Luxury Cruise Holidays | Caribbean Sea Cruises | P&O Cruises

Ship Reviews

Booked this cruise nearly a year before we travelled and were looking forward to it. To give some details about the travellers. We are both in mid-40s, no children and this would be our sixth P&O cruise and second on Britannia. Whilst nowhere near experienced cruisers we are also not new and our expectations were set. P&O are not a s small ship high class cruise line and nor do they set out to be. We were not expecting cheap and cheerful, full on parties, service at the drop of a hat, enrichment nor full on butler / silver service. That is not us at all. We also deliberately avoid Formal Night and accept our movements are somewhat limited. We travel to have two weeks away from work, to see new places, to switch off and relax and have lazy days. We don't need haute cuisine and fine dining, non-stop drinking nor to chuck a few pennies in the casino. If we did we would survey our options. In short P&O suits our needs and style. I was once told stress comes from having expectations and them not being met. Views in this forum are mixed, new cruisers love P&O and what they offer, traditional cruisers are not for changing and thus do not like how some things have changed. Some expect too much too and any complaint must be dealt with by the CEO. For us P&O have changed since our original cruise in 2019 but for the better, they are adapting to attract the newer market and do it well whilst maintaining a relaxing environment. It's a fine balance but one they are getting correct in our view. The TLDR (too long didn't read) is our expectations were more than met and sometimes exceeded. Booking and Pre-Cruise Booking was simple and done via P&O online direct. We opted, our choice, for the non-alcoholic drinks package. We both drink but not frequently enough to break even on the full drinks package. Consumption on board matched this expectation. We paid as we went for alcohol. We also booked one wi-fi package that enabled streaming. It worked well and whilst only one device could connect at one time we could chop and change which device during the two weeks. CPS We opted to use CPS for the car having got a bundle deal via the Select Fare. Couldn't fault them. Swift on arrival, gave us as long as we needed to unpack. On arrival back it was equally as swift. Personally I would use them again and find it was stress and hassle free. Embarkation We were given our earliest embarkation time ever of 11:45 which was bitter sweet. We could use the facilities in theory but our moggies were also going on holiday to a cattery and we couldn't drop them off until 10:00 and we live a minimum of two hours from Southampton. We arrived at 13:30 alongside a number of coaches. We thus experienced our longest transit through check in at around 45 mins from dropping my bags off to getting the "okay to board" stamp. PA announcements about lengthy waits at security due to the amount of hand baggage kept playing and advised us to remove belts, laptops etc etc. The number of people that paid zero attention to this didn't help the queues. That said the security queue took around 15 mins. I would say from dropping my bags off to boarding took just over an hour. After a visit to our muster station we were told cabins were open and I was in there at 14:51, 75 mins after dropping my bags off. Also surprised to see our checked in baggage was outside the cabin door when we rocked up which was a first and that's when Mrs RL breaths a sigh of relief. Cabin We have cabin A40x which was a deluxe balcony cabin. We always pick balconies as we like fresh air and one of us likes to ship spot and take photos. Two things concerned me about the cabin, first it was directly below the lido deck and sunbathing area and secondly it had an overhanging balcony. I will be absolutely 100% crystal clear, we KNEW this when we booked. Neither turned out to be a problem. There was the odd bit of scraping as loungers were put away in an evening but I'm talking a few seconds. There was the occasional heavy footsteps once a day, no idea what that was about but it was once a day and not constant. The overhang wasn't an issue although we weren''t on a sunny hot cruise where it may have made a difference. The top corner of the overhang also made my Go-Pro timelapses which is my issues not theirs. The Cabin was standard width but longer, hence deluxe I guess. Double bed was comfy and cases fitted under. Sofa(bed) was comfy and two TVs were available. Chocolates and champagne were there on arrival. I didn't realise the Deluxe designation put us one below a Suite so that explained the food and drink. We also had a flower appear one day and an order for fruit which only appeared once but we took advantage of. Cabin steward said hello and took us through everything. He was superb and was discrete but easy to find if you needed him. We did some laundry one day but didn't have a bag and he sorted it. Ten items (including a waterproof outdoor jacket) went for a wash, steam and press. £32 and returned in two days. We have never tried his before but were impressed enough to do it again. I say two days, if handed in by 10:00 you get it next day, we handed in at 10:30 on Day 1 and got it back on the afternoon of Day 3. No doubt some would be complaining to ceo@carn...com about the fact 10:00 was held fast but hey, I have better things to worry about and rules is rules. I felt bad as we returned to the cabin whilst the chap from the laundry was returning it and he looking out the balcony at Copenhagen. I said he could stay and look but protocol took over and he left. Guess it was rare he got to venture up and peer out and some bad timing on my part spoilt a brief moment of downtime and curiosity. Never heard the neighbours on any side. We only had one issue and that was the toilet had no water one day, when it did finally fill it overflowed (clean) water a little. We phoned reception and within 15 minutes a plumber arrived to fix it followed, to my genuine surprise. by a cleaner who gave the bathroom a deep clean. No doubt some on this forum would be emailing ceo@carn...com about this but these things happen and it was dealt with quickly. Bathroom was standard although shower was in the bath which feels dated. Also my electric toothbrush charger did not fit the shaver socket in the bathroom which I thought were universal. The toothbrush put in sterling performance and I only had to go manual on the last two days. Will take an adapter next time, lesson learned. And apologies now, I yet again forgot to check the top of the doors to see if there was any dust. One less email heading to ceo@carn...com though. Getting around the ship Britannia has forward, middle and aft lifts between all decks but no stairs in the middle. This was slightly awkward as the middle was closest but required a lift to go up one floor. This is a known issue so won't dwell. One of the middle lifts had a "12" that didn't work which wasn't an issue for us being on 15 but clearly was if you needed that floor. Another middle lift landed on 15, you pressed 16 and the doors closed and it wouldn't move, then did but down. Again everyone got to know about this and it wasn't fixed in the two weeks we were aboard. Guess something need specialist people. Apart from that all lifts were working and rare I had to let one go as too busy. Communal areas were clean, I had no complaints, saw nothing amiss. Finding a seat wasn't too difficult. Food Now, neither are foodies, one is at the pickier end of the scale but getting better, the other is fine. This will be brief. Other thing I will add is it's pleasing to see you pay a non-refundable deposit on speciality dining which is taken off the final bill if you eat. Hopefully this reduces people block booking and not turning up. Personally I have an issue with those who can book early as soon as bookings open and take everything before others have had a chance. I work so can't stay up for midnight when bookings may open (assuming they do before boarding) or on early enough to book them. I say you should be able to book one of everything only and give everyone a chance. I know people in the forum who messed up an Epicurean booking at Christmas and complained to ceo@carn...com, no doubt their name is well known and it was easier to give in but even so give everyone a chance of booking the experiences. Main Dining Room, Epicurean, Sindhu - never visited so can't comment. Not our thing and too formal. Horizon - usually very busy for breakfast but only once or twice did I have to ask to share a table, or have someone share with us. This was actually useful for one couple as one half had never tried a smoothie before so I let her try mine, she loved it so I went and got myself a fresh one and let her finish the original. As ever the toast is bad but there was a jar of Marmite. Small gestures go a long way. Personally I found the dinner and tea food varied and always cooked, warm and being self service you could have much as you wanted. There was always roast and traditional dish on offer but the first time I recall a curry too. Desserts were okay, custard is now custard sauce. About four nights were theme nights which were good. Always a good selection of breads. Afternoon tea was standard in Horizon, went once on a Port Day. My only issue is late night snacks. Everyday the menu stated currywurst would be on offer but despite many trips up at 23:00 I never saw any. It wasn't alone, the menu for evening snacks shown during the days bared no relation to what was on offer. Beach House - went twice and it was lovely both times. Quick service too. Only comment I would make is my chicken fajitas had about two bits of actual chicken in it. Mrs RL had chicken fajitas too and had plenty of chicken so certainly nothing deliberate. Maybe I had the bottom of the pan. Oh and as per previous cruises only two tortilla arrived, we asked for two more each and got them, no problem. The lava steak comes with prawns now which I'm allergic too so need to pluck up the courage to ask them to do it without. The meat sharer is amazing, i can't remember which it's called. There is a cover charge and some things are extra too. Glass House - went once to avoid a formal night. Had a decent steak but the needed a microscope to find the chicken wings when they landed as a starter. Compared to the wings in the Beach House these were very disappointingly small and had I paid full whack I'd have been tempted to email ceo@carn...com. There is a cover charge and some things are extra too. Lido Grill - did amazing pizzas, burgers, and hot dogs. The fried chicken though was out of this world. Maybe I should email ceo@carn...com and ask for the recipe. Drinks - believe we had a drink in every bar open apart from the Crows Nest. I tend to avoid this as I always feel I'm looked down upon for daring to venture in. This is maybe my perception. I drank a lot of Pepsi or Pepsi Max but some bars would only have Coke which added some confusion. The menus show which drink is in which package but it isn't always clear and some drinks were chargeable despite being non-alcoholic. Sometimes drinks were grouped on the menu as being part of a package and thus free, other times not. This really needs making clear and shouldn't be too difficult to resolve. Service was quick and if you were sat in a seat a bit out the way a nod or wave was all that was needed. The Pepsi pump in the Grill bar was broken so cans were used, I dread to think how many cans they went through. The Pepsi pump in the adults only pool bar had an awful aftertaste. Thankfully it wasn't open that often. Entertainment - standard cringy stuff from the Ents team. I sometimes things they forget who their audience is. But it was a busy schedule if you wanted it. Eurovision was on whilst aboard and two of the Ents staff give us a running commentary which, on top of Graham Norton's, was heavy going. Didn't attend any shows so can't comment. If you wanted to keep yourself to yourself you could. We used the adults only pool at the front which was warm on a cold day. That said it was term time so not that many children aboard at all so getting in any pool would have been easy. Whirlpools were normally occupied. Library / Retreat / Spa - didn't use so can't comment. Lots of deals for the Spa though so became tempted. Shopping - usual shops, didn't buy much this time compared to others. Didn't feel the need to walk around them twice a day either as I have done on previous cruises. Maybe as I didn't need anything or maybe as I knew what would be on sale. Men's clothing was better than on previous ships though Superdry was there in abundance which are iffy sizing. Fair to assume around half the ship is male then the offering is quite poor. Maybe one for ceo@carn...com Formal Nights - we didn't do any. There were four and we skipped them all. Only places embargoed were the Crow's Nest, Epicurean, Main Dining Rooms and possible Sindhu (I can't recall if that was on the list or not). Walking around the ship, and facing criticism on this forum for commenting, it was the most informal formal nights I'd experienced. Cruise No. 1 was 90 / 10 formal. This was was 65 / 35 formal. Far less formal than I'd seen on others. Ports Stavanger - First time here. Arrived on a Sunday, walkable to town but nothing open apart from touristy stuff. Went to the Petroleum museum which was genuinely amazing. Had a walk around town, there was a small market on, bought some tat from the souvenir shops, bought a bottle of local cola and sent my mum a postcard. Olden - First time here. Stunning but small. Town had a number of outlets. There were Hop On Hop Off buses and the local land trains. Land train was about £40 each for an hours ish tour around the glacier. It was wonderful but not sure value for money, it was a trip around one glacier and no more. Bought some tat from the souvenir shops, bought a bottle of local cola and sent my mum a postcard. Andalsnes - second time here but first in daylight and without 4ft of snow. Walkable to town. Went up the cable car which was about £85 for two. A day ticket wasn't much more. It was a lovely view but again is it worth the coin? It was expensive for what you got. Bought some tat from the souvenir shops, bought a bottle of local cola and sent my mum a postcard. Oslo - first time and was really looking forward to this. However... was there on a Thursday on a public holiday. Nothing open. We should have checked, our fault. We had Hard Rock Cafe booked which was open. They did HUGE portions. We couldn't finish. And they commented that portions had got smaller over the last year. Ship berthed at Filipstad and NO shuttle buses provided. Hop On Hop Off was available but two companies and neither would accept t'others tickets so be careful. I was disappointed but not P&Os fault. Bought some tat from the souvenir shop outside the ship, failed on local cola but did send my mum a postcard. Copenhagen - second time here and an overnight too. Shuttle buses provided to / from Norrepoint. Went into the town and did some shopping as this was the first big place that had any and were open. Ended up in Hard Rock Cafe again and shared a burger this time which was smaller than Oslo. Mrs RL then went back to the ship and I ventured to the station and caught the over the bridge to Malmo in Sweden to bag an extra country, Trains every 15 mins and took less than 90 mins to do a round trip. Obviously you could spend more than 8 mins in Malmo if you choose to. Bought some tat from the souvenir shops, bought a bottle of local cola and sent my mum a postcard although couldn't find any postboxes at all in Copenhagen so had to pay P&O £3.25 to post it. Aarhus - Britannia's first ever call and ours too. Denmark's second largest city. Mandatory and free shuttle bus to town as it's an industrial port and they don't want you walking around. The city is trying to be touristy. The large department store on the shopping street has a tremendous and free roof garden which includes (optional) glass floors. This was one of two shops where I encountered someone who knew no English. I heard English is the language of tourism but sometimes I'm ashamed I don't speak the local language. I heard someone Dutch speaking to someone Danish in English. Anyway... not many tat shops but did find a postcard to send my mum. Again couldn't find any stamps or postboxes at all in Aarhus so had to pay P&O £3.25 to post it. Hamburg - First time port for us. Berthed at HafenCity and after a walk through the shopping centre caught the U4 to the centre. Went around the shops including the Hard Rock Cafe shop which was my other non-English speaking encounter. Bought some tat from the souvenir shop in the shopping centre, bought a bottle of local cola and sent my mum a postcard although couldn't find any stamps at all so had to pay P&O £3.25 to post it. Postcards - P&O posted a few of my postcards as I either couldn't find stamps, post offices weren't open or in the case of Denmark I couldn't find a postbox. P&O will post for you at £3.25 a pop if you hand it to them two hours before departure. Mother RL confirms these do arrive with a local stamp and postmark. Aarhus did arrive with a Hamburg postmark and German stamp though I was expecting that... In Oslo I had a stamp and postcard but no postbox. I asked P&O if they could post it for free, took the Receptionist to ask two people over seven minutes to say "yes". Maybe I should raise that to ceo@carn...com Hop-on Hop-Off - These are awfully expensive in each port. I discovered on the Stroma website they do an 11-day ticket covering a lot of the places visited. Had I known this I would have purchased one as it would have saved a fortune, one covers Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland so all ports we visited bar Andalsnes and Hamburg. Fellow Passengers - We were small fish in a big pond and kept ourselves to ourselves. Helped a couple out in a quiz one afternoon though. Age range was older rather than younger but being in 40s meant I was in the bottom third age range. Six years ago I was bottom 10%. I saw no bad behaviour though those in formal on formal night seem to think it means being loud and lairy. Some irritating groups in Brodies, not drunk, disruptive or aggressive just a large group having a good holiday together but having endless loud laughter. People reserving tables in Horizon, people using tables for eight for two people (though if that's the only table free then fair one as I'd have done the same), people being rude or obnoxious or passive aggressive to the staff which is sad to see. (I read someone in the Forums who wanted to take a week's supply of teabags from the buffet for their cabin. If they were stopped by waiters or officers they would "give it to them with both barrels if they tried to stop me", yep that's the sort I'm talking about). I would just ask everyone to think before judging people, not all disabilities are visible. I'm in my 40s, yes, fit and healthy, yes in the main. But sometimes I do need a lift as I have eye issues and struggle with stairs especially when tired or the ship is moving through bad seas. But 99% of people were lovely. Staff - can't fault them though never saw any of the bridge team floating around but wasn't look for them either. The stewards, bar staff and waiters worked extremely hard for long hours for probably not great pay. I didn't have a single bad experience but Mrs RL experienced a bar waitress with attitude once, certainly not one that needs to involve ceo@carn...com. Yes even the Ents team, definitely not my thing at all but they were present and working. Disembarkation We had a disembarkation time of 07:55 - 08:05 or we could self disembark. We opted to self disembark as we always do. I took a picture of the ship at 06:42, was at about Oxford at my disembarkation time of 07:55 and home before 09:00. Moggies picked up at 10:00 on the dot. Overall I have given this 5/5. It was our first cruise since 2023 and was needed. We love Norway but had never been into the Fjords and glad we did it in daylight. I set my Go-Pro going on the balcony and have some stunning timelapses of the transits in and out. Two weeks seemed to last forever. One thing we did notice were sea days never dragged, but this the first cruise we never had more than one in a row. Yes you can pay a lot more and get more, we have considered trying a different line but don't seem to get more for the extra coin as we'd have to venture into a ship within a ship to get the peace we would value. Likewise you can pay less and get less. P&O strike the right balance for us and what we want / expect. For the bits P&O couldn't control... seas were good and not rough. Weather was cold to mild. We touched snow in May though didn't have any fall. We had some rain and one foggy day. All port calls were made and none cancelled. For the bits P&O can control... I feel the menus are a little dated for a clientele getting younger but a curry of the day is a welcome addition. I wouldn't miss formal nights becoming fewer or disappearing. Please make the drinks menus crystal clear about which drink is included in which drinks package and cut down on variations between bars. Please sort out the Pepsi pumps at the outdoor bars. Please consider a shuttle bus at Oslo. Also consider making it clear where you call at a port on a public holiday. Whilst this isn't going to make me cancel a holiday it'll help me plan ahead. Please continue to make changes to keep me coming back. Please consider restricting speciality things to one per booking at the start until EVERYONE has had a chance to book.

What a fab cruise we had. We have cruised on several P&O ships and apart from the Arvia ( Butlins at Sea) we have always had a great time. We had a balcony cabin, which was spotless and provided with fresh tea, coffee, milk and biscuits each day. We also asked for a daily ice bucket, which was placed in the fridge every day and the ice stayed frozen. The food in the restaurant was lovely, no complaints . It was always hot and a good selection of high quality food. The only issue we had was people entering the buffet without washing their hands .. disgusting.. we made our concerns known to members of staff and guests who we saw not washing their hands . We were on a cruise last year that had a severe outbreak of norvovirus, if only people washed their hands maybe this virus could be kept under better control. So no complaints about the cruise, staff or food. Only guests not washing their hands!!

Britannia

Cruise Regions

Cruise Lines

Cruise Ships

Cruise Duration: Any

Select a duration:

Solo Supplement

Departure Port: Any

Departing from:

Britannia

Ship Reviews

Accommodation

Accommodation Types

Suite

Deluxe Balcony Cabin

Balcony Cabin

Balcony Cabin (Fully Obstructed View)

Inside Cabins

Single Balcony Cabins

Single Inside Cabins

Dining

Dining Types

Market Café

The Limelight Club

The Glass House

Sindhu

Meridian Restaurant

Oriental Restaurant

Buffet Restaurants

Epicurean Restaurant

Enrichment

Enrichment Types

Entertainment

Entertainment Types

The Blue Bar

Headliners Theatre

Crystal Room

The Live Lounge

The Studio

The Limelight Club

The Crow's Nest

Brodie's Bar

Sunset Bar

Health & Fitness

Health & Fitness Types

Sports Court

Gymnasium

Oasis Spa

Swimming Pools

Kids & Teens

Kids & Teens Types

The Reef

Night Nursery