She Might Be Loved
P&O Iona Norwegian Fjords 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 just another travel diary so you can see what we got up to on our second cruise and what this P&O Iona Norwegian Fjords Cruise had to offer. Be sure to check back on my first cruise: P&O Iona Northern Europe Christmas Markets Cruise. This was our first family holiday in 18 years that included my brother too, with the addition of his Fiancé, which meant that along with me, Alfie, my best friend, and my parents, we were a group of 7. We didn’t have trouble getting anywhere as a big group at all and always found tables in the entertainment venues. General P&O Iona Cruise Information So the P&O Iona is Freedom Dining which means you don’t have a set slot and can dine whenever, last year all the food places, including the buffet would be closed from 9-11 pm which seemed very odd but has now been changed. The buffet is now on all day long including late-night snacks which means it’s a lot less busier than the 11pm rush for a bedtime snack like in December! They catered to everyone’s needs and there were special stations at the buffet or you could simply ask anywhere else for dietary needs. If you have very strict diet needs I’ve read that you can ask the night before so that they can prepare something, especially for you. Across the 19 decks, there are 14 restaurants and 19 bars, 12 hot tubs, 1 regular pool, 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 Grand Atrium, there is really something for everyone, and whatever type of holiday you want to have. A lot of places are included in the cost of your cruise but there are specialty restaurants too that cost a little extra but 99% are so worth it. P&O Iona Norwegian Fjords Cruise Our itinerary for this cruise: Stavanger Olden Alesund Haugesund Due to bad weather, our itinerary changed to: Alesund (at 7 pm and then all day the next day) Olden Haugesund We really wanted to get off at Stavanger as I did a lot of research and saw that it wasn’t cobbled around the docks so this was a sad change but judging by how rocky the ship was this time, a very sensible change! We didn’t plan to get off at Alesund or Haugesund as we thought they’d be most difficult with my wheelchair so we only ended up getting off at Olden and going to the Loen Skylift but that was absolutely incredible. Day 1 – Embarkation and Sea Day For some reason, we didn’t book a wheelchair space last time whereas this time we did and it was so much easier! Right up to the front of the cars for CPS parking, you then simply get out of your car, get your belongings, you then leave your car with them, and go across to the cruise terminal to drop off your bags which will shortly arrive outside your rooms. The cruise terminal was a lot faster this time except they made us do a weird loop around loads of chairs to get to the accessible booking desk. I really don’t see the need for this, especially when people are pushing transit wheelchair users, it’s so much extra effort! Within 20/30 minutes of arriving, we were onboard though so you can’t complain too much. As we knew what to expect this time we quickly headed off to our muster stations and then straight to our rooms, there was quite a long wait for the lifts but we expected this so just waited patiently. To see more on our rooms check out my Accessibility on the P&O Iona post. We all took an hour to unpack our rooms properly and wait for everyone to board so it was a bit calmer to get around. Rather than exploring whilst it was still so busy we headed to The Glass House on Deck 7, this wasn’t open during our last cruise so it was on my list of must-visits, and wow, did it impress! It was very slow food service, but great drink service for the wait. We weren’t in a rush to go anywhere so it wasn’t a bother at all and the food was so worth waiting for. This ended up being our favourite place. Day 2 – Sea Day & Celebration Evening In classic Georgina style, I didn’t realise my phone had changed times in the night and woke everyone up an hour before we needed to be. Safe to say no one was happy. We started off in a main dining room for breakfast which is a sit-down service and was really lovely. We then explored the ship before heading to a painting with coffee class. No one wanted to do this at all, they were all complaining their little heads off and then it was absolute silence whilst painting. Everyone was getting so into it and took it so seriously! It was actually super cute to just relax and have some fun like this! My brother and I obviously turned it into a competition and Art Lady (the woman running the class) didn’t want to pick between ours but we both know she secretly chose mine as the best. It might sound a bit weird to do on a cruise holiday but sea days can be whatever you want them to be, this was at 10 am in the morning so it’s not like we were going to be doing much else and we all had a lovely time. I really recommend trying it! We then went to the pub on board, Brodie’s for the pub quiz! We said last time that we wanted to do one again so we were super […]

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