"Live from" Britannia, 10th February 2017

Thursday 9th February 2017

24 hours to go until we fly out to Barbados to join the P&O Britannia for a 14 day Caribbean cruise - exciting.

We are Geoff and Stephen, from Brixton in South London and this will be our seventh cruise - five with Princess, one with Celebrity and now this one with P&O. During this cruise we will be celebrating my (Stephen) 60th birthday. We love the Princess product but chose this cruise because of the itinerary and to try a different line - broaden our cruise repertoire. The Celebrity cruise that we took was ok but not really up to what we loved with Princess; there is a thread on cruise critic that I wrote on with our comparison and the highs and lows of the experience.

I will try to record our journey every day and post things when I have access to the internet - so probably not every day! I will, of course, make comparisons with Princess but will endeavour to give a balanced view - I really hope we can find something we love as much as Princess even if the products are very different; we will see.

We are really looking forward to a couple of weeks away from work and some Caribbean sun; but, today we are packing and getting ready - both exciting and stressful. Why stressful - well flying with a different airline (Thomas Cook as compared with Virgin) we are particularly anxious to make sure that we keep to weight limits and the carry on weight is only 6kg - how can we possibly pack enough for 2 weeks in only 2x23kg hold luggage and 2x6kg carry-ons? We pack, weigh, cull, re-weigh several times and are still slightly over - not knowing how the airline will respond to us being over makes the job even more fraught.

Nonetheless, we eventually finish packing and after hair cuts, showers and something to eat we are ready for bed with an alarm set for 4.30am - we need to leave home for the drive to Gatwick at 5.15am.

Friday 10th February 2017 - The Adventure Begins

At 4am we eventually give up and put the light on - we haven't slept very well, partly due to excitement but also because of anxiety about the weight of our luggage! After another go at moving things round we eventually bring the hold luggage within the weight allowance, our carry-on is still 10kg and the rucksack 5kg - well, that's the best we can do!

Two cups of coffee, bins emptied, washing up done and we finally set off for Gatwick airport at 5.25am. The drive is uneventful and we park the car with Purple Parking and take the short shuttle ride to south terminal. Check-in is simple - didn't even look at our carry-ons never mind weighing them, why was I so worried? Through security and down to the departure lounge with no problem. Duty free shopping - 2 bottles of smelly stuff and toiletries to replace those we left behind to bring the weight under!

The first fly in the ointment we notice is the information on the departure board telling us that the flight is delayed until 11.30 - oh well, we go for a coffee and a sandwich. About an hour later there's an announcement for passengers on our flight to make themselves known at the information desk. I wander down there to stand in a long queue; after a few minutes the message is passed back along the line that boarding passes are needed so off back upstairs to Geoff to collect ours then back to an even longer queue! Eventually - after some considerable time - I reach the front of the queue to be given a letter and 2 £5 vouchers for food and soft drinks. The story is that there is a fault on the plane and the engineers are replacing a part - more information will be available at 11.30! I had read about these delays on the P&O forums but didn't think they would happen to us.

At 11.30 a new message appeared on the screen informing us that gate information would be available at 12.05 and the flight was delayed until 12.50 - at least that was progress but they must have known at check-in that there was an issue, why not tell us then? At 12.05 the gate information was displayed and off we went. Soon we were on the plane and settling in - there were issues with the overhead storage caused by people using parts that were not over their seats but that was only a minor annoyance. The flight was fine - more basic than we are used to but the food was pleasant and the aircraft made good time, landing in Barbados at 5.15pm - 3 hours late.

The transfer to the ship was simple - it is a pleasant change to get off the plane and go straight to the ship; Caribbean cruises usually mean us arriving the day before and then an overnight hotel stay. Check-in was very straight forward and we were on the ship with 10 minutes of arriving at the cruise terminal. The ship is the same basic design as the Princess Royal class (Regal, Royal and the Majestic) but they it is fitted out is altogether different. The interior of the hip is very modern and sleek, lots of white surfaces and very clean lines. Somehow the ship seems to be far wider and the atrium in particular is very open - more than the piazza on the Princess ships. It doesn't feel particularly like you're on a ship, more like an up market hotel - I'm not really keen on this look, I want to know it's a ship!

The staterooms are very pleasant, continuing the modern hotel feel - we are in B330 (Riviera deck mid-forward) - which is a deluxe balcony equivalent to a mini-suite on Princess. We are very happy with the room and layout, it seems larger than a mini-suite and is nicely furnished. The bed is not very comfortable, rather hard, and the bedding is not nice. The bathroom with a tub and shower over is good and well laid out. There is champagne and Belgium chocolates in the room which is a nice touch.

After dropping our hand luggage is the room it's back out to the atrium for a walk round and to get our bearings - we should know our way round, we've been on the Regal and Royal, but this is very different! After a short orientation we stop in the atrium for a gin and tonic (pleased that they have fever tree); there seems to be little to no atmosphere in the atrium which is a pity - we're used to it being the centre of evening activities.

We have dinner in the Peninsula dining room - nice menu but bland tasting food, needs much more seasoning. I had chicken liver parfait followed by venison liver and bacon and then the cheese board (good cheddar but needed some pickle); Geoff had mushroom risotto follow by steak and then bread and butter pudding.

There is no entertainment on the ship tonight so after a bit more of a wander around we decide that after being up for 23 hours we will call it a night and head off to bed - there is another day in Barbados tomorrow (when more passengers join the ship) before setting sail tomorrow evening.

Enjoy your cruise, looking forward to following your journey. You will no doubt have discovered the Crows Nest by now, with its wonderful Gin menu.

Thank you for doing this - look forward to reading more.

I'm following you keep it coming.

Me too

I'll be following this with interest as we are doing the Caribbean next winter. Have a great time!

Looking forward to the next instalment - we're on Britannia in the Caribbean on 5 January next year - counting the days already!:)

I'll be following along too - I have a friends on board with you; Marjie and Margaret should you run into them ;)

I've never sailed with P&O but I have been on the Regal Princess (and am going on the Royal in August) so I look forward to your comments. :)

Thank you everyone for your kind words and for following along. I will post as often as I can and try to answer any questions. We will buy internet on sea days and will try to post then and also when we find free wifi in ports 😀

Saturday 11th February 2017 - Barbados

Awake at 5.30am - our usual time at home- and in need of proper coffee; flat white with an extra shot for Geoff and skinny latte for me. We wander down to the Costa only to find it closed; on enquiry at the passenger service desk we find that it doesn't open until 7.30 and the only place to get coffee at this time of day is in the Horizon buffet. Up to deck 16 and grab 2 mugs of something they call coffee - not nice - and out on to the Horizon Terrace to watch the day begin. We sat and watched as a Sea Clipper (the Royal Clipper) - beautiful and then the HAL Veendam - looking old.

After a quick breakfast - cereal with fruit followed by bacon and egg - we wandered across the Lido deck to the Serenity pool area. We spoke to people standing outside the Retreat (equivalent of the Sanctuary on Princess) to find out how to book it - has to be done in the spa on deck 5. Down to deck 5 to ask about the Retreat - we wanted sea day only - you have to turn up at 7pm and when they have sold all the 14 day passes they sell anything left for individual days.

Following our morning ablutions we wandered through the town to the beach - entering by Lobster Alive and walked down to Copacabana where we rented chairs and an umbrella for $20. We spent a relaxing few hours watching the ocean and enjoying the local libations - Banks beer 6 for $15 and a very nice rum punch for $5. We walked back to the ship at about 3pm so that we could enjoy a relaxing bath and change for the evening before muster which was scheduled for 6pm. While chilling in the bath we drank the surprisingly palatable champagne (on Princess, the free champagne is anything but) that had been the welcome aboard gift from the ship. I should say here that Geoff had also organised a lovely bottle of Dom Pérignon, which we will pop on my birthday, and a dozen beautiful red roses to be delivered to our stateroom - he is so sweet and thoughtful.

At 5.45 we went down to our muster station and waited. At 6pm there was an announcement that muster would be delayed by 30 minutes - frustrating - more sitting round waiting. Muster finished at 7pm and I immediately went to the spa to see about booking the Retreat - it had completely sold out; more frustration. They could offer sitting on a chair - no loungers - or port days - who wants port days!? I'm disappointed that we won't get to experience the Retreat, there has to be a fairer way of allocating the space - reserving some for those who only want day passes.

Off to dinner in the Meridian dining room; once more nice variety of choices but lack of seasoning. We are enjoying the menus, which are more suited to the British taste, but the flavours are just so bland. Sail away happened just after 10pm but we didn't get to the party; by the time we had finished dinner we were beginning to droop so off the bed for an early night and looking forward to a relaxing sea day tomorrow.

An observation from today is that it feels strange with folk joining and leaving the ship over two days - a little disjointed and disturbing - and more will leave and join in St. Lucia. We've been on back to back sailing but this felt different and not really sure we liked it.

Sunday 12th February 2017 - Sea Day

Another early start today - have to begin the relaxing as soon as possible! After a light breakfast of bacon and eggs we moved to the Serenity pool and got settled on sun loungers looking out to sea on the port side. It was only just after 7 but it was filling up quickly; the people next to us reserved 13 beds but we only ever saw six people using them - the also went to breakfast and left the beds unattended for an hour! Meanwhile, people were walking round trying to find somewhere to sit.

By 9.30 we decided it was a little too warm outside, and in any case we wanted to see the cookery demonstration, so got a coffee at The Market Cafe and went to the Studio for the show. The demonstration was good and the hosts were very amusing - not as funny as some we've experienced but worth going to see and whetted our appetites for the specialty restaurants (which it was advertising really). From the Studio we went straight to Headliners theatre to hear a talk on "television gardening" by Gay Search - it was very interesting and enjoyable - brought back lots of memories.

As it was now lunch time we headed to Horizon buffet where I enjoyed some chicken curry - nice but not spicy enough for me! It was a warm afternoon but we found a nice spot on the aft starboard side of the promenade where we settled in to read and play games on our iPads. At 4pm we returned to our stateroom to get ready for our first formal night.

At just after 6pm and suitably attired in our evening wear we descended to the atrium for the Captain's gala reception and the free glass of bubbly! It is always interesting to hear about all the people who are looking after us while on the cruise and to be able to show appreciation for them. On Princess, we are used to the spectacle of the champagne waterfall on these nights and it seemed odd without it!

After a couple of martinis we had our photographs taken - they were really quite good and we have purchased a copy. Then to dinner - with a 45 minute wait for a table - in the Peninsula dining room. Another good menu - Geoff had beef wellington and said it was better than anything that he had had on Princess. The food selection continues to impress and represents a pleasant change - we just need to remember to season!

We attempted to go to this evenings entertainment - a ventriloquist who had been on BGT (never heard of him); but I was falling asleep and didn't make it to the start of the show! Tomorrow is Curaçao and we are there from 8am to 10pm and are really looking forward to it, but for now it's off to bed!

Hi Geoff and Stephen, thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts and experiences on this cruise.

I am looking forward to going on Britannia in October.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise,

Mark.

Monday 13th February 2017 - Curaçao

I have discovered that the coffee at the Market Cafe is ok and we can get our flat white and latte from there in the mornings - though not till 7.30 (it seems strange that folk aren't clamouring for a half decent cup of coffee before this time!) After a leisurely time getting sorted out we were off the ship at just after 9.30am. We decided on a plan to have a wander round the town before heading off to the Sea Aquarium beach. We enjoyed a stroll through the town, looking in the shops and admiring the architecture and brightly painted buildings. It was turning out to be a rather hot day so we decided to stop at the Iguana bar that overlooks the water and enjoy a local beer for Geoff and Margarita for me. We ended up relaxing there for a couple of hours and decided to give the beach a miss today - it was a little too hot and we are still acclimatising to the Caribbean heat!

We headed back to the ship for some lunch - we tried the grab and go. Whilst this is a good concept the offerings that we tried were not good - sandwiches which at the same time were both soggy from the tomatoes and dry from the bread. The little salads looked ok and the pudding pot was pleasant but a little too sweet for my taste. We then spent a couple of hours relaxing in the cool of the Live Lounge and catching up on reading/playing games. Even in the shade on deck it was a little too warm and quite airless but the air con in the interior spaces was very welcome. One of the things that we have noticed is that most of the indoor bars are closed during the day (except Brodie's and the Glass House); it would be nice to be able to get a drink while enjoying lounges like the Crows Nest or Live Lounge during the day.

After a shower and change we went back out into the town at about 5.30pm for another wander. It seems that it's early closing in Curaçao as the shops were all shutting up by 6pm. We had a good walk round the town and ended up sitting outside a bar enjoying beer and cocktails - I had to try something with blue Curaçao in it! We also had snacks that were local 'delicacies' Bittaballen (breaded meatballs) and breaded cheese pillows - can't remember the name of these; the people of Curaçao must eat a lot of breaded deep fried products!

At about 8.30 we returned to the ship and decided to try the oriental buffet in the Horizon buffet; this was a mistake. They seemed to have an abundance of prawns and Geoff doesn't like shellfish and most dishes contained them. The food was just not that good - but we won't starve!

Curaçao is a lovely island and we enjoyed a very pleasant day here - maybe next time we will make it to the beach if we head there first thing.

Tonight was the tropical deck party and we wore our new Hawaiian shirts that we bought in Florida last December. Ours were positively subtle compared to some of the other passengers. The party was good fun - Pulse, the party band, are really quite good and the singers are much better than some we've heard previously - I even got up and had a dance around. By just after 10.30 it was time to go off to bed prepare for our day in Aruba tomorrow and my 60th birthday! One final observation is that the music from the Lido deck is very audible from our stateroom on deck 14 mid-forward; I have never encountered this before - it doesn't keep us awake as I can sleep through anything and Geoff wears earplugs, but just an observation.

Tuesday 14th February 2017 - Aruba (my 60th birthday)

Our arrival in Aruba this morning was before 7am but we were awake, as usual, well before then. At 7.30 I went to the Market Cafe to get our coffees and on my return Geoff had put a birthday banner up and put presents and cards on the bed (surrounded by 60 confetti). It was lovely opening my cards and Geoff had got me exactly what I wanted for my birthday - a beautiful new wallet from Montblanc and a lovely new iPad with accompanying smart cover - I am so pleased with my presents, they are perfect.

We decided not to have breakfast today - we have reservations for Sindhu tonight and want to save ourselves for that. By 9am we were off the ship and getting a taxi ($13) to Eagle beach. We were there in just a few minutes and after trying a couple of different outlets managed to get an umbrella and two loungers for a total of $30. We had a prime position right at the front by the swimming area and despite it being early the beach was rapidly filling up. We spent a very pleasant five hours relaxing, reading, taking dips in the sea and people watching. At 2pm we decided to head back to the ship and so we caught the local bus which dropped us just by the cruise terminal ($2.60 each).

After dropping our wet things in stateroom we grabbed a light lunch - lovely Moroccan vegetable dishes - and went to the Crow's Nest to relax for an hour and catch up on writing. At about 4.30 we returned to our stateroom to begin getting ready for the evening. It is so nice to have a bath as well as a shower and the baths are much better (deeper and wider) than the ones on Princess - we both love having a leisurely bath while enjoying a gin and tonic; a very civilised way to get ready for going out. Unfortunately the shower has little power so not as enjoyable.

At 6.30 we descended to deck 7 to go to the Headliners theatre for the 7pm performance of Gravity. Even when the show started there were still empty seats - this is clearly the time to go the show. The show was really very good, the singers were good (some very good) and the production delightful - a most enjoyable experience. The show finished at 7.45 so we headed to the Sindhu bar to enjoy a drink before our 8.15 reservation.

The meal was really good; Geoff had a chicken starter, followed by the duck main course, I had the shrimp, chicken and lamb starter and the lamb main course, we both had the banoffee apple pie desert. The flavours were excellent and everything was beautifully spiced, there were lots of little extras between the courses. It was a modern take on an Indian meal but at times it was difficult to recognise that it was Indian when compared with similar Indian restaurants such as Veeraswamy or Chutney Mary in London.

There was a disappointing episode in the evening. We noted that at the other tables the staff were giving the women red roses as a mark of St. Valentine's day but they didn't offer Geoff or me one - in fact we noticed that when they were giving out the roses they looked across at our table, said something and laughed. I can understand them not being sure about who to offer the rose to in our case but laughing at us is simply unacceptable behaviour. This is the 21st century and whilst the roses were of no significance the attitude and behaviour of the staff is actually discriminatory - we have contacted P&O to complain - they are clearly in breach of equality legislation and this episode marred what was otherwise a really lovely day.

After dinner we went for a quick drink in the Crow's Nest before heading off to bed. Tomorrow is another relaxing sea day and we have the afternoon tea booked in Epicurean.

I have really enjoyed reading your posts which are pretty positive. Its a real shame about your "rose" incident and hopefully you will get a good outcome. Please keep up the reviews.

loving the updates cannot wait for the next ones and happy birthday what a wonderful way to celebrate

Really enjoying your reports, especially as we did the TA last October and love the Caribbean...and Britannia (it was our third on her). After only cruising on P&O we recently went on RCI and can say they are not for us, although I realise one cruise is not enough to make a proper judgement. Belated Happy Birthday! [emoji322][emoji322][emoji898][emoji898]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hi, am reading your "journal" with interest. We really like the Britannia and it will be our 4th trip on her in May. We like the fact that shes like a big floating hotel. I was soooo sorry to hear about the "rose " incident. Lets hope it doesn't spoil the rest of your holiday. A belated happy 60th.

Really enjoying your journal and looking forward to reading the next update. Hope you are having a wonderful time.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Forums mobile app

:cool: loving this running commentary on your cruise guys! It's making me want to do the Caribbean even more than I already do! Hope you had a lovely birthday and looking forward to reading more of your posts. :)

With respect to your feelings, I don't think you should allow yourself to be hurt or upset about the rose incident. The waiters were presumably told to give roses to the ladies, as it is perhaps customary to do so. A table with two men would not fit what they were told to do. You may be brothers, partners, father and son or just friends. The waiters would not know (and nor do I).

I suggest they were not laughing at you but at their confusion about what to do in your case. Had they given one or even both of you a rose, it could have caused a difficult scene and maybe great embarrassment. Two ladies on a table would probably have both been given roses. If that is discriminatory then so be it. My interpretation would be that it isn't but is just a nice and customary gesture on one evening a year.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise on what is a great ship.

Loving your reports - a taking notes for when we go to the caribbean in Jan :D

I too wouldnt let the rose incident spoil your holiday - I cant see why you think it is against equality regulations and wouldnt work myself up about it.

If the staff were told to give roses to women thats what they did (although I have no idea what they were told!)

If you are treated differently at other times, dinner, drinks at the bar etc then I would say there is a cause for concern but as they more than likely didnt know their personal situation I wouldnt worry about it.

I can see anyone deliberately laughing at you - why would they risk their jobs over it? Maybe you're just being a tad over sensitive?

Enjoy the rest of your trip.:D

KAtie

I am reminded of when we went on holiday with another couple. Myself and the other husband wanted to go to a particular restaurant but our wives were not interested. We decided we would go there together. We both kept second guessing what the waiters were thinking of us and no doubt we 'saw' things which weren't true. Hopefully the same happened in Sindhu i.e. your interpretation of what you saw wasn't a true reflection of what the staff were actually doing/thinking.

The OP mentioned the incident with the rose amongst many others, most of which haven't been commented on. Only the people concerned can know how it was meant or indeed how it was received and that should be appreciated. Lack of forethought created the situation and personally I can think of umpteen ways as to how that could have been avoided.

Anyway, more importantly I look forward to the next instalment of their cruise.