Britannia Tuesday Southampton
Discussion
Simpo Two said:
Fred Olsen do an offer where if you don't like the cruise in the first 2 days they'll give you your money back. Whether they dump you in the nearest port or arrange return air travel I can't recall...
What do you think all those liittle boats on the side of the ship are for? Or do you believe the line that they are there to save you if the ship sinks😎😯Hideous looking thing just like all the recent new cruise ships. Love the old stuff just a shame so few left. SS Rotterdam, QE2, SS United States to name a couple of survivors. The reality is travel now whether by air, sea or land has no drama or sense of theatre. I'm just an old nostalgic sadly !
Taffer said:
M4cruiser said:
Britannia, Southampton, Tuesday 10 March 2015
.........I was out on the water today and the new ship looks great.........
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all, but really?.........I was out on the water today and the new ship looks great.........
I'm sure it'll be lovely to have a cruise on, but it's an awkward looking thing, dressed in the image of 'Britishness' to pull in the punters.
I know what one I'd rather be on....
Edited by Mojocvh on Saturday 14th March 14:58
I'm going on Britannia in June for 2 weeks round the Mediterranean.
Never done a cruise before. Been considering it since 2009 but always found something else to do. Like the fact this was a UK style cruise and Mrs was keen of doing the kitchen thing that they're offering.
Paying 3K to go on holiday and then paying £200 so she can cook. WTF?
Might run the hoover round whilst i'm there.
Never done a cruise before. Been considering it since 2009 but always found something else to do. Like the fact this was a UK style cruise and Mrs was keen of doing the kitchen thing that they're offering.
Paying 3K to go on holiday and then paying £200 so she can cook. WTF?
Might run the hoover round whilst i'm there.Rick101 said:
I'm going on Britannia in June for 2 weeks round the Mediterranean.
Never done a cruise before. Been considering it since 2009 but always found something else to do. Like the fact this was a UK style cruise and Mrs was keen of doing the kitchen thing that they're offering.
Paying 3K to go on holiday and then paying £200 so she can cook. WTF? Might run the hoover round whilst i'm there.
Never done a cruise before. Been considering it since 2009 but always found something else to do. Like the fact this was a UK style cruise and Mrs was keen of doing the kitchen thing that they're offering.
Paying 3K to go on holiday and then paying £200 so she can cook. WTF?
Might run the hoover round whilst i'm there.
gazzarose said:
Well me and the Mrs are currently sat in the P&O terminal waiting to check in and embark onto Britannia for 2 night to Guernsey and back! Asked definitely quite a large girl up close (the ship that is not the Mrs).
Let me know what you think of the landing facilities on Guernsey are like, from a passenger perspective. We are having terrible problems trying to explain to the Govt that they've made a right cock-up with the new docks.We went on it in May, it was our 5th cruise and we really didn't like it much.
The design of the ship is poor, such as a theatre which only holds 1/4 of the passengers and no stairs amidships. We were talking to a chap in a wheelchair and he said that the lifts weren't really big enough for those in wheelchairs.
On the 3 main atrium decks there's generally one way to get from A to B and if you get stuck behind slow moving people then there's no alternative route to take. There were a lot of electrical/electronic issues - at any one time 20% of the lifts were out of order, we had a power cut and it's apparently impossible to change the sound levels in the theatre or the air conditioning when not at Southampton. I felt really sorry for the entertainment staff who did their best but were constantly being defeated by the technology on board. The number of activies provided weren't a patch on previous cruises, lots of quizzes and a lot of talks trying to upsell spa treatments.
The food we had in our restaurant was pretty poor, standards have definitely slipped since our last cruise in 2013 with meals being plated rather than silver service. For a so-called foodie ship, the meals we were served were nothing to write home about and we found that several meals on the same menu contained the same ingredients so there was very little choice at times. We also noticed that they had relaxed the hygiene rules regarding hand-washing which was a surprise.
On a positive note we got upgraded to a suite with a butler, who was fantastic, and it's the first time we've had more storage than clothes. However, we did find the balcony to be wide but shallow and the whole cabin, indeed the whole ship, creaked incessantly, even in calm water.
We personally wouldn't go on Britannia again and the comments we heard throughout the ship indicates we were not alone, I've never seen so many people complain or move cabins on any previous cruise. By the end of the fortnight even the crew had given up on calling it the beautiful Britannia.
Hopefully P&O will sort out the niggling issues but there are more fundamental design flaws which only a refit will really cure.
The design of the ship is poor, such as a theatre which only holds 1/4 of the passengers and no stairs amidships. We were talking to a chap in a wheelchair and he said that the lifts weren't really big enough for those in wheelchairs.
On the 3 main atrium decks there's generally one way to get from A to B and if you get stuck behind slow moving people then there's no alternative route to take. There were a lot of electrical/electronic issues - at any one time 20% of the lifts were out of order, we had a power cut and it's apparently impossible to change the sound levels in the theatre or the air conditioning when not at Southampton. I felt really sorry for the entertainment staff who did their best but were constantly being defeated by the technology on board. The number of activies provided weren't a patch on previous cruises, lots of quizzes and a lot of talks trying to upsell spa treatments.
The food we had in our restaurant was pretty poor, standards have definitely slipped since our last cruise in 2013 with meals being plated rather than silver service. For a so-called foodie ship, the meals we were served were nothing to write home about and we found that several meals on the same menu contained the same ingredients so there was very little choice at times. We also noticed that they had relaxed the hygiene rules regarding hand-washing which was a surprise.
On a positive note we got upgraded to a suite with a butler, who was fantastic, and it's the first time we've had more storage than clothes. However, we did find the balcony to be wide but shallow and the whole cabin, indeed the whole ship, creaked incessantly, even in calm water.
We personally wouldn't go on Britannia again and the comments we heard throughout the ship indicates we were not alone, I've never seen so many people complain or move cabins on any previous cruise. By the end of the fortnight even the crew had given up on calling it the beautiful Britannia.
Hopefully P&O will sort out the niggling issues but there are more fundamental design flaws which only a refit will really cure.
gazzarose said:
My gran does a lot of cruises, in fact they asked from Southampton with P&O and saw Brittania on her berth, and they live it. It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing with us. I saw the advert with Rob Bryony, and whether I fall for adverts too easily or I just trusted a fellow Welshman I don't know, but when the wife got home I asked shall we go on a cruise. We went for the 2 night one to have a bit of a taster and even though everyone says who won't be sick on a cruise ship , including my gran (who wasill for the first 2 days of this week on her cruise, I do do suffer from sea sickness (and believe it or not I work in a boatdealership). Not a very ph holiday to, I can't imagine the are any roads on Brittania however big she seems.
Eh?When we went at the start of July it was our first cruise and only a couple of nights, but be enjoyed it. I think it depends on what you expect it to be like. There was a couple on our table at dinner who were moaning, but I think they were expecting posh QE2 type stuff instead of what is in reality a big family hotel that floats. We'll definitely do it again. Where are you going on it? We only went to Guernsey and back so only a taster.
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