Ship reference
Iona
Ship specifications and sources.
Quick facts
- Cruise line
- P&O Cruises
- Class
- Excel
- Entered service
- 2021
- Status
- In service
About us Iona
Iona introduced P&O Cruises' Excel class before Arvia joined the fleet. Delivery and the first passenger voyage belong to different years: the builder handed it over in October 2020, and the operator documented its maiden cruise departing Southampton on 7 August 2021. The opening voyage followed the UK coast towards the Scottish island that inspired its name. A construction-year comparison should therefore not treat 2020 as the start of ordinary guest holidays.
The ship was built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, with its machinery module supplied through Neptun Werft. The builder describes four dual-fuel engines capable of operating on LNG both at sea and in port. This identifies a technical arrangement, without establishing zero emissions or a universal environmental ranking. Steamship Mutual records IMO 9826548 and a precise gross tonnage of 184,089, rather than the rounded 184,000 used in the design specification.
Onboard public spaces include the three-level Grand Atrium, an infinity pool and the SkyDome. The current dining directory highlights The Quays and The Olive Grove, while the entertainment selection includes the Headliners Theatre and The 710 Club. Different venues support different styles of evening; choosing a familiar restaurant name does not establish its availability or reservation conditions on every night. For the Excel ships, the operator provides advance booking for certain entertainment through My P&O Cruises.
Iona has already undergone its first refit. A retrospective operator article published in November 2025 confirms the Rotterdam work, so this profile records 2025 as completed rather than continuing to describe an old maintenance plan as future. That confirmation does not establish a complete replacement of every cabin or installation. The current brochure and ship pages should be used together with the plan applicable to the actual departure.
The shipyard specifies 344.5 metres overall, 42 metres moulded beam and 2,614 passenger cabins. Its passenger figures are not consistently labelled as double occupancy or an absolute maximum; the corporate fleet table also uses a rounded capacity. Those fields remain unresolved. Fifteen guest decks in the operator overview are not a verified total number of decks. Compare accommodation position and the route itself, especially when a scenic fjord programme is the main reason for choosing Iona.
Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Year built | 2020 |
| Entered service | 2021 |
| Gross tonnage (GT) | 184,089 |
| Guests at double occupancy | — |
| Maximum guests | — |
| Crew | — |
| Cabins | 2,614 |
| Decks (total) | — |
| Length (m) | 344.5 |
| Beam (m) | 42 |
| Last verified refurbishment year | 2025 |
| Maximum speed (knots) | — |
| IMO | 9826548 |
| Shipyard | Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany |
| Flag | — |
| Propulsion / fuel description | Four dual-fuel engines, LNG-capable at sea and in port |
A dash means no independently verified value is available. Guest counts at double occupancy and maximum capacity are different measures. GT measures enclosed volume, not weight.
Other ships in the same recorded class
Shared class does not guarantee identical cabins, venues or deck layouts.
| Arvia | Excel | 2022 | 185,581 |
|---|
Last checked:
Sources
- P&O Cruises — current individual fleet membership — Accessed
- P&O Cruises — current individual ship overview — Accessed
Current overview publicdecks is nottotal; no claimall venuesincluded.
- Meyer Werft — individual technical particulars — Accessed
Beam explicitly moulded; speednotexplicitmaximum. Arvia20total versusoperator15guest; Iona5206guestsnotexplicitbasis.
- Steamship Mutual — current2026/27identity — Accessed
CurrentGT preferredtoroundedbuilderdesign; Hamiltonregistryalone notusedasnationalflag.
- P&O Cruises — Excel-class entertainment reservations — Accessed
- Carnival — August2026fleetcapacity — Accessed
Arvia5280/Iona5200passengercapacitynotexplicitlowerberthormax inthisdocument; notoverwrittenintooccupancyfields.
- Meyer Werft — completedOctober2020delivery — Accessed
- P&O Cruises — actual2021maidencruise — Accessed
9Augustretrospectiveconfirms7Augustdeparture.
- P&O Cruises — completedfirstRotterdamrefit — Accessed
Search-indexedoperator7November2025retrospectiveexplicitcompletedRotterdamrefit; fullpagefetchtimeout. No inventedcompletiondayorunreadscope.
- P&O Cruises — currentpostrefitbrochure — Accessed
Ionalabelledrecentlyrefurbished; guestdecknumbersnotconvertedtototal.