freddie1974

We used our cruise card and got a slip from the cashier which we gave to the croupier on the roulette table who then exchanged it for chips.

Worth mentioning that P&O decided, the week before our cruise, and without telling anyone (including our butler) that there is no longer priority disembarkation for suite passengers. We did, however mange to get the time we wanted and were off the ship, collected luggage and out of the terminal in under 15 mins.

Assuming prices are the same across the fleet, I was pleasantly surprised by the champagne prices on Britannia. £42.50 for a bottle of Lanson Rose and I think up to £109 for a Dom Perignon - not a lot of variety in between though. We polished off two bottles between three of us on embarkation!

Stayed in the Grand Harbour 3 years ago and was nice but overpriced and a little tired - assuming there have been no returns since I would be tempted to look elsewhere.

I was appalled to watch several men use the urinal and not bother to wash their hands on the way out. However, the staff in the Horizon buffet were quite good at encouraging hand washing - though a bit daft to have the sinks at the end where the staff giving out trays can't see you and so then insist you use the hand wash 30 seconds later. Twice better than not at all in my book though. By the end of the cruise even my kids were using the hand wash without being asked. Hopefully you will feel better soon, but shame you had to miss the end of your holiday.

I heard that third hand so don't hold me to it - I did think it sounded rather expensive.

I believe it is £175 per person and saw tours in progress on both sea days last week but didn't do it as timing wasn't synced to kids club and it would have been too much for them.

Muster was in Sindhu, deck 7 - though I then made the error of going down to the spa at the front of deck 5 to book thermal suite so had a hike up the stairs to deck 15 then a walk along almost the entire length of the ship!

Thanks for a great review - very honest, sensible and useful.

Thanks - and with several errors as I wrote it in a hurry. The irony of my closing comments is palpable! Is it possible to edit a post/review as I can't see how to?

Just posted this in the reviews section but thought I would share it here too:

I booked this cruise as a birthday present for my mother-in-law who is turning 70 this year and has always wanted to go on a cruise and to visit the Fjords, so two birds with one stone.

As we had booked two aft suites (A726/A727) we had priority embarkation upon arrival at Southampton (approx 12.30) and were in the Peninsular restaurant enjoying lunch before 1pm. It would be nice if they asked your cabin number as we had to tell them we were in a suite before being offered priority embarkation.

The cabins were ready by the time we had finished lunch, and first impressions were good. The layout compared to previous suites (on Princess and Cunard - though I believe other P&O ships are the same) was definitely an improvement with the very separate lounge and bedroom areas. The bathroom was excellent with separate toilet accessible from the lounge area of the suite and a large bathroom with whirlpool bath, shower and lots of storage space for toiletries.

However, there are some flaws in the cabin design; the only full length mirror is near the cabin door; nowhere near the bedroom or dressing area. The addition of such perhaps inside one of the wardrobe doors would be most welcome. The other issue was the total lack of a plug socket near any of the mirrors. There are two desks in the lounge area and one in the bedroom; the only one with a mirror (in the lounge) has no plugs there! The only sensible solution would seem to require standing up to use the mirror behind the bar area (which would need the removal of glasses from the shelves to see properly).

The other area of concern which luckily didn't apply to us (as our children slept in the bed with their grandmother each night) was that the lounge area is so separate from the bedroom, if using the sofa as a bed, it would be impossible to hear anyone exiting the cabin - and the lack of any high level lock on the cabin door would make that a distinct possibility for enquisitive 4 year old twins... Fortunately there were high level locks on both sets of balcony doors.

Our butler came to introduce himself, but whilst he was very eager to please, his distinct lack of English rendered him rather impotent. For example, we asked one morning if he could secure a day pass for my mother in law for the Thermal Suite; he advise going to the retreat on deck 17 and selecting a time we wanted (the thermal suite is in the spa on deck 5 and tickets are valid from 8am - 8pm, no time needed).

Both our cabin stewards were excellent (our kids called theirs the Chocolate Lady - for obvious reasons!). We made reasonable use of the huge wrap around balcony and aside from a few small soot marks on the floor, can't say we noticed any issues with soot at all.

We were overlooked from above which didn't bother us nearly as much as the very grumpy man in the cabin below my mother in law. It was actually quite nice to strike up a conversation. I suppose if you are on a hotter cruise and prefer sunbathing in privacy then the A or B deck aft cabins probably aren't for you.

The cabin was a little noisy with a squeaking cupboard door (easily solved with a piece of card) although I wouldn't book an aft cabin on a cruise with potential for rough seas as there was a fair amount of movement through the North sea.

One irritating point was the lack of refilling any of the cosmetics that had been used. If asked for, this was provided but one shouldn't have to ask when paying over £3,000 a week per cabin.

We found navigating the ship pretty easy, and had no issues (except for a lengthy wait after the Muster drill) for the entire cruise, with the maximum wait being under 2 minutes.

The public areas were all very clean and we particularly liked the live band in the Crystal Room and the pianist in the Crows Nest in the evenings.

We particiularly enjoyed the Thermal Suite which had six heated stone beds, two heated water beds, two steam rooms, a sauna and the largest jacuzzi I have ever seen! The absence of a clock seems an obvious oversight, and the changing rooms were tiny with over 50% of the space dedicated to showers and toilets when you can really only get 3 people in at a time comfortably (does the men's changing room therefore really need two showers, two urinals and a toilet cubicle?).

The MDR was good though to be honest, I would be in favour of doing away with the wine waiters and having your drinks order taken by the main waiters. We often waited up to 10 mins to order drinks, and our wine waiter added very little in value as he clearly wasn't a sommelier by any stretch.

The food was good, but not excellent (I found Princess better, though it has been 5 years since we last cruised with them - and not fair to compare to Cunard as we were in the Queens Grill). There was a lack of variety in my opinion though the food was presented well and was generally of a fairly high standard. Can't really complain too much for such a mass catered venue.

Sindhu on the other hand was one of the finest Indian meals I have ever had. We were also very fortunate to be given a private room for our party of five so the kids could move around without disrupting other diners so we were less on edge.

The buffet suffered from a lack of choice (in my opinion) and was a bit of a scrum at most times of day. I think the addition of a directional system (think Ikea) would be useful - though I suppose the same inconsiderate idiots who think their own needs outweigh the young and the infirm probably wouldn't adhere to it.

Epicurean for breakfast was a welcome break from the buffet, and although the staff were very friendly the service wasn't up to expectations - twice we had to ask for coffee as none was forthcoming, and even a simple request like a banana meant they had to trek down to the MDR and therefore delayed everyone's breakfast by a good 10 minutes. The food, however, was excellent.

Our children absolutely loved the kids club (Splashers) which had plenty of toys, a dressing up area and a soft play area. In the evenings, they had bean bags and movies for the kids to watch. We felt guilty leaving them in there so long but they adored it in there so much they didn't want to leave. The staff were all superb with the kids, and it was a very safe and secure environment.

Although the cruise was generally very good, I did feel that the benefits for a suite were not very good compared to other cruise lines (e.g. no free laundry, internet) and even priority disembarkation was withdrawn a week prior - though nobody bothered to tell some of the reception staff or our butler as we were given very conflicting stories. Fortunately we were able to get off at our desired time anyway and the process was extremely smooth.

In summary, we had a most enjoyable time but a lack of attention to detail and a little less cost cutting for premium cabins would have garnered an Excellent rating rather than Very Good.

I did indeed. Though dress code comments still valid for both.

Our kids said hello to him on the first day with his response being "do you want my cabin as well"! Luckily this was my mother in laws cabin not ours so we rarely saw him after that.

Feel free to fire away with any questions!

Pretty sure on F deck you won't get any soot though - we were in A726/7 which was rarely overlooked and we actually had a good chat with a few people above unlike the miserable git below us who we were overlooking. All decks below B as far as I can see aren't really overlooked from above at all.

I would have been cross but my wife took the call and is far politer than I am!

There was a very small amount of soot but the balcony was cleaned every morning by the cabin steward while we were at breakfast so it was never a problem.

We printed ours on 100gsm paper and used four staples - they were very solid and are still there and in perfect condition having just arrived home!

Just got home from the same cruise. Had no issues with the lifts except immediately after Muster - the longest wait was about 2 minutes. Had one of the best Indian meals ever at Sindhu and loved the thermal suite. The twins loved the kids club. Overall I thought she was a beautiful ship.

Not happy that P&O cancelled priority disembarkation for suite passengers last week which most of the staff including out butler seemed unaware of until last night. Luckily we managed to disembark when we wanted anyway and were off the ship and away with our luggage within 15 mins.

Interestingly, we had someone call our suite to enquire about soot on the balcony half way through the cruise as he is in the same cabin in a couple of weeks!

I would imagine Arcadia is the same as Britannia - just on my way to thermal suite now. There are changing rooms where you change into a bathrobe and flip flops (supplied at spa reception) then go to the hydro suite. On Britannia this has 6 heated stone beds, 2 heated water beds, 2 steam rooms, sauna and large jacuzzi - to be enjoyed in any order you see fit. Enjoy!

Valid criticism is fine - tell the people who can do something about it. Moaning to everyone you meet whilst onboard is not and I will continue to point out the error of your ways should you moan to me when onboard.

I agree with post above re Suite Layout (can't see how to quote from app version) - two separate rooms works much better than old layout. Having kids sleep in mother in laws suite rather than ours works even better though! Only small issue is that room is very separate and you can't always hear knocks on the door and more importantly kids can easily let themselves out unseen as there is no high level lock.

So far we've had cream cheese one night and chocolate dipped strawberries the other.

There is one couple there every night on the current cruise who take their dancing VERY seriously; though they appear to dance the same style and tempo irrespective of what's being played. They had an argument in the middle of the floor on the first night. Best entertainment I've had on a ship in ages! There were people dressed casually in there last night (which was a formal night).

On board Britannia and having a great cruise so far. All around the ship I can hear people complaining about one thing or another (including one heated debate in a lift!). Yes, there are a few minor things so far but absolutely nothing that would stop me enjoying the cruise. The biggest gripe is a lack of full length mirror in the dressing area of the suite and lack or plug socket near any mirror outside the bathroom.

I will post a full review when home but so far the food has been superb, especially the private room we had in Sindhu last night (still not sure why we had a private room for 5 of us). The Thermal suite is excellent and we love the decor. Aft balconies (A726/7) are fantastic and being overlooked doesn't bother us in the slightest. Unlike the miserable b@&•#*d on the deck below us who wanted to know "do you want my cabin as well" when leaning on the rail...

Service has been great too, especially the cabin Steward and butler.

Someone moaned to me yesterday about the lack of reading lights - not sure he was impressed by my solution - buy a backlit Kindle! I do see his point but I prefer to focus on the many positives, not the few negatives.

As we paid for the cruise on this card I assume you can set up your onboard account on Amex - but do they make any additional charges for this?

Can anyone tell me what hold they put on the card? We have two cabins with 2 adults and 1 child in one, and 1 adult and 1 child in the other.

Thanks in advance.

Working OK now, but for a multi billion pound company it is absoluely shameful how often it crashes and is generally slow.

Almost certainly in Germany :)

The engines on Britannia are made by MAN Diesel & Turbo which primarily manufactures their engines in Germany I believe!

Love it!