The MS Iona Docked in Flåm, Norway
Iona is one of P&O’s biggest ships which can carry around 5000 passengers.
What to Bring
- Cabin en-suite bathrooms do not have shaver sockets so if you use an electric toothbrush or razor, you should take a UK Plug to Shaver Adapter. P&O will happily sell you an adaptor like this for £16 onboard the ship.
- Bring re-fillable water bottles - Iona has water bottle filling stations in the Atrium on decks 6 and 7 and in the Skydome on deck 16. You can then take your bottles ashore with you on excursions.
- IF you are a coffee snob, you might want to bring coffee bags aboard with you for use in your cabin. P&O will give you freeze dried nescafe sachets and Tetley tea bags by default. They will also sell you Costa Coffee (including Lattes, Cappuccinos, Flat Whites etc) in most of the bars onboard.
- IF you take sweetener rather than sugar, you could bring your own sweetener dispenser for use in your cabin. The stewards normally only provide white sugar. Sachets of powdered sweetener are available from the tea and coffee station on deck 16 so you could grab some sachets from there and bring them back to your room.
- Norway bound? You’ll definitely want to bring some waterproof trousers and a decent raincoat. The weather is very unpredictable and most outdoor trips will still operate in poor weather. You could end up very wet and very uncomfortable if you don’t prepare!
Entertainment and Dining
As soon as you get onboard, check out the My Holiday app/intranet site and look at booking entertainment and any onboard dining you might want to do. Things do book up quickly on a ship this size. I recommend booking tables at the onboard restaurants, any shows that look interesting in the theatre and The 710 Club.
Speciality Restaurants
TIP
The speciality/themed restaurants book up quickly so make sure to book early to avoid disappointment
The Sindhu (££-£££)
An Indian/South-Asian fusion style restaurant. They serve stuff like tandoori duck and fish dishes. They might have one or two curry dishes on the menu but If you want a balti or a jalfrezi like you’d get from an Indian Takeaway in the UK you might be disappointed. There’s a £10pp deposit and they knock this off the price of your meal at the end. You’ll spend about £15-30pp on food here if you opt for three courses
The duck dish in the sindhu with lentil dhal (top right) and flatbreads (top left)
The Beach House (£-££)
A South American and Caribbean themed restaurant. You’ll pay a £10pp cover charge and then the menu consists of stuff that is “included as standard” and some stuff where you pay to upgrade. Rather than a purpose-built venue, they rope off part of the horizon buffet for the beach house in the evenings.
A photo of the trio of tacos from the beach house: pork, beef and jackfruit.
The Epicurean (£££)
A high-end/gourmet restaurant that does what I like to call smears on plates dining. You pay £35pp and you’ll pay a surcharge for certain more expensive dishes like Lobster. The Epicurean is on deck 17 next to the crow’s nest and it has some lovely views of the sea if you get a table by the window.
The Olive Grove (Free to £)
A Mediterranean themed restaurant on deck 8 near The Quays buffet. It is free to book and they have a number of dishes that are “included” but you’ll pay a surcharge for some dishes like the Lamb Tagine. They also serve stone-baked pizzas here if you’re missing your ooni pizza oven at home.
Entertainment
The 710 Club
TIP
The 710 Club is a very popular venue that books up quickly. Book it as soon as possible to avoid disappointment
The 710 Club is an Iona-exclusive live music venue. The musicians are said to be picked by Gary Barlow and they normally play covers of pop-rock songs. Generally the quality of the music is very high. The 710 Club is an adults-only venue. They have an exclusive bar which sells the usual selection of drinks and a special 710s Cherry Negroni.
The 710 band normally plays three or 4 sets throughout the night: at 7pm, 8:30pm, 10pm and 11:30pm. The first three slots are booking only but you can walk into the final showing of the night without a booking.
- 710 Club bookings are only available once onboard the ship. The bookings for the first day are available after 5:30pm via the MyHoliday app.
- Bookings for the rest of the holiday are usually released at 10:30pm on the first night. Make sure to book ahead for the whole week. You might not get the opportunity again.
- If you miss the booking slots, you can sometimes get cancellations later in the week. We had some luck getting into 8:30
Virtual Queues
A lot of people seem to find the MyHoliday app flummoxing and virtual queueing even more so. The concept is pretty simple. You open the intranet page, select the restaurant you want to eat at and join the queue then you periodically refresh the page and eventually you’ll get a popup that says your table is ready and to head to the restaurant.
- You can just turn up at the restaurant and they will give you a pager instead of an app but you typically have to queue to get the pager in the first place. Do yourself a favour and just use the app.
- The app doesn’t always automatically refresh so it’s best to periodically do this manually (swipe down on your phone to refresh the page).
- It can feel like the number isn’t going down and then you are suddenly called to the front of the queue as they seem to allocate tables in blocks. I’ve never waited for longer than 30 minutes and that was at peak time (7-8pm).
Disembarking
On your last day you will get a notice telling you about disembarkation plans. You can either leave your suitcases outside your room to be taken off the ship by your cabin porter or you can self-disembark - i.e. keep your case with you and roll it off the ship yourself.
Self Disembark Vs Baggage Service
- If you opt for the baggage service, you’ll be given a time and have to wait for your bag to be taken ashore before you can leave. This might suit people with lots of bags, who don’t want to or can’t wheel their own bags off the ship or who want to spend longer onboard before heading home. If your coach home isn’t until 3pm, no need to rush!
- If you opt for self disembarkation you can just get straight off the ship whenever you want - straight after breakfast. This suits people (like me) who live nearby and don’t want to hang around.
Avoiding the Chaos
Disembarkation morning is very busy. Everyone (all 5000 guests) have to be out of their cabins by 8am so that the porters can clean the cabins ready for the next guests. That means the ship is absolutely heaving by about 8:15. Getting breakfast can be difficult.
- Try to leave your room by 7:30 to avoid the main rush of people.
- Remember that you can also get breakfast from the sit-down restaurants and there’s a breakfast buffet at The Quays on deck 8. You don’t have to go to the chaotic Horizon Buffet.
- Avoid the Midship Lifts if possible, Remember that the lifts at the back of the ship don’t go all the way down to Deck 3 so you can’t get off there (but you can get down to level 4 and walk along and down 1 flight which is probably still faster).