The trip was enjoyable as we were travelling with family members.
We sailed on the Iona in her maiden year and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
However, we felt that the general standard of cleanliness throughout the ship had deteriorated.
I found several items of rotting food including a banana, open packets of biscuits and several packets of sweets in a cupboard in our cabin which I felt was totally unacceptable.
They were removed by the steward and the cupboard cleaned but it shouldn’t have happened.
We were given a gratis bottle of wine by the deck manager by way of apology.
Throughout the cruise toilets in the public areas were often out of order and it was a very unpleasant experience to find toilets backed-up.
On occasion whole toilet areas were blocked necessitating long walks to find working toilets.
We booked two days in the retreat only to be told that our bookings had been cancelled without notice, consultation or explanation.
That does not foster good customer relations!! Gary Barlow was due to be onboard during our cruise and entry to his concert was by purchasing a winning raffle ticket.
We were lucky enough to win two tickets only to be disappointed when at the last minute we were told his flight had been cancelled and he would not be appearing.
Irksome as we had cancelled dinner in the Epicurean to attend the show.
It seemed a little odd that an artist of his standing would be flying out only a few hours before his performance without the opportunity for lighting and sound checks.
Even more baffling as the female artist who was scheduled to duet with him had made it onto the ship.
Needless to say there were a lot of disgruntled passengers.
We felt that the standard of food had dropped particularly the quality of meat.
We had several occasions where meat was too tough to eat.
The evening menus are also very ‘samey’ unless you pay supplements to visit the speciality restaurants.
We undertook one excursion in Lisbon to Sintra and Cascais .
Whilst the trip was very interesting we felt that it should have been two separate trips as we had so little time in each place.
A whole day trip with barely 50 minutes free time in each town, gave too little time to see anything of the area.
It stated that it was a moderate amount of walking.
Unfortunately, the tour of the castle involved numerous winding staircases, many without handrails, which were difficult to negotiate for people with mobility problems.
We had a good time but felt that our cruise in June 2024 on the Arvia provided a much superior experience in all areas.
Both family parties felt that it might be time when considering future cruises to investigate another cruise line.
Incidentally my husband and I are cruising on the Queen Anne on 3rd November 2024 which we hope will be a better experience.
