Britannia - a cut back too far

[Harry Peterson]

7 hours ago, TigerB said:

 

Now, that's a soap!😉

 

 

Does Andy know you've broken into his house?

[Selbourne]

32 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

OK, adding a few extras to my packing list because of all the extra cutbacks as reported by returning passengers. 

Soap

Flannel

Water

Biscuits

Trays

Coasters

Chocolates

Deck chair (for the queue) 

She wee (for Michelle in the queue) 

Raspberry creme brulee 

Photographer

Beef Wellington 

Hotplate

Hoover

Lobster

Claire Sweeney 😂

I know some of these have reappeared, but better to be safe than sorry... 

Please let me know if I have missed anything? 

Oh, and a few more crew... These can be found from other ships in Poundland in Southampton on embarkation day, buying their toiletries... I will be there waiting for my embarkation time and buying most of the above... 

I will stick a few 'manners' in for the rude passengers that seem to be making an increased appearance.. 

Andy 

I can live without Claire Sweeney, having been a little underwhelmed by her in the Limelight Club, but I shall add most of the other things to our packing list. That’s the great thing about round-trip cruises from Southampton - no total weight limit on luggage 😂 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Is it a cut back or is it practical? How many people use the bar of soap, how many bars get wasted and not used. 

Same as sauce packets at resturants if not used can you put them back in the pot or do they get thrown in the bin? 

 

Efficacy is not a cutback. 

[Leomins]

If people can’t wash their hands in their bathrooms, that puts all passengers at risk. That is not business sense. You can’t expect people to use the pump in the shower at the hand basin. Moley said there should be liquid soap but there wasn’t in this case, as confirmed by Nomadgirl2.

[jeanlyon]

Well of course they can wash their hands.  Use the liquid soap.  What a fuss about nothing.

[AndyMichelle]

3 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Well of course they can wash their hands.  Use the liquid soap.  What a fuss about nothing.

I think that's the OPs point Jean, there was no liquid soap... 

Andy

[majortom10]

We haven't used bar soap at home for years and very happy for the switch on both Cunard and P&O. By the way on our last cruise in May the hotel we always stay in pre cruise had changed bar soap to Dove liquid soap so it seems it is a change a Ross the hospitality service.

[majortom10]

10 hours ago, nomadgirluk said:

My point was that NO soap of any description was provided, whether it be liquid or otherwise and we were told that if anyone wanted soap, they had to request it. The pump soap dispensers had been removed.  When we got to our cabin we naturally wanted to use the WC, but had to use some of the shower gel to wash our hands.  Even if we had brought our own soap with us, we wouldn’t have been able to access it until our luggage arrived.  There was shower gel and shampoo in dispensers in the shower cubicle but no hand soap by the sink.  Having spoken to other passengers, it appeared that this was the norm.  

I cannot believe that they don't provide any soap whether it be bar or liquid in your bathrooms across the whole ship. With the thought of people using the toilet and not washing their hands is unbelievable and the thought of disease i.e. noro virus spreading doesn't bare thinking about. I can only assume it was an oversight by the cabin steward and not a new practice even by P&O standards that you have to ask for soap of any kind. Let's be honest you even get soap in a Travelodge 😁.

 

[AndyMichelle]

7 minutes ago, majortom10 said:

 

 

Edited June 24, 2023 by AndyMichelle

[jeanlyon]

So I guess that was an error as most others have said there was a dispenser by the sink.

[AndyMichelle]

7 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

So I guess that was an error as most others have said there was a dispenser by the sink.

See post #23 Jean, it doesn't seem like an error on this particular cruise. 

[david63]

13 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Liquid dispensers are very difficult for people who can only use one hand, especially when it's their left one and the soap dispenser is fixed on the right hand side of the wash basin, as they are usually.

That is a point that should be made to the accessibility people (or whatever the correct name is) as there should be an alternative available and may even contravene one or more of the Disability acts.

[Winifred 22]

10 minutes ago, david63 said:

That is a point that should be made to the accessibility people (or whatever the correct name is) as there should be an alternative available and may even contravene one or more of the Disability acts.

 

[jeanlyon]

17 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

See post #23 Jean, it doesn't seem like an error on this particular cruise. 

Andy, hadn't seen that.  Hmmm.  My cruise on Aurora in October is going to be interesting.  Haven't cruised since 2019.

[Winifred 22]

I couldn’t be bothered to go round asking other guests what they did or did not get provided with in their cabin/ bathroom . Zero interest to me. If I thought I was missing something I would ask for myself. If I needed to wash my hands before luggage arrives with my own toiletries I would use hot water and then use copious amounts of hand gel which would be from my handbag and or carry on bag. All

sorted no fuss. 

[jeanlyon]

Just asked someone who has just come back from Aurora.  They had bars of soap in the bathroom!!

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

Andy, hadn't seen that.  Hmmm.  My cruise on Aurora in October is going to be interesting.  Haven't cruised since 2019.

Hopefully it was just a trial on that cruise... 

We will find out on Friday on Britannia, our first cruise since lock down too... 

Andy 

[Red Ray]

6 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

OK, adding a few extras to my packing list because of all the extra cutbacks as reported by returning passengers. 

Soap

Flannel

Water

Biscuits

Trays

Coasters

Chocolates

Deck chair (for the queue) 

She wee (for Michelle in the queue) 

Raspberry creme brulee 

Photographer

Beef Wellington 

Hotplate

Hoover

Lobster

Claire Sweeney 😂

I know some of these have reappeared, but better to be safe than sorry... 

Please let me know if I have missed anything? 

Oh, and a few more crew... These can be found from other ships in Poundland in Southampton on embarkation day, buying their toiletries... I will be there waiting for my embarkation time and buying most of the above... 

I will stick a few 'manners' in for the rude passengers that seem to be making an increased appearance.. 

Andy 

Don't forget Rob Brydon

[AndyMichelle]

2 minutes ago, Red Ray said:

Don't forget Rob Brydon

Oh forgot about Rob. 

Was going to get Stephen Mulhern in but he has gone onto bigger and better things with Butlins😂

Andy 

[nomadgirluk]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

So I guess that was an error as most others have said there was a dispenser by the sink.

No error.  The crew were very clear to us on this particular cruise and other passengers that if soap was required in the bathroom, we needed to specifically request it.  No idea if it was an experiment or the shape of things to come.  I personally think bars of soap are very wasteful because we didn’t use ours up during our 2 week cruise, so all of the partially used soaps would have needed to be thrown away.  The refillable pump dispensers must surely be more economical.

[david63]

1 minute ago, nomadgirluk said:

all of the partially used soaps would have needed to be thrown away

Not in the good old days they wouldn't. My mum used to put all the ends of bars of soap in a jar and then make them into another bar of soap.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

So I guess that was an error as most others have said there was a dispenser by the sink.

Just asked Pauline and she confirmed what I thought that there was definitely no soap dispenser next to our bathroom sink on Britannia first week in June.

Cabin steward got me some when I asked.

He had lots of biscuits,tea and coffee sachets,soaps,toilet rolls and towels on his trolley when I looked 😇

[grapau27]

45 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Hopefully it was just a trial on that cruise... 

We will find out on Friday on Britannia, our first cruise since lock down too... 

Andy 

I hope you both have a fantastic cruise Andy.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Hopefully it was just a trial on that cruise... 

We will find out on Friday on Britannia, our first cruise since lock down too... 

Andy 

Fantastic, Andy! That’s really something to look forward to. Looks like a beautiful, peaceful, scenic, relaxing cruise. I hope you and Michelle have a really great time away from the pressures of business.

[smokey01]

While I realise part of this thread is a joke, but for a few years now we have asked our cabin steward for flannels and bars of soap on embarkation day without a problem. Flannels got replaced daily without fail, soap maybe needed to be asked for again.

 

On our last Iona cruise I broke my right arm on day 2 and I thought ‘oh no how am I going to manage in the buffet with a tray’ well no problem. I didn’t get a tray, I just got a plate and managed perfectly, so no trays will not bother me, and I am used to that on RCL/Princess anyway. Just don’t know when next I will cruise on Arvia/Iona due to the long waits for a table in the evening on Arvia we experienced in April. Currently we have cancelled our Iona October cruise and booked 2 7 day MSC cruises. So I suppose it depends how well they go before deciding whether to pay the balance on our April 2024 Arvia cruise or cancelling for a longer MSC cruise. We do have a July Britannia and October Iona cruise booked which I’m pretty sure we will stick to as we booked early for our first experiences of a P&O aft suites.