Rule Britannia

Last week saw my long awaited 2 night stay on P&O Britannia.

I have looked forward to this for such a long time and my anticipation to enjoy her was heightened even more when none other than the Queen herself did the naming ceremony the day before.

The purpose of the stay was so the ship staff could do a trial run with a near capacity occupancy.

The excitement was obvious as soon as I arrived with the Port staff a little more smiley than usual.

With my cabin not quite ready yet I decided, along with my colleagues on board the ship to have a good wonder around to see what all the excitement was about.

As I often do I started at the top, the pool area hugged by hot tubs and plenty of decking space and pool bar, as expected with a brand new ship everything looked gleaming and very modern, unlike other cruise lines nothing too technical, just your good old fashion human barman.

I had to try a lager whilst I was here, rude not to. At £4.74 a pint I thought that was a little steep, the drinks menu showed £3.95 but with another 20% vat added I thought that took the cost a little over acceptable. Apparently this was just whilst in Port and once in international waters it would not have the VAT added. We did not go to far out to sea so I will just have to wait for feedback from those currently on the maiden voyage.

For a beautiful setting ‘The Crow’s nest’ is a must for a drink and relaxation, based on deck 16, The Lido deck right at the front with panoramic views it makes for a wonderful time seeing the seas greet you, listening to soft piano tunes and enjoying your favourite drink.

I’m not much of an Art lover or understanding of it but I thought this was quite nice, Butterflies made out of Atlas’s.

The Cookery Club, I tried to get on it and stick my nose in there but always full, make sure you pre-book this on your cruise personliser.

Dinner time was in the Meridian for the 1st night.

This is 1 of the 2 main restaurants that you will be allocated with-in the cost of your holiday and like everything else it had a new design to it.

Instead of being that huge looking open space restaurant where you can see every diner and every waiter this had been designed into smaller sections divided by tasteful looking walls and partitions, it did the trick and made a feel for a lot smaller dining room, less noise, less hustle and bustle on the eye.

With plenty of entertainment after dinner it was difficult to choose what to do, especially as I was only on for 2 nights so a bit of everything.

Brodie’s is the sport bar showing live sport all the time, Premier league football and other domestic leagues, Golf, Tennis, what ever was on.

The Live Lounge is the ships night club playing plenty of dancing music, whilst I was in there the music was taken from the last 20 years.

The Atrium had 3 decks of seating where you could enjoy a cocktail, Specialty coffee, A very tasty looking meat and cheese platter with all the add ons such as Olives and grapes an Ice Cream or just plenty of seats for people watching.