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Teenage Travel Diary- A week in the Norwegian fjords on Iona

What’s a P&O Cruises holiday like for kids? Thirteen-year-old Lila Bartram gives us a day-by-day account of her recent cruise to the Norwegian fjords on Iona with her dad and grandad. From new destinations to new friends, every day was an adventure.

6 min 23 Aug 2024

Lila Bartram

Author

Day 1- Boarding day 😊

We arrived at the Ocean Terminal in Southampton just before midday. We got on board really quickly. I love that it’s a lot faster and less busy and stressful than an airport. When I got on board I remembered something from the last time we were on Iona – that the wall art helps you to remember where you are on the ship! There are gorgeous glass installations on the walls of the stairwells: blue is the front (forward), white is the middle (midship) and red is the back (aft).

This is really helpful so you don’t get lost! Picking up a little ship map from the My Holiday helpdesk (more on that later) is also very useful and I like to keep it in my pocket around the ship.

I decided I’d like to register for Scene, which is the club for 13-17-year-olds on Iona. I wasn’t sure if I would go as I didn’t know what it would be like, but when my dad was signing me up, loads of other teens were there so I felt better.

I took a walk around the ship with my dad and grandad just to refamiliarise myself with the ship as I’ve been on once before. We also grabbed lunch at The Quays, which has three different counters:

Hook, Line & Vinegar for fish and chips
Boardwalk Diner, an American grill that does amazing burgers
Fusion, an Asian kitchen where you can get a great katsu chicken curry!

Once our cabin was ready, we went to check it out and got our cruise cards, which you use to get on and off the ship and pay for things on board. We chilled out here for a bit and unpacked, got comfy and decided who was having which bed! Dad had used My P&O Cruises before we boarded to book a show called Sky’s the Limit for the first evening and we were really excited to see it as it was all about cabin crew, which my step-mum and stepsister are!

Day 2- Sea day and Celebration Night

After treating ourselves to a lie-in, we headed down to the Atrium together (we missed breakfast!) where we picked up the daily crossword/sudoku and the Britain Today Newspaper. In the Atrium is a café called Vistas. They serve Costa here, which I love, so I got a hot chocolate. They also do cakes every day, but I didn’t fancy one today. We all sat and played Uno together; card games are great to take on, loads of families were playing them. They are really good for chilling out and watching the world sail by.

Dad had us booked into The Olive Grove for dinner, which is a Mediterranean restaurant on board. It says it costs a little extra, but a lot of the dishes don’t cost more. I liked the vibes; they had cute lanterns and it felt like I imagine Italy to be and I really want to go there. I had this gorgeous beef shin, it was falling apart on the plate.

We relaxed in the cabin and spent time on our balcony before getting dressed up for Celebration Night. I personally love Celebration Night as you get to dress up in your best outfits and you get to see everyone else’s amazing outfits too 😊

We went to Headliners Theatre and watched a sea shanty group called The Privateers. Everyone loved their songs and laughed at their jokes. After that we snuck up to the buffet to get cheese and biscuits – this has become something the three of us like to do often!

Day 3- Stavanger

We went to The Quays for breakfast as they have good variety. They have three stations:

Waffles and pancakes
Eggs
Full English

We got off mid-morning to explore Stavanger. We needed to take some ID, but only as a Norwegian requirement. You only have to show your cruise card to actually get on and off the ship. One of the best things about Stavanger is you get off the ship and you are right in the town, so we went for a wander and stopped in a café to get a hot chocolate. They had woolly skins on the seats to keep you warm in the colder months!

When we got back to the ship, we went up to Crow’s Nest to have a drink and play some more Uno. We were tallying up our scores every day to have an overall winner at the end. The views from Crow’s Nest are always amazing as it has windows all the way around the front of the ship. The views are amazing sailing through the fjords.

We headed to the buffet for dinner. I like it because they have a bit of everything – roast dinner, meats and chesses, curries, bread, desserts and scones… The desserts are really yummy, and you can have as many as you can eat!

I decided to go to Scene to ask what was on and ended up staying and playing Uno, Boggle and singing karaoke. I liked Scene because even though I was nervous at first (I’d been in once before), it’s easy to talk to people and make friends. You can also stay up late as it’s open until 1am and they have loads of activities. I didn’t get back to my cabin until 12.15am!

Day 4- Olden

We went into Olden, which is a beautiful town surrounded by mountains. We walked around for about three hours and the views were amazing. I also dipped my feet in the freezing river and took loads of photos. Some people were trying to swim in the water, but it was so cold, even though the sun was shining and it was 23 degrees!

We saw a house on top of one of the mountains that looked like an evil lair. It turned out to be the Loen Skylift – we saw it going up the mountain when we left and it looked amazing.

We grabbed a quick lunch in the buffet and decided to watch a film on TV in the afternoon. There is a massive range of genres, so there is something for everyone. They also have TV shows and some live channels. My dad really enjoyed being able to watch live sport!

As we sailed out of Olden, the locals came out and waved flags and played music to see us off. There were people on the quayside, on balconies and even standing on their roofs!

Day 5- Hellesylt (and grandad's 48th wedding anniversary!)

We woke up to a view of a beautiful waterfall right through the middle of Hellesylt. The village has a population of only 300 people, which we found out in the Horizon. Horizon is the information booklet they put in your post holder outside your cabin door every night to tell you what’s going on across the ship and in port the next day.

We played Uno in the Atrium and got a Costa hot chocolate at Vistas while the rush of people getting off died down.

When we got off the ship, we walked up to and took pictures of the waterfall and went into a church, which was very pretty. We went into one of the shops and got some drinks and snack to take back to our cabin, then we made our way back towards the ship.

When we got to the gate I realised I had lost my cruise card (panic!!). We told the first security guard and she told us to go to the gangway. I needed to show her my passport, lucky I had it! The next security guard wanted to see my passport again and she then spoke to a lady at reception who had to print me out another card and bring it down to us so I could get back on. It all went very smoothly (phew!).

I went to Scene to meet some friends I had made so that we could all go to the 13-17-year-old party at The Limelight Club, which is usually an 18+ venue, but they had closed it just for us. The party started at 10.30pm and went on until 12am, and we stayed the whole time. There was a live band and a singer and a DJ who was taking requests in between the band sets. We got drinks and we danced and had so much fun. One of the workers at Scene said they had never seen it so busy!

Day 6- Haugesund

Our last port day! Today, we woke up later and headed over the bridge into Haugesund. We went up and down the high street where I picked up some souvenirs and we went into a Norwegian coffee shop and tried some local treats!

We didn’t stay out for too long as we were starting to get tired. We went back on to the ship and got ice cream at Ripples, which serves all sorts of cool ice creams and sundaes.

We ate dinner at Coral, which is one of the four main dining rooms. We’ve eaten at three of the four, we still haven’t eaten in Aqua! We had some really nice meals in there. Throughout the week I tried sea bass, steak, salmon and chicken. My favourite was the tomato soup starter, it was lush!

I met back up with friends again after dinner and we went to SkyDome for the silent disco. There were two DJs playing different music. One channel was slightly older music (disco classics) and the other was more dance and newer music.

We went back to Scene after this and played on the PlayStation and Rummikub. I’ve really enjoyed Scene. I made friends really quickly and enjoyed hanging out with them around the ship.

Day 7- Sea day, last day ☹

We got up early and joined the virtual queue for Opal. I like the virtual queues because you don’t have to wait in a line, you can wait in your cabin getting ready or at one of the bars and the queues are usually really quick.

I left a note in my friends’ post holder just outside their cabins, which we did quite a lot to communicate as we didn’t purchase WiFi on the ship to text each other. We also knocked on each other’s doors, which my dad says is ‘old school’! We did this to arrange times and places to meet at Scene or around the ship.

I met with them again to grab a drink and chill out. I really like that everyone in the room gets a cruise card as it gives you freedom to do things separately if you want.

We all went to dinner in Pearl and dressed quite smartly. I’ve really enjoyed the main dining rooms as they have a good menu that also changes throughout the week. There’s always plenty to choose from, especially for vegetarians. Plus, there are so many other restaurants on board so there is always something available, even if you are a picky eater.

I hung out in Scene in the evening with friends for one last time. We talked and played games, said our goodbyes, swapped numbers and started a WhatsApp group so we could chat and possibly meet up. We called it ‘Cruise besties’. I also started a TikTok to share more photos and videos from Iona which you can follow here.

I also packed my suitcase, ready to go home tomorrow.

Day 8- Disembarkation, home time

We had two options to disembark – either we could leave our bags outside the night before and pick them up at an allotted time, or take them off ourselves and get off before 8am. We decided to get off early with our bags, so I got up early and packed the last few bits. Disembarkation was very quick; all you have to do is show your cruise card and walk down a gangway and you are in the terminal.

We grabbed a shortbread at the truck outside before getting picked up and waving goodbye to beautiful Iona.

Hopefully I’ll be back on Iona soon, or maybe Arvia in the Caribbean… Dad?? 😉