Britannia today, any questions?

[AndyMichelle]

8 minutes ago, waddle said:

And the reason silent discos were invented ! 

That's another strange thing, the silent disco was held in the atrium, which doesn't have a dance floor on Britannia. 

Probably because the Crystal room, where it was held last year, was being used for quizzes. 

Andy 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, AndyMichelle said:

That's another strange thing, the silent disco was held in the atrium, which doesn't have a dance floor on Britannia. 

Probably because the Crystal room, where it was held last year, was being used for quizzes. 

Andy 

The ‘silent’ disco on Iona was in the atrium, so silent that we could hear it in our cabin 2 decks up. As I said at the time, never before have so many tone deaf people been gathered together in one place, ‘singing’ their hearts out 😂

[BouncingWheel]

I have done 2 silent discos (different cruises) on Britannia. One was on deck and another, strangely, in the limelight club (no show I think or after the show). The atrium is a bizarre place to have it as they are far from silent and the noise will travel in open areas.

[AndyMichelle]

3 minutes ago, BouncingWheel said:

I have done 2 silent discos (different cruises) on Britannia. One was on deck and another, strangely, in the limelight club (no show I think or after the show). The atrium is a bizarre place to have it as they are far from silent and the noise will travel in open areas.

It was a bit weird as in the absence of a dance floor, people were just dancing in the walkways, making it difficult to get around the ship on all 3 levels of the atrium as they can't hear you coming. 

Andy 

[AndyMichelle]

Now the dust has settled on a great cruise, just a couple of things have come to mind I think are worth mentioning. 

In the MDR, it is absolutely OK to have 5 courses if you want them, just ask, we did most nights. 

It's fine to have multiple desserts plus the cheese plate, we know, as Hyacinth felt she needed to try them all!!! (No food was wasted.)

It is also OK to mix and match from the menu, again, Hyacinth did... 

So, if you want the beef, but would prefer the rice that comes with the curry and the veg that comes with the fish, that's fine. 

Our waiters really earned their tips😂

Andy

 

[Beckett]

43 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Now the dust has settled on a great cruise, just a couple of things have come to mind I think are worth mentioning. 

In the MDR, it is absolutely OK to have 5 courses if you want them, just ask, we did most nights. 

It's fine to have multiple desserts plus the cheese plate, we know, as Hyacinth felt she needed to try them all!!! (No food was wasted.)

It is also OK to mix and match from the menu, again, Hyacinth did... 

So, if you want the beef, but would prefer the rice that comes with the curry and the veg that comes with the fish, that's fine. 

Our waiters really earned their tips😂

Andy

 

Welcome home Andy and Michelle. Thanks for the review - it sounds like a very positive experience. Hyacinth sounds a bit of a handful but quite entertaining - for us to read about anyway. I expect she'll stay long in the thoughts of your waiters! Have a good weekend. Jane xx

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

Now the dust has settled on a great cruise, just a couple of things have come to mind I think are worth mentioning. 

In the MDR, it is absolutely OK to have 5 courses if you want them, just ask, we did most nights. 

It's fine to have multiple desserts plus the cheese plate, we know, as Hyacinth felt she needed to try them all!!! (No food was wasted.)

It is also OK to mix and match from the menu, again, Hyacinth did... 

So, if you want the beef, but would prefer the rice that comes with the curry and the veg that comes with the fish, that's fine. 

Our waiters really earned their tips😂

Andy

 

On the 3 or so occasions (over 65 nights) that I asked for cheese as well as a dessert on Aurora, our main waiter gave me a look as if to say “Really? You greedy bar steward”. Unfortunately we never took to him even as the cruise progressed. Thankfully our assistant waiter was lovely, but there’s no way we could have had 5 courses every night, even if we’d wanted to. We just felt too uncomfortable asking. Never had that issue before, so hopefully it was a one off. 

[happy v]

We always have a starter and soup. This is never a problem and we are freedom dinning. On Ventura the food and portion sizes were so good. sometimes we didn't have dessert 

[AndyMichelle]

5 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

On the 3 or so occasions (over 65 nights) that I asked for cheese as well as a dessert on Aurora, our main waiter gave me a look as if to say “Really? You greedy bar steward”. Unfortunately we never took to him even as the cruise progressed. Thankfully our assistant waiter was lovely, but there’s no way we could have had 5 courses every night, even if we’d wanted to. We just felt too uncomfortable asking. Never had that issue before, so hopefully it was a one off. 

Maybe we were just lucky with our waiters, but they didn't bat an eyelid. 

After my BIL and I ordered dessert and cheese on the first night, the waiters offered it every night.

They started off seeming a bit grumpy on the first night, but seemed to take to us. 

Andy 

[Jevsy]

23 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't think I have ever heard Doris Day on P&O, although Move over Darling was quite good, but maybe not for dancing, and only the odd Elvis track.

However if Pulse or the DJ wants to fill the dancefloor, then a selection of songs from the best of the 60s 70s and 80s always proves the best option.

We were on the cruise before Andy and saw Pulse twice in our 5 day cruise. On the last night they had the dance floor packed and if i remember rightly it was either a 60's/70's or 70's/80's. They really were fab

[MDav123]

3 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Now the dust has settled on a great cruise, just a couple of things have come to mind I think are worth mentioning. 

In the MDR, it is absolutely OK to have 5 courses if you want them, just ask, we did most nights. 

It's fine to have multiple desserts plus the cheese plate, we know, as Hyacinth felt she needed to try them all!!! (No food was wasted.)

It is also OK to mix and match from the menu, again, Hyacinth did... 

So, if you want the beef, but would prefer the rice that comes with the curry and the veg that comes with the fish, that's fine. 

Our waiters really earned their tips😂

Andy

 

As it was my first ever cruise, I must admit I really enjoyed the food, despite the large amount on offer. Although I didn't have the burgers or pizza on offer by the pool. 🙂 

 

Btw, Did you go up the cable car in Olden? If so did you see the base jumper?

[Cloudyrain]

23 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I don't think I have ever heard Doris Day on P&O, although Move over Darling was quite good, but maybe not for dancing, and only the odd Elvis track.

However if Pulse or the DJ wants to fill the dancefloor, then a selection of songs from the best of the 60s 70s and 80s always proves the best option.

It was pretty bad the whole cruise to be honest. Even the tributes were uninspiring (Rod Stewart or someone like that), and the newest lively music they played was awful 70s disco. No-one really danced and the bars were pretty quiet: there was a great woman singing ballads, but there's only so much romance/heartbreak I can cope with 😂 There was one formal night when it was a bit more lively, but it was like a ghost town by 10pm most nights. 
 

It's funny because on the Ventura and Iona we've always been quite lucky with them having some diversity in their entertainment and music choices, so maybe we just had a bad lull on Britannia: it was a covid-cruise so maybe they didn't want everyone bopping and breathing germs all over each other 😂

[AndyMichelle]

10 hours ago, MDav123 said:

As it was my first ever cruise, I must admit I really enjoyed the food, despite the large amount on offer. Although I didn't have the burgers or pizza on offer by the pool. 🙂 

 

Btw, Did you go up the cable car in Olden? If so did you see the base jumper

We did go up the sky lift, but went early and didn't see the base jumper. 

Everyone is talking about him, but no mention of the 58 year old man tobogganing without a toboggan...😂

Glad you enjoyed the food, we found most of it good. 

The burgers etc were OK, well used about tea time by our party as we had late sitting. 

Andy 

 

 

 

 

[AndyMichelle]

10 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

It was pretty bad the whole cruise to be honest. Even the tributes were uninspiring (Rod Stewart or someone like that), and the newest lively music they played was awful 70s disco. No-one really danced and the bars were pretty quiet: there was a great woman singing ballads, but there's only so much romance/heartbreak I can cope with 😂 There was one formal night when it was a bit more lively, but it was like a ghost town by 10pm most nights. 
 

It's funny because on the Ventura and Iona we've always been quite lucky with them having some diversity in their entertainment and music choices, so maybe we just had a bad lull on Britannia: it was a covid-cruise so maybe they didn't want everyone bopping and breathing germs all over each other 😂

Oh we would have loved some 70s disco and I would bet most of the other people in the Live Lounge when we were there would have too. 

I think the problem was there was no 'mix', everything was this type of modern music that I can't even describe, but it wasn't any sort of dance music. 

Our tribute act was Paloma Faith, I am not a fan, but she was very good and we knew a few of her songs, but on her last show, ( 3 shows on 1 night) it was empty. 

Andy 

Edited May 5 by AndyMichelle

[P&O SUE]

On 5/4/2024 at 10:05 AM, GSPG said:

To let you know we had an email this morning to say only a bottle of wine or champagne is allowed to be brought on board, but no vodka, or spirits.

It seems our cruise next week on Britannia is the first to do this.

 

I also understand drink packages have gone up. Okay, I suppose there is only one way the price of drinks was going to go.

 

What got under my skin a bit though were increased excursion charges in the change in itinerary.

Because of timings and shorter stays, two excursions we booked were cancelled then put on sale again but with a different title.
The excursions looked identical, but they had added £5 to one, and £7 to the other.

They also did not give the chance to those who had had the excursion cancelled to book first for the ‘new one’.

 

 

That’s bad about the excursions! 😞

[P&O SUE]

14 hours ago, MDav123 said:

As it was my first ever cruise, I must admit I really enjoyed the food, despite the large amount on offer. Although I didn't have the burgers or pizza on offer by the pool. 🙂 

 

Btw, Did you go up the cable car in Olden? If so did you see the base jumper?

I’ve been on 11 cruises now and never had the food offered by the pool!

[P&O SUE]

Glad you had a great time Andy, I can’t wait for my Britannia cruise. Disappointing to hear about the entertainment, the silent disco would be better in the Crystal Room surely. We had it in the Tamarind on Ventura. I honestly think we had more varied entertainment on Aurora recently. We had a jazz orchestra in the Crows Nest one evening who were good.Also an outside group ‘The Celtic Harps’ as well as a couple of sets by Pulse and that was a four night cruise! 
 

I’ve never had time for a film on Britannia before, perhaps I’ll get the chance this time!

[AndyMichelle]

1 hour ago, P&O SUE said:

Glad you had a great time Andy, I can’t wait for my Britannia cruise. Disappointing to hear about the entertainment, the silent disco would be better in the Crystal Room surely. We had it in the Tamarind on Ventura. I honestly think we had more varied entertainment on Aurora recently. We had a jazz orchestra in the Crows Nest one evening who were good.Also an outside group ‘The Celtic Harps’ as well as a couple of sets by Pulse and that was a four night cruise! 
 

I’ve never had time for a film on Britannia before, perhaps I’ll get the chance this time!

Thanks Sue, I hope you and John are well. 

It was a strange cruise for entertainment, nowhere near as good as last year, but I wonder if the Headliners and Pulse are new since the refit, so needed more rehearsal time and the gaps were filled with quizzes etc. 

The silent disco was in the Crystal room last year, but Karaoke was in there on at least one of the silent disco nights. 

The big plus for us was the Privateers, they were fantastic. Unfortunately, they are giving up cruising soon. 

Andy 

 

[BouncingWheel]

1 hour ago, AndyMichelle said:

The big plus for us was the Privateers, they were fantastic

I love the Privateers and the Trawlermen with my favourite being whichever has the guy that looks and sounds like Joe Pasquale.

[Cloudyrain]

9 hours ago, AndyMichelle said:

Oh we would have loved some 70s disco and I would bet most of the other people in the Live Lounge when we were there would have too. 

I think the problem was there was no 'mix', everything was this type of modern music that I can't even describe, but it wasn't any sort of dance music. 

Our tribute act was Paloma Faith, I am not a fan, but she was very good and we knew a few of her songs, but on her last show, ( 3 shows on 1 night) it was empty. 

Andy 

We saw Paloma (well, Yzzy as Paloma) on the Ventura a few yeara ago and thought she was incredible. I wish they would do a few more modern tributes, just to add a bit of variety.

 

I agree, there seemed to be no variety when we were on Britannia: it was all older, despite it being a very multi-generational vibe on the ship. They need a good mix to get the party going so to speak. Having said that, the first time we went on Ventura 10+ years ago it was very "old" music, but the last few times I have found it much more diverse in music years and genre. 

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

2 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

We saw Paloma (well, Yzzy as Paloma) on the Ventura a few yeara ago and thought she was incredible. I wish they would do a few more modern tributes, just to add a bit of variety.

 

I agree, there seemed to be no variety when we were on Britannia: it was all older, despite it being a very multi-generational vibe on the ship. They need a good mix to get the party going so to speak. Having said that, the first time we went on Ventura 10+ years ago it was very "old" music, but the last few times I have found it much more diverse in music years and genre. 

On Britannia in February there was an Adele tribute (not our thing) but who people said was very good.  There was also a George Michael one who was very poor, sounded nothing like him and had a weird song choice.  We walked out part way through but we’re by no means the first to leave.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

We saw Paloma (well, Yzzy as Paloma) on the Ventura a few yeara ago and thought she was incredible. I wish they would do a few more modern tributes, just to add a bit of variety.

 

I agree, there seemed to be no variety when we were on Britannia: it was all older, despite it being a very multi-generational vibe on the ship. They need a good mix to get the party going so to speak. Having said that, the first time we went on Ventura 10+ years ago it was very "old" music, but the last few times I have found it much more diverse in music years and genre. 

Our Paloma was Sammie Lomax from Southampton, a good singer in her own right and came across as a very nice person too, taking time to chat to some audience members after the show. 

We like some modern music, but unfortunately, the modern stuff being played was a bit too 'out there' for us... 

Andy 

[Cloudyrain]

11 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

Our Paloma was Sammie Lomax from Southampton, a good singer in her own right and came across as a very nice person too, taking time to chat to some audience members after the show. 

We like some modern music, but unfortunately, the modern stuff being played was a bit too 'out there' for us... 

Andy 

Oh, different one - same star. Yzzy was very good and personable too. We had Ariana Grande on Ventura last and she was brilliant and great with the kids and did a brilliant One Last Time performance, quite emotional actually.

[Cloudyrain]

19 minutes ago, Thedonkeycentrehalf said:

On Britannia in February there was an Adele tribute (not our thing) but who people said was very good.  There was also a George Michael one who was very poor, sounded nothing like him and had a weird song choice.  We walked out part way through but we’re by no means the first to leave.

I think everytime I've seen a George Michael or Robbie Williams on a cruise I've never lasted more than 5 minutes. People seem to really over-perform them, and George Michael music especially is destroyed by the characature style. 
 

I think in general I mostly prefer people just singing songs as themselves, rather than the whole tribute style. 

[david63]

12 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

I think everytime I've seen a George Michael or Robbie Williams on a cruise I've never lasted more than 5 minutes.

You can add Freddy Mercury to that list