Day 6 – Thursday (Haugesund/day at sea)

We were woken at approximately 8am by an announcement from the Captain to say that due to bad weather we would be unable to dock in Haugesund. During the night there had been Force 10 gales (60 knots), which ‘Iona’ must have coped with very well, as we had not been disturbed at all. Current weather conditions included squalls of Force 8 (40 knots) and so this made it dangerous to attempt to enter any other fjord for an alternate port of call. So, it would be a further day at sea.

Within a few hours the Entertainments Team had revamped the daily programme with an additional 15 activities across the day, including large screen film showings in Headliners Theatre and revised shopping and Kids Club’s timings. I can only imagine that missed ports do happen on occasion and the situation does not come as a total surprise!

It would have been nice to go ashore again in Norway or scenic cruise past some fjords, but at least it gave us the opportunity to spend more time exploring all ‘Iona’ has to offer. Starting inside: ‘Iona’ has more than 4600 works of art by 61 artists, curated by Tom Tempest- Radford (who also chose the art for ‘Britannia’). Manchester based Natalie Muir has created over 400 circular pieces of art for each of the 3 main staircases. Inspired by aerial photography, each piece has been created by applying a blow torch to resin paint. Shades of red appear on the aft stairs, silver in the mid ships and blue on the forward stairwells (remember the colours to keep your bearings!).

Mel Fraser was responsible for the Carrara white marble sculpture outside the Opal Restaurant. Meanwhile Whitewall Galleries curate the art for sale on ‘Iona’ – winding its way towards the front of deck 6 are examples of original paintings and sculptures from internationally acclaimed artists as well as collectable editions (including 3 signed prints by LS Lowry).

A day at sea also gave us an opportunity to look at The Oasis Spa & Health Club on decks 5 and 6. The Spa offers the usual range of cruise ship spa treatments, body wraps, massages and facials as well as a hair and nail salon. There is a thermal suite with a hydrotherapy pool, heated loungers, a sauna and steam rooms (a 4-hour pass costs £25 pp). Also, up on deck 18, forward of the Beachcomber Pool and Bar is The Retreat a quiet adult only area, with two hot tubs, loungers and luxurious day beds. A day pass here costs £40 pp, but not over popular when sailing in the North Sea! The gym on deck 5 has the stereotypical weight and cardio machines, as well as a separate studio area for classes (spinning, Pilates and yoga for example). For free exercise head to the daily morning Fitsteps classes in The Limelight Club, hosted by the ship’s dancers. Put together by ‘Strictly’ dancers Ian Waite and Natalie Lowe, it is a mix of ballroom and Latin steps in a fun routine.

There is also a Casino, only open when the ship, is at sea – so an additional day to lose money!

Outside there are 4 decks with sunbathing spaces, a small jogging track on deck 18 (7 laps round = 1 mile) and a Promenade deck (deck 8) that you can walk round in its entirety. There are 3 pools (one housed within the SkyDome and large enough to swim lengths in),8 whirlpools (with capacity for 8 - 16 people depending on the pool) and 8 infinity pools. There are actually 6 infinity whirl pools, over the sides of the ship on deck 8, small box like spaces for 3 people. Whilst the other two larger infinity pools look aft (decks 16 & 18). There is something rather surreal about swimming in an infinity pool when the ship is at sea, but it is equally ‘cool’ to be in a whirlpool or infinity pool when the ship is in port and you can overlook the port and town or the fjords, as I did in Olden and Alesund.  

We also played shuffleboard and table tennis, both of which were bookable 24 hours in advance.

For dinner this evening we headed back to The Coral Restaurant and another lovely meal. The consistent high standard of the food has impressed me this week and I can quite see why people are so loyal to the P&O Cruises brand – ‘you repeatedly get what it says on the tin’.

Later we tried to get into the 710 Club (so called as this was Iona’s shipyard number). The Club is another concept unique to ‘Iona’ and is a pioneering partnership between P&O Cruises and Gary Barlow (as the music director of ‘Iona’). Gary’s creative vision for The 710 Club is to showcase an eclectic range of performances, curated to appeal to British music lovers. The late-night music venue is exclusively for adults and offers an opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to get their break. Gary Barlow said: “One thing I love is making memories. I think music does that exactly’. Throughout the week the resident band played sets entitled ‘Supergroup Sound’, ‘Handwritten’ and ‘Nations Number 1s’ amongst others. There are 3 shows a night, but the venue holds no more than 200 people and so queues start a long time before the start of the show, with many people left disappointed – as we were on two occasions, only managing to get a seat on the penultimate show of the cruise. Allowing bookings to be made on ‘My Holiday App’ would be a sensible use of the App when this Club is so popular. The technology available these days should also be able to guarantee the great majority of people who want a seat, to book one, at sometime during the week, before opening up to repeat visits.

In between our attempts to get into 710 Club, we went to The Club House on deck 8. It is a large lounge with a bar, dance floor and stage, opening up onto the Sunset Bar area on the aft deck (with whirlpools and smoking areas). It is the ship’s night club (open until 2am) and home to the resident party band Pulse (4 musicians and 2 singers). On other nights there was a comedian and alternate singing acts performing there as well. During the day it offers a quiet space to sit and read etc as well as hosting larger presentations, due to its size. Having enjoyed Pulse immensely and the band in the 710 Club on our last night, I found that I enjoyed the resident artistes more than guest ones. For instance, I would only recommend The Limelight Club if there was an artist performing who you wanted to see.