We traveled on Britannia from 2nd to 16th February 2019 starting from Barbados.In the main it was a positive experience, it’s a lovely ship, with amazing staff and lots of fabulous food (you definitely won’t go hungry) We preferred to eat in the Oriental or Peninsula restaurant for breakfast/lunch and share a table which gave us the chance to meet lots of new people who were all very pleasant (despite differing Brexit views which was inevitably one of the conversational topics) There were a few passengers on board however who were rude/ignorant but I suppose you will get that wherever you go.They are catering for a lot of people with varying expectations, so of course there were things we didn’t like (The sail aways were a bit naff, although we heard that the Great British sail away where there were a lot of rousing, patriotic songs was very good) but there are so many activities you can find something to do or somewhere quiet or noisy depending on your mood. The entertainment was good, although as someone else has commented there were a LOT of quizzes. We did one everyday in Brodie’s bar before dinner, which was enough for us. The shows in the Headliners Theatre were very good. The Headliner troupe are very talented and enthusiastic, and the other acts we saw were very good too, it’s excellent entertainment. The only thing we felt let down by was the Astonishing show, which I think was built up to be a huge magic show and was really more singing and dancing, with some very average illusions. It was okay, but didn’t live up to the hype. We were impressed by the organisation when things went wrong. Our inbound flight was delayed by 3 hours and our transfer from plane to ship was very smooth and straightforward. Also we were unable to dock at Antigua as planned, and they very quickly organised more entertainment for the enforced Sea day and we made an unscheduled stop at Martinique the following day instead.

This was our first long cruise and there were a couple of things I wished I known /thought about in advance. On the final night you have to put out your hold luggage between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. My hand luggage was just a smallish handbag. If I was doing it again, I would have a larger bag for hand luggage to accommodate wash kit, and change of clothes etc. Also on the final morning you need to vacate your cabin by 8 a.m. As we weren’t due to congregate to leave for the airport until 3.40 p.m. I wish we’d organised an excursion that morning as it was quite boring and very little going on on the boat and because of the aforementioned hand luggage debacle we were overdressed for sitting by the pool. The launderette was very useful too, although business was brisk on the day we chose (First sea day, second week) full of ladies ironing their husbands’ shirts (No sign of the husbands, did Germaine Greer burn her bra in vain?) I probably would have taken fewer clothes, as it wasn’t too much of a chore doing a bit of washing. I understand that P&O are introducing a drinks package soon, which would put me off travelling with them again.