These are some great tips sent to me by Kerry who is an old hand at cruising (when I originally typed this it said cursing and that is also true!) and a big fan of P&O.
Home to Southampton
Having cruised from Southampton many times, we now realise that it's a complete delight not having to faff about with airports and pre-holiday hotels. It's about 3 hours or so to Southampton for us, although we usually get side tracked with stopping for the loo, snacks and other roadside events! (I want to know what 'other roadside events' are... or maybe not!)
This may be too late for you (yes it is) but I have discovered that you can completely avoid getting ripped off by the car parking highwayman by parking in the nearby multi story car park attached to the West Quay shopping centre at £5/day. You can drive to the terminal drop off point, hurl your cases at the P&O porters, drop the car at the car park and take the 10 minute stroll back to the terminal (or jump in a taxi and its less than a tenner!) This car park is located next to Ikea adjacent to The Premier Inn.
The next time you see your cases will be outside your cabin!
(This is a Top Tip. Car parking at the terminal is £90 for the week so even with a taxi it's nearly half the price.)
The ship
You will find Britannia huge but it is fabulous (like an elephant in rhinestones?). There is literally everything you can imagine on there from a library to a laundry. The atrium is rather sparkly! (Lyn does like a bit of sparkle)
Your cabin will have 'The White Company' toiletries in the bathroom (probably right up Lyn's street!) There is an endless supply of towels for the cabin and the pool so don't take any. Hairdryer, tea making stuff, massive TV with entertainment and live camera feed from the bridge all in the cabin too!
IMHO the pillows are to die for and when I retire I am going to... (I have removed the next bit to save your blushes)
Your room will have a phone and did you know you can ring it from any phone on the ship - handy if you loose each other! (That's cool!)
I think you have a balcony (Yes we do... I'll cover how this happened at some point). On at least one morning, get up at sunrise, put on a coat, make a cup of tea and watch the mountains go by as you go through the Fjords - it is utterly breathtaking.
Lyn will be pleased to know that there are a few shops on board full of shiny things and hand bags. (TAT is good)
There is a Spa/Beauty place too so if it all gets too much you can get your hair/nails done, have a massage or get some Botox!!! (I honestly wouldn't subject the poor people to try and renovate this dilapidated body and I don't think they apply botox by the trowel)
Dining
If you haven't opted for a dining time (6.30 or 8.30 pm) I would try and get one (I have no idea what we've opted for). This will guarantee you the same table which is great as some of the recent holidays we have been on there has been trouble booking if you are on 'freedom dining' due to it being busy (although we are currently stuck with school holidays🙄) You don't have to always use this table reservation and can go to The Horizon buffet or one of the other restaurants if you wish.
There is The Beach House (cover charge) or Sindhi (paid menu) and various others but the main dining rooms offer fabulous a la carte menus which are all included, and are a waited service. We didn't initially realise but you can also get breakfast in these dining rooms too, which is really great waiter service alternative to the buffet in The Horizon.
Importantly, everyday there is afternoon tea on the port side in The Horizon which always includes fancy sandwiches, cakes and cream tea - yes! a cream tea with warm scones - perfect for post port day adventures! (Lyn LOVES afternoon tea. She's very excited about this as the last time we did it on Marella she had COVID (but was in full denial) so that spoilt it a bit.)
Bevvies
We always take some contraband on board with us as there is a cabin fridge and it's nice to have a drink on the balcony or whilst loafing about. Tony usually finds some supermarket or other in port and re-stocks throughout the trip! The drinks are similar to pub prices at about £5/pint/large shot and we use our OBC for these. By the way you can use your OBC in the shops too! (OBC stands for On Board Credit)
As I mentioned in the prologue video I was utterly shocked about how much a drinks package is. Doing a bit of inter-web searching it would appear that P&O's is supposedly one of the worst so a BYOB is definitely the way to go here.
Entertainment
I think the entertainment onboard is really good. I can't remember if Marella did this (yes they do) but every day you get a little leaflet delivered to the cabin which lists all the activities and entertainment, shop offers, ship facilities and opening times etc.
There are heaps of daytime things from quizzes and bingo to talks and competitions such as table tennis, shuffleboard and so on. This may/may not be your thing but it's great fun on sea days (and my mother is currently the Ventura shuffledeck champion!) (That's definitely something for ones CV) . If you like collecting tat you can win little golden stickers in these competitions which you can exchange for prizes at the end of the week - think along the lines of branded umbrellas, mouse mats and shopping bags! (My initial reaction to this was meh... I'm not one for participation and don't play well with other children but the thought of winning little stickers and crushing either a small child and/or a Boomer in the process has piqued my interest.)
Each day there is a newspaper sheet and daily crossword and sudoku you can collect from reception - which is good to ponder over a coffee! (TIP: There is a Costa on board!) (I shall find out if you can still collect stamps)
In the evening there is the theatre which hosts the Headliners singing/dancing stuff and any guest performers which may be musical or comedian etc. These are well worth a look.
There will be singers and pianists all over the place and various bands in the different bars.
(We were just given the option to pre-book a time slot for these shows which is a nice touch.)
Realistically there are so many things going on it's hard to keep up!
If you fancy getting active (🤔) try the huge gym which has approx eleventy billion machines or there are golf nets and a football/basketball court on the top deck! (Absolutely not but thanks anyway... and I like the way you recalled after you started to type how sloth-like I am)
Trips/Port Days
A lot of the time you can walk into the local town and the shuttle bus is completely useless, taking longer to get on/off than walk the few hundred metres required!
As you said in your pre video, the trips are really over priced.
In Lisbon the Oceanarium trip was £75/person. We did it ourselves and all three of us got on a local bus which took about 20 mins and cost £12 total, then got online tickets which saved queuing and cost less than £50 for us all. (I'd seen in various videos about how much the cruise companies rip you off but up until now laziness on my part had got the better of me. We are defo going rogue on this trip)
We didn't do any trips in Norway just pottered about. The best thing we did was in Olden where we got off the ship, got a local map and walked up the hill to find a footpath up the mountain (Huaren). It was amazing as halfway up there was loads of snow and the view at the top was incredible.
As you can imagine, Norway is really expensive. I wanted a nice woolly hat and that was about £50 😳 You will probably come home with at least a few of the trolls - they are literally everywhere! (I hadn't thought about Trolls and Norway but now I want one for my 'Fortress of Solitude'... shed)
Random stuff
I know it's a bit wanky but I always take a lanyard with a cardholder on it for my cruise card otherwise I spend the whole holiday looking for it! (We are also in the 'wanky lanyard club'. I have one that I can attach to my belt and is on a retractable chain like a dog lead. I've never had the lack of self awareness or maybe just courage/confidence to use it... maybe this time)
There is a laundry on every floor so if you need to you can wash and dry stuff - it's free but you will need laundry liquid.
Some people take magnetic hooks for the cabin walls to create extra hanging for coats (and perhaps mugs?) but I've never felt the need!
I'm not sure if it was Britannia or Iona but I located the USB plugs on the bottom of the wall mounted bedside lights - ingenious but almost secretive!
The captain will do regular updates and these are usually really funny and worth a listen.
You can get an onboard mobile app to book things and check your OBC.
Anyway, I think that's about it... I'm sure you will have a great time. We love P&O and find it is outstanding value.
ENJOY!
One last tip that Kerry sent to me but didn't include is that if you book a cruise with P&O you can then search "Facebook' for that cruise number (B311 for example) and there will be a chat group for people going on that cruise that you can participate in and ask questions of fellow passengers.
Kerry, thank you so much for this.
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