Iona cruise ship reviews

Very comfortable cabin and excellent service from our cabin steward.

Iona is the biggest cruise ship ever built for the UK market, packed with entertainment venues and more than 30 places to eat and drink. With a capacity of 5, passengers, the ship has the feel of a lively but classy floating resort. The ship is certainly striking. At the heart of Iona's deck plan is the dazzling Grand Atrium, with walls of glass on both sides spanning three floors, filling the space with light and sea views. Polished white marble and gleaming chrome add to the elegant, airy feel, while a curved marble staircase sweeps down into the centre. An enormous glass dome covers a double-height space on Decks 16 and 17, which serves as a pool, drinking and dining venue by day and a dramatic entertainment space in the evenings.

Iona cruise ship reviews

Iona is a very new, very large cruise ship and, from the moment of stepping on board in Southampton, everything about the ship — from the incredible size to the quality of the decor, to the service from the staff, right down to the smallest details have not stopped impressing me for the entire week. And even after that whole week, we were still finding it hard to get our bearings and know where everything is and how to find it all. Something else that amazed me is the sheer variety of experiences there are on the ship to keep people entertained during days and nights at sea. And despite so many people all living together on board one boat, everything seems to run like clockwork. Everywhere you go on board is so clean and tidy — there are thousands of staff constantly cleaning every area of the ship. Everything from a lecture on the history of oil exploration in Norway to live bands, comedians, sports, games, full-scale musical theatre productions to intimate classical music performances — there is literally something for everyone going on constantly. But if you just want to sit around and relax, you can do so on loungers on sun decks, around swimming pools, or in cafes, bars or multiple hot tubs. And one of the highlights has to be the food — the amount and quality of it is just incredible. From the unlimited all-you-can-eat Horizon buffet — open for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, to the many, many different restaurant choices, literally everything we ate was delicious and available in huge quantities! All the food in the main dining rooms is included in the price you pay for the cruise. The speciality ones incur an extra cost. We found the quality, quantity and variety of the main dining room food was so good, there seemed like no reason for us to spend extra on the speciality restaurants.

Iona cruise ship reviews first was the quiz in Brodies pub, on our previous cruise the team quizzes in Broadies were the stuff of legend and so popular that you would have to get there an hour early to get a seat.

The rest of the fleet are as follows, Arvia the newest , Britannia, Azura, Ventura, Arcadia adults only and Aurora adults only. With all restrictions now lifted and the ship sailing at near capacity including nearly children how would this cruise compare to the one we had taken 18 months ago. There had been loads of negative comments all over social media but as with all our cruises we went with a completely open mind. Things that need to be pre booked either before your cruise or on the app once on board are the theatre, the club, the Limelight Club and all speciality dining including the main dining rooms. Headliners Theatre — booking on the app required. On our previous cruise we felt the show team in the Headliners Theatre were really quite poor but how things have changed. From one of the weakest show teams to one of the strongest, there were no weak links at all with both singers and dancers performing to a very high standard.

Ship: Iona. Reviewed: 1 year ago. Alesund, Norway. Southampton London , England. Stavanger, Norway. Olden, Norway.

Iona cruise ship reviews

Iona had just been built and was completing her sea trial tests in March of Not the best timing in hindsight but that was just bad luck. I knew that I had to get on board the ship to try her for myself, so I booked a very cheap week-long cruise to Northern Europe. A number of my friends and fellow YouTubers had been on Iona before me and I had seen mixed reviews about the ship and cruises online but I knew I had to try it for myself. The embarkation process was very easy, we went through a drive-through Covid testing centre at Southampton port, waited a while for our car parking and for our Covid results, and then when we had our negative results, we went into the cruise terminal. Like most cruises at the moment, we did need quite a bit of paperwork to embark, I had been in Spain the week before and when I told the lady at check-in this she looked concerned and said that she would have to speak to a manager. The manager came over to us and we explained where we had been and that we had had a PCR test since getting back to the UK. Believe it or not, we did all used to stand together in big groups, sometimes out on the promenade deck.

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On all occasions we were seated very promptly, all our food arrived in good time, was of a good quality and was piping hot. Thankfully we got into all ports as planned and, on our week, the sailing conditions were good. Well worth the money. Sort by: Most recent Highest rated Lowest rated. Speak to a Cruise expert With so many bars and restaurants, food on Iona offers plenty of variety and you really could eat and drink somewhere different every day. It was surprisingly quiet on all our breakfast visits but was mega busy at the late night snacks! Cons Pricey WiFi; inflexible menus; food quality varies. Dining 4. Iona Cruiser Reviews. We cannot praise this place enough from service to presentation to standard of food, to say it was spectacular would be an understatement. Pros Good for families, plenty of evening entertainment, great food. No smiles, no introductions, no hows your day been, we love interacting with cruise crew and having some fun banter but sadly this was really lacking. He has found us some great deals and using a travel agent takes all the anxiety away of booking and coordinating complicated itineraries. Instead of one big pool and the overcrowding that can bring, there are two infinity pools on the cascading aft decks, the indoor SkyDome pool and the smallish Beachcomber pool on Deck 18, which spreads passengers out efficiently.

My wife and I cruised on Iona last summer and apart from the poor service in the bars and main dining rooms due to a lack of staff we were very impressed. We found a big improvement in service this time in what turned out to be a very eventful cruise to Northern Europe.

Resident house band Pulse are on most nights playing hits for all ages and were excellent every time we saw them. With a capacity of 5, passengers, the ship has the feel of a lively but classy floating resort. Virgin Voyages do not offer drinks packages, Capacity — 5, guests or guests if all shared occupancy is taken, crew. Do you want early access to our You Tube Videos, be the first to know when we book a cruise and have access to lots of other perks? But on the other hand, we made it to all of them — and the risk of booking somewhere with such unpredictable weather really paid off as the sights we saw and experiences we had made for an unforgettable holiday. Waiting staff in the inclusive restaurants were very helpful with my dietary requirements vegan and nut allergy and offered me pre-ordering to ensure I got meals right for me. Inclusions Included with your cruise fare: Main dining rooms, the buffet and select other eateries. The concept of lots of smaller restaurants instead of a few huge ones means the ship doesn't feel crowded. Lovely boat, plenty of places to sit, sunbathe, swim, etc. From the unlimited all-you-can-eat Horizon buffet — open for breakfasts, lunches and dinners, to the many, many different restaurant choices, literally everything we ate was delicious and available in huge quantities!