Megabear2

Christmas day was spent on board enjoying the fun and games in the atrium and up on deck. It was quite windy so many took part. Santa's was in his den meeting and greeting and a special egg nog cocktail was served all day. Dinner in the Epicurean was excellent with great food matched with good wines. We.then enjoyed the Military Magician in the theatre before retiring to bed at a relatively early 11.30. Today it's St Kitts. Weather hot with showers and squally gusts so we wandered into the old town and then back to the port shops. Back onboard at 1.30 we enjoyed lunch and a bottle of wine before retiring to the balcony to read and catch up email, WhatsApp and other communications. Interestingly our phones are connecting to Medallion Wi-Fi from Enchanted Princess next door rather than Britannia. Just goes to show how good modern internet could be if you bother... Happy Boxing Day to all. Tomorrow Antigua.

But don't make money according to the sales guy on Britannia at present. I've just booked Iona March 18th with single select balcony for £1299 plus OBC. The desk is very busy. He told me they are instructed to push the Azura fly cruises, it's not size that's her problem rather the flights.

Friends in Southern Florida (Key Largo) told me the vote last year was to attempt to restrict cruise ship passenger visits to Key West to no more than 1700 per day. A quick look at the annual schedule shows only Carnival Dream at approx 3,600 passengers and Ventura at 3,060 are over the 3000 mark for the whole year. Everything else through 2023 and 2024 are below the 3000 passenger count. Number of passengers rather than size are being used in Key West and therefore calls by the new P&O ships would appear to be off as a result of that rather than actual physical size.

Water taxi was running yesterday. My money won't stretch to Saga so I'll do without the chocolate! Can confirm Santa visited and left gifts for all. The new P&O rum is very nice I can confirm! Nice touch at breakfast as even in the buffet free Bucks Fizz and extra vouchers for free drinks. Very windy today blowing force 8 and just passing through a deep rain shower. It looked like the film The Fog for 10 minutes or so. Great party on deck last night with Pulse returning - they haven't been performing so far. Everyone enjoyed several great sets catering to all. We also had the evening cruise out of St Lucia so continued the party after a swift bite in the buffet. That was our first visit there and it was noticeable far less choice than on previous cruises, not a complaint just an observation that compared with other years and my cruises on Celebrity and Princess earlier this year far inferior. We were late risers this morning after our 2.00am stumble to bed and have spent the day wandering and socializing. The ship has a nice happy vibe today after the service this morning and many are enjoying coffee and cake. We are trying for take two of the panto shortly.

Santa comes this evening at 5.00pm. Traditionally arrives at the funnel with his bag of gifts and then makes his way down to the open decks to.join the party - Sailaways are back big time. We will track Santa on his journey. Normally there's a link to Azura but as we're alone in the Caribbean this year not sure what will happen about that. Christmas gifts for all will be delivered this evening I'm told. Christmas day everyone has fixed dining. You chose before departure or if a late booking allocated. It's a 2 hour extravaganza. Christmas carols tomorrow morning with the choir, panto at 1.15 and a special Christmas themed headliners show. Various events around the ship.such as ice carving etc. We personally are dining in the Epicurean with a special Christmas menu with matched wines. Not cheap at £50 each.but the price has remained the same as last year so.we are happy. Everyone in Christmas garb today, formal dress tomorrow and then wear a Christmas jumper(!!) On Boxing Day.

Currently on Britannia and they are being quite strict on the rules (Good!). Brodies can wear shorts etc...Non formal nights smart jeans can be worn in dining rooms - emphasis on smart. On formal nights 90% have been DJ and suits. Pleasantly surprised they are doing their best to uphold the code.

Very little to report from yesterday's call at St Vincent. Most people who did not take an excursion were back onboard long before lunch. The general consensus seemed to be why do P&O choose this port as UK unless you go to the beach, climb a volcano or are a fan of Pirates of the Caribbean you will be disappointed. Those who managed to book the Mustique and Bequia excursions seemed pleased but having considered them we felt the prices were way too high for us. I have noticed that excursion prices onboard are considerably higher than when they launched and I'm very glad I booked in advance. An example is the Nevis trip from St Kitts which is now over £30 more than we paid before we departed. Limelight club for Chesney Hawkes last night was good but I'm unsure if he was really worth the extra £10pp more than Eric & Ern. Today we are on St Lucia. Weather currently good but we are warned of a heavy rain risk later. We are going on an evening catamaran trip having visited St Lucia many times before. Could be a wet one! Santa arriving at 5.00pm but his elves visited early ... A sighting of a very rare item ...

Are you listening P&O???

Sorry, forgot to post reply. We used Epic Tours for a private booking on their larger catamaran. We had sailed with them in January 2020 via P&O on their smaller vessel Mushi Mushi and kept the details for a private booking for a longer day on the bigger catamaran. The P&O trip is around 2 1/2 hours and has a 45 minute snorkelling stop. We had 6 hours with an on board bbq and two long stops including Kleine Bonaire. The groups in the water were smaller as well.being 4 to a group I can't recall what we paid but there were only 12 on board our vessel.compared to around 30 on the previous P&O trip. I'll check up when we are home and let you know the cost pp. We did look at other companies such as Salty Dog who have excellent reviews but part of the attraction for us was the catamaran and we couldn't find anyone else offering it.

The onboard internet works better at night ... Joking apart it was very difficult to book the seats as I think absolutely every flight was released at once. I understand it's very normal for the access to be difficult on release of the seats.

Seats went live at midnight on 22 September for our 16 December departure. It took until 2.30am for me to get in and I did manage to get a pair. I believe those that tried around 8.00am found little available in the pairs - on our outgoing flight spoke to several who were either in the middle or one behind the other.

Yes the lack of any power was interesting to say the least. The Captain was going to great lengths to emphasise no other ships around and I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or not at the time! The oddest thing for me was how quiet it was. After about 50 minutes we could hear lots of banging from below. We've met a couple who have an aft cabin on deck 9 and they told us at breakfast this morning their entire balcony and doors are thick black with soot. Their steward and a couple of crew were trying to shovel (Their words,) it up when they came to breakfast this morning.

Good afternoon from Grenada. Lots of excitement before we made it here this morning! Happily watching the pantomime yesterday in The Live Lounge when at around 1.20pm we were plunged into darkness as the ship lost all power. Emergency lighting triggered and it became eerily silent - funny how soon you become accustomed to the engine noise. Anyway after 10 minutes the captain came on and stated we had lost everything as the engines had failed to switch. Engineers were investigating. Not the most comforting announcement: nothing to worry about for his passengers YET, 39 miles from land and 1,500 metres of water below us so we could drift in safety. Further update in 20 minutes. Lots of mumbling as we all sat tight. Next announcement about 25 minutes later, now 40 miles from land but no.clue as to why things weren't working, please do not use the toilets but you can return to your cabin but don't flush. At this point Widow Twanky reappeared and proceeded to try to raise spirits so at least here we were being entertained but obviously no drinks could be served. After 50 minutes engineers think they've located the problem, sorry it's getting hot. Then a couple of minutes later please clear the open decks as we will have chemicals and smoke from the funnel when we restart. The pools will be closed for 30 minutes or so as well. All good we thought we'll soon be back up. The panto characters left and the magician appeared (as if by magic!) and announced he would give us a show as he didn't need electric. Just as he started things started to whir and a few lights switched on. All good we thought ... wrong we were to quote Yoda. Just as the magician started to produce flags of paper from his jaws we were plunged into total darkness. This time the emergency lighting was a little slower and when it triggered the magician could be seen distorting yards of paper as quickly as he could. He probably got the biggest round of applause he's ever had. We continued to drift for another hour or so without any power. The crew were amazing running from place to place trying to provide bottles and cans of drinks and operating a handwritten payment charge system. Walking towards our cabin we found a chain of people running up stairs carrying trays of rolls and cold foods to deck 16 buffet. Ingenuity was everywhere and the lengths the crew were going to was extraordinary. We finally regained power nearly 3 hours after it went off. Amazingly dinner was only delayed until 6.30 for opening. Some systems came up more slowly such as t.v. in the rooms but overall by 7.00pm you'd never have known. We went to Limelight for Eric & Ern and here the service was very slow with a full.house and only 4 waiters to begin with. This was due to deployment to assist move the various backlogs but by the time the main course arrived normality resumed. The food was good although noticeably cut back from previous visits not enough to spoil things but definitely noticeable. Today I managed to get the app on to my phone for the first time. Out of interest I checked the availability for Epicurean, Sindhu and Limelight for the rest of the voyage. Apart from Christmas day I could book Epicurean for all other nights at either 6.00pm or 9.00pm, no night is full. Sindhu has availability most nights at 8.00pm, 8.30pm or 9.00pm. Cheney Hawked and John Partridge in the Limelight are sold out although Chesney has availability on Christmas Day. The Beach House is only available at 9.00pm every night but you can get in which surprised me. All of the Cookery Club dinners are sold out. It would appear therefore that speciality dining isn't of high importance to many on this cruise. The Retreat however was sold put on day 1 for the whole voyage as were a large number of spa slots. After a few showers here early.morning we had a wander ashore and did a little shopping before enjoying a local beer. The ferry to the beach was very busy so we passed on this occasion. It is $5pp.each way to Grand Anse and $10pp to one I can't remember the name of which is about a 20 minute boat trip. It's a lovely afternoon now although more cloud can be seen on the horizon. We have the deck party tonight from 7.00pm to 11.00pm so hopefully we don't catch the showers. Tomorrow St Vincent assuming the repairs today have ensured no.more excitement!

Hello from Britannia at sea. We are heading to Grenada and enjoying a Clement day in the Caribbean sea. We have some head winds and those around the Serenity pool are having fun holding on to their towels and hats. 29 degrees has brought out the sun lovers but many are enjoying the onboard activities such as the pantomime, juggling lessons and meeting Santa's helpers who are hard at it in the atrium. There is a definite excitement in the air with last minute Christmas shopping under way - all that OBC being put to good use! The open decks are busy with not many sunbeds unoccupied. I learned we have 600 kids onboard this morning but to be honest I wouldn't have known as all the ones we've met have been very charming and polite. Breakfast was notably busier but as we eat earlier we just had a normal table and waiters. Dress code was being strictly adhered to this morning and we saw several sleeveless gentlemen sent to change. Everything calm, no problems with over indulgence that I've seen, just general high spirits. We have our first Limelight visit this evening for Eric and Ern's last night which we are looking forward to. All nights have apparently been sold out. Sindh and Epicurean are advertising today with availability although how much I do not know. A few pictures for you below.

Safely back onboard after a truly memorable day in the reefs of Bonaire's National Park. Weather perfect with a stiff breeze to enable pure sailing rather than motors. I cannot recommend this enough if you are able to organise it. I believe P&O offer a short version for anyone not wanting to do it themselves. Everything one the island is as before the pandemic despite them being one of the last to reopen. Being part of The Netherlands they have been fully supported and it shows. We look like we are going to have a storm and there was a brief rain shower while we waited to reboard. Coming back on was a bit of a mess with unexplained long queue forming. I think it may have been due to the winds increasing but no one actually told us. Once back we nipped up for a quick scone and tea but the ambiance is not the same now everyone is in the cafeteria. One cuppa and we left. There is going to be a sailaway this evening, out first. I'm going to venture out to use my free drinks voucher and it will be interesting to see how it goes. I did note a few unsteady but happy ladies on deck 16 when popping to the ladies before tea. Not sure how their menfolk will be faring. We have the Gravity headliner show tonight which is the first one. Last night were two acrobatic performers who were excellent. Tomorrow we are at sea so plan a nice quiet day with fitness dancing (!) at 9.30am and part two of the lectures on unexplained phenomena. We had planned a swim but will leave it to late afternoon to avoid the sunbed wars! We have Eric and Ern (a Christmas tradition for us) in the Limelight tomorrow. Just found an excellent Greek wine in the Glass House which may become my new favourite. On the subject of wine my favourite Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was £42 last year but is now £55. I'm giving it a miss - currently on sale in Tesco for £23 so I'll wait till I'm home. Apart from that most wines are reasonable but definitely increased by £5 or do each a bottle. Can't get the photos to load properly at present so will try again later.

Britannia steerage passengers ...

We left Barbados Saturday at around 11.00pm sailing full speed and arrived Curacao at around 11.00am - we had been told that was the aim and it was almost perfectly timed. We were given an extension until all onboard at 10.00pm which was much appreciated. Personally we took the Ultimate Island trip with P&O specifically because they take you to the far side of the island to swim with wild turtles. We have taken this trip several times before and the turtles did not disappoint with a good 30 or so putting in an appearance. This tour took in a trip to the caves - guess who managed to get very wet - and a trip to a beach and viewing of the flamingos. Previously the beach was easily accessible for two hours with a lounger and umbrella. This was cut back to an hour at the beach with no seat or umbrella and lunch had become a paper bag with some horrendous looking wrap and an apple. The six hours also became five despite being sold as six but as the beach was not what we expected we were quite glad. Today Bonaire. This is the big one for me and part of the reason I booked this itinerary. We are off on a sailing catamaran under sail not engines to go to the reef for diving and snorkeling. Fingers crossed as conditions are perfect. Update on the clientele. Dress code on formal night about 85% adhered to. I must be getting old because some of the girls/ladies dresses left not a lot to the imagination. I can report an astonishing amount of flesh on display but can confirm big efforts clearly made. Most of the gents and boys were smart - lots of DJs and a few smart suits. The popular choice last night seemed to be slacks and polo shirts. Of course there were a few on both nights who looked out of place but overall nothing not within the "rules". AS someone who likes seadays these seem to be off limits if you aren't out at 6.00am for your sunbed! Although a port day yesterday I found 20 people at 5.45am hovering with towels around the main pool watching the deck being washed and waiting like vultures for the first sunbeds to launch. Having returned 15 minutes later after picking up some teabags on my way back from my stroll the crowd had grown to around double the size! I assume they were anxious as we weren't docking until 11.00am although whether they actually stayed at the pool all day is questionable. For the first time ever we had a large queue to get off the ship so.figured.modt we're off at that point. ENtertainment has so far been very good. No complaints there. The gingerbread houses and village appeared this morning and a wonderful display of cakes. I will post later with photos. overall things are good. Noticeably most people are commenting on the shortage of staff but everyone is working at top speed and service is friendly and efficient. As ever everyone is lovely. More officers visible and working to help ease pressure points. Oh yes ... Photographers back on formal night and the gallery is open and operational. We have had no queues for breakfast or dinner although have noticed them around 8.00 for breakfast but nothing untoward. We also have great service at all bars except on deck on the seaday. I'm told we are 3,300 souls. Off now to take.my.boat so will catch up later.

Hello one and all!!!! Sorry for the lack of updates but things here have been very difficult for many. Our three hour delay ended up being 4 1/2 as on arrival the steps wouldn't attach. Long delay and arrived on-board at 9.20pm Barbados time. We were however the lucky ones. People on Manchester flight 4 1/2 hours on-board before departure as no baggage handlers and then deicing problems. Glasgow never even made it! We arrived to several hundred brought back here overnight as their plane didn't arrive. Earlier Gatwick flight had some Spanish airline providing an old A330 with no entertainment, premium economy and apparently drinks! Total mayhem. Sadly yesterday faired not much better. The dreadful Gatwick plane apparently used and to compound lots of damaged luggage. Second Manchester flight delayed- those leaving here went off at 9.30pm. We sailed 10.30 ish, now foot down to Curacao where we should arrive around 10.00am tomorrow but apparently staying later to give us same time. First impressions on the ship: she's definitely struggling in some areas on deck with drink service. There's not a seat to be found in virtually all areas and most are resorting to queuing at the bar to order and take away drinks themselves. Not tried it myself but spent 30.minutes enjoying my ice cream watching the queue. Officers were manning the bar to help but.not a particularly sight around the pool so I'm afraid we departed. Wasn't helped by the world cup being on and bar staff diverted to help with sales of buckets of beer in the theatre. There has been lots of aggravated people mainly due to the trauma of getting here but it's calming this afternoon. Points to note, the app won't work on any of our phones or tablets. After camping with reception day 1 and with IT today they've given up and told us to go manual! Working well for us - I'm still "special" apparently! I just tell them what I want and I get it even if it says not available! I have my Epicurean bookings including Christmas day - no one knows if it's a special menu or not mind and we won't be told until 22nd - also my Limelight bookings have been confirmed with front row tables. Dress code, hmmm. Traditionalist will not I fear be happy. Started well at breakfast yesterday as guy sent away for wearing a vest. However Meridian last night absolutely full of shorts, trainers and track trousers. I'm guessing these may be the new arrivals and because of all the anguish slack was cut, but we shall see tonight as it's first formal. My OH has noted in his opinion the clientele is very different. Certainly lots more younger people drinking.earlier. Quite a scene in the theatre when Argentina scored as a group leapt up and removed their shirts to run up and down- I don't even see that at Chelsea on a Saturday but then we've forgotten how to score so maybe that's why! Had a nice day at the beach - Carlisle Bay - yesterday and it was much need to relax and unwind after the travel problems. Nathan Jones in the theatre was excellent. We had reservation but no one checked them just said take any seat. Tonight we have first headliner show, again we were booked but didn't want the 10.30 so my nice lady on reception moved me to 8.30 no hassle. I'm inclined to believe there are many on here not intetested in the main theatre more the lounges and bars. We are a bit disappointed with our cabin. It is just above the lifeboat gantry and one seat offers a view of that. It isn't the original choice but the air con didn't work in that so I'll make do with the view. We are sailing very fast to make up the time. Overall not bad but definitely nowhere as good as previous Christmas cruises. It's early days but there are some silly annoyances - you now pay to ice a gingerbread house for instance. Our can steward apologised for no free water and having to deliver our ice at 1.00pm - still okay for the G&T at 6.00pm though. If you don't want to join the gunfight for sunbed it's fine but as someone whose done this Christmas cruise on both Britannia and Azura many times I can confirm the new clientele definitely have a vastly different experience in mind with roasting in the sun and drinking as soon as the bar opens. Not a complaint as it's each to his own just something of a surprise. We are happy enough, the weather's great, the food has been good and it's nice to be back.

Thankfully straight to the ship. Gate has just been announced do 13.20 seems to be on.

BIG NEWS!!!! I'm an auntie a month early. My niece has just had a baby girl, her first. Very excited at our early Christmas present but sadly none of us are in the UK to greet her as most of the family are on Aurora currently chasing the northern lights and we are sat in Gatwick!

A very good morning to you all from a still bitterly cold Gatwick. As promised I'll try to let you know how the Great Adventure goes and will try to drop in here with updates. We had a comfortable night in the Hampton by Hilton which is attached to the North Terminal and thankfully it means we won't have to face the current minus 4 degrees outside just needing to wander 100 yards and up the escalator to check in. P&O sent a last minute what to do at check in email overnight but I've just checked for updates on the departure boards and unfortunately that big old 787 isn't going to roll any time soon! The earlier flight at 10.25 flight is on time but our 11.20 flight is delayed until 13.20. Bit of a disappointment there - ironically we were originally on the 10.25 but because we upgraded to PE were moved to the later flight. Luckily we can keep the room at the hotel so plan on checking in and wandering back here for an hour or two rather than facing the "dark side" for extra time. Sadly it looks like Epicurean Christmas dinner is going to be in doubt as everyone else will be there before us. I shall return with updates!

Will do. I think its 3 days before as others have said. Will try to update every day if possible, we bought the supposed super wifi but previous experience says the best reception is one specific table in Horizon buffet the crew use to call home No doubt someone will be enjoying a leisurely full English every time I head there!

I just love that song and it always gets me excited before a flight. Sorry to haunt you ... however how about that big ole 707 set to go ... another all time favourite? After several G&Ts over our early airport lunch its always time to name that tune! Do you recognise that one too? Hope TUI have upgraded to something more modern though the 707 had much more legroom.

Hello from a frozen Gatwick. Tomorrow's flight is I believe 11.00am - I checked it as an alternative when I added by PE but in the event there were two remaining seats on Gatwick flight. If I recall last time I used Birmingham TUI to Barbados in 2019 it was also around 11.00. I think there is currently only one Birmingham flight but two Manchester and two Gatwick.

Britannia hotels have just been officially named the worst in the UK for the tenth year running!! https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2022/nov/09/britannia-named-worst-uk-hotel-chain-for-tenth-year-in-a-row I think I'd rather take the bus or long walk.