chris11256

Not unless you're stopping at any Islands which are US territories, such as St Thomas.

We bought a two week pass for our cruise last year. Was well worth it. Very relaxing. Unlike the serenity pool, it didn't feel crowded when full. Most of the time we had the hot tubs to ourselves, as most people were happy to sun bathe. The attendant was very nice as well.

We also enjoyed the afternoon tea that's put out as well. Only complaint was that people still reserved loungers. Queued up at 9 to reserve theirs, but didn't don't turn up until much later in the day.

We are on the TA on Britannia in October first time on her but not our first transatlantic. Our crossings have always been fairly steady with no really 'rough' weather or storms at all.

Last year was probably the cloudiest and showery to the Azores where we had an extra day as Azura had a problem with a propeller shaft and spares had to be flown in from Germany. We then had to 'race' across to the Caribbean in four days instead of five taking the shortest/fastest route. The crossing even at speed was pretty smooth, we had more showers than previous crossings but possibly there was no time in schedule for the ship to avoid weather ahead.

Below are notes I made from our TA in 2012

Weather on our Caribbean Transatlantic from 2012 (I am a sadgit and write a daily journal!)

 

Sat 3 Nov (first day after leaving Southampton)

Woke up 210 miles from Southampton off the Brest peninsularweather scattered clouds and sun but a chilly 10 degrees

 

Sun 4 Nov Just off the north coast of Spain still scattered cloudsand sun a cool 13 degree today’s course will take us down the coast of Portugallets hope I can start getting the summer clothes out and the temperature startsrising

 

Mon 5 Nov

8.30am south of Lisbon heading southwest towards Madeira1000 miles from Southampton weather bright but overcast and 16 degrees

11am balcony door now open the sun is trying to shine andit’s a ‘balmy’ 17 degrees maybe it will reach 20 by this afternoon…yes it did!

 

Tue 6 Nov

Madeira weather very showery and 18 degrees

 

Wed 7 Nov

First of five days across the Atlantic broken cloud a fewshowers 18 degrees, 2700 miles to Tortola not yet level with the Canary Islandsso expecting to get warmer once we turn south.

 

Thu 8 Nov

1000 miles out in the Atlantic sunny and 21 degrees

 

Fri 9 Nov

Weather really getting hot now midday temperature 27 degrees

 

Sat 10 Nov

Still 1000 mile to go but 23 degrees at 7am scattered cloudsand sun mid twenties by midday again

 

Sun 11 Nov

3578 miles from Southampton with 475 miles to Tortolaovercast but very warm at 26 degrees at 8am

 

Mon 12 Nov

Land at last Tortola it’s a steaming 27 degrees but heavyshowers and sunny intervals typical Tortola weather travelled 4059 miles sinceSouthampton.

 

Thats very helpful. Thanks for that. :)

If they follow the same pattern as last year, summer 19 cruises should be booking by mid September this year. Clearly spreading the years bookings over two booking windows makes it easier. And this September window is ahead of the competition.

 

 

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Thank you.

Does anyone know when May/June 2019 will be on sale. My girlfriend & I want to book a wedding at sea around that time.

Only disappointment is that unless Britannia port of registry is changed, we need to find another ship.

we are looking at a Transatlantic Cruise on Britannia at the end of October this year. Southampton to Barbados via Madeira then 5 days at sea over to the Caribbean....someone has told us it will be really rough crossing at that time of the year?? Hoping as we will be heading south (?) it shouldnt be too bad...anyone got any experience of this? all advice gratefully received!

We're on the same cruise(B730). I'm told it might be a bit cold/rough until Madeira but fine from then onwards,

On our Britannia cruise last June the films being shown(in the Studio) had been in the cinema only a few months before.

We had a HF grade cabin(A215) this year. If you pick one below the single cabins, you don't get any overhand whatsoever. You also miss out on noise from sun loungers.

Was a nice cabin. Only issue was being woken up by the fog horn on one morning/

You could write a note and have it on the top of your tickets saying that you are in a suite but it's a secret and can they not give the game away [emoji4] so when you hand it over the staff read it.

If anything goes wrong and you are a bit late you will probably have to tell her as you will want to go in the priority line through security.

I've just booked a B4 on Britannia, there are videos on You Tube if you are interested [emoji1360]

 

 

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Will have a look. I've booked a standard suite rather than the aft ones.

On my last cruise we had the 15:30 boarding slot.

So anything is am improvement this time around.

However the poster wanted to keep it a secret from his girlfriend so maybe get away with going earlier to the terminal, but going up to one of the ladies saying we are in a suite rather gives the game away.

Maybe leave GF stating just need to go to the loo and try and speak to one of the ladies alone and say we are in a suite can you just direct us to where we need to go without mentioning suites when the 2 of us approach.

ofcourse once you are with the other suite passengers and high tier loyalty she will probably sus then.

Sound totally fantastic what you have done. Hope you both have an amazing cruise and she loves her surprise.

That sounds like a good plan! :)

Thanks to everyone for the useful info. As far as I remember we need to check out of the hotel by 12. So will probably catch a taxi then or slightly earlier.

For a while now my girlfriend & I have had a booking for B730 later this year. I was recently looking at the on board credit offer and cogs started turning. We originally booked on board so paid £50 deposit and got £120 each obc.

As far as my girlfriend is aware we're still booked into the original balcony cabin we booked. However secretly I've cancelled the original booked and booked again in a B4 suite with £400 per person obc. :)

Because we only paid a £50PP deposit originally, the gain massively outweighs the loss. My plan is for my girlfriend to remain completely unaware until check in or finding the cabin.

My question is this. P&O state that suite guests along with certain loyalty tiers get 12:30 boarding time. What time should we turn up at the terminal? Will we be sent straight to check in or given a coloured card as normal?

Thanks in advance!

Chris

Will be interesting to see further details and CGI mockups. I wonder what P&O will name it.

Girlfriend & I loved Britannia in June. :)

It'd be nice if people did actually wait their turn. Then we wouldn't have the problem of everyone turning up 3 hours early and delaying everyone because the terminal is overflowing.

On a separate note, I added a smiley to my post for a reason. I'm more than happy to amble round Southampton for a few hours, I've never been before.

Hoping the delays on Monday aren't quite that bad! I suppose it depends on how bad local traffic is and such.

We're staying in the West Quay premier inn rather than drive on the day.

Not to turn this into another embarkation thread, but I've read increasing reports about people getting on way before their allotted time. So may well risk it.

Thank you. :)

This may sound like a daft question, but how much time should I allow for unloading/CPS taking my car?

I've got a 15:30 slot for embarkation, so am trying to work out what time to drive to terminal.

Thanks,

Chris

Oooh, now that's an idea.

 

 

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Exactly. I have Adobe Acrobat on my work pc, think I'll give it a go tomorrow. :)

All of the information could be provided online. Not to turn this into an RCI thread, but my parents were on a 3 night taster cruise on Harmony of the Seas(second sailing). They turned up at 11:15 and were onboard by 11:30. Despite having booked a 12:30 embarkation slot(traffic was much lighter than anticipated). Check in was completed online with picture and card details provided in advance. Cabins were ready at 12:30. N

P&O Could introduce an online check in system to reduce the amount of time it takes at the terminal.

Don't dread it, chris.... it really is not worth the worry to spoil the looking forward to your holiday.

 

I will continue to go near to my allocated boarding time and will take what comes as for me, the worst scenario is to arrive hours early and then have to wait around in the terminal with so few facilities for hours.

Good point. This is our first cruise & we've never been to Southampton before. I'm sure we can wander around for a few hours & have lunch somewhere.

I'm semi dreading it. I'm not sure whether to chance arriving early, or stay away until 15:00 for 15:30 slot.

My advise would be to upgrade to 10.11 El Capitan. It's a free upgrade through the App Store, assuming your mac supports it.

Safari(version 9.1.1) works for me accessing the cruise personaliser, although it can be intermittent.

 

We have been Ventura C deck twice since the new system started and had 3:30 both times. We had our time on Monday for our July cruise on Azura and have 3:30 again for C deck. I think that the above times are probably correct fir Ventura and Azura but other ship's could well be different.

I'm on Britannia later this month and have a boarding time of 15:30 for an A deck cabin.

I have to point out, that P&O are an American company, bought only, because there was a contest between Royal Caribbean and Carnival for the takeover of Princess Cruises. P&O came as additional baggage.

 

The flag may be British (and proud), but the working conditions for all the crew are just as bad as the other cruise lines flying a Bahamas or Panama flag of convenience.

Please correct me if i'm wrong, isn't Britannia registered in Southampton. So subject to UK law?