P&O Cruises Iona Northern Europe - Day 1, Embarkation Day

In February 2025 we set sail on P&O Cruises Iona for a 7 night northern Europe cruise visiting Rotterdam, Hamburg, and Zeebrugge. This time, we’re travelling with a big family group of eight to celebrate our dad’s 75th and mum’s 70th birthdays.

Getting to Iona

We left Birmingham around 10am in a minibus, which was way better than the official cruise coach service we used last time we travelled on Iona. We found it much more comfortable and less stressful as we were able to plan our own departure time! We arrived in Southampton just after 1:30pm, right on time for embarkation.

Dropping off luggage was easy and the pods were clearly labelled with deck numbers so we knew where to take our bags. Check-in went smoothly, and security lines moved quickly. We noticed they separated coach passengers into a different queue, which seemed a bit odd, but overall it all went well. We were on board by about 2pm, greeted by staff who directed us to our muster stations.

After settling in and watching the muster video in our balcony cabin on Deck 15, we met up in The Glass House for our first drink. It’s one of our favourite spots to try different wines. Feeling a bit hungry, we headed to The Quays for lunch. The queues were short, so we picked the Asian fusion station. Laura had katsu curry with noodles, and Lizzy had beef in black bean sauce, both were really tasty and it was a nice light lunch as it wouldn't be long until dinner.

A First Night Tradition

We met the rest of our family at the Keel & Cow for a pre-dinner drink and even though there were eight of us we were able to find a table for all of us to sit together. Our table was booked for 7.30 so we relaxed until it was time to head up to the restaurant.

For dinner, we had booked The Beach House which has become a tradition for us ont he first night of a P&O cruise. Lizzy went for her usual favourites of sweet potato and mozzarella skins to start, and the lava rock steak for main. Laura had chicken nachos and chicken fajitas, and we both noticed the dishes were a little different from last time but still delicious. We skipped dessert because we were pretty full, but others in the family indulged and enjoyed a good variety.

Something New in the SkyDome

Later, we caught the new show Spark in the SkyDome. The story was a bit confusing, but the acrobatics were incredible and the performers very brave. Afterwards, we headed up to the Crow’s Nest for a few drinks. The chilled vibe was a perfect way to end a long but lovely first day.

We found embarkation a breeze this time and everyone really enjoyed their first day onboard.

If you want to see everything we did onboard, you can check out a full video of the day on our YouTube channel.