Britannia appears to have a major Design Flaw

[AchileLauro]

That's because the weight that lift designers work to is an average of 12 stone per person.

[Denarius]

Choose your cabin more carefully, that is what select fares are for. If you went for a saver fare I presume you don't mind if the cabin is a long way from the stairs, in the same way you don't mind what dining arrangements you get.

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We are booked on Britannia next December and despite booking Select have NOT been able to pick our cabins. All we have is a guarantee that we will have a certain grade of cabin, but we and our children might be at opposite ends of the ship. No amount of argument and reference to P&O's stated terms for Select fares made a difference.

 

At the time of booking we are all fit and well and having to walk a distance is not a problem, but it might mean that you have to be ready to go to dinner or wherever 10 minutes earlier to avoid arriving red faced and perspiring. Last year on Azura I frequently took the stairs (mainly down, I admit!) and yes, Sagaris, it is trickier in evening gown and heels!

 

As I understand it, the complaint about the lack of a central staircase on Royal Princess is compounded by the number of lifts supposedly being insufficient for the number of passengers wanting to use them and their actual size. It has been said that they are not actually capable of holding (anywhere near) the stated max. no. of pax. We shall see.

 

I cannot say that this surprises me. Royal Princess carries 3600 passengers but still has only the same number of lifts as Grand Princess (which carries 2600) even though she carries nearly 40% more passengers.

[Clodia]

I have been on Azura last year and the year before and found I often needed to use the stairs because there just weren't enough lifts. Fine because I'm fit.

One night a frustrated couple told me and my daughter to get out of a lift because he was disabled with a scooter and has been waiting ages.

If they had been polite, we would have made way for them without hesitation but they were rude so we didn't; they then ran over my foot with the scooter!

[Denarius]

I have been on Azura last year and the year before and found I often needed to use the stairs because there just weren't enough lifts. Fine because I'm fit.

One night a frustrated couple told me and my daughter to get out of a lift because he was disabled with a scooter and has been waiting ages.

If they had been polite, we would have made way for them without hesitation but they were rude so we didn't; they then ran over my foot with the scooter!

 

Azura and Ventura are based on the same deck plan as Grand Princess, with the same number of lifts but with an extra deck of cabins. So lifts which were designed for 2600 passengers have to cope with 3100, which is why there is a shortage of lifts at peak times. Britannia will have the same number of lifts but with yet another deck of cabins will carry 3600 - nuff said!

[jackieo]

We sailed last June on the Royal Princess and were allocated a cabin mid ships. This obviously caused some problems with no passenger stairs mid ships after deck 7.

 

However the ship was great and we have booked again, this time we have specifically gone for an aft cabin rather than a guarantee, near to the rear lifts and stairs. So we should avoid the congestion mid ships.

 

Sometimes you simply need to adapt to circumstances.

 

Jackie

[scifimonkey]

Stairs do not worry me too much in fact may book in the middle of the ship just to ensure I walk off a few extra calories. The narrow balconies seem to be a more intractable issue as you cannot work around it. In the end we can gripe all we like but they are not going to change it. The assignment of the central stair to service access probably saves a service stair elsewhere and allows some additional internal cabins and the narrow balconies on a ship of this length probably saved millions on hull costs. There have been a lot of complaints about Royal Princess but have they changed Regal ? unless the passengers all vote with their feet and start booking RCCI instead of Carnival why would they change? At a time of massive growth in the industry and greater competition the cruise lines are looking for every way to reduce capital and running costs as they know that what ever we might say on forums, when it comes to the crunch, price plays a greater part in most peoples booking decision than detailed aspects of the ship design. As a designer it's hugely depressing but it's unfortunately a fact of life that in most areas of life these days, price always seems to trump good design.

[Presto2]

We've had a sunset veranda cabin on the Celebrity Silhouette 3 times and, believe me, there is a long walk to that cabin --- so much so that on Oceana recently we kept walking past our cabin as we weren't used to it being so close.:)

 

I don't see the position of the lifts etc as a major issue - isn't it just a case of checking out where the cabins are and booking a cabin that is close to them?

 

:confused:

[Brayman]

We've had a sunset veranda cabin on the Celebrity Silhouette 3 times and, believe me, there is a long walk to that cabin --- so much so that on Oceana recently we kept walking past our cabin as we weren't used to it being so close.:)

 

I don't see the position of the lifts etc as a major issue - isn't it just a case of checking out where the cabins are and booking a cabin that is close to them?

 

:confused:

 

As cruise ships get larger it's time the designers thought about including travelators, particularly between the bow theatre and the stern show lounge! :)

[soobs]

maybe a silly question? if the balcony's are smaller where is the extra space going? on the cabins?