Britannia Refit

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, Denarius said:

Agree entirely. As far as I can see Britannia has only the same number (and size) of lifts as Azura/Ventura to service 500 more passengers. Add to this the absence of a full central stairwell, forcing passengers to take the lift when they might otherwise have taken the stairs, and it it is easy to see why chaos reigns at peak periods. Why people take a lift up to go down because lifts going down pass without stopping. Why it is quicker to walk to the ends of the ship and use the stairs there rather than wait for the lifts in the centre. I was told that Britannia was designed internally by someone who had previously only designed hotels and did not appreciate how many times a day cruise passengers used lifts; in hotels they tend to use them to go out in the morning and return in the evening, and not much else. Probably an urban myth, but it has the ring of truth!

Dont know who told you that but Britannia was built the same design as Royal Princess which was built 2 yrs before Britannia. The only great difference between Britannia and Royal is the interior design but I now believe that Royal Princess have opened up the central staircase.

Edited September 16, 2019 by majortom10

[Britboys]

I think the ring of truth is that the complete interior design scheme was done by a company who specialise in hotels.  Richmond International are known for working on Four Seasons, Langham and Waldorf Astoria hotels.

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

I think the ring of truth is that the complete interior design scheme was done by a company who specialise in hotels.  Richmond International are known for working on Four Seasons, Langham and Waldorf Astoria hotels.

That is correct but they had no say on the actual build of the ship and the desin of the midship stairs which is the same on Britannia and Royal/Regal Princess of which Royal have now opened them up for public use but will have to wait to see if they do the same with Regal.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

That is correct but they had no say on the actual build of the ship and the desin of the midship stairs which is the same on Britannia and Royal/Regal Princess of which Royal have now opened them up for public use but will have to wait to see if they do the same with Regal.

Majestic Princess, which was next in line now has the midship stairs open to passengers, and Regal Princess also shows them as available to passengers, so all the Princess Royal class now have 3 lots of stairs again. It will be very strange if P&O are not following suit, but time will tell.

[Suebiker]

When we were on Brittania last August our cabin steward said that they were opening up the central staircase during the refit.  So fingers crossed !!!!!

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, majortom10 said:

That is correct but they had no say on the actual build of the ship and the desin of the midship stairs which is the same on Britannia and Royal/Regal Princess of which Royal have now opened them up for public use but will have to wait to see if they do the same with Regal.

Which is why I specifically said "interior design scheme".  I guess what I was also trying to say in response to Denarius is that I can see how some people might make an assumption that Richmond Hotel Designers had a say in the build of the ship even when that was wrong.  I dare say they didn't design the hotels structurally either - just came up with the interior design scheme.

[davecttr]

Why do these design companies design furnishings etc which are not suitable for normal human beings, are they only concerned about fashion and 'image'. You know the sort of thing, seating designed for people with 12 inch hips and bar stools designed for six foot people with very long legs.

[Saab4444]

Where is she going for the dry dock? Blohm & Voss in Hamburg or somewhere in France, Spain or The Netherlands? 

[Britboys]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Why do these design companies design furnishings etc which are not suitable for normal human beings, are they only concerned about fashion and 'image'. You know the sort of thing, seating designed for people with 12 inch hips and bar stools designed for six foot people with very long legs.

Yes, they do seem to prioritise looks/style over comfort and practicability at times!  If fashion has anything to do with it, Iona will be full of decor in grey and mustard 🙄

[Bedruthen]

I hope tha refit includes a deep clean of all the cabins and replacement of sealant in 5eh showers. We had a suite last month and it was grubby. Nothing to do with the room attendant, it was a lack of time for a proper deep clean. There was also a drain smell which they had to attend to daily.

[davecttr]

Drain smells in the bathroom are usually caused by a dry drainage trap. There is one in the shower and should be one somewhere else in the bathroom. Apparently pouring some water down the drain should reseal the trap.

[Rupert2251]

5 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Where is she going for the dry dock? Blohm & Voss in Hamburg or somewhere in France, Spain or The Netherlands? 

Damen shipyard in Brest, France.

[Bedruthen]

6 hours ago, davecttr said:

Drain smells in the bathroom are usually caused by a dry drainage trap. There is one in the shower and should be one somewhere else in the bathroom. Apparently pouring some water down the drain should reseal the trap.

We were told it was the scuppers.....

 

[majortom10]

21 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Majestic Princess, which was next in line now has the midship stairs open to passengers, and Regal Princess also shows them as available to passengers, so all the Princess Royal class now have 3 lots of stairs again. It will be very strange if P&O are not following suit, but time will tell.

Regal Princess doesnt show as being open to passengers unlike Royal which is. If you compare deck plans on Princess website it shows Royal open and Regal closed to passengers.

Edited September 17, 2019 by majortom10

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

Regal Princess doesnt show as being open to passengers unlike Royal which is. If you compare deck plans on Princess website it shows Royal open and Regal closed to passengers.

The online Regal deck plans do show the  Midship stairs as accessible to passengers.

Edited September 17, 2019 by terrierjohn

[majortom10]

39 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The online Regal deck plans do show the  Midship stairs as accessible to passengers.

Midship staircase is only open on decks 5,6 & 7 and not the who;e height of the ship like it has been opened up on Royal. Think the main problem on Britannia is people accessing the lifts when leaving or returning to their cabins on higher decks. Royal Princess has had her midships staircase opened up all the way up where Regal is only open on decks 5,6 & 7 so anyone wanting access any higher decks still have to use the lifts.

[terrierjohn]

59 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

Midship staircase is only open on decks 5,6 & 7 and not the who;e height of the ship like it has been opened up on Royal. Think the main problem on Britannia is people accessing the lifts when leaving or returning to their cabins on higher decks. Royal Princess has had her midships staircase opened up all the way up where Regal is only open on decks 5,6 & 7 so anyone wanting access any higher decks still have to use the lifts.

Do you know this for certain? Because clearly the Regal Princess on line deck plans show the midship stairs on all the passenger cabin decks.

Also checkout post #13 on the attached.

 

 https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2480919-regal-princess-mid-ship-staircase/

 

Edited September 17, 2019 by terrierjohn

[philsuarez]

I had direct contact with P & O Senior Management that the stairs are not being opened up. I was very direct in my thoughts that this was a wasted opportunity. Other than the public areas we seem to have had no information on cabins. I get the impression that new balcony furniture is much needed and works in the bathrooms 

[majortom10]

3 hours ago, philsuarez said:

I had direct contact with P & O Senior Management that the stairs are not being opened up. I was very direct in my thoughts that this was a wasted opportunity. Other than the public areas we seem to have had no information on cabins. I get the impression that new balcony furniture is much needed and works in the bathrooms 

We were told the same at Peninsular Club lunch in May by an officer.

[Clodia]

I was also told this at the lunch with senior officers in April. He said that people had got used to Britannia's design now and that she attracts fewer unfit people than some of the other ships, so they were leaving the staircases as they are but improving the lift programming.

[mickrory]

I believe the problem with the centre lifts on Britannia (apart from lack of opened up staircase) is 70% of the ships passengers seem to choose to use them rather than 33% using each elevator.

Last time we were in a cabin near the back, there was never a problem hanging around for the Aft lifts. Our allocated cabin on our sailing later this month is close to the centre lifts so if the problems I saw last time persist I'll just walk down to the back of the ship and use the aft lifts. Not like I'm in a hurry to get somewhere.

[pete14]

19 hours ago, Clodia said:

I was also told this at the lunch with senior officers in April. He said that people had got used to Britannia's design now and that she attracts fewer unfit people than some of the other ships, so they were leaving the staircases as they are but improving the lift programming.

What a pathetic excuse. Getting used to an issue such as this and actually liking it or even thinking it is a sensible idea are two very different things.

 

Attracting fewer ‘unfit people’, even if it is true, is an argument for having stairs for the fewer ‘unfit’ / more ‘fit’ people to use rather than putting the ‘fit’ and ‘unfit’ together in lifts because there are no stairs for passenger use. 

[CCFC]

Ive been on both the Royal Princess and Britannia and the differences inside are quite striking.

 

[davecttr]

Cost benefit analysis. Will opening the centre stairs increase our profits more than paying for the work to done. Answer is no so they won't do it.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, davecttr said:

Cost benefit analysis. Will opening the centre stairs increase our profits more than paying for the work to done. Answer is no so they won't do it.

Didn't the same economics also apply to Princess who have opened Royal Princess centre stairs and possibly also Regal Princess.