The Britannia Maiden (part 6)

Reports about cruises on Britannia
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Gill W
Senior First Officer
Senior First Officer
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Joined: January 2013
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The Britannia Maiden (part 6)

#1

Post by Gill W »

Sea day

After a run of ports, we now have a welcome sea day. Once again, I'm reporting from our intermittently sunny balcony. We have solved the problem of how to seat two people on the balcony at the same time in reasonable comfort - we put the little coffee table and footstool in the cabin!

There was a bit of a kerfuffle in the theatre last night. The 4 Tunes were in the middle of their act, and this bloke in the audience started shouting out. His problem was that the spot light from the stage was reflecting back into his eyes. Firstly, how rude to interrupt the performers - it wasn't their fault. It all got a bit cringeworthy, and just ruined the flow of the act. In the end they got on with their singing, but any energy had dispersed.

However, the bloke in the audience DOES have a point. The drum kit is in the centre of the stage, and has a Perspex screen in front of it. The spotlight shines on the performer and on this Perspex screen. The light is reflected back from the screen to the audience, and we have noticed people sitting in certain seats have to shield their eyes, as they are being dazzled. I was going to mention this issue in the end of cruise questionnaire. But, now that they must surely be aware of a problem, I'm hoping that the situation will be resolved.

Anyway, I'll just carry on with a few more impressions of the ship, this time the main passenger areas around deck 16.

At the front of the ship there's the Crow's Nest. As I've most recently been on Arcadia, the one on Britannia is definitely smaller than the one on Arcadia, and not nearly as well furnished.

The library is in a room leading off the Crow's Nest. The library is tiny, and I've only been in there twice, at the start of the cruise, and both times it was heaving with people. Thank God for my Kindle. Leaving the Crow's Nest on port side, there's a few function type rooms, nothing that interesting.

Then there's Epicurean. I've only put my nose round the door, but it looks like a pleasant place, with a pale green colour scheme.

When you reach the forward staircase, you can go out on to the open decks.

If you go up a level, you can access the Serenity Pool area, which as the name suggests is the quiet pool area. We spent a pleasant couple of hours here on the afternoon of our call to Monte Carlo, with no sound except the lapping of the pool and the ( increasing) wind flapping the flags. You can go further forward to the Retreat area - I haven't been here.

Returning to deck 16, you find the main pool area, the one where there is music playing and where the sailaway parties happen. There are a lot of food outlets on this area, so you can easily find something to eat without having to go off to lunch and leave your towel and book on your lounger. There's the burger bar - the burgers are all ready wrapped, so just you help yourself to burger and chips. Then there's the pizzeria - you don't wait for the pizza to be made to order - you just help your self to slices. There's another Costa coffee outlet and ice cream parlour.

Then you come to the Grab & Go kiosk. Ready made rolls, wraps, salads and desserts like cheesecake and fruit salad. This seems very popular - I would like to see this option on all ships.

Then through to the self service buffet, the Horizon.

I think they have done well with the design of the buffet. There are two large, open plan service areas, with plenty of room for people to move around the food islands. Also there is plenty of seating - I've never seen people struggle to get a seat. In the evening, the aft part of the Horizon turns into a beach House.

There is an aft bar and small pool, but I haven't really spend much time round this part of the ship. Likewise with the cookery club and the children's club - I haven't even visited this part of the ship.

I'll just say a word about the walking track on deck 18. You'll need to do 7 laps to walk one mile. There are a few loungers around the edge of the track, but the walking track is wide, and I wouldn't expect it to be littered with sleeping passengers that you need to hurdle over. There's also room to overtake slower walkers, if you want a brisk walk. We all know there isn't a prom deck, but the walking track is better than I expected, and is a perfectly good substitute for the prom deck.

As you walk around the open decks, you'll notice that there are lots of tables and chairs and sofas. There are also loungers on all the open decks. There's probably less loungers around the main pool than there are on, say, Azura. But if you are willing to be away from the pool, there are plenty of loungers. Will there be enough for a typical Caribbean Sea day? It's difficult to say, but probably not!
Gill

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