Halloween on the High Seas- P&O Iona Oct 2024

[SquishTheWhale]

Hi! Wondering if anyone would be interested in a cruise report from our trip at the end of this month. It's over Halloween and Half Term so thought it may be of interest to some of you to see what P&O is like over these times.

It's myself, my husband Gary and 4yr old son Hiro sailing. His second cruise, our maybe 9th? Second time with P&O.

The itinerary is:
Southampton
Le Havre (this was originally La Rochelle but got changed boooo)
Bilbao
La Coruna
Cherbourg
Southampton

Pre cruise planning

We booked a larger inside cabin which cost around £1400 for the three of us. At some point P&O upgraded us to a seaview without telling us, so that was a nice surprise to log in and see! Iona seaview cabins are wonderful but I wasn't willing to pay the extra to book one. We have been given the highest grade of seaview too. As we are very happy with our cabin we haven't bid on any upgrades.

We haven't booked any excursions for any ports- trying to make things on time with a 4yr old makes my blood pressure rise, and there was nothing we hugely fancied. Plans will be kept loose and we will see what the weather is like on the day! I have a vague idea of what we'd like to do in each port, but if the weather is bad we may just stay on board.

I have prebooked the free shows on board, but no speciality dining or upcharge items. They don't do a kids menu in the speciality restaurants so just doesn't make it practical with little ones. If anyone has an upcoming P&O cruise, check for the entertainment release 3 weeks out and keep checking. Even though it says 'coming soon', click on it to see if the red Book button has appeared. They released entertainment about 2.5 weeks in advance rather than the 2 weeks promised, and I think by the time the official email to book went out, most shows were all booked up.
We are excited about seeing The Animal Guyz on board as we saw them at Butlins and Hiro absolutely loved them.

We are driving down from Warrington on Friday 25th October and staying over halfway down, the cruise departs on the 26th and returns to Southampton on the 2nd Nov. This is half term for I believe the majority of the country so I'm expecting many kids on board! Hiro won't go in the kids club but it will still be nice for him to have other kids around.

Parking is through Myparkingspace rather than the official port parking as it was a fraction of the price. It should only take us 15 mins to walk to the port, Gary may drop me at the port with the luggage and then go park.

Our boarding time is sadly 3pm, I hate the P&O boarding system- wish it was fastest finger first like RCI. I've never taken a cruise where we haven't been on for lunch on the first day so that's a bit of a bummer. We'll probably aim to arrive around 2.30, and will have lunch in Southampton once we've dropped the luggage.

Spookyness
P&O have sent several emails encouraging people to bring non-scary Halloween costumes, and said there will be a special disco and other Halloween events. I'm glad they are doing something with so many kids on board as otherwise they may feel like they're missing out. Hiro is constantly asking me when Halloween is, and debating between dressing as Spiderman, a transformer or possibly a mix of both.
Gary and I aren't wearing costumes but both have Halloween print outfits and accessories.
On the Facebook group for the sailing someone is organising a list of cabins for trick or treating, so Hiro will enjoy that too, and we'll bring some sweets to leave outside our cabin for others.

My current aim is to pack only two suitcases between us plus hand luggage- I am a chronic overpacker so wish me luck!

Anyway let me know if any questions beforehand, and I'll update when I can!

[vampiress88]

Sounds good with the trick treating and party.

Beach house might just do normal kids meals. They did when mine were little but that was quite a while ago. But had really bad beach house last time we went on Iona.

We used parking 4 cruises as a cheap alternative to the cps parking in August and they were really good. We got meet and greet one so that I didn’t have to walk- I would have mentioned them but I forgot you were on this cruise.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

Sounds good with the trick treating and party.

Beach house might just do normal kids meals. They did when mine were little but that was quite a while ago. But had really bad beach house last time we went on Iona.

We used parking 4 cruises as a cheap alternative to the cps parking in August and they were really good. We got meet and greet one so that I didn’t have to walk- I would have mentioned them but I forgot you were on this cruise.

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Beach house does things he'll eat but I haven't heard great things about it. Think we'll try Olive Garden if we can get a booking, might be difficult with such a late boarding time.

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Beach house does things he'll eat but I haven't heard great things about it. Think we'll try Olive Garden if we can get a booking, might be difficult with such a late boarding time.

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I’ll be honest i never stick to boarding time and I do always get told off on some boards for it.
Majority of the time we’ve got down there for 12-1ish depending on traffic as we set off the morning off from Yorkshire/nottinghamshire. They have always let me in.
Usually just get there and then they give you a card number. Sometimes I gotten on quite fast. Think 1hr and half was the worst and it was queuing outside cos they had to clean the ship better or something.

Yes we like the olive grove on Iona more so than Arvia.
Beach house we have loved until that last one that the prawns were funny so we walked out- but that could be Arvia. I’ve lost track.

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by vampiress88

I’ll be honest i never stick to boarding time and I do always get told off on some boards for it.
Majority of the time we’ve got down there for 12-1ish depending on traffic as we set off the morning off from Yorkshire/nottinghamshire. They have always let me in.
Usually just get there and then they give you a card number. Sometimes I gotten on quite fast. Think 1hr and half was the worst and it was queuing outside cos they had to clean the ship better or something.

Yes we like the olive grove on Iona more so than Arvia.
Beach house we have loved until that last one that the prawns were funny so we walked out- but that could be Arvia. I’ve lost track.

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It's tempting to arrive much earlier but I've heard they are often enforcing it and making you wait outside until your time. Not worth the risk with small kids! Just a shame as we've never boarded so late before, usually first in line! I guess the bonus is we can go straight to our cabin.

How is p&o doing muster now? Is it traditional or on your phone and just check in?

[vampiress88]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

It's tempting to arrive much earlier but I've heard they are often enforcing it and making you wait outside until your time. Not worth the risk with small kids! Just a shame as we've never boarded so late before, usually first in line! I guess the bonus is we can go straight to our cabin.

How is p&o doing muster now? Is it traditional or on your phone and just check in?

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Watch the video in your room then card your card at the muster station. I don’t think ship will ever go back to the traditional in the theatre ones.

[Ariel85]

We’ve been on Iona and they gave us the normal MDR kids menu when we ate in Sindhu if that’s any help.
Hope you have a lovely time!

[SquishTheWhale]

Originally Posted by Ariel85

We’ve been on Iona and they gave us the normal MDR kids menu when we ate in Sindhu if that’s any help.
Hope you have a lovely time!

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Thanks! Was that recently? I did ask on my sailing group and people said we'd just have to feed him beforehand. But I don't think he'd then sit through a meal without eating! He does enjoy curry but not the type they serve in there

[SquishTheWhale]

Cruise day! Currently in a premier inn in Swindon waiting for the rest of the family to wake up. We used to live here so enjoyed a mooch around the outlets yesterday and dinner

Slim chickens for dinner, not very exciting but it's probably the fast food place I enjoy the most. Chicken is never greasy and it's always hot and fresh. Hiro declared the chips 'the best he's ever eaten'.

I was pleased to find identical bobs in the Skechers store to the ones I'm currently wearing that are on their way out. £25 which is a bargain as £45 on amazon. They also have a new Character kids clothing store so Hiro chose a Halloween tshirt for the cruise and somehow wrangled new pjs too.

Someone is already getting very spoilt in the name of being on holiday!

We picked him up an hour or so early from school, not as early as we hoped but it helped us get down at a semi decent time. Posts on the Facebook cruise group indicated the A34 was an absolute nightmare yesterday taking twice as long as it should have so glad we weren't heading down that way.
We were on the M5 and kept seeing signs for a 4hr delay over near Bristol- how is a 4hr delay even possible?

Plan for today is to shoot off to Southampton, we were considering spending some more time in Swindon this morning but don't want to risk the traffic. Parking is reserved from 10am using Yourparkingspace at Every student accommodation which is around a 15 min walk from the port. It was only £50 for the week. Will drop cases then walk into Southampton for lunch as our boarding isn't until 3.
It will be a bit painful to see the ship and not be able to get on it yet! Boo to late boarding.
Need to pick Gary up some contact lens fluid in town as he forget to pack it which is obviously my fault, despite it being one of the only 3 things he has responsibility to pack.

Ive failed at the challenge of only packing two suitcases as we will end up with a small duffle of miscellaneous last minute bits on top of the two cases. But should still be manageable to walk from the car to port with it.

[SquishTheWhale]

Hi everyone, we had an amazing time on Iona- however I have been poorly with a sickness bug since getting home so just been wiped out between work, trying to unpack etc. From the FB group unfortunately this bug was rampant on the cruise, luckily I only started to feel poorly once home!

Will update with some pics and review soon