Brittania- Good points?

[emam]

Sunset bar at Cartagena.

[snaefell]

On 6/21/2019 at 12:18 PM, tom_uk said:

 

We've been spoiled, Andy - C deck balcony cabins on Ventura & Azura! I've attached a photo showing Val, my wife, on two balconies - on the left, on a C deck balcony on Ventura, and on the right, on Britannia. The point of this comparison is these were both fairly standard Balcony cabins - nothing special. And I also recognise that the C deck balconies on Azura & Ventura are unusual - a comparison between any other deck on those ships and Britannia would be much more equal.

 

I thought the balcony on Oceana last autumn was a bit bigger than the Britannia balcony. That said, when the sun came out on our Britannia cruise, we didn't waste the balcony - we were out there.

Are all the C deck balconies like that On Azura?

[tom_uk]

7 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Are all the C deck balconies like that On Azura?

 

Yes - at least the ones down the sides of the ship. The balconies across the stern are different again, but there aren't many of them.

 

Here's a link to a post in my blog explaining how and why the C deck balconies on Azura and Ventura are so much deeper than those on the other decks.

 

(Apologies to the OP for the way this has drifted away from Britannia-specific issues.)

[snaefell]

2 hours ago, tom_uk said:

 

(Apologies to the OP for the way this has drifted away from Britannia-specific issues.)

Well in a way but it is because of Britannias' tiny balconies that I am asking,our last journey on her was in one of her aft corner suites,the balcony was superb,so good that we could never go back tp one of her normal balcony cabins no matter how much we like her!

As a result we have been looking at a cruise on Azura but had been  looking at her 'large balcony cabins' which I was told were on D deck so you have me thinking!

[tom_uk]

3 minutes ago, snaefell said:

Well in a way but it is because of Britannias' tiny balconies that I am asking,our last journey on her was in one of her aft corner suites,the balcony was superb,so good that we could never go back tp one of her normal balcony cabins no matter how much we like her!

As a result we have been looking at a cruise on Azura but had been  looking at her 'large balcony cabins' which I was told were on D deck so you have me thinking!

 

Indeed.

 

There are a couple of points about those D deck cabins & balconies on Azura & Ventura. First, the actual cabin is bigger than the other balcony cabins - P&O describe the D (and E) deck cabins as 'Superior Deluxe' while the ordinary balcony cabins are described as 'Standard'. So you do get a larger cabin.

 

Secondly, the balcony for the D deck cabins is completely overlooked - 100% visible from all balconies above it, and especially from the C deck balcony immediately above! This is because the D deck balcony doesn't 'tuck under' the C deck balcony above - that balcony sits directly on top of the D deck cabin, and looks down onto the whole of the D deck balcony. The C deck balcony is a mixture - 50% of it (nearest the cabin) is located directly underneath the B deck balcony above, so it's hidden, and then the other 50%, towards the balcony rail, is visible. So you just have to remember - if you stay near to the cabin you're hidden, if you go near the rail you're visible. Looking at the picture I posted, it's likely that Val's legs and feet would have been visible from above, but the rest of her would have been hidden.

 

And I suppose that could be an advantage of the Britannia balcony - it's completely underneath the balcony above, so is not open to view from above at all.

[silkworms]

We absolutely love the D deck cabins, never ever had a problem being overlooked because of its openness, and it is wonderful for sunbathing. The cabin itself is much bigger than C deck with large sofa instead of just one chair and the bathroom has tub as well as shower. Give me a D deck cabin every time.

[tartanexile81]

I'll continue the Britannia thread first of all. We did  a Celebrity cruise to the baltic on her and we loved every minute despite all our friends warning us against her. She isn't  traditional ship but we loved our cabin except for the soot on the balcony (we had an aft cabin), the entertainment was the best we'd ever had, we loved the layout of the ship / our cabin and because we were aft were unaffected by the perceived issue with the lifts; and overall we had a fantastic experience and would go back on her tomorrow for the right itinerary.

 

As far as Azura /Ventura balconies are concerned, we've had aft, C deck ad D deck. Aft cabins are dark because of the overhang; if you're doing a Med or Caribbean cruise there's no shade on the D deck balconies and you don't spend much time inside the cabin when it's hot and sunny so the extra television or sofa don't get much used; C deck balcony is the best of all worlds so you have a regular size balcony to sun-bathe on, then an equally big balcony to get some shade when the sun gets too hot

[snaefell]

Yes we did see some soot on our aft balcony on Britannia but never bad enough to be a problem,the real bonus was on the Transatlantic crossing where for the 5 days out to the Azores especially we were sheltered by the superstructure & could sunbathe as much as we liked while the furniture was flying up in Serenity!

We found the lift set up a real pain aft personally as they seemed pretty useless to go any further down than where Sindhu was,also getting aft could involve a trip through the gym where we were so tempted to join in or the buffet which was like taking your life in your hands at times,worst of all it is a blooming long walk from the Crows Nest at bed time!

[wowzz]

20 hours ago, silkworms said:

We absolutely love the D deck cabins, never ever had a problem being overlooked because of its openness, and it is wonderful for sunbathing. The cabin itself is much bigger than C deck with large sofa instead of just one chair and the bathroom has tub as well as shower. Give me a D deck cabin every time.

Good to know. We've got a D deck balcony cabin booked for a 35 day cruise in 2021, and want the extra space for that length of cruise.

[silkworms]

You will love it Wowzz, we have one booked for 35 nights in Feb. 2020, going to Bahamas etc. Can’t wait!

[Monorail Orange]

I've had a moan in another thread about Britannia, but I'll add some positive thoughts here.

 

The decor is lovely and nicely appointed throughout.

She's wearing well, only a few obvious things needed doing in the refburb (bit carpet here and there, to be expected).

The balconies are not as small as I was lead to believe. You can sit confortably out there (ok, at an angle) but it was never too cramped. The bathrooms howere are tiny. (sorry to add a negative!)

 

[Barnum42]

Glass door on shower.
Big TV, was useful when we travelled with surly teenager.
Large buffet to better handle crowds.
Grab and Go station. Used this to stock up on sandwiches if we were going for a hike on shore  
Adult Only Quiet Pool (if they could be bothered to stop noisy kids using it)
Main Dining room on par with the other ships
The biggest plus is sadly no longer applicable - for the first couple of years, because there are so many balcony cabins, the price difference between inside and balcony was about £100 rather than the £300 on other ships. When we last looked the price difference was £300. 
 

[majortom10]

11 hours ago, Barnum42 said:

Glass door on shower.
Big TV, was useful when we travelled with surly teenager.
Large buffet to better handle crowds.
Grab and Go station. Used this to stock up on sandwiches if we were going for a hike on shore  
Adult Only Quiet Pool (if they could be bothered to stop noisy kids using it)
Main Dining room on par with the other ships
The biggest plus is sadly no longer applicable - for the first couple of years, because there are so many balcony cabins, the price difference between inside and balcony was about £100 rather than the £300 on other ships. When we last looked the price difference was £300. 
 

Grab n Go is not designed and there for you to take food and then take it off the ship on port days. It is there for people to take food and eat at the pool area or perhaps take back to your cabin and eat on balcony. On our last cruise on Britannia in May they stopped stocking sandwiches and salads until 11am when most would be in port and only stocked hot items for breakfast to try and stop people taking food off the ship which is frowned upon by P&O.

Edited July 2, 2019 by majortom10

[Eglesbrech]

22 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Grab n Go is not designed and there for you to take food and then take it off the ship on port days. It is there for people to take food and eat at the pool area or perhaps take back to your cabin and eat on balcony. On our last cruise on Britannia in May they stopped stocking sandwiches and salads until 11am when most would be in port and only stocked hot items for breakfast to try and stop people taking food off the ship which is frowned upon by P&O.

Depending on the country you are visiting it may be more than just frowned upon, it could be an offence and an instant fine. 

 

We have had to dump full packs of sandwiches etc on planes before landing due to the hefty fines in some countries visited for taking in any foodstuffs detailed on a very long list. 

[Son of Anarchy]

10 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Grab n Go is not designed and there for you to take food and then take it off the ship on port days. It is there for people to take food and eat at the pool area or perhaps take back to your cabin and eat on balcony. On our last cruise on Britannia in May they stopped stocking sandwiches and salads until 11am when most would be in port and only stocked hot items for breakfast to try and stop people taking food off the ship which is frowned upon by P&O.

 

We took some baguettes ashore in Lisbon from the Grag & Go.  Didn't get round to eating them before heading back to the ship from near the railway station.  Gave them to the only person "at home" at the homeless area nearby.

[snaefell]

We thought the Grab'N'Go was good for the first few days,especially as one member of the crew said that its content changed regularly,don't know what his concept of regularly was but they were serving exactly the same stuff on the last day as the first & every other day!

[majortom10]

30 minutes ago, snaefell said:

We thought the Grab'N'Go was good for the first few days,especially as one member of the crew said that its content changed regularly,don't know what his concept of regularly was but they were serving exactly the same stuff on the last day as the first & every other day!

Perhaps he meant changed regularly so that the food was fresh and not left in until it either was taken by a cruiser or Grab n Go was closed at 4pm.

[snaefell]

19 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Perhaps he meant changed regularly so that the food was fresh and not left in until it either was taken by a cruiser or Grab n Go was closed at 4pm.

Good point,maybe so,as much as we liked it we would have liked a bit of variety though!

[Barnum42]

On 7/2/2019 at 10:07 AM, majortom10 said:

Grab n Go is not designed and there for you to take food and then take it off the ship on port days. It is there for people to take food and eat at the pool area or perhaps take back to your cabin and eat on balcony. On our last cruise on Britannia in May they stopped stocking sandwiches and salads until 11am when most would be in port and only stocked hot items for breakfast to try and stop people taking food off the ship which is frowned upon by P&O.

Tea begs were not designed to be submerged in hot water, but just as a method of transporting tea. By the same token, Grab and Go is useful for grabbing something to take on a hike - I accept in some circumstances going between certain countries then other laws can come into play, and I'm not going to cross that line, but that's a whole different kettle of fish (and yes, kettles in the cabin are designed for heating water not housing fish).

As for them opening up grab and go at 11, I guess you can pop a sandwich in the cabin fridge for the following day.

 

I do plenty of things P&O probably frown upon, - my not drinking booze, not booking shore excursions and not eating in extra charge venues are probably causing more furrowed brows in Carnival house than where I ate a sandwich.

[tom_uk]

Have a great cruise!

[emam]

 

We have been on Ventura 3 times, once on Celebrity and are just a week from being back from Britannia. Each ship has been different and all have been a great holiday. Britannia was a more relaxing holiday than Ventura, with lots of places to sit, to sunbath, read, drink, eat. You have the usual seats around the pools but there is also lots of other places for sunbathing. You can be in or out of the sun. I wouldn't pay for the retreat though we did consider it. The Crystal room is lovely for dancing or just to watch. The atrium is a nice place for a drink, Costa or alcohol, day of night. The sunset bar is warm then after sitting a while a cool place with a lovely view. There is something for everyone and even though it has more passengers it feels less crowded than Ventura.

 

Type P&O Britannia into the place with the white arrow surrounded by red. Look for the ones by M&K, March 2019. There is a few of them though I haven't seen all of them.

[Monorail Orange]

Wow I think I might give Ventura a miss if Britannia feels less crowded. That was the biggest downside of the ship for me - it felt like the ratio of passengers and public space was balanced wrong. I'm not expecting every location to be completely empty, it was never going to be that way with 3,600 other passengers. But it just would have been nice to not worry about getting a seat. (ie. Crows Nest of an evening).

 

But, hey we each have different perspectives. And I'm not trying to argue against that. 🙂

 

And, as this is a postive thread, I'll reiterate that Britannia has a lovely style to her, and certainly is the best looking ship of the fleet.

[snaefell]

On 7/7/2019 at 6:40 PM, Monorail Orange said:

Wow I think I might give Ventura a miss if Britannia feels less crowded. That was the biggest downside of the ship for me - it felt like the ratio of passengers and public space was balanced wrong. I'm not expecting every location to be completely empty, it was never going to be that way with 3,600 other passengers. But it just would have been nice to not worry about getting a seat. (ie. Crows Nest of an evening).

 

But, hey we each have different perspectives. And I'm not trying to argue against that. 🙂

 

And, as this is a postive thread, I'll reiterate that Britannia has a lovely style to her, and certainly is the best looking ship of the fleet.

 

Our first Britannia experience could have been the death knell for her as we were on the School Holiday cruise,I had to take my hols over 3 fixed weeks in Summer,it was crammed with what seemed like millions of kids,the situation was greatly eased when we found our way to Serenity,so much better,if always pretty packed itself,around by the main pool area the sunbeds just seemed so ridiculously closely jammed together.

Agree about her looks,unlike us we actually payed for the diecast model of the ship,we genberally avoid such things as just dust gatherers but thought this model se well made & nice that we just had to have one!