amurray88

So interesting...I just think if I was spending that money (which I don't plan to do any time soon.... although that doesn't mean never) I think I'd go for a ship where it was all luxury rather than a ship where a small area is luxury. Will need to give this serious consideration when the time comes.

For a few years I did mega ships (Symphony, Epic, Seaview). I thought I was done with smaller boats...then sailed on Azura (which for some would still be classed as big) and actually really enjoyed it. I then sailed on Virtuosa in July and didn't care for it....so we've decided to go smaller now and have booked Britannia. I get that for some, Britannia would still be too big but I think it offers a happy medium

2 years ago I would never have considered P&O. I've just booked my 2nd P&O and I think it's better value foroneu than MSC. That's solely based on my most recent MSC where the food was nothing short of a disaster. Didn't have the same issue with MSC in 2022 when we sailed.... different days now though (or just a bad week)

I have only ever done budget cruising (well, NCL and RCCL quite alot, MSC or P&O for the rest) and typically inside cabins (one free upgrade to outside and one free upgrade to balcony). BUT if budget was no option I have to admit I wouldn't even be tempted with YC - I'd definitely be going with Explora, Seven Sea, Oceania or similar... Is YC really better than these? 😲

I did not 🤣...

I'll maybe give a wee bit of context for us when we were on Azura. On night 1 (after train to London from Glasgow, then train to Gatwick then flight to Tenerife, then bus to port) at dinner out 6 month old screamed and screamed and screamed. We were mortified. We were sharing a table and the other guests (rightly or wrongly) didn't look too impressed. They didn't say anything to us but we knew. We took it in turns to take him outside to try and calm him but nothing would do it - we scoffed down a main meal and left. That evening I went back to the restaurant and asked if we could be moved to a table of 3 just to ensure in the future we didn't annoy people at the same table as us. From day 2 onwards our baby didn't make a single noise....so the table for 3 was a bit wasted but at least the other family didn't have to wonder whether they'd get their dinner in peace or not. Typically we'd go to the theatre at night and before the show started we had our fair share of dirty looks drawn at us. Our baby wasn't making noise but people anticipated it ...within 5 minutes of the show beginning, to our surprise, our bay was sleeping every night. The people who gave us dirty looks were talking during the show and let me assure you, I had fun giving them dirty looks back. A crew member advised us to go to the adult only bar later in the evening - our baby was sleeping in his pram with a blanket over the pram for darkness and crew members welcomed us. We typically wouldn't go with it being adults only but when we were recommended to go there we tried it out. I think I'm pretty reasonable as a guest and would always try and be (very) considerate of other guests. I don't see it being an issue taking a kid into a restaurant...but if they are screaming then I'd be getting them out of there fast.

We went to see the night nursery but we didn't use it. The speciality restaurants are not adults only (there could be a shout for them becoming adult only?) but thankfully my baby didn't make any noise. On the whole, I'm not a fan of kids when I'm on holiday BUT I know that if I want a meal with no kids then I either need to go on an adult only cruise line or go to an adult only restaurant.

You must be very sociable 😅 I'm about as anti-social as you'll find unfortunately 😁

That's interesting... If it's a 3 course meal and it takes 4 hours I have to say I'd be very bored. Mix into that asking the waiter for things like hot water for a baby and it taking an hour to (not) come then surely that's a bit too long?

In fairness... The bag thing (not $5...but we did have to hunt the full length of Virtuosa for ours). They put them on the correct side of the correct deck...the rest really was a hunt. It didn't bother us...but it wasn't the best first impression

Can't talk about preziosa and normally I would say don't listen to reviews....but having sailed on Virtuosa in the summer, the food was truly dreadful. And I don't mean bad ...I mean awful

How did you find P&O food (what ship were you on?) compared to Virtuosa? We were on Virtuosa at the start of July and genuinely (without a word of a lie) I wouldn't have fed the food to a dog. It was shocking in comparison to what we had on MSC 2 years ago. I had the "sirloin" one night and it was mush.... steak shouldn't be mushy right? We were on Azura in January and thought the food was actually very good for a budget cruiseline. We've just booked Britannia, I'm hoping the food is just as good...and significantly better than Virtuosa.

I'm late to the party but we sailed Azura in January with our 6 month old. We booked Sindhu for 5pm (his bed time was 7:30pm). We got our starters...rushed our mains then had to leave. At 6:30 we alerted our waiter that this really was taking much longer than we anticipated and asked him for a jug of hot water that we could put our babies bottle in. By 7:15, we were no further forward and when pressed the waiter said "The chef is just making your hot water". I'm not trying to be funny......but seriously? At 7:30 we had to get up and walk out (we normally would hate this sort of rudeness). The waiter came after us saying we can't leave because we've not signed a receipt yet and I had to be quite forthright and say we can't wait until the chef makes a receipt for us (looking back, I shouldn't have said this) but the point stands. Having said that...... ALL of our other dining on Azura from memory we couldn't complain about.

Hello, Thanks again for everyone's help - I'm wondering if anyone has a (reasonably) up to date set of Horizons and Menus (MDR is fine) for Britannia. We've booked a 7 night Fjords cruise so just wanted a wee nosey. The most recent I could find on Google was 2019 and it's fair to say the world of cruising has changed (alot) since then. Thanks!

That makes sense...I'll book one then see what happens nearer the time. Thanks

Hi All, I've just booked for the Britannia in 2025. My toddler will have just turned 2 (literally, the day before we go). Should I get them a cot? or will they be fine in a bed? I'm guessing it'll be a bunk but....and I think they'll be too young. Any thoughts or experience? Thanks!

I think our mind has been made up... The way Iona prices babies is different from Britannia so on the face of it the PP price was more or less the same...but the final price was vastly different (£500). As long as folks say it's worth going to the itinerary Britannia is offering instead of a week in Tenerife then I'm happy to go ahead with that 🤣

I should have said... this summer we done North France/North Spain and I wouldn't call it a mistake but it's certainly ticked off the list now. I'd be disappointed if this wasn't better than those for scenary/ports.

Thank you! Would you recommend still doing the "Fjords" or are we better placed heading elsewhere? I think they've just become more fashionable over the last few years and we've not done them before. Thanks!

Just checked...he was allowed in the Coral pool

My wee boy was 6 months old when we were on Azura and we more or less just had them in the baby pool. I think we did go in the main pool but I didn't remember seeing a no baby allowed. Or was it maybe they were allowed in one of the main pools but not the other? Something like that I think

That would suggest babies can't use pools on Iona? Thanks!

You may be swaying me!

Thanks for your feedback. How about crowds? I think I might have read that Brittania allows swim nappies whilst Iona doesn't so for us, this may sway it this year too. Thanks!

Thank you!