Iona is on the way! 2020 launch is not far behind

So its not long now until Iona is finally on sale after much speculation about the name (some said Canberra would be making a comeback and so on).

With drinks packages on P&O on the horizon potentially and them going gratuities free as well to match up with NCL and Marella in that respect its all change for P&O so it will be interesting to see how that influences the design of the new ship, if at all.

So with that in mind what do we know already? Well Iona will be the biggest ship built for the UK market, personally I’m of the opinion that it is good that P&O have shifted their gratuities policy more towards British tastes. Despite all talk of paying for good service etc I’m of the opinion the cruise line themselves should be paying their staff adequately in the first place and if people wish to tip they can when they feel like it.

The general feeling I’m getting is that P&O are trying to move more away from what could be seen “traditional” cruising values, like with Britannia that may be like marmite for some. Talk is of a relaxed informal atmosphere and trying to attract cruisers who are concerned about formality and too much structure.

The good thing about P&O at the moment is they have ships like Ventura/ Azura and Britannia ALONGSIDE more formal, adult only ships like Arcadia and soon to be Aurora (as well as the outgoing Oriana). This gives people the choice between different types of ship and style whilst still enjoying quite a coherent structure of similar P&O itineraries generally regardless of ship.

I would expect Iona to be more like the former, more relaxed with more mass market appeal but hey, hopefully its a ship that will appeal to everyone, we shall see!

With a glass walled atrium and skydome the ship should have some of the wow factor that smaller ships in the P&O fleet are lacking as well and hopefully there will be plenty for families too that hasnt been announced!

Finally hot on the heels of Iona coming out we have the main 2020 P&O launch for summer 2020 so watch this space for exciting deals on the way!