After so many fabulous Celebrity Cruises this was Benidorm at Sea Disinterested crew,unruly guests,cold food,average wines being passed off as premium,a front desk that was perfect at apologising without being pro active,repetitive menu in the ocean view unless you love fajitas and macaroni cheese every day... no description of your evening meal in the MDR just super swift need to clear this table for the next guest service Beyond disappointed Booked 4 Alcoves based on previous experiences..this one had no ropes no privacy and was a huge waste of money,now a public area no WiFi as advertised save your money its a rip off People sat on towels everywhere,using alcoves having not booked,and smoke from the engine mixed with the fuel odour. Disinterested crew that need to finish their chat before you may ask a question. To summarise,despite reaching out to Guest services it’s all a front,nobody irks really interested how your experience really is. Read Less

Can I just firstly say that the crew were absolutely amazing, each and every one of them! Some days I did enjoy myself but for the most part I was not happy with this cruise at all. Firstly it was very overcrowded. Apparently it was some kind of record, over 3500 passengers. Due to this a lot of people could not get sun beds or even seats in the ocean view cafe to eat. You pay that much money you should have a sun bed allocated for you and a place to eat the food you paid for. It felt like a 3 star holiday resort where everybody runs for the sun beds. At the bars I saw a lot of arguments between people trying to get served. The bar staff couldn’t control it they never knew who to serve next and people were pushing in. On my last night I had an argument myself at the ice bar. Everybody sits around the bar so you can’t get served. I was waiting for 15 minutes then all of a sudden this rude man tried pushing me out of the way and said it was his seat. I tried to explain I didn’t want to sit down I just wanted a drink then I was going to stand back. Then his friend started on me saying I didn’t understand. It’s ridiculous that people are allowed to cover the whole bar by sitting down, drinking, then getting served again straight away. Nobody else has a chance of getting served. The seats should all be removed it’s not fair on people. Now to the food. In the main restaurant I can’t complain. But In the ocean view cafe the food was always cold. I got told they replace it every 4 hours which is a very long time. Breakfast was the worst. Stone cold beans everyday. Then I kept getting them blue glasses which were sometimes filthy, with one day having yogurt all over the rim of the glass. Again it felt like a 3 star holiday resort. Then we got ripped off with the shuttle buses. $20 each to Marseille. The cruise made it sound like a super long way. On the evening paper it said 30 minutes drive. Well it was 10-15 minutes. What made this even worse was outside next to the shuttle bus we paid for. Was a free of charge shuttle bus! The absolute cheek of them to do this! It cost us $80 for 4 people. When you pay £8000 for a holiday you expect not to keep getting robbed. Then the amount of times the waiters and supervisors tried to get us to pay for the more expensive restaurants or to upgrade our drinks package. They truly have got you when you are on board. Then teenagers seemed to be everywhere and were really annoying. Never with any parents just in gangs taking up large areas of the ship. You had no chance of having a sit down in the hideaway. Even at 1am in the morning they were still swarming around causing bother to people. The women who sing on deck 3 must have a very small catalogue of songs. They sung the same songs every night it was so repetitive. Then on ‘rock night’ she did about 2 rock songs then went back to the other repetitive ones. I won’t be cruising with celebrity again, I feel like I had the wool pulled over my eyes on how great it would be. Again it’s not all bad, but not getting served and my incident at the bar really got to me, and I had enough at that point of the whole thing and just wanted to go home. Too many people. Read Less

The ship itself was well equipped, our inside cabin was a good size. Both the embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly. The service on board ship was good, our cabin attendant was very good. As far as we are concerned the two things that really let this cruise down was its daytime activities, and the food. We did not like what was served in the main dining room most evenings so we both chose to eat on deck 14, however, this was very bad. Very bad to the point I contacted Celebrity main office when we arrive home to no avail. The food was not cooked, (the vegetables were raw) not even warmed through, the meat and eggs were cold. The cakes looked amazing but did not live up to the image. I ended up having only one meal a day which was a salad sandwich, just could not face another cold meal. On one sitting I asked for 3 pieces of toast the person behind the counter put them through the toaster all together, so I ended up with two pieces of toast half toasted and one warm slice of bread not toasted at all. Read Less

Because the ship was smaller, you have a more in depth service from the staff, this was true, the staff were fantastic, all were friendly and so very helpful in every way, the food in the Ocean View Cafe was superb, the chef's worked really hard, and produced the most wonderful array of cuisine, the ship was clean, and our cabin was small but manageable. The pool/sun deck was open until late, the entertainment was ok but not brilliant. Celebrity laid on shuttle buses for the times that we went to look around the islands we visited and for the first week it was fine, then, my mother unfortunately became ill with pneumonia, there was also another much younger chap that became ill with the same thing and many others started to cough, I blame the air con, maybe they need a professional clean! As a result of this infection, my mother, after spending about 4 hours in the ship's medical centre, which is hellishly expensive, was disembarked and transported to hospital in Gran Canaria, as the ship's doctor quoted ' I can't cope with this' !! Admittedly, my mom was ill, so I had to pack all the suitcases in our cabin with the ' help' of the security staff, I was quite happy to pack everything myself, but apparently I didn't have time as they wanted to disembark me as soon as possible as though I had the plague even thought he ship was not leaving this port until about 5.30 pm! I felt that I was frogmarched off the ship flanked by these security officers, and bundled into a taxi, was I under arrest because my mom had dared to be ill on the morning we reached Gran Canaria? That is how I felt, it was a very insensitive disembarkation, I was scared my mom was going to die, and I was in a spanish country on my own, Celebrity did give some support, but not enough, my insurance company were amazing, we were in Gran Canaria for 10 days, it was a dreadful experience for us both, and not one I wish to repeat, for me personally, cruising is great until things go wrong, then you seem to have to leave the ship in one big hurry! I will never go on a cruise again, what do they say? first bitten twice shy!!! Read Less

This ship does not suit international people. Too many bad jokes about Americans being obese, other people's use of English and other races. May not be intended but compare to other cruises it's a narrow minded ship. I wonder if the cruise director will change her tune if the ship sails other routes. On the plus side, the food is good and majority of the staff are friendly. Cabin is average. more dated than other ships I have been on. Been bumpy at sea some days but guess it's a smaller ship. Activities are average. Entertainment varies. Too much singing shows. Embark and debark was fine. Not as well staffed as other ships but generally not an issue. Ships need refurb but heard it's in the plan. In summary, needs to tone down on descriminate jokes and welcome people from other countries otherwise this ship will not go very far. Read Less

Went on Royal Caribbean last Allure of the seas, didn’t want to do the flying this choose to sail from Uk. Check in and boarding excellent very erfficient, boarded on time at 10.30, expected to wait for cabin entry, during which time had lunch in Main Dining Area what was offered was not brilliant, so concerned of standard of meals would be. Cabin was clean and well appointed, Although has cruise continued being aft deck 11 was quite a noisy experience. Ate in Tuscan, food service and ambiance lovely, lawn grill poor service and watch out for the starters of flat bread this is a huge pizza which caught out other customers, my wife ordered chicken tikka and lamb chop, huge portion of chicken and four chops, we are good eaters but this was to much left desserts left feeling overfaced food experience. Quinine virtual experience, excellent service but menu boring, food was good, but once you’ve been it’s , no good returning. Murano situated in the dark and dismal area of the ship, no ambiance service was good and food beautifully presented, but this restaurant lacks lustre. Ocean view buffet breakfast was a bun fight for tables and getting to servery, tried different times but always the same, Read Less

We liked the ports in the brochure and I had enjoyed over a dozen cruises with Royal Caribbean in the past; however I had always booked my air and transfers myself. I am a Senior now and I am changing the way I travel to let others do some of the booking chores. We had Royal Caribbean do the Air and Sea Program for us, that is handle the flights from California to London and return, also all transfers to the hotel in London for the day before the cruise and transfers to and from the ship from London to Southampton before and after the cruise. We had one stop in Dallas from California before we would fly to London; the plane was delayed due to air traffic in Dallas and unable to land so when we should have been getting our connecting flight we were circling Dallas and missed the connecting flight that the pilot told us would be waiting for us! This should have been no big deal, we did the footwork and got another flight to London. We had planned to sight see in London and the plane we re-scheduled with would have allowed for that. We got to the airport in London, looked for our Royal Caribbean prepaid transfer service Representative and found none. We waited, still no one, there were representatives from two other cruise lines but no one from Royal Caribbean. We did not have a phone number on our voucher in case of a mix up. There were no phone numbers on any of our paperwork to call if transfer personnel did not show up. The tourist information assistants tried to call a number we had for the cruise line but they could not get through (it would have been about 5:00 A.M. U.S. time.) Travelers Assistance told us just wait, they will show up; we waited over three hours. No one showed up. Travelers Assistance finally suggested we take a cab at our expense to the hotel and follow up with cruise line personnel later which we did however that took another two hours, so we got to our hotel in London too late to do any sightseeing; we just had dinner at the hotel, a Holiday Inn Express. Had we chosen a hotel it would not have been the Holiday Inn Express in London. We told the hotel personnel our transfer from the cruise line never showed up to transport us, they told us they have nothing to do with that to contact the cruise line. Our van to Southampton showed up on time the next morning, we showed our vouchers and they took six of us packed like sardines in a small van with luggage in the back seat; they acted like there was a mix up but did not share the reason for that with us; I suspect the van was really for 4 people and we actually had no ship scheduled reservation but we had the prepaid vouchers in hand so they took us to the ship. Once on board I went to Passenger Services and asked why we had to re book and re pay to get to the hotel from the airport after no one showed up from the cruise line to take us. to take us. They asked for all documentation and receipts, the vouchers for everything, air, hotel, all transfers, etc. which I produced. They told me I had to contact the hotel about the airport transfer, it was their shuttle that didn't show up. I had already spoke to the hotel personnel and they told me to talk to Royal Caribbean staff, they don't shuttle people from the airport. The ship Representative asked me to wait while she contacted a manager. The manager said we did not have a reservation to get from the ship after the cruise to the London airport, we were on a wait list and they said they had better get that straightened out before working on the airport transfers; they told me they had not received the money for the transfers, I provided a receipt for those and everything else including the cruise. I asked for the money we had paid for the transfers (2) we did not receive. It took them 4 days and 5 trips to the service desk for them to acknowledge they had made the errors. I refused to let this upset me and I enjoyed the time on board regardless of their errors however it did consume some time I could have been doing more enjoyable things. On board things looked very nice, the ship is showing some slight age but the layout is so fantastic we happily overlooked the rust and aging signs. It was crowded beyond belief on the pool decks, promenade, shows, and there were times we went into the Windjammer and just walked out due to crowds. There is a rule about saving lounges at the pools but they were not enforced so you seldom got a place at the pools. We were on the ship while the European "children and young adults" were still on summer vacation. This created quite a nightmare for us; the teens and preteens ran in groups, they attended shows that they were required to have an adult present and no adult was with them. Somehow they manipulated the elevators so that it would not stop on your floor, so we spent some extra time on elevators. They ran up and down the halls and elevators not only all day but from 1:00 a.m. (curfew time) until after 4 a.m. in the morning, I didn't sleep much the first 3 nights so I complained. Again very little if anything was done, it continued throughout the cruise. Prior to booking the length of the Ships port tours are given but not the hours they depart and return; The shore trips seemed to be planned at the worst times possible. If we were in port from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. the tour would start at 10:30 a.m. and end at 1:30 or 2:30 p.m. This created way too much "dead time." This did not leave any time before or after the ship tour to see the port; we canceled about half of our ship port excursions because of the poor times they chose to do them and explored on our own in ports and had a much better time. We left feeling we had seen more than the ship tours showed us. It would have been better to have more time in port or even dock over night in a couple of ports like some do in Mexico. We had early dining and the Waiter and his assistant were very good however many of the breakfasts were changed from regular dining room breakfast to "breakfast buffet" style dining which was nothing like a normal dining room breakfast. The Windjammer buffet was very crowded, the food was mediocre. There was ample seating with excellent views however due to the crowds we seldom got to enjoy that feature of the ship. We ate every meal we could in the dining room, it was better quality, hot or at least warm as compared to cold "hot food" at the buffet. They did come around with non alcohol buffet liquids once in awhile which was nice since they provide no trays for your plates, bowls and cups or glasses of liquids. Food on the Promenade was varied, some good some not so good, it was a great place to get water, I kept a pitcher in our cabin and used the small bottles of drink enhancers I had brought with us because we don't drink much soda, alcohol or high acid drinks (like orange juice). We could drink some lemon water or mango water that was available free in a couple of places, however for taste I would rate it a two on a one to five scale. Getting on and off the ship was good. The shore excursion staff was very good but the reason I will not cruise with this line again soon (if ever) is because of the crowds, lack of action by security, lack of action by passenger services with options and assistance on issues such as being stranded at the airport in a Foreign Country and shoddy reaction to problems with set rules that are not enforced. Read Less

Loved the main dining room and the staff , Blyton, Paul and Diana were fab. Grease was good and most of the other shows. The onboard activities were lacking unless you like quizzes! The ship was far too crowded , we couldn’t get seats on deck or in cafes , bars etc. Hated the reused plastic plates and glasses - yuck! Windjammer was poor, senior staff constantly asking for positive feedback , particularly in last couple of days. The photographers were really pushy particularly at the dockside in trips. Aft balcony room was great but did not like the overhead position of the Pullman bed. The balcony was really big and a great escape from a ship that felt so overcrowded. Room attendant grumpy and not visible. Would give this ship a miss unless you have a youngish family and want a Holiday camp on the water type of holiday. Read Less

I have just returned from 2/52 on RCI Independence of the Seas. Having taken the same cruise last year I was somewhat disappointed with the number of cutbacks RCI have made. There was no visible maintenance being done to the ship whilst docked or any cleaning of public areas. The drinks packages go from $10 to $23 and then hike up to $69. They have omitted the previous beer package and only supply draft soft drinks and stopped supplying cans. The entertainment was exactly the same I also found a cockroach in my cabin 1669 and the whole room had to be fumigated. I was told that bugs and fruit flies sometimes make it onbaord through the ventilation system. To keep quiet I was offered a free meal in a speciality restaurant onboard, which I declined. I am a regular cruiser but RCI need to do better to receive my custom again. Read Less

We chose this cruise as it was leaving from Southampton and visited some ports in the med that we hadn't been to before. Having cruised with RCI before we thought we knew what to expect in terms of food quality etc. We had an outside cabin on Deck 2 which was fine. Good size, very clean, comfy bed, quiet and good shower. The position of our cabin made disembarking at ports very easy without having to wait for lifts! Our cabin steward, Thomas was professional, friendly and worked really hard! The majority of the staff were really friendly and the service was great. The ship is looking a bit tired and dated and has lost some of it's 'wow' factor. The itinerary was good and we were usually able to find a sunbed later in the day when we were able to sunbathe. Entertainment around the pool was sadly lacking; not much in the way of sailaways - usually just Wimbledon on the big screen all afternoon. Windjammer was it's usual mixture of food and the quality was fair - pretty similar to when we cruised on this ship 7 years ago - although the coffee is awful! I was disappointed with the lack of low fat alternatives available. Salad gets very tedious after a while without any low fat/fat free dressings to liven it up. Apart from Balsamic and a low fat raspberry dressing there were no other offerings. I asked for low fat mayo but apparently there is none anywhere on the ship! I'm sure that many people would appreciate a low fat coleslaw or Waldorf salad. Having commented regarding this on an early comments sheet we were presented with two plates of cakes in our cabin to thank us for our comments (was that ironic, taking the mickey or what?) Actually none of the staff seemed to grasp the concept of low fat and in the end I gave up - sticking to bland undressed food for the fortnight. I think the biggest disappointment though was the quality of the food in the Sapphire restaurant; in our opinion this has significantly deteriorated and is definitely not 'fine dining.' There was not one meal that I came away from thinking it had been anything special. In fact a few people we met described it as 'adequate.' We ate in Giovanni, Chops and Izumi - all of which were excellent but of course incurred an additional charge. Entertainment was hit and miss and often incurred additional charges or tried to sell something (very tiresome). Possibly the worst Freddie Mercury tribute I've ever seen. Some of the passengers were quite offensive; fuelled by drink - but no-one seemed to do anything about this. Particularly the overspill from the Two Poets pub where on two occasions we walked past and were treated to the rude version of 'Living Next Door to Alice' I'm broad minded but personally don't appreciate hearing f*** being sung very loudly; especially when children are around. I would not use Vintages as you would be subjected to the equivalent of a Friday night in Glasgow. There were also incidences of men in Cafe Promenade not wearing a shirt while queuing for food. Food being taken all over the ship with dirty plates being left in corridors, under seats and on the stairs. The curfew of 1.00 a.m. For under 18s is a joke as there is nowhere to have a quiet drink without loads of kids (usually eating pizza or cookies) running all over th place. I could go on - but won't - I'm sure lots of people like this kind of holiday and it's taking over from Benidorm etc. If RCI are going that way - then Ok - but be transparent about it. The final thing that tooled the holiday was getting Norovirus - maybe as a result of all the people I witnessed not washing their hands after using the toilet! I appreciate that this isn't RCIs direct fault. They have offered a reduction of future cruise to make up for my time in isolation - no thanks - I will definitely not be cruising with them again. Read Less

The only things they don't charge you for apart from the snacks on Deck 5, is the air you breathe and getting off/on the ship ! Bottled water in cabin $5 plus each! Food, both in the Sapphire and Windjammer very ordinary. One meal I ate gave me food poisoning and I was throwing up for one day and unable to eat for another. Steward just changed the towels and made the bed. Many coach trips not suitable for disabled. The balcony door, the air conditioning and the phone all failed several times. Music in the Windjammer was awful and very loud. At the end of the trip we were delivered envelopes for Additional Tips. You can guess what I did with those. They don't tell you that you can cancel having tips deducted automatically from your account. Do it on the first few days. We found out and was able to stop them being deducted. There are sales on The Royal Parade every day. You can buy things much cheaper off the ship. Especially Estonia. Read Less

We previously had a wonderful cruise on Independence of the Seas and were really looking forward to this one. It's a holiday and we were determined to enjoy it...and we did. However, we could not believe how much the standards had dropped since our last cruise right the way across the ship. Despite a fairly recent refurb, the ship looked 'tired' in terms of decorating, furniture, fixtures and fitting from stateroom to bars and public areas. The food was of a far lower quality in the Windjammer and main dining room with a poorer choice and very dull, boring everyday menu items. I want to be wowed on my cruise. The entertainment was not great. A couple of fairly good headliners but the in-house production show had a very weird choice of musical numbers at times and are not the really spectacular shows of the past. Such a shame. We had a smile and a few words from every member of staff we met on our previous cruise. Some were great on this one, but the majority were not and several were downright surly or miserable. We had 4 complaints for guest services. Not once, did anyone take ownership or even apologise for errors. When we discovered our booking for the murder mystery night was cancelled,just a few minutes before we were due to start, not a word of apology for not being told, just, it's been re-arranged for this new date, take it or leave it. On anytime dining, we were seated in several different areas and saw how wide the difference was between servers etc. Some were chatty and informed us about what was on offer and gave good description of the food, others said nothing. I was a little annoyed on the last night when I decided to have the strip steak. When it was on the way, I overheard another server on the next table offering a fillet mignon upgrade for $10. I would have done this in a heartbeat - if our server had told us! We queued everywhere for everything and it was standing room only in the pools. RC have gone too far in terms of the number of guests on board for the available facilities. As you can tell, it was more a series of smaller things that combined to make us less than satisfied but if this is now representative of RC's cruise offerings, we will not be back. Read Less

Wanted to travel from London/Southampton to Barcelona and visit Gibraltar and Mallorca. Everything on this cruise was boring and well over priced. Excursions in Gibraltar and Mallorca were a waste of time and money - drove around the 'rock' in Gibraltar on a Sunday (everything was closed) and were dropped for 2 hours in a tourist trap market in Mallorca. Meals in the restaurant were lacking, tasteless and the meat was tough - some inedible. Drinks were easily twice the price they should have been. A drink was charged as the liquor + mixer + service charge (which was described as how the servers were paid). A $5 drink ended up costing around $11+. Photo shop delivered photos on CD that are damaged and Cunard nicely provided the name of the company but said they have nothing to do with it after the ship docks so that is probably wasted money as well. The Bridge instructor (folks learning) was rude and condescending. Read Less

The ship was beautiful, but dated. The shops on board a very good idea, but dated and very over priced, which I did not expect. The cabin was dated, had a tv, but only one English program. WFI over 12 dollars a day. The nets were creased dirty and torn, the pillow smelt of head sweat. The cost of the cruise was over £5000 for two so was not happy. Dining was very good could not fault. Was disappointed with lack the drinks package many paid a lot less and got a lot more. 65 dollars a day each so would have put another 1820 dollars on top of an already expensive holiday. Entertainment was ok attended a few shows which where good. The majority of staff where very good but some not so. I was not expecting the tours to be so expensive over 200 dollars each for v. City and I did not expect to pay for getting off the boat. I hope you are getting the jist of this more and more money on an already expensive holiday. I really looked forward to this but I have come away disappointed. Read Less

I read a review about Princess written by an Elite cruiser, I have to say that I agree with what she said so here goes. The good Crown Princess is a lovely ship, but there is a lot of wear and tear that needs addressing. The staff were lovely The shows were the best we have seen The food will go in both good and bad, because sometimes it was good. The bad The food sometimes did not meet the standard that Princess usually serves (we have sailed with them before) Poor daily activities on sea days very limited choice Our cabin, we were upgraded and I did ask if we could be downgraded to our original cabin but no joy, it really needed a complete overhaul, nail varnish stains on the furniture, carpet needs changing, handle fell of the fridge, TV very old poor quality picture and sound. The very bad Everything you do involves money, the jewellery promotion which seemed to be a constant 2/3 times a day, the Art auctions, the back pain seminar which the next day was the foot mapping seminar selling the same item, the price of a standard bottle of wine (36 dollar plus 15 percent). But what really topped it of was the 14 dollar shuttle bus into Marseilles when there was a free port shuttle bus that other ships were using but we had not been informed of. That is the last time we travell with Princess, they have become a money grabbing company that gets it staff to try to sell you thing even while you are eating you meals. Read Less

After 20 cruises with various companies including P&O this was our most disappointing we had a balcony cabin (the shelf the two chairs and table provided could not be used together.) on the plus side the cabin though smaller than some was spotless and the cabin steward was brilliant. The food in the self service restaurant was hit and miss sometimes cold and dry other days very good, we gave up using the freedom dining restaurant because of the often 40 minute waiting time many of the bar staff were to put it bluntly rude when we asked one member of staff what was the matter was his reply was that many of the crew did not like the ship and were not happy and wished to be off. We will sail with P&O again but not on the good ship Britannia. Britannia rules the waves we think not !!!!. Read Less

how disappointed we were with P&O Britannia!! no wow factor, poor repetitive food, tiny cabins when using the bathroom it felt as though you were using a portaloo and that's no exaggeration we were in a balcony cabin but it felt like a small box. the worst thing for us though were the staff, they were untrained and lacking in even a smile. they walked about as though they were bored stiff and there was no happy holiday atmosphere on board. We had 3 cabins and one was an accessible cabin for a full time wheelchair user - this cabin was fine and big enough for its use. There were no electric doors for this cabin though and other features of this ship are terrible for wheelchair users. There is no central stairway so EVERYONE has to use the lifts which means you are left waiting for a lift whilst they constantly go up and down FULL because there is no dedicated lift for wheelchair users. The hoist in the pool area has to be booked 24 hours in advance of wanting to use it!!!!!! this policy is archaic it discriminates against disabled people because no other passenger has to book to use the pool at any time never mind knowing 24 hours in advance when you would want to use it. To add insult to injury the battery pack for the hoist was not charged up when we came to use it and the staff showed no interest in the upset and distress this caused when we could no longer use the pool. SHAME ON YOU P&O!!! we have travelled with celebrity cruises before and they knew how to treat the disabled and also all the staff had a wonderful friendly smile - we regret giving Britannia a try,- we will definitely not go with P&O again or recommend them. Read Less

This was our second cruise with RC, the 1st being on Navigator of the Seas out of Galveston, so I can only compare between the two. OMG what a difference, Day 1 at sea (yes it was chilly and windy and not the Caribbean) but it looked like someone had died, the only happy person was an American in the smoking area. Pool activities (bellyflop, volleyball) were only on Day 8, there was a poolside band playing some afternoons and the big screen is always a hit. Other activities around the ship included quizzes, lots of quizzes all day, apparently us British like quizzes. The MDH and staff were great although no Lobster night, (apparently us British prefer King Prawn). Windjammer was the usual chaotic hunt for a table. The ships entertainers were great, not west end but there were some talented singers spoilt by poor sound quality, the music should be in the background with the singing projected over the top, this was the other way round, more noticeable when a violinist was playing a solo and was drowned out by the orchestra. The entertainment on day 10 was a guest Queen tribute act, I don’t expect Freddie Mercury’s voice but I do expect the singer to be able to hit the notes in tune, 1/3 of the audience walked out, those I spoke to all said he could not sing. The cruise director on I.O.S was mr wow compared to MR WOW WOW WOW on the N.O.S. He did sing on stage and I must say he has a good voice. Excursions – well they are still ridiculously overpriced, ½ day trip to Santiago approx. £70 per person (£140 for 2). I hired a car £38, fuel £15, tolls £17, saving us £70. Ok we didn’t get a guide to show us around, but who needs a guide these days, Google everywhere before you leave UK and you get everything you need. Having organised coach trips in the UK, I can get a 50 seat coach for £300 per day, Spain will be comparable to that, so even with a coach half full, that leaves £1400 for a guide. Someone is making huge profits out of cruisers. RC provide a guide with a rough map of the port with a star highlighting where the ship will berth, I even clarified this at guest services. Unfortunately no one actually checks the map is correct, one visit, the star was way out (Lisbon) and would certainly send people in the wrong direction. The only other gripe I have is that the ship did not change to local time during visits, a bit of an inconvenience as we were only told the night before. I’m sure that decision is made before the cruise even started and RC could inform guests before departure so individuals can plan their own excursions accordingly. Overall, I am not a party animal, but this cruise was pretty dull, in fact I heard JUST LIKE BUTLINs mentioned a lot over the 11 days. The only advantage of the cruise was no flying involved. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we wanted to tour Spain. We embarked from Southampton after touring London. After we left the English Channel,the trip was uncomfortable to say the least- the ship rocking from side to side. In our opinion, the ship was too small to make the crossing across the Bay of Biscayne; even in six foot waves and without stormy conditions. Our previous cruise aboard the Celebrity Reflection was infinitely more relaxing. There was barely any discernible motion. Of course the Reflection is 60,000 tons heavier. The itinerary was rushed in each port of call. There was not enough time allotted for any given sight. We were basically ushered on and off the bus! This certainly did not allow for a relaxed and enjoyable vacation. Also, because of the limited time spent in each port, we were compelled to use the Royal Caribbean Excursions because the other tour company's schedules required more time and did not fit within the ship's time constraints. Also, we were not supplied whisper devices on 3/4 of the the excursions. Imagine trying to listen to your guide surrounded by 36 other patrons on a Barcelona Street in the middle of the day-rediculous! Lastly, on one of the tours, we could not understand the tour guide's English. His words were so slurred that he appeared to be drunk. His actions further confirmed our suspicions. As for the restaurants, there were several issues of returning the food because it did not arrive hot.The food was generally better than we expected, however the roast beef was always overdone in the buffet and the repetition of the dishes was excessive. Generally, we found the ship lacking in the variety of activities. Lastly, we were not informed that this was a cruise for the disabled. I would estimate that one in four patrons fell into this category and it only exacerbated the unpleasantness of our experience. Unfortunately, this was the first vacation where I couldn't wait to return home. Read Less

Chose this cruise as from Southampton and reasonable cost. Ship lovely and excellent dining and cafe staff but not so good bar staff. Very good balcony cabin. However this is as far as plus sign goes. Don't be fooled by the enticement of low initial cost. Fortunately we bought a drinks package, as the prices on board are extremely high. Courtesy bus charges by MSC is certainly a money maker for them. Organised trips a good 30-40% too high and not good value for money. Entertainment very poor. With 4 stops and change of passengers at each stop, resulting in Emergency drill being done each time, which of cause is essential, causes total disruption for existing passengers. For an Italian ship and the and the high standard expected in cuisine, the food was disapointing. Very little better than canteen food and nothing to look forward to. Restaurants very cramped with tables, of which many were not fully occupied, made difficultly in moving around. Our table for 8 only had 4 persons every day. My wife and I are experience cruisers, having regularly sailed with P & O, and periodically Royal Carribean, Celebrity, and Fred Olson, But MSC was certainly the worst. Would never consider sailing with them again even if it was for free. Read Less

Prepare to be disappointed and underwhelmed! This is our fifth cruise with P&O. We will never sail on Britannia again and certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone. On our first night we experienced an inconsistent very loud banging from an area around the bathroom area within our cabin. Having had no sleep, at 03:30am we called down to reception and a member of staff came to inspect and confirmed that there was a problem and that he would get maintenance to investigate first thing in the morning. It was not resolved and we were offered another cabin. There was only one cabin available due to a ‘no show’ on the departure date. This was a balcony cabin obscured by one of the ships tenders so we had no view other than the tender. Other cabins had been affected by the banging and as we were the first to complain we were given first refusal. This was a lower grade cabin than we had paid for and told to take it or leave it (literally). Compensation would be discussed after we accepted. The amount offered did not represent the difference between our cabin and the downgraded one nor did it take account of the fact that we lost an entire day of our holiday packing up, then unpacking and sleeping for the rest of the day. To add insult to injury we were forced to sign a settlement mandate under which we are not permitted to take further action or disclose the amount or any other details. We had no choice as it would be unthinkable to have 14 nights of no sleep. There is one thing that P&O could have done that would have made some difference and that was to offer an apology for the noise, the inconvenience and impact on the enjoyment of our holiday. The new cabin Gxxx had an annoying creaking at the balcony door when the sea got a bit choppy. Ear plugs were needed! As there were no other cabins available, there was little we could have done about this, apart from sleeping with the door open!!!. This was far more than the usual creaks and groans you will get on any ship. One improvement to the bathroom is a glass shower screen instead of a shower curtain. The cabin included a large flat screen TV. Whilst no one goes on holiday to watch TV it was irritating the number of times it dropped out and kept buffering particularly after they did some kind of upgrade on the Thursday before we came home which made matters even worse. Having booked the second sitting in the Oriental Restaurant for the whole trip, we soon found that staffing levels had been cut compared to previously enjoyed trips on P & O cruise ships. The wine waiter was never around when you needed him as he was serving too many other tables. The main waiting staff again had too many other tables to serve but did their best to accommodate us all (table of 6). We have enjoyed ‘silver service’ on other P &O cruise ships in the past but this is not available on Britannia. As their 'flag ship' cruise liner, this would have made the trip more enjoyable. The portions were very tiny and the vegetables were over cooked and over salted. Sauces were insipid and runny. A waldorf salad consisted of a bowl of very wet lettuce, 1/2 a walnut, 1/2cm of celery, tiny square of apple and 1/2 a grape (which isn't an ingredient in waldorf salad). One night the dessert included clotted cream in fact it was synthetic spray cream. The petit fours were pathetic. They didn't look appetising and where the cheapest things they could have made e.g. shortbread, chocolate brownie (except it was an insipid chocolate sponge) etc. This is in no way a criticism of the staff who worked so hard but have been put under unnecessary pressure. It was obvious to us that cost cuttings had been introduced at the expense of the customers. Even the buffet restaurant now has wine and beer self service where you swipe your card and decant your own drink. Apart from the meals in your allocated dining room, the Lido bar and Horizon grill you will have to pay for everything else. Do not be fooled by the "modest cover charge". For example, the Epicurean was £56 for the two of us excluding drinks. The menu lacked choice and frankly for the money we have had far better meals out. The service was good but spoiled by the fact that as soon as we sat down told we had to vacate the table within 2.5 hours. The restaurant was maybe half full which strongly suggests it's not working. Similarly, the Limelight club was another disappointment at a cost of £44 excluding drinks for the pair of us. It didn't start well when my wife's glass of Lanson champagne was flat. There was a choice of two starters, two mains and no choice on dessert. The food wasn't great and the lack of choice disappointing. The entertainment lasted for 45 minutes (for 20 minutes the singer was going round the room posing for photos). It is then supposed to turn into a late night venue for dancing - it didn't. All other eateries are chargeable e.g. Sindhu, Beach House, Glass House and Market Cafe. We visited the Glass House which was very nice. The majority of the ship is dark brown and beige. It gives a claustrophobic feel in many areas of the ship. Already the ship is looking tired. The "prom deck" is ideally situated (not) on deck 18 where you are certain to be blown off your feet. 7 laps required to get your mile walk. We went up on deck one day but after a couple of hours found our clothes covered in soot. This was reported to reception who said they were aware of a problem with the funnels. Given that deck areas were regularly closed off it would have made sense to close this area off. To be fair they laundered the clothes twice. However, not all of the smudges have come out so these have been consigned to the bin. The casino which on previous ships has been glamorous, bright and airy with a nice bar and seating area, was gloomy and cramped and like a down at heel, end of a grotty pier venue. There was no bar or seating and it was located next to the very noisy Brodies pub bar. The entertainment venues were not adequate for the size of ship. For example, the Live Lounge which did have some good acts was always packed by the time we finished dinner so unable to get a seat. The same scenario for the Crows Nest bar. The shows in the Headliners Theatre were reduced in comparison to other P & O cruises. There were less shows per night and fewer shows throughout the cruise. Also, although the shows were well executed and visually fantastic with lasers and computer graphics, there were no story to them. An example was a show called 'Sounds of the Underground' which had the London Underground sign as the advertising logo. It started off with the cast inside a tube carriage arriving at Oxford Circus and then it had no bearing on either underground themed songs or underground stations from then on. They had cast dressed in Scottish kilts for one or two numbers,then Irish national dress for Irish dancing. No idea what relevance this has to the underground??? The sail away parties as experienced on previous cruises didn't take place. Weather had nothing to do with this and we were told it was due to staff being required elsewhere! Another conformation of reduced staffing, therefore making more profits!! If we sail with P&O again it will be on a different ship. If standards have slipped on these too then we will look elsewhere. We have always had fabulous holidays aboard P&O so we really hope that customer feedback is taken seriously and that they return to offering fantastic customer experiences. Read Less

Have never been on a cruise where there were no cruise staff to welcome you on board and offer direction to your cabin. The ship itself was ok, but tired looking. Cheap toiletries ammnenities, had to ask for Kleenex in our cabin. Ridiculous flat old pillows, again had to ask for replacements. Having said this our cabin steward really did a great job looking after our cabin. Friendly and interested in our day. Dining room food was ok, not outstanding. Nothing special served. The table waiter could not seem to get things organized and was frantic at times......new? Was not willing and/or able to accommodate simple requests, like subbing rice for potatoes for example. i wonder if culturally he didn't get it?!?!? One pays good money to cruise and it would be nice not to feel like you have to argue for simple requests. How about a "certainly we will do that for you", like what we have experienced on Princess cruises. He expressed no interest in our table other than getting the orders taken. No conversation about the day. However the head waiter, Carmen, was amazing and did her best to handle the situation. Breakfast in the upper dining room was full of grumpy servers, barely a "good morning" escaped their lips! We finally went down to the lower dining room 4 days before the end of the cruise and it was very very nice with super friendly staff. On a happier note, we did dine at Giovanni's Table a few times (to get away from the dining room) and the experience was fantastic!!!! This was fine dining, fantastic food and exceptional service! If anything wasn't quite right the staff did everything plus more to make it right. The head of Giovanni's was amazing as well as the staff. It was such a treat to be there. Shore excursions were handled very well, disembarkation as well as getting back on board. Hats off to Karen who facilitated the excursions. Although I will say, the excursions could be better described in the brochure, not enough information given. Also we found on the final day the disembarkation went very smooth. Overall I felt the ship to have not enough public spaces that were not crowded, noisy especially on the 2 days that we couldn't be outside on deck due to the weather. Will we travel on RCCL again? Possibly, but not on this ship Read Less

The Ship ok, food average at best. Buffet at. Lunchtime very limited. Drinks good value. Shore excursions team lacked knowledge on ports. I wanted to visit the bridge at Gexto but they said it was over the other side of Bilbao however we could see it from the ship. However in the end wheelchair users were not allowed off the ship! Wheelchair users subjected to mobility assessment to use tenders. Entertainment variable - very good Annie Lennox tribute. Seats in theatre VERY narrow. Only 2 jacuzzi for 4000 passengers and always full of kids. Serenity pool nice but wheelchair users had to book a specific time in advance to use hoist -- very poor. Passengers generally young, lots of children who were. Not being supervised. Very poor lift etiquette - people actually jumping over the scooter to get in lift before me. People shutting lift doors in my face - so rude. embarkation was a shambles but disembarkation was very good. Read Less

Not enough lifts. In the space of a week myself, husband and father who is in a wheelchair spent about 4 hours of our holiday waiting for lifts. There were not enough of them and only 2 sets of stairs, one at one end of the ship one at the other. Everyone was using them and no-one ever made room for us to get in when doors opened. Wait for the next lift, SAME AGAIN. Food in the restaurant was the worst we have had on P and O, hardly any vegetables. The casino was small. Expected quite a large one on a ship of this size. We turned up at Southampton half hour before embarkation time and WAITED 2 HOURS. Had to leave the car to push disabled father to the loos TWICE! Complained to P and O on return and were told it was not the fault of P and O. Britannia is a beautiful ship but we will give it a WIDE BERTH in future. Read Less

The ship itself is looking quite worn for it's age for example lifts are out of order and buttons in the lifts are falling off. The theme throughout the ship seems to be brown which gives many of the rooms a dark and dull feeling. We had two cabins, one balcony and an inside opposite it. We were happy with the balcony cabin as the room feels quite cosy and pleasant. However, there were yellow stains all over the duvet and had to ask for this to be changed. In the inside cabin the bathroom had hair on the floor and a few toe nails as well! Both of the showers smelt of green mould and as the cruise continued there was a foul smell in the inside cabin bathroom. At the start of our cruise we could smell cigarette smoke on the balcony and to cut a long story short we finally caught the culprit after much stress and the deck officer caught them red handed after we had phoned the reception about the problem about four times. We had nice first lunch on board in the buffet but after that most of the food offered looked like school dinners. However, the curries were an exception to this. At peak times it could be hard to find a table. The hygiene in the buffet was terrible with most people walking in not washing their hands in the sinks provided. After the first day or two there was nobody to police this at the entrances to the buffet and the same goes for people filling up their water bottles at the drinks machine. No wonder there was a Norovirus outbreak a month ago! At the main dining room we had two nice meals out of the 7 evenings. We had poor quality steaks and most of the food was accompanied by canned vegetables and weird looking potatoes. However, we had nice waiters who were jolly and friendly. The entertainment was average at best in the theatre. The production shows were funny for all of the wrong reasons. There was a classical pianist who gave three recitals throughout the cruise and these were very enjoyable but only about 20 people turned up to this which is disgraceful when the ship carries about 4000 passengers! Apart from the odd few most of the staff were very miserable and often rude especially the check-in assistants. The Reception desk could not help you if it was outside of their well rehearsed automated script. St. Peter Port and La Rochelle were by far the best ports of call with La Coruña and Bilbao being a complete waste of time with absolutely nothing to do if you don't book a £200 per person excursion. There was a pneumatic drill noise for the first two days of the cruise which made our balcony unusable. There were builders digging up the concrete on the top deck and to say the noise was horrendous is an understatement. It stopped half way through the cruise thankfully but returned at 7:00am in the morning on disembarkation day! This ship is very overcrowded with only two Jacuzzis for 4000+ passengers. The sail-away was quite frankly embarrassing with Rule Britannia being chanted out- hardly think that is a good idea in today's climate. We will never sail again with P and O as they have shot themselves in the foot with their flagship boat which is one giant money making floating Butlins Read Less