What a week Britannia had with Helicopters, lifeguards and Captains doing 180’s

Guests aboard P&O’s Flagship Britannia were woken during the night with an announcement at 1 am. This can happen while cruising and the rude awakening was for a man overboard announcement. There was an incident which demanded the ship to travel back on itself to assist. The ship went into a 180 Degree turn and traveled back 2 miles before stopping completely. Desperate people are travelling to Europe in very small craft and the weather at this time of year is so unpredictable that they can find themselves in serious danger at sea.

A coastguard helicopter was also there quickly and was overhead. As a small boat travelling from Africa was in trouble and although the sea was calm, Britannia provided some shelter. The 10 people on the inflatable boat were taken on the ship and all medically screened and given food on board. A coastguard rescue boat was sent to the ship and the migrants were transferred and taken ashore in Spain.

The Captain made up good time following the incident, maintaining 21 knots and Britannia arrived in Gibraltar just one hour later than planned.

Britannia left Southampton on Friday the 13th which could be ‘unlucky for some’ as this was not the first incident. There was a medical emergency as the ship left Marseille. Britannia had just cast off when she had to go back to the port for an injured guest to be disembarked and transferred to the local hospital.

In the early hours of the following morning, the Captain made an announcement that a helicopter was in-bound to airlift a critically ill passenger to hospital. This subsequently meant cancelling the port of La Spezia, however, Britannia arrived in Ajaccio in Corsica instead and spent the night in port much to the delight of many crew and passengers.

Britannia is now back on track with another itinerary and another 3600 guests to keep happy. One thing with cruising and a floating hotel is you never know what might happen at sea. I think there are many positives that came out of this sailing and the 10 people from Africa certainly appreciated the help during their hour of need at sea. The crew would have had the chance for a night out in Corsica and the people needing medical attention were attended to the best possible way.