Some light reading

[Stephen]

I don't do reviews. However....

I personally found the ship a bit too big. I must have walked miles that week. In fact my wife has one of those fit bit things, and she worked out with walking round the ship and ashore she had walked around thirty odd miles, and as we were together most of the time I did too Embarkation was a nightmare as we had a announcement of a fire on board which halted proceedings, apparently due to a small fire in the incinerator room...really! That's like saying there's a small fire at the crematorium. Disembarkation wasn't much better as the air bridge moved and had to be repositioned.

Getting round the ship could be challenging at times with having to go up, down or along to get to certain levels. The lifts are a nightmare as they hardly ever stop at your level, with the added annoyance of no stairs at the ships centre lifts.

We, and others found the food choice, portion sizes and quality poor in the main dining room in the evening (freedom). We dined in the buffet one evening and wondered why we hadn't done it before as we thought the choice, quality and temperature of the food far better than the main dining room. The only down side was they still served drinks in plastic glasses in the evening in the buffet which I could never understand.

Our cabin a Superior Deluxe balcony was very nice and roomy with plenty of storage space and two large modern TV's. The one thing that you can't do on Britannia which you could on other ships is you cannot view your account via the TV menus which I found a bit strange and inconvenient. The bathroom had a good size bath with shower over. If there was one niggle it was the layout of the taps. If you were having relaxing bath you couldn't just lean forward to turn a tap on for more hot or cold water, you had to get up and turn the valves half way up the wall. Not the end of the world but in my opinion poor design.

The atrium was large and airy with a great centre piece hanging from the ceiling.

The Norwegian weather was extraordinarily kind to us. I think even the locals were a little surprised. The scenery was stunning, especially Olden. We only done one trip and that was to the glacier, the one where you have to walk about 45 minutes from the drop off point to the glacier. The scenery on the journey from the ship to the drop off point is breathtakingly beautiful. The walk from the drop off point to the glacier is something else with the surrounding scenery and water falls, and of course once you arrive at the glacier....wow. Returning to the drop off point you then have tea/coffee and cakes at the café. The cakes are yummy.

All in all a good cruise, however after having now done ten P&O cruises it is noticeable that P&O seem to be making more cut backs here and there. Little things, but noticeable.

[barney]

Cheers Stephen !

Britannia is the only P&O ship that we haven't been on yet.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

I know what you mean about the cutbacks, but when we consider what we were paying say, fifteen years ago, you can see why they have to be made.
Cruising was once considered a one off holiday unless you were pretty wealthy.
What did they used to say? Newly Wed or nearly dead.

I agree about the MDR.
On our last few, we've used it less and less.
Maybe six times on a fourteen nighter.
With the freedom of Freedom Dining, it's a bit pot luck on both the quality and the service level, or so it seems to me.
We split between the paid for , buffet and MDR
My personal preference is for the Glass House although we will try both menus in Sindhu as well.

I said no holiday this year due to loads of building work at home, then last week booked a very late cheapy to the Med on Ventura N833.
No balcony this time, just an outside cabin, but being late in the year, we wouldn't have got much use of it anyway.
We have no idea about the weather in mid November but a google tells us that it should be around 19/20C with a bit of luck.
A lot better than here, that's for sure.
I got an extra 10% off, then the TA's discount, plus OBC so when all taken into account it comes out at £49 per night per person.
A bit like the old days.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed it …. until the next one.

[Jan Rosser]

Thanks for telling us about your experiences on Britannia - pluses and minuses as with all ships - the bonus for you was the fabulous weather you had in Norway - we experienced the same on a Whitsun week a couple of years ago. The lift situation and lack of stairs midship was something I expected you to comment on - I wonder if it is true that P&O will rectify this when she has a refurb - who knows

I'm off on Azura on Saturday - new ship for my son and family so always interesting to note their thoughts - will report back on my return.

[GillD46]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We really liked Britannia and felt she offered a lot.

[Stephen]

Forgot to mention about the glass house barney. We used it quite allot for pre dinner drinks, although we did have one meal there as well which from past experience on previous ships was again very nice.

[david63]

The one thing that you can't do on Britannia which you could on other ships is you cannot view your account via the TV menus which I found a bit strange and inconvenient.

The only ships that you have been able to do that on are Azura and Ventura - and during her recent refit this was removed from Ventura.

I agree that in this day and age to not be able to view your account via the TV is not good - hotels have been doing it for years.

I don't know if it is a ploy to encourage you to spend more as you are not aware how much you have spent, but it did mean that on the rare occasion that there was an error on your account you could get it fixed sooner rather than later.

[Happydays]

Thanks for your report. We haven't been on Britannia but were on the Regal Princess which is basically the same ship size wise, and felt it was to large when trying to embark and disembark but that's just a personnel view I'm sure it suits others

[Kendhni]

Thanks Steven for the update. We are back on Brittania in a few weeks and really looking forward to it.
I just hope they have got their Pepsi pumps fixed, last time we were onboard it tasted awful in some bars (definitely contaminated with something .... several bar staff told me it tasted OK to them (clearly lacked taste buds) and the manager never responded to my request to open a can and do a side-by-side tasting).

[Mervyn and Trish]

I've never been a cola drinker of any variety but I'm never convinced those bar pumps can deliver authentic carbonated drinks in any setting on shore or at sea.

[Kendhni]

I've never been a cola drinker of any variety but I'm never convinced those bar pumps can deliver authentic carbonated drinks in any setting on shore or at sea.

I am inclined to agree, but in Britannia's case it was tainted. I have never tasted elderflower presse (as sold by P&O) but have smelt it and that, to my best guess, is what was tainting the pepsi pump - maybe the staff were using the wrong button or something - it just amazed me that anyone that works behind a bar is unable to determine if a drink is OK after tasting it.

Having said that it was a minor issue and there is so much more to enjoy on Britannia

[Stephen]

I've never been a cola drinker of any variety but I'm never convinced those bar pumps can deliver authentic carbonated drinks in any setting on shore or at sea.

I am inclined to agree, but in Britannia's case it was tainted. I have never tasted elderflower presse (as sold by P&O) but have smelt it and that, to my best guess, is what was tainting the pepsi pump - maybe the staff were using the wrong button or something - it just amazed me that anyone that works behind a bar is unable to determine if a drink is OK after tasting it.

Having said that it was a minor issue and there is so much more to enjoy on Britannia

I had a similar thing when asking all the reception staff who the god mother of Britannia was as I couldn't see a picture of anyone in reception or or other public areas. Not one person knew, the one place you go for information. I couldn't believe it. Eventually I bumped into the hotel services manager and asked him. Of course he knew that it was the queen, and he knew because he presented her with something or other.

[Mervyn and Trish]

You'd think something like that would be part of induction for reception staff. Sometimes wonder how they put their pants on in the morning

[Stephen]

I did mention the same thing to the hotel services manager Merv. I think he took it on board.

[Meg 50]

I've never been a cola drinker of any variety but I'm never convinced those bar pumps can deliver authentic carbonated drinks in any setting on shore or at sea.

we stayed in a hotel last August where the only way they knew the lemonade pump needed changing was when someone complained that their drink was water!

[Gill W]

I always like walking, and this year I'm doing the Walk 1000 Miles in 2018 challenge, so I'd have thought it was excellent to do 30 miles in a week. On the smaller ships I have to make much more effort to keep moving. I find it easier to keep active on the bigger ships. I rarely used the lifts on Britannia - our cabin was near the forward stair well, so even the situation with the lack of a middle stair case didn't really affect us.

We've increasingly used the buffet in recent years in the evening, although, as yet, haven't had our drinks in plastic glasses.

[Stephen]

I always like walking, and this year I'm doing the Walk 1000 Miles in 2018 challenge, so I'd have thought it was excellent to do 30 miles in a week. On the smaller ships I have to make much more effort to keep moving. I find it easier to keep active on the bigger ships. I rarely used the lifts on Britannia - our cabin was near the forward stair well, so even the situation with the lack of a middle stair case didn't really affect us.

We've increasingly used the buffet in recent years in the evening, although, as yet, haven't had our drinks in plastic glasses.

Not with a wooden leg and a parrot it aint

[Manoverboard]

Thanks for the light reading … it did indeed shed some light on aspects of your cruise but based on your report I'm not 100% sure that we will be rushing to book Britannia anytime soon.