nice and we liked the layout. Having been out of service for 19 months, we assumed everything would be working, so imagine our annoyance when we walked into our cabin to find a bedside light wasn’t working. It ...
Booked this one as wanted to see what Iona was like and to get away on a cruise again.
Boarding and testing was mostly good and fast and we kept on moving but we did keep getting asked the same questions about 4 times by different people and the lady checking us in was dreadful - I couldn’t hear anything she said , she made no effort to be clearer for us and seemed as if she didn’t want to be ...
First of all, we are / we're Loyal P+O cruisers so having last cruised in Jan 2020, we were desperate for a break so we booked the Iona southern short break down to northern Spain, up the coast of France and past the Channel Islands. The covid pre boarding testing drive through was fairly straightforward, a swab of the nose only and drive to the port to await a text of negative or if unlucky ...