New cruiser! questions?

[cornishcrusader]

Hello, we are looking to book a cruise on the Britannia in December. It will be our first cruise, we usually opt for all inclusive holidays. Mexico, Egypt etc.

 

How long does it take to leave the ship when in port for the day, is there lots of queuing?

 

How busy will the gym be?

 

I sure I will think of more questions but any help with these would be great.

 

Thanks

[manonabike]

Not been on Britania but just come off Azura which is nearly as big.

We only once had a queue to get off the ship (whether independently or for a tour) and that was due to a late arrival into port and everything bunched up so it's unlikely that will be an issue.

I never found the gym to be busy either.

I'm sure you'll love cruising, it's a really relaxed way to take a holiday and see lots of sights.

If I can give just 1 piece of advice it's take a multi socket power adaptor as there are usually only 1 or 2 power sockets in your cabin.

Enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Otter18]

Hello, we are looking to book a cruise on the Britannia in December. It will be our first cruise, we usually opt for all inclusive holidays. Mexico, Egypt etc.

 

How long does it take to leave the ship when in port for the day, is there lots of queuing?

 

How busy will the gym be?

 

I sure I will think of more questions but any help with these would be great.

 

Thanks

 

I am a regular in the gym on a cruise, and I have never seen a really busy gym on a P&O ship, so that is not one to worry about.

 

I have seen some queues at visiting ports, but nothing to be overly concerned. If tendering however, especially if there are a lot of tours disembarking first, then the wait can be extensive.

[Florry]

Britannia has more sockets than the other ships

[terrierjohn]

You are more likely to see queues for getting back on board rather than disembarking, unless you want to be one of the first off the ship.

[sapphire4]

My other half never had any problems getting into the gym and he was a regular everyday. Never had any problems disembarking. Just listen to the instructions over the tannoy telling you which deck etc...

[rickpo]

If its a tender port then there will be some queuing.

Those that have booked an excursion through P&O get off first and the rest queue up for a tender ticket and take there turn.

If you are not in a hurry then have a leisurely breakfast and after a while you can just turn up at the tender and leave without much of a wait.

 

Rick.

[themanwithahat]

How long does it take to leave the ship when in port for the day, is there lots of queuing?

 

How busy will the gym be?

 

 

How long depends on the port. There are, roughly, three types:

 

1) Tender ports. The boat is too big to dock so people are tendered backwards and forwards on the lifeboats. This can take quite a long time. Guernsey is the only tender port I have visited.

 

2) Distant ports. This is where the port is a fair way from where you actually want to go, like La Rochelle or Bilbao. Transport is laid on with coaches to the place itself, sometimes this is free, sometimes it is not.

 

3) City Centre Ports. Some places dock right in the middle (well... almost) of town and you can walk there easily - La Coruna or Cherbourg, for example.

 

There is a PDF which says what it is like for each P&O port, though my copy is a year old at least. My personal experience is apart from the tenders, it is fine. There are usually enough coaches. La Rochelle once there were big queues, which was down to a transport cock up I think.

 

The Gym is rarely full. Many people, like us, plan to visit the gym to work off the food - you get shedloads of food, and ... don't quite manage it.

Edited November 3, 2015 by themanwithahat

[Ranchi]

I've always taken a multi so jet previously but on our last cruise (Azura) I forgot. There are more sockets on the newer ships so it wasn't a big deal. There are however some sockets which are only on when the cabin is occupied ( cruise card in the light socket). Azura had only one 'always on' socket. Also the cruise literature said camera/phone chargers should not be left on in unattended cabins. Our steward disconnected any items that were charging when we were out of the cabin. Seems a reasonable precaution.