themanwithahat

In the end we just pottered around Civitiavecchia. It's an okay town, nothing thrilling, but okay :) It's like (say) Harwich port/town, it's perfectly nice but there's nothing exciting there. The oddity is the transport from the ferry. Walking into town takes about 30 minutes or so. The queues for the shuttle were longer, but the shuttle drops you at the roundabout near "Varco Vespucci" (if you look on Google Maps' Civitavecchia) which is a fair old walk back to the town centre. If it's a nice day I'd be inclined to walk it, it depends partly where you are berthed.

Also recommend https://www.facebook.com/Ristorantepizzeria-Lincontro-215426051985170/?pnref=story if you fancy a Pizza, it's not the most preposessing place but the food was great (and cheap) and has good wifi if that matters to you.

I think if we did it again on MOnday I'd either (i) go to Rome or (ii) hire a car (there are four of us) and just explore the area (iii) stay on the boat.

I did find places to visit to visit on a Monday - the hilltop towns - but they were probably 70-90 minutes drive away, which is pushing it for me under our own steam. (A family would have been left behind, but there was a delay leaving the port for some other reason and they just made it back). There's plenty of things not far away if it's not Monday.

The one thing I do recall that may have been open (?) is there is a Roman site fairly close by (Terrania ? something like that ?) and P&O were running a shuttle there. I checked with them because being Monday, it was supposedly shut (I'd already checked it, it was the first thing I found) and their response was along the lines of "if we're there, they'll open", which presumably they would be, you couldn't run an excursion there if it was shut. So that might be worth looking into.

We used Value-Rent-A-Car who had a deal where for £5 (?) you could insure against not actually getting there.

The good thing was that when it was cancelled, they actually contacted me to remind me to get the refund, twice.

So it basically cost me £5.

I wouldn't rely on the buses, because you might be short of time and they didn't seem to run more than hourly.

From someone on Britannia now.

 

So for all the ant and Dec haters and those who posted threads full of bile and absolute garbage about this Britannia cruise - here are the real facts from the cruise itself and gleaned from various crew members at the Baltic lunch today including the captain . Taking most of the previous comments / moans / whinges / untruths in turn :

The two riviera pools will be closed off for five days - nope , in fact they are not closed at all yet and may only be closed on show day .

The entire riviera pool area would be closed for three days - nope , only one side and not even half is closed . It's very much business as usual .

The arena deck would be closed entire cruise - nope it's fully open but one side of the deck below is closed for storage .

The sports court would be closed entire cruise - yes it is .

There will be loads of intrusions from TV cameras all round ship all cruise - err no there has been nothing at all .

Ant and Dec will be everywhere - they aren't even on until Friday in Barcelona although little ant and Dec have been on since Southampton .

The ship will be crawling with hundreds of competition winners who are horrid common people - err well if it is they aren't obvious . In fact there are 100 of them and as the ship is sailing full with 4000 passengers they aren't exactly obvious .

The ship will be crawling with technicians - there are 300 of them board but they aren't seen in the public rooms and tend to stay in the buffet area .

There will be noise from the construction of the set - err nope and in fact all the cabins below the set have been given to the technical crew for the show so it's they who suffer the noise if there is any .

The whole cruise will be ruined - if anything it's been enhanced as everyone is looking forward to Barcelona - all very exciting and certainly no trouble at all . In fact the storm on Sunday night / Monday caused more trouble by far !!!

So for those who cancelled this cruise - you've missed out big time !!!

 

 

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Actually the sports court reopened. After Barca all the ITV stuff was on a deck on the left side ...

That was really good of P&O, how nice if they did pick it up for every cruise, but I don't think that's likely to happen :p

 

I read your previous comment, I too would have been annoyed that everyone didn't play by the rules, but well done on wining the tickets. Looking forward to your cruise review.

It was because Barcelona wasn't on the original route I think.

Most kids over 10 and certainly the teenagers wouldn't be in the kids club that would be "uncool"

 

Think of all the places that you wouldn't be at 8pm on a Saturday - they'll all be there :p

The 12 and overs can take their chance with everyone else regarding tickets, can't they ? The kids club always looked to me like they made an effort not to be a babysitting service for the older children.

No where most kids would be at 8 on a Saturday night on a cruise. In the kids club.

I'm on B608 and booked it before the Geordie twins turned up. I would have only two criticisms ; the use of the Arena (sports court) for storage for the whole cruise, and the 'reward' of a cruise to the woman who skived for three months on SNT.

Anyone who booked it pre-Ant and Dec had the opportunity of a refund or a transfer and they were mostly accurate in what would happen.

They did not specify that it would be limited to over 12s, or that not everyone could see it live, but given there are 3500 people on board and the limitations involved in filming one is comically obvious - can't get 3500 people round a pool and one is surprising.

It has been said that the children may feel left out. There is a simple solution to this - Ant and Dec could visit the kids club for half an hour to say hello to them.

I actually would partly wonder how many under 12s would care. Since A&D left Byker Grove most of their shows haven't been aimed at children.

Sounds like P&O have really lost the plot now. :confused:

 

Crikey if I had been booked and been looking forward to this cruise and suddenly became aware of all these changes and restrictions I would certainly have been looking for my money back. I would be walking away from P&O and giving them up as a lost cause. :mad:

Actually they were - I'm one of them. We were offered a full refund or a free transfer to another cruise, and it did say the swimming pools would be unusable for three or four days, not sure OTOMH.

The arena is something new. And rather strange given the size of it ! The "under 12s" thing I don't recall but I can see it makes sense from a recording POV. Likewise those who are complaining they may not get to see it live, did anyone think it would be possible to get 3500 people round Britannia's pools ?

Booked Pasta course on B608 for Wife and Daughter, it was £45 pp. I think it roughly doubles if it is one of the "name" chefs ?

Hi. We are visiting Civitavecchia on P&O B608, but we decided not to visit Rome this time.

So I started researching what I could reach by public transport or hire car. There's quite a few things to visit we would enjoy.

The problem is we are there on 4th April, which is a Monday, and everything I have come across (like the Etruscan tombs and similar archaeological sites) is shut on Mondays.

The two things that might not be (!) are the hill towns Orvieto and Civitavecchi di Bagnoregno, but these are 90 minutes plus away which means 3 hours in a car, which is a bit much.

Does anyone have any suggestions for something that might be open on the day of the week when Italy appears to stop ? Is anywhere open - do all the shops, museums, etc. shut ?

They are the first to pull their fleet when the river is too high or too low. You then go from a wonderful river cruise to a coach and hotel holiday, and they do not refund. how do I know this when we were looking to book one I read the forums, read about the companies and the complaints about Viking were all like the above. We went with Avalon in the end.

That would be interesting if it ever went to court. It sounds to me like a significant material change, and you incur significant loss as a consequence. Those cruises are expensive, a coach trip down the Rhine and 7 nights in a Hotel wouldn't be anywhere near as expensive.

My Uncle and Aunt really like Thomson's cruises, so they can't be that bad :)

I'd have a poke round the Thomson's forum here, see if there is a group on Facebook, also there are usually videos of the ships on Youtube ; that an reading the reviews carefully (lots of whingers) will give you a decent idea)

No but what it is down to is that P&O and many other British companies ( less than there used to be) have grossly one sided T&C's. I wonder what P&O would give in compensation if they had to 'pull' a cruise a year in advance?

The monies as paid to date. If it was something unavoidable there would be frustration argument but that probably wouldn't get them very far. But there's no claim for actual loss in 99% of cases beyond that.

(In fact, I am on B608 where they offered just that because there are significant changes (No Cannes, no Cartagena and the loss of some of the ship) to the cruise due to the deal with Ant & Dec's production company)

And, that's the non-imbalance.

The OP signed a contract with P&O. She wants to break the contract, so forfeits the deposit.

Likewise, if P&O broke the contract (by 'pulling' a cruise) they would have to repay the deposit back (plus any payments made on the balance), plus probably any incidental costs especially if it was late notice - suppose you had booked a 3rd party transfer, or a hotel in Southampton, or another car parking ; it would depend how late they did it.

My question to P and O is this.. how can we afford £7000 on another cruise when this was the reason for changing it initally. You are forcing our hand into cancelling and then you will make £900. And why can you not let us change it to another cruise or a lesser value? They will then still be ensuring our custom.

We have travelled with P and O on numerous occasions and expect some loyalty.I think this policy is a clause that most customers will not be aware of and should think of before patronising this company.

I understand the £100 admin fee but I think the changing policy is very harsh and should be investigated.

It's normal. It's why it's called a "deposit". It's not particularly harsh either, it's certainly not illegal, and most people are aware when they pay a deposit what the restrictions are. It's not uncommon for companies not to allow a switch to a similar cost either.

Your options, other than swallow it, are rather limited. You might be able to resell it. You say you cannot afford it any more, which means that insurance is unlikely to cover it. You could try going for the sympathy route with P&O, but they will be used to people coming up with reasons why they should be treated as a special case, I very much doubt they will take much notice.

I'm sorry your financial status has changed, but that's actually not down to P&O.

Also we are planning a cruise on her next year I shall be 23 and my sister 19, will we fit in or is the age profile of the ship more than double our own?

No, you probably won't, but you won't really on most P&O ships IME. It depends if you mind. My daughter (21) doesn't mind but she does complain the quizzes are all about 70s-80s stuff :)

I haven't been on Oriana (yet, booked X612) but there are very few balconies and thus they are very expensive, relatively.

I have got the impression through forums such as this that Oriana works well for sunbathers ; I think there is plenty of sunbathing space on the angular decks ? - and that the fight for sunbeds doesn't occur (possibly because it's an adults only ship as well).

Probably not great, even if you are consecutive bookings on P&O. I did wonder when we did it if it worked like that, they just sequentially booked cabins that were left in booking order, but they don't, how they do it, I don't know.

Communication isn't too bad. Some people I've heard use portable SW radio sets which are fairly cheap to communicate, and there's the phone system. When we did this on Azura the phone system was fine, but then our children were 3 years older which makes it easier to manage.

As regards dinner, again, it's pot luck. Most people seem to be together when they book linked savers, but it's not guaranteed nor obviously is the choice of sitting. Last resort, you can use the buffet, and it's usually possible to change.

Oh yes, there is a definite difference between ' needless moaners' and people who have a justifiable concern or complaint.

 

The sort I mean are those you kind of see coming - who seem to be looking out for something not to be happy with, before it even happens.

Indeed. You can usually tell from the writing, everything is bad, terrible, negative, I hated everything about this cruise etc etc etc. I think some of them might be shills for other cruise liners, having read reviews of cruises I've actually been on, but some are pathological moaners.

Also there is a degree of unreality regarding modern cruising. It isn't the exclusive holiday it used to be ; a week in a cruise liner often isn't much more than a week in a hotel.

Hi - we are booked on B608 (the Ant and Dec cruise !) and we have A114 and A112 which are right at the front of Britannia.

I don't mind this from the stability point of view, but does anyone have any experience of the noise - we are below the Crows Nest , this looks like a Piano Bar AFAICS, presumably there isn't much noise late at night ?

TIA

Having elderly parents we need keep in touch with family. Can anyone tell me about the Wireless service onboard Britannia? Is coverage good across the ship or just certain areas? What is the cost of the service? We hope to use from iphones and ipad. Thanks.

TBH, your best bet is to contact them at ports. You might if lucky get close enough in dock to be able to connect (if you get a reasonable cost SIM or package) but the best bet is to find local Wifi points (Maccies are usually good !) that are free, or a free Wifi Cafe - this partly depends where you are stopping of course.

Do they offer special prices once on board, on Celebrity they had special offers throughout the cruise and we ate in one for half price? Would be a bit upset if we pre-book and then find we could have paid less once we are on board.

They chucked in a free bottle of wine (and I think £5 off) on the first night when we first went.

Well done - now sit back and enjoy looking forward to it and don't think any further about prices lol.:)

... apart from the potential prices of the next thirteen cruises .... it's very addictive.

but we don't have enough experience to know what's a 'good price' for the type of cruise we're looking at.

Nor does anyone else. There are sometimes cheap late deals is about as far as people know :)

It sounds a bit trite, but the 'good price' is that which you are happy to pay for what you get. Murphy's law says you always come across someone who paid a fair bit less than you ; if you worry about it you will drive yourself mad.

Nobody knows how to get free upgrades either :)

I have just done that on B630. If you are going to use the OBC its a no-brainer really, to the extent whether I wonder if P&O have really thought it through.

Nobody really knows how the pricing system works. The only plausible thing I have heard is there is a sales rush maybe when the deposits are due in, selling off cabins from those who don't pay the balance off. But the thing is don't worry about it.

If you don't mind the risk of not going, aren't to worried about dining and so on and have the life that means you can go at short notice, then its worth looking for deals, if you don't mind the risk of getting nowt, otherwise don't worry. (I once got offered a 7nt Thomson cruise for £250pp, going tomorrow .... couldn't do it, but may well have done if possible)

They certainly try the hard sell if you go anywhere near them!

First cruise on Ventura, we went to the raffle thing they have. Was standing close enough to the boss to hear sotto voce the instructions to stand near the exits to encourage people to take a tour.

Having said that, to access the quiet pool you have to go through the Spa and never been hassled.

Cheers. My wife is a bit of a celebrity collector. We are on B608 and she got very excited over the Ant and Dec thing.