Final Thoughts on our Britannia cruise & ‘the cutbacks’

[swanseaboy]

Afternoon Tea - The MDR version has gone. We never rated it, but I know that many did and used it if returning to the ship after lunch service had ended. There is a poor man’s version from the buffet but no clotted cream - just the squirty stuff 🤢#

 

Just as a response to this, I was on Britannia around the UK cruise on 9th June this year and they did put on afternoon tea in the MDR on one afternoon. We were lucky enough to spot it and attend 😀

[Britboys]

16 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

Afternoon Tea - The MDR version has gone. We never rated it, but I know that many did and used it if returning to the ship after lunch service had ended. There is a poor man’s version from the buffet but no clotted cream - just the squirty stuff 🤢#

 

Just as a response to this, I was on Britannia around the UK cruise on 9th June this year and they did put on afternoon tea in the MDR on one afternoon. We were lucky enough to spot it and attend 😀

Should be every sea day imho - or at least once a week as a minimum... The buffet one is very definitely a poor man's version. The cakes are pretty rubbish...

[swanseaboy]

If I remember correctly, they said they are slowly re-introducing MDR afternoon tea back across the fleet. Possibly a post Covid thing? It was a really nice treat in the MDR. On the drinks package I had a glass of prosecco with my cakes 🤩

[windra06]

Thank you for your comprehensive review - we are on Britannia in September as first time p&o customers.

 

Quick question RE water, my partner likes filtered water, I'll drink buckets of tea but concerned by your report of the water taste.

 

Is there anywhere to fill up water bottles outside of the stateroom or would we be better off bringing a Brita filter?

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, windra06 said:

Thank you for your comprehensive review - we are on Britannia in September as first time p&o customers.

 

Quick question RE water, my partner likes filtered water, I'll drink buckets of tea but concerned by your report of the water taste.

 

Is there anywhere to fill up water bottles outside of the stateroom or would we be better off bringing a Brita filter?

Water is plentifully supplied in the restaurants. The water out of the taps tastes vile if you drink it immediately, but leave it in the fridge in your cabin overnight with the lid off and it tastes fine the next day. Don’t ask me to explain why 😂 

[Dermotsgirl]

Thank you @Selbourne for all your reports which have been interesting and informative.  I'm glad that, on balance, it was a good cruise and you enjoyed your selves,

 

From reading your reports and others, it's clear that the 'app' is still creating much discussion, and some issues with it's use.

 

They've had the app in place for two years, so, by this time it should have bedded in, and become a useful tool for the passengers to manage their cruise and to be able to reliably book what they want, within reasonable time scales. It should have settled to be the norm on the bigger ships with passengers using it without much thought. 

 

However, that doesn't appear to be the case, and a weird hybrid system seems to have developed with both real and virtual queues  running side by side, with the real queue seemingly having the advantage.  If they want to have two methods, then they should at least have everyone from both methods going into the same queue to make it fair.  I also find it very odd that they close the virtual queues, say 20 minutes before final admissions. There's no way they'd say to a passenger's face that 'you can't come in, we're closing in 20 minutes time'!

 

Incidentally, I was reading elsewhere a daily blog of from the recently returned Arvia cruise.  The person that wrote it, said that an informal Club dining had started up.  The writer of the reports was in a party of 6, and said that the Maitre D' offered a fixed table to 'passengers that they like' (I suspect money may have been exchanged), and that this party had secured a table at 8pm each night.  This struck me as unfair to everyone else trying to do it properly.  However, even this fixed table wasn't always available on time, as the previous occupants seemed to take longer and longer each day to eat their meal.  Sometimes the 8pm people had to come back 30-45mins later.

 

 

[9265359]

On 7/23/2023 at 4:25 PM, Selbourne said:

if we could 100% guarantee a table for 2 on Club (fixed) dining we would probably revert to 2nd sitting to at least alleviate the hassle with dinner.

 

I have a cruise booked for December and although I have booked Freedom, my intention is to go to the 'restaurant change desk' on boarding and ask to change to second sitting fixed but *only* if we can have a table for two.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 5:24 PM, Selbourne said:

Turndown Service - As has been well documented, there is no longer an evening turn down service, unless you are in a suite. This means that you don’t get fresh towels (if you need them) and chocolates. In all honesty, we didn’t miss it, so it wasn’t an issue for us. I’m sure that the cabin stewards would oblige with additional towels for those who require them.
 

Furnishings - The decorative bedding / bed runners etc have gone so you just have a stark white duvet, which looks a bit cheap and nasty but obviously had no impact on our holiday. Obviously with no turn down service, it would be a faff for passengers to have to remove them and they’d just get stuffed in a cupboard. 

 

I asked my cabin steward on arrival for a double set of towels and they provided them without issue every day.

 

And my cabin had the bed runner - although it was instantly consigned to the wardrobe for the duration of the cruise.

 

On 7/23/2023 at 6:08 PM, Selbourne said:

Reduced Choice - It is indeed the case that there is less choice now than before at dinner. This is because the menus have been padded out with the previously ‘always available’ items now being listed within the main menu each night, so it gives a bit of a false impression. 
 

Wine Waiters - These have gone and you order through your waiter and a separate person delivers what you have ordered. The waiters only offered drinks around half the time, so you may have to ask. With just one exception, the drinks arrived promptly. 

 

Cheese - This is now shown in the menu as one of the dessert courses, rather than as an extra course. However, it was never a problem having both.
 

Lunch - The idiotic new menu layout (which was introduced pre Covid) remains, so you have no idea with some items whether they are a starter or a main. The equally daft ‘sharing platters’ can be ordered by one person, so why bother?

 

 

 

The reduced choice on the main menu is also hampered by the inclusion of a vegan option as well as the vegetarian option. And what they seem to have cut out to allow for it are the more interesting menu items leaving the dull 'meat and two veg'.

 

Mind you the table of four friends next to ours didn't seem to worry about the limited selection, as every night they would order a starter, main, and desert each, plus at least three starters, mains, and deserts to share between them. And then got the waiter to take a photo of the table laden down with food. Every, single, night.

 

With wine I ended up calling in at the Glass House each evening to pick some up on the way to the restaurant, as not only was it a better choice, it was better stored (the white was actually cold and served in cold glasses), and I had it to sip before the food arrived.

 

Cheese - there must be such a huge amount of waste it is pre-plated. In the past I would ask for a slice or two of what I fancied and a biscuit but now anything on the plate I don't want is just waste.

 

And the lunch menu - I quite like the new layout and the sharing plates, although as my wife has an allergy and her food came from the separate 'diet' kitchen then even if we ordered a sharing plate we each had an individual plate.

 

 

20 hours ago, Selbourne said:

There are no pre dinner canapés in the posh bars any more and even the nibbles have disappeared. In all honesty, with the amount that we eat on cruises they aren’t necessary, but it’s another nice little touch that’s gone.

 

 

Yes, a disappointing cost cutting measure, and an odd one as I am sure it was little touches like this that encouraged people to go to the Crows Nest for a drink before dinner.

 

However nice to see the paper coasters for drinks have returned, no more condensation from the outside of the glass dripping on you.

 

19 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Maintenance - absolutely no evidence of any cost cutting here. Everything was in excellent order (apart from some persistent lift issues). 

 

Although a number of lifts had missing buttons, buttons that were stuck down, or lobby call buttons that didn't work.

[daiB]

Selbourne, you mentioned the water in the room, the free tins. We were in a cabin which on Princess would have been a mini suite. Like the D deck cabins 9on Ventura. You still get the Champagne and chocolates on departure day. In this cabin we got the tins of water, on both cruises.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, daiB said:

Selbourne, you mentioned the water in the room, the free tins. We were in a cabin which on Princess would have been a mini suite. Like the D deck cabins 9on Ventura. You still get the Champagne and chocolates on departure day. In this cabin we got the tins of water, on both cruises.

Hopefully we’ll get some free ones on Ventura then, as we are in a Superior Deluxe Cabin. Absolutely no water at all in our standard accessible balcony cabin on Britannia though. Can you remember if you had any complimentary water in the deluxe balcony cabin that you had on Iona? I’ve booked 3 of those cabins for August and was going to suggest that we all take a small bottle each, but may not bother if some is provided. 

[Selbourne]

2 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

I have a cruise booked for December and although I have booked Freedom, my intention is to go to the 'restaurant change desk' on boarding and ask to change to second sitting fixed but *only* if we can have a table for two.

That’s a really good idea. I might do that when we are on Ventura in October.

 

Much as we enjoyed the cruise, we are looking forward even more now to our two Cunard cruises next year, where we won’t have any of the hassle or worry about dining arrangements or times. 

[purplesea]

Another cut back is the port information guides that used to be in the cabins.

 

[swanseaboy]

1 hour ago, purplesea said:

Another cut back is the port information guides that used to be in the cabins.

 

Isn't all that information on the cabin TV now? I'm an advocate for less paper and waste. Horizon should be available on the My Holiday App and the paper version only on request 🙃

[9265359]

1 hour ago, purplesea said:

Another cut back is the port information guides that used to be in the cabins.

 

The sheets of paper with the illegible maps and no actual useful information...

 

14 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

Horizon should be available on the My Holiday App and the paper version only on request 🙃

 

It certainly should be, along with the news sheet.

[Britboys]

11 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

The sheets of paper with the illegible maps and no actual useful information...

 

 

It certainly should be, along with the news sheet.

The paper Port Information sheets were far better and more useful than the rubbish that is now on-line from P&O...

[purplesea]

49 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

Isn't all that information on the cabin TV now? I'm an advocate for less paper and waste. Horizon should be available on the My Holiday App and the paper version only on request 🙃

But neither the tv or the app are any use ashore!!

[swanseaboy]

19 minutes ago, purplesea said:

But neither the tv or the app are any use ashore!!

Take a screen shot on your phone? Not difficult. 

 

I can't be the only passenger with a bin full of paper at the end of every cruise 😆

 

On my recent QM2 cruise they had the daily planner Horizon on their App. It was so much easier that walking around with a paper copy which I would invariably forget! If Cunard can do it, P&O can do it 😀

Edited July 25, 2023 by swanseaboy
added more info

[Thejuggler]

If you want water ask for an ice bucket and put it in the fridge to melt.

 

The water tastes funny because its made by boiling the water and condensing the steam.

[terrierjohn]

59 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

Take a screen shot on your phone? Not difficult. 

 

I can't be the only passenger with a bin full of paper at the end of every cruise 😆

 

On my recent QM2 cruise they had the daily planner Horizon on their App. It was so much easier that walking around with a paper copy which I would invariably forget! If Cunard can do it, P&O can do it 😀

The P&O maps are fairly useless, and dont seem to be anywhere near as good as the local tourist maps. In fact I often wonder if they are for the same ports!

[Camberley]

1 hour ago, swanseaboy said:

If Cunard can do it, P&O can do it 😀

I love the faith in P&O’s technical ability 🤣🤣. Maybe one day….

[9265359]

2 hours ago, Britboys said:

The paper Port Information sheets were far better and more useful than the rubbish that is now on-line from P&O...

 

But why would they want to tell you anything useful when they can sell you an overpriced excursion instead?

 

And these days almost every passenger will have a smart phone in their pocket with all the maps and information they could possibly ever need.

[True Devonian]

5 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

But why would they want to tell you anything useful when they can sell you an overpriced excursion instead?

 

And these days almost every passenger will have a smart phone in their pocket with all the maps and information they could possibly ever need.

Not everybody owns a smart phone and not everyone has confidence in using technology. Even with a smart phone it is a lot easier to read something on paper than on a small screen.

[Holidayfun141]

On 7/24/2023 at 9:53 AM, laslomas said:

Just a little query - with no evening turndown service, when is the Daily programme delivered? Is it just in the post box?

 

[9265359]

7 minutes ago, True Devonian said:

Not everybody owns a smart phone and not everyone has confidence in using technology. Even with a smart phone it is a lot easier to read something on paper than on a small screen.

 

Hence why I said *almost* every passenger.

 

For those that don't then its not hard to do some planning and buy or print whatever you need before sailing.

[zap99]

11 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

Hence why I said *almost* every passenger.

 

For those that don't then its not hard to do some planning and buy or print whatever you need before sailing.

Back in the day, folk purchased guide books. We still have a cupboard full of them. Nowadays folk expect somebody to tell them what they can do in the places the ship visits. A bit like ' Le Havre..Paris ', or London ( Southampton ). Most ports have a tourist desk at the exit. They will give folk a map, but they will need to read it themselves.

[9265359]

Just now, zap99 said:

Back in the day, folk purchased guide books. We still have a cupboard full of them. Nowadays folk expect somebody to tell them what they can do in the places the ship visits. A bit like ' Le Havre..Paris ', or London ( Southampton ). Most ports have a tourist desk at the exit. They will give folk a map, but they will need to read it themselves.

 

On my last cruise I used the AI software, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bard, and Bing to prepare an itinerary for each stop - it was surprisingly effective.