Overall, the scenery is great, the ports are pretty decent, but sadly the ship, although impressive just does not have enough staff. There is no wonder the staff are so miserable when they're trying to do so much.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Parking was booked through P&O using a company at the port, pulled up, checked in and on Iona within 30 minutes, really good experience.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
The main dining rooms all have the same menu, very little variety in those menus throughout the week. Service was really patchy, for the most part, it was very poor, none of the waiters smile, say hello, or interact with you in any way.
Getting served in a bar was really tricky, unlike other cruise lines, it seems you have to generally go to the bar rather than sit down and have someone come over. Most bars only had one or two people making drinks, so it always took a long time.
Sindhu and The Beach House which are paid for, were however really nice food and great service.
The Keel and Cow
1 out of 5
Only gets one star because I cannot give none. 45 min wait for a drink, 50 mins wait for the starter, main would be an hour after the starter, but we left and got it taken off the bill.Waiter was useless to be honest, another example of people just trying to do too much and not enough staff for the people trying to dine there.
Sindhu
5 out of 5
Food was fantastic, this was our first night, service was great here as well. Different take on Indian cuisine but it was really tasty.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Only used the pools, the indoor pool in the SkyDome is very popular, not really enough sunbeds around the pool for the number of people using it, lots of sunbed space on the outside decks which is good. Outdoor infinity pool was really good, fantastic view outside of the back of the ship.
Whirlpools were decent although starting to smell by the end of the week. Generally, the water was quite warm in the pools as well, and was more chlorine based, than salt.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The resident band were fantastic, wide range of music they played over the week, saw them on more than one occasion. One show in the theatre was diabolical, acoustics all over the place, hard to hear and if you're not in front of the stage it was tricky to see.
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
Missed the registration on the first afternoon, after that was told I couldn't register my kids as it was full. Youngest child wanted to use the outdoor play area, but it's only open two hours a day and only available to registered kids club guests.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
Unlike other cruises, never saw senior ship officers walking around and interacting with passengers. On some occasions, staff were actually quite rude, nobody raised a small, interacted in any way with you.
Some examples include only taking two of the six drinks orders from the same table before going off. Having to get your own food for the kids because a restaurant wouldn't do it themselves, regularly waiting 50+ minutes for pre-prepared food from the main dining rooms.
We heard examples of some passengers getting offered bookings each night from their table waiter. This seemingly is not available to all passengers. Add to this the virtual queue system, it means getting a table is a daily scrum to get in at a decent time.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship is very impressive, but there are simply not enough staff, only saw someone cleaning a common area on the last day. It's generally ok, but the carpets are still malting and we regularly went to lunch and dinner to find breakfast under the table still.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
Overall, the cabin was ok, bed was very comfy, size was a little small for four people and not a lot of space to hang your clothes for a family of four. Balcony was good but be aware on deck 15 you have a limited view because of the overhang from deck 16 above.
Other than the bathroom, the sheets were not changed all week despite marks on them, there was no turndown service and the steward on the first day basically told us not to bother him and just put the sign out each day.
Ship tip
On deck 8, you can walk all the way around the promenade deck, it takes on a slow walk around 10-15 minutes, and it's a lovely walk around.
Very easy to walk around, quite flat other than the peninsular opposite the cruise terminal, but it's not too tricky with moderate activity.
The Petroleum Museum is a great visit as well to learn all about the industry with a play area and activities for kids also.
@Betsy1 - They had a pox outbreak among staff two weeks ago, that we only found out about on the 31st when they sent us a letter to the cabin saying more had gone down with it. But given the risks especially to pregnant ladies around pox, or adults who have not had it, it should be something I feel was mentioned, but anyway, it won't have helped with the staffing issues, I hope your cruise is better as it will be quieter.
Agree on the tips, but your invoice does include a dedicated section for tips, how that transpires down to staff, I have no idea, suspect they don't get 100% of it, but I agree, generally when I have a cruise where tips are needed or included, it's better.
Thankyou for your review and I apologise for not thanking you on my first response.
On all the P&O cruises that we have been on, the comments from passengers moaning about paying the gratuities. Nearly every time we spoke to people they would tell us that you can remove them and that they had been to customer services to remove them.
We thought at the time how bad this was when the service was excellent... We never removed gratuities and also tipped the room steward and the main dining staff extra on the last evening.
P&O removed gratuities in the end, this must have had a knock on effect with staff amongst other issues.
So maybe due to the people out there that refused to do the decent thing and pay the cruising way with the gratuities the issue has back fired.
If staff know there is a bonus to work for it encourages them to push further... Just imagine your pay being cut how would effect you...
We sail on Iona next week, sounds like P&O need to step up... If there is not enough staff then reduce the amount of passengers and provide the service we have paid for...
P&O you need to listen to this...
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