JimJam39

I recently saw a woman licking her fingers every time she spooned anything onto her plate, I've also seen people saying they don't need to wash their hands - I try to get there early, it amazes me how little knowledge people seem to have on the subject of food hygiene.

 

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Eurgh, the filthy mare :o:eek:

Thank you everyone for your comments :)

I think you've picked the best place on the ship - we always book cabins on the back. Nothing beats sitting watching the wake of the ship and since you're the end of the corridor you get very few if any people going past your cabin - so nice and quiet!

Certainly like the sound of possible quiet without kids running up and down outside in the corridors. Glad to hear that we've picked a potentially good spot :)

I personally see booking direct as beginners error

I've pre registered and paid a deposit today with P&O and it maybe a beginners error but as a first time cruiser, I am a beginner and would rather have the reassurance of not being passed piller to post if something goes wrong, I'd rather have paid a little more for the piece of mind. The P&O customer service advisor I booked with said there was a 5% discount for booking via pre-registration and that prices would be more when they go live on the 27th.

Right on, I don't care who sees me having a good time.

 

 

 

 

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One has to hope people will be more civilised and thoughtfully not nosey on the honeymooners below :rolleyes::D

Not if you want to eat with the same group of people, as we do, every night.

 

Second sitting table for 8 is excellent for us. Never had a bad table. We would only do freedom on a short cruise and then only to try out all the other venues.

 

Most of the complaints I have read have been from people on freedom.

 

 

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Oh no! I've pre registered today and booked freedom dining as thought it was best to not be tied to a time. There will only be two of us and we'd be happy to sit with others on occasion but would like it to just be us two in the additional paid for dining areas. I was thinking freedom dining in case we were back late from excursions on port days and we cant do the second sitting as my partner often falls asleep early. What complaints have you heard about please DaiB?

I thought freedom dining was the best option.... is that not so?

Never mind though because I've pre registered today and paid deposits so I'm positively glowing with glee. First time cruiser, finally booked, I don't care about any overlooking balconies, I'm going to have a ball :)

At the risk of sounding like I'm in a pantomime "Oh yes they do":) Certainly on the P&O website - see here:

http://www.pocruises.com/global/deckplans/britannia/4/1/deck%20plans%202016%20britannia.pdf

How strange, the deck plan I have doesn't show what your link shows. I've attached a pic, hope it's worked.

Edit: I can't seem to upload the screen shot from my iPhone ☹️

Whoop whoop finally pre registered for B831a, honeymoon here I come 😁

Thank you everyone on this website that have helped me make up my mind and answered all of my questions.

Well, he is wrong. Unfortunately P&O land side staff don't always know the ships that well.

 

However, we have had B724 which is a middle Suite overlooking the wake. It is indeed overlooked by the Sunset Bar, but I will say it never bothered us. People do not go to the Sunset Bar to sit and look down at other people's balconies, they go there to look out, either at the view in port, or the sea. Whenever I was out on the balcony I would actually take a look up to see if anyone was actually looking down, and to be honest I only saw it about 4 times on the whole of the two week cruise, and then only for seconds.

 

The balconies on B deck are, bar none, the best on the ship. You will get a settee to sit on, as well as a table, two chairs and two loungers. It is a stunning balcony and a stunning view.

 

Go enjoy your honeymoon and don't worry! :)

Thank you :D

Just to be clear - it's only the B deck cabins on the back that are overlooked - not the ones along the side.

The B deck rear facing cabins are marked on P&Os brochure deck plans with a "V" which stands for overlooked.

On the deck plan, none of the B deck cabins have a 'v' on them.

Maybe I should get the 14 day pass and hope we'll use it on port days too after doing excursions. Will see if I can find the hours its open.

It feels good to be home - though the piles of washing are not so good - but the holiday was lovely and I will do a round up and comparison with the Princess experience in the next 24 hours. Thank you for following along with us and I will review and answer any questions presently.

Hi there, just finished reading your blog and its been brilliant. Is there any chance you can add your Princess/Britannia comparison to round off the blog, I'd be most interested to read it :)

Thank you for the replies. It's for a Caribbean cruise so I anticipate they'll sell fairly fast.

You are overlooked by D deck above but A and B deck are completely overlooked by the sunset bar so I wouldn't want either A or B deck [emoji85]

 

We loved it and would book again without a doubt [emoji7]

 

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I was told by a P&O customer service advisor to book B deck for my honeymoon as it wouldn't be overlooked. Is he wrong?

Another question regarding the Retreat... If I board on the second day and choose to do the end two days in Barbados instead of the beginning of the cruise, will all the retreat passes be sold or does P&O reserve some passes for those people that embark on the second day?

the soot problem and the juddering motion on the aft of the ship.

I'm looking at booking a balcony cabin right on the aft next to the corner suite on the starboard side. Would you say the soot and juddering is really noticeable in this area and do you think it will pose a problem (I know everyone is different and different things bother different people).

Thank you for all the replies :)

I am all over the Internet you may find me elsewhere.

I've looked, I cannot find you using the google search engine, was hoping I'd find some blogs you'd done :confused:

Perhaps a bit more than that!

£25 but you'll get more than that back in credit when you book

 

https://ask.pocruises.com/help/PO/fleet/visit_ships

 

You'll get escorted round the ship, see various cabin grades and all other facilities then have a 3 course lunch with wine. You can book onboard, for good deals, or make your booking later - you'll still get the credit. It's a nice day out

Oh no!!!! Wish I'd known this sooner, just rang them and they're fully booked for the March and April visits :( I'd have loved to have done a ship visit.

Couldn't help it, I looked straight away as I'd originally been looking at the GD grade. Cabin B721 is showing an icon like this =

Caption to it states "cabin has two additional beds, one in the form of a single sofa bed and one in the form of a upper pullman berth" Does this mean the cabin will be cramped? You can see on the deck plan if you enlarge it on an ipad that it appears slightly bigger.

A few things you should be aware of.

 

1) You would NOT be paying £100pp just for a sofa. Cabins with sofas are also bigger than those without. This can make a significant difference to the enjoyment of your cabin, for example being able to sit in comfort and watch a movie, sit and have a drink, one of you can sit on the sofa whilst the other is changing etc etc. The smallest (non sofa) cabins are very small. If you are on a very tight budget then fair enough, but if it were me I would spend the £200 - especially for such a very big holiday such as a honeymoon.

 

2) It does appear to be the case that P&O 'balances' on board credit and holiday price. If you work out the cost of the cruise as being price less on board credit, you will find that the total outlay is similar even when the prices change e.g. price goes up, OBC goes up to offset, price goes down, OBC goes down so you don't gain anything.

 

3) In spite of the above (and as often stated by Dai B and others who have more knowledge of P&O than myself), it does appear that the best overall prices are to be had when the cruises first go on sale. I have 5 future cruises booked and using my 'price less OBC' calculation, every single one of them is more expensive now than when I booked. Yes, you can sometimes save money with Saver fares and very late deals but, in my opinion (others note - I am not 'wrong', it is my opinion), this is often false economy and not worth the saving. I say this because to get the deal you cannot choose your cabin and will end up with the least desireable ones (those of us booking Select fares will have chosen them) and the loss of benefits (free parking etc) makes the 'saving' far less than it appears. Besides, would you want second best on your honeymoon?

 

4) Please be aware that with a Select fare you don't just get free Parking OR on board credit. It is often possible to get both. I only book direct with P&O (so can't speak for TA's) but I always seem to end up with free Parking AND a slug of OBC as well, even when I have booked very early and prior to any special OBC deals.

I love this forum in general but Selbourne, your replies have always been super informative and always give me food for thought. Going to go relook at balcony cabins with sofas. As you said, it is my honeymoon after all :D

Is a ship visit as it suggests; that you get to go on board and have a peek around it whilst its docked at Southampton?

I'm looking at booking Britannia for next Nov 2018 to the Caribbean and my partner and I are both non smokers so would like to book on the starboard side at the aft, however, the balcony rooms on the starboard side at the aft on B deck are for disabled use (we are not disabled). So my question is: If we choose a cabin on the port side aft on B deck, how affected by the smoke will we be?