New Ship 2020

[Brisbane41]

I am not impressed at all. I am the type of person that likes large ships that can take no more than 3,000 passengers. The amount this is taking is too much for me and it wont suit my style of cruising. I like to go to remote places and places far away and often book line voyages or re-positioning cruises.

 

I was the top of P&O's loyalty club but stopped cruising with the company after the 2012 Grand Event. Ever since I have been sailing with Celebrity and mainly Princess where they matched the loyalty on Princess. When I sail Princess I only cruise on the original Grand class ships like Grand, Golden, Star, Diamond, Sapphire. I preference those ones. I am booked on Emerald next year but it is a little too large for my liking and have booked it out of the school holidays which should make the experience better.

 

I hate to say this but as cruise lines change it drives my business elsewhere. Loyalty means nothing to me anymore and this new ship P&O are building is not going to get me back with them.

 

I fear into the future I will just have to start saving up for the more high end lines and cruise with them once the ships get too big to enjoy a destination cruise.

[Josy1953]

I couldn't think of much worse than Britannia, but this is definitely worse.

 

Having been on Britannia I agree with you. Britannia is definitely too big for us even though she is (in my opinion) a lovely ship. If this is the way things are going we will be stuck on old ships or looking at the more expensive lines that have ship's of a size that we like. I just wonder where all of the passengers are going to be found, there are only so many people but the number of available cabins is constantly rising.

[Cruise Puss]

Exactly what I'm thinking! I keep thinking I will get get round to Aurora one day - I had a short cruise on her cancelled when she went in for her re-fit. The one we like for next year is on Oriana - Now I'm re-looking at Aurora again in case she goes :(

 

Getting rid of Aurora would be highly unlikely. She is possibly the most difficult ship to book because she is highly regarded by passengers. She was the first large ship we travelled on and she is still one of our favourites. She does World cruises and is one of the most, if not the most, stable ship of all of them.

 

If they are going to get rid of any ships in our opinion it would be Oceana. She is the 'odd one out'. She has none of the 'new' facilities that the others have, such as a Sindhu, Glass House, etc. and doesn't seem to 'fit' the look of P&O overall.

 

We shall see.......

[terrierjohn]

As a big ship lover, mainly because we need to book an accessible cabin and like the more wheelchair friendly facilities, I am quite looking forward to the new ship.

More especially because she is being built by Meyer Werft in Papenberg the birthplace of the Celebrity Solstice class, which we consider our favourite ship and which is very wheelchair friendly. We are just hoping that the this new P&O ship utilises the same fitting out companies that built the Solstice ships, which are IMO far classier than the Grand/Royal class, and they have much bigger lifts as well.

[jh1809]

For me - Its all about the itinerary - If a ship is going where I want to go when I can go at a price that I find I can afford then I will go.

 

I dont get the same feeling about the smaller ships as I do with the larger ships. The "smallest" ship I`ve been on is Arcadia... I did have an Aurora cruise booked but that was cancelled by P&O and will be going on Oriana (Itinerary appeals)

 

If this new ship is going where I want then I will book but otherwise I`m quite happy on Azura & Britannia - Didnt like Ventura as much / Cant work out why...

 

But the bigger a ship, the more restricted it is in where it can go (no transit of the Panama Canal for instance) and also in which ports it can dock at and not have to tender. Also the smaller resorts can get very overcrowded with tourists when a mega-ship is in port. (Of course it's even worse when several such ships are in port simultaneously, but that's beyond P&O's control.)

[john watson]

Regarding the name - Canberra seems very popular on Facebook! ;)

 

P&O have an interesting fleet history, bearing in mind few of it's ships were cruise ships. The following list gives an idea of names and Britannia is there; 1887 then scrapped 1909 Genoa. A useful historic site to find out about origins of cruising and sea travel from the past. Links off this website take you to other P&O Heritage stuff or you can Google specific ship names etc.

 

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/pando.shtml

 

 

Regards John

Edited September 7, 2016 by john watson

[terrierjohn]

Why do we have to keep re-using old names, I prefer to see new names used then there is no confusion about the ship concerned.

[brillo]

Great news that there is a new ship on the stocks.

Several people have claimed that they could not find any quite areas on Britannia, this I find very hard to believe, what about the Serenity area and pool ?

[john watson]

I do think that 180000 is a bit big for them. Another Britannia size would have been adequate in my opinion.

 

 

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I think the problem is that Carnival Corporation order the ships on a many years ahead basis, based on anticipated sales trend with a specific cruise line in mind. A Britannia sister would be a lot better but these are generally built at Fincantieri Yard in Italy mainly for Princess Cruise Line. In this case it looks to me that they were anticipating the ship would go to Costa but sales must be down. So they reallocate elsewhere this time to P&O UK. Meyer Werft seem to build a lot of RCI ships which tend to be massive. The process seems to leave us with incongruous ships sometimes. For example Fincantieri start laying out a keel in 2003; number 6078 for a Holland America Line Vista Class vessel, for the line, however due to the timing of things it is later decided to make the ship up as a Cunard vessel due to be named Queen Victoria. However things were not quite right and a second plan comes into operation; add her to the P&O fleet. There you have it Arcadia in 2005 when the build was finished.

 

Regards John

Edited September 7, 2016 by john watson

[h3rjp]

Great news that there is a new ship on the stocks.

 

Several people have claimed that they could not find any quite areas on Britannia, this I find very hard to believe, what about the Serenity area and pool ?

 

 

Well that's the only adults only pool on the ship. And not particularly large and it doesn't have any hot tubs. Compare it to the grand class of ships and you have the pool just by the gym (with two hot tubs) which is nicely tucked away and then a large aft pool, which is also adults only. Plus you also have a full promenade deck, that Britannia doesn't have.

 

Open deck spaces are important to me and the more places there are, the better distributed your fellow passengers are. So leaving more areas less busy. In terms of pure square footage of open deck space there's less on Britannia and a hell of a lot more passengers, and that was the deal breaker for me.

 

Not that it's a bad ship. It looks visually stunning. But when the choice came down to two identical sailings, I put my money where my mouth is and paid £100 more per person for Azura over Britannia.

 

 

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[besberry]

Some friends of mine have just got off Aurora and the crew were telling them that she will be leaving the fleet in 2 years which is a shame. I think P&o run the risk of losing their year round bread and butter.

 

God knows how they'll cope with boarding!!! They need to take a serious look at how Royal caribbean do it... a lot could be learned...

 

Royal can get it wrong too! I was on the Oasis TA a couple of years back, (She's a big girl and I had a ball!!), it was a nightmare boarding. Some people were stuck outside City Terminal for FOUR hours, trying to enter. It was raining too :( Having said that boarding Anthem and Ovation was a breeze. 30 minutes from hotel check out to a drink at the pool bar on the Ovation.

 

But the bigger a ship, the more restricted it is in where it can go (no transit of the Panama Canal for instance) and also in which ports it can dock at and not have to tender.

 

The new canal is now open, the main restriction is the height of the Bridge of the Americas at the Pacific end, rather than the width of the canal.

[Balaena]

It's interesting reading the different views, ideas and comments regarding the new builds i.e. Britannia and beyond, verses the more traditional vessels which I'd 'just' include the grand class ships as they retain some of the features found in liners of the past. I guess the newer passengers, opps guests will find many of the features being built into these enormous vessels are what they would expect from a top resort in say Florida and I can't say anything against that. These new mega monsters (sorry to offend) are the future and there is no going back from now on from what I would want from a ship. So I guess folk like me and indeed many others like us on this forum who have grown up cruising on real ships and liners, will have to live with the inevitable changes and just cruise on to those ships which 'we' regard as a reflections of happy days gone by.

So, go for it and shape these monsters as you see fit and enjoy, but we won't be joining you.

Bal

[kevinyork]

Can P&O fill such a big ship from Southampton? Winter in the Caribbean maybe. Could they base such a big ship in summer in the Med with fly cruises instead of repetitive Southampton departures?

 

 

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[cruisefan2012]

EXTREMELY early days I know but on the back of Kevinyorks post - Can we see P&O basing 3 ships, Azura Britannia and new ship which I shall call Canberra in the Caribbean?...

 

Personally I`m glad that P&O dont have waterslides, rock climbing walls, ice skating rinks etc... Far too American for our British tastes

 

I like P&O, They are FAR from perfect but so far I`ve enjoyed every one of my 6 cruises with them, I do wish they would improve the day time activities and the evening entertainment - Have often felt some what bored off an evening after the evening show, much greater variety please !!

 

Have no interest in the Panama Canal if I did it would be with Princess !!

Edited September 7, 2016 by cruisefan2012

[DolphinWatcher]

Regarding the name - Canberra seems very popular on Facebook! ;)

 

 

I think I read on here that the name Olympia was registered at the same time as Britannia. Might be just rumour though.

[daiB]

Can P&O fill such a big ship from Southampton? Winter in the Caribbean maybe. Could they base such a big ship in summer in the Med with fly cruises instead of repetitive Southampton departures?

 

 

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Sorry Kevin but it is the fly cruises which are repetitive. A to B and back to A. Ugh.

 

 

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[terrierjohn]

It's interesting reading the different views, ideas and comments regarding the new builds i.e. Britannia and beyond, verses the more traditional vessels which I'd 'just' include the grand class ships as they retain some of the features found in liners of the past. I guess the newer passengers, opps guests will find many of the features being built into these enormous vessels are what they would expect from a top resort in say Florida and I can't say anything against that. These new mega monsters (sorry to offend) are the future and there is no going back from now on from what I would want from a ship. So I guess folk like me and indeed many others like us on this forum who have grown up cruising on real ships and liners, will have to live with the inevitable changes and just cruise on to those ships which 'we' regard as a reflections of happy days gone by.

So, go for it and shape these monsters as you see fit and enjoy, but we won't be joining you.

Bal

From what I have read P&O have no intention of adding any of the fun fair attractions or water slides on this new ship, it will be just a bigger version of all that has gone before. But I imagine there will be more speciality eateries and probably a limelight club like there is on Britannia.

So why are you are so despondent, if you are happy with Azura and Ventura then I see no reason why you would think the new build would so different.

[kevinyork]

Sorry Kevin but it is the fly cruises which are repetitive. A to B and back to A. Ugh.

 

 

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Dai, the repetition is the 2 days from/to Southampton. Thomson fill their ships in the Med with fly cruises. Just wondered how people would feel about a short haul to say Majorca or even better Malta. The bigger ship would make more charter flights viable.

 

 

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[kevinyork]

Duplicate

Edited September 7, 2016 by kevinyork

[kevinyork]

Sorry Kevin but it is the fly cruises which are repetitive. A to B and back to A. Ugh.

 

 

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Dai, the repetition is the 2 days from/to Southampton. Thomson fill their ships in the Med with fly cruises. Just wondered how people would feel about a short haul to say Majorca or even better Malta. The bigger ship would make more charter flights viable.

 

Plus many P&O stalwarts like Southampton departures but equally prefer smaller ships. Could fly cruise attract the newer customers?

 

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[niddwalker2]

Have taken my business elsewhere,can not stand anything over 2000 passengers.Problems embarking,finding good ports of call,lack of personal service especially with PO. Celebrity cruises seem to have a much better training school as ever with big ships they still give excellent service. PO should inorganate a smaller line with smaller ships similar to what Celebrity has done withAzamar cruises,this would suit a large number of PO ex customers.

[daiB]

Well Kevin I suspect they could as they appear to be filling Britannia. They did have problems filling Ventura last before they swapped to Oceana. They are clearly building the ship on the expectation of an increase in total numbers of cruisers.

 

I have always said P&O would be better concentrating on their core business. Cruising ex. Southampton. Let the other lines have the Med sailings.

 

But then again I love the sea days and would certainly not enjoy the very port intensive fly cruises.

 

 

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[Presto2]

Well Kevin I suspect they could as they appear to be filling Britannia. They did have problems filling Ventura last before they swapped to Oceana. They are clearly building the ship on the expectation of an increase in total numbers of cruisers.

 

I have always said P&O would be better concentrating on their core business. Cruising ex. Southampton. Let the other lines have the Med sailings.

 

But then again I love the sea days and would certainly not enjoy the very port intensive fly cruises.

 

 

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Hi Dai, didn't they swap Ventura for Oceana at the same time that Celebrity swapped the Silhouette for the Constellation because of the restriction on the size of the ships visiting Venice?

 

Having had a wonderful fly cruise recently on Oceana I really would not want P&O to leave the med fly cruises to other lines. We're off on our 17 day cruise on Ventura in August 2017 and I am a bit edgy about the sea days.

 

Just shows --- each to their own :);)

[daiB]

Hi Dai, didn't they swap Ventura for Oceana at the same time that Celebrity swapped the Silhouette for the Constellation because of the restriction on the size of the ships visiting Venice?

 

 

 

Having had a wonderful fly cruise recently on Oceana I really would not want P&O to leave the med fly cruises to other lines. We're off on our 17 day cruise on Ventura in August 2017 and I am a bit edgy about the sea days.

 

 

 

Just shows --- each to their own :);)

 

 

Yes they did but the bookings on Ventura were poor and the discounts high.

 

 

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[philipsw285]

glad to see its being built in papenburg so won't be the signs of rust britannia already has. As dry dock is covered and technology they use is the most advanced in the world.

more staircases and lifts our muster drill was diabolical the staircases were blocked with people trying to get to the headliners theatre nothing was moving it was like trying to get into an underground station on a weekday at 5.30-6.00pm.. god help us if the ship had to do a proper emergency drill.

more lifts and staircase full stop needs at least 4 sets of lifts and 4 sets of staircase that go all the way up not one front and one back like britannia.

decks that go all the way round you seem to walk into walls and have to go up or down which makes the ship seem twice as big and very tireing.

As it's being built by meyer werft azipods because Britannia at 18 knots plus you get loud vibration sound in the oriental restaurant and i've been on ships with azipods and you get none of that when its flat out 20 knots plus.......