Poster Boy's Britannia Maiden review

[oldbluefox]

Many thanks for a comprehensive and detailed review Mervyn. As a fan of the wraparound promenade deck I should have stopped at paragraph 1 but I didn't!!!
As one who cannot sit in the glare of the sun for long what areas are there on the ship if you do prefer to sit outside in the shade?
Welcome home!!!

[Mervyn and Trish]

Many thanks for a comprehensive and detailed review Mervyn. As a fan of the wraparound promenade deck I should have stopped at paragraph 1 but I didn't!!!
As one who cannot sit in the glare of the sun for long what areas are there on the ship if you do prefer to sit outside in the shade?
Welcome home!!!

Thanks Foxy. I share your dislike of sitting in full sun for too long.Well if you shove the extraneous table and stool in the corner, the balconies, although compact, are pleasant enough for that if the sun is on the other side. There are also plenty of areas on the shady side of the public decks, including some nice sofas in the shade of the funnels, if the sun is not directly overhead. If it is there are shaded areas either side of the main pools on deck 16, which are also sheltered from the wind. And on deck 17 there are some nice little cabanas (I believe that is the technical term) in the quiet zone by the Serenity Pool.

[Manoverboard]

Thanks Merv but ...

I wish you had posted these as separate Topics like wot Gill did do ... too much to take on-board in one go but I will try to respond as best I am able.

[Quizzical Bob]

M&T, thanks very much for posting all this. It confirms my pre-judgment but it's good to have the important points confirmed by someone who has been there.

[Kenmo1]

M&T - Thank you for a very interesting review. My afternoon has been spent reading yours and Gill's review, it is so useful to have so much detail and opinions from different people. We will wait for the hype about the maiden voyages to calm down and then we will decide if we want to try Britannia.

Maureen

[Dancing Queen]

Another good and well balanced review, thanks for posting.

Whilst I'm not likely to sail on Britannia I did carry on reading and found it very interesting.

[Mervyn and Trish]

M&T, thanks very much for posting all this. It confirms my pre-judgment but it's good to have the important points confirmed by someone who has been there.

My pleasure. From what you've said about your cruising preferences before I don't think she'd be your favourite and I wouldn't try to sell her to you. But you know my motto, other ships are available, with plenty to suit all tastes. £1 spent on 14 nights on the wrong ship would be £1 wasted, rather than £1999 saved.

[GillD46]

Thank you for an excellent review and for taking the time to write it.

[sunseeker16]

Thank you
I enjoyed that

[Mervyn and Trish]

Thanks Merv but ...

I wish you had posted these as separate Topics like wot Gill did do ... too much to take on-board in one go but I will try to respond as best I am able.

You see my review was like the ship, good but with the odd niggle! I think she's too big for you Moby. In fact I know the answer to what's happening to Adonia and her Princess sister coming out of service. They're both hanging from davits outside Britannia's deck 7 windows

[RB1961]

Thanks for that M&T. Sounds like you enjoyed it.
Wife is a wheelchair user and your comments regarding the lifts happen on most ships that we have been on. Not a deal breaker for us as we are too laid back when we are on holiday to let it bother us, we just wait for the next one.

RB

[oldbluefox]

Thanks Merv but ...

I wish you had posted these as separate Topics like wot Gill did do ... too much to take on-board in one go but I will try to respond as best I am able.

Don't worry Merv. Once we get him onto Ladybird 3c he'll be able to cope with all of it in one go!!!!

[Gill W]

Hi Gill. Yes, I've just read your report and can see your vegetable experience was completely different to ours. We got a good variety suited to the dishes we chose. It must be possible to cook the ones we had without salt. Can't understand why they didn't do better for you. They're normally so good with dietary requirements.

On the dietary front, it seemed as if it was a lack of attention to detail. There was the lack of variety of veg, and other little things, such as the advertised almonds not being on my trout and, and no pieces of coriander in my carrot and coriander soup.

On the plus side, my chicken biriyani on the last night was excellent. But for starters, I got a tomato soup, rather than the tomato panacotta that I ordered.

I gave feedback on the questionnaire and I'll mention it again on my online questionnaire. Perhaps they'll take action - I hope so.

I was in the first Queen show. I was disappointed that they were going to do two different shows, as all the really popular songs were going to be in the 2nd show. We wanted to see the 10.30 show in the theatre, so we didn't wait. I agree that both shows should be the same to give everyone an equal chance to see them.

Your main problem with the lifts was something that didn't really affect us.

We were on deck 11' near the forward staircase. We were normally about to walk up to our cabin from deck 7, and from our cabin up to 16, for the buffet. When we boarded the ship at deck 5, we used the atrium staircase to break the climb. I think I used the lifts twice during the entire cruise. But I did see a lot of people looking quizzically at the floor indicator panel, in the hope of getting a lift to stop for them.

Glad Trish enjoyed her lesson with James Martin. It's what cruising is all about, doing things you don't do in normal day to day life.

[towny44]

Thanks Merv, and indeed GillW, very interesting reviews with exactly the sort of niggles I had expected, but hopefully some of these can be improved on if the staff are encouraged to be proactive with the passengers, unfortunately something we have found does not always have a high priority with P&O.
Glad you all enjoyed the cruise, I am just hoping the weather is warmer and more settled for our cruise, now less than 2 weeks away.

[barr0ld]

Thank you Mervyn; a really enjoyable read, hot on the heels of Gills equally detailed and amusing review. I've been laughing so much, I've woken my partner up. Twice. But I'm still choking on:

"Of course we heard the inevitable "it's not like Ventura, they have West End shows every night”. Yeh, right. But at least it spared us the "we've seen this show five times on Oriana and eight times on Canberra"

Pity about the lifts, but we received our cabin allocation yesterday (cheapskate late savers who decided they needed a holiday now) and our cabin is very close to the aft lifts. So I think we'll be enterprising and sell cheap G&Ts to the waiting hordes. Profits will be maximised as we plan on buying the gin in Main Street and the tonic from Morrisons at our first port of call.......

[allatc]

Well, that is one comprehensive report.

Thanks for posting it.

We will be on Britannia in October, looking forward to it.

[Manoverboard]

Thanks Merv but ...

I wish you had posted these as separate Topics like wot Gill did do ... too much to take on-board in one go but I will try to respond as best I am able.

You see my review was like the ship, good but with the odd niggle! I think she's too big for you Moby. In fact I know the answer to what's happening to Adonia and her Princess sister coming out of service. They're both hanging from davits outside Britannia's deck 7 windows

Good but with the odd niggle you say ... more like too effin BIG says I

I've read Gills excellently presented report and now I shall see how well you have done in comparison, it may take a while though ... Ladybirds R Us to you Foxy

[david63]

Having read both reports it seems that basically it is just as any other ship - there is no "one size fits all" ship. There are, and always will be, some aspects of any ship that some people will not like but that others do not find a problem.

Yes there were/are some "teething" problems but that is only to be expected (and that is what you pay extra for on a maiden ) at this stage - only time will tell if these things get ironed out.

There was nothing in these reports that would deter me from sailing on her but personally I am not a great fan of the "big" ships so I doubt that I will be sailing on her - but never say never.

[qbman1]

Excellent report Merv - many thanks. Hasn't changed my personal view that big ships are not for us - in fact, it has made me even more certain ! We will, however, try her for a short break just so we can have a moan from personal experience !!

[Jan Rosser]

Thanks Merv for a very detailed report of your experiences - very useful as I have taken the plunge and booked a cruise to the Fjords so a lot to look forward to - roll on June

[Manoverboard]

Many thanks Merv, twas a great report, like Gill you put a lot of effort into it ... but with less useful critique

On balance ( breathes in, sticks chest out ) I proudly wish to admit to having enjoyed reading it all and especially so the sections relating to the various food venues, deffo a major plus over the smaller ships that we obviously prefer.

Britannia does however ' seem ' to have similar issues as was the case for us on Azura but possibly more so, queuing and crowding in the public places for example does not float our boat and we do genuinely enjoy watching the waves from Ye Olde Prom Deck vantage point on sea days so would doubtless miss that aspect. The lifts were a bit of a farce and that aspect, as you said, really does need sorting out. No way would we walk to the ends of the ship every time we needed to go up or down, a good plan ( for us ) is perhaps to book an aft or forward cabin rather than one slap bang in the middle.

The main thing is that you enjoyed yourself and felt that the expense was worth every penny, I think you did but we would probably opt for a shorter cruise and only then at a bargain price.

Cheers

[Ian Perth]

Great review and really interesting. Going on the B504 so this review gives us a good idea of what to expect. We've got similar likes to yourselves so I'm sure we'll love it. From some of the e mails I've been getting a lot of the Azura staff are on board so we know we will have a great cruise, apart from the moaners.

[Lollie]

Great 'review', looking forward to our short cruise on her later this year.

[Solent Richard]

What an excellent review Melvyn and Trish,

May I say it was also a pleasure to meet you and share a few cruising topics over a few G&Ts. Always good to meet real cruisers.

I have written a full review on my own blog and added over 50 photographs, Here is the link...

http://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/201 ... en-cruise/

[Solent Richard]

Hi Gill. Yes, I've just read your report and can see your vegetable experience was completely different to ours. We got a good variety suited to the dishes we chose. It must be possible to cook the ones we had without salt. Can't understand why they didn't do better for you. They're normally so good with dietary requirements.

That's an interesting comment. Having had a small amount of experience in the catering industry I'd add that dealing with such quantities of vegetables on board the vegetables would be cooked in a steamer.