On September 6 2016, Carnival Corporation signed an agreement with Meyer Werft for a new flagship for its subsidiary P&O Cruises. Then, in October that year, the public was asked for suggestions for the new ship’s name. In May 2018 it was announced that the name Iona had been chosen from 30,000 submissions, she would be named after the Scottish island of Iona and follow the tradition of all P&O-ships have names ending with “A”. Iona would be one of the Excellence-class vessels of cruise liners, which consist of Carnival Mardi Gras (2021), Carnival Celebration (2022), Costa Smeralda (2019), Costa Toscana (2021), AIDAnova (2018), AIDAcosma (2021) and another AIDA-vessel, yet to be named (2023).
This $950 million, 5,200-passenger, 180,000-ton vessel runs on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG, gas cooled down until it becomes a liquid), which eliminates emission of sulphur dioxides and soot particles, a first for P&O Cruises. The engine room containing the LNG-tanks and part of the LNG-power plant was manufactured by Neptun Weft in Rostock which is part of the Meyer Group of shipyards.
Its parent company Carnival has ordered LNG-powered ships for other brands too, all are members of the aforementioned Excellence-class. They are the world’s first large passenger ships to use LNG.
Iona’s maximum power ouput is 61.7 megawatts (82,700 hp). Just over half of this, 37 megawatts (50,000 hp) is used for propulsion the rest is mainly used for hotel operations, her service speed is 17 knots.
Her keel was laid at Meyer Werft, Papenburg in May 2019 and when the first 460 tons heavy, 21,5m long first building block was installed, a bronze coin from Isle of Iona’s Abbey as well as a slice of green marble also from the island were placed under the keel. P&O Cruises CEO Paul Ludlow, Meyer Werft director and board member Stephan Schmees and Jugen Storz, Meyer Werft project leader attended the ceremony.
Until she was floated out on February 14 2020, construction progressed as planned: August 2019 the 105-ton, glass Skydome that would become the ship’s trademark was placed on top of the ship. A couple of weeks later, her bow and the midsection of her hull were joined together. Mid-March she was fitted out in Eemshaven, The Netherlands and would start her sea trials soon afterwards, but instead she sailed to Bremerhaven and all work was stopped because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a month later work was resumed at a reduced pace. In June, Iona put out to sea for her trials and reached the port of Rotterdam where she entered dry dock at the Damen shipyard for some final work. A second series of sea trials along the Norwegian coast followed and she was ready to be delivered. Delivery had originally been planned spring 2020, this was later postponed to June and to August and finally took place October 9 2020. A sistership will follow in 2022, P&O has yet to decide her name.
Life on board Iona will be as P&O-passengers are used to. No zip-lines or water-parks and an overall upbeat experience as on other ships owned by Carnival, but more of a subdued atmosphere like British passengers prefer, with several smaller pubs, intimate restaurants and (not so loud) quality entertainment although P&O does aim at attracting families and younger cruisers also and with all facilities Iona offers they will not be disappointed. She is specifically tailored to the UK-market.
Iona was designed together with several renowned maritime companies and interior design firms: Meyer Werft’s own design department of course, but also Jestico + Whiles, a design studio from London, Richmond International specialized in hotel architecture also based in London (they did the entire interior design of Britannia, before Iona P&O’s flagship (since 2015), Partner Ship Design from Hamburg, a maritime architecture specialist which had already worked on other projects for Carnival Corp. brands AIDA, Costa and Carnival. Of course Iona will have her share of art objects on board, more than 4,000 pieces most of them created by British artists.
Richmond International, The Four Seasons Moscow, Langham Hotel, and Sandy Lane Hotel (Barbados) took care of organizing her hotel department.
The Atrium, 3 decks high, located midships and being the vessel’s focal point will feature an abundance of floor to ceiling windows on its sides, engulfing it in natural light. With its grand staircase and open-floor lay-out, its certainly has style, looking magnificent. It has been designed by architects Jestic + Whiles who are known for their previous work on The Yas Hotel (Abu Dhabi), W Hotel (London) and Aqua Shard (a contemporary British restaurant and bar, with on the 31st floor of The Shard in London).
A first for P&O will be the Lanai deck, an 800 metres long outdoor, covered promenade featuring al fresco restaurants and bars. P&O describes it as “connecting passengers to the sea”, it reminds of the Waterfront introduced by NCL’s Norwegian Breakaway. She was the first ship to feature an open-air promenade along both sides, consisting of an array of bars and restaurants all situated outdoors, so when cruising in sunny weather passengers could dine or just enjoy drinks out on deck. It has proven to be very popular.
With her 344 m length one of the largest cruise ships afloat, her size reflects in her amenities: she features 30 places to eat (pubs included, 15 restaurants) including seven specialty restaurants (more than twice as much as on board Britannia!), a dozen bars and 16 entertainment venues.
Some of the eateries on board are known from other ships in the fleet like Sindhu, offering Indian cuisine, Epicurean the specialty restaurant being a fine dining venue with gourmet food and a premium wine list. It also has a private dining area for 8 guests, the Chef’s Table for private parties. And The Glass House is present too on Iona, the wine and tapas bar (it hosts wine talks and tastings) designed by Olly Smith, a British TV presenter, award winning wine expert, foodie, columnist and author.
Famous chefs and patissiers already active on Britannia will leave their mark on Iona, like master patissier Eric Lanlard, chef Marco Pierre White (who received Michelin Stars in the past), Eric Lanlard (known for his Laboratoire 2000, which was followed by his shop Cake Boy in 2005), Alex James, musician with the band Blur and cheesemaker and Marte Marie Forsberg (who wrote a cookbook with countryside recipes) to name a few. She designed the menu of Taste 360 (serving street-food-style dining).
When sailing to Scandinavia chef Skjelde creates a 6-course Norwegian food tasting menu for the Epicurean restaurant while on cruises to Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands chef Pizarro arranges tapas-style menus for restaurants The Glass House and Taste 360.
There will be two new restaurants on Iona: Keel & Cow, which doubles as a steakhouse and pub and also The Quays piazza, a food market with self-service and take-away options offering both Asian street food as well as American diner classics.
In total Iona offers a staggering 15 different restaurants on board. Apart from those already mentioned there are The Limelight Club which features live entertainment during dinner (not complimenatry and only for adults), Vistas Café & Bar where guests can enjoy the famous pastries of patissier Eric Lanlard’s and choose from a selection of teas and coffees and The Olive Grove which specializes in Mediterranean dishes ranging from Maroccan Tagines, Spanish Tapas and Italian pasta among others.
And, also a first for P&O, set time dining is no more, allowing passengers to be flexible when it comes to when, where and with whom they want to eat in the main dining rooms Aqua, Coral, Opal and Pearl which can all be found on decks 6-7. Pearl and Coral are located aft and interconnected, creating a 2-level restaurant. During Gala Nights a special dinner by chef Marco Pierre White is served in al four main dining rooms.
A 340-pane honeycombed roof protects the SkyDome, a glass dome which is the top of the ship’s atrium, where guests can just relax poolside, dine, enjoy parties (DJ’s present) or watch shows like aerial shows, spectacular projections on to the dome’s roof or artists performing on the pool’s retractable stage. There is also a cocktail-bar and four-screen Ocean Studios cinema, offering both classic films and new releases, as well as the latest in sound technology. It is also home to the 710 Club, somewhat reminiscent of a Covent Garden nightclub, where Gary Barlow, known as lead singer of pop group Take That acts as musical director on the lookout for yet undiscovered talent.
Headliners Theatre on decks 6-7 is the ship’s 2-level main show lounge for music and dance productions in the evenings featuring stand-up comedy, cabaret but also full-scale productions like West End-style shows. It is equipped with state of the art lighting and sound technologies and serves as an auditorium during the day for port talks and lectures.
At night passengers can take their pick from one of the 15 bars, to name a few: Brodie’s Pub, known from other P&O-ships and now also present on board Iona. A novelty is the gin bar Andersons with its own distillery, distilling its own specific brand (via partnership with Salcombe Distilling Co Ltd). It serves 30 different gins. The Emerald Bar serving classic cocktails and a large choice of other drinks. Outside bars are Beachcomber Bar located next to the pool with the same name. The Crystal Bar and Laguna Bar both situated in the SkyDome both also poolside bars and the Sunset Bar an alfresco bar where guests can enjoy drinks outdoors. And the list goes on.
Iona has four swimming pools (three outside and one inside) and 16 whirlpools. Spa and fitness facilities include destination-themed treatments like Nordic Cleanse, a detoxifying treatment, and Baltic & Ice Massage, massage with warm and cool stones. Whirlpools, a steam room and a boutique selling body and hair care products. The Retreat is outdoors and alfresco spa treatments in the privacy of cabanas are available here.
The adjacent fitness center introduces several new classes, like TRX suspension, which is training to develop strength and balance, HIIT-training, a cardio-based workout but also meditation classes, Group Cycle Connect, Skillrow and so forth.
Passenger cabins were designed by Partner Ship Design (Hamburg Germany). The ship also introduces the Conservation Mini-Suite cabin category measuring 274 sq ft. This stateroom features a separate, conservatory-style lounge area as a cabin extension. It has an L-shaped sofa and can be left open or closed off with a glass sliding door. When open it leads directly onto the suite’s balcony. An in-cabin beverage service by a dedicated butler is available for hosting private parties.
Iona was originally scheduled to sail on her maiden voyage on May 14, 2020, a 9-night cruise from her homeport Southampton to the Norwegian fjords, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, P&O was forced to suspend all operations and it will be well into 2021 before cruising from the UK may be resumed. Also the Ionafest as the week-long inaugural festivities were called had to be cancelled. Cruises to Northern Europe (Holland, Germany and Belgium, Norway) and to the Canary Islands, Spain and Portugal are planned well into 2022, but it remains to be seen when Iona actually will be able to receive her first guests…
