Our First P&O Cruise!
Oh no P&O!
How would this cruise compare to our fabulous Virgin Voyage Cruise in October we wondered?
Well, they say there is a cruise line for everyone……
Upon arrival at Southampton docks, we saw Iona. Southampton’s light is almost blocked out by her size! Never have we seen such a huge ship.
After waiting in quite a lengthy queue to the port, and then get the car booked into the CPS car park, the car parking was included as part of the Select fare, we finally unpacked the car (for the 6th time in 6 days).
The CPS car park is very convenient and although we probably waited an hour to get the car checked in, we were happy. Lots of trollies were available to get your cases to the bag drop areas.
With P&O it’s necessary to print out your luggage labels before dropping cases off. We discovered they also require printed boarding passes even though the information we received said it was fine to just download and have on your phone.
All Aboard!
Less than half an hour after dropping off the car, we were in our cabin 11320, Port side forward with large extended balcony. Thanks again to Leighanne, our trusted travel agent. Leighanne had again got us a great cabin, close to the lifts, on a bend, with a huge balcony and in a quiet location.
Ok, so we couldn’t open and close the curtains with a tablet like the Virgin cruise but the cabin was very nice. It had lots of storage, large wardrobes and cubbies and plenty of little cupboards for spare drinks etc.
On P&O, passengers can bring as many soft drinks as they can carry and up to 1 liter of alcohol per person.
We’d packed our cabin bags with drinks! 24 cans of coke, 8 cans of Dr Pepper, 8 cans of cherry Pepsi max, 6 cans of ‘Professor Peppy’, 2 bottles of orange cordial and a bottle of blackcurrant!
Add to that a litre of Bailey’s and a bottle of ‘35’ our favourite Portuguese Liqueur, (imagine liquid pastel de nata deliciousness), and that little lot filled our bags along with the obligatory ginger biscuits (just in case of seasickness) and a box each of cream eggs plus a few packs of mini cheddars (do they actually feed you on this cruise?)
Before exploring, we decided to unpack. There were plenty of coat hangers but as we’d brought so much luggage, we also packed around 18 extra hangers. They were all used.
The scheduled departure from Southampton was at around 18h but due to the extreme weather conditions, our departure was delayed. Our fantastic Captain, Wesley Dunlop, had made the correct decision to remain in port.
After unpacking, we decided to explore and get a bite to eat. We headed to The Quays, a sort of food hall/takeaway style area with Fusion Asian Kitchen, Boardwalk American Diner and the fish and chip shop, Hook Line and Vinegar.
It was pretty busy but compared to the buffet, was fine. The food was good. Janine chose the Sin City Burger and Alison had the Quorn sweet and sour dish. For a quick meal, we often visited The Quays. The fish and chips were very good and Alison enjoyed the chips and curry sauce. Healthy food it was not!
There is also a salad bar area that Alison tried on a few occasions whilst Janine had the Southern fried chicken twice!
Desserts were nice although very repetitive. The first week the fruit salad was lovely but by the second, it was wilting somewhat! We could normally find a table and it is a much smaller and quieter dining area than the Horizon buffet.
And so to bed….
New YEAR’S Eve…..
We were awakened on New Year’s Eve to learn that we wouldn’t be sailing today due to a major storm, strong winds, and rough seas. Although disappointed, it was definitely for the best. We decided to explore Southampton! It was freezing and after finding Lidl and picking up some washing detergent, we quickly returned to the ship.
This evening being New Year’s Eve, it had been designated a ‘celebration’ night. Time to get the sparkle on already!
Previous to the holiday, P&O had asked us which sitting we’d prefer, and if we’d like to share a table. We’d requested the later dining at 20h30….who eats at 17h30? If we had been allocated the earlier sitting, we would have been in our jimmy jams by 23h!
Luckily we got a shared table at 20h30.
Coral was our allocated restaurant. On Iona, there are 4 main dining rooms, (MDR’s) 2 large, Coral and Pearl and 2 small, Opal and Aqua.
After donning our glitzy glad rags, we made our way up to The Crows Nest, Deck 17 forward. This became our favourite bar along with Andersons Bar on deck 6.
We ordered our pre dinner cocktails, an Espresso Martini (£7.95) and a Signature cocktail off the menu, Ruby Rose Punch. On the first day, whilst still in Port, the Ruby Rose wasn’t available!
We did offer to go and buy the ingredients but it wasn’t to be. Instead, a Pina Colada was ordered. (£7.95)
Although we had waited a while to be served (as was always the case in Crows Nest), the drinks were nice and the atmosphere convivial.
Dinner And A Show
Down to the dining room we headed. We were the last to join our table of 8 and the youngest! After introducing ourselves to the group, we perused the menu.
Alison’s was pretty easy, everything without a face, whilst Janine decided she didn’t like the look of any of it.
We were served an amuse-bouche of Gazpacho, starters of Confit Duck and Chicken Terrine, Pumpkin Soup, a lovely Kir Royale sorbet, followed by Filet of Beef with Porcini Crust and Cauliflower, Coconut and Chickpea Tart. Desserts of Raspberry Champagne Crème Brûlé and a Dark and Milk Chocolate Teardrop completed dinner.
As we were on a shared table with people we didn’t know, we decided against photographing all of our food, sorry.
Considering it wasn’t the most appealing menu, it was in fact a lovely meal. Before we knew it, we were wishing our fellow diners a Happy New Year and heading off to the Headliners theatre, Deck 7 forward, to the show we had booked, Tesni Jones. The shows seemed to last 45 minutes so for us, it was a great way to pass time until midnight!
All shows are bookable on the website/app once onboard. We found we could drop in just after the shows started and get seats should we wish.
After the show finished, we headed to The Clubhouse. We thought this was probably the liveliest venue but could we get a seat? Could we ‘ell.
We searched for recommended places to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but everywhere was packed. With minutes to spare, we headed to SkyDome, a multipurpose zone with pool, entertainment, no spare seats but a good party atmosphere.
The countdown begun and with drinks in hand, we toasted in the New Year.
New Years Day
New Year’s Day and we were heading off in high winds to cross the channel and then the Bay of Biscay.
We had ordered breakfast to be delivered to our cabin (charge of £2.50) as we’d discovered it’s the only way to not stuff your face with everything on the buffet!
Breakfast could be ordered by hanging a card outside your cabin with your order before 22h or calling using the phone in the cabin.
It’s not an extensive menu, fruit salad, grapefruit segments (how 80’s) yoghurts, cereals, croissants, muffins, jams etc but it did us just fine most mornings.
On other mornings, we braved the chaotic buffet and on two occasions tried Coral main dining room. The service wasn’t very good in Coral, which was a shame as we would have preferred it to the melee in the buffet.
As we headed towards the Bay of Biscay, Captain Wesley announced gale warnings of Force 9 to 10, 5 metre swells and rough seas, GREAT! We were assured we’d be fine since Iona was permitted to sail in up to 5.5M swells. Onwards we went, rocking and rolling.
Captain Wesley announced that we wouldn’t be stopping at Vigo because of the continuing bad weather. Instead we’d be continuing our journey directly to Cadiz, visiting Vigo on the way home.
Cadiz
After being on Iona since the 30 December, we finally made it to our first port, Cadiz, on the 4 January.
We waited until after the rush and eventually made our way in to Cadiz. What a great City it is. Heaped with history, a fantastic old town centre with narrow car free streets, good beaches close by and lovely old buildings, we passed a good few hours exploring.
Gibraltar
Upon waking next morning, we had arrived in Gibraltar to howling wind and low temperatures. As we’ve previously spent a few months close by and visited regularly, we decide to not bother going ashore and just explore the ship.
Gibraltar is a great place to visit to pick up cheaper alcohol, perfume and cigarettes. It’s a very strange feeling being on an English high street but not being in England!
There are interesting historical sites, facts and figures as well as the trip up the Rock to see the Barbary Apes. Shopping wise, you’ll find M&S, Morrisons and Next amongst others. There’s also a selection of English pubs and eateries and great marinas.
Our next stop was due to be Alicante but to our dismay, Captain Wesley announced we wouldn’t be stopping.
Normally we looked forward to hearing from our Captain, he certainly makes his announcements very user friendly and humorous. On this occasion, it wasn’t the news we were hoping for. Bad weather had meant we weren’t able to dock.
Barcelona
Onwards we headed to Barcelona and another day at sea. We seemed to have been on this ship for a long time with very few stops so far.
What had we been up to?
Due to the weather outside, the gym seemed to be attracting the over 70’s that would normally be promenading on the outside decks.
Instead they were sitting on the exercise bikes in their pedal pushers and sandals reading a book! Not a lot of lycra was worn, nor sweat shed, but it was fine. There’s room for everyone.
Eventually, we arrived in Barcelona. We decided to boycott Barcelona because Janine was pickpocketed many years ago before a Transatlantic cruise.
We don’t want to go to a City where the locals are currently waving banners and flags and also with graffiti on the walls saying Go Home Tourists, Welcome Pickpockets! If you want to explore the city, here is a guide for safety tips against pickpockets. For us, another day was spent relaxing onboard.
During the evening and the following day, people aboard the ship discussed how many were pickpocketed, bags stolen, and harassed while in Barcelona.
Glad we passed…
All of these days doing nothing actually worked out ok as Janine had managed to pick up the cold going around the ship. Even with our best efforts to block viruses using our trusted nasal spray, BioSure, it eventually got us both. Luckily in Cadiz Janine had bought Otrivin. In Lisbon, Alison picked up the local brand!
On our way homeward, we were fitting in Valencia, Lisbon and Vigo.
Valencia
We arrived in Valencia and it was sunny…. hurrah!
Again, we waited until the crowds had gone ashore on the pre booked excursions and made our way to the shuttle bus. If you have booked a Select Fare, buses are included in the price. However, buses are chargeable if you are on the basic fare.
As cruise buses are no longer permitted to drop off in the City Centre, we were dropped off at the Centre of Sciences and Arts.
It’s an amazing area and along with the aquarium, Oceanographic, one of the largest in Europe, a fantastic day can be passed just in this area.
We had planned to visit Oceanographic first before heading into the old town. 4h later we emerged from the aquarium! We didn’t have time to visit the city. Well, we probably did but we think having two hours and heading away from the ship in the wrong direction is cutting it fine!
Back On Board…..
Back on board we showered, changed and headed to Andersons bar.
Iona is a freedom dining cruise, requiring bookings for Main Dining Rooms apart from New Year’s Eve. On the ships app, you can join a virtual queue at the restaurant of your choice. We decided to stick with Opal after trying Coral and Aqua.
Opal seemed to have much better service and more friendly crew than the others. Food was served hotter and overall, we enjoyed dining there.
The menu was small and the food ok. It wasn’t the best food but when you consider they are feeding over 5000 guests per sitting, it wasn’t bad. Janine found the steak and any beef dishes to be the best. Although only a 5oz steak, it was cooked to perfection, medium rare and extremely tender.
The other meat dishes were hit and miss! Alison normally had a reasonable choice of vegetarian dishes which she enjoyed on the whole.
The food could certainly be better in certain areas. We found the buffet to be unappetising. The food was left out for too long and often looked dried out or formed skins. Granted, we don’t eat at UK times of 12 noon and 17h30/18h for a start off, we don’t fight for food!
At times, Horizon buffet was chaos and best avoided. The crew opens and closes sections to prepare for the next meal. If you eat breakfast at 10h00, by 11h they’re already getting the carvery set up whilst you enjoy your cornflakes. Sections are closed so to collect toast, you have to find another section serving toast.
We also found Taste 360 to be unappealing. Burgers, hot dogs and pizza seemed to be left standing too long. A burger that had just been cooked was tried by Janine, but it was rather tasteless and more like a boiled one. Alison tried the pizza and declared she’d eaten cardboard and chips for lunch.
On one occasion, Janine passed by Taste 360 looking for something to take to Alison who had taken to her bed. A full pizza had just been taken out of the oven….
‘We’ll have that one please’
A slice?
‘No, the whole thing’
With a plate on top, Janine dashed to the lifts, up to floor 11 and produced a beautiful hot and fresh pizza to the ‘always hungry even when sick’ Alison. Voila! It was a good pizza! One thing for sure, Ali won’t die hungry and Ali don’t share food!
The food on Iona is just ok. We didn’t try any of the chargeable restaurants as from Cadiz to returning to Southampton, one of us was not feeling great with the fluey/cold bug going around. There was plenty of talk of covid but who knows, life goes on.
Very few people washed hands or used the antibac gels available at the entrance to the food areas. Janine did get over the worst symptoms quickly but Alison is still barking like a dog a week after leaving the ship.
Anyone who wants to avoid catching viruses, especially during winter when people are confined indoors, should not consider huge cruise liners.
At every port we saw ambulances taking people off the ship, it did resemble an old folks home so I guess with so many people, especially elderly, there will be some medical emergencies sadly.
Lisbon
Onwards to Lisbon.
On the 10th January, we arrived in Lisbon. We always left our curtains and cabin door on to the balcony slightly open if conditions permit.
Where had Lisbon gone?
We looked out of our window and Lisbon wasn’t there! In fact we couldn’t see a thing, it was thick fog. Captain Wesley had warned us we may hear the ships fog horn but we weren’t expecting a total white out!
After our delivered breakfast, we got ready and wandered off the ship. By now the fog had lifted a little and we found the buses that were shuttling us into the city centre. There wasn’t a queue as the early morning scramble was well over. We reached Praca de Restauradores within around 20 minutes, the central location in Lisbon. They dropped us off there. What a pleasant surprise!
The coach dropped us off right outside a pharmacy and half the passengers piled in! The ship was full of cold! Alison bought her nasal spray and off we went to explore.
Upon arriving at Lisbon’s main pedestrian street, Rua Augusto, we were welcomed by ‘Bastardos’ Restaurant! Being the big kids that we are, it made us titter! Obviously, it is worthy of a photo…..
A staff member came outside to greet us with his business card after giving us the thumbs up at the door!
Continuing down Rua Augusto, we found ourselves at Praco do Comercio.
Praco do Comercio really is beautiful and one of the largest plazas in Portugal measuring 175m x 175m and facing the river estuary.
Kings and dignitaries, along with passengers arriving by ship, would be welcomed with this magnificent square before air travel to Lisbon.
An earthquake in 1755 destroyed the original Royal Palace. It is also the location where King Carlos 1 and his son Luis Filipe were assassinated in 1908, this ultimately leading to the fall of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910.
Pastel de Nata Competition Time!
Passing back through the Rua Augusta Arch (Arco da Rua Augusta), we found ourselves on a mission to find the best Pastel de Nata in Lisbon! We chose four shops and bought 2 pastries from each, we couldn’t wait to get back to the ship to try them all!
Heading back to the ship, we stopped in Starbucks for our coffee free chocolate Frappuccino….we can’t seem to pass a Starbucks without ordering one, no matter the weather!
Armed with four packages containing our pastel de natas, we headed for the coach. A coach was just about to leave but it was full. A few minutes later another coach arrived and off we went. There was no queue to board the ship today.
We flew through customs and security and up to our cabin to try our tarts….they were all beautiful! And after careful deliberation, the winner was……..(drumroll……)
Alison’s favourite is still Cafetaria Venepão 93 in Almancil…….you must visit if you’re ever in the Algarve!
Arriving and departing Lisbon is quite spectacular.
The estuary port is located on the River Tagus just inland from the sea. As it was foggy on our arrival, we didn’t see anything but upon departure we watched from our balcony as we approached the iconic Ponte 25 de Abril bridge linking Almada to Lisbon, and wondering how much clearance we had under the bridge! It didn’t look much!
We made it!
Beautiful Vigo
On awaking today we had arrived in Vigo, our final port before our trip back to Southampton and the dreaded Bay of Biscay.
The city centre is very close to where the ship docks, eliminating the need for shuttle buses.
As usual, we watched the sheeples being herded onto the awaiting tour buses before heading to town. It made a change from watching ambulances collecting the sick or injured which, unfortunately, was at nearly every port.
Upon disembarking, we followed the other independent explorers towards the town centre along the marina promenade. It was a lovely walk but being followers instead of leaders today, we walked way past the turn off for the old town!
BUT…..we would have missed this fabulous sculpture, the Monumento a Julio Verne (Monument to Jules Verne).
Jules Verne devoted a chapter “The Bay of Vigo” in his most famous book, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea with the adventures of Captain Nemo and Nautilus. Jules Verne visited Vigo after writing the novel so on the centenary of his death in 2005, The Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Pontevedra commissioned this bronze sculpture from a local artist, José Molares, and donated it to the city.
We were so pleased we missed that turn off! We found ourselves in a lovely area where the Christmas market was. A wide, tree lined street with all the stalls, cabins and fountains in the middle and a big wheel to mark the square.
As usual, Alison had wandered off to take photos of a young dog playing in one of the fountains, Simba was her name. We spent a good 15 minutes watching the young pup of 18 months playing with her ball and digging up the flowers, much to the dismay of her owner, who spoke English and set us in the right direction to find the old town.
Upon walking up the winding hill, we discovered a lovely old town, lots of bars and restaurants and the old church in a square.
A Bustling Town….
From the old town it’s very easy to stumble upon the main shopping district, a busy area with many shops, bars, restaurants and buskers….
Vigo is a great base to discover the towns and villages of the Estuary and region of Galicia. The Cies Islands that form part of the National park of Atlantic islands of Galicia are also well worth a visit. Ferries are available to visit these wonderful natural islands.
We liked Vigo and will definitely return to the area in the future. It’s a very different side of Spain that most tourists don’t see, preferring the Costas and warm seas of the Med. Being so close to Portugal, it’s definitely worth a road trip or a fly drive holiday.
We queued for the first time to get back on the ship today. It was quite a long queue but it went quickly and being a Brit packed ship, everyone queued in an orderly manner.
Back on board we nipped to The Quays for a quick bite to eat.
Alison was quickly succumbing to a bad cold and that evening, Janine was room service slave!
Time To LEave
This evening we set sail for home. We didn’t do much for the next 36 hours except watch CSI and all the other series on the TV!
There are films and a few random series to keep you occupied if you don’t feel like going to eat, drink, attend a quiz, presentation, swim, spa, shop or just people watch.
Due to the weather, we didn’t really benefit from our balcony, not sure we’d do a winter Mediterranean cruise again. One day, we did manage a quick drink on deck. A few brave souls were in shorts and shirtless (obviously from the North of England or Scotland!) but at 15 degrees, our clothes stayed firmed on (for a change)……
Crossing the Bay was relatively calm compared to our previous crossings. We woke up alongside in Southampton before we knew it.
Back In Blighty
Disembarkation was pretty chaotic.
We’d left our luggage outside our cabin door for us to collect in the baggage hall. Our allocated time to depart was 09h30 but we had to leave our cabin by 08h00. Off we trundled to Brodies Bar to await instructions to leave. Separately, we popped to the buffet for breakfast…. chaos!
By 08h30, stewards were clearing the bar and telling everyone they could leave!
Although this meant we could get on our way earlier, it also caused huge queues in the baggage collection hall. In the whole two weeks, this was probably the only time we witnessed carnage!
People looking for cases, trollies and the exit. A bottleneck to go through the customs area causes big queues. People join the queue wherever they located their cases so little order.
Eventually we were free and off to collect the car. This was the easiest bit. A short queue and before we knew it we were calling for Vera…she didn’t answer. After finding the car, we packed up again and headed to Tesco’s to pick up shopping before our 15h00 ferry from Portsmouth to Caen.
SUMMARY
P&O Iona, Captain Wesley Dunlop.
New Year Eve Cruise 2023 visiting Cadiz, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Valencia, Lisbon and Vigo.
Capacity: 5206 passengers 1762 crew. 4996 passengers onboard.
Weather : variable, not exceeding 16 degrees.
Rough seas crossing the Bay of Biscay. Gale force winds and rain.
Sadly, we don’t think P&O Iona is for us. The ship is huge and although very nice, a bit too much like an upmarket ferry.
Maybe due to the amount of older passengers, the public areas, bars etc resembled an old folks home with people reading books and nodding off in the wing backed chairs. Brodies Bar resembled a well known budget pub chain. The Main Dining Rooms were hit and miss, the food acceptable but not outstanding. The service similar. In Opal, we found the service pleasing. The overall feeling is of posh (but not very posh) holiday camp.
The crew on the whole are polite but mainly uninterested, possibly due to working 9 months without a day off.
The cabin (port side) was very nice and our cabin steward was exceptional. It was rarely in the sun due to always docking the wrong way. (for the sun)
The ship is clean and comfortable and handled the rough weather exceptionally well. The Captain and his deck crew are fantastic.
Would we go on Iona again?
Probably not, but never say never!
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