Selbourne

We disliked the promenade deck on P&Os Iona, as it felt disconnected from the ocean being surrounded by a tall glass screen (as you usually get on the top decks) and was mostly uncovered so could only be used in dry weather, but I’d swap the Iona promenade deck for what I’ve seen so far of the version on Queen Anne! I’m relieved that we have a balcony!

I’d be very interested to see the a’la carte additions for Britannia Club and whether they remain the same for the entire cruise (as they did when we tried PG on QM2) or vary by day. If the food is as good in the standard Britannia restaurant as it sounds on the menus then we have a lot to look forward to.

Do I take it from this comment that you are dining in Britannia Club? If so, aside from the restaurant size, how are you finding the food and service (we are booked in BC on QA for two cruises). Thanks.

We shall reserve judgement until we board QA in a few weeks time, but I can’t say that I’ve been overly impressed from the few videos I’ve seen so far. P&O U.K. have done the same thing. We really didn’t like the public areas on Iona and felt that they were like a conference hotel, and the atrium like a shopping mall or airport. I wonder if the same interior designers were used for Queen Anne? I was also shocked at how poor the promenade deck looked. It may be how the camera has captured it, but it seems very narrow and very large portions of it have no view out as they are obscured by lifeboats. On many other cruise ships the lifeboats are suspended above the promenade deck and you walk underneath them, so that the view isn’t compromised. I guess that the approach on QA allows for more unobstructed balcony cabins or public rooms?

@Solent Richard (or any others onboard) How are you finding the included dining experience and which dining room are you using? There were reports of excessive delays earlier in the cruise in (I think) the Britannia Dining room. We have booked Britannia Club and I haven’t seen any comments regarding that yet. Also, nobody has mentioned the food yet (other than the pay extra venues), which I am guessing is a good sign! Thanks.

Yikes 😂 No wonder those who go on Iona and Arvia outside of school holidays say the ship didn’t feel that busy! To be fair, the schoolchildren in themselves weren’t a problem at all when we were on Iona in August. It was irritating that almost every restaurant that we went to had a screaming baby or unruly toddler near to us, but I guess that can happen outside school holidays as well on any family ship.

We have been surprised to see how restrictive the drinks menus have become, in particular the choice of cocktails with some bars only offering a tiny number. When we were on Britannia, during our second week a drinks waiter said that he could get us other drinks, but that seemed to be a one-off. When we were on Iona shortly afterwards they were adamant that they could only supply drinks from the specific menus for each bar. My daughter wanted a particular cocktail in the Crows Nest and whilst it wasn’t on the menu, all of the component ingredients were present in other drinks offered in that bar, so they could have made one - but refused to.

Not sure that I understand your question, but the mega ships are very much catering for families and can accommodate up to around 1,000 children (I believe) - I’ve certainly heard figures of around 750 children quoted. Whilst there are indeed cases where more than 2 adults share a cabin, I’d suggest that’s a very small number in comparison to cabins occupied by families, especially in school holidays (when the capacity issues arise).

Apologies if I gave that impression. You get Champagne in all Superior Deluxe and above cabins (quite a few grades) and everyone who is in the top 3 loyalty tiers, regardless of cabin type. My point being that this is still better than Cunard’s offering, which seems odd given the very different market positioning and pricing.

It seems to change quite often. Most recently it was G.H. Martel & Co Prestige Vintage Champagne, which I’d never heard of. Not the best I’ve had, but still tastes much better than Pol Aker IMHO. Like you, we don’t drink in the cabin so we take it home.

Each to their own. We get champagne every cruise with P&O, regardless of cabin type, and enjoy that, whereas we weren’t at all impressed with the Pol Aker we had on QM2. I just find it odd that the more upmarket cruise line offers what most would consider to be a far inferior product to champagne. If I was paying Queens Grill prices I’d expect complimentary Champagne on tap for the duration of the cruise. I know that QG suites have a complimentary bar. Does that include champagne?

We get it due to loyalty status and also if we use Superior Deluxe Balcony Cabins.

On the 3 or so occasions (over 65 nights) that I asked for cheese as well as a dessert on Aurora, our main waiter gave me a look as if to say “Really? You greedy bar steward”. Unfortunately we never took to him even as the cruise progressed. Thankfully our assistant waiter was lovely, but there’s no way we could have had 5 courses every night, even if we’d wanted to. We just felt too uncomfortable asking. Never had that issue before, so hopefully it was a one off.

That was the conclusion that we came to as well. Surprised that Cunard don’t provide Champagne. P&O U.K., a more budget brand within the Carnival group does.

I can’t imagine for one minute that it’s a hoax Andy. Why bother going to all that trouble. Makes no sense. As you say, P&O aren’t exactly faultless with the way that they phrase things. Two examples that spring to mind are the misleading communications that we had about the Yellow Fever requirements for our Aurora cruise and the Non-Disclosure Agreements that I’ve had from them in the past that were worded incorrectly. In fact, those NDAs put the onus on P&O and not me, which made me laugh!