1st Transatlantic Cruise
Britannia Cruise Review to Caribbean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 57
Caribbean Transatlantic from Southampton
Sail date: October 27, 2017
Ship: Britannia
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: F524
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
We were very lucky with the smoothest of Atlantic crossings and lovely weather. The ship is lovely although can be quite a challenge to navigate around. Although we had a lovely time I must say I am not too keen on the formal nights. I know a lot of people love these nights but one would have been enough for me ( or none) and although the wife loved getting dressed up she agreed that it was all a bit too much. Nothing special seemed to happen on the formal nights so we were going to the bother of getting all dolled up to go to the same restaurant, eat the same meal, go to the same bar or entertainment venue. I know a lot of people won’t agree but I just feel it is a lot of bother so that we can have our photos taken and the ship can make a fortune from selling them to us. I.ll have to watch, I’m beginning to sound like a grumpy old man!!!!!! Don’t know if I should say this but we have cruised 5 times in the last 2 years and all the others were with NCL. I love NCL. I love the informality and their all inclusive policy. Having said that we had a lovely time on Britannia. If all things were equal I would pick NCL for my next cruise although if the price was right I would not hesitate to go again on Britannia or another P&O.Embarkation
Excellent. Although allocated an embarkation time of 3pm we arrived early because we flew down to Southampton from Scotland. Arrived at the port before 12 noon, cases gone and on board the ship within 30 min. Could not have gone smoother.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We had opted for freedom dining and was a bit disappointed to find that although we were not restricted to a set time we were restricted to one of the main restaurant, the Meridian. It was lovely and the staff were friendly and attentive but a wee bit disappointed in the choices. Maybe says more about us than the restaurant. Most of the meals were absolutely fine but I just felt they did not have a ‘wow’ factor. Same comments apply to the buffet which we actually only used twice for dinner. As for the specialty restaurants we had dinner one night in Sindhu Indian restaurant and that was lovely and good value. We also dined in the Limelight Club three times for the three different cabaret acts during the cruise. Thought these were great value and thoroughly enjoyed evenings. Meals and service were first class as was the cabaret.
Onboard Activities
Two main pools and an adults only pool plus a small dip pool at the rear of the ship. Because we had so many sea days the pool areas were always very busy but we could always get a bed somewhere. Swam in the pool almost every day and if we were at the rear of the ship the small pool, although not big enough to actually swim in was lovely just to sit in and cool down. My gym days are past me but the gym looked nice and was well used.
Entertainment
1st class entertainment. Very impressive hi tech theatre. 3 or 4 other entertainment venues. Stage shows, singers, dancers, comedians, ventriloquist. Resident band playing different venues. Lots of variety and plenty to keep us well entertained for 15 nights. Music by the pools during the sailing days. Entertainment obviously geared to British guests ( majority of guests were British) but I’m sure any of our American friends or other nationalities would enjoy also.
Children's Programs
No children with us.
Service and Staff
Only ok because of a problem I had with on board spend. Too complicated to go into but through no fault of my own I had occasion to talk to reception staff re this matter and although the young lady was never rude she was unhelpful and quite dismissive of my problem. This took place at the reception desk with lots of other guests in line and within hearing distance and I found the situation quite embarrassing. I then had to wait 2 days until we reached Madeira when I phoned my travel agent who immediately got on to P&O and got the matter sorted and before we set sail that night it had been established that P&O had mad an error and the matter was resolved.
Room steward was excellent and really kept the cabin lovely and clean. Waiters generally were friendly and although the ship was busy we could normally get a waiter for a drink without any great wait.
Ship Quality
The ship was immaculate. Nice, clean, and the decor was modern and subdued. I liked it. The layout of the ship can be quite confusing at times. Having read previous reviews before going the main problem seems to be the mid ship lifts / stairs ( or lack thereof). The stairs at the front and rear of the ship give access to all areas but not so the mid ship. It has to be the lifts, even for those of us fit enough to use stairs. At peak times this can result in long waits at the mid ship lifts. The answer is to avoid them if you can. Plan a slightly longer walk to the rear or forward lifts / stairs, especially at busy times and that solves the problem. I also think Britannia should think of putting some seating in the lift areas. They are big areas with room for seating and this would help, especially some of the elderly or disabled and might, just might, reduce the number of complaints in this area.
Cabin / Stateroom
Balcony cabin without a sofa. More than big enough and roomy enough for two of us. Bed was big and comfortable. Toilet and shower room has plenty of space and the shower was great. Big tv with lots of choice of tv and films. Tv again mainly designed for brits. Live tv, even crossing the Atlantic showing live EPL football. ( No Scottish football. Obviously could not afford to pay for the much higher quality of football in Scotland!!!!!!!). Did get roundups on BBC, ITV and Sky News and Sky Sports News. If you are so inclined you can also keep up to date with your soaps.
Only slight criticism is that I agree with previous comments that the balcony although big enough for two chairs and a small table are a bit shallow. Another 12 inches of room would have been perfect.
Ship tip
2 tips. 1 as I have already mentioned plan your route from cabin to lifts/stairs and avoid mid ship fits if you can. Tip 2. Our cabin was an even number cabin on F deck ( deck 9). We were obviously very lucky with weather and sailing conditions all the way over the Atlantic. Our cabin was Port side ( the left) and we had the sun rising every morning and quite often spent a couple of hours on our balcony which was lovely. I am not clever enough to know if the port side gets whatever sun is going on every cruise but certainly on our cruise we got it every morning and not only that it because of the ships route we gat it most of the day. Worth thinking about if you like that sort of thing when choosing your cabin.
Thumbs up
1
Ports of call
We don’t do organised excursions. Prefer to do our own thing. Madeira is lovely and everything easily accessible from the Port.
Lovely place. Taxi into town for 5 dollars. Wandered the town , a couple of drinks and back to the ship.
Busy place. Probably gathered we don’t go in for searching for hidden gems. We like to see the town, have a wee refreshment and chat to locals.
We got a taxi and had a day at the beach. Taxi at port took us to The Boatyard beach. ( Highly recommend it). Cost 5 dollars each. Cost 20 dollars each for entry to beach but I must say it was worth every penny. For that we got a sun bed each ( in other ports we paid 5 or 10 dollars just for a bed) an umbrella, a rum punch ( powerful stuff), WiFi and a boat trip and snorkelling gear and taken out for an hour snorkelling with the turtles and the most amazing fish. I swam and my wife just relaxed on the boat. Had a lovely bar meal and a couple of drinks. A lovely day to finish off our holiday.
Disembarkation
In truth the disembarkation itself was fine. Cases had already gone the night before and we would not see them again until London. Bus to airport was fine and although big queues at airport the cruise passengers had a dedicated queue and it didn’t take too long. My mark down is because of the Barbados immigration procedure on the ship. This took place on the Friday morning we arrived in Barbados and all passengers, including those of us who were staying an extra night and not leaving until Saturday had to go through this. In theory it should have been simple enough. We got the forms with instructions and were given a slot when we had to attend the lounge on the ship where the immigration officers were. The problem was that people were not sticking to their allotted time and 3veryone seemed to turn up at the one time and consequently the queue was almost the length of the ship and turned into a bit of a nightmare. I blame the ship staff for not checking passengers allocated times and making them stick to it. Hopefully this is something 5hey will loo at.
Traveler Photos
