We first cruised on P&O Iona with a capacity of 1000 passengers in the summer of 2021 (Vlog Series here – https://youtu.be/0J4TzszauGw)
Now that P&O Iona Cruise Ship is back to full capacity we wondered how that would impact our experience. In this video we show you what we thought worked well and what we think definitely needs improving!
We cover all the entertainment, included food and speciality restaurants, spa facilities, outside space and service – did it disappoint?
Find out all about P&O Drinks Packages here – https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-bar-prices-drinks-packages/
P&O Room Service Information – https://paulandcarolelovetotravel.com/po-cruises-room-service-menu/
Watch our Standard Balcony Cabin Review and Tour here – https://youtu.be/cW7KJpgbJwY
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About Paul and Carole Love to Travel
We are a married middle aged couple from Gloucester, England who share our tips, advice and experience on how you can choose the right cruise line, cruise ship snd cabin. Cruising is expensive so we use all our experiences to give the best tips and advice so you can make the right choice too!
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39 Comments
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Makes it hard to single anyone who stood out when filling out the post cruise surveys.
Where did you cruise and when? Nice promenade deck, but wouldn’t want anyone overlooking my balcony. Entertainment and a lot of the restaurants sound good (except for that Rise show!🤣 and Sky Dome acoustics). Don’t know if I could handle 5,000 people. App definitely inadequate. Spa looks great. Lots of cruise lines have wi-fi issues. Weird about the quizzes…and you PAID to do that? Would rather have more included and pay more. Specialty restaurants SHOULD be special! You had to pay extra for chips??? And you have to pay for room service for a limited menu? Drinks package sounds bad. Mushroom stalks—no. Strange… Bland service not good either.
My wife and I love to watch your shows!!! You two are so amusing. Just Brilliant!!!!
Thanks Paul and Carole for the video, I’m on Iona today and found your video really useful 🛳️😀
Really interesting as usual guys 😊 just had a week on Iona and really enjoyed it apart from the fact by Sunday all the speciality restaurants and shows were fully booked so no chance. This was so disappointing as I prefer to decide day by day when and where to eat and after the itinerary dining is my next important issue. The main restaurants were good as was service however I will think twice now before booking P&O again 😒 I tried walk ups to see if I could get in, they were half empty and just told 'fully booked' so after looking forward to trying out various places to eat that did take the edge off the trip.
Just back from Iona and delighted to say the quiz programme was back to "normal" with a mix of both team based quizzes (max 6 members) including the one where they split the entire pub into two teams & individual formats throughout the day, we're now the proud owners of a P&O keyring & pen set, result!
P&O's newer ships are starting to look nice compared to their older ones. What was the breakdown of nationalities. I cruised twice with RC from Civitavecchia and Ravenna last summer and there were as many Americans and Spanish as British gave the cruise a nice international feel in fact there were over 35 nationalities on board. Did they do a break down of the different nationalities on board?
It was so lovely to meet you on this cruise. You both are just a lovely in real life as you are online. It was an absolute pleasure. X
Really like the pro's, con's and deal breaker format. Having to book lots of things in advance would be a deal breaker for me/us.
Excellent balanced review. We are going on our first ever cruise to the fjords in 3 weeks. This was really helpful ❤
Totally agree with you about the waiting staff issues in the main restaurant on our trip the people that were taking us to our table never knew where it was it turned out that they were staff that clean our cabins and when your waiter came to take your order no interaction whatsoever, the staff at the Keel and Cow were brilliant great service, agree with you about the sky dome sound quality is Terrible.
Just returned off Iona and the way everything is fully booked is just a pain also the repeat of the same shows / events is boring. I like to do last minute things and to not be able to go to a show or a restaurant on the day at the time I want is a shame. Shouldn’t have to book you should be allowed to attend anything you want like most ships. I’ll stick to celebrity X and Royal Caribbean from now on.
Another great review, thanks
Hated our last P&O cruise in November 2021. Never will sail with them again. Food and entertainment very poor, and the nickel and diming is awful. We had to eat at speciality restaurant to get decent food, our bill was nearly £1500 for 2 for a fortnight cruise.
Very recently returned from Norway, travelling on Iona. I agree with your review: app useless; drinks & wifi packages useless; efficient staff but NO banter or smiles (much better when had fixed dining on last cruise). Meal times felt like a real hard work! Food okay but nothing special. Unable to book any restaurants or entertainment on app prior to embarkation or after embarkation. Would like more info on cabin tv eg port info and a map (to photograph). Some more detail re shore excursions – they give only very basic/minimal info. I found that there was a general absence of respectful behaviour/manners amongst passengers- which I have not experienced on previous cruises. I liked the ship but I wonder if it is too large now – it did feel crowded especially in the chaotic buffet. I did love Norway though.
I'm going on the Ioana this summer, and just reading how the drinks package works I agree, it makes no sense to buy it. Thanks for all this, great information!
Great review. We have done both Iona and Arvia. The Olive Grove on Arvia is much better than Iona. Agree about the App. After a few days I put my phone in the safe and did everything in person. Agree too about the service. Efficient but impersonal. I was asking them the question they should have been asking me.
Loved Deck 8 for a walk and places to relax.
Thank you for your helpful review. I keep looking at Arvia/Iona as their prices are very competitive, but I do worry about the service and the ship passenger capacity. I wonder whether the issue with the ‘clinical’ service is an unintended consequence of ‘gratuity included’ fares? We regularly cruise Cunard (have met you both on QE2 in Dec21), recently was on the QM2 Coronation Special, which was excellent for the money but did not enjoy the ship as much at full capacity (difficult to get into some venues). QM2 is a similar size to Arvia/Iona in length but has almost twice the passenger capacity.
Thanks for the great review. We’re on Iona in October, great tips 😊
Totally agree with you.
The P & O App is totally rubbish, as is the wi-fi.
Like you we just ignored the app and walked up to the restaurant and had no issue getting in.
We have listened to to Pulse on another ship. They are good.
As We like a quiz, we would hate the version you mentioned. That alone would spoil our cruise.
We were on Iona the week after you. We agree with your review. Very accurate . Our experience of the staff was similar. olive grove was quite poor food & service and although it looked virtually empty, was unavailable. Avoid the salt rock fillet steak from beach house..really really salty. We will try the epicurean next time. On the whole we had a great cruise & we have booked again. Love your reviews, thanks for the tip re mushroom stalks. (9419 was good room with extended balcony.) Thanks for posting. Meryl.
Great vid as per , Can you book a speciality restaurant prior to boarding? Our check in is quite late and don’t want to miss out.
Totally agree about those blooming mushrooms at the Limelight Club……utterly horrifying!!!!
I was on Iona 8-15 April and agree with you about Crows Best, Epicurean and the hydro suite. We booked it during celebration night and basically got it to ourselves! I liked Beach House, though we did that sailing out of Olden so the view was spectacular. Loved the ship. On Ventura next year to the Canary Islands. Keep up the good work….and let me know how to complain about those ruddy mushrooms 😂
I've just come off Iona yesterday morning, it was at full capacity. The staff were amazing. The buffet was okay(for me anyway) I'm a very plain eater(ASD) so I struggled to find stuff after the breakfast menu finished. The keel and cow was my favourite food venue by far. Limelight was fun le viox was hilarious. It was my first ever cruise and I'll definitely be booking again.
Extremely informative and fun review. Thanks guys 😅
Would love to try a British cruise like Iona…..maybe 2024. Always always love your vlogs❤️❤️🚢🚢
"Bland" is the perfect way to sum up the Canaries Cruise I took recently on the Iona. Agree with just about everything you have to say here. Didn't go in the Limelight until after the Dining event was over … Lucky escape by all accounts. But later in the evening a resident group, The Limelights, did about an hour stint and I thought they were excellent. After I left there I usually went to the 7/10 bar around 23.00hrs, never booked never queued, just wandered in. This was in March and the Ship was by no means full —- even though a sign in Reception said it was. Probably to stop people asking to change Cabins due to Engine noise [Decks 4 & 5]. Probably would not book with P&O again largely due to the Drinks package they offer. The limitations they impose on the drinks just do not sit well with me. No complaints re the Food or the majority of the entertainment. Problem is it wasn't anything special, just adequate but … Bland.
The epicurean on Britannia was not very good in fact we walked out,and the entertainment was shocking don’t know where to try next.Pauly how are spurs
1 month until our cruise on Iona, 1st cruise ever and can't wait. Love your review, top tips. Definitely going to see Sooty and Sweep. Who knew 😂😂
Mushroom stalks 🤣
I think the lack of interaction is a generational thing…youngsters all now speak on line ..face to face has gone many fine chatting and small talk impossible now…
They are the same everywhere
Great review we were on last week one thing we found different was the app was fantastic we used it all week for all rmeal bookings .Only failed us once at keel and cow where it said qué full but was let in when we turned up .Also couldn't believe how smiley and pleasant all staff were but agree there was not much conversation other than a smile and a quick pleasantry
We just came back from Norway, but on Britannia and we had the best time. And when you consider the value P&O offer you can’t beat it. The service for us was incredible and never had to wait long, I think that’s a factor of only having 3500 passengers rather than 5k+ plus. We are always so happy smiley and polite to the crew, so it always got returned. Manners take you a long way. There was a few dishes that were a little hit and miss but the majority of it was delicious, and we are forward planners so booking ahead of time wasn’t an issue for us. But I understand how that’s not for everyone. Also the app worked perfect for us, we were so surprised given what I’ve heard about it. When you consider what you pay and what you get in return (even with the covid cutbacks they’ve made) it’s fairly unbeatable. It was a budget price but definitely didn’t feel budget to us!
Now then, great video as usual and very helpful as I have just booked to go on Iona with my son to Norway in July (booked with your friend Dan as recommended by you – great guy, very talkative, helpful and experienced – thanks for the advice). Iona is not my choice of a ship but my son wanted to go to Norway and cannot afford to pay too much so it was the best option. My wife and I will hopefully book something a bit longer, warmer and smaller later in the year – with Dan again.
Good to know . Very informative . I’ve never been P&O only Princess , Royal Caribbean and Celebrity . Been thinking of giving it a try but it sounds like charge, charge, charge . Suspect some of the low fares being advertised are just to lure you in and they are looking to extract as much as possible out you when you are on board
thank you for the information that you have given I go for first time on Iona in November my Family and I love doing Quizzes and bingo
We went on Iona in September to the fjords with a full ship and it was lovely, we really enjoyed it. The staff were happy to chat and always introduced themselves, the odd breakfast service dipped. A lady in the spa said it happens when crew members so much a clear their throat and end up in quarantine in case it's covid. We used the app without any problems and did everything we wanted too. A really beautiful ship.
great review of the ship and we are excited to be going on Iona early July. You mentioned about booking the Epicurean before we go, can I ask where you are able to do that. many thanks