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P&O Iona Northern Europe Christmas Markets Cruise

If you’re looking for information about the accessibility on the P&O Iona cruise ship then head to my previous post, this is more of a travel diary for people to see what we got up to and what this P&O Iona Northern Europe Christmas Markets Cruise had to offer! General P&O Iona Cruise Information So the Iona is Freedom Dining which means you don’t have a set slot and can dine whenever, the only time food wasn’t available seemed to be between 9-11 pm and then after 11 pm only the Horizon Buffet was open (and room service) and it was extremely busy. They catered for everyone’s needs and they were special stations at the buffet or you could simply ask anywhere else for dietary needs. Across the 19 decks, there are 14 restaurants and 19 bars, 12 hot tubs, 2 regular pools, 2 infinity pools, and a hydro pool at the spa. With 6 theatres and entertainment lounges, including an actual cinema, as well as entertainment in Brodie’s (the pub) and atrium, there is so much to see and do! There are lots of places to eat at that are included and then we tried a few that cost a little extra too. We had alcohol drinks packages which were very strict on only 15 drinks a day and one drink every 15 minutes, which would be fine but when you can barely get served 1 drink an hour, I definitely think they should relax it. It’s one thing I didn’t think we’d be without a drink or hungry on a cruise but with our bad timing and not enough staff, it happened a few times. You just have to make the most of it though and you definitely can’t take it out on the poor staff just doing their best. The Cabins We had two Accessible Balcony Cabins (video on my last post) and one inside Cabin on deck 12. For general room information, the beds were extremely comfortable. The rooms were very quiet and pitch black, the accessible bathrooms were more than big enough and we all had a comfortable stay.     In the standard inside cabin, the door was smaller than standard size and there wasn’t much room in the bathroom or to get around but they also have a large sofa bed and bunk bed in the wall with plenty of storage. You would definitely struggle with more than 2 people inside but it is very true what they say about not being in your room much. That being said my friend said that if he does another he definitely wants a balcony as well as it was just so lovely being able to go out there. P&O Iona Northern Europe Christmas Markets Cruise This cruise was to visit Christmas markets but only Hamburg actually had any Christmas markets that were easy to get to. They were utterly amazing though with 3 different ones that were very close together and easy to visit. We’re taking next-level Christmas markets where every single detail was thought of, down to a toy train going around the top of the market! We were in Rotterdam for 2 days as there were tours to go to Amsterdam and the option to get there yourself too. Finally, Zeebruges had lots of options but it was quite a trek into actual Bruges. Here’s what we got up to… Day 1 – Embarkation and Sea Day Arriving at the terminal we used the CPS booking option when booking our cabin rather than extra room credit so that was all very easy to do with clear instructions. We unloaded the car and wheelchair with ease and made our way to the terminal. It was extremely busy and had a weird layout where we had to come back through everyone going through security, so felt massively in the way whilst people were being patted down but again all clear instructions, and friendly staff, and we were through within no time. The terminal bridge itself was very difficult on a steep incline and weird ramps between connections, it caused a lot of pain and we didn’t get off to a good start. We then got lost, eventually got to our rooms and left straight away for a drink which meant we didn’t see the Horizon newsletter of what was on, didn’t read instructions on how to activate our drinks package or any of the other information we needed at all. We ended up in the Emerald Bar on Deck 6 chatting away, making friends and drinking cocktails (that we were charged for as no one said we needed to activate our cards). They were really nice cocktails though. We had heard things get booked up fast so we made sure to make a booking for the first night and headed to The Olive Grove, this is a speciality restaurant where some dishes cost a little extra but it’s only a few pounds. We really enjoyed it but were a little worried that we had made a mistake and that cruising wasn’t for us! We headed to The Club House for some drinks and finally to the Horizon buffet afterwards as my friend doesn’t like a lot of food so we needed to make sure he got something to eat and finally headed to bed. Day 2 – Sea Day Our phones weren’t connected to the Internet with being at sea so they didn’t go back an hour meaning we nearly missed all the breakfast times and the only place we could go was the Horizon Buffet. We nearly couldn’t find a seat as it seemed like a lot of people had done the same! It was a big shock being around so many people and we had really hoped to find quieter spots but it just didn’t work out like that the first few days. We then headed off around the ship exploring away before heading to one of the included main dining rooms […]

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