The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

Reports about cruises on Britannia
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Gill W
Senior First Officer
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Location: Kent

The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#1

Post by Gill W »

From Gibraltar, en route to Barcelona.

I'm writing this on the sea day between Gibraltar to Barcelona.

We called at Gibraltar yesterday. It was a rather rainy, overcast day, unfortunately. We arrived a little ahead of schedule. We left the ship around 12.30, and were more or less able to walk straight off. We walked into town, had a look round, and got as far as the Trafalgar Cemetary. However, it was rainy and the wind was gusting down Main Street, so we spent a lot of time dodging the showers. We decided to head back to the ship, and re boarded at about 3pm. There was already quite a long queue, stretched back into the terminal, although they had two gangways open - I think it got worse later, as many people were complaining that they had got absolutely drenched in pouring rain, in a very long queue.

The show last night was the Opera Boys - a fabulous show, so glad I got a chance to see them

We have James Martin on board - he boarded at Gib. There was an 'audience' with him at 1pm -however, it was our Caribbean lunch, so we missed this event.

The lunch was held in the Oriental, at the back. An attractive room, done out in rich burgundy colours. There were 530 Caribbeans in attendance, and we had a table for six, with two other nice couples. There were no hosted tables for this event.

The service was rather slow, but we had wine, and a good chat, so it was all good.

I'm now in my cabin, recovering from my lunch, so I'll take this opportunity to give a little more information about our living accommodation.

We have a standard balcony cabin, on D deck.

The colour scheme is green and cream, and rather restful - I like it.

Over the bed we have a medium pale wooden panel and three square wall art panels in white, beige and pale blue. The dressing table and drawers are in a very pale wood veneer. We have an arm chair and a chair at the dressing table, and also a small coffee table. The little fridge is hidden in a cupboard under the dressing table, along with a shelf for the hair dryer.

There is not a lot of drawer space - just one long drawer at the dressing table and two deep drawers in the bedside table. The wardrobe is like it is on Ventura and Azura - an open hanging rail opposite the shower room. There is also a cupboard with shelves at the far end of the wardrobe - the safe also lives in this cupboard.

I think this dressing area is smaller than on Azura and Ventura. The angle of the shower room door means that the dressing area narrows down as you go deeper into the wardrobe. In order to access the safe, you actually need to move your hanging clothes out of the way, so your can clearly see what you are doing ....... It's like going in to Narnia!

Our shower room is petite. We have three shelves for storage near the modern looking sink. There are also two shelves in the shower cubicle. There isn't much room to manoeuvre in this room and your have to think about what you are doing otherwise you end up banging your knee on the loo, if you try to put your underwear on!

I've read that people don't like the shower curtains. You'll be pleased to know we have shower doors on Britannia! But, as the shower is on an angle, it's not a sliding door - it opens outward into the shower room, narrowly missing the toilet!

Once you are in the shower, I found it to be larger than the average shower area on other ships, and you have a bit of room to move around. A nice shower head - not a power shower, but not a trickle either.

Our balcony is not large, but it was well publicised that the balconies were not going to be massive. In fact, it's slightly bigger than we were expecting. However, there's not much room to move out there. We have two chairs, a foot stool and a little table. With two people out there, I don't think it'd be possible for both parties to be able to sit with their feet up and catch the sun as well.

For this cruise, it's not much of an issue, as the weather hasn't been brilliant so far, but it might be a problem for summer in the Med, or for a Caribbean cruise.


We have a large, wall mounted TV, with the usual content. The operating system is clear and intuitive - you highlight on screen what you want to see, and click enter Very easy to use. However, you can't check what you have spent so far - I'm surprised that this hasn't been included.

To sum up - everything you need is here - except a couple of extra square feet to make it totally comfortable..
Gill

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allatc
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Re: The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#2

Post by allatc »

Hi Gill

Can you ask them why the webcam is not working !

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#3

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Scarily similar to our thoughts so far in many respects!

Not sure why the webcam is not getting through to shore. We could see it on the cabin telly though someone must have forgotten to tighten the nuts and bolts holding it. One morning it was facing skywards. A little later we had a first class view of the crewman who'd been sent up the mast to straighten it and clean the lens. On completion of his task he stepped back and fell off the mast. No, no, no, I'm lying. He stepped back (that bit was true) and gave us a beaming smile and a thumbs up!

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Manoverboard
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Location: Dorset

Re: The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#4

Post by Manoverboard »

I like the idea that the safe is not at floor level, hate that ... good tip about not wearing any undies though.

:thumbup:
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being


barr0ld
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Re: The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#5

Post by barr0ld »

I shall be going commando too MoB. It's an ill wind.........

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: The Britannia Maiden Cruise (part 3)

#6

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

Careful. The webcam may be working by then.

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