Fourth cruise
Britannia Cruise Review
Spain And France
Sail date: April 08, 2022
Ship: Britannia
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
I never had high expectations for the Britannia after viewing herself online, hearing about the loss of the promenade deck, to the lack of a central staircase in the mid area of the ship but I tried to keep myself hopeful. Upon boarding, I instantly felt like everything I had read online was true. I missed the promenade, and entering the ‘grand’ atrium wasn’t a wow factor at all.. if anything lacklustre. It really wasn’t what it seemed. It felt like a sophisticated shopping mall/hotel with really posh piano music constantly going, when the majority of people are of younger age (which was strange in general for P&O). You then come to notice throughout the ship everything is moody blue, brown, and muted grey which can become very drab. The theatre is small, compared to American ships such as Royal Caribbean. If you want food past 11 you may as well forget that as there isn’t anything really to offer. The ship is a ghost ship by 9PM. COVID has lost the touch of even feeling the slightest bit tipsy as you cannot order from a bar, and table service takes a while. When wanting to travel the ships decks from the mid area, it had to be done by the lifts which involved a lot of waiting and fighting for a lift. The fact there is no staircase is absurd, this also relates to the ONE main staircase in the Atrium that at full capacity I have no idea how it copes. Even with half capacity people were at very close proximity on this staircase. People like to take photos on it to, so you get held up a few times. Now let’s get to the god awful layout of this ship. I honestly cannot stress enough I haven’t seen this on any other ship, but to get to some specific destinations you have to go up a deck to go down a deck or two.. or you have to go to one side of the ship to come back around on yourself to get to a specific location. It took days to understand this layout, compared to hours on other ships. Our cabin was in the mid area of the ship, and was only accessible by lifts, you could not use the front or aft staircases. The food in the buffet was very limited at all times, but the steak in the fine dining epicurean was delicious. The beach house is also a great place to dine. One of my favourite places on the ship is Brodies, the British Pub, which is the most active place on the ship. If you are looking for a casino onboard, this one is very small. All in all, I wouldn’t book on the Britannia again, and don’t agree this is the flagship for P&O. I sailed with first timers, and they wouldn’t return to cruising due to the experience they had on this ship. THIS IS GOING IN CAPITAL LETTERS BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE FOR P&O TO SEE THIS, PLEASE TURN ON THE STABILISERS WHEN THE SEA IS ROUGH. It is not fair for thousands of people to be throwing up, and feeling faint when they have spent years saving and waiting for a holiday of a life time. The bay of biscay may not have been bad for the Captain and some.. but it was enough to grant those stabilisers to be active.Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Honestly, the ship does NOT feel like a ship. In fact rather that of a sophisticated hotel/shopping mall. If you want authentic cruising, or you are wanting to be awe struck by the beauty of the ship.. then please save yourself the money. Everything is dark moody blue, with muted grey and browns. This follows throughout the entire ship, it’s just so drab, moody and boring.