afcandrew

Personally I think 7 days is better. You often don't get as good an experience on the 3/4 day cruises... There have been some excellent deals for one-week itineraries recently.

May be too late with this but if not and you are getting to Belem (Tower, Monastery and Monument to the Navigators) then lunch at the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem is lovely. They claim to have produced the original Pastel de Nata and it is a lovely building, having many of the walls covered in the beautiful Portuguese tiles.

Saga Cruises is undoubtedly a quality product but now that they have gone "boutique, all-balcony, all-inclusive" they are beyond my cruise budget. I normally book an inside or standard outside cabin and Saga prices are about double what I pay. I know a lot is included but I don't take many ship's excursions anyway and the ones Saga include are mainly "panoramic" tours meaning a basic drive around on a coach...

Shame that yet again the Maiden cruise was cancelled - and anyone who wanted to transfer to the new Maiden was then asked to pay significantly more!

As things are looking at the moment, I would hazard a guess that Rotterdam is quite possibly going to be off-limits too. I would think it possible that there will be further changes to your itinerary but with Iona being a large ship, their options for replacements are limited. If so, P&O may well be forced to offer refunds.

Hi Jenjen, Good for you. Hopefully the cruise will be a success and you may feel like trying a solo run from Southampton. I've done quite a few cruises solo since my partner died in 2012. I must admit that the first sailaway from Southampton after Tony died was tough but some lovely nearby friends came down to Mayflower Park to wave me off. I think some of the things we have been used to will have disappeared for ever but I am hopeful that the Captain's Cocktail night will reappear on most of P&O's ships. The two new ones carry 5200+ pax, so I doubt there ever was going to be the

Good to hear you enjoyed the cruise. I was due to sail on her earlier this year which was of course cancelled. I have no doubt the ship is lovely but unless future prices come down from what they have advertised recently, I doubt I will be booking. I've looked at a number of itineraries to sail solo and prices have been between £250 and £300 per night for an inside cabin! I don't do spicy foods so the choice of alternative restaurants is disappointing for me. I'm sure I would find something to eat in Colours & tastes but my choice would be limited. It would have been nice to have one

I watched a live-stream of Iona's Maiden Cruise departure last night. Again, extremely low key. Just a lone Piper to see her off, no fireworks or streamers. According to some social media posts, nothing much happened on-board either. Apparently there will be more celebration when she moors off the island of Iona but a bit sad to see a ship leave port on her maiden without any sort of ceremony...

That's good to hear.

A friend has been on Virtuosa and said he had a good time, especially with the reduced capacity. Virtuosa and then Fred - very contrasting cruises to compare. Look forward to hearing about your experiences.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and especially good to hear you felt safe on board. Interesting comment about the restaurant managers. Were the majority of the restaurant and bar waiters still from India?

Aurora still on sale for cruises up to Jan 2023. The two 50 night ones I am referring to are indeed early next year.

I usually request a table of solos. Always been fine so far.

The only line I have heard that is definitely doing this is Fred Olsen. Don't know whether any other lines are so far... With P&O, I believe you have to book your restaurant (including the mdr) using their new on-board 'app'. I don't think there's any fixed dining.

From what I've seen elsewhere, it appears Aurora will be doing two 50 night cruises. I was hoping that she would do some shorter ones for those of us who do wish to sail on the larger ships...