Our Caribbean adventure aboard Britannia......
Britannia Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51
Review summary
An all round great cruise, ok the ship was lacking the ‘wow’ factor you may get from larger American ships but nether the less a great experience that certainly keeps the British flag flying whatever port she arrives at.....for sure a relaxing time spent with family and away from the bustles of daily lifeEmbarkation
We landed at Barbados, from there we were guided towards buses at the foot of the aircraft stairs that took us directly to the port, no collection of bags/cases required nor did we have to exit via airport/passport control - easy and simple;off plane and direct to the ship, when we arrived at the port after a 20 min journey we were greeted by embarkation staff offering us hula necklaces and a warm and friendly welcome, embarkation was remarkably speedy and witching 10mins we were on the ship and sipping a ‘fruit salad’ cocktail (I recommend) - though with regards to embarkation, I have never had any issues with boarding, these companies have everything down to an art!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I really can’t fault the food on Britannia, a very varied and tasty offering from all restaurants onboard, the buffet was surprisingly large and never struggled to find at seat no matter what time of the day, if I was to perhaps mention one thing about the buffet - it’s a believer in offering curried dishes, we did notice most mid afternoons the food was mainly ‘curry’ based, but a great selection none the less - there was a vast area of cakes / desserts and cheeses...
one gripe I do have surrounding the buffet, there was very little fruit juices after breakfast and the dispensers mainly offered water....
Buffet aside and let’s focus on main dining;
The restaurant was lovely, menu choices were good with an option for most - food was tasty and well presented and was brought out in good time. Now what I would say is what’s different to other ‘lines’ we have been on, we opted for ‘freedom’ dining - doing this will not offer the same seat or even in the same area, this meaning chances are you have different waiters each visit, somewhat saddening as we like to get to know our waiters and learn about them and their past - but hey ho.
I will advise everyone to try the Beach house restaurant on deck 15 - steaks to die for! I had a lovely 8 ounce twice during my stay, presented on a hot stone where you cook your steak to your preferred liking......but lots to choose and very good portion sizes! You can even eat out on the deck and under the stars....lovely.
The Beach House
Honestly - you have to try the steaks!!
Onboard Activities
Ok, well - this ain’t no royal Caribbean ship - daily entertainment was somewhat lacking, don’t get me wrong you get your various daily quizzes at venues, dance classes, fitness options and poolside entertainment....however no rockwalls, dodgems, flo-riders or anything along those lines - I guess it’s more relaxing than the full on ‘party’ type ships that cater for younger guests. Plenty of areas to bask in the sun and plenty of bars to sit building tan and of course working your way through the cocktail menus as we did - but did struggle and found ourselves hunting out things to do, luckily we had very few ‘sea’ days.
Entertainment
Really can’t fault the entertainment staff and evening shows were on par - theatre was quite big and again never had issue finding seats. One show we did see was Steven mulhern and Johnathan Wilkes ‘astonishing’ a show that combine amazing dance with magic and was truly great to see, some of the magic really did leave you bamboozled as to how that was done!!
Service and Staff
Right - ships staff, always great, however though you can tell these folk are struggling for time - the staff just didn’t seem as friendly as other lines, it was a very much there’s your drink before they are away serving someone else and very little interaction could be had.....never really had an issue with waiting for drinks and there was always a waiter keeping an eye out to serve at the table but something just didn’t quite work (I don’t want to keep mentioning royal Caribbean but we learnt all about the bar staff there, always greeted by name ‘hey mr barry’ even when walking through the bar areas etc... - it just wasn’t the same on Britannia) perhaps that’s the ‘british’ way in keeping with the brand?
Room steward was a lovely chap, done a great job again just wasn’t as ‘seen’ as other ships....
The more I think back, I honestly do think perhaps they are told not to always be seen and heard as us British folk don’t like being hounded constantly - to which I agree to some degree, however it does impact the service....I know some people just want service but I like to get to know and learn and ultimately let your steward / waiter feel more than just providing a service.
Ship Quality
Ok, so they did not change the design with the staircases, this did get us confused more than once navigating through the ship/floors, up one level then down to continue along the same level......
Atrium was lovely, especially as they had a big Christmas tree up as it was approaching thanksgiving, I can’t fault the look of the areas in the ship - yes you can always find fault if you looked hard enough but she’s not a new ship, on a whole still a lovely vessel.
Never noticed uncleanliness in any areas, no food/Junk lying around and tables seemed to be quickly cleared.
Various Windows were a little grubby outside, but then I suppose sea water does that.
Cabin / Stateroom
Lovely cabin, deck 14 - a704. ; offered stunning views from our balcony, shower was powerful and great to remove sand from unwanted areas! Bed was big and comfy and a sizeable tv was located on the adjacent wall... lots of storage and hangers supplied. All UK power outlets which is handy, one thing we/I kept doing is tripping the power and having to call someone out to get power back on —— therefore I suggest you don’t boil the kettle as the good lady is drying her hair!! Maybe that was just that cabin but seemed bit strange!
Ship tip
Take a pack of cards if you have a lot of sea days.......
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Well when in st.maarten what to do..........MAHO beach - the iconic beach where you can watch various sizes of aircraft come in to land just metres above your head, unfortunately there was nothing taking off that offered the whole grab onto the fence experience but never the less a fun and great experience!
The beach here was rather small and crowded (I don’t think you would come to this beach purely for the lazy sun worship sleep on the sand) however if you walk up a bit there was a far less crowded beach just beyond the bars and airport fence.
A quick water taxi and beach day out to Marigot bay was today’s trip - we were taken by speedboat around some amazing coastline out to Marigot bay (where Mick jagger, Sophie Lauren and George Forman all have hillside houses overlooking the bay) we then offloaded ourselves from our boat and made our way to a lovely beach, surrounded by luscious sands and palm trees overhead, a plentiful option for rum punch and beers at reasonable prices and lovely clear warm water to swim in....glorious!
Never really explored this too much day one, we were whisked straight from the airport to the ship......the journey through was good and many colourful houses dotted amongst the palm trees.
Bonaire, Netherlands Special Municipality
Great range of shops, eateries and bars - we even found our own Caribbean retreat, a small and quiet beach we came across.....all within full view of the ship, why did no one else see this I don’t know...but this is where we also saw a huge iguana scaling a wall.
Disembarkation
As easy as embarkation, bags outside the cabin the night before, the actual disembarkation was slightly longer however - asked to wait in our respective area, then left standing for 30 mins before being ushered to our buses for return to the airport, once you enter the airport you can’t get back out so if your a smoker, make the most of your time before entering! The airport itself is quite basic, not very many eateries nor bars and quite a dark looking place......perhaps that’s the depression of knowing your holiday is now over........