I really can't understand the negative comments about Britannia. We booked our Iberian cruise in order to celebrate our friends Golden Wedding and a birthday and based upon the very mixed reviews, we retained open minds but wondered whether we had chosen wisely as the less than positive comments kept on coming.
We needn't have worried at all - our party of four thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the eleven night cruise and would gladly re-book this fantastic vessel in future. We took advantage of free parking at Southampton and followed the instructions to arrive in time for our allocated boarding slot at 3.00 pm. At first we were a little perturbed at the length of the queue for the parking facility and doubted whether we would indeed be boarding on-time however, we were soon underway and after registering, the car was taken away and our bags were loaded onto the porter's trolley allowing us to enter the terminal at 3.00 pm. Unfortunately we encountered a 90 minute delay due to a technical problem with the gangway but once we had checked in, boarding was pretty slick.
We boarded at deck 5 and arrived into the very impressive atrium with it's rather extravagant centre piece lighting feature and immediately we were struck with the splendour of the ship. We were directed to our cabins D219 and D223 and found them without any problem. Our luggage had arrived and first impressions of the cabin were extremely favourable. The hanging open fronted wardrobe space is a great feature and the 30 wooden coat hangers easily met our needs. The bathroom is cosy but the shower cubicle with glass door was larger than we have experienced on NCL, MSC and Cunard. The bed was nice and firm and the pillows were excellent quality. The wall mounted TV was a good size and created quite a feature within the room. My wife loved the use of mirrors - two long length and one on the dressing table - and the coffee facility and decent sized fridge were a welcome facility. The balcony has two reclining chairs and a small table and although small, there was plenty of room for two.
Very well planned and useable space with first class shower cubicle.