Soot on Aft Balconies - Britannia

[emam]

I believe on her recent refit she had canopies fitted above the balconies. Someone posted a photo on here somewhere. Try looking for a Britannia refit thread.

[chrisg1uk]

They have installed glass canopies over the aft balconies on Decks A&B.   P&O say this is to help with "privacy" issues highlighted by guests as apparently some passengers felt uneasy about being overlooked from the bar above.  Some cynics (me included) suspect it has more to do with avoiding the occasional soot issue on these balconies.  These balconies  were brilliant for sun worshippers but now they look awful (in my view).  The soot will still collect on the glass and need cleaning and despite me asking P&O many times they were unable to say whether the glass was reflective and therefore created shade or not and created a greenhouse.   Since we were going to the Caribbean and the balcony was important to us, we transferred the cruise to elsewhere. There are pictures on previous threads somewhere and on other social media.            

[Selbourne]

9 hours ago, joeecco said:

What is the reason for this being such a big problem on this ship? Or is it the case on every ship? We’re yet to have an Aft balcony and are intrigued by this thread.

I don’t know for sure why it’s such a big issue on Britannia, but suspect that it’s a combination of the exhaust system / design and the tiered / protruding / uncovered aft balconies. Rest assured that it isn’t an issue on any other P&O ship. We have had aft suites on Britannia, Ventura and Arcadia and the only one we had a problem with was Britannia. 

[CCFC]

I remember sitting at the bar at the back of Oceana when a lump of soot landed right next to me, happened a couple of times.

[majortom10]

Soot is a problem of the design of the ship with regards to Britannia. Royal/Regal Princess are the same design and they have had just as many complaints about soot on aft balconies.

[Johndavid13]

On 6/30/2018 at 10:15 PM, Selbourne said:

 

You were obviously lucky that the weather conditions and wind direction favoured your balcony on that occasion. As I said, we didn’t have the soot daily, but when we did there was lots and the steward couldn’t remove all of it, try as he might. You also cannot wipe it off the mesh furniture. The issue is far from common on all ships. It is, however, a known issue on Britannia. If the soot wasn’t enough to contend with we had several other issues in that location also. We did receive substantial compensation but would have much preferred to have had a hassle free holiday.

We have recently returned from a 2 week trip on Britannia staying in one of the Aft cabins. The soot conditions on our balcony were horrendous. It was a constant battle every day. It made the balcony pretty much impossible to use. In fact, most of the time we were the only people struggling to sit out. Sitting on the balcony was a major part of my mother‘s holiday as she is wheelchair bound and often unable to go assure. We have written to P&O. and they are not taking our complaint seriously. We have been offered £350 in total as compensation on a future cruise for both cabins. This is just not good enough. We should’ve been informed about this potential problem when making our booking. Can you advise on how you managed to get your considerable compensation, please? The only way that this issue can be rectified is if people complain to ensure that future cruisers don’t have to go through what we went through.

[Selbourne]

49 minutes ago, Johndavid13 said:

We have recently returned from a 2 week trip on Britannia staying in one of the Aft cabins. The soot conditions on our balcony were horrendous. It was a constant battle every day. It made the balcony pretty much impossible to use. In fact, most of the time we were the only people struggling to sit out. Sitting on the balcony was a major part of my mother‘s holiday as she is wheelchair bound and often unable to go assure. We have written to P&O. and they are not taking our complaint seriously. We have been offered £350 in total as compensation on a future cruise for both cabins. This is just not good enough. We should’ve been informed about this potential problem when making our booking. Can you advise on how you managed to get your considerable compensation, please? The only way that this issue can be rectified is if people complain to ensure that future cruisers don’t have to go through what we went through.

I’m sorry to hear that you had exactly the same issues with soot that we had, especially as I was under the impression that this issue had been solved by canopies that were installed after our affected cruise. 
 

The soot was just one of several problems that we had with our aft suite. Others included noise disturbance from the Live Lounge two decks below us, multiple rattles in the lounge, bedroom and bathroom caused by vibration when at speed, and plumbing noises from multiple cabins due to the access door to the equipment being located in the internal corridor of our suite. 
 

In terms of the compensation, we dealt with this on board through the Customer Service Manager. We were made an initial offer which we declined. This was increased to a higher offer which we also declined. Finally, the matter was escalated shoreside whilst we were still on board and a final offer was made, which we accepted. Whilst the compensation was a lot more than you have been offered, I think that this might have been because we had other issues as well as the soot and we had paid for a suite and an adjacent balcony cabin for our daughters. In reality, the compensation was still a small proportion of what I spent on the holiday and I would have much preferred to have not had the compensation and not experienced any of these issues. I’m sure that you feel the same. 

[lancashire_cruisers]

@Johndavid13 which deck was your cabin on? We have aft suites booked on 2 Britannia cruises so it’s a bit concerning if this is an ongoing problem.

[Presto2]

2 hours ago, Johndavid13 said:

We have recently returned from a 2 week trip on Britannia staying in one of the Aft cabins. The soot conditions on our balcony were horrendous. It was a constant battle every day. It made the balcony pretty much impossible to use. In fact, most of the time we were the only people struggling to sit out. Sitting on the balcony was a major part of my mother‘s holiday as she is wheelchair bound and often unable to go assure. We have written to P&O. and they are not taking our complaint seriously. We have been offered £350 in total as compensation on a future cruise for both cabins. This is just not good enough. We should’ve been informed about this potential problem when making our booking. Can you advise on how you managed to get your considerable compensation, please? The only way that this issue can be rectified is if people complain to ensure that future cruisers don’t have to go through what we went through.

IMG_0778.mov

Good grief. We've stayed in aft cabins on Celebrity Silhouette and had F729, F728 and an E deck one  on Britannia and though we have had some issues with spots on both ships we've never had it as bad as  your photos appear to show above.

We normally take a small cloth to give everything a wipe down just incase and sometimes the weather conditions have made things slightly worse and a pair of flip flops for the balcony. I know you shouldn't necessarily have to but we read tips on CC and it helped massively.

 

Out of interest did they clean your balcony down for you at all? In June 2023 on Britannia it wasn't cleaned once though in the Caribbean they did give it a hose down some days and kept the floor clean.

 

It definitely seemed worse when the ship had been going flat out on a sea day or over night or the weather been bad.

 

I know they have put the canopies over but I think that the suites and cabins further down will always be affected as they are on her sister ships owned by Princess. We have sailed on her before and after the canopies and from our experience it hasn't made a difference lower down at all.

 

It's the same with the Silhouette and her sister ships on Celebrity.. last we heard it was still an issue there too. They used to hose the  balcony daily .. though that was before the pandemic and cuts that have followed. 

Edited Saturday at 10:14 AM by Presto2

[Megabear2]

That looks horrible. We have just booked D736 for next November, a move from December this year.  With our opinion of P&O currently very low if this is considered acceptable I think the cancellation I was talked out of by the P&O representative might have been the better solution!

[Johndavid13]

31 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

That looks horrible. We have just booked D736 for next November, a move from December this year.  With our opinion of P&O currently very low if this is considered acceptable I think the cancellation I was talked out of by the P&O representative might have been the better solution!

To be honest, the major soot problem was just one issue. There seems to be a general lack of care to guests since Covid. We had elevators out of order which meant that my mum in a wheelchair and I had to wait ages to get about the ship. Britannia has always had too few lifts available. The self-service restaurant was extremely crowded a lack of available chairs to sit down. A lack of staff available to replenish food before it had run out. The main Swimming pool very overcrowded never anywhere to sit, nobody policing towels left on chairs for many hours. lack of entertainment by the pool just loud music. Long lines of people queueing to get on and off of the ship. The list goes on. In general, the quality of services has in my opinion drastically declined. Certainly not worth the money. It seems like everywhere you turn these days all they want to do is take your money. 
 

[Presto2]

2 minutes ago, Johndavid13 said:

To be honest, the major soot problem was just one issue. There seems to be a general lack of care to guests since Covid. We had elevators out of order which meant that my mum in a wheelchair and I had to wait ages to get about the ship. Britannia has always had too few lifts available. The self-service restaurant was extremely crowded a lack of available chairs to sit down. A lack of staff available to replenish food before it had run out. The main Swimming pool very overcrowded never anywhere to sit, nobody policing towels left on chairs for many hours. lack of entertainment by the pool just loud music. Long lines of people queueing to get on and off of the ship. The list goes on. In general, the quality of services has in my opinion drastically declined. Certainly not worth the money. It seems like everywhere you turn these days all they want to do is take your money. 
 

It's interesting that we too had a terrible cruise on her on June 2023 but the one in January 2024 in the Caribbean was 100 times better..... 

[Johndavid13]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Good grief. We've stayed in aft cabins on Celebrity Silhouette and had F729, F728 and an E deck one  on Britannia and though we have had some issues with spots on both ships we've never had it as bad as  your photos appear to show above.

We normally take a small cloth to give everything a wipe down just incase and sometimes the weather conditions have made things slightly worse and a pair of flip flops for the balcony. I know you shouldn't necessarily have to but we read tips on CC and it helped massively.

 

Out of interest did they clean your balcony down for you at all? In June 2023 on Britannia it wasn't cleaned once though in the Caribbean they did give it a hose down some days and kept the floor clean.

 

It definitely seemed worse when the ship had been going flat out on a sea day or over night or the weather been bad.

 

I know they have put the canopies over but I think that the suites and cabins further down will always be affected as they are on her sister ships owned by Princess. We have sailed on her before and after the canopies and from our experience it hasn't made a difference lower down at all.

 

It's the same with the Silhouette and her sister ships on Celebrity.. last we heard it was still an issue there too. They used to hose the  balcony daily .. though that was before the pandemic and cuts that have followed. 

Our cabin Stewart did his best with very little protective equipment on a daily basis. But this was any time during the day. We like to get up at 6am in the morning to look out for dolphins and enjoy time on the balcony. Within an hour of the balcony being cleaned, it was dirty again from the soot particles. We were also concerned about the potential health implications. We should’ve been warned about this problem before we booked the cruise. It was only when the cabin steward told us that there was an issue when we arrived. It must be that they are burning a lower grade of fuel oil these days to save money. I hate to think what it would be like without the chimney scrubbers in operation.

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, Johndavid13 said:

Our cabin Stewart did his best with very little protective equipment on a daily basis. But this was any time during the day. We like to get up at 6am in the morning to look out for dolphins and enjoy time on the balcony. Within an hour of the balcony being cleaned, it was dirty again from the soot particles. We were also concerned about the potential health implications. We should’ve been warned about this problem before we booked the cruise. It was only when the cabin steward told us that there was an issue when we arrived. It must be that they are burning a lower grade of fuel oil these days to save money. I hate to think what it would be like without the chimney scrubbers in operation.

Which cabin numbers did you have?

[Johndavid13]

6 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

It's interesting that we too had a terrible cruise on her on June 2023 but the one in January 2024 in the Caribbean was 100 times better..... 

It may be that Maritime laws are different in other areas. Maybe it is a requirement to burn better quality fuel in the Caribbean. Some of this stuff has to be heated in order for it to become a liquid before it can be injected into the combustion chambers.

[Johndavid13]

2 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Which cabin numbers did you have?

E738 and E740

[Johndavid13]

11 minutes ago, Johndavid13 said:

It may be that Maritime laws are different in other areas. Maybe it is a requirement to burn better quality fuel in the Caribbean. Some of this stuff has to be heated in order for it to become a liquid before it can be injected into the combustion chambers.

Apparently All the soot particles that are scrubbed away from the inside of the chimney end up in a saltwater holding tank. This is then pumped out to sea. This means that the air and the sea is being polluted. I believe we are talking about tons of soot being pumped out to sea.

[Selbourne]

37 minutes ago, Johndavid13 said:

It must be that they are burning a lower grade of fuel oil these days to save money.

From our experience (and also based upon what our steward told us) the soot problems were determined more by weather conditions. In warm and dry climates the soot rises higher and falls much later, well behind the ship. In rain, the soot falls almost immediately and catches the aft of the ship. Wind direction also plays a part on which cabins are affected. Sometimes the soot catches the port side aft, but not starboard, yet other times it will catch the starboard side aft but not port.

[Johndavid13]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

From our experience (and also based upon what our steward told us) the soot problems were determined more by weather conditions. In warm and dry climates the soot rises higher and falls much later, well behind the ship. In rain, the soot falls almost immediately and catches the aft of the ship. Wind direction also plays a part on which cabins are affected. Sometimes the soot catches the port side aft, but not starboard, yet other times it will catch the starboard side aft but not port.

We had lots of soot every single day of our two week cruise. It didn’t seem to matter what course we were headed or what the wind direction was. Even when moored up, we still got the soot. 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Johndavid13 said:

We had lots of soot every single day of our two week cruise. It didn’t seem to matter what course we were headed or what the wind direction was. Even when moored up, we still got the soot. 

That’s very strange. We were on a 2 weeks cruise to the Med in the summer and the worst soot was the first morning after leaving Southampton, as there had been torrential rain during the night. We had fresh ‘falls’ on around 2 other days. The other 11 days there was no fresh soot at all but, try as he might, the steward could never really get rid of all of it, so we kept on getting oily smuts of it on our clothes and skin. 
 

It’s a shame that you had such a poor experience on Britannia as, in spite of the problems that we had with an aft suite, she is one of our favourite P&O ships. We have had four x 14 night cruises on her and my wife is a full time wheelchair user. We’ve never really had any major lift issues (other than when several have been out of service), whereas we had a nightmare with lifts on Iona, so much so that it put us off that ship and Arvia. We don’t use the buffet or the pool decks, so haven’t noticed any changes there. The only thing that we don’t like about Britannia (and it’s a big thing) and that’s the absence of a promenade deck but, other than that, we wouldn’t hesitate to go on her again.

[Johndavid13]

2 hours ago, lancashire_cruisers said:

@Johndavid13 which deck was your cabin on? We have aft suites booked on 2 Britannia cruises so it’s a bit concerning if this is an ongoing problem.

E Deck. I personally wouldn’t stay in an Aft cabin again. it’s a nice location to be in but you do get the inevitable large amounts of soot deposits making it impossible for you to sit out. My wife fell asleep for an hour and woke up with deposits all over her skin and clothing. I personally think if you like spending time on the balcony like we do then forget it. Also the fumes tend to come back into the cabin. The newer ships are now running on liquid petroleum gas which obviously fixes all the problems. 

 

 

[Johndavid13]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s very strange. We were on a 2 weeks cruise to the Med in the summer and the worst soot was the first morning after leaving Southampton, as there had been torrential rain during the night. We had fresh ‘falls’ on around 2 other days. The other 11 days there was no fresh soot at all but, try as he might, the steward could never really get rid of all of it, so we kept on getting oily smuts of it on our clothes and skin. 
 

It’s a shame that you had such a poor experience on Britannia as, in spite of the problems that we had with an aft suite, she is one of our favourite P&O ships. We have had four x 14 night cruises on her and my wife is a full time wheelchair user. We’ve never really had any major lift issues (other than when several have been out of service), whereas we had a nightmare with lifts on Iona, so much so that it put us off that ship and Arvia. We don’t use the buffet or the pool decks, so haven’t noticed any changes there. The only thing that we don’t like about Britannia (and it’s a big thing) and that’s the absence of a promenade deck but, other than that, we wouldn’t hesitate to go on her again.

I think some of it depends on the quality of the fuel that is being burned according to local Maritime laws and given areas. And whether or not the scrubbers are working properly.

[Camberley]

50 minutes ago, Johndavid13 said:

And whether or not the scrubbers are working properly.

I’ll have you know my sisters work very hard indeed 🤣

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Johndavid13 said:

E738 and E740

How odd. We had E741 in January and it wasn't that bad at all. The cabin steward was amazing but he may have left now. He had just got on early January.

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

From our experience (and also based upon what our steward told us) the soot problems were determined more by weather conditions. In warm and dry climates the soot rises higher and falls much later, well behind the ship. In rain, the soot falls almost immediately and catches the aft of the ship. Wind direction also plays a part on which cabins are affected. Sometimes the soot catches the port side aft, but not starboard, yet other times it will catch the starboard side aft but not port.

This is what we have found.. and like I said there are similar issues on some Princess and Celebrity ships.