Lets talk cruises

I'm currently sat on Iona in the port of Haugesund having been to Stavanger, Flam and Olden. Heading back to Southampton this evening and am somewhat gutted to be doing so.

So much so we've just booked 14 nights on Iona's sister ship Arvia, around the Mediterranean. Gone with a balcony room though this time because the sea views were all sold out and looking around the ship the balcony rooms look great.
 
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LOAM said:
I'm currently sat on Iona in the port of Haugesund having been to Stavanger, Flam and Olden. Heading back to Southampton this evening and am somewhat gutted to be doing so.

So much so we've just booked 14 nights on Iona's sister ship Arvia, around the Mediterranean. Gone with a balcony room though this time because the sea views were all sold out and looking around the ship the balcony rooms look great.
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Nice! That’s high praise.

We’re going to Norway on Iona in May. I’m unrealistically excited about this floating Benidorm holiday for some reason.
 
thewanted said:
Nice! That’s high praise.

We’re going to Norway on Iona in May. I’m unrealistically excited about this floating Benidorm holiday for some reason.
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We're Fjords as well with a couple of kids (9 and 7). It's been really good although Haugesund is a bit typical run down port but Stavanger is great and Flam and Olden are spectacular. Boat is very good, food has been great and the staff brilliant.

It's our first one, I was a little skeptical but it's been great.
 
LOAM said:
I'm currently sat on Iona in the port of Haugesund having been to Stavanger, Flam and Olden. Heading back to Southampton this evening and am somewhat gutted to be doing so.

So much so we've just booked 14 nights on Iona's sister ship Arvia, around the Mediterranean. Gone with a balcony room though this time because the sea views were all sold out and looking around the ship the balcony rooms look great.
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Is that a Fred Olsen cruise? I hear they're a cut above the rest.
 
Only just seen this thread and love a good cruise!

Did our 1st cruise to the Carribean in Nov 23 on Brittania, Went on Ventura in Feb to Amsterdam and heading back to the Carribean this Nov on Arvia.

This is from someone who never ever thought they would ever go on a cruise ( couldn't think of anything worse ) and how wrong was I.
 
Well that was exciting (not). Large fire in a crew galley 6 doors down from us on our floor.

They evacuated the 4 adjacent rooms and called crew to muster stations and started putting life jackets on lol.

I opened our door to be greeted by six fully kitted fireman running towards the end of the corridor.

Under control now though and everyone stood down. Obviously it's all compartmentalised and pretty low risk and a fully functioning fire fighting team on board but being in the middle of the north sea hours away from dock, it's pretty nerve wracking
 
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LOAM said:
Well that was exciting (not). Large fire in a crew galley 6 doors down from us on our floor.

They evacuated the 4 adjacent rooms and called crew to muster stations and started putting life jackets on lol.

I opened our door to be greeted by six fully kitted fireman running towards the end of the corridor.

Under control now though and everyone stood down. Obviously it's all compartmentalised and pretty low risk and a fully functioning fire fighting team on board but being in the middle of the north sea hours away from dock, it's pretty nerve wracking
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Was that the one on Iona? Thought it started in a Deep Fat Fryer on Deck 5? Crew went to muster but got it under control very quick.

My mum and sister was on a ship when someones cheap escooter caught fire while charging and the response was really quick. The amount of practice that goes into these drills is very very impressive.

Just seen your previous posts and looks like you were on Iona.

Olden is amazing.. I loved sitting by the windows (Think we were in the keys) watching the fjords go by on the way out.
 
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ZXSpectrum said:
Was that the one on Iona? Thought it started in a Deep Fat Fryer on Deck 5? Crew went to muster but got it under control very quick.

My mum and sister was on a ship when someones cheap escooter caught fire while charging and the response was really quick. The amount of practice that goes into these drills is very very impressive.

Just seen your previous posts and looks like you were on Iona.

Olden is amazing.. I loved sitting by the windows (Think we were in the keys) watching the fjords go by on the way out.
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Yeah we were on deck 5 Iona last week.
 
Ah ok. Trying to get on Arvia next year for western med but price went up recently. We went on Britannia this year and it was pretty good but definitely wasn’t the calibre of the flagships.
 
ZXSpectrum said:
Ah ok. Trying to get on Arvia next year for western med but price went up recently. We went on Britannia this year and it was pretty good but definitely wasn’t the calibre of the flagships.
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We're booked on Arvia for 14 nights (Balcony Room) to the Mediterranean in August 2027 :)
 
We loved our first cruise, Carnival Glory so a few years later did it again and thought bigger would be better and we were wrong.

Second cruise Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas. We found constant upselling annoying but the real gripe was the excursions. The ship was too large for regular ports so they used their own “purpose built” ones, Labadee Haiti being a prime example.

The entire port, the excursions, the employment, it’s all controlled by the cruise line, high prices and no flavour of the place you are visiting. Jamaica Falmouth was another, far better getting a smaller ship that can use Ocho Rios

We’d like to do another cruise and feel the flights kind of spoil the experience so next up might well be a Southampton to Southampton cruise (obviously an itinerary in the middle)
 
LOAM said:
We're booked on Arvia for 14 nights (Balcony Room) to the Mediterranean in August 2027 :)
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I would love a balcony but cant justify the uplift in price(there are 3 of us and we have to pay for 2 rooms and split between 3)

I like the facilities on the IONA (And Arvia) its a nice ship to walk round and i have never been hassled for any sort of upsell at all.
 
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ristac said:
We loved our first cruise, Carnival Glory so a few years later did it again and thought bigger would be better and we were wrong.

Second cruise Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas. We found constant upselling annoying but the real gripe was the excursions. The ship was too large for regular ports so they used their own “purpose built” ones, Labadee Haiti being a prime example.

The entire port, the excursions, the employment, it’s all controlled by the cruise line, high prices and no flavour of the place you are visiting. Jamaica Falmouth was another, far better getting a smaller ship that can use Ocho Rios

We’d like to do another cruise and feel the flights kind of spoil the experience so next up might well be a Southampton to Southampton cruise (obviously an itinerary in the middle)
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If you want to try Apex from Southampton next year, I can sort you a decent discount ;)
 
3rd Virgin Voyage out of New York to Quebec in a couple of weeks. Love the whole vibe of them and how they do things a little differently… food is awesome as well! Excursions are sometimes a bit on the expensive side, but overall we struggle to go back to any other cruise line now that we’ve been on before… TUI/Marella, NCL, Ambassador.
 
whiskycycle said:
3rd Virgin Voyage out of New York to Quebec in a couple of weeks. Love the whole vibe of them and how they do things a little differently… food is awesome as well! Excursions are sometimes a bit on the expensive side, but overall we struggle to go back to any other cruise line now that we’ve been on before… TUI/Marella, NCL, Ambassador.
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Enjoy, we're off with them again next year for 11 nights, really rate Virgin, the food is superb, the other lines you mention are mass market or lower, Virgin offer a premium product and it shows.
 
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