Britannia was christened last Tuesday by Her Majesty the Queen and I was lucky enough to be there on Tuesday ! Not for the actual launch but I did see The Queen in the distance – well her hat actually !
The Ocean Terminal at Southampton was decorated with red, white and blue flowers and looked suitably dressed for the occasion as we made our way to embark the ship, after a long wait! As the ship is large , and long, we didn’t really get much of a view of her newly painted Union Jack livery, which was a little disappointing.
Finally we made our way on board and Britannia does not disappoint, although I do think she is quite typically P&O. Walking into the Atrium there is the most beautiful, modern chandelier I have ever seen. The more I think about it the more I think it actually looks like a firework, a cascade of red, white & blue lighting stretching from floor to ceiling spilling over and spreading out across the top of the Atrium.
The lighting throughout the ship is absolutely stunning, for me one of the best things about her, together with the contemporary British Artwork. A lot of thought has gone into making this ship a very modern and calm place. The colours are quite low key, olive greens, beige and taupe, sounds boring ? It actually works really well. This is not a Royal Caribbean spaceship/cruise ship, nor a glitzy Carnival or Norwegian Cruise lines Las Vegas style floating resort, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, and I think it will appeal to the British Market. If I had to compare her to any other cruise line then Celebrity Solstice Class ships spring to mind, she feels like a very adult ship with lots of classy touches.
She`s big and it takes a while to explore all her nooks and crannies so the best place to start is with her cabins. Britannia only has inside cabins , balconies and suites and we had an HE grade balcony, cabin E252, which has a shower and chair, but no sofa. The cabin is similar in size to the balcony cabins on Oceana, quite small but well designed.
The bathroom is also on the small side, but the shower is really good, powerful with glass doors instead of the usual nasty plastic curtains that stick to you! Outside there is a walk in wardrobe with LOADS of hanging space and shelving, this more than makes up for the size of the bathroom.
The beds can be made up as twins or singles, there is a small sitting area with a chair, dressing table , tea and coffee make and a proper hairdryer! The colour scheme is made of greens, beige and gold tones and the balcony has 2 chairs and a table. Modern Artwork and a large flat screen TV complete the modern look.
The balcony cabins with sofas have more room as, of course, do the suites. There are also some very nice single cabins on board too.
One little tip – try and get a cabin reasonably close to a lift as her corridors are very long !
So my first impressions of her are very good – I`ve heard a lot of comments that she has no WOW factor, and she doesn`t, in the sense that there are no gimmicky bits but she is very , very nice and classy and I think she will become well loved by her passengers and crew.
Of course there is more to her than cabins and light fittings too !