This was our second cruise (we have previously cruised with Princess) and after reading the reviews we weren't sure what to expect but went with an open mind. We were not disappointed and loved Britannia! Our embarkation at Southampton was easy and went smoothly. We arrived early after a 3 hour drive so visited a local shopping centre until nearer our boarding time of 2.30pm. We were fast tracked through and arrived outside our cabin to see our suitcases waiting for us. Our room steward Steffan introduced himself and we set off to unpack and explore the ship.
Many comments have been made about the lack of stairs midship and although some would be nice we did not find the lifts a problem probably because we avoided the busy times. However, we felt really sorry for disabled and wheelchair passengers who often had to wait and this was often due to a few selfish people who just grabbed a lift regardless of the direction it was going.
The layout is confusing at first but after a good look around on the first day with the map it did not cause us a problem. We liked the modern look and the colour scheme of the ship and enjoyed looking at the interesting modern art which is found all over Britannia. There are plenty of places to sit and we were never worried by waiters trying to persuade us to have a drink if we did not want one. They seemed to place one mat on the table to show that you had been asked.
Very good mid ship position. Very clean and comfortable. Liked having tea making facilities in the room.
Visited a shopping centre near to the port where we could get food and drink as we were early after travelling.
We walked to the museum of Man which was modern and interactive. Although everything was in Spanish we enjoyed the museum. We then continued to walk around to see the lighthouse and carried on walking back to the ship.
Having previously spent a fortnight holiday in Madeira we enjoyed walking around and seeing things we remembered and things that had changed.
An easy place to walk around from the port. It was a Sunday so we found several places where we could sit and listen to live music being played. Most of the shops were open also. We saw the replica ship and visited the church.
We were able to walk very easily to find interesting sights to see. We visited the Lisbon Story Center which is right at the side in the Praca de Comercio which was very interesting. We then wandered around and saw the trams and the lift and walked along the front.