Arvia VS Brittania in the Caribbean Dec 23

[technoman]

Hello my fellow cruisers, some of you may remember we went on Arvia earlier this year and we have never been on Brittania but are looking to go to the Caribbean in December. We like the itinerary for Britannia the first week of December but looking at some of the recent reviews re food it is putting me off. Has anyone been on her recently and have any views either way or maybe been on her in the Caribbean?. I know Megabear had issues on Arvia on a trip following mine earlier in the year but i wonder if things have improved. 

Any help or views either way may help us make a decision.

Thanks In advance

[Selbourne]

We’ve never been to the Caribbean on a cruise, but have done 4 cruises on Britannia, the most recent one was a 2 week cruise last month. 
 

We like the ship, with the only big negative point being the lack of a promenade deck. In all other aspects, it ticks all the boxes for us as far as a cruise ship goes. 
 

I had read a number of reviews about poor food prior to our cruise, but have to say that we were very happy with the main dining room meals. Choice wasn’t brilliant (same issue on all P&O ships now) but we both always found something that we fancied, meals were always served piping hot, quality was fine and portion sizes OK. The only weak meal was the Marco Pierre White menu on the celebration night.
 

We experienced a number of problems with Freedom Dining (queue full messages etc) but, again, that is a fleet wide issue now. When we go on Britannia next we would book second sitting Club dining in order to alleviate most of these issues (well, for dinner anyway). 

[Kittyonions]

Hi Technoman,

we too were on the Arvia cruise along with Megabear, and following that dreadful experience we have decided to book Brittania on 2nd sitting fixed dining for early December. Would have preferred the itinerary of Arvia, but can’t face another 2 weeks of having no idea what time we will be dining every evening. Looking on other threads, it appears the MDR problems still exist.Totally agree with all your comments Selbourne!

[AndyMichelle]

Agree with all that Selbourne and Kitty have said about Britannia. 

We had a slow start with Michelle having 2 consecutive bad mdr meals, but things definitely improved with service and quality. 

We have booked a couple more Britannia cruises and as much as I would like to try Arvia and Iona, until they sort out the dining situation, I won't consider them.

Too many reports of long delays have really put me off for now. 

I need the assurance of fixed dining, we don't mind sharing if we have to. Rather that than wait 2 hours to eat... 

Andy 

[technoman]

Can you book the main Dining room venues on Britannia 14 days before and shows in theatre 15 days before like you were able too on Arvia.?

Appreciate everybodys time and views so far, thank you.

[purplesea]

I was also on the same cruise a Megabear and Kittyonions and after all the problems  have opted for club dining on Britannia in September and also on Azura in January. It's been a while since I have been on Britannia, last time was in the Caribbean 2019, so can't comment on the food choices, etc. but have had several good cruises on her.

[Megabear2]

I cancelled my booking for Arvia Caribbean after my experience.  I have booked a Celebrity cruise for over Christmas and join Britannia on 13 January instead.

 

The Britannia cruise will be my 6th successive year on her in the Caribbean even though the itinerary has unfortunately not varied in recent years.  I find Britannia a very good choice for the Caribbean due to the outside space - I've also done this cruises on Azura and in my opinion Britannia is superior but it is of course personal choice.

[purplesea]

This is from my cruise personaliser:   

 

 

Dining

Whet your appetite with the full cruise experience - choose from a variety of speciality dining restaurants and delicious menus, and book 14 days before you board. If reservations for certain venues haven’t opened yet, you’ll see ‘Please enquire on board’ below. Just ask one of our onboard team to book you in once you’re on the ship, or use My Holiday and book from your phone.

 

[purplesea]

And from the Entertainments page, under Q&A's:

 

Can I pre-book entertainment on board for all ships?

You’ll be able to view the bookable events if sailing on Arvia, Britannia or Iona via My P&O Cruises before your holiday, or you can book once you’re on board via My Holiday for these ships.

Some events can be booked by turning up on the day and this will be managed on board. Please refer to your daily Horizon paper when you get on board for the booking details of each event.

[Selbourne]

47 minutes ago, technoman said:

Can you book the main Dining room venues on Britannia 14 days before and shows in theatre 15 days before like you were able too on Arvia.?

Appreciate everybodys time and views so far, thank you.

To clarify the dining position on Britannia as it was for us in July. The only dining that we could book before the cruise was the Limelight Club.
 

Epicurean, Sindhu & Beach House could only be booked when on board, but you could book for the entire cruise as soon as you boarded. Glass House and main dining rooms could only be booked via the app when you are ready to dine (not in advance). I believe that it is only Arvia that allows a degree of pre-booking for the MDR, and that is to encourage early diners as there is an MDR capacity issue on Arvia.
 

Someone posted in the last week that they were able to book Epicurean, Sindhu and Beach House prior to their Britannia cruise. If correct that has literally just changed. 
 

As for shows, we could pre book 14 days out. However, the dates of some shows changed once we were on board (one show changed date twice!) and other shows were added during the cruise (singers).

Edited August 12, 2023 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

Sorry, forgot to say….

 

On the cruise Personaliser, if under a restaurant or show it says “Coming Soon”, that means that bookings will open before the cruise (usually 14 days, but shows only opened 12 days before for our upcoming Iona cruise). When bookings open this changes to “Book Now”. If it says “Please enquire on board” that means that you will only be able to book on board and there is no option to book before you board. 

[Megabear2]

51 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Sorry, forgot to say….

 

On the cruise Personaliser, if under a restaurant or show it says “Coming Soon”, that means that bookings will open before the cruise (usually 14 days, but shows only opened 12 days before for our upcoming Iona cruise). When bookings open this changes to “Book Now”. If it says “Please enquire on board” that means that you will only be able to book on board and there is no option to book before you board. 

Just double checked my Britannia cruises, both still say "Coming Soon".  Interestingly on a non dining issue, the Retreat has gone to "Enquires on Board".

[Presto2]

Just now, Megabear2 said:

Just double checked my Britannia cruises, both still say "Coming Soon".  Interestingly on a non dining issue, the Retreat has gone to "Enquires on Board".

We can cross our fingers and toes!

[purplesea]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

Just double checked my Britannia cruises, both still say "Coming Soon".  Interestingly on a non dining issue, the Retreat has gone to "Enquires on Board".

Our cruise on Britannia is in September and there is nothing with regard to booking the retreat.

[Megabear2]

28 minutes ago, purplesea said:

Our cruise on Britannia is in September and there is nothing with regard to booking the retreat.

The trouble is from one ship to another there appears to be no consistency.  Sarah is on Ventura and booked before going, Arvia I was offered it constantly.  I'd just like to know what I can book in advance, if not asking for the world!

[Selbourne]

39 minutes ago, purplesea said:

Our cruise on Britannia is in September and there is nothing with regard to booking the retreat.

I must confess that I never looked to see if it was bookable or not before our recent Britannia cruise, as it’s not something that we consider, but friends of ours like the Retreat and I have a feeling that they book it once onboard. 

[technoman]

Thanks for all your replies.

Can i just confirm the freedom dining and club dining arrangements if anyone knows the answer.

When we were on Azura in December last year we booked an early saver and they gave us club dining when we boarded the ship but for the later sitting whereby we prefer the earlier one. We asked the Maitre D if we could change to freedom dining and he arranged that straight away.

So is this how it might work on Brittania and if so and we opt for freedom dining is this on an app or do we just turn up and get given a bleeper if we have to wait because the restaurant is full.

Thanks again

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, technoman said:

Thanks for all your replies.

Can i just confirm the freedom dining and club dining arrangements if anyone knows the answer.

When we were on Azura in December last year we booked an early saver and they gave us club dining when we boarded the ship but for the later sitting whereby we prefer the earlier one. We asked the Maitre D if we could change to freedom dining and he arranged that straight away.

So is this how it might work on Brittania and if so and we opt for freedom dining is this on an app or do we just turn up and get given a bleeper if we have to wait because the restaurant is full.

Thanks again

Britannia has 3 main dining rooms. One is for Club (fixed dining) and two are for Freedom. If you book a Saver and are allocated a dining arrangement that doesn’t suit you can certainly enquire about changing as you did on Azura. Hopefully you will be successful, but first sitting fixed dining (6.30pm) is the most popular so could technically sell out first. However, there are bound to be others on Savers who have been allocated first sitting and want second, or freedom, so it’s hopefully possible. 
 

As for Freedom dining on Britannia, you are meant to use the My Holiday app (that isn’t an app) to join a virtual queue BUT they also allow walk-ups and issue pagers, so it’s a buggers muddle (to use a technical term). As you prefer to dine early, you shouldn’t have a problem using the app. Just be aware that it shows ‘Queue Full’ around 20 minutes before breakfast service ends, around 45 minutes after lunch service starts (on sea days) and at peak times during the evening dinner service. We stuck religiously to using the app on our recent 2 week Britannia cruise and, when it worked, it was great. However, the frequent ‘Queue Full’ situation became tiresome and it was irritating to find that those who just did a walk-up were getting seated quicker than those of us doing as P&O request and using the app! 🙄

[technoman]

Yes Selbourne , i found that on Azura too , that people who turned up in most cases just got seated straight away.

[Megabear2]

1 hour ago, technoman said:

Thanks for all your replies.

Can i just confirm the freedom dining and club dining arrangements if anyone knows the answer.

When we were on Azura in December last year we booked an early saver and they gave us club dining when we boarded the ship but for the later sitting whereby we prefer the earlier one. We asked the Maitre D if we could change to freedom dining and he arranged that straight away.

So is this how it might work on Brittania and if so and we opt for freedom dining is this on an app or do we just turn up and get given a bleeper if we have to wait because the restaurant is full.

Thanks again

It will depend on how full your cruise is. In 2020 we struggled on a saver to get changed from 8.30 club, was refused freedom and on day 3 got 6.30 shared table of 6.  Our next 3 Britannia cruises we booked freedom and as we eat early was offered a table for 2 in the same section every night at 6.15 in the freedom dining room.

 

As you can read from this it varies by cruise. Certainly the Caribbean ones have been harder to be accommodated on as they sail pretty near to capacity.

[AndyMichelle]

27 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

It will depend on how full your cruise is. In 2020 we struggled on a saver to get changed from 8.30 club, was refused freedom and on day 3 got 6.30 shared table of 6.  Our next 3 Britannia cruises we booked freedom and as we eat early was offered a table for 2 in the same section every night at 6.15 in the freedom dining room.

 

As you can read from this it varies by cruise. Certainly the Caribbean ones have been harder to be accommodated on as they sail pretty near to capacity.

I thought that with saver, you just got what was left over and couldn't change? 

If it is made easy, then that's another thing that weakens the select offering... 

Andy 

[smokey01]

28 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I thought that with saver, you just got what was left over and couldn't change? 

If it is made easy, then that's another thing that weakens the select offering... 

Andy 

I haven’t booked a saver post covid but before covid always did. Back then if we were not given late sitting table for 2 we were always able to change to it on embarkation day apart from once. Even then they were able to change us by night 3 but by then we had got to know and like our table mates so decided to stay on early sitting (instead of late sitting) table for 8.

 

 

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

It will depend on how full your cruise is. In 2020 we struggled on a saver to get changed from 8.30 club, was refused freedom and on day 3 got 6.30 shared table of 6.  Our next 3 Britannia cruises we booked freedom and as we eat early was offered a table for 2 in the same section every night at 6.15 in the freedom dining room.

 

As you can read from this it varies by cruise. Certainly the Caribbean ones have been harder to be accommodated on as they sail pretty near to capacity.

I admire your memory. I can't remember what time we ate yesterday.

[Selbourne]

57 minutes ago, AndyMichelle said:

I thought that with saver, you just got what was left over and couldn't change? 

If it is made easy, then that's another thing that weakens the select offering... 

Andy 

You do technically get what’s left over with a Saver, whereas with Select your dining choice is usually guaranteed, but they will let anyone change if space allows. However, we have been on a few cruises where there have been signs outside the Freedom dining MDR on the first few nights stating that Freedom dining is full and they cannot accommodate requests to change.

 

Of course, now that P&O have managed to completely mess up Freedom dining, I suspect that these signs will soon start appearing outside the Club dining room 😂 

[technoman]

All your help has made me decide to bite the bullet and book it for December and because its an early saver the agent Cruise UK told me that P&O will contact me (not sure how) a few weeks before to ask our dining preference . This doesnt happen on late saver?. Maybe its in the planner nearer the time. I will keep ya posted.

Thanks again