Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

Reports about cruises on Britannia

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cruisemike
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Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#1

Post by cruisemike »

On 16th May we returned from a 14 night cruise to the Canaries and Madeira on the MV Britannia.
The Good:
Excellent cabins with the new larger glass screen showers. The shower heads will also go higher than those on previous ships, which as a 6’ 1” person is appreciated. Beautiful modern styling with concealed L.E.D. strip lighting adding to the ambience of the cabins.
Five UK mains three pin sockets, two on dressing table, two at floor level and one in the 36” TV surround. There is a shaver socket in the bathroom but some people complained that their UK shaver plugs wouldn’t fit. I would suggest you take a shaver plug 2 pin to UK 3 pin mains plug available in most pound shops. Then at least you can use the 3 pin standard socket to use or charge your shaver.
Excellent open clothes hanging as per Azura and Ventura.
The main restaurants are also very modern and plush.
The Atrium is very spectacular with it’s giant glass hanging which has constantly changing red, white, and blue spotlights playing on it to give its Union Jack colours.
The Captain’s Cocktail Party is held with people available to get their free dinks and watch from all three floors of the Atrium.
Disembarking and Embarking at all ports was carried out smoothly.
The P&O staff were brilliant as usual. We never saw a glum face on board.
The drinks prices were reasonable and good value. I particularly enjoyed a draught pint of Peroni for £4.25.
The 36” LED was also a big improvement over other ships. It has webcam and usual weather, sat nav navigation maps and cruise info. There is a good selection of free films and TV shows. You can pay extra (about £2.50) for the latest movies if you wish. Football is shown on large screen TV’s in Brodie’s Bar (the pub) but you can watch them free on one of the channels on you cabin tv if you wish.
The lectures on sea days were excellent with BBC producer, Dale Templar.
There was Line Dancing on sea Days
The ship rides the waves well. Our final crossing of Biscay had 6 metre waves which it rode well although the noise of waves breaking on the bow kept a few people awake.
The swimming pools were very warm.
The Bad:
The theatre: We found this a problem in that even when there were three nightly performances of a show the theatre capacity didn’t allow everyone to see the shows.
The theatre shows consisted of a lot of cabaret acts such as sole singers, a ventriloquist and musicians with only three large West End style shows compared to the 6 or so you get on other ships. Whilst the shows were spectacular using the new LED backdrop scenery it was a shame there weren’t more.
The entertainment in the rear “Live” bar consisted most nights of the regular group and a comedian.
If you wanted to pay approximately £25 each you cold have your evening meal in the Limelight club watching exclusive cabaret artists such as Madeline Bell and the stars from the London Morecambe and Wise show. (another P&O money making exercise).
Then the “LIFTS”. I think people have already said enough about the lifts. They fly past floors. Arrive full, They are terrible. We were by the four forward lifts. My longest wait was 15 minutes only endured as I was going from floor 7 to 17 and had a sore knee. One day I observed an elderly passenger stood with a clipboard timing how long it took for people to get a lift.
The central lifts of course have no back up stairs except up to Floor 7. This causes overcrowding on the lifts. Hopefully this staircase error will be rectified in her first refit.
Overall verdict.
A beautiful ship with faults. May be a problem for people with mobility difficulties who can’t manage the stairs and walking (4 mins 30secs to walk the length of a corridor).
A Couple of tips.
-The “Make my room up” card will also fit in your light slot to save you hunting your card.
-Take oxygen tanks if you intend to use the stairs from floors 4 to 17

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Gill W
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#2

Post by Gill W »

When we were on the maiden cruise I think there were 3 shows by the full show cast and one with the singers only.

At the time I thought it wasn't as many as usual, but thought it was down to it being the maiden..... seems as if it's the standard amount. I wonder, are they still beaming lights out into the audience? I was seriously dazzled on two occasions, which distracted me from the entertainment

I only saw one show in the Live lounge, but after that we were never able to get a seat - again I was surprised that there were not more shows in this venue instead of the house bands - seems this is still the case as well

I did like the Limelight Club, and felt that it was well worth the additional cover charge.

I think I must be one of the few people who didn't have trouble with the lifts. This was probably down to my cabin location on deck C, near the forward stairs. It was always manageable to go up the stairs to the Horizon from our cabin, or up to our cabin from the entertainment decks. I'm quite fit, but I wouldn't entertain a climb from 4 to 17, without breaking the climb somewhere!

Thanks for your report - I wonder what the elderly person did with their clipboard results!
Gill

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Onelife
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#3

Post by Onelife »

Thanks for your review Cruisemike....Having read several Britannia reports the impression l'm getting is that there seems to be more BUTS than you would normally expect with the launch of a new cruise linner. Sadly in the case of Britannia some of the major design faults arn't going to be easily rectified...the lifts/positioning being just one of them. Not that l'll be sailing on her but if l had paid good money for a balcony cabin and ended up with what appears to be little more than a postage sized balcony l certainly wouldn't have been to pleased....the fact that they are removing footstools from balconies only goes to prove what a monumental cock-up they've made in putting their profit margins above that of the comfort of their passenger's .

Regards

OL

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Manoverboard
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#4

Post by Manoverboard »

Thanks for the report Cruisemike :thumbup:

You posted ...
There is a shaver socket in the bathroom but some people complained that their UK shaver plugs wouldn’t fit. I would suggest you take a shaver plug 2 pin to UK 3 pin mains plug available in most pound shops. Then at least you can use the 3 pin standard socket to use or charge your shaver.
Not wishing to pick holes etc, but ... is that suggestion safe or have I misunderstood your posting ?

In a home environment shaver sockets are wired into lighting circuits whereas the 3 pin circuits are separate and of a much higher ampage so liable to send one into orbit ;) .

What is the situation on a ship ?
Keep smiling, it's good for your well being

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Mervyn and Trish
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#5

Post by Mervyn and Trish »

The suggestion is safe, if inconvenient, because those sockets are nowhere near water, which is why bathroom sockets have to be different. One would hope the bathroom ones would get changed in a refit, if not piecemeal earlier during turnround days.


cruisin_duo
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#6

Post by cruisin_duo »

Thank you for the cruise report.


Topic author
cruisemike
Able Seaman
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#7

Post by cruisemike »

Gill W wrote:
I wonder, are they still beaming lights out into the audience? I was seriously dazzled on two occasions, which distracted me from the entertainment!
I am afraid they are still playing Razzle Dazzle with the audience, Gill. My wife and I both took to wearing sunglasses in the theatre. It didn't solve the problem but at least we weren't blinded for too long after the show. The main problems appear to be the two large floor spots either side of the stage and the white LED lights all along the front edge of the stage. The latter blind everyone in the theatre, and we were on the back rows for one performance. They appear to be similar to bright car daytime running lights. Some of my family are theatre stage designers for the West end and I am sure they would have been horrified at the lighting goofs in this theatre. One asks oneself don't the lighting technicians darken the theatre at rehearsals and check for dazzle problems.

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Gill W
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Re: Britannia maiden season Canaries cruise review May 2015

#8

Post by Gill W »

Thanks Mike, I did provide feedback on the lights on my cruise surveys, both the written one and the online one, so I was hoping the situation might at least be looked at. So far it seems as if there's no change

The theatre shows are one of the things I love about cruises, but I couldn't concentrate on the shows due to my concerns about the lights.

If there's a next time I'll have my sunglasses at the ready!
Gill

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