Cruise No B705 - P&O Britannia - Carribean to Southampton.

The B705 cruise was from Barbados to Southampton, with shore stops at Dominica, Tortilla, Sint Maarten, The Azores and finally Southampton.

We arrived at the Barbados International Airport and were taken to the ship by coach.  The bus ride took no more than twenty minutes.  The check-in at the Barbados port was efficient.  It was better than previous years in that this time they did not all the coaches which arrived to release their passengers all together, but released each coach separately.  It took no more than fifteen minutes to pass along the queue and get our cruise-card, another ten minutes to pass through the Barbados customs and then onboard.

Our cabin was ready when we boarded, we went to our cabin when we were introduced to our cabin steward.  I asked for a sharps box - as I am an insulin controlled diabetic and need a sharps box for used hypodermic needles and used blood lancets.  Our cabin steward toldme to leave the used hypodermic needles on top of the bathroom bin and she would put them into her own sharps box.

I was utterly shocked by this.  On previous cruises - the last one was on P&O Britannia - the cabin steward always got me a sharps box.  I went to the medical the next morning to ask for a sharps-box.  The receptionist at the medical department was shocked at what I was telling her, a doctor heard and asked what was happening.  I told him, he called the head of the Housekeeping department and told the manager to give me a sharps-box.  A sharps-box was delivered to our cabin that evening.

We had arranged second sitting, on the Oriental restaurant, and the food and service was fantastic.  Our waiter and assistant waiter were brilliant, nothing was too much trouble.  One one occasion I had ordered the Sirloin steak, but it was not cooked as I had requested.  Less than two minutes later a new steak was given to me, and the waiter waited whilst I cut it and confirmed it was cooked as I wanted.

The food at The Oriental was fabulous, last year there was one one occasion that there was nothing on the menu I could not eat, but this year there were the staples - Sirloin Steak and Roast Chicken - which were on every menu, even the Marco Pierre White menus.

One one evening, we went to Sindhu.  The food and service was exquisite, Silver service and mouthwatering Indian cuisine.  Sindhu had a cover charge of £20 per person.  It was worth the extra charge as it was just brilliant.

The first few days of the cruise was an island hop, the weather was good and the sun was bright.  The sea was calm.  The entertainment team were always about doing various things.  They would talk to you for a few moments, which is different from last year.  Last year, they did not speak to you and rushed about.  I believe this is due to the Entertainment Manager - Neil Oliver - and he must be applauded.

The journey across the Atlantic took 5 days, the sea was calm and the weather was good for sunbathing.  The clock changed 4 times -  at 01:00 am.  Previously the clock changed at 12:00 noon, which caused problems with the planning of the day.  It was much better for the time to change at night.

After the Azores the weather gradually got worse, as my wife said, "The sea got more bouncy."

The captain announced because of the weather, the course he was taking would be slightly different when compared to the planned course.  One one occasion I was at the reception on Desk 5, I looked through the windows which were in the Shore Excursion desks and the sea level was ABOVE the top of the window.

On these days, at the staircases there were sick-bags on every floor and half of the elevators were stopped and could not be used.  There was no sea-sickness tablets available in any of the shops, only in the medical section which was only open for two hours a day, this was disappointing as other cruise lines we have been on have sea0sickness tablet dispensers.

The disembarkation, at Southampton, was smooth.  There was no large queues and it took only a few minutes to disembark to the quayside.

This cruise was very good, the food and service was brilliant.  The entertainment was brilliant.  It was let down slightly by the weather, but that could not be helped.  On the whole I would give this, specific, cruise a score of 87%