Our first cruise and a fantasic experience
Britannia Cruise Review to Europe
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 29
Mediterranean
Sail date: July 27, 2019
Ship: Britannia
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
Great first cruise and we will certainly be looking to book another next year. If the destinations are right then Britannia will be top of the list. Our parents joined us on this cruise and they felt the ship was too big, so I guess a ship cannot tick all boxes for everybody. For us it felt right and we thoroughly enjoyed our time onboard.Embarkation
Arrived early and allowed to go through. Didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes and the whole process seemed very efficient.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
On the whole, food was good on the ship in all areas. My daughter is coeliac and options were limited. They did state they could cook anything with notice, however when we did this the food delivered was very disappointing.
Onboard Activities
The entertainment staff had activities arranged for all ages, children and families throughout the day. Plenty of things to do on sea days.
All the activities and locations were detailed in the daily plan which was delivered to your cabin each evening.
Entertainment
Over the two weeks there was a good balance of music, dancing, comedy and singing. All to a high standard. I understand that the schedule isn't changed that frequently so you could get the same shows if you travel on the ship again. Would you think as highly of the entertainment second time around? Probably not.
Children's Programs
I've put ok in this section as I feel some discretion could be applied in the age groups. My son is 12 going on 16 and could only go in Scuba, which caters for younger children. He simply wasn't interested in attending after the first session and wanted to go to H2O. The starting age for this is 13 and he missed out by 2 months.
Service and Staff
On the whole, staff were excellent - friendly and willing to help. However, there were some staff in customer facing roles who appeared to find it challenging to smile or say a quick please or thankyou. I experienced this mostly from the bar staff.
Ship Quality
You have to go up a floor and down another to get from one end of the ship to another, but didn't personally find this a problem. As this was my first cruise I don't really have anything to compare it to but aware there were a few people commenting on it.
Staff were very efficient at clearing up and everything seemed to be clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
Good size cabin for the four of us and had everything you needed for a 2 week holiday. Lots of space for clothes and the suitcases tucked away nicely underneath the bed. There was a bit of mould on the sealing around the bath, something that takes 5 minutes to get rid of with the correct spray.
Ports of call
Not a great deal to say, easy to get through the town and dock.
Thumbs Up
1
Beach was great, kids loved it. Town was ok and some areas very pretty. We took the open top bus tour intially which was as little dissapointing. It lasted about 45 minutes, went around the same square twice and stopped at several points for a couple of minutes. Not a great deal to talk about on the tour and my son fell asleep. The best places I think can be found on foot.
We went around Barcelona on our own and did a tour to the Nou Camp. Both were great and would like to spend a little more time in the city. Perhaps a long weekend?
Excursion that covered both cities, spent an hour in Pisa which to be honest was ample. There isn't a great deal there and providing you don't want to scale the tower it's enough time to take everything in. Florence was a beautiful city and another contender for a separate long weekend?
My favourite city of the cruise and unfortunately you can't even scratch the surface in one day. We took a group cycle tour and feel we got to see as much as possible in the 5 hours we had. The tour guide was spot on and the firm used was Big Bike Tours, near the Colleseum.
A small and pretty town, but again we spent most of the day at the small beach which is nearby. Kids really enjoyed the day here.
Did the 'discover the rock' tour which was great. Driver was informative and I felt like he explained the entire history of Gibraltar. Met the apes, caves and had a good drive around the streets. A very short stop, would have been nice to be able to relax and take in a meal.
Disembarkation
OK, got off reaosnably quickly. Cases were where they should be and CPS directed us all to the car. Much better than any experience I've had at an airport.