TRAVEL REVIEW: Onboard P&O Britannia – First Look Inside

We were lucky enough to be one of the first onboard new P&O vessel Britannia, the largest ever British cruise ship.  The stats are awesome – it weighs in at 141,000 tons with capacity for over 3600 passengers, 1398 officers and crew and, at  1,082 ft, it’s longer than The Shard.

It’s immense and beautiful.

Britannia will sail on her maiden voyage in March 2015 © P&O Cruises

Rule Britannia!

It’s modern luxury cruising with the emphasis on food with the help of celebrity chefs Marco Pierre White, Atul Kochhar, James Martin, wine guru Olly Smith, patissiere Eric Lanlard and cheese expert Charlie Turnbull. There are 13 restaurants and 13 bars on board, four swimming pools – one for adults only, a huge theatre, nightclub and cabaret lounges, a cookery school, library, kids and teenagers’ decks and playrooms, full gym and fitness studio, a Medi-Spa with Elemis and hydrotherapy treatments and a £1 million art collection. It’s British style – nautical blues, greens and creams with some pizazz! Think Downton Abbey meets Las Vegas.

Inside the Atrium of Britannia:

Checking in at Southampton and sailing from March 2015

Britannia swipe card for room and on board purchases

Britannia swipe card for room and on board purchases

 

Britannia's Hull after the Wiston champagne launch

Britannia’s hull after the Wiston champagne launch with HM Queen Elizabeth II

Views from onboard

 Starburst Chandelier Britannia

First thing you see is this massive atrium with shops, bars and coffee lounge and stunning Starburst chandelier

There are 15 passenger decks with 1,819 passenger cabins of which 64 are suites, some deluxe balcony cabins, 27 single cabins and just 460 inside cabins.

 Suite aboard Britannia

Suite aboard Britannia – champagne on ice!

Britannia Suite

Bedroom of the suite with a double-sided TV screen dividing the room

Bathroom of a suite on Britannia

Bathroom of a suite on Britannia – it has two doors so you can access the loo from the sitting room and the shower and bath from the bedroom.

Even the standard cabins are great with a separate dressing/wardrobe area as you come in with plenty of hanging space. All things you’d expect from an international hotel – flat screen TV, toiletries and linens from The White Company, tea & coffee-making, safe deposit box, air conditioning, a sofa bed and best of all an outside balcony (as with most of the cabins on the ship). That the hair dryer is a bit fiddly to plug in and the water from the taps isn’t that nice, are tiny niggles.

F Deck Cabin - twin room aboard Britannia

F Deck Cabin – twin room aboard Britannia

F Deck cabin bathroom aboard Britannia

F Deck cabin bathroom aboard Britannia – with glass shower door

swimming pool on Britannia

Two of the four pools on Britannia

 

Britannia P&O on board

Taking a dip in a heated pool on Britannia

 

 

Jasmin Rowlandson artwork in porcelain with 24 carat gold on P&O Britannia

one of the artworks from the million pound collection on Britannia

During her summer season, Britannia will sail to the Mediterranean, Norwegian fjords, the Baltic, Canary Islands and Atlantic Islands. In winter, the ship will sail 14-night Caribbean itineraries.

 

Britannia

we’d rather be onboard than overboard

Rule Britannia – it really sets the standard of hotel luxury on the high seas.

See Britannia’s Inauguration Ceremony here.

BOOK A CRUISE HERE

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  1. […] other impressions of Britannia’s inaugural celebrations, have a look at May’s post and Alan’s post.  If you like cruise ships, you may also want to read my comprehensive review of the Celebrity […]

  2. […] have seen the coverage over the news, read these pieces here  Inside Look and here’s a review of the actual event. We got sneak peek of the ship before the guests […]

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