Day 7 - Friday (day at sea)

Our last full day on ‘Iona’ and we started off with a dip in the infinity pool on the Lido deck (deck 16) and then the whirlpools on deck 17. They get busier as the day went on, despite the less than ambient weather, but we had them both to ourselves!

Next came a lunchtime trip to the cinema at ‘Ocean Studios’. Here there are 4 screens with seats for 50 people each. Seat availability is shown on TVs outside each screen. We went to see ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’.

Although we had been eating ice cream all week, we saved the piece de resistance for today and an ice cream afternoon tea from ‘Ripples’, the ice cream parlour in The Quays area of the ship. This particular outlet (big sister to ‘Sundaes’ in the SkyDome) also sells artisan sundaes and ice cream cookies, which feature in the afternoon tea. It is priced at £12 with at least 9 separate ice cream elements on a 3-tier cake stand. As advised, it was more than enough for one between four!

‘Sindhu’ was a restaurant I had first seen on ‘Azura’ at her launch in 2009. Although now on all ships in the fleet, I had never eaten there until tonight. The restaurant was originally a concept developed by Atul Kochhar (an ex P&O Cruises Food Hero and Michelin starred chef) to offer Indian dishes with a British twist – now a lot more common as Indian fusion food, but a definite innovation in 2009! ‘Sindhu’ arguably serves the most authentic and finest Indian food at sea. For me, it is the best specialty restaurant on ‘Iona’. Not only is it a totally separate entity on the ship, with a bar and low seating at the entrance, but the restaurant itself is decadent with dark wood effects (another feature that sets it apart from the other restaurants on the ship), mood lighting, mixtures of vibrant coloured cushions and different seating arrangement to suit all group sizes: there are cosy booths for two, round window tables for groups of four or six and oval tables for larger parties. There is a large metal, open leaved, sacred Indian lotus flower to pass as you enter and behind some of the tables are, beautifully intricate wall mounted 3D blocks of Indian woodwork and carvings.

Brass coated cutlery adorns the tables and the waiters wear colourful Indian silk waistcoats. I pre booked the restaurant prior to the cruise (I was glad I did, as it was booked up by the time we got on board) and although pricing is a la carte, it was excellent value for the money and a totally wonderful experience. There were dishes like Goan Masala Stew (made with pork belly), Keralan style spiced Crab Meat and rice and lentil pancakes. Desserts included bread and butter pudding with sloe gin and rose water, as well as rose syrup dumplings encased in a chocolate and cardamom mousse. All washed down with Cobra beer.