Final Thoughts on our Britannia cruise & ‘the cutbacks’

[yorkshirephil]

2 hours ago, swanseaboy said:

Take a screen shot on your phone? Not difficult. 

 

I can't be the only passenger with a bin full of paper at the end of every cruise 😆

 

On my recent QM2 cruise they had the daily planner Horizon on their App. It was so much easier that walking around with a paper copy which I would invariably forget! If Cunard can do it, P&O can do it 😀

When we were in Japan on QE the daily planner wasn't updated till the evening, when people complained they were told that the app was updated from head office in Seattle. So was of no use during the day

[tacticalbanjo]

1 hour ago, Camberley said:

I love the faith in P&O’s technical ability 🤣🤣. Maybe one day….

It's exactly the same webapp for both P&O and Cunard. Most likely developed at Carnival UK level then personalised for the individual brands. It's not like Cunard's IT is any great shakes either tbh.

[Britboys]

2 hours ago, 9265359 said:

 

Hence why I said *almost* every passenger.

 

For those that don't then its not hard to do some planning and buy or print whatever you need before sailing.

On Aurora and Arcadia, I think your "almost every" passenger could be wide of the mark.

 

I always do a lot of independent planning for my ports of call but still found the Port Guides that were provided useful.

[Britboys]

4 hours ago, swanseaboy said:

Take a screen shot on your phone? Not difficult. 

 

I can't be the only passenger with a bin full of paper at the end of every cruise 😆

 

On my recent QM2 cruise they had the daily planner Horizon on their App. It was so much easier that walking around with a paper copy which I would invariably forget! If Cunard can do it, P&O can do it 😀

Personally, I find it easier and preferable to carry the paper copy around. It is usually tucked into the book I am reading. I have no desire to carry the phone around all day too.

We are all different and I fully accept you would find it better to use your phone.

[swanseaboy]

12 minutes ago, Britboys said:

Personally, I find it easier and preferable to carry the paper copy around. It is usually tucked into the book I am reading. I have no desire to carry the phone around all day too.

We are all different and I fully accept you would find it better to use your phone.

But how are you going to take all your cruise 'selfies' if you don't carry your phone around? 😆

[Britboys]

10 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

But how are you going to take all your cruise 'selfies' if you don't carry your phone around? 😆

I don't take selfies in the original sense of the word - i.e. photos of yourself. Don't really need to take photos on board and ashore I have both my camera and the phone...

[daiB]

17 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Hopefully we’ll get some free ones on Ventura then, as we are in a Superior Deluxe Cabin. Absolutely no water at all in our standard accessible balcony cabin on Britannia though. Can you remember if you had any complimentary water in the deluxe balcony cabin that you had on Iona? I’ve booked 3 of those cabins for August and was going to suggest that we all take a small bottle each, but may not bother if some is provided. 

I think not as they are not Mini suite equivalents. Even though the cabin was about the size of the one on Britiannia. Certainly no champagne.

[daiB]

7 hours ago, purplesea said:

Another cut back is the port information guides that used to be in the cabins.

 

The maps were useless, speaking as a geographer. Not easy to read at all.

[swanseaboy]

3 minutes ago, Britboys said:

I don't take selfies in the original sense of the word - i.e. photos of yourself. Don't really need to take photos on board and ashore I have both my camera and the phone...

I was pulling thy leg!

 

I do find it handy to keep my phone with me onboard. Listening to music. Checking they haven't charged me for a drink when I'm on the drinks package (it has happened a few times). Taking photo's of the evenings menu so I can peruse in my cabin before dinner. But horses for courses I completely agree. 

[Britboys]

7 minutes ago, swanseaboy said:

I was pulling thy leg!

 

I do find it handy to keep my phone with me onboard. Listening to music. Checking they haven't charged me for a drink when I'm on the drinks package (it has happened a few times). Taking photo's of the evenings menu so I can peruse in my cabin before dinner. But horses for courses I completely agree. 

Yes, I realised you were being tongue in cheek 😀

[Camberley]

1 hour ago, tacticalbanjo said:

It's exactly the same webapp for both P&O and Cunard. Most likely developed at Carnival UK level then personalised for the individual brands.

And it’s the personalisation among other things that creates many of the issues. None are without their challenges but P&O’s attempt is still more prone. Or rather, less reliable/consistent.

Edited July 25, 2023 by Camberley

[tacticalbanjo]

40 minutes ago, Camberley said:

And it’s the personalisation among other things that creates many of the issues. None are without their challenges but P&O’s attempt is still more prone. Or rather, less reliable/consistent.

I suspect that a lot of the problems aren't actually to do with the app itself but the backend systems. A bit of personalisation shouldn't make any difference to functionality between the apps. So many companies treat IT as something they have to begrudgingly invest in so they buy the cheapest systems possible then wonder why customers find the final product horrendous to use. 

 

Probably Carnival UK have supplied some ancient servers and employed some of the cheapest jack-of-all-trades IT guys they can find rather than investing in decent, reliable kit and experienced - and therefore expensive - specialists.

[Camberley]

1 minute ago, tacticalbanjo said:

 

 

Probably Carnival UK have supplied some ancient servers and employed some of the cheapest jack-of-all-trades IT guys they can find rather than investing in decent, reliable kit and experienced - and therefore expensive - specialists.

Now that wouldn’t surprise me for a moment.

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Holidayfun141 said:

 

Yes.

[CarlaMarie]

On 7/23/2023 at 7:51 PM, AndyMichelle said:

It seems to work fine for many, but it's club dining for us whenever available now. 

There doesn't seem to be much 'freedom' involved nowadays. 

Andy 

 

My parents feel the exact same now - club fixed dining only next time. As I have said before, when they were on Britannia in May, the queues were full on the app for the glass house so they tried walking up (as advertised that you can do) - and were told to join the queue. They couldn't win.