P&o cruise

[littlegirlost]

I've never been on a cruise before and thinking of booking the Norwegian fjords on p&o Iona next trip for my hubby's 40th. We will have our 6yr old in tow so any tips and advice would be appreciated!

I'd check what facilities there are for children.

Hit the wrong button.
Admiring the scenery, listening to guest lecturers, etc & DC will be bored.
Kids' clubs are not available on all cruises.
Is there a listening service in the evenings? Or will you be able to communicate with DC when you are elsewhere on the ship?
Don't want to put you off, I love cruising, but it does require some planning to get the most out of it.

Is there anything in particular you want to know?

I've been to the fjords and loved it. I'd say don't book excursions for the most part as it's (usually but not always) cheaper to sort direct so plan a little by looking at what you can do locally when you are there instead - not sure of the itinerary for Iona but Stavanger has a cathedral, shops, market, big lake. Olden has a tourist office as soon as you get off the ship where you can book tours - we took the 3hr round trip to the glacier (I think they did bike hire there too and in Flam). Flam was the only place we did an excursion as a coach trip worked out as quite good value as it included lunch and was cheaper than the train (which gets a lot of hype but is expensive and usually packed). Bergen has plenty of shops and an ice bar which was good fun. Norway very expensive food and drink wise. We always ate our meals on the ship.

We booked the cruise itinerary with the most stops and the most cruise bys to get the most out of it, it made for stunning views most evenings and we shelled out for a balcony cabin for the same reason.

There’s a brilliant Facebook group called P and O Cruise families that is well worth joining

P and O cruises *for families

That's my dream holiday at the moment but it's not for kids IMO. It's not going to be warm so it's not like you can send DH and DS to the pool deck for something to do while you go and look at something your ds wouldn't be interested in. He's also at that prime age to make things quite hard work on a trip like that.
I know I wouldn't have been able to concentrate for worry about my ds climbing up stuff and falling off the ship - even if it's not possible my kid would have managed it!

My PiL took my DCs on a cruise when they were around that age and they hated it. I didn't go but apparently there was loads of being herded about, long lines with hours long waits for getting on and off the ship, rough at sea (not sure how relevant this is to your trip?) and almost exclusively based around older adults (I assume it's always like that unless you book a specific child friendly ship like Disney for example). If there is any way you could leave your DC with someone I would recommend it. I didn't want my DC to go at the time but didn't get a choice. Also cruise ships are like floating petri dishes 🤢

I've booked the fjords too but without kids. The kids club is good and my friend took her 6 year old and couldn't get him out of it! Depending on time of year you might get some sunshine so pool isn't ruled out. Book a 6 pm dinner or flexible dining (not sure what Iona offers). The ships are huge so even in poor weather you hardly feel the swell. With one child you'll have no problem on trips or days out. Enjoy.

In my admittedly limited experience P&O can be a bit stuffy. I found Princess Cruises to be more family friendly, my boys loved it. I've not been to the fjords though.

The forums on Cruisecritic are brilliant source of information.

I would second Cruise Critic for very detailed information, both about the ship and the itinerary. There are some absolute addicts on there with thousands of days of cruising behind them who will answer every little question you can think of, and the ones you didn't think of!

If you and your child are generally happy to eat and do stuff together you'll be fine, if you're hoping for them to be entertained separately and socialise with other kids so you have lots of adult time, you'll need to do your research on that particular ship.

Thank you for your honest replies! I think I might choose somewhere else as these were the things I was worried about. I wanted a balcony room but I guess I would always be on edge with ds trying to climb over and if he would be bored. I still want to try a cruise but may be wait for him to be older and to go somewhere warmer!!

Cruis critic is great.
Having done 14 two with P&O I would never go on P&O again, Dirtiest ships we have been on, constant blocked toilet issues, general poor hygiene etc

P and o cruises are great for families. We have been going on them since Ds was 5 and he loves it.

Something else to consider - you can't explore the ports independently atm and can only leave the ship on P & O' s excursions only ( I think all cruise lines are enforcing this for the foreseeable ).
Also these ships aren't ' floating petri dishes ' and I think that people who say this haven't been on one so haven't got a clue.

We did that cruise when dd was about 8 or 9. She absolutely loved it! She's 15 now and keeps asking when we can go on another one!