Disappointed with many things about this cruise so we won’t be going on P&O again, which seemed to be the general thoughts of others we spoke to.
On the positive side the cabin was lovely and beds very comfortable however the bed linen was very poor quality with rough bobbles on the surface and stained with some brown spots in places which really was disgusting.
Bathroom was lovely and spacious but only toiletries provided were soap and shampoo, similar to a Premier Inn, no body lotion, shower cap or face cloth.
Breakfast buffet in the Horizon was chaotic with queuing at the drinks bar for tea and coffee and having to grab a table as soon as one was vacated.
Bread was of a poor quality as the toast was so thin it was more like crisp bread.
Dinner on offer in all the included restaurants was the same menu, and we learned that we had to get on the waiting list at 5.15 sharp to get in the virtual queue to book a table, however the meals and service provided were all good.
We noticed that the dress code was disappointingly not enforced as some people wore shorts to dinner, why can’t people make the effort! The Quays food outlets were very busy at lunchtime with lots of people queuing, again very chaotic but on the plus side the fish and chips were very good.
Horizon buffet was the same at lunchtime, very crowed, especially on sea days.
My Holiday app was a joke.
No instruction on how to log in, loads of people queuing at help desks on the first day to find out how to use it.
We had purchased a wifi package but still had to log in every day to use it.
Restaurants and some of the entertainment venues were always booked up, so we couldn’t even see what they were like.
Most of the entertainment was very poor, comedian/magician and a very amateurish Headliners song and dance show which seemed to be on every night, we avoided after the first example.
Acrobats were very good but sea conditions prevented them from performing their routine twice in two weeks.
Only good thing was the 4 screen cinema which had a brilliant sound system and showed lots of popular movies.
Very poor talk about what to expect at each port except where the bars and restaurants were and none about the various shore excursions.
When it docked there were long queues to get off.
Very little in day time entertainment or talks of interest.
It seemed that at least half the passengers were coughing from a cold and hardly anyone used the hand sanitizers, so not surprised when I came down with a chest infection and sore throat requiring me to see the Doctor for antibiotics.
In summary the Iona takes over 5,000 passengers, however, they seem unable to cope with this amount of people so if you plan on using Iona be prepared to queue for everything and cope with crowds of people.
