Great video - I’ve always wondered how a standard and deluxe differed on this ship, so thank you for sharing! The interior decor on Iona is just beautiful - such a change from the more ‘traditional’ ships!
Thanks for your kind comment Fraser, we really appreciate it 😍 We're glad our video is helpful 😊 and we absolutely agree - the decor is stunning! It's so fresh and clean, with a lovely nautical twist 🤩
Great comparison of standard and deluxe! We were very happy with our standard balcony cabin on Iona for 14 nights and had plenty of storage space for clothes etc. We loved it so much we've booked the same grade and location for our 14 night Arvia cruise. I particularly like the sofa and the shower screen rather than curtain. Lack of drawers wasn't an issue for us. Thank you!
Thankyou for your lovely comment Anglea we really appreciate it and are so glad you enjoyed the video 🤩 We totally agree with you - we found the standard had more than enough space (even though we over packed!). The sofa and shower screen are definite pluses as well 😊 no clingy curtain sticking to you while you try to wash your hair 😁 Exciting that you've booked a standard balcony cabin on Arvia! Where are you cruising to?
Thank you told me exactly what I needed to know. We have stayed in a conservatory mini suite on Iona glorious and have a deluxe booked for next year. Booked on Arvia too but the price difference was huge standard v deluxe. Feeling reassured now that we went for standard thank you ❤
Thankyou so much for your kind comment - we are really glad that you found our video helpful 😊 We were more than happy in a standard balcony and are really excited to stay in another one when we sail to the Fjords next year! The deluxe was great, and the extra soace was definitely nice but it was a bonus rather than a necessity. The conservatory mini suites look like incredible cabins - we are just waiting for the right deal to come up to try one 😃
Take a close look with us at the two classes of balcony cabin available on P&O Iona - the newest ship in the P&O fleet! Have you stayed in a standard or deluxe balcony cabin on this ship? What did you think? Or are you thinking of booking one? Let us know below 😀
Hi Marina & Jo. We had an aft facing deluxe balcony cabin which differed from yours. Our wardrobe was on the wall facing the bottom of the bed and our cabin also contained a small table and two chairs which we found really useful. Our cabin did not have the small shelved cupboard next to the fridge. It was a great cabin to be in and would definitely want to choose it again.
Hi Ronnie, thanks for watching and for your great comment 😊 Thats very interesting, and sounds like a super cabin (especially given that you would have had thpse amazing aft views as well 🤩). The table and chairs are a great touch too - that must have been a really nice addition 😀 Was your cabin wider than ours? Looking at the deck plan the aft deluxe balconies appear to have more width?
Hi Marina & Jo. Great to see you both on deck. Sad news from Australia however. I don't know whether the BBC or the Independent British Press ran the story of the P & O Cruise ship "Ruby Princess" back in about 2020. If you did not see that story just a quick synopsis of Rub Princess. She was the last Cruise ship to operate out of Australia immediately prior to the Wuhan Virus breaking out. On the RP's return to Sydney NSW; several hundred disembarking passengers came down with the Chinese Wog, which they caught on board ship. Contrary to Health Department orders that all passengers be tested as they disembarked, this was not done by P & O. On Thursday, the Ruby Princess cruise ship docked in Sydney with dozens of undiagnosed coronavirus cases onboard. Almost 2,700 passengers - some coughing and spluttering - were allowed to leave the ship at Sydney Harbour, catching trains, buses and even overseas flights to get home. More than 130 people from the cruise have now tested positive, making it the biggest single source of infections in Australia. One passenger died in hospital on Tuesday. The saga has caused much anger: why was the ship allowed to dock and unload people? What passengers were told: Passengers have vented their anger over how the situation was handled by ship operator Princess Cruises and Australian authorities. Fast Forward to 16 June 2022. The Coral Princess set off on a cruise in Australian waters from her home port in Brisbane, on 16 June, 2022. She did not call at any foreign ports, and only cruised and stopped off at various Australian ports. Just 5 days ago, en route from Eden NSW, Passengers onboard a cruise ship battling a COVID-19 outbreak have been forced to pass a test before disembarking. More than 100 people, largely crew members, have been infected on the Coral Princess as it sailed from Brisbane to New South Wales - the first COVID-19 outbreak since the local cruise industry restarted "With the cases that were on board on Sunday when they disembarked, I'm shocked that they boarded everyone again and have taken off to Sydney," Faithe Bulmer, a passenger, said. "It's the Ruby Princess all over again." Looks like this latest bout of the virus will kill off the Cruising Industry in Australia. Stay Safe "chaps"
Hi Angus, thanks for your comment and for watching our video 😊 We had heard of the Ruby Princess - the story made fairly large ripples all across the cruise industry and made airstream news here in the UK (putting a lot of pressure on operators). It definitely sounds like mistakes were made, and tragically people suffered terribly as a result ☹️ We hadn't heard about the latest ships though - we know that COVID is still being found on ships across the world and that in most countries it is being dealt with in a way that allows cruising to continue as safely as possible. It would be a huge shame if this really was the end of cruising from and around Australia - hopefully those in positions of authority and responsibility will work together to come up with a way of resolving things 🤞
We need to start living with covid it's not bad as it was! The latest story of pax on the ship with covid is less than 1%! Australia has always been OTT through the pandemic
Having stayed in both grade cabins - apart from perhaps a meter in length, couldn’t tell them apart. Both balconies were exactly the same. You can’t compare a balcony on the side of the ship with a bow balcony - they’re completely different even if you compared deluxe with deluxe.
Love the video, couldn't help but notice that you use Filmora Wondershare for editing, I recognize the lower third/title effects. I use it for editing as well.
Thankyou so much for watching and for your kind comment 😊 We do indeed! We find it really a really good bit of editing software - there are so many effects, transitions, and plug ins available 😊
Nice video and useful - just letting you know I find the background music too loud and intrusive. I prefer videos with no music as it doesn't add information and distracts from the content.
Thankyou so much for watching and for your kind comment - we really appreciate it and are glad you found the video useful 😊 Thankyou for your feedback as well, its always helpful to hear and we will be sure to look at the sound levels and balance in future videos.
Thanks for watching and for your comment 😊 That's a pretty good shout - you definitely get more benefit from the bigger cabin on a longer cruise 😃 we tend to make our decision based on the cruise length and itinerary (a deluxe balcony in the med or carribean would be a massive plus), as well as any deals available. We could certainly be tempted to go for a deluxe on a shorter cruise if the price was right.
Thank you for watching and for your feedback, we really appreciate it and are glad you liked the video 🙂 We will be sure to check that the music volume levels in our future videos don't interfere with the voice over (unfortunately we can't change this one now it is up on RU-vid). Feedback like this is really useful as it helps us to improve our videos, so thank you again 🙂
Thank you so much for watching and your kind feedback, we really appreciate it 😊 We've had 3 cruises on Iona and have found the beds to be really comfy each time, including the sofa bed (which very conveniently gets turned back into a sofa in the daytime, which doesn't happy on every cruise line). We've never had any issues with noise either, although we do take care check the deck plan before booking and pick cabins away from noisy areas like the theatre, night club etc. We hope that helps 😊
Thanks for watching and for your comment 😊 They absolutely are beautiful 😍 and you're right about the space; there was enough for our family in both. Aesthetically theres very little between the two cabins, and the main difference is the size - the deluxe has that extra bit of space in every area that makes it more roomy and feel a bit better proportioned. We would definitely book one again, but only if the price is right. Otherwise a standard balcony is ideal 😊
Thanks for watching and for your question 😊 No, you don't need to bring shower gel. Each cabin has shower gel and shampoo in the shower - they don't provide conditioner however, so if you want to use that you will need to bring your own. We have detailed cabin tour videos for the balcony and deluxe balcony cabins in this video if you'd like something more in depth 😊 Where are you sailing to?
Thanks! We have just come off Iona from a Conservatory mini-suite (9607) which was great, but found the proximity of the bed to the storage very cramped. The conservatory is fabulous and the accompanying balcony seemed bigger than the deluxe we had on Britannia, but wonder if the payback was the slightly cramped area about the bed. Am I right in thinking the standard balcony also had a sofa in your video? Cheers 👍
Thanks for watching and for your comment 😊 We're very glad to hear you had a great cruise 😀 we are sorry to hear about the issue with the cramped storage access though - from what we can see the conservatory mini suite is built on a standard balcony cabin with the addition of the conservatory and a larger balcony. Our standard balcony was set up with the bed closer to the balcony, however we have seen standard balcony cabins where the bed was near the wardrobe and it did look a bit cramped. The deluxe balcony, however, has just the one larger space which allows more room between the bed and the storage. Overall the conservatory mini suite is a fair bit larger, but that is divided between the two inside spaces plus the balcony. Yes, our standard balcony cabin had a sofa (which became a very comfortable third bed for our daughter). We have a full cabin tour video of the standard balcony if you would like to see it in more detail 😊 There is a Facebook group on Iona's cabins and suites where someone has very kindly compiled a list of which cabins have the bed by the balcony and which have it by the wardrobe, which is well worth checking out 😊
Thankyou so much for watching and for your comment, we really appreciate it 😊 Thats great to hear - we completely agree with you 😃 We sailed on Iona again in May and had another standard balcony (in fact it was very close to our last standard balcony, although the bed and sofa were swapped around). We loved it once again and would definitely book another 😃 Where did you sail to?
@@chrissysarah3038 thanks for watching and for your comment 😊 Our deluxe balcony cabin was cabin 14.101, while our two standard balconies were 14.121 (in this video) and 14.127 (we will be uploading a tour of that cabin soon 😊). None of the balconies were overlooked, which was brilliant 😊 We hope that helps 😃
How do these Iona ones compare with those without Balcony? I mean is it exactly the same as the Standard one with the balcony piece missing. If anyone could elaborate on this.
Thankyou for watching and for your question, we really appreciate it 🙂 Iona's Standard Balcony and Standard Sea View (aka Ocean view or Outside cabins) are broadly similar, with two key differences. The first difference is the balcony / window. Having a private outside space is a real perk of the balcony grade cabin, however some Ocean View cabins have window seats (which may be preferable on wetter/colder itineraries). The other key difference is the size. Ocean View cabins are slightly larger, with an average size of 210 square feet vs 170 square fete for the average balcony cabin. The Deluxe Balcony cabins, however, combine larger space with a bigger private balcony. Obviously this comes with a higher price tag. We like all 3 grades and would happily sail in any of them - our choice is normally made based on budget and itinerary. We hope that helps 🙂
Thanks for watching and for your comment 😃 Yes, standard cabins can sleep 3 people as the sofa becomes a full sized single bed. In fact, when we sailed on Iona in May of this year we had 4 people in a standard cabin (we booked on with a pullman bed that comes down from the ceiling). We will be uploading our tour of that cabin soon 😀 Hope that helps 😊
