Britannia B624 cruise review Fjords August 2016

[towny44]

This would be our second Britannia cruise after we had previously been to the Med on its third cruise last May, so we knew what to expect, and it would be our third time in the fjords on a cruise, the previous two being part of 14nt cruises including an Iceland itinerary, this was just a 7 day cruise, but this time with our Son, DIL and 2 grandsons.

After being given boarding times of 3:30pm we all agreed this was too late, especially for the children, and we took the risk of arriving early getting into the Ocean Terminal car park at about 1:15, there was half a lane of waiting cars and within about a minute we were called forward to the drop off zone. Inside we were given a red alpha boarding card; they were also issuing green ones which I assume was for on time arrivals. Our card was called just before 2:00pm and we were on board by 2:15, the cabin was ready and the cases arrived after about an hour.
Had we arrived about 3:00pm for our 3:30 boarding we would have found 7 or 8 lanes of waiting cars taking about 30 minutes to get to the drop off point, I noticed that the last lane of cars was clearing just before 4:00pm, which probably meant they would not be on board before 4:30 with muster at 5:00pm. Presumably the coach arrivals slow down the car and taxi passengers, and I really do feel that P&O need to start the embarkation process by 11:30 at the latest if they want everyone on board before 4:00pm.

Knowing what to pack for a fjords cruise is always a problem, however we had glorious weather the entire time and never needed any of the wet or warm clothing we had brought, and because of the weather the pool area was quite busy, especially in the afternoons on port days. It was a school holiday cruise and there were a much higher proportion of families and children than we normally see on out of school holiday cruises, but they were remarkably well behaved, there was no running in the corridors, no playing about in the lifts and even breakfast in the buffet was fairly civilised.

All 6 of us dined together in the evening, even our youngest grandson who is only 14 months, and in the MDR he got plenty of attention from the waiters, as well as nearby passengers, and thoroughly enjoyed meal times. Because he was in his pushchair after dinner we only went to a bar or the live lounge and the only shows we saw were from the house band Pulse who we thought were excellent. We did occasionally see and hear some of the other on board groups on deck or as we wandered around, but none stood out or grabbed our attention. Although the pool area was busy we always managed to find some loungers somewhere, although finding space for a wheelchair as well can be difficult; inside there was nearly always seating to be found somewhere, we even found seats in the Costa Coffee area on a couple of occasions.

We did no organised tours in the ports but we were berthed alongside in all of them so were able to go ashore even with a wheelchair, apparently Andalsnes can be a problem if it is windy. Because we were with family, and my son could push the wheelchair in hilly and cobbled areas, we ventured a little further in the ports than we normally would on our own. All the ports, Stavanger, Olden, Andalsnes and Bergen were berthed within walking distance of the town centre and we did not need shuttles, and you can manage to see quite a lot even with a wheelchair. The warm sunny weather made it very pleasant wandering around and then being able to laze on deck when we returned to the ship; however I imagine our enjoyment would have been much reduced if it had been wet and windy.

The food on board was pretty much the usual P&O fare, the standard was not as good as on Britannia last year, but the service in the MDR was still very good. The buffet was busy for breakfast but we always managed to find a seat for the 2 of us, it would have been much more difficult if all 6 of us had wanted breakfast together. We did try the Glass House on the last formal night when the MDR was indicating a 45 minute wait for a table, not entirely successful though since their meals are not really child friendly and they don’t offer a children’s menu, and were unwilling to offer two or three of the same item from the small plate menu.

Overall the cruise was very enjoyable and in the main we were very happy with the service on board, however there were 2 slight problems we had which P&O failed to sort out to our satisfaction.
Our cabin had a persistent drain smell which despite several attempts by the steward and plumber, they were unable to fix, this despite escalating it up to the “deck housekeeping manager”, I believe that’s what he called himself. In fact the smell could occasionally be noticed in the corridor outside our cabin leading me to suggest they checked the inspection door in the corridor, but the response was that nothing was wrong, not true.
We also had very poor water pressure in the shower, I could be rude about the trickle but ladies might read this, again this was never resolved, in fact the DHM said this was the standard pressure throughout the ship, which was rather silly of him as when I checked my son’s cabin the water pressure was far higher.
This limp response was in stark contrast to our experience on our last Celebrity cruise in June, no sooner had we reported a minor leak from the washbasin than the plumber was knocking on our door, the leak was fixed promptly and we then had 2 phone calls to confirm it was OK plus a visit from the head of housekeeping to confirm we were satisfied with the repair.
It would be really something if we could report the same sort of service experience on P&O.

I fear that the lift situation gets no better, and I guess it will not improve until Carnival ditch the Grand/Royal class. I am certain that Britannia’s lifts are even smaller than those on Ventura and Azura, and they appear to be only about 60/65% the size of those on Celebrity Eclipse. I have not measured them but I judge them on the space I have to spin the wheelchair around in an empty lift, on Eclipse I can easily turn through 180deg without touching the sides, on Az/Ve I can just about turn around but only with difficulty, on Britannia it needs a 3 or 5 point turn.
The other issue I have with this class of ship is that the midship restaurants break up 2 of the public room floors, and even on a 2 week cruise it proves difficult for some passengers to find their way to the aft MDR.
I suppose these problems are but minor imperfections, but it would be so much nicer to report that everything was spot on.

[sunseeker16]

Thank you for your interesting review

It is a concern that issues of plumbing don't seem to get the attention we, the customers, think they deserve. Have you taken the matter up since your return?

However, it sounds like you had a lovely time with the family and Hooray! for good fiords weather; it makes such a difference

[qbman1]

Thanks for the report FK - interesting reading, as always.

I'll try to remember to take a tape measure on our Ship Visit in a few weeks and measure the lift for you !

Really looking forward to seeing the ship.

[Happydays]

I enjoyed reading your review and found it interesting.
We are going on Regal Princess in a few weeks and I believe it is a similar ship or at least the size is!

[towny44]

I enjoyed reading your review and found it interesting.
We are going on Regal Princess in a few weeks and I believe it is a similar ship or at least the size is!

I think you will find Regal Princess to be much jazzier than Britannia, unfortunately I suspect the lifts and lack of central staircase won't have been improved.

Thank you for your interesting review
It is a concern that issues of plumbing don't seem to get the attention we, the customers, think they deserve. Have you taken the matter up since your return?

However, it sounds like you had a lovely time with the family and Hooray! for good fiords weather; it makes such a difference

We did send an e-mail to customer services on our return and have yet to receive a reply, it will be interesting to hear their response.

[qbman1]

I enjoyed reading your review and found it interesting.
We are going on Regal Princess in a few weeks and I believe it is a similar ship or at least the size is!

I think you will find Regal Princess to be much jazzier than Britannia, unfortunately I suspect the lifts and lack of central staircase won't have been improved.

Thank you for your interesting review
It is a concern that issues of plumbing don't seem to get the attention we, the customers, think they deserve. Have you taken the matter up since your return?

However, it sounds like you had a lovely time with the family and Hooray! for good fiords weather; it makes such a difference

We did send an e-mail to customer services on our return and have yet to receive a reply, it will be interesting to hear their response.

The usual platitudes, I suspect !

[daib GC]

John your last point about the position of the reaf MDR. This is the same on the grand class of ships as well and to a certain extent Aurora and Oriana as well.

You have to put the kitchen somewhere.

[towny44]

John your last point about the position of the reaf MDR. This is the same on the grand class of ships as well and to a certain extent Aurora and Oriana as well.

You have to put the kitchen somewhere.

I had sort of alluded to this with my comment about the lift situation remaining a problem until Carnival stop using the Grand/Royal platform.
Celebrity, on Eclipse, put their galleys for the 2 tier MDR all the way aft which alleviates this problem. They also only have 2 lift areas, the aft of midships lifts number 8 in total, whether this is what helps them overcome the waiting issues experienced on Grand/Royal ships, or the fact that they are so much bigger anyway, I'm not certain. But the passenger flow on the Eclipse is much easier than the big P&O ships, hardly any bottleneck areas.
One final point I failed to make in my review is that despite it being newer, having better designed MDR's and buffet, I still prefer Ventura or Azura to Britannia, but that's just my personal opinion.

[brillo]

We were also on B624,
Boarding time 3pm, arrived 2.30pm, on board in cabin by 3.15pm,
We had no problems it was a very pleasant cruise well up to standard.
We were also upgraded from a balcony without sofa to a balcony with a sofa.
All in all a very good experience.