db51

Thoroughly enjoying the cruise. Yes Britannia is a little rough around the edges, and in fact the electricity went off altogether today with the ship not moving at all - a sensor problem apparently - it was slightly worrying when everything went out, the ship stopped and it went to the backup generators! Despite the lack of nightly chocolates ( even in suites- which is new since February), the less than amazing desserts in the mdr ( why so few hot ones) and pre making the Costa coffees ( they prefroth a big jug of milk, then pre pour the coffee into individual helpings instead of freshly making it from the machine for each customer- the result is awful- I’m making it in my cabin with the coffee maker from now on), yes despite small niggles the ports have been amazing- Helsinki beautiful, Tallinn fantastic old buildings and Visby beautiful- so peaceful, and the ship is somehow quite cosy. Weather has been consistently good and seas have been very calm. Entertainment tonight from the Grafitti Classics was brilliant fun. Although the ship is full, the pools are fairly empty, the pool table is often free and deck games are usually available. There are not many children on board which helps. Our 20 year old ‘ children’ are having a brilliant time - they even started ballroom dancing today!

Kiel was lovely, walked along the river from the port, picked up some bikes from outside a cafe using an app and did a two hour bike ride which cost 2 euros per person. We went back to the ship for lunch then went for a swim in the river in the afternoon in a swimming area. Weather was amazing, and as above, sail out from Kiel was good. We ate at Sindhu -my daughter described the meal as the best meal she had ever eaten!! The previous night we tried the Epicurean which was also excellent. The noises have stopped so we had a good night, and all our sofas are fixed so we are very happy.

Just looking around ship- public areas inside are in excellent condition, ie atrium, restaurants, crystal room etc. It mostly seems to be equipment and deck seating areas, along with cabins and corridors between cabins that are in a less than ideal condition.

Sorry for spelling in last post- I was rushing to leave ship. Tatty means table tennis bats have faces falling off them, balls are poor. The settee on our balcony had no cushions at all ; apparently they blew overboard. Carpets look dirty, the bed settee in our room won’t close properly so you sit on a slope. Settees round the ship all have cushions in different colours. Below is photo of Sunset Lounge roof - it is now missing all its tiles.

Thought I’d start a live-ish review. Today is the third day and we are in Kiel. Sailed on Britannia in October last year, both times in an aft suite so it is easy to compare experiences. This year we are unfortunately in A726, I say unfortunately because right above us is the damaged ceiling from the Sunset bar which P and O are currently repairing at night., in fact all night. They drag chairs around from midnight right through until 7.00 in the morning. My husband went upstairs at 5 to ask them to stop dragging chairs around and they carried on despite his polite request. I phoned reception this morning explaining that we couldn’t sleep last night and was told that we should have phoned last night instead of going to speak to the staff doing the repairs. This is pretty typical of the behaviour of the crew this cruise. Free room service comes with a suite; on the first sea day I phoned to have room service lunch - I ordered 3 salads, a sandwich, a curry and a fried chicken. I was told by room service this was too much food to order, and it was only when I explained it was for 4 people that they completed the order after warning us it would be over sn hour to deliver. It was 2.00 - our food arrived after 3 At the formal dinner on the first sea day we weren’t offered any rolls and our waiter forgot to bring my daughters soup - on mentioning she had no soup he walked away quickly. We asked someone roses waitress to get her a roll do she had something to eat. Generally so far food is good, crew are grumpy, and the ship is VERY tatty.

Thank you Leominster and David63 - that was just the information I was looking for.

We are on Britannia with my daughter and her boyfriend in a fortnight. We are going to the priority lunch but my daughter is not. I wondered whether to advise her to head for the GlassHouse whilst we are busy, but don’t know how early they usually open for food on embarkation day and also how you pay for the meal given that she won’t have her cruise card until the cabins are open. She is boarding at 12.45 so quite early - or shall I just tell her to head for the buffet? - her boyfriend hasn’t cruised before so I want to get the holiday off to a good start for them. If anyone has any experience of eating in the Glass house on embarkation day I would be glad if you could share! Thanks.

Iona has special water bottle filling stations which taste fine. The big platters from room service ( Indian, fish and Mexican) are all free in a suite and great for parties on the balcony. You get a bottle of champagne on boarding day, and canapés on formal nights. We asked our butler to bring the daily crossword and also asked him to get tickets for the limelight club for us and some friends ( who weren’t in a suite) and despite it being ‘sold out’ he managed it. Breakfast in the Epicurean on Iona is lovely, great views and very peaceful. If you want something which isn’t on the menu just ask. Get on early and book the ‘Gary Barlow’ 910? Might be 710! Club, and everything else that you can’t book until you get on. Don’t bother with the boarding vip lunch- it is chaos. Enjoy your suite - they are amazing, especially the bath.

First sea day was good - weather cloudy but little rain. The ship was rolling very slightly but considering it is February it was a perfect crossing of Biscay. Dh went for a swim before breakfast in one of the infinity pools and said he could do 7 strokes before he had to turn- he seemed happy enough and went for a run on the deck 17 ( ish) running track afterwards. We had breakfast in the Epicurean - it is beautiful with massive windows. The perfect end was when we saw 3 dolphins( maybe porpoises) jumping very close to the ship. We explored the ship afterwards, discovering the 2 table tennis tables which are inset in a sheltered area on one of the higher decks ( maybe 16). No one was playing so we had a game ( because the equipment was in a box next to the tables) I lost as usual but it was fun. Dh then went to listen to a talk in Forensics which I avoided and spent a nice time rearranging the cabin. We had lunch at 12.30 at the buffet ( dh loves buffets - no idea why) - it was busy but we didn’t have to queue and I was pleasantly surprised by the fish pie and spinach Wellington I had. Both were good. We ate in the outside sheltered bit where there was plenty of empty seating ( possibly because it wasn’t that warm. ) We did a few laps of the promenade deck later which is lovely- the main ship seems very well designed with lots of outdoor space to explore. The atrium is very crowded though always and there seem to be permanent queues for reception. In the evening we ate at the Olive Groce at 6 - pre booked and we walked right in. We learned that there are only 160 children on board ( all of whom seemed to be in the Olive Grove at 6) Service was good - not slow - we were finished by 7.10. It was a nice meal, the Italian sharing platter, then meat pizza( dh), the lamb tagine (me, 4.50 extra - nice taste but lamb was a bit tough) and side salad ( the Caesar one ) followed by huge dessert portions of lemon tart and chocolate and hazelnut cake ( both lovely - but we had to do another promenade walk afterwards- front was closed due to winds) At 8.30 we went to the theatre ( pre booked on the ‘ app ‘ ) to see Electra which turned out to be 2 excellent violinists - tip - do not sit in the front 3 rows - it is loud. Dh then made me do the promenade walk again - I did 10900 steps today! Still enjoying ourselves and like the ship a lot.

Arrived at ocean terminal at 11 and easily found Parking4cruises. Gave in bags then left car. Embarkation process was quick and well managed - we had priority boarding but everyone seemed to be quickly processed and sent through to the waiting area. We got into the ship just before 12. I immediately sat in the main atrium and booked all the entertainment for the 2 weeks at the theatre and 710 club - the skyline was not bookable and also the Olive Grove twice and the Beach House once. My stress levels went down after that because not being able to do anything was a worry before the cruise. Whilst I was doing that dh explored the very small library and borrowed a book- you just help yourself! We then went to our muster station and went to the peninsular welcome reception which was a buffet style event in the Pearl dining room at the back of the ship. We wished we hadn’t gone - it was packed and you had to queue for food ( which was pretty awful - chicken tikka curry, 3 types and sandwiches, battered king prawns ( they ran out of these) and some other small canapé type food. ) Rooms were ready at 1.20 and cases arrived at about 3. The ship is beautiful, we went for a very cold and wet wander around whilst waiting for our cases. Our room is lovely ( back of ship) but we had to ask for flannels and White Company toiletries because there weren’t any. ( I know it sounds petty caring about it but usually it is part of the room description) Canapés ( I usually like trying them even though they are often not good!) are now only on the first night and Event nights and you have to ask for a bowl of fruit instead of it just being there and specify what you want ( and it hasn’t arrived yet) Cutbacks. We went to the Limelight Club in the evening and were surprised when we got there at 6.30 that there was no queue ( so we were at the front) We were let in at 6.45 - just enough time for dh to get me a mojito to liven up the queuing . Ray Quinn was on - he was really good - I’m not keen on swing music but he had a good voice and did it well. The menu choices looked poor but when the food arrived ( me and dh chose differently for each course) it was really nice and we both enjoyed it. We went to the Skydome afterwards - arriving at about 10.20 and sat upstairs in the front row- plenty of room. 10 minutes later Tribal started - it was an amazing acrobatics show and we enjoyed it. Overall a great first day - beds were good and seas seemed calm. I’m liking Iona so far! Internet seems Ok - in answer to someone’s question it was cheaper/ or very similar to book for the whole time rather than just sea days and I went for Ultimate so that if I had to do a Zoom call for work I theoretically could.

Leaving today and thought I would post my thoughts on this cruise. I am very excited but slightly worried - 5200+ people and reports of queuing, poor food and bad internet! I have tried to do everything I can to avoid queuing too much- I have pre booked everything available, so Limelight booked for 2 nights, Sindu for 2 and Epicurian once. I wanted to book the Olive Grove and Beach House but although it says ‘coming soon’ on the planner they still aren’t bookable. I have also booked all five available Headline Theatre acts, as well as getting the ‘Ultimate’ internet package - so it will be interesting to see if it works. We booked the Saver fare, so no car parking included so are using Parking4cruises which we haven’t used before. We have to text them 30 minutes before we arrive so hopefully they will be there. We have a boarding time of 11.45 so I am aiming to get everything else booked as soon as I get on and have the website/app my cruises all set up on my phone, as well as the last 6 digits of my boarding pass written down so that I can get on ‘my holiday’ as soon as possible - it has been quite exhausting trying to plan everything ( and possibly overkill!)

Feel like mask mandate is overdue, lady on Facebook reported having Covid, heard other reports of confinement to cabins and we saw a medical lady all masked and gowned entering next door cabin this morning. Coughing is everywhere - it is very noticeable. I do think that P and O seem to be more casual than Princess; we travelled on Sky Princess a couple of months ago and you were not allowed to serve yourself in the buffet, on Britannia it is universal tongs and people do not always wash their hands before entering the buffet. On a positive note my brother and his girlfriend got engaged on the cruise yesterday ; he got on one knee on the balcony -yay I’m so excited.

So the cruise so far - entertainment has been good - Neil Lockwood was well worth seeing - my brother went back for the later showing as well. We also enjoyed the Flyrights and “Paloma” who was really funny. We went to the Limelight Club to see 4 poofs and a piano and very much regretted it (in fact we immediately cancelled our tickets for Eric and Erm. ) The meal was Ok but seemed to take forever and the entertainment was brief (in retrospect I was quite glad because we all felt that the group were maybe a little niche and were cringing watching it. ) We did the Epicurean last night which was quite a nice meal although not that special. Generally MDR food has been quite good. The Epicurean for breakfast is lovely and I love room service - their sharing platters are incredible - they arrive in a black box which you open to find red containers inside full of really nice food. The comedians in the live lounge have been really good. I love the app which makes getting a slot for dinner and the theatre really easy. We haven’t queued yet (although I can see that if you were having problems with the app it would be disastrous) The internet is good - I have managed to do a zoom meeting and used FaceTime for calls without any problems. We did an excursion to Santiago de compostela which was excellent, but the shuttle service back to the ship in Palma, Mallorca was awful - massive queues and no one knew where the queue started even - chaotic. The old school disco on the top deck was great but very few people attended. Great mix of passengers on the ship, from children to 70/80 year olds. Apparently there are 3300 passengers but P and O seem to be coping well. I was very dubious about booking a cruise on Britannia because I had heard bad reports but it has been excellent so far.

We detoured to get closer to the French coast so that a helicopter could airlift a passenger off the ship. We were all asked to stay off the port side balconies but no one took any notice. It took them at least 2 tries to get the passenger off - no idea how they are or what was wrong with them.