New to P&O

[CruiseTee]

Hi Everyone!

 

I am from the US and just booked a cruise on P&O Brittania for mid April. My daughter and her friend are studying in Oxford and I thought it would be a nice Spring Break holiday for them. I have a few questions, I've cruised many times before but never on P&O.

We are assigned Open Dining, I understand there are 3 main restaurants on board, do we just go to any one of them at anytime to eat? 

Any must see/eat/drink things aboard the Brittania I should know about? 

Thanks for any advice you can provide. We are excited for the cruise! 

[Selbourne]

Britannia is a lovely ship. Big enough to have all the facilities that appeal to all age groups, whilst not being too big to feel overwhelming.The only negative is the lack of a promenade deck.

 

You will be allocated one of the three main dining rooms and, when it comes to dinner, you can only use the one that you have been allocated. Breakfast and lunch is different. You can use whichever main dining room is open. 
 

Depending on the length of your cruise, there will be one or more formal evenings. The menu in the main dining room is better on these nights, usually created by Marco Pierre White. Outside of the formal nights, main dining room dinners are adequate but nothing special, akin to a mid range hotel. Main dining room lunches are quite poor these days, but breakfasts are very good.

 

There is a cafeteria style buffet at the top of the ship, but we avoid that like the plague! It is popular though. 
 

As for special things, the Epicurean restaurant on Britannia is our favourite restaurant at sea. Proper fine dining with food and service that is several steps up from the main dining rooms. Sindhu (Asian fusion) used to be very good (my daughters loved it when they were the age of yours) and is definitely worth a try, but recent reports indicate that the pricing changes have not gone down well. The Beach House is also popular with younger adults as it’s more casual and the food is more like the things they would find in restaurants that they dine at ashore. The steaks are very good here. The Limelight Club provides a good (and different) meal and is accompanied by a cabaret style show. It can be a good experience if you choose an evening with a good act (some are better than others). The Glasshouse provides a decent lunch but is a bit overcrowded on Britannia due to its location (by the atrium) and I personally wouldn’t enjoy dinner there. 
 

My advice would be to try everything, but if you are on a short cruise my priority list, in order of preference, would be 1) Epicurean, 2) Main Dining Room when there is a Marco Pierre White menu (free), 3) Sindhu, 4) Limelight Club (only if an act really appeals), 5) Beach House, 6) Glasshouse (for lunch - best on port day when ship is quieter).

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Selbourne

[wowzz]

Excellent advice from Selbourne. 

I would just add that dress code on Britannia is perhaps different to what you may be used to. 

Without starting a dress code argument (again !) on formal nights in the MDR you will be expected to wear at least a jacket and tie, with the majority of men wearing suits or dinner jackets, and no shorts in public areas in the evening. 

One other difference - tips are included in your fare. Again, without wanting to open a can of worms,  many of us may tip our steward at the end of the cruise,  but there is no need to tip waiters and bar staff on a constant basis.

Edited March 10, 2023 by wowzz

[sandancer]

8 hours ago, CruiseTee said:

Hi Everyone!

 

I am from the US and just booked a cruise on P&O Brittania for mid April. My daughter and her friend are studying in Oxford and I thought it would be a nice Spring Break holiday for them. I have a few questions, I've cruised many times before but never on P&O.

We are assigned Open Dining, I understand there are 3 main restaurants on board, do we just go to any one of them at anytime to eat? 

Any must see/eat/drink things aboard the Brittania I should know about? 

Thanks for any advice you can provide. We are excited for the cruise! 

 Can I ask if you are an experienced cruiser and if so which cruise lines. It might be helpful if you knew what to expect in comparison to US cruise lines. We are about to sail with P&O for the third time and one of those was on Britannia and we really enjoyed it. We have however cruised many times on US ships and could possibly point to some info that might help. Selbourne and Wowzz are, as always great sources of advice. 

[terrierjohn]

P&O is quite similar to Princess, but more British and the decor is much more understated. Britannia is a Royal Princess class and the accommodation decks are the same as the Princess ships, but the public decks are quite different.

[amajaa]

One of the MDR’s will be for the set dining normally 6.30 or and 8.30 . If you are Freedom Dining or AnyTime Dining ( I can never remember which is P & O terminology and which is Princess) you can normally use any of the other 2 dining rooms. At least you could when we last sailed on Britannia before Covid, but we have sailed twice on P & O since Covid on other P & O ships and could . As has been said previously you can use any dining room that is open for Breakfast and lunch, check the Horizon that is delivered every night for the next day. 

[Selbourne]

21 minutes ago, amajaa said:

One of the MDR’s will be for the set dining normally 6.30 or and 8.30 . If you are Freedom Dining or AnyTime Dining ( I can never remember which is P & O terminology and which is Princess) you can normally use any of the other 2 dining rooms. At least you could when we last sailed on Britannia before Covid, but we have sailed twice on P & O since Covid on other P & O ships and could . As has been said previously you can use any dining room that is open for Breakfast and lunch, check the Horizon that is delivered every night for the next day. 

Good point. I think that whilst people are generally allocated one of the two freedom dining MDRs you can technically use either. Worth pointing out for the OPs benefit that the menus are identical in all 3 MDRs. 

[CruiseTee]

Wow! Thank you all so much for the wonderful advice! We are on a small, 4 night cruise on the Brittania that goes to Belgium and France. I have noticed that people from Europe and the UK do dress much nicer on cruises than us Americans! We have become the sweat pants generation over here, I'm afraid. LOL. I will make sure we pack some decent attire. Will there even be a formal night on such a short cruise, I'm wondering? Will the pool be open? Not sure if they have one of those retractable roofs. 

 

I have sailed on Cunard, Holland America (one of my favorites), Celebrity, Carnival, Oceania, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC. This will be my 23rd cruise. If anyone has any questions on any of these other lines, I'd be happy to answer! Excited to try P&O. 

 

I will try and snag a reservation at Epicurean (thank you Selbourne!)

Edited March 11, 2023 by CruiseTee

[sandancer]

Probably the nearest to P&O would be Cunard but not so upmarket. We have been on short cruises when a formal night was included but not recently. One more thing to remember is that your onboard spend will be in £s. As things stand this will be very much in your favour. 

[amajaa]

Enjoy your cruise. The short cruises probably won’t give you the normal P & O experience as sometimes they might be used as booze cruises, also there will probably be a different clientele to the longer cruises . There probably won’t be a formal night on the cruise , I think it will tell you on your Cruise Personaliser before the cruise.

You can normally book some of the entertainment 2 weeks before the cruise. This is a new feature since Covid and hasn’t proved to be popular as most people like to decide on the day and I think they might be going to drop it on some of the ships. 
Drinks etc are very good value compared to Cunard & Princess etc.

I think you can book some of the specialty restaurants before the cruise as well, I’m sure someone will correct me on that if I am wrong. We don’t normally book before as we normally have OBC and if you book before you can’t use it. 

[Jennizor]

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

Enjoy your cruise. The short cruises probably won’t give you the normal P & O experience as sometimes they might be used as booze cruises, also there will probably be a different clientele to the longer cruises . There probably won’t be a formal night on the cruise , I think it will tell you on your Cruise Personaliser before the cruise.

You can normally book some of the entertainment 2 weeks before the cruise. This is a new feature since Covid and hasn’t proved to be popular as most people like to decide on the day and I think they might be going to drop it on some of the ships. 
Drinks etc are very good value compared to Cunard & Princess etc.

I think you can book some of the specialty restaurants before the cruise as well, I’m sure someone will correct me on that if I am wrong. We don’t normally book before as we normally have OBC and if you book before you can’t use it. 

We were on Iona recently (got back last Saturday). We were able to book the Limelight Club, Sindhu and the Chefs Table two weeks prior to the cruise through Cruise Personaliser. I can’t remember if there is a Chefs Table on Britannia but the one on Iona was very good.

[Interestedcruisefan]

13 minutes ago, Jennizor said:

We were on Iona recently (got back last Saturday). We were able to book the Limelight Club, Sindhu and the Chefs Table two weeks prior to the cruise through Cruise Personaliser. I can’t remember if there is a Chefs Table on Britannia but the one on Iona was very good.

A short 4 day cruise you might be advised to pre-book any speciality stuff sooner rather than later when it's made available as demand will be high for very few options

 

The same with theatre shows and getting the times you want

 

 

[Book bug]

On a four night cruise last sept ,on Ventura, we did a one formal night

[Britboys]

6 hours ago, CruiseTee said:

Wow! Thank you all so much for the wonderful advice! We are on a small, 4 night cruise on the Brittania that goes to Belgium and France. I have noticed that people from Europe and the UK do dress much nicer on cruises than us Americans! We have become the sweat pants generation over here, I'm afraid. LOL. I will make sure we pack some decent attire. Will there even be a formal night on such a short cruise, I'm wondering? Will the pool be open? Not sure if they have one of those retractable roofs. 

 

I have sailed on Cunard, Holland America (one of my favorites), Celebrity, Carnival, Oceania, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC. This will be my 23rd cruise. If anyone has any questions on any of these other lines, I'd be happy to answer! Excited to try P&O. 

 

I will try and snag a reservation at Epicurean (thank you Selbourne!)

I expect there will be a Formal Night on a 4 night cruise. It isn't compulsory throughout the ship however, just certain venues including the main dining rooms. If you are happy to eat in an alternative dining venue on Formal Night, you will be able to dress smart casual.

The pools will be open but whether it will be warm enough to swim is another matter. I've not been on Britannia but I don't think she has a covered pool.

[July morning]

We were on Britannia for a five night cruise in October and there was one formal night.

[Snibs]

The pools aren’t covered on Britannia, so likely to be a bit 🥶 chilly, but am sure once  and in and  swimming about you will be ok. And on the positive side will be less popular. 

[swjumbo]

On 3/11/2023 at 4:16 AM, CruiseTee said:

Wow! Thank you all so much for the wonderful advice! We are on a small, 4 night cruise on the Brittania that goes to Belgium and France. I have noticed that people from Europe and the UK do dress much nicer on cruises than us Americans! We have become the sweat pants generation over here, I'm afraid. LOL. I will make sure we pack some decent attire. Will there even be a formal night on such a short cruise, I'm wondering? Will the pool be open? Not sure if they have one of those retractable roofs. 

 

I have sailed on Cunard, Holland America (one of my favorites), Celebrity, Carnival, Oceania, Regent, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and MSC. This will be my 23rd cruise. If anyone has any questions on any of these other lines, I'd be happy to answer! Excited to try P&O. 

 

I will try and snag a reservation at Epicurean (thank you Selbourne!)

Don’t expect much. You get what you pay for.

Please don’t think that it’s a representation of the U.K. 

P&O is a US owned cruise line trading off a historic reputation.

It is not what it once was.

I’ve cruised P&O occasionally over the years and have seen a dramatic decline.

I can only imagine your short voyage will be similar to a Carnival one.

You’ll probably get the vibe whenever you check in.

Can’t wait to read your review!!

Enjoy

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, swjumbo said:

Please don’t think that it’s a representation of the U.K. 

What does that mean ?

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 hours ago, swjumbo said:

Don’t expect much. You get what you pay for.

Please don’t think that it’s a representation of the U.K. 

P&O is a US owned cruise line trading off a historic reputation.

It is not what it once was.

I’ve cruised P&O occasionally over the years and have seen a dramatic decline.

I can only imagine your short voyage will be similar to a Carnival one.

You’ll probably get the vibe whenever you check in.

Can’t wait to read your review!!

Enjoy

I've cruised Carnival twice. They have a really happy atmosphere on their cruises IMO

 

People who really want to make the most of their holiday and enjoy every minute

 

Very much depends on your mindset and age I believe

 

Ive cruised only for 15 years approx. 

 

I believe during that time cruise offerings and options have improved whilst costs have significantly decreased in real terms

 

Facilities and options on ships have significantly improved

 

What some call decline I call progress 

 

But everybody is entitled to their own opinion on that of course 

 

 

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

1 hour ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

I've cruised Carnival twice. They have a really happy atmosphere on their cruises IMO

 

People who really want to make the most of their holiday and enjoy every minute

 

Very much depends on your mindset and age I believe

 

Ive cruised only for 15 years approx. 

 

I believe during that time cruise offerings and options have improved whilst costs have significantly decreased in real terms

 

Facilities and options on ships have significantly improved

 

What some call decline I call progress 

 

But everybody is entitled to their own opinion on that of course 

 

 

 

And with teenage daughters I'm sure they won't be looking for what could probably  be called staid and old fashioned cruising like in the old days. And prefer the energy of a more modern cruise

 

Albeit there is still a place for old fashioned and refined as well

 

I totally understand that. I'm happy to experience that myself at times.

 

But modern cruising  offers many advantages as well that should not be looked down on or dismissed

 

The  teenage daughters will certainly appreciate the progress cruises have  made I'm sure

 

The new P and O has got a long way to go to match the vibe on Carnival ships though

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Interestedcruisefan

[wowzz]

47 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

The new P and O has got a long way to go to match the vibe on Carnival ships though

 

Thank goodness for that! 

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thank goodness for that! 

Lol

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

Isn't the British traditional idea of a sail away party not much more than drinking a glass of champagne and waving to people as you leave!

 

(With a brass band playing if there's the budget for one?)

[Leomins]

There used to be some awful sail away parties where songs like Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory were sung along with the waving of plastic Union Jacks. It used to make me cringe, especially when sailing in the Caribbean, it felt to me as if we were rejecting the locals’ hospitality.

They stopped due to Covid and now the flags have gone due to single use plastics.

There were more modern songs played as well and the entertainment crew used to dance by the pools, did they not have any sail away parties on your cruise?

[Interestedcruisefan]

There's a lot thats improved

 

In the world and on cruiselines. Including P and O

 

Old fashioned ways aren't always the best

 

I used to worry about "kids of today"

 

There's bad apples of course like always

 

But kids of today are far brighter and way more enlightened about stuff (in positive ways) than we ever were when we were kids

 

The things some people wish still happened on cruises probably date as far back as to colonial times tbh